(This is a long post, it throws us into the action. I will be quite liberal with where you are placed in regards to it- though keep in mind, Viktor doesn't have a thruster pack, and neither does Makato. Post order if you wish, it's not mandatory.)

Ellie watched them all come, one by one, as they got kitted up. They were all knowing of what this was. A walk into the nether. The outside was a vacuum, so cold and filled with radiation, that it would ruin you if you didn't wear a spacesuit, and no doubt, simultaneously boil and freeze your blood. It was something she'd never seen. But she'd take the word for it, because it was quiet. Just silent. Just somewhat strange, almost crazy. But it was what she did. Looking around, she looked over to Viktor, as he kitted up.

"Good to see you all. Just so we're all clear, I know you've practiced on Earth, gone through the simulator and the water tanks. I know Neil and Viktor should be fine, but do not decide to do anything crazy, King. You follow my instruction, and nothing happens. You should know automatically what you're doing. Neil could rant on, but just so you know, I've never had any critical issues, and I don't want any today. So you keep careful, and stick to us well." Ellie said, as she looked over, watching as they all suited up, the process long but needing. It was a lot of kit, and very complicated. But this was what kept you alive. It wasn't velcro, or zips. No, they would fail. It was a knot and effecively, a corkscrew mechanism that kept you alive. As rudimental as it sounded, the latter was so strong, it would probably need enough force to rip your body apart to take you to pieces. And that was always something that Ellie considered- they were based on very good technology, and were fundamentally, very effective.
"Okay, when you're set, helmets on, get the oxygen flowing. I'll ping you on radio, give a thumbs up if you can hear." She said, adjusting her headset in the snoopy hat a little, strapped around her neck and going to her ear.  Fabio was helping the others, as she put her helmet on, screwing it in as she clipped it, as securely as it could get. Hearing her own breath, she felt the oxygen supply kick a little, and her lungs feel a little different. This would take some time.

"Testing, testing." Ellie simply said, aware that this was it. Another walk. Like the others she'd done. The suit felt remarkably light, almost as if she was a blimp, of some sort. Being petite naturally, it felt very strange indeed, looking down the arms and legs, through the reinforced and almost golden-tinted visor. It was a childhood dream to most. She could see it in King. To Steinhauser, this was normality. And as it was for her, she reminded herself. This was a good job, but it took a mindset of steel to suceed. And that she'd proven on many an occasion. She was good at what she did. Sitting up, she inspected the suit-mounted thruster pack, being something that was perhaps a little better for buoyoncy, rather than drifting. It would work very well in moving to inspect close up, rather than drift through, though she knew the team went with whatever worked best. Her toolkit, like it did on all the suits, sat below that pack, with the mechanisms inside being optimized for Zero-G. You couldn't lose a bolt or a screwhead- it was tethered by a specific mechanism that always kept it clipped to the case, which was always attached to the operator, namely, her. It had been an old invention, but they worked. On a scale like this, they were the easiest method, over anything more futuristic. A tablet would come in handy to just configure the panel that needed to be fixed, and perhaps make it a little easier to perform diagnostics- a tool she'd be willing to lend to Viktor. Of course, Ellie knew that a 3D Printer was always an option, if she wanted a small fabricator for this run. But for now, the airlock would be an area that Fabio could send things through, when need be. And as she breathed in slowly, the HMD kicking in on the visor, displaying her suit's status, oxygen, orientation respective to the station, as well as a few other points of interest, such as the digitally-enabled panel that they'd be working on, she looked back over. The HUD picked off the crew, and it was somewhat useful to be able to see them- though this thing didn't always work perfectly, with some of the suits. It seemed okay, for now. No matter. She waited for a response from the others, and sat tight, checking and double checking the rest of her. From the flag of Britain sitting on her left shoulder, to the thick gloved hands at her fingers. It would take a while, but once she knew the HUD pinged it up, and she'd seen Fabio check over and give the go ahead that indeed, the nitrogen had been flushed from her blood, they'd be going. It wasn't worth the risk, at least for now to have the bends, or Decompression Sickness- it would hurt your bones, and generally be confusing to deal with, something of which Ellie could say was something that you definitely didn't want in this environment. Sitting back, she waited, letting her thoughts assemble. She knew they knew precisely what was going on, and she'd brief them soon, before they headed out.

------

(OST) 
[url=http://www.stereogum.com/1711104/royksopp-sordid-affair/mp3s/]Sordid Affair[/url]


Half an Hour Later

Within the airlock, the feeling was tense, Ellie right by the door, looking through the small window that sat within it. The smell of gunpowder was something that they said you could smell, but right now, Ellie didn't feel it. More like the smell of rubber, in her suit's lining. It was strange. She turned to the others, keeping her hand on a rail close to the door. The pressure was dropping, from an interface on the wall- this place would be soon decompressed fully, and they could go. 
"Okay, people; the plan is simple. We've got a faulty set of solar panels on the side of the Greenhouse, and while we're at it, we're going to also tinker with a plating on the roof of the station, and re-seal it. There's another two layers below, but this skin needs to be rebound. Hence the reason we've got tools, gents. King, I want you to have minimal effort on this mission- you stay back, and stay clamped into something solid. You've got karabiners attached to the core of your suit, clip them when need be to the kink points along the side. Use minimal thrust; use only when necessary, people. You know precisely the Safety concerns. Neil will keep an eye out on us, and him, myself and Viktor will conduct the engineering work. If we need help, Jeremiah, we'll call you over. Act on my command. You look like it's your first time for real. It's a surreal feeling, trust me." She said, as she looked over, the flow of oxygen just as expected, as a slow klaxon went off. Then, it slowly felt like it was real.

The door opened, the hatch opening up, as Ellie used the rail to pull herself out, almost scooting up in such a way that she kicked off nicely, drifting upwards, rather than sidewards. Direction made little sense here, but Ellie had gotten used to it.
"Follow on me. Slowly." She said, calmly speaking, not sounding panicky or tense. She spoke as if she knew precisely what King was going through right now. He may have been happy, but he'd be confused, tense. And this was going to happen by the book. Moving up, she clipped in, hearing Fabio over comms.
"This is Fabio, airlock is sealing. I'll watch via camera, have a good one out there." He simply said, the Italian still within engineering, as the little jutting peninsula of the Prospect Horizon sat below Ellie. She looked back, and saw the crew following, with the earth in the background. In 30 minutes, they'd almost done a full orbit. And in full view, was the Atlantic Ocean below, the whole gleaming bowl that was the Earth just a wonderful thing to see. She could see almost nine billion people through her visor. Nine, Billion. Nine billion people going about their lives. It was morning in New York and Toronto, and they were waking up, to grab their breakfast and their morning papers. Across the Atlantic, it was just lunchtime in London, and over the Home Counties of England, with the sun at Ellie's back sitting high above them. Further across, was Moscow, experiencing a bright evening, and further than that, the lakes and wastes of Siberia, which went on and on. The earth was dark further East, the other side not visible in Ellie's visor. It took her almost a moment to take into account. This was the civilization below that had done this. Pioneered why she was here. Humanity was instinctively able to develop, and whilst war was always something, it did this. A future for the race that had once confined itself to just one home. It looked out now, and this station was the start, albeit a tiny fragment. Yet Ellie knew that no matter what, just not letting it get the best of you was the best move. She moved along, unclipping, as she moved along, almost blimping it in a way, towards the next clip in point.
"Okay, King, I want you to continue following me. Dylatov, Steinhauser, you move along the side, down towards the solar panel. Remember, don't drift, and since slow is smooth, smooth is steady. Calm." She said, reassuringly, as she moved up, clipping in the karabiner. She had no idea of what happened next, because even Ellie Tavistock wasn't able to comprehend it.

The explosion was gut-wrenching, and could be seen first in the Greenhouse, followed by the rest of Habitation, and Logistics. It was a chain reaction, as module after module simply either disintegrated, or became blasted apart. Ellie was almost unable to comprehend it, and even her mind wasn't fast enough. She suddenly felt thrown back, the module below her rippling and knocked back severely.

-----

A minute later, Ellie opened her eyes, almost screaming. She didn't know what had happened. How she was alive. If the rest were alive. She didn't want to know. But panic rushed. She breathed almost double, her heart thundering. She looked around, activating the thruster pack, the HUD picking it up. She yelled without thought, looking around. She was being pushed back. Her kink point had disintergrated, and the karabiner had been blown apart. Her suit, however, was intact. She felt nothing significant, the HUD said that whilst there was a little bit of wear on the legs, she was good to go. She was lucky to be alive, right now, and in a state like this. She looked towards blackness, and had to turn around, to see the carnage. It was gobsmacking. The thruster pack had simply stopped her drift, as she looked around, at the flying and blown apart parts of the station.
"Fuck!" She yelled, as she breathed hard, aware she must have almost been hyperventilating.
"Anyone, do you receive! Find something solid and hang on! Viktor hasn't got a thruster pack, if you see him, catch him!" She screamed, the HUD unable to pick anyone up. She cursed quietly, almost in tears, just knowing that couldn't happen. Calm down. She had to move up, back up to something. Engineering hadn't been blown apart, it was the largest segment that was still intact, a huge behemoth of a line-based module system that looked still vaguely intact. She only had one thing in mind. Everyone could be dead. Her fellow EVA walkers, everyone on station, everyone working on the Mars machine, everyone. She might be the only one left. Whilst fragments of habitation were left, she could see from here, that it was in pieces. She had to drift over, find someone, as the whole thing shook, moving about. She had to line up, at least somehow get in line with Engineering, see who was left. The majority of the group was behind her, maybe they'd stayed karbinered in. Or maybe they were gone too, but not backwards, yet downwards. Then they'd be dead. She had to tell herself to stop panicking. But she couldn't hold herself entirely together. The Prospect Horizon was now shrapnel in the sky, and no doubt, news outlets on earth would already have cameras pointed. About the tragedy, how 298 people are dead, and that no radio contact existed. Ellie's radio barely touched the comms of the others, and she knew it would be bad.

Moving up, she grabbed the remnants of their airlock, looking around, as she moved up, scrambling inside. The station was clustered, but bits had completely vanished, or just been turned to pulp. The chain reaction seemed to only be Habitation, and the Greenhouse areas, hitting Logistics and the docked SpaceX craft. That was now out of orbit, blown to pieces, and she could see the whole structure fall to the earth.. But remarkably, the Mars machine, as Ellie and the others knew it, was still there. It looked significantly damaged, as if it had been picked apart, but remained docked to Medical and Scientific bays. It was a strange feeling, but somehow, Ellie knew she had to keep thinking of the situation.
"Does anyone receive me?" Ellie cried once again on the radio, breathing hard, as she looked at her HUD, knowing precisely what it said. Four hours, seventeen minutes of oxygen remaining. Then, Ellie would suffocate. That was unavoidable. She kept thinking to herself, as she looked around, scanning her eyes meticulously for anyone that was drifting. She knew that Viktor had no thruster pack, and instantly almost panicked. He could be dead, but Jeremaiah, and Steinhauser, they did. She held on tight, the airlock completely comprimised open. Fabio's body drifted, and she almost retched, had it not been for her greater instinct telling her not to. 

It was a horrifying sight to see, and it wasn't just his body. Two more technicians from the far side of engineering were following the orbit of the ruined Prospect Horizon. She held herself as best as she could together, just hanging on. Ellie racked her mind for an escape route. But it was a lot to look over. If she regrouped with her team, they needed to get out, and fast. No waiting. They needed to find an escape pod, and get the survivors to the Earth- anywhere would do. Reestablish communications if need be, find oxygen, find perhaps even other survivors that could find a dated Sokol suit, or were on the Mars craft. If they were wearing their helmets and full suits at the time, Ellie guessed they could easily live, but she hadn't a clue. No less, she knew that this was perhaps the end. She had to stop saying it, but no matter what way you looked at it, they were 500km above the Earth's surface, there was a dwindling oxygen supply, and no doubt, she could at any moment have her suit punctured by flying shards of metal or paint, if it wasn't for the fact that she was now within a sheltered area by the airlock. For now, she had to watch, and if she saw anyone, Ellie knew what to do. Go to them, and get them to safety, if it was on of her EVA crew. Anyone else aboard habitation or in the Greenhouse was dead, and she was able to guarantee that, almost for certain. Escape was the only way now, and Ellie knew as good as anyone, it would take a split second for a single thing to happen, such as a secondary explosion, or flying shrapnel, and they'd be dead.