The iceburgs of space, the hundred ton rocks that spiraled through the cosmos seemed so tightly packed that not even a fly could get between them. The closer the ship got however, the more the size of the things became apparent; some could have hit the ship and not even

slowed down. It was going to have to take some fancy flying, and beyond that... who knows what awaited.

Sojana and her men where relatively quiet, save for the occasional question from New Guy Jim and the occasional answer from Rhodes or Skiff. Mostly they hacked on Jim, taking advantage of his green status as they liked to call it.

Kai kept part of her 'brain' working on the transmissions, but she was still watching the navigation in the ship as the asteroids moved. She looked back at the people strapped in. "Does everyone have personal comm devices on their person?"

"I do" Rhod said, touching his comms device just to make double sure. He glanced out the front of the ship, biting his lip as the asteroids hurtled around, and they flew towards the asteroids. "Keep an eye out people, if the other ship has wondered into the field then there might not just be asteroids in here..."

Dresden took a breath and then made the plunge, launching the ship into the asteroid field. The resulting experience for the rest of the crew was a blend of roller coaster and gyro training for astronauts like themselves. His movements were almost artful in motion, weaving and diving and turning on a dime. On occasion, explosions were heard as he shot smaller asteroids out of the way, and they bounced off the shield, making noise like tapping rain as he passed through it.

Shaq'l'phard was keeping precariously quiet as he stood in the back corner of the vessel. He was usually one for making comments but the conditions of this trip kept him preoccupied.

Gritting his teeth, Rhod was trying not to seem scared as they plummeted through space at almost impossible speeds. He'd done this before of course, he'd been in military ships that had entered hostile atmospheres, it didn't mean he wasn't scared.

Kai didn't seem to react at all to the crazy ride. She had tightened her seat belt and sat there, concentrating on making sure everyone's comm devices were functional so she could keep constant track of where they were.

When asked about coms Sojana and her boys all raised their right thumb. Sojana was impressed by Dresden's obvious flight skill so she decided to compliment him "Like a leaf on the wind Dresden, you can carry my team any time." A glance over at Jim proved that he was not having as much fun as his commander. The newb looked decidedly green around the gills.

Dresden didn't respond but her praise brought a grin to his face. In a matter of minutes they were through the asteroid field. "Now approaching the transmission ship," he said into the com, evidently pleased with himself.

"God..." Rhod hissed as the last asteroid drifted past finally, revealing the ship beyond. He'd seen something like this happen in wars, but never in peace time.

The ship's hull had split in two, cracking down the center to spill out thousands of tiny objects like tiny spiders fleeing the desecrated corpse that they hatched in. The engines were obviously dead, the mighty city sized ship just idling in the stillness of space with not even a light sparking inside it, like a rotting beached whale as the massive gashes down the side of the ship exposed a mass of corridors and paths, all jetosoning it's precious cargo into space. The small objects, indistinguishable from this distance, still managed to give the distinct impression that this cold blackness was the final grave for those not lucky enough to get somewhere safe before the ship split.

Rhodes and Skiff changed incoherent words as Sojana and her men peered at the destruction. "And we think people might still be alive on that thing?" Jim asked no one in particular.

"At the very least... we need to see what happened to it" Rhod managed to somehow keep his voice flat, in control, the same voice he'd spoken to the panicking commander. "Right... fly us in Dresden... try not to hit anything. Kai, we'll need the engines back up if you can. While it can't fly, it'll give people light and oxygen at the very least." He glanced at the gruesome figure of the shredded ship "In one part of the ship anyway... Doctor, I hope you've got all the supplies you need. And guys..." He turned towards Sojana and her men "We don't know what caused this, so all we know there's still something nasty in there. Keep yourselves alert."

"Yes, sir." Dresden guided the ship into the docking bay and set it down gently. Fortunately, the sealant mechanisms ran just as well without the other ship's power. The meters read negative on oxygen and temperature levels on the other side of the seal. "Suit up," he told everyone. "The atmospheric integrity out there has been compromised." He slid on the helmet in addition to his own suit and waited for everyone else.

"Ok people, this means the artificial gravity has probably been shut off as well" Rhod said as he stood up and began to slip on his own helmet and suit "The moment we step outside we're going to be knocked around real easy, so lads no recoil on those guns and no fooling around out there. Don't want anyone drifting off into space now do we?"

Kai seemed unaffected by the sight of the ship. She pushed a button on her arm and a clear mask covered her face. Her boots suddenly thunked onto the deck as the gravity she was forming met with the artificial gravity of the small ship. A few more buttons and suddenly everyone heard Kai's voice, this time not with the dual tone, come from their comm units. "I need at least one person to come with me. If their are things on that ship, they might very well outnumber me."

Sojana and her men snapped on their helmets as she told the captain "My guys know the drill Sir and one of us would be happy to volunteer to shadow Kai." She left the decision up to the captain. She believed that non combat personnel should be accompanied and it was a good opportunity to prove to the Skipper that they could protect a civilian.

Shaq'l'phard politely covered his mouth as he coughed twice. "Captain?" He asked just once, Sojana had left it up to the captain whether or not her men should join Kai, yet it appeared to him that the good captain hadn't heard her.

Rhod nodded in reply to Sojana, slipping on his suit and activating the in-suit radio. "One two, one two, radio check, can everyone hear me?" Rhod asked, peeking out at the docking bay that they were in. There wasn't much damage here, and the debris seemed to be only the anti gravity tossing up various tool and parts; no bodies out there, they didn't come in through the docking bays.

Kai gave Sojana a quick nod. "Which one would like to come along?" she asked through Sojana's radio. Her voice simultaneously sounded from Rhod's as well. "Coming through loud and clear, captain."

"I'll go." Sojana said finally. She could just as easily issue orders to her men over their comms.
"You sure boss?" Doors asked Sojana "I'll go if you prefer."
"No, your better left staying with the others. Matain radio communication. Report every ten."
"Aye boss." Doors replied and everyone responded to the captain, ensuring that their helmets where working properly.

"Ok Dresden, everyone's ready, crack the doors" Rhod called back into the ship, hoping the man had his mike on so he could hear him through the helmet. He didn't bother checking with the doctor, he was starting to wonder if the man.... vulture thing... would be any use at all out here.

Sojana slid the lock secure on her helmet. There was always that momentary thought right before a mission. Everything that could go wrong, will go wrong. and decided she wouldn't let Kai out of her sight.

Kai made her way to the hatch, waiting for it to open. She nodded at Sojana and checked her own equipment. It was better to double check at this point. She scanned the immediate area, noting heat signatures, making sure her camera still worked. "Captain, I will be recording everything I see for later debriefing."

"Yessir," Dresden flipped the switches. He isolated those not wearing a helmet into the cabin and created an artificial vacuum next to the hatch. The hatch opened with a hiss to reveal the tattered docking bay. "Good luck."

Sojana flicked a salute to Dresden off the brim of her helmet, wishing him luck as well and stepped into the docking bay ahead of Kai. The differential in gravity wasn't very noticeable since her boots clung to the bay's floor.

Rhod stepped out into the docking bay slowly, looking around at the tattered remains of the ship's once tidy launch station. It was disturbingly close to the place they'd just left, exactly the same room, except the lights were off and the vessels and tools so neatly piled in Rhod's own ship drifted lazily in the anti-gravity. "Remember people" Rhod said, looking out of the docking bay entrance at the stars that gave them light "The power's off, inside the corridors will be pitch black. Have your torches and glow sticks ready."

Kai's night vision took over and her eye glowed eerily red in the darkness. She stepped into the docking bay without hesitation and walked over to one of the power panels on the wall, testing it with the instruments in her hands. "Powers out in most of the ship, captain," she said. "But I can probably fix that once I get to the engine room."

"Do you know how to get there?" Sojana asked as her men followed the captain into the docking bay.

Dr. Shaq'l'phard moved slowly through the hatch as the others went out first. There was no need for him to take a bullet not meant for him after all. His nurse probably could have done this little adventure just as well as he could; seeing as he hadn't done this in years

"It is the same basic layout," Kai said, her hand still on the panel. "Shouldn't be too much of a problem, unless we run into trouble."

"Even if hallways are blocked Kai knows the ship well, you'll get their eventually. Just be careful, we don't know how many places have trapped air pockets" Rhod warned, starting to move slowly towards the door leading out of the docking bay "We don't want to flush people out into open space if they've managed to hide somewhere safe. Try to avoid opening doors unless you're sure nothing alive is beyond. When Kai gets the engines running it should give us warnings above the doors whether or not the place beyong is oxidised."

"Understood." Sojana said to both her captain and Kai "I suggest we tap on any exposed piping. Survivors may hear the vibrations and give us an idea of their location. Her men didn't say anything but they all agreed it was a clever idea.

"Be careful with that, in a a vaccum we wouldn't be able to hear a reply" Rhod pointed out, reaching out and gripping hold of a handle of the door that was frozen open in absolute stillness; it swayed easily when he pulled it, revealing the dark corridor beyond. It became illuminated as Rhod switched on his torches and his suit beamed out light from above his face, revealing more empty antigravity rooms. "Alright, we've got to make it to the elevator shaft if we can. Kai and Sojana will head down while I lead the rest of us upwards; it might be a trek upwards so don't switch the engine on striaght away Kai otherwise we'll drop down the elevator shaft. Get it fixed, but wait for my command."

Kai nodded to Rhod and made her way to the elevator shaft. She was taking constant readings as she was going, trying to make sure there weren't any structural problems that could cause issues. The metal was becoming stressed, but not so much as to cause any immediate dangers. "Captain," she said after a moment, taking a part out of her metallic arm. "Take this. Use it to check the strength of the floors." She held out the scanner to him. "Would not want to accidentally free falling when I turn the grav back on."

Rhod took the device carefully, hiding it in a small pouch on the suit's belt. It would surely come in use later on... He looked around at the people following him; this place was a death trap, he just hoped it wouldn't catch any of the people here.

Sojana's men where spread out behind the captain evenly. Jim looked decidedly nervous, having never been inside a ship this FUBAR. The others, Doors, Rhodes and Skiff all looked unaffected by the relative destruction around them. All of them, even the nervous Jim where keeping a sharp eye out for anything that decided to be threatening.

Shaq'l'phard was looking around, searching for bodies of the fallen so he could do his bit and get safely back to the ship. Field work was not something that he signed up for.

Kai went ahead of the men, her eyes on the floor. Or rather, her mechanical eye taking measurements and scanning, and her human eye watching for weak points. Looking around, she quickly assessed the area and nodded at Rhod. "This area should be relatively safe." She crossed the floor in several fast strides, getting to the nearest wall where she put her hand to the panel once more.

"Alright" Rhod said, moving slowly through the corridors until they met the elevator doors "Ok, we need to prise these open before we can enter the shaft. If someone would do the honours?" He knew that several people here could probably rip the thing open with their bare hands, he didn't want to spend a while struggling at it with a crowbar.

Skiff stepped forward past Sojana and squiezed pass the captain. He sized up the construction of the doors then slipped his kabar into the door's seam and pried just enough to slip his fingers in. It took some effort, no where near as much as lifting the engine earlier but he had the doors open enough to let even his wide shoulders threw.

"Thank you" Rhod said, managing to almost duck under Skiff's large frame to see into the shaft. He scanned up and down for a moment, then pushed himself out slowly and drifted into the open air of the shaft.

Being suspended in the elevator shaft was like being dropped down a bottomless pit, no wind to show you were falling though, and no light at the top. It was the point where you didn't know if there ever would be a bottom, or if you'd just keep falling in this suffocating blackness.

Kai slipped in between the doors, lowering herself so she was wedged at the bottom. She placed one foot on the door, and her back to the other, and pushed. The doors opened slowly, and the door opened a bit further. She slid herself off the ledge, her hands moving her steadily downward. It would have been eerie to anyone else, but Kai had years of null-grav training, so this was just another day.

"Jim, take point." Sojana told the newb.
An icy cube of fear settled into Jim's stomach and refused to melt. He knew it would come to this eventually. He was the new guy after all, there would have to be some point in which he began proving himself to the other guys. "Yes ma'am." He said trying to still the fear out of his voice and switched off the anti-grav on his boots. Drifting upward weightlessly he took hold of the elevator's frame and slipped in next to the captain. "S'cuse me sir."

Rhod shifted aside as the solider came past, nodding to him and looking upwards at the inky darkness they'd be climbing into. It was so deep that even the lamps from the crew didn't pierce all the way to the top "Gonna be a hell of a climb."

Ka'aias reached the floor down and looked up, noting the soldiers finally getting into the elevator shaft. She tapped the door, listening for any signs of air or life on the other side. Kai looked up again, waiting for her escort, since she had requested one. And she didn't want to get too far ahead. "Captain, let me know when you reach your destination. I will not turn the grav on until then."

Uninhibited by gravity Sojana's slender form almost slithered as she caught up with Kai. She'd had extensive anti-grav training in her youth and being Vidian had excelled at it.
Jim however grasped the access ladder and pushed off, lifting steadily into the elevator shaft. He really hoped he wouldn't need to fire his weapon whilst floating. That would cause a nasty pile up. Doors, Rhodes and skiff brought up the rear behind the captain.

There was silence in return to Kai, and if she looked closely she could see a small hole in the bottom of the elevator shutters, where the door had been broken mid close and left a tiny gap. All air would have escaped through that in minutes... beyond the door havoc reigned; there were blood stains across the walls, of all kinds, like a sick rainbow splashed across the scenery. This place obviously having seen lots of action. There were no bodies though, at least for now, but the bullet marks on the wall were enough to show that people had been here, and fighting for their lives.

Catching the sight of blood and plasma scorches Sojana moved in front of Kai with her weapon drawn. She'd seen scenes like this several times before and the sight alone gave her senses the illusion that she could smell every blood type and variation of weapon's fire in the hall. The distance between she and Kai was hardly the length of Sojana's tail. She spoke over her radio to her men "We've got obvious signs of a skirmish boys, keep your eyes naked."
"Peeled." Skiff said correcting his wise commander "Keep your eyes peeled."

---

Shaq'l'phard grumbled and shook some stray feathers loose as he launched himself upward. The simple fact that the anti-gravity was not on was certainly making the trip easier on his old bones, but he wasn't much for flying anyhow. He just wanted to find a corpse already so that he could take it back for study. He assumed he should travel upward, seeing as that was where the captain was headed. Though the young man had obviously forgotten to issue orders to his underlings. His eyes scanned the darkness as he travelled, searching for any sign whatsoever of meat.

Even after they found a body, Rhod wouldn't let the doctor go back to his safe little ship; there might be injured people on here still, people in need to urgent help. If the medical expert went back because he was "tired" then what good were they doing here? Right now they were heading for the only place he thought would do any good, the control deck of this place; it would mean a lot of swimming through the air but Rhod needed to reach it.

"Captain," Kai said quietly over the intercom, making sure only he heard. "There seems to be quite a bit of damage to this part of the vessel. It may be that I will not be able to restart these engines. Do you want me to gravitize the best I can with my internal units or leave it as is?" Kai looked at the damage in front of her without emotion. The blood did not affect her as it did others.

"Try to repair it Kai, but don't go to too drastic measures" Rhod didn't fancy Kai ripping some of her own systems out to use "Just try to restore what you can." He hauled himself along the walls, heading up the elevator shaft gradually, hand over hand, heading up into the abyss.

Sojana moved around the engine room, always keeping Kai in the corner of her eye. She searched slowly, taking care to examine every nook and cranny of the space. There where any number of dangers on a ship this badly damaged and she wasn't interested in letting something sneak up on them. Opening fire in zero gravity wasn't the smartest of ideas so she kept her hand poised over the anti-grav control on her belt.

Her men followed the Captain quietly, every so often they would communicate between each-other via the system of radio clicks they'd become accustomed to while under Sojana's command. A purely Vidian tactic this was achieved by keying their comms in a sort of code which was unique to each team. No one would have known they where communicating between one another save for Rhode's interspersed laughter. Jim however was quiet, the new guy wasn't a fan of taking point in a camped lift-shaft and especially not when the Captain could so readily scrutinize his frell-ups.

Rhod paused, staring into the light pouring from a broken elevator door; cracks ran through the metal, pieces floated away to reveal the room beyond. It was only a small room beyond, but it seemed to stretch on until infinity; a wall was ripped open, a massive tear that seemed to make the small office on the other side dissapear into a different dimension. Chairs, tables, everything was floating aimlessly into the endless depths of the tear... "Gah..." Rhod groaned, shaking his head and tearing his eyes away only to keep on crawling upwards.

The radio picked up on Kai's intermittent talking that seemed to actually be directed at herself. "I may be able to...hold on a second...here we are...no, you go back th-...right...and give this a turn...And there we go!" Lights flickered on, some were so broken then just seemed to sit there, though had there been air they would have sparked. Others sent out a sudden puff of smoke that dispersed quickly through the vacuum. Kai frowned, the shrugged and turned to look at the rest of the damage.

The main engine had been attacked, a hack job, rather litterally; someone had attacked the ship's power supply with an axe, you could tell because it still had pieces of the head buried in. Still they'd cut electricity lines, lodged the emergency shut down to constantly on, but from the blows you could tell that hadn't been on purpose; these people had wailed on the engine in a savage rage until it stopped working.

Finding nothing of immediate threat in the engine room Sojana rejoined Kai. She wasn't a mechanic but she knew sabotage when she saw it. "Someone wanted this ship dead."

Kai pulled the axe head free from the ship's main life support. "Either that or they had a personal grudge against machines," she said. The comment may have sounded like a joke, but Ka'aias fully meant it. She opened a small compartment on her arm and pulled free some wires, working on rewiring the power supply. "Nothing is missing from this, but much of it is damaged."

"Is there anything I can do?" Sojana asked shifting her weapon "I doubt you need anything shot at 50 metras but I can help."

"Captain, I am beginning to believe I have accompanied the wrong team. Have you seen any evidence of bodies?" Shaq'l'phard asked as he floated up closer to Rhod. "I have yet to find even a stray body part. What could have happened to the people?"

"I don't wanna think about it." Jim told himself as he continued to hand over hand it threw the shaft. The rest of the team followed quietly behind Shaq'l'phard and the Cap.

"A large amount of the ship has been ripped open" Rhod pointed out, crawling his way up towards the highest place in the ship "We have a destination Doctor, a place I know there are bodies. It won't be long now..."

As the axe head was pulled from the machine it sparked suddenly, then whirred at a speed that could strip atoms apart before stopping dead with a jarring thunk. The machine's wiring was going out of control, sparks flying as the dead man switch flickered on and off, before finally only part of the machine fired up. It could have been the atom splitter, roasting the entire section of space in seconds, or the expulsion engine, which would have shot anything near into deep space, but what did start up proved to be just as dangerous. The magnetic force pads. Twisted, filled with flickering electricity as the wires sparked and fueled the magnetic force that dragged Sojana off her feet, trying to pull her into the depths of the machine.


"You don't think it's-" Rhodes asked Skiff as they continued to travel upward. "Not out here..."
"We are pretty deep, I wouldn't put it pass'em." Skiff said and then added a snort "If you believe that sorta thing."
"What?" Jim asked, obviously nervous. "What are you guys talking about?"
"Don't listen to them." Doors said from below the doctor. "Just stories, the kind mothers tell their kids to get em to behave. It's not real."

Sojana had pushed Kai clear when the machine sparked and in a split second found found herself unable to stop moving. She managed to grab one of the room's support beams but all of a sudden she felt as if she'd be ripped free from her own arms. "MAKE IT STOP!" She shouted, trying to hold on for dear life. She manipulated her muscle clusters, concentrating them into her arms for a better, stronger grip.

Had the words been in her vocal banks, Kai probably would have started swearing. As it was, they were in her mental banks but were unusable to her. She slid across the floor, bracing her legs on either side of the machine to keep herself safe from being sucked in. Her arms moved as quickly as she could, and she gave the thing a few solid kicks for good measure. Everything was going haywire. Ka'aias tried not to feel the fact that her own parts were being pulled at by the magnetic force. The vision from her mechanical eye went out for a moment and everyone heard a loud, high pitched screeching static in their earpieces as Kai's communication systems started fritzing as well.

The machine was letting out a loud screeching noise, coughing, spluttering and sparking quickly; the engine moved, but not quick enough to shred the atoms apart. It was giving a little bit of a rest on the magnetic pull though, it wasn't completely gone, the machine was almost working, but it was giving the two a slight rest every now and then as Kai started to fix it.

Rhod paused in his escalation of the elevator shaft, eyes spinning around; the entire world seemed to have flickered for a moment, then the screech of Kai's communicator blared into his ear. "KAI! SOJANA!" Rhod tried to yell over the screech "REPORT!"

Sojana sensed the magnetic pull lessen and felt comfortable enough to let go of the pole. She could still feel the resistance in her armor and centered her muscle groups threw her legs while readjusting her anti-grav a few notches. The screech was enough to set her frills on end so she adjusted her feedback just in time to have the Captain blaring in her frills. "Kai's working on the engines sir..." She tried to convey over the sound "Seems the machinery has an aversion to me offering my help." She looked at Kai

"All machinery has an aversion to her offering her help." Rhodes snickered as they paused with the captain. Doors continued upward a few paces and felt the kneed to smack Rhodes in the back of the helmet. The look in his eyes stating that Rhodes needed to button up and let the Cap hear the report. Doors was all about goofing off, but in the right situations. On board the ship, in the social sector.

"Wait, is the engine active?" Rhod felt a shudder go down his back, his hands suddenly tightening on the edge of a girder he'd been about to use to push himself off of "Kai are you starting the engine already?" There was fear in his voice, a dread of imminant death that you could do absolutely nothing about.

There was no answer from Ka'aias. The force of the magnetic pull had temporarily knocked out her communications, meaning she heard nothing of the conversation. She continued attempting to prevent the engine from pulling her in again. A twist here, reconnecting wires there, and some major luck had her moving on to the next section that needed repairing.

"Are you going to tell him?" Sojana asked Kai and then realized that she couldn't hear her. "Stand by Captain." her footfalls where much heavier than earlier considering she was still iffy about being pulled into the machine. She tapped Kai on the shoulder and waved her hand in front of her helmet. 

Kai looked at Sojana and frowned. "What is it?" she asked, but the sound didn't carry any further than her own helmet. When there was no response, Kai tapped her earpiece, causing it to let loose a spark within her helmet which made her cringe. She stopped what she was doing with the engine and did a quick internal adjustment before she looked at Sojana again. "My comm is not working prop-" she got out before the comm went out again. Magnets were definitely no friend to Kai. She signed in the simplest form of sign language she knew, human, hoping Sojana knew something of it.

Sojana watched as Kai signed her delema, she some human sign language but not enough to effectively communicate. Having an idea she rapped on the pole that had saved her life. It wasn't the same code she used to communicate with her men but it was commmon among human ships. she only hoped Kai could understand her. "Cap wants to know if your trying to start the engines?" she asked in not quite so many words.

Kai understood enough and looked at the engine. "I have to fix this. Unless he wants us all atomized or magnetically destroyed. Is he to a safe place yet?" She frowned, waiting for a response.

Sojana gave Kai a nod and keyed her comm "She's gotta fix it or we'll all be atomized or something. Are you guys in a safe place?"

"Give us a second" Rhod called into his comm "We need to get to a room or something." He looked around quickly, searching for a door that would lead to safety. "Up there" he said loudly, pointing towards a torn open door way fifty feet above them; the lights only just managed to illuminate the frame. "Keep that thing stable Kai" he called into his comm "We need to get to safety before you turn that thing on."

"Her comms are out sir." Sojana told the captain "You'll have to redirect your orders threw me." She then turned to Kai and tapped out the Captains message "Try to keep it stable, they're moving to a secure location."

Kai nodded as she went back to work, trying not to start the thing up properly while still keeping it from killing everyone. The choices seemed bleak at this point. Either the thing fried them or she started it up and the captain fell to his death, along with everyone else in that elevator shaft. Ka'aias decided to stop thinking about that and focus on the job at hand. "Let me know when he reaches safety," she tapped out quickly.

Sojana lifted her thumb the international symbol for "Gotcha."

Rhod was making sure his crew were getting to safety before him, almost tossing the team members up towards the door. "Come on come on" he muttered "Quickly before something bad happens."

"It's jammed!" Jim said almost sounding panicked as he tried opening the hatch "I can't get it opened."
"Move ya newb." Skiff said shifting pass Doors and Rhodes and the captain. He tried the latch keeping the door shut and even this forklift of a man couldn't budge the latch.
"I have my torch." Rhodes offered, having an affinity for things being aflame. "I can cut threw it in no time."

"I'll stay down here with Rhodes" Rhod said quickly "You two" he pointed at Jim and Skiff "go for another door. If we can't get through this one we need another escape so I'd like one prepared." He looked over his shoulder "Doc you're with them, at least for now. We need you safe so you can help any survivors here."

"Aye sir." Doors told the Captain and split the teams as indicated. The only one who hadn't been given an order was he himself so he decided he would be remaining with the Captain and Rhodes.
Skiff led a rather reluctant Jim several tiers up looking for another maintenance shaft to access.
Rhodes was glad to spark up his plasma torch and immediacy set into cutting the hinges and fasteners.

"There are no survivors here..." Shaq'l'phard said as he brushed past the Captain to accompany Jim and Skiff. If they were going to use little air vents or something to move through, he sure wasn't going to be much help

The engine sparked madly, the whirring starting to get faster now, less broken up; it wasn't fully functional, it wasn't splitting atoms, but it was giving less and less time for the people in the shaft to safely climb out.

Once more, a stream of obscenities would have done well for Kai as she worked frantically to keep the machine from burning out or starting up. Instead she let loose the most primal growl, something not in her programing, and started kicking the thing violently. "Why-" kick "-will-" kick "-you-" kick "-not-" kick "-do-" kick "-what-" kick "-I-" kick "-want?!" The magnets had damaged part of her internal circuitry, causing the violent outburst. Not that Kai noticed. Her foot slipped on the final kick and hit the atomic output regulator, knocking it back into position. Kai stopped kicking it and looked as the machine began starting up. The frantic look she shot Sojana told her that they were running out of time.

"Give me something to do so I'm not just standing here when we all die." Sojana told Kai very seriously.
Meanwhile Rhodes was making short work of the jammed access panel. With the hinges and lock cut he was now kicking the door to try and jar it loose. "I think I'll have to go the long way around." He sparked up his torch again and proceeded to cut a person sized hole around the door instead of threw it.
Skiff and Jim had so far not found any secondary routs around the locked maintenance hatch.

Kai shot Sojana a look, then the machine a look, then back to Sojana. Her mind was working overtime to find a solution quickly. With a long sigh, she handed Sojana her torch and pointed to several parts quickly, making it clear what needed to be done. Ka'aias then did something that she had never done before, shut down some of her parts, switched her body to back up power, and shoved her hand into the running parts, praying for the best. She aimed for the magnetic pads, hoping to deflect some of the power from the machine in order to buy the captain more time. It would scramble her working circuitry, but not so much that she would fry. Once the machine was operational again, she would be back to normal, but at this point, she would live through it, the others wouldn't.

Sojana wasn't a tech by any means but she knelt down next to the machine and assessed what Kai intended for her to do. It seemed simple enough, if she could cast her own ammunition she could certainly sodder a few wires together.

"Blow a hole in a door, anything, just get us a way out" Rhod wasn't liking the way the ship was sounding; it was starting to sound like it wanted to be alive again. The walls were creaking, a hum spluttering out from behind every panel as the monster tried to rise from it's grave.

The machine sparked madly when Kai stuck her hand in there, thousands of volts running through her mechanical system; it definatley wasn't good for her body, but it was much easier on it than it would be on a flesh body. It crackled along the easiest route, grounding in the case of the engine but the heat of the power carried along her body would litterally burn her up from the inside if nothing was done.

"Almost through." Rhodes said as he cut threw the door. "Ten seconds."
Skiff and Jim were still looking for access around the locked maintenance panel "We're not having any luck Doors and this bird Isn't sounding very healthy."
"Head back this way." Doors told them without consulting the captain. "And put a move on, Rhodes is almost threw."

Sojana pulled her head back from the engine once she'd finished with the work Kai had given her "I think I di--" she saw Kai, rigid and fixed to the machine. It took less than an eighth of a second for her to process what was happening and grabbed Kai. As they crashed to the floor Sojana jerked, having received a minute dose of the electricity that had been coursing threw Kai's body.

Kai hit the floor, sending a reverberation through the metal. Her body stuck to the metallic surface like a magnet, twitching. Her red eye flickered slightly as she started rebooting her systems. Her comm device flickered on first, and though her mouth didn't move, Sojana heard a computer like voice in her ear. "Are they to safety?"

Rhod turned his head at the sound of the ship starting up, the hum filling his ears as he stared at the door in terror. "Everyone here! We're about to drop!" he needed his crew in safely, but couldn't help feeling terrified for his own life.

Rhod heard the voice in his ear as Kai sat up and tried to get to the engine. "Captain, if you cannot get to safety, try to get to the edge of the elevator shaft. Get a handhold and I will try to help the best I can." She didn't seem to have full use of her legs back yet and couldn't quite get to the engine.

Skiff and Jim where fast approaching. Rhodes was outting his boots to the grate door again unable to get it to budge. Skiff hurried forward and pushed him out of the way, bracing for a kick he managed to force the panel inward, giving even him enough room to fit. He grabbed the doctor and stuffed him threw first, then tossed Jim and led Doors and Rhodes go next. "Sorry cap." He told the captain and took him by the shoulder, "The boss'll kill me if i let you go last." forcing him threw as well before following.

Rhod reached out for Skiff as the man tossed him through, the last man through; Rhod knew how this would go. He managed to seize onto the man's forearm before the gravity slammed the two down; Skiff was left dangling, Rhod yelled out as his ribs took the sudden impact of two bodies. "SOMEONE GET US UP!" he yelled, using the last of breath to yell for someone else "BEFORE THE ElEVATOR GETS HERE!" Above, Skiff would see sparks in the distance, dancing in dark shaft as long distance screeching filled the air; emergency protocal, in a case of emergency elevator cable was cut, to make sure they couldn't follow you up.

Doors lunged for the captain and grabbed his suit. "JIM! Get your ass over here!" Jim quickly complied and grabbed a hold of Doors. Together the two soldiers pulled with all their might. Skiff was a big man, such as his name stated, and therefor extremely heavy. "PULL!" Doors yelled, tryng his best not to tear the cap's suit.

Rhod grunted hard, reaching out with a second arm and scrabbling at Skiff's arm "C-come on!" He hissed, biting his lip and hoping that his suit didn't split from all the tugging "DAMN YOU GRAVITY!" His arms were coming out of his sockets, his teeth were grinding together hard as he supported the massive beheamoth of a man.

Skiff had rendered several cables and other things he'd tried grabbing onto until he found a piece of exposed metal with which to grab onto. He added his own strength to the mix and found a hold for one of his feet also, climbing carefully towards the captain he was all too aware of the flying sparks hurtling towards him and the cap.

Kai's legs finally started functioning correctly and she more or less threw herself towards the elevator shaft. Ripping open the control panel, she tore a few wires loose, rewiring everything as fast as she could. "Oh, come on, shut down. Shut down. SHUT DOWN!" she yelled at the machine as she quickly rerouted the power.

Sojana felt utterly useless and made quick peace with her goddess before asking "Give me something to do!" After all last time she asked all Hizmahna had broken loose."

Kai didn't look away from what she was doing, but she did say quickly, "I left some parts behind if you could gather them." Indeed, the panel that covered her back had come loose and was laying on the floor, along with some small chips and wires.

Sojana managed to find the panel Kai was looking for and with her tail began sweeping any chips she saw towards her. She even went as far as to get on her hands and knees to search beneath all the equipment. if there was anything Kai was going to need Soj defiantly didn't want to miss it.

Skiff was hauled inside at the last second, the elevator went scratching past, showering the group with sparks but nothing worse. The elevator rattled downwards, then Rhod's head sparked "Sojana, Kai, step back, you're the last floor, you're going to get the brunt of this thing!"

As Sojana listened to the captain captain she also picked up on the rumbling/scraping sound of metal on metal as it got steadily closer. After taking fast appraisal of the rooms structure she grabbed Kai and took shelter at the far end of the room. She pushed Kai's head down almost against the floor and covered the robo-mechanic with her own body.

The rumbling and screeching got louder before the world exploded for Sojana and Kai, the doors bursting outwards in a spray of metal shards. Electric fires extinguished, black smoke swirled around the ceiling before the ventilation system pulled it out of the room, revealing the crumpled form of the elevator system. Something pink and watery was leaking from beneath the smashed metal casing, whether an invader or a frightened innocent was impossible to know beneath the twisted form of the lift.

Kai sat up slowly, eying the devastation. She sat back against the wall, taking a moment to reboot her systems and survey the damage. When Kai finally fully rebooted, she took stock of the damage to her own systems, then stood. "Should we check to see who is under there?" she asked Sojana slowly.

Sojana was already on her way towards the lift as the dust was still settling. her first notion was that the captain or one of her men had gotten taken down by the thing. She certainly didn't want to relive what happened to Dallas and her hearts where frozen at the thought of another one of her men dying. She lit into the rubble, pulling away Skiff sized sheets of metal and twisted steel as she searched for the origin of the pink goo. The only thing that gave her any solace at all was that humans where generaly red inside and not pink.

The figure was mangled beyond recognition, if it was one of her men then she wouldn't have been able to recognise the body, but the clothes and bone structure seemed not to be theirs. The clothes were normal, cloth, if seeming slightly dirty and worn; this might be one of the people who had tried to invade, trapped in the elevator until the lack of oxygen finally killed them.

Sojana's assessment of the thing's garments proved that, thank the goddess, he wasn't one of hers. It didn't seem quite human ether, not if he was mostly pink on the inside. She knew of only one other species that was similar to that shade but this creature didn't look aquatic at all.

The explosion rattled through the ship and had startled Dresden, who was still sitting in the docking bay. He listened closely to the comm, waiting for the command for extraction.

"Alright" Rhod said, panting slightly and patting a hand cautiously on Skiff's massive shoulder "Everyone alright? Suits still in tact? Engineering crew, what about you?" He wanted to check on Sojana and Kai, after all the entire ship had trembled as the elevator hit the floor.

"Fine, if you consider being jammed inside a hole in the wall three times too small alright..." Shaq'l'phard drawled into his microphone

"Then yes" Rhod sighed "At least now anyone alive will get oxygen. A few doors might have screens now the ship's locked down, that should let us see if anyone's on the other side before opening it."

Kai stood slowly, taking a quick stock of her own systems before connecting with everyone else. "I am okay. Have a few system malfunctions, nothing that cannot be fixed quickly." She looked at Sojana. "Is that lift a total loss?"

"We're not going to be using it any time soon." Sojana told her as she came away from the lift and keyed her comms "You alright captain? All my boys in tact?"
Her men had taken assessment of themselves. Jim and doors where fine, Rhodes was helping Skiff repair a rip in his suit with something that looked like good old fashioned duct tape. 

"Nothing that can't be fixed with a little tape" Rhod said, reporting back for Sojana "Alright, so now the gravity and power is turned on we're going to have to take another route up, I don't fancy people climbing an elevator shaft in full suit. You two should head up to Dresden, it's only a floor or two up from where you are, we'll see if we can find an air lock or something so we can let you in to meet us."

Kai gathered her parts and carefully attached them to herself before going to the elevator shaft and climbing in. Using the steel cable and handholds on the wall, she easily spider climbed up to where the captain and crew were. "Sorry about that, Captain. Do you need some help from here?"

"Well... alright" Rhod looked down from the hole in the wall, seeing far below where Sojana had been left "Sojana, I trust you can make it up to Dresden on your own? I don't fancy you trying to climb the wires." He should have to explain why it was bad for a team to split up to Kai later "Kai, if you can get in here we'll travel on. We need to make it a few more floors up, then we'll need you again probably."

"Hold on I didn't hear you!" Sojana called up the shaft, of course she heard him, but as far as difficult terrain went, this was nothing. She rearranged her muscle groups and, like a jungle cat, began a circular ascent of the shaft. Using her claws and dexterity to bound up the thing with minimal effort. "I'd prefer to stay with Kai sir, she almost became a greasy critter earlier." Sojana remembered the shock of electricity she'd received when she pulled Kai away from the engine and didn't think the girl could stand another reset like that.
"Crispy." Skiff said correcting his boss "Crispy Critter."

"Alright alright" Rhod sighed, spotting Sojana bounding up the walls far below "Am I the only one who can't climb this shaft?" Sighing he moved back slightly, letting anyone who wanted to move in to their free space.

"Sorry Cap." Sojana said suppressing a smile. "I missed you." She was Vidian after all, if she couldn't climb an elevator shaft then there was something seriously wrong with her. She realigned her muscle groups back to their original posture, or rather the posture she used when working around humans.

Kai's eyebrow rose slightly as she looked at Rhod. "I could connect you to me and make it up pretty easily," she said, still hanging from the handhold outside the area where everyone else was. "You may need me later." She certainly didn't want to have to wait with Dresden, but if the captain ordered it, she had no choice.

"The entire squad?" Rhod asked, watching Kai dangle and wondering if he should get upgraded soon before he started feeling inadequet. "If you can get us to the top floor quickly, good, but I don't want to put stress on you or leave people behind."

"We've got the proper gear for a grav climb sir." Sojana told the Cap. It was obvious she had no issues in dealing with the shaft and considering the rigorous training she demanded of her men it wouldn't be much of an issue for them.
Doors and Rhodes, both having been under Soj's command longer than Skiff and Jim already began readying their gear, complete with 1,000 strength cable and matching magnetic chucks.

Rhod was frowning however, checking the shaft and letting out a hiss of breath through his teeth "We'd be very exposed, and we don't know how many hostiles will be in the area." They didn't want to be caught dangling after all. "But it's the fastest way" he admitted "we'll try it, but at the first sign or trouble we're going for cover."

"Then let me go up first sir." Sojana requested "I'll take a quick recon of the immediate area and radio the situation back to you and we can proceed from there?"

"Alright, but Kai if you take Skiff and Doors up with Sojana you can all cover yourself, the rest of us will climb up after you and make sure the good doctor is alright" Rhod sighed gently casting a glance in Shaq'l'phard's direction.

"If there's someone up there they'll get their heads blown off." Sojana told the captain "One person is easier to hide than four. Let me go alone, I'll be alright."

"They're going to follow you up a second after you, you're not doing this alone Sojana" Rhod's gaze was hard on the woman, he was in charge of this opperation and he wasn't going to let Sojana countermand him at every turn, even if she could break him like a twig.

"I will go," Kai said. "If my head gets...blown off..." The phrase seemed unnatural coming from Kai's dual toned voice. "It's a simple enough repair." She was damaged enough that she knew she would have to go into at least a days stasis to repair, so a little more damage wouldn't make that much of a difference to her.

Sojana didn't like her ideas getting shot down. Especially when she'd been doing this twenty years and knew what she was talking about. If Kai got her head shot off and she where carrying Soj's men then then she'd be replacing two team members. "I insist my men climb up on their own sir. No offense Kai but if you short out I don't want to have to scoop Jim off the bottom with a stemmed eating utensil."
"Spoon." Rhodes corrected "It's called a spoon."

Kai swung into the small extra space, balancing perfectly on her toes so she was not crowding anyone. "I was not planning on carrying anyone with me on the reconnaissance mission." The small pout she made lasted only a split second. "If you want me to, I can." She really needed to give her info sheets to Sojana too. Kai made a mental note to do that later.

"Fine" Rhod just wanted them to get moving, Sojana was being difficult with him and he'd have to talk to her about this later. Right now it would be best to just let her do what she wanted, because her men were loyal to her obviously.

Sojana looked at her four and the men immediately finished tending their gear. "Skiff and Rhodes you take up the rear, Jim and Doors your with me." She pounced into the elevator shaft and immediately began her ascent. Strong talons and even stronger limbs lifted her high into the shaft where she waited for her men to begin joining her.
Jim and Doors swung into the shaft after setting their first round of magnetic chucks. They made relatively quick progress as Skiff and Rhodes waited for the captain and Kai.

Kai shrugged and swung herself outward again, grabbing onto the long cable. She climbed upward a bit slower than Sojana, wanting to stay behind her in case something did happen and she got into trouble.

Rhod sighed and began to set up his own clamps as well, making sure they were fully attatched to himself. He wouldn't swing out now, he'd wait for Sojana to give him the all clear first.