A Nymph In Distress

[Byron]

It proved to be quite a hassle for Elena to navigate her craft so that the Sea Nymph would end up in the hangar bay, while her own gunboat was too big to fit in. It would require a little bit of a crash landing, as she turned the gunboat 180 degree and cut the tow for the wreckage to slowly slide into the hangar of Glendalough. It was indeed a crash landing, but luckily, nothing got damaged except the ship itself. No personnel was harmed, or equipment damaged.

After that, Elena docked her vessel at one of the other mooring points of the station, speeding out of her ship and hurrying through the corridores, and finally reaching the hangar bay again. She was pumped out by now, breathing heavily, but still ran over to the wreckage lying in the middle of the hangar. Her gaze wandered around whether Mason was anywhere to be seen.

Mason's Sabre was a few pads down the bay and he would already be outside it. He had made his way to the docking bay command as he had to make sure everything was ready for the freighter. Anti-fire, medic and heavy lifting teams were already on stand-by when the Cinquedea made it's approach.

Hearing the 'landing' of the freighter, Mason would speed up his walk as he was making his way to the bay. No alarms seemed to be going off so he assumed it went well. Few moments later he would go through one of the many exits/entrances of the docking bay, not too far from the freighter itself. In a light run he would get closer, taking a look at Elena who was on the other side of it. "Well.. I guess we should look for a way in and if it's blocked we can just cut our way in it!" He would shout a bit, as the chatter of all the crew around the freighter was getting louder.

Running the last meters to the freighter, where the responsible Forlorn mechanic personnel, together with two dozens of automatic mechanic droids were already beleaguering the crashed freighter, she would have to use a few seconds to recover her breath. Glancing over to Mason, she nodded. "Yes ... yes. But no cutting unless it's not necessary. I don't want to damage the ship more than necessary", she said as reply. Moving around the ship, inspecting its exact posture, she would try to locate any kind of opening or hatch through which they could naturally, without the use of laser cutters, dig their way into the freighter.

---

The already battered freighter got damaged some more by the harsh landing on one of the hangar bay, sliding a few meters before coming to a stop. It came to a halt on the two engine pods, but without energy the landing feet did not engage, so it rested on the engines. Luckily those were the heaviest part of the ship, so it nearly looked like it was supposed to land like this.

From close up the light weapon hits all over the hull seemed to be mostly superficial, only around the engines some projectiles seemed to have digged their way deeper into the ship, which likely caused the loss of power. The nose was still looking unnaturally dented, the sturdy metal could only have been bent like this with alot of force. Nothing had caught fire, the ship was looking as dead as it had been in space.

The entrance ramp to the ship, under the cockpit, was still available, but without power did not move by itself. No other hatches were visible, the terminal which could usually be used to enter the code to open the hatch was offline.

---

"For fuck's sake, Kiara", Elena just whispered while encircling her craft. She was speechless. From up close, it seemed to be so far more gruesome than in the vastness of space, and one horror scenario after another were channelling through her mind of all sudden. Her face would take on expressions of deep concern as she went back to Mason, arms akimbo. Her voice somewhat sounded hoarse. "I'd suggest we cut our way through the actual hatch. We won't be able to easily open, it will just be a waste of time and effort." Glancing back at the freighter, which the other mechanics already began pottering about at, she would add: "Or do you have any better idea?"

He would just inspect the ship whilst standing still, glancing over all the holes and marks whilst Elena went around it. He sighs quietly as she got to him, turning to her whilst he listened. "Well.." He mumbles a bit, turning towards the cockpit and starting to walk towards the front of the ship. "The cockpit's glass is going to need a change anyways.. We could just cut through it if you ask me.." He says and turns to her, wondering what she might think of it.

"Mhm", she replied, actually not being infatuated with discussing their next course of action too tediously. If anything, she wished this to be resolved as soon as possible. Whether they'd find Kiara's corpse or not, she hoped to at least find certainty about what happened inside the freighter. In the end, she just agreed to get to the more important stuff. "Okay, you're right", she just said, moving up to the cockpit, inspecting it herself as well now. It really seemed like there was not much more to make worse concerning that glass. "Yes, we'll go through the cockpit", she said resolutely, beckoning the other personnel, some of whom she happened to know from times long gone. "Andy, get the eletctric sledgehammer, the big one", she told the mechanic who was apparently in charge currently. That being said, the man swiftly fished the tool out of his repertoire of that was standing right beside him, and gave it to Elena who turned to Mason, holding the hammer out to him. "Would you do me the honour of take care of that window?"

Mason would keep looking at the cockpit and a bit over the ship whilst she talked to the crew and when she addressed him he would turn to her again. A slight smirk would appear on his face as he was being handed the hammer. "Always wanted to smash something with one of these.." He mumbles slightly, his right hand grabbing the hammer where the handle met the head, as it was easier to hold it there with one hand, not wanting to put much pressure on his left.

With the hammer he would make his way to the front of the ship, turning to the mechanic Elena talked to "Get me a lift over here." He says with a slight nod, before the man started talking into his comm device. After a few minutes the lift would be driven there, being remotely controlled. After it was parked in the place Mason would get on, waiting a few moments for Elena to get on as well. As both were ready the lift would take them up to the window. His right hand would let the hammer slide slightly out of it, before it reached the tip of the handle, left hand going slightly lower whilst he tried not to use it much. He places the head of the hammer on the ground to his right side, before he took a deep breath and pulled it back into the air. A moment later a loud hit would ring through the docking bay as the hammer hit the window and the sound of glass cracking would be heard. Mason would take a step to the side whilst the glass cracked further, but not seeming to let go fully just yet. "Ohh come on.." He mumbles, slightly irritated by the fact he couldn't have done it without using both hands fully. Making a step back he would get ready for another swing and a moment later the glass would shatter, dropping on the ground in and outside the ship. In a quick jump Mason would pull to the side, a part of his body blocking Elena, making sure none would cut her, whilst he tried not to get hit either.

He puts the hammer down, leaning it on the railing before he looked into the cockpit. "Well, I guess we should find out what the hell happened.." He mumbles quietly, as he looks at Elena for a moment, before making his way in with a quick jump supported by his right hand.

---

The thick cockpit glass shattered and gave way to the inside of the ship. Immediately a stench of stale air, old alcohol and burnt electronics would start leaving the ship. The cockpit looked pretty bad, the floor was covered in a strange mix of liquids, with small glass shards everywhere, which seemed to be coming from Rheinbier bottles. Some intact, but empty bottles were also still laying around. The cockpit seats were empty, and the controls seemed mostly fine, but obviously offline.

The dashboard seemed to have been spared from all the chaos below, apart from a single, small spot of dried blood on one of the screens. On closer inspection there were a few glass shards on the floor which were also halfway covered in some dried blood. The liquid smelled of beer, but seemed to also be some black engine liquids that came from a broken pipe in the wall towards the back of the ship. The door stood open, but only inky blackness was visible behind the frame.

---

"We should, rather sooner than later", she agreed, her voice already starting to tremble a little as she draws out a gun from underneath her jacket. Pretty much an overreaction, but she didn't care all too much. Soon after Mason had jumped into the cockpit, she would follow with an energetic hop, having some difficulties to balance herself again as she landed on the floor of the cockpit. It was like in one of those horribly bad horror movies, she thought. The air, heavy with the scent of alcoholism Elena had far too much experience with, she would soak in immediately, having to cough suddenly. "Oh my god, Kiara...", she mumbled, making a few steps forward all while hearing the glass shards crumble underneath her feet. "I knew she had drunk more than enough, but ... oh Jesus..." Then however, what caught her attentiion was the dried blood, upon which discovery she moved her hand before her mouth in pure shock. Eyes widened, the jar was writ large in her face. "Look at that, Mason!", she almost exclaimed, after which her voice began crumbling ever so slowly. "Do you see that blood?!"

Seeing her gun he would raise an eyebrow. He had left his on the Sabre as he had no reason to think he would need it. Trying to not pay much attention to it he would just nod, going in further. The stench from inside he knew all too well, so it didn't seem he cared about it much, however it did make him mumble quietly "Dear lord what did you two fight about, making her go this far..."

Noticing the blood at about the same time as Elena he would look over the dashboard and after it on the floor, seeing the glass he would say to Elena "Easy now, she most likely cut herself." None the less he would make his way back to the lift, getting into it after a quick jump. He leans over the railing, shouting slightly to the crew below "Throw me two torches up here." A few moments later one of the men would do so, Mason catching both with his hands. "And get a medic crew on here." He adds before turning to the window. Moment later he jumps back into the ship, walking over to Elena to give her the torch. It would have a strap on it which could go around the head or maybe even the waist. As soon as she took it he would put his around the forehead, turning it on. "Come, let's go deeper." He says to her with a slight nod, making his way towards the door whilst still scanning over the room.

---

The next room, her bedroom, was a mess, but only because everything loose had apparently flown through the room in the collision that caused the bent metal around the cockpit section of the ship. Bedsheets, clothes, kitchen equipment were spread over the floor. The chairs were away from their usual positions next to the table, now on the other side of the room next to the kitchen. Surprisingly the same small black dress that Elena and Kiara had bought together for her a long time ago had somehow found its way onto one of the chairs, while the rest of her clothes had randomly spread through the room.

The floor here was mostly clean, only little had gotten through the door from the cockpit. The door to the bathroom was closed, but the floor around it was somewhat wet. The door to the cargohold was also standing open, but very little was visible from here. Surprisingly what seemed like drops of the strange liquids in the cockpit and some glass shards from there had found their way onto the floor, forming a straight trail between the cockpit door and the cargo hold door. Everything looked like it had been this way for a while.

---

She put the torch around her waist, which would probably at the same time, if Mason paid closer attention, unveil exactly what was missing around her waist. A big belly. "I don't wanna talk about what we fought over right now", she just said, gulping loudly, as though she had a frog stuck in her throat. She was feeling dizzy again, losing her balance from one second to the other and barging against the dashboard as a result. It all would get her into a far worse state of mind, stupefied with horror did she begin brandishing the gun in her hand. Preferably she would have loved to just slump to the ground and start howling, "Get your shit together for once", she mumbled to herself, inhaling deeply, but just coughing again as the stinky air was horrible for breathing. Then, she looked up to Mason, her face having turned twisted. Some seconds passed, then a determined nod. "Alright", she meant with shivering tone of voice. Taking position close behind him, she would keep her gun raised, just in case of something bad happening. "What if she is dead...", she kept mumbling, over and over again, not sure if Mason was hearing it, but prefering if he wouldn't. As they stood before the door, she would nudge him quietly. "Wanna go first?"

He would look at her with both a confused and worried expression as she went through all of that. Not noticing the fact she was missing a belly, he would keep focus on her face and eyes. "Elena are you alright? If this is too much just wait outside, please?" He says, his hands going onto her shoulders as he turned her to look at him.

A grimly determined expressions would almost instantly flash over her face, replacing the worried one. Staring into his eyes, she would shake her head resolutely, and for once her voice sounded firm again. "No, I got this." If she couldn't even stand this, she wasn't suited to the line of job she was pursuing anyways. Tenacity seemed to take control over her. Another time she reinforced Mason and herself. "I got this, don't ... don't worry, alright?" That said, she decided to go into the room, her gun raised, and her torch illuminating the room she stepped in, which had fallen prey to complete chaos as it seemed. It was a sad sight to her, and she already wanted to start blaming herself when she saw that black dress hanging on the chair. Surely, she immediately remembered it, and dumbfoundedly she made a few more stepts towards it. Mason couldn't see her expressions, but it was aching pain flashing over her face now. Grabbing the dress with one of her hands, she examined for a while that felt like eternity, all while the grip of hers became stronger and stronger. The memories were too much. "Oh God no...", she uttered with now weepy voice. Then, in an act of erupting hate, she threw the dress away with all her strength, however the toss didn't seem impressive at all. While the dress slowly glided on the ground again, she would turn to face Mason, tears running down her cheeks already. "Shit man!", she shouted, burying her face in her hands, letting the gun fall out of her hands onto the ground.

He sighs quietly as she slipped out of his hands, watching her enter for a few moments before he went through himself. The state of the room shocked him for a moment, but after remembering what sort of a 'landing' the ship went through he found it even good how it ended up.

Seeing her pick up the dress he would keep moving towards her, now standing only two steps behind Elena. Not sure what is going in he would just stand there, saying nothing and breathing rather quiet. Hearing her first words he would make half a step towards her, but seeing the dress fly to the side he would stop himself. Now noticing her tears his eyes focused on hers, before he heard her shout. In a quick move he step to her, his hands going around her whilst he pulled her into a hug. "Shhhh. She's alright don't worry. Probably drunk in the back or something.." His right hand would go onto the back of her head whilst left kept on her back, her head against his chest.

He would keep her like that until she calmed down, his hand going over her hair. "Come on now Elena, you can't harm your health, now more then ever." He whispers, refering to her baby, having no clue it was actually not there anymore.

After some time of letting the tears freely drop down her face, Elena somehow managed to regain her composure again. Luckily she didn't get what Mason was refering to at the end, otherwise her behavior would have taken a completely different, far more agitated path. This way however, she just accepted the hug, as it helped to get her back on track. Not saying much, the room was rather filled with an intolerable amount of howling. Though he hadn't ever been the closest of all friends to her, it did her good a tremendous deal, however she didn't really engage in the hug much herself. Just standing stiff there, she layed her head against his shoulder, crying her heart out. With a last snuffle, she'd move a step away again, with red eyes and a nonetheless horrified mien. Washing the last bit of tears away with the sleeves of her jacket, she would pick up the gun again, weighing it in her hand, examining it for a few more seconds, as though she was playing with a certain thought. Thereafter, not doing any funny things with the gun, she instead tilted her head, glancing at Mason with sorrowful eyes. "I'm sorry for that", she said, doing her best to sound as neutral as possible, as she hated getting disarmed by her emotions guts like that. "This dress .. it reminded me of things. Good times. With her." She gulped again, shaking her head. This was moving her more than she would have liked at that moment. "Let's just please get this all over with, okay?" Her tone even had something pleading at that moment.

He sighs quietly as she pulled out of his hug, his hands quickly moving away from her. Whilst she explaind the dress he would look over at it, sighing again. "Alright.." He mumbles and looks at her. "Come.." He says and starts to walk towards the back of the room, the door that lead into the cargobay.

As he walked to it he would notice the trail that lead from the cockpit and further in the ship. With his right hand he would gesture towards it, wanting Elena to see it whilst he kept quiet. Once at the door he would slowly push it and step through, looking around whilst he also tried to keep track of the trail.

She as well saw the trail on the ground, however couldn't find anything anormal about it. Possibly her ability to think straight was still severely crippled, having to concentrate heavily to not look back and glance at the dress again. Deep down, she hoped that Kiara could be found in the cargobay, just as Mason had tried to comfort her with, but her realistic self told her this couldn't be the case. There hadn't been any life signs, so the deal had always been a struck one. Getting herself together, she tried to move her attention on following him into the cargobay. The gun ready by her side.

---

The cargo hold was probably the least messy room of the ship, as it only contained very few crates. These had been torn out of their positions and thrown through the room, but did not look damaged on the outside. The spaceous room was empty, and looked as clean as if it was still in use. The gray walls and metal floor did not reveal anything new, and the crates only contained various beverages, should they look into them.

The only interesting thing about this room was the trail that led through the door, to the left, down the few stairs next to the entrance ramp, and then into the middle of the cargo hold, where it simply stopped and disappeared. The explanation for that was above them, where a small hatch allowed the ship to dock to other ships. A small, retracted ladder allowed was the way up, if you needed it because of the gravity.

---

He looks over the cargo hold for a few moments before he proceeded down the stairs, following the trail. Moving in between the crates, some of which he looked at and just noticed drinks, he kept going after it. "Well she sure did drink a lot, holy.." He says as he looked into one of them.

Reaching the centre of the room he found the trail ending there. "What the.. It just fucking ends here!" He shouts annoyed. Looking around the room and the walls he couldn't find any more clues. Then he looked up. "Oh.. Fuck where the hell did she go?!" He shouts again, looking directly into the hatch. "I swear to God, if she got captured.." He mumbles quietly, moment later realising that was probably one of the worst things for Elena to hear at that moment.

She was far too busy keeping herself at bay to be able to have any real clue what the trail that ended in the middle of the room could imply, and instead just flabberghastedly let her gaze wander around the room, trying to discern anything that could be of interest. Frankly spoken, she felt like shit. Her heartbeat rose as she realized more and more that Kiara was not here. Mason's comment indeed didn't make anything better. "Captured?!", she shouted back, failing to keep her cool. "Did... did you just say... she got -captured-?" Disbelief was clearly audible in her voice. The perplexed mien that had dominated her face however soon got overshadowed by anger. Massive anger. Anger that would get expressed by her kicking the crates next to her at full tilt, which made the whole room fill up with the sound of cracking glass. "This can't be true!", she shouted, kicking against the crates once again, then punching her clenched fists against the wall. "Somebody just reveal the fucking hidden camera now!" She waited a few seconds, realizing there was none. As much as she hoped this to be a joke, a foul trick played on her.

"Elena for the love Christ calm down already!" Mason would shout in a rather serious tone. Having no idea what to do with her he just let out a audible sigh, as he had thought she would be sort of a person that kept cool even in situations like this. "I didn't say she got captured, it just escaped my thoughts. To be honest the most likely thing that had happened is that she just sent out an SOS and a Zoner ship from Freeport Ten saved her." He sighs again, this time more quietly. "We'll go to the Freeport and check for her." He says, already planning what their next move should be.

"Come on, let's get out of here. The crew can start repairing and get this place cleaned up." He would say and go up to her, his right hand going on her shoulder. "Elena she's fine." He would say in a reassuring tone and if she looked at his facial expression it would just support it.

Inhaling deeply a few times, she managed to calm down again. She got so worked up over this whole debacle, especially since she, in her by now limited brain paradigms, believed herself to be the sole reason why all this happened, blaming herself that she had pissed off Kiara to such a heavy degree. "You're right. There are so many endless possibilities what could have happened", she returned, though her words didn't sound certain at all. "I just gotta get out of this damn ship and go to the bar", she meant, sighing, trying to keep her thoughts for herself at that point. "Don't let the personnel clean this up just now. Search for fingerprints. Analyze the blood. I want to make sure we find out who did this." She paused for a second. A certain grimness showed up in her eyes as she stared at him, disregarding his hand on her shoulder. "And make them pay for that." At that point, she knew herself far too well that Kiara wasn't alright to be comforted by the ludicrous idea that she was.

Stepping out of the cockpit again, she would make a hand gesture to the mechanics to leave the ship be for now, and turn around on her feet to face Mason, arms akimbo, bitter voice. "I'll be at the bar if you need me."

He would sigh again "Alright, let them do that." He would mumbles quietly and move his hand, starting to walk back to the cockpit.

Once back to the lift a medic team of two would be waiting on it. "No one onboard." He would tell them as he jumped back onto the lift. "Bring us down!" He would shout slightly to the lift operator, who moment later did it. "So you don't want to go to Ten and check if she might be there?" He asks in a serious tone, as he thought she would want to check every possibility.

She shook her head, something nigh resignation shown in her face. "If she is there, she'll be there tomorrow as well. If not, not." In an almost sarcastic manner, she added: "A man once told me: 'Good news can wait, and bad ones won't run away anyways'." She shrugged, but the mentioning of said man reminded her of a completely different matter. "But. You still have to tell me about Lily, I just realized. Not today, though. I'm done for today, absolutely done, and I got a rendezvouz with the barkeeper."

"Elena leaving it for tomorrow only means it probably won't happen. I know what you plan to do, drink yourself to sleep. It doesn't help.. I know, 'Who are you to say that.' But exactly because i did that too, i know it won't help." He would say, facing her. A moment later the lift would stop and he would open a small door in the railing through which he exited. "Just take the strongest sleep pill you have and sleep it off. We can go tomorrow to Ten and try to find more clues, or even better find her." He adds, standing in front of her.

"So far it's helped me quite a lot", she gave back, seemingly resistant as she had already looked forward to get the hell sloshed after this horrible discovery. On the other hand, deep down she knew he was right, but patterns of how to cope with shit were hard to put off. Crossing her arms before her chest, she glanced at him, still with red eyes. "I just wanna forget about all this... as fast as I can."

"Forget?!" He would exclaim sharply. "Elena you'll everything but forget it. The only thing you will forget is how much you actually thought about her and imagined every possible thing that could have happened to her. Each one worse then the other. That's what you forget in the morning after." He would say rather serious in his voice.

"Do you rather want me to keep thinking over why she's been in this fucked up situation in the first place?", she asked, her voice turning quite sharp as well as she said it. "Why she's been getting sloshed day in, day out, and why she ended up in No Man's Land with no contact to anybody? Hell, no. I won't think about that. I will forget about it. Tell me what else I should do now?"

"So you don't know what got her in this situation?" He asks, now really wondering what they fought about. "And there is no way around thinking about it. It's the way it is sadly." He says, sighing after. "As i said, find the strongest sleep pill you can and take it."

"I know all too well what got her in that situation, it was me for fuck's sake", she replied in a venomous tone of voice. However in the end, combined with a sigh, she would give in. "Fine. I'll search for one. Should still have some in my bathroom if I remember correctly."

Well i still don't." He would say sharply. "Whatever, tell me another time." He says, stopping her from trying to explain it. "And good, do that please. I've no idea why you are even considering drinking at this time." He says, glancing over her stomach. He still didn't seem to realise the missing belly, probably because he actually had no idea in which month she would be and how big it should be.

It would be an easy for her to track down his gaze which was directed at her stomach, which however was just agitating her more. She realized what he was alluding to, and still, he was so blatantly false about all of it that she could only show a weary smile at the end. It didn't seem earnest, though. "I got my reasons. Good reasons. But let me get that pill now." She would make a few steps forward. "Good night, Mason."

"Fine, whatever.." He would mumbles slightly, wanting to just end here and go to bed himself. "Don't go drinking, you hear!" He would shout slightly as she was getting further away from him.

He would wait a bit more, looking after her before he would let out a quiet sigh and turn to the main mechanist. He takes some time to explain him what is inside and what is to be done, nothing moved or cleaned and a forensic team to look over the whole ship, as well as the marks and dents on the hull to be analyzed so they could find out what weapons did them.

It would take him some twenty minutes to make sure everyone had their orders and when done he would head to his room. Still doubting Elena and what she was actually going to do he would make his way to the base's bar first, wanting to check if she had actually went to her room or if she was there instead.

Elena would be nowhere to be found in the bar, and the barkeeper informed Mason that over the past couple of hours his business had been a quiet one with no visitors at all. Evidently she had verily heeded Mason's counsel and gone to bed in her own apartment. What he however didn't know was that she had, over the past couple of weeks, laid in a supply of booze in her room. Whether she actually got sloshed or not he wouldn't find out until the other day.