The cargo bay was strewn with broken parts and pieces all laid out as neatly as possible, but they were running out of room. Iisska had convinced Zen to lift the ship out of the deep crater they had carved upon crashing so he could get a better look at it. It slumped pathetically to one side where the landing gear had been snapped and they had propped it up on a rock. Soon it became painfully clear that they would be going nowhere anytime soon.

Iisska shivered and bundled up tighter in his jacket, but it was almost no help at all. Much to his embarrassment he had vomited shortly after waking up thanks to what was indeed a concussion. He still struggled to think straight and with the medical stations offline he would just have to deal with it. At least there was plenty of deadly, deadly ice around to keep the swelling down. Trinity was missing. The ship's systems were failing. It was getting colder. He could already see his breath. Inside the generator core Balva relayed information to him on the outside and together they struggled to figure out why she wasn't turning over like she should. Instead of the constant deep hum it should have been making the core sputtered and flared any coughed up any energy it managed to produce. The fuel was intact, none of the coils were broken, rotors seemed to be working, and there was obviously an ignition cycle. They had agreed it had to be one of a billion connections or transfer points knocked loose on impact. Without being able to shut off the ship's systems entirely he couldn't be in the core with Balva and with only one set of hands working on the problem it would take twice as long to fix. Regardless, he was glad to have the little guy around.

"Oi! Link TC-8390 sound!" Balva shouted at him.

Iisska turned away from the makeshift metal smithing workshop he was setting up and marked off the link on a schematic of the generator core he had laid out. It was another among hundreds. Luckily they were making progress as the schematic filled up with check marks of parts that were fine or they had fixed, "Marked," he called back. This system had been going on for hours.

The bone he had been grinding between his teeth splintered. He spat it and the pieces out with the rest into the garbage and replaced it with another one from the dinner plate that was still sitting nearby. So many parts were charred beyond repair, smashed or otherwise in need of complete reconstruction or replacement. Though, replacement was not an option here. As far as he knew Hoth was a safe place to hide out, but that was because there were no settlements or permanent outposts. Everybody was expecting him to fix this. He was expecting himself to fix this. Even as the situation grew more and more grim he kept moving along with the work like it would get done sooner or later.

He jumped and stumbled, his head spinning and his heart pounding heard when there was a sudden clang and a slew of screaming from the core. Just Balva. It was always just Balva. He leaned forward and shook his head supporting himself on a homemade saw horse. 

"AH! YE GREAT CANNIE TOSS O'SHITE!!," more banging and a sudden flicker and shutdown of all the lights on board followed, "AH'LL CHIB YER MUM AND PUT YER HOOS ON FIRE YA BASTART!"

With another series of clangs and what sounded like an electric whine the lights came back on somewhat brighter than before. Iisska looked around with a grimace and rubbed his temples.

"Link TC-8742 fixed!" Balva sounded suddenly far more cheery.

"Got it," Iisska mumbled and marked it off, "Think that one did something," he added trying to sound more chipper himself.

[i]You are all going to suffer, freeze and die here no matter how much you try. Even if you manage to fix everything else, and you can't, you know you can't fix the hyperdirve.[/i] the thought pierced to the forefront of his thoughts and for a few moments his expression became vacant and distant. Again he snapped the small but solid bone between his teeth like it was a piece of straw and the floor and clutter and parts and tools around him shuddered and pushed away slowly like ripples in a pond. He glared at the ship's insides and balled up his fists. He could feel what he was doing and tried closing his eyes and taking a deep breath to stop it. 

[i]Think about something else,[/i] he urged himself, [i]focus on something else.[/i] A coolant pump rattled into the wall and he watched it. [i]Nine screws, nine bolts, four seals, three hoses, a cable box, two valves, two timing switches...[/i] The shuddering of matter around him died down and objects came to a stop. He visibly relaxed and then, [i]You are all going to die.[/i] In a fraction of a second the coolant pump tore itself apart piece by piece. Every individual component was ripped out of place and distanced from the rest then slowed in the air like it had never been assembled to begin with. Then they all clattered to the ground. He took a step back just looking at the mess.

"Link TG-9531 check!"

"Y- Yeah! Got it..." Iisska checked it off and then went back to tearing into unnecessary equipment looking for anything that could help them fix major systems.

A hand was placed onto Iisska's shoulder, cold and mettalic. "Quite the unique power you have there." Marquis stood behind him, his eye a light pink. "Bang up job you're doing here. Trinity should be back online soon, I think. Doing alright?"

Iisska snapped away from the touch with a snarl before he realized it was only Sterling. He sighed and twirled a wrench around in his fingers while forcing a smile. 

"Saw that didja? It's so unique I have no fucking idea how I did it or how to do it again, but that's life I guess," he said with an eyeroll, "I'm doing fantastic. Once we get this son of a bitch up and running and once Trinity is back things will go a lot smoother."

"So you're not going to tell me what's wrong. Alright." Marquis shrugged and turned. "Let me know if you guys need help with anything. I am not perfect with engineering but I will do what I can." He started to walk out of the room, leaving them to their business.

"Sterling. I can't fix... It's not going to be possible..." he clenched his teeth and tried to find a way to admit it, but couldn't, 'I'm gonna get Trinity back online first. At least then we'll have everyone accounted for... and then we'll just have to go fom there."

"Yes, yes you can." He stopped. "Gold can be made from the blackest of scorched scrap.Don't worry about it. Just focus on getting trinity fixed."
 Iisska nodded.
 
---

Less than an hour later a violent kick start could be heard coursing through the entire ship. She rumbled hard and then stilled as the lights came back on full force. The heat followed along with other life support and control systems. Navigations were still down of course but at least now they wouldn't be going about the repairs blind anymore. The cab lit up brightly and computers booted up.

"Balva! What did you do!?" Iisska dropped what he was doing and crouched by the entrance to the generator core.

"Laddie, fit to voids ya think ahm doin! Ah sodder the bobs n bits an yell em tae the dunderheed teuchter next over, an ah donmind tellin' ya!" Balva retorted.

Iisska couldn't help but smile as he finally accessed the computers, "I have no idea what that is coming out of your mouth but I think we did it! Come on! We need to get to Trinity's A.I. core!"

He bolted off, not waiting for Balva. He took the steps out of the cargo bay two at a time and sprinted down the corridor to the cab to check Trinity's main projector. Finally. Progress. He skidded to a stop and slammed into the control panel.

"Trinity?"

He got no response. He tried turning on the projector manually and fiddling with it a bit. Still nothing. With a frown he went back to meet up with Balva who was working his way into the core now.

"Anything? Is something broken in there?"

"Dinnae see nothin," Balva answered, "Looks pure dead awrite. Dunno what tae tell ya, laddie."

The little alien squirmed back out into the hallway and shrugged.

Iisska turned in place, rubbing his head and pressing his lips together. After a few moments of silence he wandered off, "Dammit all... We must have missed something..."