---

As they ascended they found two things, firstly that the higher they got the more blood seemed to have leaked from slightly jarred open doors. It appeared that fighting had been more prominant higher up in the ship, as mangled limbs could be seen sticking from shaft doors, blood seeping from any available gaps. The second thing they found as that there was a crude, half set up explosive charge on the alpha deck's doors; it appeared as if the person who had been in the elevator had been setting up something to breach the doors before they'd succumed to lack of oxygen or other wounds made invisible by the sudden drop.

"Sir we've got signs of trouble up here." Sojana communicated quietly. "Rhodes, get up here and take a look at this explosive." She keyed her mike to the captain again "Looks like someone was trying to breach the shaft up here sir. We've got an explosive."
Rhodes climbed forward, placing himself so he could use both his hands and still stay affixed to the shaft wall. "It's not very fancy, shouldn't take too long..."

"Don't drop them" Rhod advised, attatching himself to the wall and starting to climb up slowly "We have to try and cut through that door, if we can't a pile of explosives might come in handy." He didn't like the stillness of this place, how empty it felt. He guessed a lot of the enemies must have died when the air and gravity gave out but still... there should be something.

"I understand that as deactivate and harvest." Rhodes said looking at Sojana for conformation.
"Do it." Was all she told him and Rhodes set to work immediately.

Kai watched the proceedings. "Deactivate and harvest?" she mouthed to herself. She sat back and kept her eyes on what Rhodes was doing.

Rhod had a serious look on his face, as if he wasn't completely happy with how this was going. "How could something big enough to rip the ship to threads dissapear so quickly, and leave so few signs behind?" he mumbled to himself, keeping one eye on the disessembly of the bomb "And there's something fishy about this bomb..."

"Got it!" Rhodes chimed happily. He'd deactivated the detonator and pocketed it to take a look at later. "Worthless." He said shaking his head, he doubted the thing would even go off it was put together so quickly. The explosive it's self he handed to Sojana
"We have the explosive Rhodes is going to begin cutting now." She looked at the device and knew better than to question the lethality of a dirty explosive.

Swinging over to the wall, Kai was looking at one of the lower hatches. In a vacuum, the blood would be floating, but when the gravity had kicked in, it hit the deck and started seeping through. The amount of it told Ka'aias how many people had died on the other side of the door. She put a hand to the doorway, using the area where it wasn't quite closed to look through.

On the other side of the door it appeared to be a massacre, bodies were strewn across the floor, slumped agaisnt the walls and broken across practically every surface. The gravity had been sudden and powerful, so many of the dead bodies had landed hard, things had given in, it hadn't been the sscenery. There was a lot of crude weaponary around the place, stone strapped to wood, bats lodged in people's backs, it appeared that half the blood coated weapons were grabbed or made the last second. There was even the grissly sight of three people stuck together by a parasol from an outside cafe, pierced and pinned to a large broken palm tree.

"Captain," Kai said, uncertainty in her voice. "I think you need to see this." She moved to the side and waited for the Rhod to move closer. "What I would like to know is...where are all the real weapons?"

Rhod took a little while to get there, but eventually his own eye was pressed up against the hole in the door. Scanning slowly, his face became hard as he said "Civilians mostly. They wouldn't have guns of their own..." he kept looking, finding it his duty to do so and morbid curiosity egging him on "There aren't many security people there, but there are a few guns. I don't see any ones I don't recognise though... so I wonder who attacked."

"Captain, I do not think who it was is our concern. What they wanted...that seems to be the key here." Ka'aias searched through her memory banks on the ships and what each of these types carried. What would make the wholesale slaughter a good thing? She frowned slightly.

"That's what I'm trying to find out" Rhod said, looking up at the doors that they were cutting through "Command deck should allow me full access to the computer logs. I'd be able to do it myself, but something's wrong with the transmitter."

Sojana had seen a lot of blood in her lifetime but she's never seen so many civilians taken out by such crude weapons. Jim had fallen to the back of the pack, much more nervous than usual.

"Don't expect the control deck to be any better" Rhod said grimly "they breached the doors before, managed to get in. That's why I can't get in contact with the main computer. This seal" Rhod waved a hand at the door they were cutting through "Is simply because of the engine failure. I suspect the first wave of intruders got shot down, then a second wave were trying to blow the doors to get inside. This means there could be survivors inside as well..."

"Just a moment, Captain," Kai said, monkeying her way up to the door they were trying to get to. She really seemed to have no fear of death at all. Kai pulled a wire from her arm and connected it with the wall. Unseen to the others, the end of her wire worked its way through the metal, connecting with some of the ship's wiring. She was trying to find the state of the atmo on the other side of the door.

The camera beyond the door was damaged however, not so it didn't take video any more just shot off it's stand. Right now it dangled lamely in the corner of the room, a crack spreading across the lens while it gazed down at a corner; there was blood in there alright, and maybe a hand... maybe. It was just as bad in there was it was everywhere else. "How's the cutting coming?" Rhod asked, his nerves on edge.

"Looks like you might have your hands full Jim." Sojana told the new guy "You are supposed to be a medic right?"
"Yes ma'am," Jim spoke up from the back "Graduated first at the academy."
He had more to add but Rhodes interrupted him "But we're so good at not gettin frelled up that we ain't had a chance to test him out yet."
"And when was the last time you got shot?" Doors asked, remembering distinctly as far as the score went Rhodes was indeed the last guy to get shot.

Kai tuned out the conversation and instead tried to connect to a different camera. Her mind could potentially search most of the cameras in the vicinity, and maybe she could let the rest see if she found one that was useful. She also searched for the ever moving pulse of the main computer.

The computer fizzed occasionally, a flicker across Kai's mind that was just a crackle in Kai's systems; it seemed that either it was trying to keep her out by shutting itself away or badly damaged. Another camera was damaged, shot to pieces so Kai couldn't see through it, there was one more camera however, one in the arms of the Captain's chair. That one had a yellow tint on it, some bodily fluid having been spilt across it in the fight; what it did show of the room beyond was the front screen, the endless black stars out of the window, the mysterious liquids splashed across the consoles which sparked and smoked from damage.
There was one other thing, a huddled figure curled against the front desk, clutching a gun and looking from the front screen to the door the team were cutting through right now. They were far from the camera and difficult to make out, but it was easy to tell that the person was scared, armed and getting desperate.

"Wait! Stop!" Kai put out a hand towards the team cutting the door. "Captain, you need to see this." Internally, Kai turned her eye into a projector, showing what she was seeing from inside the room as a holographic image in front of her so Rhod could see it.

"Dammit" Rhod hissed "We've got a live one in there!" He was glad to see someone had actually survived this, but still it made it all the more difficult; they didn't know how this person would react when they got through. "Alright... is there any way we can contact them?" he asked, looking around and seeing no obvious way in sight.

"Gimme a sec." Doors spoke up and squeezed pass Sojana and took a look at the console Kai was jacked into, plugging in himself. "Don't worry, I'm just accessing the station's comms. I'm not gonna go any where near your hardware... or software."
"Ba dum tssshh..." Rhodes said with a smile. He was almost threw the door, just a few more inches.
Doors smiled as a sudden SSSSKKKKKK KA POPPOP erupted in the hall, loud enough to make everyone wince. "Sorry... OK, your on Captain."

"I..." Rhod went blank for a moment, then took the microphone in one hand and plugged it into his suit interface before speaking into it urgently. "This is a rescue mission, I repeat this is a rescue mission" he said loudly into the mike "We need access to this room and the systems here. This shaft is a vacuum, if you can get into pressure suit then do, quickly. We will give you" he looked to the door they were cutting through "Five minutes. Move quickly, the pressure suits are held to your left, behind a side panel."

The figure almost hit the floor when they heard the voice coming through the speakers, clutching the gun hard in one hand and shaking. Slowly they loosened up however, then their head began to turn frantically as they searhed for something off camera before finally running out of sight. What they were doing no one could tell, the camera couldn't move and they couldn't hear anything from the other side of the door while they were suspended in empty space.

Ka'aias gave Doors a sideways look and winked at him. "I have no worries about my hardware." She began disconnecting herself from the console, leaving the connection to the camera up. "Captain, he is on the move."

Doors had something to add to Kai's little wink but he knew Sojana would disapprove while she was communicating with the captain.
"Sir," Sojana said "What if we send in Jim first? That infant face of his-"
"Baby-face." Rhodes corrected
"I do not--" But Jim was interrupted by the Boss
"Might discourage the man to open fire and Jim could give him a see-look."
"Look-see." Rhodes finished as he cut. Long ago he'd made it his own personal mission to "humanize" Sojana's vocabulary.
She flicked the back of his helmet with her tail for correcting her more than once in a statement and continued "No offense to the Doc or anything, but he's liable to freak if he sees him."

Shaq'l'phard had been busy doing as was requested of him on this ridiculous mission. Presently he had his 'hands' deep inside some poor sou's chest cavity. "Hrmmmm....interesting...." He looked up as he heard Sojana's comment and flicked his comm, "I heard that, you ungrateful Vidian hussy. This one hopes you need not severe medical attention that your field medic cannot assist you with."

"Maybe you should have just let him eat one of your eggs?" Skiff said suppressing a smile, then quickly stowed it when Sojana looked at him... she could be super creepy when she wanted to be.

"I'll go first" Rhod said in a determined voice, he wouldn't be countermanded on this order "With Jim, if they are what I think they are I will need to go in first, but Jim can be my backup. And since you're so busy doc, got any idea of what might have caused all of this?"

"What caused all of this? How the bloody hell should I know what caused these people to go insane?" Shaq'l'phard replied as he pulled the person's heart from their chest cavity. "This person was killed. He didn't die from exposure to vacuum. Hrmmmm....very..Very interesting."

"So you're saying they killed each other, there doesn't appear to be any outside influence on this?" Rhod asked, eyes trailing back to where the doc was. He really shouldn't just wonder off like that...

"No....I'm saying this gentleman was killed. However there is no evidence of weapons fire on him. So until I study more conclusively, I cannot determine cause of death other than he wasn't killed by the vacuum." Shaq'l'phard specified smoothly. He looked down at the body again. "I see no signs of strangulation or blunt force trauma...without the instruments I have back in my laboratory, I cannot ascertain the precise cause of his death." He slid the man's heart into his bag quietly

Sojana gave Jim the eye to back up the Captain. She also gave him a few reassuring clicks, telling him to watch his trigger finger.
Jim clicked back in responce, taking a few deep breaths to steady himself before he and the Cap went in.

Rhod nodded to Jim before he swung over to the carved doorway, attatching a clamp to it so he could drag it free and let it drop. The gravity carried it all the way down the shaft to join the mess at the bottom. He swung in slowly, walking a few steps in and looking around for the person he had seen on the camera.

Jim hunkered a bit and took care not to graze the molten edges of Rhode's new door. Sojana eased into the door way behind them, signaling to Skiff and Doors to back her up while rhodes packed away his gear.

Rhod sighed what he saw the figure, it was exactly as he'd thought. "You can come in" he called into his suit's mic "It's only the computer." The figure wasn't wearing a suit, even in the airless environment, and their body was strangely slumped as they stood, as if it was only just supporting itself. It was the captain, the dead captain. You could tell she was dead because of the hole blown through her chest, a clean burnt hold all the way through her body; she was a grissly scene, even without the hole she was peppered with bits of metal from when the first door had been burst through. One robotic eye focused on the group entering, the mouth of the body moving but no sound coming out because of the massive hole where the lungs should be.

Sojana and her men filed in, two against the right wall and two against the left. Leavign Kai to come in last and Jim standing a few paces behind the captain... the alive captain.

Kai followed the rest, swinging herself through the hole and landing behind Sojana's men. When she saw the dead captain, her body stiffened a bit. Ka'aias instinctively stayed behind the men, away from the reanimated corpse, not out of fear, but out of self preservation. She was all computer, mostly intact, and had no wish to share her system with the ship's main personality.

"Spread out" Rhod said, waving one arm out to try and make the team fan out across the room and give him some space. He walked forward towards the animated corpse, noting that the woman might have been quite pretty at some time before this terrible... whatever had happened here. "Forgive me captain" he said, reaching out towards her head slowly and cupping her cheeks for a moment. His fingers slid around gradually, before he press his thumb firmly into her right eye; with a soft squelch and the sound of something powering down the body dropped to the floor, and Rhod stood there with the robotic eye in his hand.

Sojana and her men where already spreadding out along the outer wall of the bridge upon entry. Skiff sort of took it upon himself to keep an extra eye on Kai and since she was so keen to stay out of the way, made sure to stay in front of her.
"Captain?" Sojana asked quietly.

Rhod held up a finger to silence Sojana for a moment, placing the eye in a small compartment in his chest; one arm of his suit went limp, obviously Rhod had taken his actual arm out of it. He opened the hatch from inside his suit and pulled the eye out, closing the hatch again and moving his arm slowly around inside his suit. Slowly his hand worked up to eye level, turning the robotic pupil to face his own; there was a light coming from it that sent shadows skittering across his face, then it faded. "Alright" Rhod said with a slight groan, placing the eye back into the small airlock and working his arm back into the suit "Kai, try accessing the computer now."

Kai shot Rhod a nervous look before making her way over to the console. She plugged herself into the control panel, careful to keep her walls up in case the ship was trying something funny. She gave both Rhod and Skiff, who had been standing near her, a look before making the final connections with the computer.

Sojana fell silent as ordered and completed her parimiter check of the brig. There where bodies scattered about but they'd long since grown cold. One or two looked as if their eyes had been sucked out by the vacume and others looked as if they'd been beaten to to deat by something or some one.

All at once the computer screens flickered on, some broken, some smashed in and some shot to pieces but all still flickering with remains of life as the computer booted itself up. Unfortunatley, the light and sparks of the computer returning to life highlighted the demise of the crew, shadows making the bullet wounds and sucking holes look like craters, slashes look like blood curdled gorges and the exposed bone and metal shine like stars. The computer focused on Kai's wereabouts, the entire system practically baring down on her, but it was not trying to crush her out, merely get used to her. "Good day Kai" it said, the words metalic until it came to her name, sounding strangely like Rhod's own voice in her mind "The systems are restoring, are you here to assist my processing power?"

"In any way that I can assist," Kai's own computer voice answered. Her mind paused on the sound of her name and she put that away for processing later. "May I download the camera footage from the last 72 hours?" she asked politely, not wanting to distract the computer. "Also, some of the systems seemed too damaged to function correctly. What help do you need with those?"

"The files you will be interested in are here" the computer voice replied, a small file coming into Kai's mindspace called "attack". "Protocol dicatates that I follow all breaches of the hull to their conclusion, that is the tapes of the attack on this ship. As for my functions, I will attempt to recover them with the aid of your own ship. You are not required for such transaction."

Kai accepted the file, scanning it in her mind while she opened herself up to help offset the processes in the computer, copying some of her own processing information into a compressed file to send to the computer. The damaged systems were beyond saving, but she could make the connection easier. Kai looked back at Rhod and nodded. "I have the files and am assisting in the reboot."

"Permission to speak sir?" Sojana asked and this time waited for the go-ahead. She really hoped whatever happened here wasn't infectious and that they where nearing the end of this little expedition.

"Yes Sojana?" Rhod asked, rubbing his robotic eye slightly and trying to ignore the slight tingling sensation he was getting there right now. He really wanted this mission over as well, but the amount of mangled bodies really put the explorers thrill out of this.

"Will we be continuing with the search when we are done here?" Sojana asked. It wasn't her nerves or anything but the sheer likelihood that they would find any survivors seemed next to nothing.

"After the ship has been rebooted we will be able to access cameras, even some across in the other half of the ship. We will scan for life, then if... there isn't any, we will leave" Rhod didn't like to think the entire ship was dead... but it seemed like a high chance.

"I can help with the search sir." Doors offered. He'd never been in a computer like this before but he was sure he could lend a hand with something like this.

"Soon, but right now it is making a recovery of it's systems and files from our own computer..." Rhod decided not to say it was through his own head. If this was interrupted it might give him a blinding headache. Or a seizure. "Where is the doctor? I want him to be ready in case emergency recovery is needed."

"Right here. Doing as I was ordered, Captain." Shaq'l'phard shouted from down the hall a little ways. "You wanted me to examine bodies, I'm examining bodies as I come across them." As if to emphasize his point, he tore the liver from the body he was immersed in presently. He held it up and studied it. "Hrmm...interesting..." he mumbled as he slipped it into his bag

"Is anyone else as cheeped out by him as I am?" Rhodes asked, looking between the faces in their group.
Jim didn't say anything but he raised his hand.

Rhod said nothing as well, but his own hand shot into the air to declare his unsettled feelings of the doctor. He sighed for a moment, rubbed his head and blinked several times "Alright... that's all the systems it can recover up. We're going to have to look for the survivors on the cameras now."

Kai patched herself into the cameras, getting a live feed into her own systems and recording as she did so. Without really moving at all, she explored which cameras were up and which weren't.

The screens above the group's head flickered into life, the ones that worked displayed a series of camera shots that changed every now and then as Kai searched. There were thousands of cameras, quite a lot were damaged and only static burnt onto the screen for a few moments; the ones that didn't showed the carnage that had spread throughout the ship. Broken limbs, pools of blood men, women and children shattered across the floor from the sudden increase of gravity. There was practically no signs of life... but for a brief moment, in the police headquarters, a shadow flickered past the window.

"There!" Sojana and Doors said simultaneously when the shadow moved.
Then Doors accessed a console by jacking in, flipped the image back and froze it on the console on his arm so Kai could continue searching. He unplugged himself and showed the image to the captain. "I think I can clean it up a little." He said and began fiddling with his keypad.

Kai gave Doors a smile as he accessed the image. She continued scanning the rest of the cameras, using only part of her internal memory to do so. Her external attention was on Doors' console, looking at the image.

"No need" Rhod said as he glared at the shadow "Something moved in there, we're going to investigate this. There's a small problem..." He took a light breath, the oxygen in his helmet feeling strangely stale "It's on the other side of the ship." The other side, the side that had been split from the side they were on now.

Dresden's finger hesitated over the reply switch on the comm. He had been monitoring their progress from the ship. If ordered, he could easily make a port on the other side of the stranded vessel--Hal's were, of course, designed to blast and build their own pod doors into other ships. "Permission to speak, sir," he requested over the comm.

It took Rhod a moment to realized it was Dresden talking, after all the man had been silent for a very long time. "Permission granted" he said, slightly surprised that someone was asking his permission at this point; at least he was sure the ship they'd come on was alright right now.

"I can get you to the other side of the ship," Dresden said. "It's less risky than making the jump in open space."

Rhod looked around, then nodded "Alright, we'll head back to the ship." He hoped that if the people were alive they'd be friendly... but if not he had Sojana and her team on hand. He just hoped for some answers though.

Ka'aias looked at Rhod. "Captain, should I keep monitoring and keep you updated or come with?" She really wanted to go, but she knew that no one else could monitor the cameras with her efficiency or speed.

Rhod cast a glance to Ka'aias and thought for a moment "If you can do it from a wireless connection yes, but I don't want to leave you up here and we need all the people we can to come help with the shadow we saw." He didn't like the idea of leaving Kai up here when she was a bit damaged from fixing the engine.

Sojana and the boys where more than a bit curious about what Dresden would be proposing. They where equipped for what they called a hull crawl but if he had a better idea they where willing to try it out.

Kai nodded and disconnected from the main terminal, keeping a stream of the images going through her comm device. With her computer temporarily distracted, she had to rely on her human senses to move her to where they needed to be. Kai moved away from the terminal, moving a bit slower than normal.

"Alright" Rhod said with a soft sigh, watching his team getting ready again "Lets hope nothing catches us on the way down." There was still the chance of life out there they hadn't seen, there were enough damaged cameras to cause a black hole in several areas.

The list of things that could survive the vacuum of space wasn't very long but Sojana and her men didn't fancy meeting any of them. "It won't last long around us if it does." She said confidently. Such creatures might be severely dangerous, but as always she and the boys remained armed to the teeth. Thank the goddess for flat space technology.

Rhod was the first to swing down into the shaft, his suit clipped onto the climbing gear they'd used to get up there. He looked down into the drop, stretching on far below to the wreckage of the elevator shaft; somehow he'd thought this part of his day would be over when he became the captain of a space vessel. Finally he began to climb down, moving much faster than when they were coming up now the artificial gravity was on their side.

Kai made it to the elevator shaft and climbed outward. She threw herself out onto the cables and kept her grip just tight enough so she could easily slide downward at a steady pace. With her legs wrapped loosely around the cables, it was much like a fireman's pole. She halted her progress when she reached halfway to the entrance and waited for the others, not wanting to get too far ahead.

The boys descended steadily while Sojana bounded down the walls, her nimble body making short work of the decent. She reached the bottom before any of her men and took her spot behind the captain.

Rhod disengaged the gravity clamps and tucked them onto his back, nodding to Sojana and taking the point as they made their way slowly back to the hanger. The wreckage was a thankful reprieve from the blood that had been so freely spilled above...

Kai took her position a little behind Sojana. She followed towards the hanger, keeping watch on the cameras as she went.

"Open the doors Dresden" Rhod said as he caught sight of the ship; he had a small team on his side, some of the best, but still he didn't like the idea of going against whatever caused this mess.

The pod doors opened willingly. Dresden prepped them in the isolation chamber and let them through to the cabin. "All aboard who are coming aboard?" He asked.

Skiff and Doors brought up the rear following the Doc. Skiff hit the door release and Sojana told Dresden "We're in... and If you don't mind my asking, what is this maneuver of yours?"

"Well, as you know, this is a Marauder-class ship. Hals were originally used in the Titan war to board and destroy Paladins." He broke off from the docking bay and coasted to the other half of the ship, moving past the shredded hull about twenty feet where his sensors implied an enclosure. "Usually they take the hullhooks off Hals for civilian use, but we're not exactly civilians, are we?" He grinned up at Sojana and flipped the vessel, easing it up until the hullhooks on the top of the ship connected with the hull. His hand rotated gently as a grinding noise whirred from the hooks and sealed the opening as soon as it was made, allowing only minimal pressure loss. "Atmosphere looks solid," He said. "This must be past the emergency seals." He opened the isolation chamber to let them out.

"Very pretty." Rhodes said with a smile. Dresden really seemed to know what he was doing.
"Alright, on your toes boys." Sojana ordered them and out of reflex the group doubel checked their valves, seals and ammo.

"Smart thinking Dresden" Rhod admitted, grinning as he checked his own seals again, eyes roaming over his team to make sure they were all functional. "Do you want a moment in here for self repair?" he asked Kai, noticing she looked slightly worse for wear now they were out of that place; she'd taken quite a beating repairing that engine.

Kai slid a hand across her back panel, pressing inward. A small tinkling noise could be heard by anyone close by, as well as a steady dripping onto the deck she was standing on. With the grav working, a small pool of reddish brown was forming. She looked down at the growing puddle and frowned. "I think the damage has gone past self repair at this point, Captain," she said quietly. Putting the stress on her system like she was, naturally the damage had gotten worse and had spread into her biological system.

"Doc!" Rhod called out loudly to the man, hoping that he had actually followed them down to the ship. He forgot to check on the bird man sometimes. "Ok Kai, you're sitting this out for now" he said, a slightly worried tone in his voice as he placed a hand on Kai's shoulder.

"Not a bad idea," Kai said, removing her hand from the panel on her back. Her computer parts were repairing themselves, which only meant that the red-brown puddle became purely red. Kai took a part from her arm and handed it to Rhod. "A remote so I can still interact with the ship and open doors or repair parts. Just connect this to the wall..." She stopped talking, taking a seat nearby. "I will just stay here then."

Shaq'l'phard looked up when Rhod hollered for him. "Always with the yelling..." He mumbled as he ambled over to Kai. He knew she was the reason he was being called for, given the puddle of blood at her feet. "I thought you were mechanical?" He asked curiously

"Only half," Ka'aias said, looking up at the doctor. "Half biological functions. The bio and mech parts are nearly fully integrated." She cringed as she sat back on the seat.

"Fascinating." Shaq'l'phard replied with a strange clicking noise from his beak. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "So how may I be of service to your biological half?"

"Stop the bleeding doc" Rhod said simply, taking the device and tucking it safely into his suit's belt. "Her mechanical and biological parts are integrated, she might heal faster than us because she has an advanced repair unit, but it's not much use if she bleeds to death."

Kai gave Rhod a look that said he was overreacting. "I cannot bleed to death. Okay, not entirely, anyway. My mechanical parts can rebuild the biological parts in the span of several days. However I will lose whatever memory is stored in my biological mind." She shrugged and checked with her internal computer. "I have a perforated liver as well as a damaged nerve cluster. The blood is coming from my-" Kai stopped talking suddenly as she clutched at her stomach and spewed blood on the floor, nearly missing the doctor but covering the shoes of those nearby. "Teaches me for playing with magnets," her computer voice said through her comm device.

"Here doc." Doors said pulling a small pouch of something out of his gear. "This might come in handy." It was a kit he often used to make repairs to electronics in the field. There where drivers, tape, grounding nodes and a whole mess of things he was quite expert with. "It's no where near as fancy as what she's built out of but you might be able to use some of it."

"Would you like a replacement liver?" Shaq'l'phard asked her curiously. "I happened to pick one up along the way. May have been dead for a while, but luckily the vacuum of space tends to preserve some things. I'm sure your systems could get it back up and running. Or would you prefer for me to try and repair the damages to your organs?"

Kai still hadn't sat up yet, but her computer voice spoke out clearly. "You can replace it, doctor. It will keep me from bleeding out and save days in stasis."

"As long as you will be capable of reactivating the organ, I will replace it." Shaq'l'phard told her. He was not about to replace an injured organ with an effectively dead one.

"I am able," Kai answered, finally sitting back up and wiping blood from her face. She really hated getting injured. Everyone made a huge deal of it when really, she could regenerate better than most.

"Alright, if you can take care of Kai doc, we'll head on ahead and check out the shadows we saw" Rhod said, looking around towards the door that lead out to the ship "Catch up when you can, Kai you're out of commission right now..."

Shaq'l'phard set his medkit down and took out a scalpel. "Are you capable of shutting off your pain receptors or must I use an analgesic?"

Kai gave Rhod a small nod before looking at the doctor. "Pain receptors off," she said as she shut down the nerve endings so she wouldn't feel anything. She lay on her stomach, as the metal lining the front would make it impossible for the doctor to get through.

Shaq'l'phard was indeed a highly skilled surgeon, but this was the first time in ALL his years that he was operating on one of Kai's species. He was delightfully nervous as he started the incision.

"Alright, Sojana?" Rhod's eyes turned away from this sight, moving to Sojana and her team "You geared up?" It felt like a stupid question by now, they always seemed to be. "Dresden? The doors lead into a sealed part of the ship correct? Still..." he tugged at his suit "Just in case..."

Dresden looked at Rhod and nodded. "Atmosphere reads stable, sir, but be advised, pockets of trapped air may be scarce and you will likely run into closed emergency hatches." He opened the hatch and a gentle rush of air greeted them. His eyes returned to Shaq'l'phard and Kai, watching in pensive fascination.

Sojana and the boys gave the Cap' thumbs up when he asked if they where ready. "Don't worry." Rhodes said indicating his suits internal wielding gear "I've got the key." He smiled his trade mark cocky smile.

"I'm hoping not to run into too many vaccum pockets" Rhod said as he walked calmly towards the door "And now that the computer is on our side we might be able to pass without too much welding." He stepped out into the corridor beyond, luckily no one was killed here, only broken pieces and sealed off doors "Alright..."

Kai tapped her fingers on her arm as she felt a tug that meant the doctor was working. She kept her mechanicals at bay, knowing that they would attack any would-be intruder. Where he was cutting, he would run across many of what looked to be wires and circuits connecting the metal to the fleshy bits. The liver was encased in several wires, some which had already disconnected, the rest disconnecting, until it was left only connected to the biological matter.

Slowly, Shaq'l'phard disconnected the liver from the vital connections. He removed the perforated liver and placed it on the bench where Kai was laying. With practiced ease, he inserted the 'fresh' liver and began reattaching the connections to the undamaged organ.

Dresden closed the doors behind them for general safety reasons and watched the operation in awe. "The level of control you have over your body is extraordinary," he said softly.

Kai glanced over at Dresden and gave him a small nod. "Only the mechanical parts. The biological is far beyond my control. A network of machinary is fine, however the human body far surpasses that."

"Bah!" Shaq'l'phard scoffed at Kai's notion. "The human body is horribly overrated. I have seen many who far surpasses their kind." He quickly finished the procedure and closed her up. "Are there any other biological damages that you need me for?"

---

Sojana and the boys circled the captain, Skiff and Rhodes on point with Doors and Jim in the back with Soj and the Cap in the middle. They continued to run on their own air supply, when they came to clean pockets the used air wold be replaced after the new was filtered.

"Through here" Rhod said, moving over to the blank wall, rubbing his palm across it and frowning "If we cut through here we should be on the main deck of the facility area, the security section is seperate from all access except the front during normal gravity... so we're going to have to go up to the doors. I don't think this is going to be very easy."

Rhodes stepped forward and immediately began cutting without being ordered. Sojana told the captain "We're prepared sir."

Rhod nodded and turned his head back to the entrance to the ship "Dresden, seal the entrance tight, we don't know the state of the ship back here, it might be vaccum for all we know." He didn't like the idea of Kai and the Doc being sucked into space when they finally cut through.

"Good luck, sir," Dresden replied, and shut the doors. Besides Shaq'l'phard's squelching work, it was silent aboard the Hal.

Rhodes worked silently which wasn't usually like him. Doorks took it upon himself to give Jim's seals and gear a once over for good measure. Sojana stepped next to the captain and on a secure channel asked him. "Have you heard of anything like this happening before sir?"

"No, but we've never had call to carry so many people, so many different items and so many protocols just to protect us. Ships dissapear, yes, but never on this scale, never entire cities getting... pillaged like this. Not since the wars, and even then people claimed responsibility" Rhod said slowly, glaring at the door Rhodes was cutting. Sojana knew the wars he was talking about, the ones her father would have been in, with and against the humans as well. At least in there people had had some restraint, some hint of morals... this was insane slaughter, barbaric.

"It reminds me of stories I heard when I was a hatchling." Sojana admitted "Ships being ravaged like this. Those stories were old in my grandfather's time, they seemed like your Booger Man stories humans tell their offspring."

"All stories have... some truth behind it" Rhod said, placing a hand on the door that Rhodes was making and giving it a slight push, wondering if it would give in. He bit his lip slightly and glanced back at the ship they had just left... something was bugging him at the moment, something small but... he didn't know what.

"Alright sir." Rhodes said beneath the captain. He placed his hands and gave a shove, the new door gave but he was forced to put his shoulder into it, but it still didn't give completely. Sojana moved him out of the way and gave a nod to Skiff and pointed her head to the door. The hulk of a man moved forward and kicked in the make-shift door. Obligingly it caved in immediately.

It was a good feeling to know tht Skiff was on your side, it was a bit like taking a bear to the dog fights. As Rhod had predicted, the first thing that happened as they kicked open that door was an immense suction, strong enough to drag Skiff off his feet; and he would have been pulled straight out of the hole and over the edge of the drop waiting for them there if Rhod hadn't managed to wrap an arm around the huge man and help anchor him in place until the air had left the room they were in. "Careful" he hissed, feeling as his arm was about to dislocate "Real... careful alright?" He looked over the edge of the hole, rotating his shoulder slightly at the strange feeling there "Alright, a few feet to the left is a walkway, we could jump or use the clamps again."

"I'll check it out, if it's been weakened we can use our gear." Sojana checked her gear to make sure she wouldn't get snagged on anything when she jumped. She stepped back a few paces and went for it, sailing over the gap and landing gracefully on the other side.

Rhod watched from the cut out door as the walkway rattled, but remained suspended. They were used to transport those looking for any of the services offered here, so they should hold up for the team easily. "Alright lads" he said, taking a few steps back from the door "See you on the other side!" He ran forward quickly, jumping and lifting his legs as if he was leaping over a hurdle. He caught the walk way, landing hard on the edge and coughing as the wind was knocked from him. He scrabbled up the edge, rolling onto his back and taking a few deep breaths as he recovered from the blow.

Sojana grabbed him by the shoulder and slid him out of the way so the next man could jump the distance. Only JIm opted to use hooks, not trusting the distance he could jump.

Rhod patted Jim on the back as he finally joined them, turning to gaze down at the far side of the walkway. The security section waited for them there... "Security has it's own power" he said to the team, eyes flitting to the door way "It also has turrets on the outside. We might encounter some resistance, so keep your eyes open."

"Skiff." Sojana said and the hulk of a man moved forward. He wore the most armor, if they found themselves under fire Skiff's armor could resist long enough to take out the defenses.

Rhod followed close behind Skiff, if he was right they should get a warning shot at first, to make them back off. He still didn't like the idea of getting shot at by guns that belonged to a ship like this... He glanced up at the turrets as two pieces of wall slid back to show the shining barrels like curious turtles poking out their heads to dispense death. "Easy now" he said, edging closer... before hitting the deck; that was too close to be a warning shot. Either someone was controlling them badly or the chip that did the aiming was damaged, either way he didn't like getting shot at.

Jim and Rhodes hit the deck after The captain, Doors took a knee, ducking behind Skiff and Sojana popped off a round back at the turret. She didn't bother pulling her rifle, her service pistol was enough at this distance. The gunny's round penetrated the turret's barrel and exploded a fraction of a second later.

Rhod grimaced and looked at the other turret... but it hadn't opened fire as the other one had. "Come on" he said gently, standing up and looking warily at the turret "I... I don't think whatever attacked used guns."

Sojana didn't respond, she was keeping an eye on the remaining turret lest is suddenly decide to fire. Jim and Rhodes picked themselves up from the floor and fell in line behind Doors. Jim was defiantly jumpy but Rhodes didn't fancy his petrol tank catching a round.

"Alright... alright we can't cut through the door" Rhod said as they got within a few steps of the door "If there's no vaccum the other side we'll suffocate the people there. We've... we've got to knock." It sounded foolish to say really, but that was the best idea; murderers didn't knock after all, it should at least disarm the people inside.

"What about those." Jim said speaking up for once. he was pointing at a series of pipes that ran along the wall ahead of them.
Doors looked at Jim and patted him on the back. "I got it boss." He squeezed forward and pulled a cabar from his belt. Using the butt of the knife began tapping on one of the pipes.
"Not our code Doors." Sojana told him once she heard his pattern.

"Hang on..." Rhod seemed to pause for a moment, then went over to the pipes and tapped the right code for this ship. He had a direct link to this ship after all. "alright... not like we're going to hear a reply..." he mumbled, watching the pipes with interest. The sound of compressed air being suddenly unburdened rushed through though as the air escaping allowed some noise to go through their comms. "Alright..." Rhod looked at the door beyond the first door, the gap between barely big enough to fit two normal people. Skiff would have to go in by himself. "They know we're friendly..." but did the group know that the people inside were? "Sojana, you and me through first."

"Aye sir." Sojana said checking her ammo display out of habit. She moved forward with him and held her pistol ready just in case.

Rhod stood with her to the very edge of the door inside, closing his eyes and saying gently "Hope you're not claustraphoic." The door that they had just entered through slammed shut, leaving them in a space between both doors, almost coffin tight, leaving them completely alone and rather vulnerable. A faint hissing filled the air, and Rhod knew that they were being re-pressurised. The door in front of them shot open quickly, revealing... a large group of armed, very scared looking men, barricaded behind everything they could find in the room. Most of them were wearing the security uniform, a lot of them armed with guns; they had a distinct feeling of being "backed into a corner" about them. "We're here to help!" Rhod said as he pulled his mask away from his face "Who's in command?!"

Sojana's weapon was semi-poised. These guys were frightened and she doubted, unless they suddenly went stupid, that they;d open fire just yet.

Doors shot forward the moment the door shut behind the boss and the captain. "Let me cut threw it." Rhodes said squeezing pass Skiff, his cutter already poised and lit.
"It's a pressure door, it'll take you a solar day to cut threw it." Doors told him.
"Explosives." Skiff replied, making it sound like the next obvious choice.
"That might kill them." Jim said speaking up and shrinking back to the back of the group again.