[Admiral Maximilian Keres has assumed control of the Flagship Creeping Darkness.] The ship's displays flashed in every corridor and hangar.
It didn't change much for Max, it was just an assignment of powers, but now when he issued an order through the link that Nico had established to the ship, it actually followed his directions. That was a pleasant change.
While most of the ship was still broken or malfunctioning, he did have some sensors back online now that the ship's computer was operational, and there was a chance that they could get even more of them working in the near future.
One interesting thing that the sensors recorded was the last known position of the crew members. With the ship having been offline for so long, most of the data was corrupted or lost, but there was still a fair bit of it left for them to find.
As expected, a significant number of the crew signatures were last in the engineering sector, and the four they had found in the bridge were clearly marked, but there were still quite a few that were marked as last in the bays near where they were parked.
Those sectors had been fully searched now, and there was no sign of casualties, so this must have been the lifeboat parking, of whatever sort they had on this vessel. If everyone was last seen here, and now the bays were empty, this must have been shuttle or lander parking and not the mechanical bays as Max had thought when he saw the marks of hastily removed heavy equipment.
There was only one more concerning area, a spot in the interior that like the engineering sector had a large number of staff marked as present there at the last recorded point.
The time system didn't mean anything to Max, he had no reference as to what it should be now, as the clock had long since stopped counting the passing of time, but the last known life signs were close enough to at least give them an idea of where to look for more problems.
So, he tasked a Mecha squad with some extra drones to head to that location in advance and make sure that it wasn't another summoning ritual in the making. There was no telling how long an Energy Being could have lingered around here, and if one of them was loose on the ship, it would never be safe for civilians.
The sensors of the Cutter should have detected them if there was one, but the pure mass of a World Ship made it nearly impossible to scan the entire vessel's interior from outside.
The sensors in that area weren't operational, but the closest areas to it that the ship's sensors had a clear image of were undamaged, which was a good sign that whatever had happened, it hadn't spread too far through the ship.
With that in mind, Max guided the team there, while he also searched the ship's map to see what sort of environment they were headed into. The team didn't have any Line Mecha, and there was no guarantee that the Corvette Class would fit everywhere, so it was best to make mental preparations to only have the drones available to deal with a situation.
"Commander, we have the location on the map. It took some time to recover the corrupted data, but it looks like the location you're headed to is the ship's chapel. Something about a cleansing room of Emperor's Guidance." A team member called out to him.
That didn't necessarily mean that it was a chapel. Max didn't recall there being much religion in his past life. They didn't even believe the Gods when they were informed that they were Gods.
After a few minutes, the team had reached their destination, and Max realized what it was. It was not a chapel, as the team had thought the name implied. It was a steam sauna.
Max had a very good idea what he was going to find inside if the ship had last recorded numerous people here, and there was no sign of a summoning ritual, but what he hadn't been prepared for was just how organized it was.
There was even a note posted to the front door for the one who found their bodies.
[To the rescue team from Fleet Control. The ship's main power is offline, the airlock doors have been sabotaged, and pressure is dropping fast. The Admiral has started the self-destruct countdown to scuttle the ship to prevent it from being taken in combat, and all the lifeboats are gone.
So, here we shall remain, entombed among the stars with our battle brothers. If you should find us in salvageable condition, we would request the traditional cremation ceremony. If not, then sending our bones into the void will suffice.
An open mind seeks out its own ruin.
Repair Master Navarro]
Max had the drones preserve the note in their storage compartment for later analysis, and then opened the door to the sauna. At first, nothing seemed to be out of order, and there were no signs of occupancy, but once the drones moved to the actual sauna rooms, orderly ranks of golden skinned crew members, wearing nothing but the traditional towels for a sauna visit, filled the benches.
They hadn't died of rapid decompression, that was a much more gruesome death, and they didn't show signs of slow suffocation either. What might have killed them was a mystery for the moment, with poisonous gas in the sauna's steamer being the most likely culprit.
That would explain why they had gathered here in particular. It was one of the few places where they could get the job done reliably and not have to find out what the self-destruct function felt like.
"Well, that's one more mystery solved. The rest of the crew did evacuate, that's why there are so few here to find. For now, we will leave these ones in place, but when it's time to start bringing the ship online, we will give them a proper funeral." Max informed the others.
The Innu nodded in understanding, while Nico handed Max a note full of hand scribbled numbers.
298 casualties found so far, out of an estimated total crew of 100 million.
That was impressive.
