[b]”Are… you sure this is okay?”[/b] Seita asked for the third time as Ryen plopped down a double fudge mini-Sunday in front of her.

[b]“Yes. Just like I’m sure it’s okay Quincy gets a few rationed hours in the medical bay, Gunther occasionally accesses the cargo hold for [i]practice[/i], Ellie keeps syphoning off energy for her tablet, and Lazlo pulls the ship off autopilot.”[/b] Ryen said, trying to reassure the girl. She knew about the first three for certain, having had the other crew members ask her for those favors directly. As for their captain, well, it was her best guess on why the energy signatures in the ship sometimes showed slight variations. [b]”I, on the other hand, get a little ice cream every now and then. It’s one of the perks of my job.”[/b] With that, she sat down across the table from Seita and dug in, her promise to eat healthy after her run in at the hotel, long forgotten. 

Watching Ryen, Seita tentatively ate a spoonful herself.

[b]”How do you like it?”[/b] Ryen asked, enjoying her own delicious mixture of vanilla, chocolate sauce, and bananas.

[b]”It’s… cold,”[/b] Seita said before trying another small spoonful, [b]”And sweet.”[/b]

[b]”I’m glad you…”[/b] Ryen never finished her sentence as Lazlo’s announcement burst over the ship’s intercom.

[b]”Code 3- U.”[/b]

[b]”Clear the airlocks?”[/b] Seita asked, happy that Ryen had just reviewed that code with her. [b]”What’s the U for?”[/b]

[b]”Something that’s unidentified,”[/b] Ryen said as dread filled her. A scene played in her head from a few days back. Gunther was sitting as this same table, talking about deep space. [i]”Not seeing anything at all is almost always the best kind of deep space travel.”[/i]

[b]”What do you think it is?”[/b] 

[b]”I don’t know.”[/b] Both of them had stopped enjoying their icy treat. [b]”Behind your seat back is an emergency harness.”[/b] Ryen continued as she grabbed her own and locked it into place around her torso. [b]“We should…”[/b]

[b]”Code 20”[/b] Gunther’s voice prompted over their communicators.

[hider=Code 20:] Report location and condition directly to Gunther via a secure channel on the communicators.
[u]Location abbreviations inside Maria[/u]:
R- Personal Room
L-Library (small room where Ryen tutor’s Seita)
G-Gallery
M-medical bay
S1-Storage Locker 1
S2- Storage Locker 2
SO-oxygen subsystem
SS-shielding subsystem
SR- reactor core
SW-weapons subsystem
SC- communications and backup power subsystem
C-Cockpit
*O preceding a letter denotes that one is in the hallway outside of the stated location. Example OL means you are in the hallways and the closest room is the library.
[u]Conditions:[/u]
Green-Uninjured and mobile
Yellow-Injured but mobile
Red- Injured and not mobile
 [/hider]

[b]”Ryen. G. Green.”[/b] Ryen called out to the device on her wrist and nodded for Seita to do the same. The girl had barely gotten out the three words before Lazlo’s voice rang over the intercom again. 

[b]”Code 1 –CE.”[/b] The ice cream platters went flying and smashed against the galley walls, smearing across a nearby cabinet. Ryen felt her stomach lurch as the restraint dug into her torso. [b] "Prepare for Code 13 - H, on Go."[/b] The mechanic barely had time to catch her breath when she felt the entire ship lurch again. A small light on her wrist device blinked red. Soon after a holographic warning message hovered in the air.

Ryen shouted an expletive as she unhooked her restraint and jumped up. She [i]had[/i] to get to one of the ship’s terminal. Maria had been hit and her shields were about to fail.

[b]“Ryen!”[/b] Seita called out, starting to unlatch herself. Ryen turned and fell to the floor as she did, the ship shifting under her, the ship’s gravitational controls failing to keep up with Lazlo’s maneuvers. 

[b]”No!”[/b] The woman replied as she made her way back to her feet. [b]”Just stay here! I’ll be back… I’ve just got to…”[/b] The gallery door slid close as Ryen headed over nearest ship terminal by the elevator. Strapping back into to the ship’s restraint system again she hastily logged in.

Ryen checked the other subsystems and gave a sigh of relief. Just as she was feeling more confident she was rammed against the belting as a loud, crumpling sound echoed down the hallway. Seita appeared through the Gallery door. Ryen didn’t have time to chat as she saw what the noise had come from. Maria’s shielding had been diminished and part of her hull damaged at a location not too far away from where the mechanic was currently sitting. 

[b]”Go.”[/b]

Ryen worked alongside Lazlo to quickly powering down all non- emergency functions in the residential rooms, galley, medical bay, and storage lockers while diverting the excess energy to try to rebuild the ships shields. It was a slow process to undo all the previous work she’d had set up under Code 5.


[b]"Code 3 – H."[/b]

Words appeared in the back of Ryen’s head as adrenaline surged through her veins. Accompanied by the lack of stabile gravity, the mechanic felt giddy and a bit squeamish.[i]”Invaders?”[/i] Biting her lip hard enough to make it bleed, Ryen tried to work through her next course of action. [i]”Air locks?”[/i]

[b]”Shut… them… down.”[/b] It was Seita’s voice. Ryen looked up and saw the girl was next to her pointing a wobbling shock pistol down the empty hallway. The mechanic swallowed hard and began to  override the airlock controls starting from the oxygen subsystem and working her way down sealing off sections of the ship.