Chapter 7.0 - Calling in the Coroner - IC

Grimnir leads you down the wat logged corridor and too a lift. The lift itself was inoperable so there was no choice but to climb up the shaft.

The walls were wet. Not wet in a rushing water sense but in a permeable trickle that had been going on for a very long time. Still, it did not promote the growth of algae that would make the walls slick and hard to climb. It was a slow climb, but it wasn't difficult.

Hand over hand, foot over foot. There were many exits, but this shaft would take you straight to the command decks, and from there it would be an easy shot to the bridge.

Soon enough, you make it to the right exit, a sealed door. You find footing on steel I-beams as Grimnir works the door open from the side. Straining, Grimnir opens the door and a deluge of water flows out the opening suddenly and down the shaft. After a second, the flow dies down to something less impeding. Through flooded transit halls and staging rooms you trek until you make it to the bridge.

The room was flooded-no surprises there. The majority of consoles were submerged. Attendant Servitor's lay motionless in their stations under the water. The room was lit by emergency lighting and the windows had their emergency shutters in place. In front of the command throne were some dead cogitator stations. The chairs in front of that station were empty.

The command throne drew the attention, stationed on an elevated plinth above the water. In the throne was the desiccated remains of the captain. His uniform was in tatters and rotting. His right arm was on the arm rest and the left hung over the side by taut sinews too stubborn to give up. His left hand was clutching a naval bolt pistol. The left half of his head was missing and lolled lazily to the right.

Lucius moved in as the squad fanned out and covered their sectors. Knowing what he did about the ship, he tried to recall who the Captain would have been and what their last recorded mission was.** There were here now, so they might as well be as thorough as possible.

Once the coast was clear he moved forward to inspect things more closely. "Let's see what we can find out. Sapiens, it's your time to shine. If you can get any life from any of the cogitators, do it. Ship logs, records, and any important intelligence first. Brother-Apothecary, see if the remains tell any more stories than the obvious."

**:

Hydrako stomped into the middle of the bridge and assumed an overwatch position. He had no skills to offer in bringing the machines back to life and the body was probably too old to gain intelligence from eating so he waited. And watched. After a few moments, he reached up and took off the cloying embrace of his helmet, maglocking it to his hip. His senses bolted out to the edges of the bridge and he stood in place, waiting for something to trip them.

"If something is to happen, better it happen on an imperial vessel sworn to the Emperor's mission." Cassiel felt a sense of the history and the millenia that had passed - but the mission remained. Despite the constant assault by foul Xenos the galaxy was still being wrested into humanity's control. This ship had the same mission they had now, and had fallen in pursuit of that mission. Or at least, it seemed so.

Bleda goes up to the remains of the captain of the vessel.

"I wonder what made him take this final action?" The Destroyer observes the remains of the sad end of this officer. "Despair of there being no way out of some predicament or to save himself from a worse fate?"

The Librarian then runs a psyniscience to see if there was some kind of residue in the Warp from what had happened. He had sensed an echo of something horrible earlier and maybe it was connected to this?

Hydrako sensed nothing amiss. The only thing that stood out about the place was its silence.

Bleda opened his mind to the warp, but this place seemed walled off from the warp.

Sapiens moved towards the cogitators and plugged one of his many jacks into it.
He works at the dead control panel, attempting to coax it back to life.

It was no use. The station wouldn't so much as beep in protest. The only option was to charge it himself. Ignoring all chatter from the rest of the team, Sapiens causes a backflow into a cascading feedback loop.

Sapiens was already at work on the cogitator when Ashmon approaches the captains throne. He already had his suspicions but would need to verify them. Left hand held the naval bolt pistol, traumatic head injury to the left side and the head itself leaning to the right. The uniform was too discolored with age to make out anything besides the rank, captain.
"This wound is self inflicted. It ended him."

The lights suddenly turned on with a snapping sound, bathing the bridge in ancient, yellowed light. The water was dark and sloshed with your arrival.

Sapiens, voice almost sounding strained, announces "I have power to the bridge so long as I remain hooked up to it. I can not hold this level of strain for too long though. I can access the ships logs. Last log is dated with an archaic process, before present dating methods were standardized. Its from the early scouring. Captain Gallianus Kane."

His voice changes and an ancient voice plays from his vox node.

Captain Gallianus Kane, captain of the Magna Laculam. 3192.1,M31. We were en route to our destination before hitting an anomaly in the immaterial realm. My Navigators were killed instantly and we have been unable to escape this beastly dimension. It is not like it was before the Emperor ascended the throne. It is now a hellish place with no peace in it. The crew have haunting visions and after a week adrift they are jumping at shadows. The precious cargo is safe for now and assures me that the tides will bring us to a habitable system where we can make repairs and take on more navigators. If this is a message from his father I can't be sure.

Captain Gallianus Kane, captain of the Magna Laculam. 3197.1,M31. We are still caught is the maddening grip of the immaterial sea. Morale is beginning to fail. There have been three murders in the lower decks. I fear that unless there is a change soon then we will not leave this place alive.

Captain Gallianus Kane, captain of the Magna Laculam. 3214.1,M31. Something happened. The magna collided with something and lost. Several decks have stopped reporting in. And this water...there is water everywhere, flooding many decks and we cant verify the source. We did not even carry this much water in our holds.

Captain Gallianus Kane, captain of the Magna Laculam. 3221.1,M31. It is as I feared. We have been consumed by a hulk. It jettisoned us from the warp, according to my last augury scan but our cries for help have gone unheeded. There is open rebellion on the ship. He said he would tend to the issue but that was over a week ago and the killing keeps on. I have failed. My liege is lost and the ship is nothing more than scrap now. The bridge crew have left for food, leaving me alone starving and abandoned for two days. They will not return. If they did all they will find is my rotting corpse. I know it is frowned upon, but if the Emperor be a god as they say, please have pity on my soul."

Sapiens' voice returns to its normal timbre, and he shakes his head as if standing up after a nasty blow to the head.
"That was the last entry."

"If the precious cargo was a passenger it may not have the ability to provide any answers, but perhaps there are clues - but not necessarily in the cargo hold."

"Brother Cassiel speaks wise words. And I'm curious if the arm with the bolt weapon we found is somehow connected with the cargo?"

Lucius gave them verbal directions to the hold from his memory. That would be the logical next place to explore.

The messages had been tragic, as expected. "I believe the cargo to be an Astartes, and perhaps even a primarch if I interpreted Captain Kane's words as he intended. He mentioned a message from the 'Precious Cargo's father.' What other father could send messages through the Warp, lest it be a daemon? Furthermore, the Astartes remains we found speaks perhaps to a retinue of Marines aboard. The water is a vital clue here that I cannot currently piece together. Either way, we need to proceed to the Hold. Sapiens, log and save it all."

Lucius moved to the brave Captain and placed his ancient hands across his chest in an eternal Aquila salute. "Only in Death does Duty End, Captain Gallianus Kane. Rest well at the Emperor's side."

With that, he made ready to move out.

Since entering this part of the Hulk, the silence puts Khol on edge. Reminds him the times that have gone wrong before with such emptiness. Listening to the audio logs was saddening, to know such lives to consume themselves once being lost within the warp. The logs mentioned something in the cargo hold and it seemed everyone was eager to go but he felt there was equally important areas to check first.

"Oi chaps, not to intrude but shouldn't we check the Apothecary or maybe even the Armoury? We might stumble onto some allie for our future occurrences."

"Roger that. If they're on the way, we will hit those first. As efficient as possible, Draco."

Lucius gave Khol a nod. He was eager to move on.

Bleda took a last look at the captain's corpse, now silent and solemn, before he acknowledged that he was ready to move on.

"I'm ready to go."

With the apothecarion closer, you begin your trek there first.

Back down the shaft you climb. The silent, wet ferrocrete walls watch in stoic silence as you descend back into the depths of the ship.

You exit onto a deck to find the water only ankle deep. What it lacked in depth in made up for in ambiance. The ceiling dripped unceasingly as if the room had just emptied its watery payload; or if it itself were a cavern whose stalagmites still sought the empty pools below. Whatever sorcery keep the ship inundated with water was powerful but did not seem malign. The halls were as wrecked as the rest of the ship and while the debris was wet, it was not submerged as in other parts. There were no bodies here but you see signs of sporadic fighting, mostly a faint sign of las weaponry that refused to be washed away.

The apothecarion was much in the same state. The lab tables had scattered and shattered beakers, tubules, and other various equipment. Patient cots not bolter to the wall lay on their sides. Many of those beds were in piles as if they had been washed there by a flood. There was a surgical suite with a bolted operators table. Next to it was bulky surgical equipment with fine manipulators for precise applications. From the ceiling hung a broken spotlight on a manipulator arm.

What was most interesting was that a portion had been altered to accommodate astartes. There was less equipment as the astartes physiology required less lifesaving equipment as a human's would. What equipment was there was just as damaged, but somehow the area looks like it had not been used before the flood swept through.

"I guess that settles the issue of the cargo's nature." Bleda took a look at the Astartes section.

"I would have wagered that anyone from that long ago would have died long ago, but recent experience indicates otherwise." Cassiel cast a glance at the Luna Wolf they traveled with. It seemed everything old was new again of late.

"True that. But we are also on a Space Hulk, Brother Cassiel."

Bleda mention the obvious.

"Times flows differently when traversing the Warp and thus we cannot know how this 'cargo' has faced the turn and passing of ages."

Khol starts inspecting containers, cabinets.... anything that my hold something that'll be useful for Draco even though it felt evident he'll find nothing of use.

'Something must be here of use!', Khol thought over and over as he pertains his search.

"Not even worth your time Brother Khol. But I understand you wanted hope it this grim place." stated blandly.

"If there is anything to salvage, do so. Then let's move on."

Lucius was certain that some form of time dilation had occurred aboard this ship. He hoped that Kor'sahn and Caedmon had experienced something similar - perhaps to them, they'd only been here mere days or hours even.

Cassiel took a position to cover the team running their exploration. The Heavy Bolter he wielded could seal off the entrance with a near solid mass of mass-reactive ordnance.

While Cassiel watch the physical entrence Bleda turns his mind to keep vigilence over the Warp. The tiniest disturbance of the immaterium could be all the warning they got before something erupted.

Asmon finds nothing of real use in the apothecarion. Medications were well past their expiration dates with most of the labels even having rubbed off over time. What he did find that could still be of use were empty vessels meant for the containment of geneseed. His narthecium sucked the implant out into a pyrex container, but those were meant to be unscrewed from the narthecium and placed into armored canisters.

He placed Juros' remains inside an armored cannister and slid them into the case on his back hip. The narthecium was ready for more geneseed, for better or worse.

The next point along the way to the cargo holds would take you by the armory. You trek at a leisurely pace for once without water holding you back. What you find at the end however was not to your liking.
The corridors to the shafts were twisted and mangled shut. There was no way to proceed.
Annoyed, but not without options, Sapiens uses the plasma cutter on the floor. It was fortuitous that the floor here was simply coated in a glaze of water instead of buried by it. First, the nearby water boils off from the heat, then after a minute, so too does the metal bubble and liquify. Since the metal was not dry, it takes longer for Sapiens to cut through the thick plating. After 30 minutes he had only finished one side. After he finishes cutting the second side, he stomps heavily with all his weight along the cut, simply ripping the rest apart. He tears back the jagged panel and uses his helmets Lume-beam to shine a light. There was underdecking: Ducts, support pillars, conduits, pipes and occasionally latticed walkways barely big enough for a small human. It was structured madness for anyone unfamiliar with the true costs of such mammoth mega-projects as a Lunar Class Cruiser. Using his servo harnes, he rips and tears it all apart wide enough for even Hydrako, the only parts that gave him resistance here was the supporting structures, they had top be cut or avoided. For 4 solid meters this had to be done. Finally he cuts through more plating and the impromptu hatch falls into a darkened abyss.
He motions that it was now possible to continue.

The Armory and munitions decks were just under your feet.

"Someone has to be first," Cassiel volunteers over the squad Vox. He was ready to go, but expected the Space Wolf scout would claim the honor.

From the darkness a whirr of gyros and pistons announces Hydrako's movement to the front. I will go first. If there is a foe lying in wait, I will survive long enough for your reinforcement. He lifts his storm shield and breaching augur close to his chest and steps forward, looking to the squad leader for confirmation

Standing back the Destroyer expected the squad leader to acknowledge the Space Wolf and Terminator-clad Charchadon to be their vanguard, and that was fine with Bleda.

The Codex flashed into Lucius' mind as it always did in times like these. The answer was clear:

"Hydrako first - Cassiel second to cover. The rest of us will be hot on your tail. Ashmon, hold back with Bleda to cover our extraction. Artifact recovery is priority, so try not to destroy everything, Brothers." He winked at Khol and signalled for Hydrako to go.

Cassiel imitates the servitors and offers Hydrako a half-bow and an extended arm inviting him to go first. "My lord Carcharadon, if you would be so kind." When Hydrako has moved past, Cassiel's moment of levity snaps away as he follows the hulking terminator with his heavy bolter. It was obvious that if the two of them could get through, so could any who followed.

"Aye SARgeant."

Checks over his bolt gun and looks at the dog tags of his fallen brothers.

Hydrako drops into the void, followed by Cassiel, then everyone else with Ashmon and Bleda keeping up the rear.

Hydrako splashes down into chest high water on his fellow astartes. Barely visible lume lights only shown on the reflections in the churned up water.
He moved out of the way so that Cassiel and the rest wouldn't fall right on him. It was a deceptively short drop of 4 meters, a product of the near blackness of the lights.

The water was cold, colder than the rest of the ship. While the rest of the ship's flood waters seemed isotonic - sterile and relatively clean, there was clearly debris and grit of some sort here. The reddish yellow reflections on the water made identifying the source near impossible without an external light.
There was no motion save the water that you could be sure of. No sounds besides the water lapping at the walls.

According to Lunar class STC design, this was the armory deck. The exact layout of the deck could vary ship to ship. You could be where they store the tank size rounds for the ship batteries, or where they stored packs for the las weapons humans used in the ancient times. It was simply a luck of the draw.

It was a corridor you were in, and the confines were tight, very tight. Only one question remained as to whether you would head towards the prow or towards the aft?

Cassiel had no doubt that the Carcharodon felt at home in the water like their namesake, adeptly hunting those who were less at home in their forbidding demesne. "If there's a void below us, even a small hole would let the water begin draining." In the narrow confines of the passage, Cassiel felt that better visibility would be worthwhile, especially if explosives were below the surface. Armories could be full of wonderful technology, but there was little doubt that any of it could maim or kill even an Astartes if he weren't cautious enough.

Lucius peered at their surroundings and gave a simple order: "Helms on, Draco." He knew that they could be swimming at any time and wanted his Marines ready.

With that said, he gave a sigh and said a quick prayer to the machine spirit of his armor before donning the helmet. Immediately, the world became even more clear than his enhanced eyesight alone made it.

"Sapiens, do you have any idea which way would be best? Prow or Aft?"

Khol follows behind and drops into the water accordingly. He was a bit shorter than the others, so the water level was a bit higher up for him. Being forced to lift up the lascannon in a shooting stance just to prevent the contaminated water going into the barrel. Since he was forced to aim down the sights, might as well scan the area and hope they can change the situation for the better soon. Enemies can lurk from the unexpected.

Lucius' mind raced through what he knew of the ship. "On second thought, Aft is more likely to hold items immediately important to us in this mission. We will head there first - prow second. Sapiens, get us in."

Hydrako nodded to Lucius and Cassiel before stepping out into the void in the floor. Weightlessness was abruptly replaced with an explosion of water as he plunged down into the flooded corridor. He moved forward to allow the rest of the squad room to enter and held position, using his bulk as a bulwark against any lurking enemies.

His clicked his teeth when Lucius gave the order to don helmets, and took a moment longer than he liked unclipping it from his belt in the water with the massive gauntlet. He tipped the contents out before placing on his head, which was slightly comical coming from the savage hunter, but he wasn't a savage.

He stepped aside to let the techmarine past, but stepped in behind him to offer support as needed.

Cassiel joined his brothers, for that is what they were after shared sacrifice and shared mission, and followed the hulking terminator, 3rd in line.

Bleda took his place in the line and moved with the squad. This armory business was more to Sapien's expertise so the Destroyer felt at ease to let the Techmarine do his thing.

Ashmon pulls out his chainsword and jumps into the hole. His helmet as been on since he walked off the ship.

The sounds of sloshing water was all you could hear as you moved down the black corridors towards the aft of the ship. Even with the help of you autosenses, it was still difficult to see in the near pitch back conditions. The corridor was wide enough for two astartes abreast comfortably, but there was no room above you. Hydrako had to keep his head low to keep from hitting his head on cross supports. This hall was most likely a accessway for transporting materials to other parts of the ship. You feel a rail system at you feet in the water, so it would have seen heavy use in its own day.

Soon, something starts to feel off. It was too quiet, even though there was no noise beforehand, the feeling had intensified somehow.

You turn from front to back, causing the water to slosh around more. Seeing was difficult, but there was no signs of anything heading your way from either direction. A feeling crawls up your spine, alien and unwelcome.

Whatever was going on, your senses were on edge and felt ready to pounce.

Ready yourselves, the Carcharodon hissed casually across the vox. We are not alone in these waters. I sense shapes lurking beneath the surface around all around us. With an ease that was surely aided by the powerful servos of his terminator plate, Hydrako hefted the stormshield to his front despite the resistance of the water.
Stay close little fish. We must get you out of this water. With that, and using his shield like a plow, he began trudging inexorably forward, creating a wake for his squad to follow in. It was clear he was intent on meeting a threat head on.

Lucius clicked back a "copy," confident that he did not need to give any orders to his competent brothers.

He hefted his Storm Shield eerily similar to Hydrako, for those watching, and pulled the Shard of Bekrin. He did not ignite the ancient Power Sword, not willing to give away his position. He followed closely after Hydrako and Cassiel.

Sensing something in the water around them Grimnir brings his chainsword roaring to life, ready to attack or defend depending on what happened next. Not bothering wait for the attack he grabbed a frag grenade and threw it into the sloshing water. He knew the water would dampen the explosion but it should rouse whatever lurked below the black waters surface.

On que, the floodway explodes into movement with Grimnir's frag. A large, tubular beast rises from the water in front of Cassiel. It was a dark as the abyss that berthed it. As as wide as an astartes chest. The body ends flatly - without a head. The end of which was a gaping maw ringed by serrated teeth. It lunges straight at Cassiel. The dark angel shuffles through the water just fast enough to avoid the sucker-mouth.
At the same time, a loop of the body lifts itself from the water and traps Khol in a noose of carapace coated muscle. It hits Khol from overhead, but the glancing blow slides off him and back into the water. It looked like the thing was trying to wrap him like a constrictor snake.

Khol slips out of the grip of the xenos, his stature must've given him that extra advantage. As a response, he naturally discharged his lascannon into one of the tentacles onto Cassiel as a painful lesson onto making such an attempt.
The red beam illuminated the floodway, giving you a sight of the wyrm-beast your up against. It was a black color with deep purple carapace plates. The teeth in its gaping maw were bone color and the maw itself was a fleshy tan color.
The las beam strikes the beast in what could only be described as an approximation of a chest. The anti-tank weapon burns a hole through the creature and out the back side.
It leaves a fist sized hole in its wake, perfectly seared and cauterized so that no blood was seen. The exiting lay ray hits the ceiling and burns through that into decks above, sinking the floodway in darkness once again.

Having stepped aside, Cassiel realizes that he has the creature, whatever it is, in his sights.  Unlike the lascannon, the heavy bolter could make this thing bleed.  He depressed the firing rune and heard the staccato scream as the mass-reactive rounds launched themselves away from his bolter, and the following dull thuds as they exploded in xenos flesh.
The waterway was filled with the loud bursts of fire and the heavy splashing of the water, but you notice that as the beast takes damage, it doesn't scream or make any noises of its own. It simply reacts.

Lucius took up a firing position that allowed him to fire past Cassiel and Khol, and hopefully give the Astartes behind him clear lanes of fire as well. As he shifted, he calmly squeezed the trigger of the Hesh Bolter. Four rounds were fired at whatever this tentacled monstrosity considered a head. The rounds blow chunks out of its flat "face", spraying the area with chitin and flat serrated teeth. The injured head thrashes itself, causing the water in the hall to slosh like a wave pool. Finally, spent, it collapses without so much as a moan. With life no longer a factor, its body rises to the surface. I was shaped like a snake, and its scope surprised you. It had attacked at the head of the group, but its body snaked between you and past the rear guard. It was close to 15 meters long, and not only had it attacked Cassiel head on, but it had used another segment of its body to try and constrict Khol.

Combat Over.

Lucius radioed back to Ashmon and Bleda who no doubt had been listening to the comms during the fight. "Clear down here. Hostile entity eliminated. Draco - move out, we still have an armory to breach. Ashmon, Bleda, when we breach the armory begin making your way down."

He signalled Grimnir to move them forward.

Cassiel found himself wondering if the xenos creature had any intelligence, or was simply a mindless beast, but in the end, it didn't matter - threats to the Empire and its defenders must be eliminated. Following orders, Cassiel continued after the massive Terminator heading toward the armory. Perhaps there would be something there that would help further the mission.

"Affirmitive." Bleda responds over the vox and remain with Ashmon according to orders.

"Any of ye chaps hungry for some nuudle soup?", Khol making sure to project his voice towards the hole in the ceiling for Ashmon and Bleda to hear. As he makes an arse of himself, he pushes the dam thing away from him with the end of his barrel.

Hydrako had braced for the initial combat, but almost as soon as the water erupted the creature had been slain. Efficient. Reliable. Deadly.

Continuing to act as a dozer, he plowed through the water behind the scout without a word.

You move along albeit at a slower, more cautious pace. Passing the large snakelike void lamprey behind you move in the near pitch blackness towards the aft of the ship. There was loose equipment underfoot that tripped you up, but you did not step on anything that felt like a living creature and no more creatures assailed you here.

The water way opened up here on the left side and the ceiling also heightened. Here, there were stacked 2 levels high ammo for the batteries. Each was the size of a leman russ tank. the bottom rank was mostly submerged in the high water. Overhead there was railing and equipment for moving those cartridges onto the rail system underfoot. From there they would be moved throughout this side of the ship to the gun batteries on this deck. It was a temporary storage area for when there would be a real battle. The fact that it was fully stocked told you that the ship was not in active combat when the Thule claimed it as its own.

Moving along, side passages open up towards the interior of the ship. If your looking for small arms, they should be this way. Or you could use the main corridor to keep heading aftwards.

As Bleda and Ashmon began to follow the rest of the team, Cassiel followed Lucius's order - meaning he followed Hydrako toward where Astartes-portable weapons would be kept. The fact that this ship had once borne a contingent of Space Marines was an oddity; there was no telling what they could find that cold help them on the mission. And while the spacehulk was massive, this was also the kind of place that would attract their lost comrades. Cassiel briefly allowed his mind to consider that possibility before snapping back to the immediate present and the dangers that could lurk beneath the water or in the cramped passage ahead.

You move on down the outwards spine of the ship. The eerie calm contrasting with the potentia danger under the chest deep water. Either there was no more of the lamprey in the vicinity or they knew well enough to keep away from you.

Eventually, you came to a small arms storage area. The chain-link door had been ripped off in ancient times, the area was separated by several chain link partitions. The storage locker was just as inundated as the rest of this deck, meaning anything below chest height was not usable. Still, there ere some things of use....

Hydrako finds a magazine of combi-bolter ammo behind some empty ammo boxes on a high shelf. Though they were old and meant for a different gun, they were still of the same caliber and would come in handy for his newer storm bolter.

Bleda finds a single magazine of bolter ammo. He notices that these rounds were of the same caliber as the godwyn pattern bolter and not the phobos pattern bolter in common use at the time. Being as old as they were, any identifying marks had long worn off. As useful as the find was in this place, you get the impression that these are not normal rounds and would find use against whatever hells are in store for you.

Lucius finds an unsullied heavy weapons lockup. For some reason, it was left untouched by looting armsmen eager for powerful weapons. You rip the chain link barrier from its rusted moorings and enter. On the wall opposite you, you see mounted on the wall above the water line an ancient pattern meltagun. Next to it was a cannister of ammunition. It was made for human hands, but you would be able to use it without too much trouble. Unofrtunatly, the one fuel cannister was all that you could find.

Besides these finds, there were odd items under the waterline. If they weren't damaged then they would need time under the tender care of the techpriests in a forge to be brought back usable status. That was a job for reclamation crews, not Draco.

You move on towards the art of the ship, eager to get to the cargo holds and find whatever had once been there. Slowly, you notice a pulling sensation in the water, a current. There was also a far off noise of rushing water echoing down the corridors. Eventually, you enter a 20x20m room with an industrial grade lift that dominated the center of the room. These lifts were made to carry small loader and lift vehicles stacked with pallets. It takes up half of the room. The lift floor itself was not present and therefore left a gaping hole in the middle of the room. As such, the water was rushing into the shaft and a turbulent, circular current had come to form. The drain, as you could only describe it, had sucked any equipment in the room to decks below.

The cargo holds were below you, another 2 decks according to standard Lunar class builds. You would have to brave the whirlpool if you wanted to proceed....