Eleanor was thankfully in the relatively safe confines of her personal cabin typing away as usual on her tablet. She was nervous, of course, but the repeated sensation of her fingers against the surface of her device helped her relax. Despite being shut away, she could still hear the ship groaning around her. The sound of shooting echoed down the hallway outside.

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So far Ryen had successfully locked down the oxygen and reactor core. She ignored the pain in her lip as she started the process of locking down the airlock for the cockpit. Hopefully Lazlo wouldn’t be trapped inside but if he was, he should be able to easily override the system again. As if on que, the captain’s announcement played over the communicators. 

“Ryen!” The mechanic barely had time to register Seita’s voice before a weight slammed into her. Ryen automatically cover her face with her hands as the interface terminal and surrounding wall sheeting exploded around them. Pain lanced through her left forearm. Her fingers there tingled and felt wet and sticky. She was lying on the ground. Something heavy was on top of her… Seita? From her vantage point she could see the underside of Seita's shock pistol as it spun lazily on the floor. A shot rang out nearby, barely missing them. Ryen's brain struggled to come to terms with what had just happened. Was someone was shooting at them. From the crew quarter’s airlock? The lack of cover in the middle of the hallway meant the two women were practically sitting ducks.

“Maria- Override: Delta- Foxtrot-072” Ryen called to her communicator. In an instant, every light in the hallway blinked out including those for emergency landings. 

In the distance, something crashed to the floor. Ryen quickly grabbed for the abandoned shock pistol she knew would be there. Fumbling Ryen quickly sat up before reaching out and gently shaking the girl’s body. Seita didn’t move. Standing up Ryen pocketed the gun into her tool belt, and hurriedly carried the girl further down the pitch black hall, away from their assailant. There wouldn’t be much time left before the lighting kicked back on again, her oral override only being temporary. 

Ryen continued to smear blood over the ship’s internal paneling as she felt for the elevator doors. As she’d hoped, Gunther had already shut the machine down and, since the last place it had stopped had been their current floor, the doors had opened automatically due as a safety mechanism. If she knew the oral codes, she might have been able to override the manual shut down and have the doors close behind them, unfortunately Ryen did not and the control panel was both in the hallway and shot to pieces. Going inside the open elevator was risky and might lead to them being boxed in but it was far better than simply lounging around in the hallway without any cover.  

Pain continued to lance through her arm as she dragged Seita inside. In the dark she felt for the pistol again, not surprised to find that it had already been loaded and the safety was off. Tiny blue and orange squares cast by the gun’s holographic display shook violently as Ryen readied to use the weapon. She’d never shot anyone and had only reluctantly attended the daily afternoon training session’s Gunther had started the past week. Now she wished she had paid more attention. There’d been something about lining up X’s. She didn’t see any X’s. Maybe she wasn’t doing it right? Maybe it was too dark?

Concentrating hard, Ryen could hear the sound of feet shuffling slowly down the hallway. Slowly the hallway lights flicked back on again.