The slip-transit effect shimmered in the air, then the group of people materialized in the large bay. The tall, almost rake thin woman looked around as her security and engineering squad spread out, then activated a wrist mounted communicator. "We're aboard," Chief Engineer Lucas Anais, "there's standard atmosphere, but remaining power levels are low." Captain Allison Tennison replied, "Any sign of crew?" Amara looked around cautiously, the black haired woman holding a pistol in the ready position. "Fan out with the engineers," she said to Roma and Sharin as the conversation continued behind them, "in case there are any Star Empire troops aboard." "We haven't really started exploring yet," Lucas replied to her captain gently, "but I'll notify you when we do." There was the sound of a puffed out breath. "Then carry on at your own discretion," Allison said, "and be careful." "Will do," Lucas agreed before the captain signed off. 'She's probably like to be over here too,' she thought, 'but the Commander wouldn't allow it.' The lights around them were dim, with only emergency systems still operating after the powerful electromagnetic pulse had hit the sentinel station. Any normal celestial event, the place's shields and armor could deflect and withstand, but the artificial pulse had been many times more powerful than anything they had been designed to take. "I'm still not quite sure why I'm here with the security squad," Sharin commented, the blonde haired woman looking around calmly. Amara smiled grimly, "Your powers as a Questor, mostly. With how short on crew we are, I'd rather have you here." "I'm touched," Sharin smiled wryly. Lieutenant Sam C'tarn smiled slightly, his nearly bald head gleaming and beard sprinkled with gray. "So what's the plan, Chief?" he asked. Lucas smiled back at him, "Not much of one, I'm afraid. Roma and I will head to the power core to reboot the system, you, Sharin, Michelle and Amara head to the command center, we'll need the internal scanners to determine station's status." Michelle Allen nodded thoughtfully, her long rose tinted hair falling down her back gracefully. "You should be able to restart the fusion core," she frowned, "but why didn't we just directly slip-transit there?" "Too much internal armor," Lucas said crisply, "Alex couldn't be certain we wouldn't transit right into a solid object." Sam visibly paled as he murmured, "Say no more." The effects of slip-transiting into a solid object were commonly known, though very few witnessed the phenomenon and lived. Much like matter and antimatter the two objects would be almost instantly converted to pure energy, generating a massive explosion. "Then let's go," Michelle said to them firmly, "there's only so long the air will stay breathable in here without power." Together the two groups hurried to the emergency conduits, using the ladders there to either climb or descend to the correct levels. "I can't believe we have to do this in this era," Amara grumbled, a bit of sweat soon staining her uniform. "Could be worse," Michelle commented, pulling herself up forcefully. "Oh?" Sharin growled. "We're not under full ships gravity because of the shut down," Sam puffed as he dragged himself forward, "it'd be worse with power active." "A good point," Amara conceded. She frowned as she looked up the circular tube they climbed in, one nearly as wide as she was tall and asked, "Are the security systems active under emergency power?" "No," Michelle replied, "the security grid is considered a lower priority, especially with life support systems on low." "Thank gods," Sharin replied honestly. There was a hatch just ahead of them set into the wall, the numerals beside it indicating the floor and section. "I think we're near the command center?" "Yup," Sam calmly grabbed the handle and turned, a soft squeaking following the hatch shifting up to reveal a dim corridor beyond. "Me first," Amara gestured the others as she entered into the hallway, pistols drawn as she scanned around her warily. Once she was sure the coast was clear she waved the other out, the group heading up the hall. Michelle had the schematics on her portable, scrolling through the files as they walked. "The command center should be just ahead," she said, "and there's an emergency shelter nearby, too." "We can check that once we finish with the command center," Sam replied firmly. He smiled slightly, "And knowing Lucas we should have main power up soon, too." Down in engineering Lucas smiled slightly, her head buried in an open console even as Roma held a light-unit up to help her see. "The fusion-core's containment fields are degrading," Roma noted calmly, "they will fail in less than two minutes." "Plenty of time," Lucas answered, bodily ripping a segment of wiring out and attacking the circuitry with her plasma-arc. A little over a minute later she activated the system, smiling broadly as the power levels of the containment field crept up again. "I'm impressed," Roma conceded, the silver skinned android plugging into a console nearby to monitor the station's systems. Lucas just shrugged, moving over to the main console and typing away. "Comes with the job," she answered, swiftly running through the protocols to bring power back up in the station. In moments lights went from dim to their normal intensity, even as the gentle gravity increased to the planetary standard. "Sam," Lucas activated her communicator, "you've got power, start bringing main systems and internal scanners on line." "Understood," Sam answered, "and we'll start looking for the crew, too." Lucas switched over to command frequencies and hailed the Liberty's Sword. "Captain, main power has been restored," she reported. "Well done," Allison replied warmly, "carry on at your own discretion." "Thank you," Lucas nodded, feeling pleasantly surprised that the Captain wasn't trying to joggle her elbow. 'Then again the Commander is there to keep her in line,' Lucas noted. "We'll report in as soon as anything new develops," she said. "Any idea of the extent of damage to the station?" Allison asked. "No major structural damage yet," Lucas answered cautiously, "but the circuitry I saw was a mess, fused connections and melted segments." "Finding the crew would be our top priority," Allison said firmly, "they can then tell us how much assistance we need." "On it," Lucas nodded, "I have a team in the command center working on getting internal sensors on as we speak." Allison chuckled, "I'll leave you to your work, then." Lucas signed off, then looked over to Roma. "How are the internal systems?" she asked her curiously, noting the distant look in her eyes. "Most station systems are registering some damage," Roma calmly noted as she withdrew her consciousness from the system, the connection cable returning to her wrist, "I've tried to reroute around any damaged systems, however." "Then let's head to the bridge," Lucas said as they walked out of the power room, heading down the hallway to the emergency hatch.. "Thankfully the lifts should all be operating," Roma pointed out, almost sounding relieved. They stepped into the empty tube, a soft glow surrounding them as they were whisked up gently but quickly. "Thanks," Lucas smiled, "I forgot." "It's a talent I lack," Roma conceded. They reached the command center level only to blink in surprise, seeing the floor covered with people milling about. "Guess Sam found the crew," she remarked wryly.
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