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            “Report!” if the Federation was strict enough for starship crews to have defined positions, the person who barked the command would perhaps be called a captain, as it was if this system was in place poor Masa would have to file continuous reports of mutiny, though he would probably have to do it in private otherwise his crew might take opinions. However right at this moment he was glad to be alive.

            “Anyone?” A moment before, or at least recently, the ship had been hit hard by something, and the usual things to damp the acceleration had failed to deflect a few stray gees on the crew, Masa was still feeling a bit out of sorts, he must have blacked out, while his vision was dancing in and out, he looked around the bridge, he was just praying that those flickering lights were some cracked optical cables, and not head trauma. He spotted what was probably Asyra, restrained as he was in the flight chairs, though for some reason hers was rotating freely, an outstretched arm was turning on a collision course with a console surface, as the arm contacted Asyra gave a little yelp, and stirred.

            “Asyra?” Masa called, she stirred in her chair, this was seriously not looking good, he tried neural interfacing with the bridge computer, at first he thought there was nothing at all, but after a bit of probing he eventually got a response from somewhere, the results were not encouraging, the absence of any high baud data on the interface link suggested that something very nasty had happened to the main computer core, whatever he was hooked up to right now was in its own computer way telling him that it frankly had not heard anything else from the rest of the ship for quite some time now. He messaged his flight chair to release its restraints, he then realised a second after the webbing retracted that nagging strange feeling he couldn’t quite identify, however his short moment of confusion ended with his head bumping gently against the ceiling.

            “Great, gravs off” he said more to himself than anyone else at this moment, he scrabbled across the ceiling surface, clutching at light fittings over to where Asyra was sitting, and caught her body as she too was released from her chair. It was perhaps a dubious thing to do, floating around in a starship after it had been repeatedly hit by something so violent it had triggered the seat restraints, but at the moment with the gravity damping off any really strong impacts would have turned them to jam anyway, and it seemed according to the antisocial computer that the ship had been this way for half an hour, so as they had not already been atomised whatever had attacked them was probably not doing so anymore. What he wanted really at this particular moment was someone to talk to, or more precisely someone to tell him everything was fine. As he handled Asyria’s body it became obvious that one of her arms had broken, the shock webbing of the chairs had managed to miss that limb, and the other arm was probably dislocated, he was pretty sure Asyra had level shoulders last time he saw her.

            “Great, fantastic! Marvellous!” he shouted in sarcastic fury.

            He would have to get to the infirmary, there were probably other things he should have done first, but he couldn’t think of them. Wrapping his legs around her torso, carefully avoiding touching the arms too much, he managed to get into a position where he was holding on to her with his legs, leaving his arms free to drag himself across the ceiling to the hatchway. To his mild surprise the door was still functioning automatically, for a brief moment he thought it was going to open on a vacuum, but instead it opened up on a dim corridor, faint green panels of emergency lighting glowed on the walls. He pushed off from the door frame, with luck he might get to the end of the corridor without using any further handholds, now if he could remember it right it was a double left turn to the engineering room, he made his way with relative speed, pushing himself off corners and down the hallways, though he winced when occasionally Asyra’s arms made gristly noises as they bumped into the walls. He approached the double set of double doors that led into the Engineering room, he optimistically hoped these were working too, but too late he bumped into their unresponsive metal plate. Struggling to move himself to the panel at the side, Asyra’s extra momentum sweeping him past it, the doors opened, he swore he had not touched the panel, through the other side of the hatchway the hulking figure of chief engineer Jakaan was framed against the emergency glow, three of his limbs used to steady himself inside the inner door frame, the fourth poking at the door panel infornt of him.

            “Oh thank God someone else is alive” Is that you Jakaan

            -You’ll have to use neural interface please, the words assembled themselves in Masa’s head.

            -Translators screwed?

            -Yeah main computers down, still we both have got translate function on our interfaces

            -I swore you could speak English,

            -I swore you spoke Gallan Galen

            -Only as far as I could direct you to the nearest library, or perhaps made passing comments on the weather.

            -About the same here, who you got there, Asyra?

            -Yeah she’s in bad shape, both arms fucked, and she isn’t coming round, what’s it like down here?

            -To be frank I don’t know, only just came round, Arak is out cold, probably alright, I have bundled him into sickbay, can’t find Valsa, to tell you the truth I was pretty sure she was with you on the bridge.

            -Don’t think so, better go off to search for her, can you take Asyra for me. Why couldn’t I interface with you, we’re only about thirty metres up the corridor?

            -Everything is down, main optical core is a cooked bakery product, and most of the sub systems have been EMPed by the look of it, plus, these doors aren’t exactly good waveguides, still if you keep the doors open I shall be able to hear you.

            -Right, do you want me to give you a hand with Asyra?

            -No I’ll be fine, just try and find Valsa

            Jakaan took Asyra by a leg, and pulled her through into the dark cavern of the engineering hall, whoever had designed the ship had decided for one reason or another to place the med-bay practically next to the engine room. Jakkan hauled himself and Asyra over one of the deck gantries rail, and let himself glide down the vertical expanse of the engine room, wishing like hell the grav systems would not come on, two floors down he grabbed a rail to stop himself and pushed off along the deck towards the sickbay.

            Asyra came round, she wish she hadn’t both her shoulders were burning with pain, and she couldn’t feel one of her arms at all, there was also a dull pain in her abdomen.

            -Don’t worry it’s the anaesthetic, it’s a nasty break though

            -Talking by interface are we?

            -You don’t have much choice, nearly every damn computer is down, and the only translators we got are in our heads.

            -What happened?

            -That’s a big question at the moment, won’t know for sure till I get some of these systems up and running, Valsa is missing, everyone else is fine though.

            -What can I do?

            -About nothing, Jakaan smiled, as he finished splinting Asyra arm, he had put a neck collar on her too, just in case, though he had really used it so she couldn’t see some of the bone shards sticking out of her forearm.

            -Can still interface though, perhaps I can get through into the computer core?

            -You can try, but frankly of the three cores one I know has been toasted by a ruptured plasma line, and the other has probably been physically damaged as a couple of bulkheads on that side have blown through. Still I’m not letting you do anything apart from rest, don’t make me sedate you.

            -No choice?

            -No choice, you’ll have to wait till we find Valsa, she’s best medic aboard, and I’m frankly only an engineer, I dare not try the medicine I know without any diagnostic machines. Just keep talking to me ok.

            -Ok.

            Jakaan bustled out into the engine hall, he need to get some power systems up, at the moment he couldn’t tell the extent of the data network break up till he was sure everything was powered first. He thought briefly about starting the main powerplant, in principle it would be easier to start up the antimatter reaction chamber, than it would a big fusion reactor, but it was too risky. However some clever person in the Galen Design Bureau had been thoughtful enough to include a micro-reactor in the main engine room, probably not the same person who deigned where the rooms should be. The Fusion micro-reactor was their in case of emergencies such as this, it was a bit like a pilot light, once it had started it could be used to start all of the other high power systems in an emergency, but as Jakaan expected it too had shut itself down. Fortunately the same clever person who thought up the idea had also made an autostartup process, which would make the engine first check it’s status before powering up. This particular procedure could be operated manually, and frankly this was the only option left open, Jakaan just prayed that its electronics, safely encased in the thick shielding around the core had not been broken too, he swung over to the wall, where the hemisphere of reactor jutted out into the main engineering space, he was looking for a switchbox, when he found it he swung the hatch aside, to his horror a small cloud of plastic buttons floated out into the void.

            -(approx. trans.) Bottom! Appeared briefly in Asyra’s head

            -What’s wrong?

            -Its alright don’t worry, you alright?

            -Feeling a bit woozy but am ok.

            The metal grill that held all the buttons over their contacts had some how came loose, and most of the buttons were now drifting in the engineering space. Still it should be fine, he reached carefully for a screwdriver, checking to make sure he wasn’t touching any metal parts he poked the plastic layer where the big red button had once been, he felt infinitely more relaxed when a green light came on beside where he poked, he could hear the hum of the system starting up.

            -Should have proper lights in a few minutes, you still with me?

            No reply came

            -(lit. trans.) Bugger

            -Jakaan pushed himself off the wall, soaring towards the sickbay space, once he got in there, he could see Asyra unconscious on one of the medical beds, he didn’t quite know what to do, he tried rousing her by prodding her, even a light jab to an eye didn’t generate a response.

            -(lit trans.) Bugger, Masa? We need help here.

            Trying to remember how to take a pulse on a human, a message arrived in his head.

            -What’s up? Masa had sent

            -Asyra’s out cold, not responding, you found Valsa, we need her right now.

            -No, you want me to come back

            -Err…

            At that moment, the lights in the engine hall flickered to life, in the sickbay a few lights flickered into action, a few consoles lit up, including the ones on Asyra’s bed, a few seconds after the console settled down, it began to flash urgent messages on its display. Two beds along the wall where Arak lay came similar flashings.

            -Hey what did you do? Lights are on.

            -Micro generator is on, I think I need your help here, got two medical emergencies, how long will it take you to get here?

            -A minute or so? Reckon you can wait that long?

            An idea flashed in Jakaan’s head, in a kind of chamber annexed onto the sickbay were a few stasis chambers, mostly for keeping stuff in, but could be used to put crew in.

            -Got an idea

            He knew it was risky, they certainly did not look well, according to his limited knowledge, but the displays were being quite emphatic, and he knew enough to see that they were in serious trouble.

            -Do you mind losing lights? I’m gonna try stasis

            -What! Do you think it will work? I’ll be with you in a second.

            Jakaan flung himself into the room next door, he saw enough of the stasis chambers to see a couple of green lights, and some patiently blank but operating displays, he then back flipped and pushed himself of the wall back into the sick bay space, as he swung himself onto Asya’s bed he saw Masa sail into the engine hall.

            -Give me a hand!

            As Masa floated into the room, Jakaan had released the restraints on Asyra’s bed, and pushed her unconscious body ahead of him into the stasis block.

            -Get on Arak will you, I’m going to try starting up the units

            -This better work you know

            -I hope to hell it does too.

            Jakaan took hold of the handrail by a monitor, and started checking through the stasis block systems, as far as he could tell all units had all the electrical power they needed to run the displays and electronics, another small miracle, though stasis units were hardened in any case, sometimes these units were a crews only escape. He checked for the availability of plasma for the units, this was in a way as important as the electrical supply, as without the high energy plasma the field generators would not work. He had thought that he would have to divert the plasma from the micro generator away from everything else, but at last he realised why the sickbay was so close to engineering

            -I don’t believe it! Jakaan shouted silently into Masa’s head

            The same clever bod who had thought of the micro-reactor had perhaps also realised the need for a reliable power supply to perhaps the other most protected thing on the ship. An automatic protocol for plasma channelling was calmly waiting on the screen in front of him, a perfect, almost mathematical solution, directing the energy from the micro-reactor to the stasis block. He activated it immediately. The nearest unit was wrenched open, the door opening with a hiss, as the air rushed into the cool chamber.

            -Ready? Masa called from behind him, he was holding Arak in his arms

            -Yeah,

            Both Arak and Asyra were bundled into the same unit, pressed on top of each other, neither was in any state to protest. As soon as the hatch was closed, Jakaan punched in the commands for stasis, he almost collapsed with relief when the panels turned green with status ok messages.

            -Close. Masa suggested

            -Too close, they should be fine, but I think I should keep nearby and monitor them, you reckon you can find Valsa?

            -I’ll go immediately.

            Masa eventually found the best qualified medical officer, Aruk was in no current condition to argue his years of Galen cytology. Valsa was thankfully unharmed, though was found swearing profusely, she had been starting up a shuttle in the smallcraft bay during the attack, hoping that in an emergency they could use it to escape. However the high gee events that had blacked out Masa had flung all the vehicles in the hangar into one corner, and Valsa was somewhere at the back of these shouting from an open hatchway, that unfortunately opened out onto wall space.

            Getting her out hadn’t been too much of a difficulty as the ship was still in freefall and although the stacked shuttles massed many tonnes, they could be lifted out of the way in the weightless environment if one was patient enough. Valsa had been eventually freed after an hour of staring at a wall. Jakaan seemed to be making progress in repairs, the lights were fully functioning now, in most places, though Masa had expressly forbidden him to investigate the artificial gravity just yet.

            Valsa was immediately forwarded to the sick bay where she examined the medical readouts from the now vacant beds, nearby Jakaan and Masa were tyring to start one of the big fusion reactors up.

            -You did right putting Aruk in stasis you know. Valsa sent

            -I must admit that decision was not based on medical knowledge. Jakaan sent back.

            -Still good work, he was out because he was haemorrhaging into his brain, this isn’t so dangerous in Galen, but I’m glad you arrested it for the time being, that kind of work requires specialist nanite intervention.

            -Will he be alright?

            -He’ll probably be fine once I arrest the bleeding, and the nanites can be relied to reverse any tissue damage, though he’ll be out for a few days, and I may have to sedate as well if I don’t think the blood vessels can take the load. He seemed to have caught quite a blow on the head.

            -And Asyra? Masa called out.

            -She’ll be fine too, she passed out from low blood pressure, she had bled internally, spleen ruptured. That’ll be fine once that is drawn off and the wound closed, and I’ll bring her pressure up with by introducing additional fluid.

            -Good, I suppose, take it you are not going to operate just yet?

            -No not until I can get more of the medical facilities working.

            Jakaan was working on one of the big fusion reactors, the other one was permanently out of service, one of it’s ash diverters had detached, and scored a groove in the reaction chamber. Whereas the micro-reactor was barely three metres across, this reactor was turned so it’s fat cylinder formed most of the floor of a square room, six metres on a side. This reactor had survived the attack pretty well, it had avoided most of the gees because it was a practically built in structure in the massless neutronium skeleton of the ship. Currently Jakkan was waiting for a plasma accumulator to charge up from the micro reactor, which took some of the waste plasma of microgenerator, the rest was being consumed in the stasis block. Once he had built up enough plasma he stood a good chance of starting up the big reactor first time, he had checked the big reactor’s systems to the best of his abilities and all seemed well. A status indicator flashed readiness.

            -Sorry everybody, I’m going to cut free any spare power for a moment, that means lights will go off.

            -Ok Valsa sent back.

            Jakaan sat on the deck above the big reactor, his tablet glowed under his hands as the lights faded in the room, he tapped its flat screen, to execute the startup program of the big reactor, from here on in he could watch what happened, but that’s about it, more sophisticated management would require more than the current available computing power. He sat watching lists slowly scroll to show the unfolding events within the reactor core, the crucial point was just about to happen, the plasma beneath his feet was heading towards break-even., with any luck an energy producing chain reaction would start before the accumulated power failed. It seemed today, in contrary to current evidence his luck was still good, a rising peak in neutron and gamma radiation measured in the torus indicated a chain reaction, all that was left to do was wait for the reactor to power up fully.

            -Looking good, give me a few minutes and we’ll have some proper power at our disposal.

Things were looking up, in a few hours he might have some sensible working conditions operating, and not soon after self-repair systems would slow begin to repair the ship.

[This might be further continued later perhaps, or at least brought to some sort of conclusion]