[h3]Fihlyn Numosath[/h3] [i]Bridge of the ESS 3822-01[/i] [hr] The bridge of the [i]ESS 3822-01[/i] felt cavernous without the command staff. Consoles that should have been manned by half a dozen officers sat dark, their chairs pushed back in the haste of evacuation. Fihlyn moved among them with brisk precision, but the emptiness made every footfall sound too loud. [i]Focus, Fihlyn. Do the next step. Then the next.[/i] “Primary systems alignment is progressing,” she murmured. Talking aloud steadied her nerves and kept the silence at bay. “Navigation lattice…” she frowned at the instrument, “you will cooperate now, please.” A gentle tap coaxed the flickering indicator into proper calibration. “Excellent. Thank you.” A soft chime rose through the stillness. Her link to the orbital station was still active, although the connection seemed to be intermittent. As far as she could tell, there was only a single controller still at their station. “Station control, this is [i]3822[/i]. We are receiving you. Things are still well, yes?” The reply arrived through a wash of static. The young voice quivered behind a forced smile. “Y-yes, I’m still here. Sorry, the power grid’s fluctuating again. We just lost two more decks. I’m rerouting, but nothing’s staying up for long.” Fihlyn softened her tone. She felt a pang of empathy for the young man on the other side of the comms. She got the impression that she was one of the only other voices still on the line for him to talk to. “You are doing wonderfully. Let us look together, perhaps I can help. I am sending you my sensor telemetry.” She brought the ship’s planetary-survey array online. It felt strange to turn it toward an inhabited station, but today nothing resembled normal procedure. The station’s internal layout blossomed across her screen, a lattice of red and amber warnings causing her to wince. “The reactor on deck seven is over-heating. It may be that the grid cannot handle it with all the damage.” She didn’t want to think about what anyone on that deck might be experiencing. That reactor would probably melt down in the next few hours. Assuming the station itself was still around by then. “The reactor?” There was a pause. “I - I don’t know anything about that. Lois was in charge of that, but now she’s…” The voice trailed off, but Fihlyn could hear the man’s breathing become quicker and heavier. She hastily filled the silence, not wanting him to completely succumb to panic. “How about you tell me what you see?” Hearing her voice seemed to bring the man back to the present. “Right, yeah. I’m seeing an error saying something about the coolant manifolds not responding.” “Ok, do not worry. I can guide you.” Fihlyn said firmly, trying to keep her tone calm. “You should be able to divert power from some redundant systems to stabilize the grid. Is the station still providing power to my ship? We do not need it, so that could be a good place to start.” “Trying it.” The tech’s voice wavered. A series of frantic clicks sounded through the channel, along with hurried whispers she could not quite make out. Fihlyn continued her own work while offering reassurance. She moved from console to console, validating autopilot parameters and thruster alignment. Her hands operated with trained precision, even as she kept half her attention on the trembling voice in her ear. “You are doing very well,” she said as the reactor temperature began to dip on her scans. “Truly, we are making a good team, yes?” The tech gave a short, breathless laugh. “Thanks.” There was a nervous pause. “Honestly, I’m not even supposed to be on comms. I just started about a week ago.” The line went quiet for a moment. Then the tech inhaled, steadier than before. “By the way, my name’s -” Light bloomed across Fihlyn’s screens before the sentence finished. A brief, violent flare. Her console flooded with shock readings and a harsh burst of static that strangled the comm link. She felt the ship shake beneath her, as her scan reported a series of explosions erupting along one side of the station. “Station Control, please respond.” Fihlyn leaned forward, adjusting the channel. “Your signal is fading. Answer if you are able.” No response. Not even background hum. The silence felt absolute. [i]How close was Station Control to that explosion? If it started on deck three, then…[/i] No. That train of thought wasn’t going to help anyone now. Red alerts blinked across multiple displays, demanding her attention as she heard the sound of groaning metal reverberate through the hull. The structure of [i]3822[/i] wouldn’t have been harmed by an explosion like that, which meant that she was hearing the pained echoes of something else. A quick glance at her scans told her all that she needed to know: the station had been crippled. Life support, power, thrusters, they were all shutting down, one by one. The anti-gravity docking clamps that had held the colony ship in place were all failing, gradually putting more and more load onto the physical docking tubes - thin metal cylinders, never designed to hold a ship as massive as [i]3822[/i] on their own. Others began to enter the bridge as Fihlyn frantically tried to coordinate the ship’s thrusters and control systems. The kiel priestess from before practically dived through the doors before clambering into one of the cockpit stations. “Keep that tunnel open until we need to crush a bug with it.” Fihlyn glanced over towards the woman, nodding firmly as she focused on her task. Having a sister of the faith aboard helped to steel her resolve, but it also threatened to bring some of her feelings of panic to the surface. The longer she kept the ship in concert with the station, the more time any survivors had to reach safety. But she could only delay the inevitable. At some point, something would nudge either the ship or the station too hard for the thrusters to account for, at which point the docking tubes would be ripped apart. There’d be nothing between anyone unfortunate enough to be inside them, and the cold vacuum. Another kiel entered not too long after, clearly fatigued and with a shocking amount of ichor staining her uniform. It sounded like the external doors were nearly all sealed, which meant that it wouldn’t be long until they were able to depart from the station. It would be none too soon, as the degrading state of the station made it harder and harder for Fihlyn to hold the colony ship in its position. A voice crackled over the comms. "We're hooked. Clear to disembark." Her fingers hovered for a heartbeat before she confirmed the command, almost allowing herself a quiet sigh of relief. Activating her ship-wide comms, she broadcast a message as she felt the ship start to accelerate beneath her. “Attention all crew, we are departing from the station.”