Gripping his makeshift weapon tight, Ridge nodded at both of them and turned to the right. The first thing that came into view was an empty hall. Nothing in between the door at the end of the hall, which was the soldier's dorms, nor some of the cargo rooms, would indicate that something had gone wrong or that some kind of fight had gone down. It was just empty and practically sparkly clean, minus the debris on the floor from the paneling on the walls, of course.
Confused, Ridge continued walking down the hallway and somewhat quietly addressed the other two, "At any sign of suspicion, make sure to comm it aloud and let us know quickly."
"Perhaps they ended up moving on from the dorm, but then again there would probably be some kind of markings to indicate they left," remarked George, also making sure to whisper while they walked down the hall.
"Who knows," replied Falley, who was just as confused as Ridge.
They eventually made it to the soldier's dorm. As soon as they approached, the door beeped, and the panel lit up, since the power for the ship had been running for a little bit now; the regular operations for doors were working just fine, meaning any manual switch wouldn't be needed. Sliding the panel on the side of the door for confirmation, Ridge was eventually given access, and then the door automatically opened on its own. Quickly holding up their own weapons, the other two prepared to swing just in case something jumped out.
With the sound of footsteps echoing into the dark room, they carefully avoided any shadowed outlines barely lit up from the hallway's light, and finally, after they made it to what seemed to be the middle of the room, the lights for the dorms automatically lit up. Perhaps the system to recognize when someone enters the room had been compromised somehow, leading to the delay; Ridge wasn't sure, and also wasn't curious.
As with most things, there were also manual light switches; however, they had been placed much further into the room away from the door. With slightly less vigilance, Ridge, George, and Falley relaxed their combative postures and took a look around. George made sure to keep the door open in case of something or someone making their way towards them. Better to see it coming than to be blind sided once they left the dorms.
The only thing besides some damage from the ship shaking earlier and debris spreading around the ground were the bunk beds that held the forty or so soldiers on the ship. As well as scattered clothes and a couple of rations lying around, the room itself was emptied quickly. Looking towards the back of the room, Ridge spotted the armory door and muttered while he walked towards it, "Hopefully they didn't also take many weapons while they rushed out."
Passing the beds and navigating through debris, Ridge made it to the door while the other two looked for more useful supplies scattered across the floor, like, for example, extra rations. Luckily, the pack they found earlier could carry them.
The security for this door was slightly tougher, but since the power was running just fine, all Ridge needed to do was access it and then scan his iris. Swiping his pointer finger right, then up, and finally, to the left, it unlocked. He then stared directly at the camera placed a little above the panel's screen and scanned his iris.
'Access Granted'
With a robotic voice, the door opened. The armory was relatively empty; however, Ridge spotted a few rifles on the left wall rack. Luckily, there were a couple of ammo crates as well for the exact weapon. Walking up to it and picking it up, he began scoping down the sight and then ejected the magazine from the gun.
Amazingly, there was ammo. Typically, the mags and the gun itself were separated in storage. Although he shook his head in disappointment at the guns not being properly stored, he also felt relief at the slight incompetence; otherwise, they wouldn't have extra ammo for the guns.
The top of the magazine, indicated by a green bar, stated that it was full of ammunition. These rifles shot out particle or energy beams, so they were relatively powerful; the only thing, however, was the fact that they overheated quickly if used in extremely fast succession, not to mention that at a certain distance, the beam itself gets weaker. Luckily, the Coro Federation weapons researchers had found a way to cut the beam, essentially allowing the gun to shoot in bursts in a much quicker succession. Nevertheless, it was still a much older gun from previous decades and not used as frequently, which would also explain why it was left in the armory.
They were still not as handy as some kinetic pistols and rifles that were made a little later. Unfortunately, after looking around, Ridge didn't seem to find any of those, and when he moved around some of the other empty boxes, he managed to only find a couple of swords that were stashed away, making them a little harder to find if you were in a rush.
All Coro soldiers were trained using swords and cold weapons primarily because they ended up being much more effective than the traditional hot weapons in space, at least until the technology of weapons inevitably rises with the expansion of colonies and mining stations.
Meaning most soldiers would have favored grabbing the swords rather than the rifles, which makes sense, and also explains why he found two swords that had been hidden and three rifles just hanging on the wall. In regard to the swords, it's also worth mentioning that after generations of development in human civilization, Swords today were much more durable and sharp, even able in some cases to cut into some of the strongest metals.
Finished searching, he began tallying up the few weapons he found and then put them into one of the empty black boxes that had a foam interior and also made sure to check once more around the entire room in case he missed anything.
Walking out of the room with the now slightly heavy box filled with the swords and rifles, he was quickly noticed by the others.
"Did you find anything useful?" George asked right away, as soon as he saw Ridge coming out of the room.
Putting down the box and then opening it, Ridge quickly showed them his catch. "A few of these older plasma rifles were found, but no kinetic weapons. I also found some swords that will probably be much more useful for us within the ship," he said while pointing.
Smiling widely, George quickly grabbed a sword, took a few steps to the side, and swung it. A whooshing sound emitted, and he nodded to himself, "It's in good condition, definitely useful. Great find, sir!"
"Agreed, these plasma rifles will also come in handy, but let's try not to use them too much; we have limited ammo. Here, Falley, take this other sword. Hopefully they won't be put into much use," Ridge replied while handing the second sword to Falley.
With the three of them now technically armed, they searched the remaining space within the room, and eventually the three of them now held a box and a pack full of supplies and ammo.
"Let's get out of here. We ignored the cargo rooms in favor of this one, but it'll be best to check them as well while we are here, I think. If I remember correctly, we were transporting minerals, but some people could have hidden away in those rooms," Ridge said while they began walking towards the door to leave after finishing the supply grab.
"Ok," "Alright," the both of them replied at the same time.
Now armed and much more deadly, they walked out of the room with renewed confidence and straight to the doors leading to the cargo.
"The both of you check this room with your swords, and I will stand guard outside with the rifle. I don't expect I will be of use in such close quarters, so keep an eye out on each other," Ridge ordered.
"No problem, Let's go, Falley; make sure you keep your sword close," George replied, and the non-talkative Falley nodded, standing ready to follow him in.
The two of them accessed the panel with the help of Ridge and entered the room quickly. Standing outside the door, Ridge watched the way they came from and also glanced at the other cargo room door from time to time in case someone or something came out of it. The only sounds to break the silence were the scuffling inside by the other two.
This wait lasted for about a good ten minutes, and just as he was getting bored, they finally came out.
"Nothing, only the materials and machines used to transport them. Unfortunately, the machines aren't exactly able to be driven while the ship has all this debris scattered across the floor."
George quickly briefed Ridge on the situation, and after hearing that there was nothing but materials, he quickly filtered any other information out and nodded, "Okay, that's fine. Let's quickly check the other room and then head back. I am not too sure of the situation on Caroline's side, and we already scouted out almost the entire rear and middle of the ship, leaving only the bridge and a few more rooms at the front. Once we group up again, we'll move as a single group together instead of being split."
Once again, the three repeated the same sequence of actions and scouted out the other room; this time Falley managed to find an extra pack of medicine hiding in one of the smaller boxes within the cargo room.
The only thing that seemed to be in great surplus were the materials and ship ammunition. So Ridge ordered the other two to grab what they found and begin the trek back.