As the ship shuddered, Tazzak grabbed onto the edge of the hatch he was in to brace himself. His heart sunk as the situation became clear. [i]It's the cartel! They're going to kill every one of us![/i] He thought. He scrambled to pick up his blaster and sling it over his shoulder, before crouching down and replacing his tools back into their pockets on his bandolier. As the apparent pilot shouted to get the power running again, he glanced over his work before he was interrupted. It was a circuit for a refrigerator somewhere on the ship, at least he was pretty sure. It could have been for those stasis pods. In any case, if he didn't help this ship fly, he would be dead, buried and forgotten before he could even mention that he wasn't even with these guys.

[i]"I'll get this ship back up if you keep them out!"[/i] Tazzak hopped out of the crawlspace he was in and slammed the floor shut, before running as fast as his legs could carry him. He knew that if he could get to the power distributors, he could shut down non-essential systems and get the ship in the air. It was their only chance as far as he could see. He disappeared down a ladder, then turned around to pull open a panel that held an array of switches. As one hand held onto a ladder rung, the other searched for the correct symbols. One by one, he shut off non-essentials and deactivated the power chokes he had on the system during maintenance. Normally, he would spend a lot more time doing safety checks before even daring to rush it like he was then and there. He doubted that the Hutt goons would stand around and provide that extra time, however.

Around the ship, some of the lights dimmed and appliances that leaned towards convenience could be seen shutting off. In the cockpit, little bars of energy began to fill the power meter from an empty red to an optimistic yellow.

[i]Good,[/i] Tazzak thought, [i]Now, the shield projec-[/i]. "AH!" There was a bright flash of sparks as Tazzak shrieked and shielded his face. When he opened his eyes, there was a scorch mark around the fuse that was labelled for the shield projector. [i]Grr, these neglected freighters and their cheap power systems![/i] Tazzak thought angrily. Without being as careful as he was used to, he yanked out the box that held the switch and the fuse and replaced it with a spare from a grounded slot just next to the box. He adjusted a couple of knobs and dials, then tried the switch again. At first, there was a satisfying hum as the shield projector began to power up, but the switch suddenly tripped over to the off position and powered down. A safety feature had triggered somewhere and was draining the whole power system. Tazzak shouted and held his free hand up in frustration. Shaking with adrenaline, Tazzak pulled a small device with a display and an interface plug from one of his pockets. He shoved the plug into the port and it twisted into place. On the display, a circuit map of the ship displayed and a program run to scan for faults. [i]This is taking too long![/i]