IC - Chapter Six - A Shock in the Lightest Night

[Steerpike]

McRavens stiffens up at the talk of gunshots, and burning fuel.
"Wonder if they those poor bastards have been having the trouble we have..." He leaves the sentence unfinished. "Count me in, I'm handy in a scrap...let me go get my gear together"
With that the pilot leaves the radio tent and goes to gear up for the mission.

[amarriner]

Isugtag listens to the goings on quietly, trying not to get too worked up about things. He prefers to go at a problem calmly and cooly. It's difficult to do, though, knowing--at least partially--the situation at hand. He offers his services to the group as well. He'd like to see for himself what's happened.

[Decrepit]

As Laroche appears to have the radio operations well in hand, Jack pipes up, "I should probably come too. You may need someone to document what happened, and though it's been a while, I think I can still remember which end of a gun is which, if need be." Jack knows it's the right thing to do to volunteer, but he's not anxious to see what lay at the other camp, given what he's already heard.

[Charles Graves]

After discovering the dramatic events taking place a few miles across the ice, Graves hurries back to his tent.
He checks and packs his medical supplies into a backpack then reaches under his bed and pulls out a wooden box.
Slowly he lifts the lid and looks down at the officer issue service revolver that accompanied him throughout the horror of the Great War.
Many times he had sworn to himself that he would never touch the thing again, but he realised that with so many lives at steak this was a promise that he would be unable to keep.
After several seconds of gazing at the weapon he was snapped back to his senses by the sounds of the rescue team assembling outside the tents.
Packing the revolver along with the rest his cold weather survival gear, the Professor throws the empty box onto his camp bed and leaves the tent to meet up with the rest of the rescue party. Despite a growing sense of foreboding, he had a grim determination to make sure that nobody else would die in this desolate place and he felt ready to begin the journey to face whatever was awaiting them.

[Dave Syrinx]

John waits for Callum to get geared up and pulls the arctic survival anorach tighter. He keeps moving on the spot. He scans the surroundings for anything unusual.

[Raiko]

Starkweather-Moore Expedition Base Camp – Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctica
03:25am – Monday 20th November, 1933

Two sleds are quickly prepared for the overland trek to the Lexington camp. An ominous atmosphere hangs over the camp, as armed men prepare to depart into the unknown. Starkweather’s grin is gone now, the expedition leader now looks every bit the military officer as he joins Moore supervising the preparations.

Isugtag offers his rifle to Olof, the Inuit guide has his pump action shotgun slung across his back and holstered pistols hang from his belt.

(OOC: I’d confirmed via PM ages ago that Isutag would provide Olof with a gun – prior to me dropping off the face of the world for a week or two)

Soon everyone is ready to depart, Starkweather and the investigators are accompanied by Pulaski, Sørensen and Greene. The two sleds, laden with supplies are tethered to eleven-dog teams. Pulaski and Sørensen, the expedition’s two most experienced dog-sled drivers, take the reigns, the rest are provided with skis. For most, this will their first long trek across polar ice. The dogs bark and howl excitedly, they at least are eager to depart.

“Ok men, we have a young lady to rescue, and no more time to waste!” With that Starkweather leads his party away northwards, only fourteen miles of crevasse scarred ice stand between them and their destination.

[amarriner]

After giving his rifle to Olof, Isugtag checks his own pistol and then adjusts his gear before getting his skis on and fitted properly. Though the end result might be grim, the trip on skis will be exciting for him. Finally off the boat and into the snow...

[Henrik]

Olof thanks Isutag for the rifle and he puts it on his back. As they finalize their preparations Olof thinks about how Starkweather's thoughts about this. Was not he and the Lexington woman involved with each other previously? May he still have feelings for her?

[Dave Syrinx]

John had had a bad feeling about skiing in the night. However that had passed. As the skiing party move on he feels a lot better. It´s not that hard after all...

[Decrepit]

Jack keeps his thoughts to himself. That this would end badly he had few doubts.

[Ghost_1971]

Callum gets his head down, and sets himself a good pace. Occasionally he looks around to check on the less experienced skiiers, and also keep an eye on the weather.

[Steerpike]

Bill falls in with Callum nodding briefly at him but says nothing lost in his own thoughts and concentrating on his skiing...(this will be the longest trek he has ever had to make on the blasted things)...determined not to let the side down.

[Raiko]

The Rescue Party - Out on the Ice Shelf
04:30am – Monday 20th November, 1933

The going is good at first, the dogs pull hard on their reigns, eager to get out for a run. Isugtag, Callum and John are the most experienced in these conditions and take the lead, followed by the two sleds and the rest of the skiers. Starkweather, enthusiastic as ever, takes the reigns of Pulaski’s sled a short distance from the Base Camp and guides the dogs expertly.

It is a hard trip, but an exciting one, most of the party have no problem with the skis, but Jack and Greene, just can’t seem to get the hang of it and struggle to keep up with the pace of the others. Eventually Greene (who normally excels at any sporty) gives up in frustration and hitches a ride on Starkweather’s sled.

The air is bitterly cold, breath freezes into puffs of white mist, rime quickly builds up on any exposed facial hair, and all are quickly chilled to the bone. Shifting clouds and occasional drifts of fog change the appearance of the landscape from moment to moment – the uneven light from the low sun distorts everything, making objects appear to be much farther or nearer than they really are.

To a casual observer the terrain between the camps would appear featureless, other than the continual rise and fall of great pressure ridges, but this is not the case. Holes and cracks are everywhere – most are open to the sky, fairly easy to spot although awkward and time-consuming to avoid. Others are much more treacherous, hidden beneath deceptive veneers of thin ice and snow.

On one of these concealed crevasses disaster strikes, Callum and John are in the lead some ten yards ahead of Isugtag and the first sled when the ground suddenly crumbles and collapses beneath their skis.

Callum reacts at once – hurling himself forwards he reaches the safety of solid ice across the fracture. John though is not so fortunate, caught half way across as thin ice gives way with a crash, he doesn’t have a chance. Panicking the experienced mountaineer desperately swings his ice-axe at the near virtual ice walls as he plunges from view.

[amarriner]

Isugtag, seeing the disaster ahead, pushes himself a little harder to reach Callum and John as fast as he can. He surveys the scene as quickly as possible, and looks for any way he can be of help.

[Steerpike]

He heard the crack of the ice and turning round sees both Callum and John falling in. His heart is thumping in his chest like drums **Christ that could have been me** Looking back the way he came he sees Isugtag coming up.

"Get a torch and some rope from the sleds!"

[Raiko]

The Rescue Party - Out on the Ice Shelf
04:31am – Monday 20th November, 1933

John buries the head of his axe deep into the ice wall with his first swing. One of his skis clatters noisily to the bottom of the crevasse, forty feet below his feet, but as far as he can tell he’s uninjured.

Looking up he sees Isutag and McRaven peering cautiously over the edge of the ice about twenty feet above him.

[Dave Syrinx]

Not quite believing the fortunate stab with the ice axe, he clings on and shouts, "I´m alright, for now... A rope might be good!" "How are the others?"

[Henrik]

Olof who has reacted lately not having any experience with situations like this helps looking for a rope and tries to be useful.

[Raiko]

Olof grabs a coil of good rope from Starkweather's sled.

Starkweather and Greene dash over to the crevasse to see if they can assist.

[Henrik]

"I got a rope" Olof says and offers it to anyone more used to these things. The engineer does not want to do something he is feeling is outside of his expertise.