The Skyefall

Cole would hug the little one tight, taking care not to hurt her arm:: " No sweetie, he's gone....... I've got you though, and I promise I will keep you safe." Jesse nodded keeping silent and helping Cole get the girl up and begin walking back.

Hyaku seeing the woman walking in would go over and  check the older gentleman and then hell over at some of the medics.  MEDIC!!!!! CONCUSSION HERE.  He'd then  help the woman and the younger teen over to a place they could sit. Can I get you some water? I'm sure someone will be able to help with the her shock, but as you can see its very hectic here.

Tim would Enter into the ships surveillance systems and start checking any of the outer sealed airlocks and if they were compromised he'd attempt to surge the electric switch and seize the doors. Any doors that had electronic signage, he would program the sign to display the doors status, and if there were survivors, and he couldnt automaticaly open the door, He'd send signals to any security or ship crew in the area. Otherwise he continued monitoring ship systems and rerouting power where he could to keep lifesupport and navigation systems running.

Mika doesn't offer any resistance. (She is actually around 24 but participates in the culture where unmarried women act [outside of work] as if they were still high school) Part of her mind is trying very hard to ignore what has happened - all the sights and sounds around her - because it can't be happening again. The death and chaos of the plague. It is simply impossible. But a more rational side keeps urging her out of her stupor. Screaming at her to simply the truth. How could she waste people's time when there were so many in here that had real problems? These two sides fight. Both evenly matched, making them deadlocked and leaving her staring off into the distance.

Odessa, having left her wounded charge with whom ever rushes up, goes over to Mika and Hyaku. "Clair. She will help. Get Clair" Then the schizophrenic stands over him at something similar to parade rest waiting.

Triage would discover that while Rich does have a head injury he is stable. After fifteen or twenty minutes, he would wake up groggy and in pain not knowing about the situation on the ship. The last thing he remembers is writing a letter to the family he has lost. So the mess is confusing and it takes him awhile to make sense of the situation especially since he does not want to slow down the medical personel who are working hard to help those in need. If someone does a medscan on him or otherwise assess what is going on, Rich has a mild concussion and mild retrograde amnesia (perfectly ordinary with this type of injury).

Clair enters the mess hall from the other side, pleased to see so many people huddled together, so many people alive. She scans the sea of humanity for a senior officer or at least someone who seems in charge.

The pilot watched the flagship Khrysis continue moving toward the fleet.  With the meteorites mostly behind them he vocally directed the fleet away from the showers that assaulted their halls.

"The flagship Khrysis is unresponsive and moving directly toward us.  You need to veer hard starboard, move out of the way before it has a chance to hit any of us."  Moments later he saw it, flames bursting from the far side of the Khrysis, immediately he moved to turn the ship out of the way when he realized the rest of the fleet was on his other side.  He turned his com to the public emergency channel only seconds later and began trying to warn those aboard his own ship as well as the rest of the fleet.  "BRACE FOR IMPACT!  STAY CLEA-..."  his voice was cut short by the distinct sound of metal scraping against the armored hall.  Surveillance reel showed the near side of the Khrysis explode in flames, sending huge pieces of jagged armor plates flying toward the Echo, screeching as it tore into the armored hall before crashing into the unarmored visor.  All recording went dark moments later, no video or sound came from the navigation deck and the ship grew eerily quiet.
____

The com blacked out just as Cole and Jesse reached the mess hall.  The once roaring crowd now looked to the ceiling, to others, and to themselves as the panic they felt gave way to unadulterated paralyzing fear.  Silence fell over most of the hall as people stood motionless waiting, hoping, praying that they would just wake up and this would be over.  Everything would be okay, but it wasn't.  The little girl looked at Cole and Jesse worriedly, not speaking a word but both would understand what she was asking.  "Are we going to die?"
____

Elijah stumbled along toward the mess hall when he heard the com go live.  He stopped to catch his breath as he listened when the com suddenly crashed and went dead silent.  He bolted as he could toward the navigation deck, only managing a few strides before he caved to his knees choking for air.  The gravity, he wheezed out before pushing himself to his feet.  He gripped his ribs as he traced the wall along the hall with his other hand to stay steady, his lung fighting against his every move and breath along the way.
____

Brandon stood with one arm pressed against the wall as she opened the door and looked out.  She wouldn't recognize his rough face or his dirty blonde hair, yet something about him seemed familiar.  He was dressed in an all black body suit, the kind you might see a fighter pilot wearing be cockpit.  He looked at her as she peeked through the slightly opened door, the pilot's message playing behind him through the hallway speaker system.  His eyes widened enough to notice when he heard the silence following silence.  

"Where's your girl?  We need to go.' he spoke calmly, trying not to scare her or show the raging fear in his own mind.  "We need to get movi-...aaagh!" his sentence was cut short by crashing of metal against the walls behind him.  His head smashed against the door frame from the impact that shook the entire ship.  His head throbbed and his ears began ringing but he managed to stay on his feet.  He looked at her more urgently and shouted over the screeching of metal against metal behind him so she could hear. "We need to go now, just trust me and I will get you two out of here!"
____

Only a few moments passed before the flagship, almost twice the size of the Echo, struck the port side of the hall.  Armor panels shrieked as they bent and tore against the force of the ship's direct contact with the hall of the living quarters.  The entire ship shook upon impact, sending objects hurling of shelves, patients off medical beds, and equipment flying across the mess hall like deadly weapons.  The security officer, despite his injuries and pain, grabbed Dr. Nguyen and pinned her to the floor, strapping his oxygen mask on her incase there was a breech in the armor.  He struggled keeping her down as the ship leaned to one side and people and equipment both struck his back and ribs.

Securion didn't know what to do besides to yell, telling everyone to brace for impact and stay calm, they couldn't do anything else. They tried to make sure that some of the more injured patients stayed put on the beds, but it was an uphill battle to keep the stability of this room, and it seemed they were losing rather quickly to all the bull shit going on outside.

A string of curses from Matheson broke the silence over Comms "Son of a fucking shit what the hell! Is there any god damn planet closer than the one we are going to because I'D RATHER NOT DIE IN THE VACUUM OF SPACE PLEASE." He sounded more annoyed than scared.

Cole and Jesse would would try reassuring the girl. " we wont die here. we'll make it out ok".

Hyaku would grasp anything stable and try to hold the 2 women as the ship was struck.

Tim sitting in a corner with his computing device ( did we decide what it was?) was jostled around but was able to wedge himself pretty good so he didn't go rolling away. As soon as the impacts force subsided He began pushing into any system he possibly could radar, outer surveillance, engine and navigation control , automatic pilot. The securion officer was right, their target was too far for the ship to hold on, but their were other planets in the system that had breathable atmosphere that were simply not ideal to colonize, if he could find one and just nudge the ship towards it maybe the auto pilot systems could slow them enough to not die on atmo-entry and impact.

Odessa growls at Hyaku: a most haunting inhuman growl. Then, she bites his arm hard enough to create substantial bruising. "Don't touch. Arm won't help. No proper restraints. Inertia maybe toss us: maybe not" Odessa says in a low growl with much effort.

At the moment Mika might as well be a barbie doll. She stays in whatever position Hyaku puts her in/ holds her in.

It takes several minutes for which she will kick herself for for a long time before Clair is able to finally speak up. "Try to secure anything that could become a projectle when we crash and then get down and hang on. Don't know what is going on upstairs but I am damn sure we are going to hit hard."

Dr. Rich is confused and disoriented but it is almost second nature to help the wounded. So when he hears that they should brace for impact he starts making sure things are stowed and tries to make sure the patients are at least marginally secured.

Tara's eyes darted over the man suspiciously, but she saw nothing that made her put up her defenses any more than they already were. She was being silly, questioning this man for coming to help when Taylor needed it the most. She swung the door open, standing there in her blood-soaked nurse scrubs, her face matted with blood and tears. She held fast to the door jamb for the impact.

"She's in here," Tara sputtered out, letting the door open and rushing back to the bathroom to Taylor's side. It was clear that she had everything under control, as well as a panicked mother could, but nonetheless the little girl lying unconscious on the floor needed further medical attention than could be provided here. "She can't stay awake. I've done all the first aid I can. I need to get her to a doctor in case there's any internal bleeding. I tried to call medical, no one is answering. I-I don't know what's happening, but I need you to - " the ship bucked hard and the sound of ripping metal screamed at the next impact. Tara, who had been in the doorway, stumbled hard and smashed into the doorway. As the ship careened to the side, she rolled and slammed onto the bathroom's counter top. Little Taylor rolled as well, but the careful nest of bath towels that her mother had placed around her absorbed the impact, merely jostling her onto her side. Tara doubled over the basin and crumpled, barely catching herself from hitting the ground.

-

Dr. Nguyen had no time to react before the security officer pinned her to the ground. All of her medical equipment - including syringes, scalpels, medicine, IV fluid bags, and even the gurneys and litters - went flying, along with many of the patients that she had just treated. As the oxygen mask was strapped over her face rather forcibly, she had a moment of clarity to realize just what that impact meant. The ship was going to go down, and they were going to die.

-

Garcia was wading through the halls of the maintenance deck, not far from Leo. She had clipped a headlamp on and was following the LED beam through the depths of the dark corridors. She saw the bloodied pulps of some of her own coworker's corpses slumped against the hallways and inside the engine bays where they had died either trying to escape or bring the ship back to some semblance of safety. With a grunt, she knelt over one of the bodies - a supervisor - and swiped his key-card from off his uniform, then kept moving. When she felt the next impact, she grappled her tether like there was no tomorrow. She had been listening intently to what was going on over the comms, and realized that the flagship had just fucking barreled into them. The alert feeds that she had wired into her comm system were either reading catastrophic warnings or had stopped altogether, meaning that even the sensors trying to read damage to the integral parts of the ship had gotten fried in the collision. She knew that the call she was about to make was well above her pay grade, but she would do it if it meant saving lives. She overrode the officer's line on the comm system and transmitted over the open line that anyone might have access to. "Garcia reporting;" she said briskly a moment after Matheson's last message. "Abandon ship! I am taking authority to initiate evac countdown as soon as I reach the bay. All available, report immediately. Repeat, abandon ship and evac immediately!" She delicately and desperately thumbed the key-card in a gloved hand and pushed onward towards the evac bay as fast as she could go.

Outer surveillance showed the ships scrape against each other as the rest of the fleet fled some distance away from the impact.  The Echo, barely half the size of the flagship leaned to the side, creaking and bending to the will of the unresponsive beast.  Autopilot did little good against the force of the engines pushing it off course and despite this, it seemed that the frame of holding he ship at bay for now.  

Everything was red as voices echoed in the distance, incomprehensibly murmuring words, sounds, screams, but nothing made sense.  Throbbing sensations from everywhere and nowhere, dizzy, lost, blind....what is happening?  An arm immobile and yet moving on its own, hands grasping for something unseen, unknown, blinded by a red veil of darkness.  What is happening?
____

Brandon lowered himself down into the room, picking up the child gently, carefully avoiding the wounds on his forehead.  He wrapped her in the towels she had been laying in and moved to climb back toward the door.  He grabbed the framing and hoister the child out the door, laying her against the corner created by wall and floor before turning back.  His eyes fanned over the entire room looking for where Tara had landed. As he tried to lower himself down again to help her his grip slipped, sending him crashing down into the wall below.  He let out a guttural noise as he hit.

"You need to keep her neck stable. We shouldn't even be moving her, oh God, why isn't medical answering..." Tara fought her way back to her feet , balancing against the frame of the shower and the countertop to fight off the next bout of rocking and swaying. She screamed when she saw Brandon fall back through the door and strike the wall underneath her. Neither of them had Taylor now, and if the ship jolted again, her baby could go flying across the room outside. Tara was not even aware that she was screaming as she flung herself back up to the doorway, using the door's frame to crawl out not unlike the stranger had done. She dug her fingers in tight and heaved herself over, and braced against the wall as fast as she could. Taylor was on the ground beside her now and she reached down, gripping the towels tight like a sling so that she could at least keep her from flying with the force of the ship. She yelled back into the bathroom - underneath her, behind her? she didn't even know anymore - trying to get a response from the man.

-

Garcia continued closing in. She saw the distant red glow of the 'Evacuation Bay Control Room' down the hallway. So close, and yet so far away. Every movement of the ship sent her careening from side to side, slamming into walls and dodging debris. She stuck the key-card under her suit's visor and between her teeth as she advanced with two white-knuckled hands gripped onto her secured tether.

"Oh dear!" Chimed the robotic voice. AR-BOT was processing Elijah's gasps. He tuned into The ship sensors to see his location. Limping, forced breathing, and right near a mess hall entrance.
"You need medical attention immediately sir," communicated AR-BOT. He quickly scanned the crowd looking for recognizable faces to help. Jericho! AR-BOT made a bee-line toward him. "Don't worry I-" Then they heard the captain's warning followed by a horrible crashing sound emitted through the mess hall and the rest of the ship. People and furniture were tossed about, and the floor rumbled. AR-BOT was thrown to the ground. As he struggled to rise back up, a table flew at him catching him smartly on the foot. It banged up the joint badly, triggering AR-BOT's damage receptor. He continued his attempt at rising even as the ship was shaking. "Jericho!" he called amidst the sound of metal giving way.

-

Jericho had been standing next to Mattheson when the ship was hit. He heard the captain's urgency and quickly took the ground so as to not be thrown. It worked, to some degree. He was able to stabilize himself a bit when the crashing began. Still he was buffeted by a number of objects flying through the air. He witness a child, who had been running, fly backwards directly onto his head. The child screamed. He rushed to it's aid. Scrambling to catch up to him before any more damage was done. The he heard the faint sound of a familiar robotic voice. He noticed AR-BOT on the ground. Jericho hesitated a moment. He noticed the sparks on AR-BOT's leg. He looked back at the child. It wasn't moving.

-

Leo huffed along after Garcia, he was never much for cardio. After seeing her last tightrope act, he decided to tether himself to the ship as well. It proved wise, when the ship began to shake. His sensors showed more hull damage than he'd ever seen on a space vessel before. Leo saw Garcia speaking into a comm. Moments later he heard her voice across the channel calling for evacuation. "Goddamnit." The ship leaned and groaned. Making walking nearly impossible. He took some initiative of his own. He shackled himself down and opened up a comm to the network of halls in their sector. He typed in some commands to shut down the gravity in these hallways. Hopefully it'll make maneuvering a bit easier without being constantly thrown to the sides of the ship.

As the gravity in the maintenance hallways was deactivated, Garcia felt her body float up weightlessly. She gripped the tether and used it to continue maneuvering. She was never a big fan of this, but she remembered her days back in training where they had to do zero-gravity drills and pushed onward with a fierce determination. Finally, she reached the bay doors, which were sealed and locked. She fought her way down to the ground where she chipped the key-card into the entry terminal. As the doors buzzed open, Garcia re-clipped her tether and maneuvered her way inside. She saw Leo following. "Get your ass in here. We're starting countdown before the ship blows!"

"My ass is moving as fast as it's going to!" He shuffled a bit, putting his comm on standby and unhooking himself from the side of the hall and guided himself down the rest of the hallway. Leo squirmed inside and used his own key card to shut the door. He wiped the sweat off his forehead and took a few more breaths. Leo was not used to running around ships, or climbing through hallways and it had just caught up with him. He tethered up his chord and started down the hall. The lights in this hall were just as dim and the ship continued to swerve and crack. "You got the evac passwords I hope," he got to Garcia between huffs, "or are we going for a good ol' manual overdrive?"

Matheson said in the comms, once he righted himself and barked orders to the rest of his team to try and restore some semblance of order, with a rather loud angry voice "Evac pods!? Are you serious!? You want us to get to EVAC PODS when we were getting pummeled by micrometeorites and the largest ship in our fleet is careening over into us!? Really fucking though?"

Cole and Jesse looked at eachother and then out at the mass of humanity in the mess hall. Cole shook his head " Are they insane......... how do they expect to evac all these people?" Cole would go over to the nearest officer looking person, probably Matheson. " Who is that? are they authorized to make that decesion? how are you going to evacuate ALL these people to the evac bay?

Hyaku grimaced as he was bitten but didn't let go till the ship was less turbulent. "I'm sorry, just wanting to help u stay up" He also looked around abit worried at the mention of evac.

Once tim has access to the surveillance and saw where the ship was being pushed he'd try to get the ships steering thrusters on that side going to try and rotate it with the direction of the flagship to mitigate further damage, he also began checking the status of the Evac bay and evac vehicles. to see if it was even a feasible solution.

Matheson looked at Cole and shook his head "I don't know, I'm not even sure if anyone who should have the authority to do that is even still fucking alive. But who ever said that is fucking insane if they think we can actually manage to evacuate these people without half of them trampling each other and the other half dying on the way!" He said very exasperated.

It was a lot like climbing a very slippery slope for Mika. Something about the call for evac gave the part of her mind that demanded action a boost forward. However the scared child didn't want to accept the reality. It wasn't going to be a gentle landing on a planet carefully setting up a colony before leaving the womb of their ship. Instead they were about to crash into the wrong planet and they would be lucky if there was much of anything left of their ship. No no she couldn't get lost in this panic and avoidance. The Buddha taught the need to simply be present in the moment. In this moment she needed to survive and help others survive.

Suddenly as if some switch was flipped and Mika came alive. She bowed deeply. "Thank you both for helping me. Do you know what we should do? There are so many people here that are just unable to get to the evac pods on their own? Are they even safe with aliens shooting at us?"
********
Odessa growled slightly as she glares at Hyaku. "Many others hurt. Need help more. Can't get to pods. Hurt. Need carried. I not hurt. Silly girl's mind hurt." When Mika comes to life Odessa startles and lets out a sound almost like a Tasmanian Devil. Then ignores the other woman entirely.
********
Dr Bailly rips a comm headset a wounded Non-com. "She clicked it over to Admin channel. Who is the fool giving orders? Wouldn't the ship give the greatest protection to the largest number of people? We have wounded and shell shocked people down here. I'd say less then 50% of those here are actually to move under their own power? Are we just going to abandon them?"
*********
Dr. Rick wasn't sure about the evacuation but he realized all of these injured were going to need to be moved either to evac pods or off a crashed ship. So he started getting patients ready to be moved. He first splinted a severely sprained ankle and then the next patient, he took down her IV bag and flushed the hep-lock. That would make her easier to move. And so forth. He talked to each one in an easy going manner "So what's a pretty young lady like yourself doing here?" he said to an elderly lady which made her giggle like a flighty girl. "Do you know the abc song? I can't remember how it goes." He asked a little boy as he examined his dressing.

The blur subsided to throbbing pain as a head was turned to see jagged metal plate resting coldly between a body and arm.  The roaring voices fell silent, all but one, one voice coaxing, encouraging, urging...

"Come home."  

"I don't know the way." A familiar voice responded.

"Follow the sound of my voice."  

Barely conscious, vision clouded in the bloody haze pouring over his face, cracked helmet, and one arm pinned against the cockpit by the metal hall of the Khrysis, the pilot moved.  His free hand grasped the steering console, setting thrusters on the assaulted side to full while cutting all power to others.  The ship shifted uneasily with the force of the Khrysis, screeching as the flagship scraped against the outer hall until all of its weight was born solely on the bow of the Echo.

The door beeped and locked behind them. Garcia tucked the card into her suit. "Do you think I have the goddamned passwords? Those pajeros didn't trust me to do my job and now we're all at risk because they got themselves killed and we're the only ones down here. We've gotta manual override." She clicked her comm on for a moment to respond. Of course she didn't have the credentials, but what did that matter at a time like this?

"Matheson, with all due respect, would you fucking prefer that SOME of us die, or ALL of us die? You're not seeing the damage to the critical components like I am. We'll be lucky if we can even get any pods out before the ship blows." Garcia bit her lip. From her standpoint, it was the best option - maybe the only option other than just waiting to die. Exasperated, she clicked off her comm as she made it to the main terminal. Luckily, the evac bay's protections had kept it shielded from the catastrophe that was the rest of the ship. Everything looked clear to initiate. "Leo, I'm going to need your help," she barked as she started up the terminal and tried to navigate her way into the control settings. She gripped the lever marked "INITIATE EVAC ALERT" and snapped it into its active position. The emergency lights situated across the ship began to flash bright white strobes and the evacuation message played loud and clear across entire ship's intercom system.

-

Tara yelled again for the man. Taylor was slung in her arms, unconscious within the bundle of towels, when the evac alert began. A sense of deep, overwhelming terror bubbled up within her. She had to get Taylor off the ship, and she had to do it now. She rushed for the hallway.

"Civilian Transport Echo, do you read me?  This is Captain Kage of the flagship Nox." foreign transmission flooded the com link.  "The Nox and Ghost have positioned ourselves between the fleet and the incoming meteors with full power devoted to our shields.  The Khrysis is unresponsive and presumed compromised. We have a clear line of fire upon the Khrysis from our position.   Do you authorize lethal force to be used to free the Echo?"
____

Brandon groaned as he pushed himself to his feet, barely able to hold any weight on his right leg as blood soaked through his pants leg. He managed to climb out of the room and grasp the door frame to pull himself out. He fell against the wall and rested for only a moment before he found Tara's distraught face and knew his job wasn't over yet. Using the wall, he pushed himself to his feet, slowly letting the weight down on his leg painfully. He held out his arms, offering to carry the child.

"We need to get away from the outer walls," he said urgently. "They're being ripped apart. I heard there is a medical unit in the mess hall, there should be a doctor there."

Matheson ignored Garcia when the other ship came over the com link "This is James Matheson of the Securion team. I have no fucking idea if anyone on this ship still alive even has the authority to give you the go ahead, but in my humble opinion, go the fuck ahead."

Cole, jesse and Hyaku continued doing mostly the same, helping the injured, and in Coles case trying to keep the poor girl from breaking down in utter terror.

Tim being hooked into the ship systems heard the Nox's captain aswell. "Captain Nox, My name is Timothy, I'm patched into the Echo's systems and holding the life support, power and engine power systems together......more or less. I haven't gotten any responses from the Con officer or bridge crew. Outer surveillance suggests the bridge was crushed, completly or partialy with impact from the krysis. There is a control signal coming from the bridge controlling the krysis side thrusters." Tim spoke pretty matter of factly, sounding more annoyed then scared or desperate. " based on hull stess levels even with use of thrusters the Krysis forward power is too much and will destroy the Echo soon mathematically if nothing external is done both ships will have complete loss of life it makes more sense to attempt to save the ship with active contact, and known survivors which would be the Echo. Lethal force directed toward the middle of the krysis would likely be most helpful to change the direction of force, and allow for any unconfirmed survivors on the krysis the ability to perhaps survive until a resque attempt can be mounted........at the very least it will make all these people in here stop screaming so loudly....its hard to think"

Dr Bailly remembered a study done to improve outcomes of airplanes back before the semi-ballistic craft became common. And so she began moving around the mess hall with ruthless efficiency. "You," she said to a pensioner as if she were part of the ships security team, "Head to the evac pods now. You are in the way of people who can rescue your wife." She didn't actually think any one would help his wife but was hoping her air of authority would force him to shift it. The man glared with hatred at her for a moment but he got up and headed out. Then there were two young girls: the eldest might be 12. Unhurt but alone, they stood wailing. "Oi you two, we don't have time to play nursemaid. Grab as many of those medical supply bags as you can carry and follow the emergency holo-signs to the evac bay." Next, "You're plenty buff to help. grab that girl with the splinted leg and evac" And "With that leg you're worse than useless. Evac bay now!" (That one did earn her a "What a cow") And so she went like some kind of human tornado.

*******
With each person he got ready to go, he tried to wave over someone to carry, drag or in one case grav dolly them to the evac bay. Blessedly some of his patients could simply told to hobble their way to the life rafts. Twice he threw up and he knew if he was his own patient he would be yelling for him to take it easy. But he wasn't and he wasn't going to so the devil be damned.
*********
Mika strode after Hyaku. "Are you in contact with command? Evac pods are sitting ducks. Don't you remember the Jupiter rebellion? The Lusitania? It's shere madness"

********
In Odessa's mind the planet below them called for her. It promised her sunshine and health. It told her it would mend her speech. She just had to get to it. So she raced to the evac bay and found a spot on the nearest evac pod. She sat in it bouncing impatiently to be reunited to her god. However she was careful not to let it slip that she was any more than a frightened girl fleeing the damaged ship.

Garcia opened the doors to the evac bay, allowing the civilians to access freely. The alert continued blaring across the ship as she navigated the controls to initiate the countdown sequence. The default was five minutes. She took a deep breath, hit start, and felt the gentle rumbling through the floor as the multiple pods' engines started whirring to life within the sealed launch bays lining the room beyond the control panel. "Five minutes until evac launch," Garcia reported over the comm, ignoring the criticism. Her voice sounded distant, troubled. She knew her decision would be hit-or-miss, but she would at least give a second option. She looked over her shoulder at Leo. "Are you going to drop or stay with the ship, Leo?"

-

Tara kept Taylor clung to her tightly. It was difficult keeping a hold of her, but she was in better shape than this man. She paused in the hallway, looking at the sign that pointed to the mess hall versus the illumination from the emergency evac light in the opposite direction. They had to choose. She might only get one shot to save Taylor's life. "You...you said they have medical set up in the mess hall? Are you sure they're there?"

-

Dr. Nguyen had gathered herself again and was trying to treat as many of the wounded as she could amid the chaos. She reluctantly sent two of her staff on towards the evac bay, knowing that there would be more wounded there - and, maybe, they had a better chance of survival. She didn't know.

Leo thought for a moment or two. "Fuck it. This ain't my ship, I'm not about to go down with it." He stepped forward and checked the monitor, looking at the vital signs of the ship. The fires in the engine rooms had started to subdue but things weren't looking good. Extreme hull damage. Sensors were failing. Power lines were being obstructed. He shut down any exposed circuit he could find to try and mitigate the damage, then stared a few more moments at the screen. He knew the chances of survival were slim on this ship. But so were the evac pods. Guilt clung at his gut, but what could he do. "Yeah. Let's get the fuck out of here." He turned. "Lead the way, girl."

-

Jericho caught up to the child in all the commotion. He covered it from any more flying projectiles. There was only chaos, and their parents were no where to be found. The flashing emergency lights came on and a voice over the intercom played out evac instructions. He looked to Orion who was standing in shock at the broadcast. People began leaving the halls towards evac stations. Jericho looked down at the kid, he was unsure of the gender. They squirmed a bit and covered their head. "Aright buddy we're getting you out of here. Orion!" Orion snapped out of his state when he heard Jericho. Jericho indicated the child he was holding and started off towards an evac station. Orion nodded, and then shouted at the masses, "Evac stations this way!" Orion thought it was a bit excessive, but if people were going to jump ship, he might as well make sure they get there safely.

-

Ami and Hector had been in the mess hall until now. They had made their way there early on in the incident. Up until now, they had simply been trying to stay calm and keep those around them calm. When the flashing lights started up and evacuation messages were played, Hector finally spoke up. "Shit, okay Ami we gotta get Gregor. He's still in fucking cryo and I'm not leaving that bastard behind." Ami was quick to reply, "We could stay on the mainship."
Hector thought for a moment, "Either way, we don't want him in a coma when shit goes down.,,"
Ami remembered the way, she shot up and pointed out the corrider that led to the nearby cryostation. "Okay. Let's go."

Garcia shook her head - she was in just as much turmoil as Leo, but given the circumstances, what the hell else could they do? Once the systems were initialized, she made her way to the entrance of the evac pods.

"People will start coming in. We can help get them loaded into the pods, maybe. Some of them could be hurt and need help even getting in."

-

Just as the first waves of people started making their way to the evac station, a little black boy, perhaps around third or fourth-grade age, made his way quietly and forlornly into the door. He looked around lost and worried, clutching a little backpack that was splattered with blood. Although he seemed uninjured, his face was etched with confusion, as if he wasn't sure he was in the right place and was looking for somebody else that he expected would be here.