Episode 1: Fading Sun

Sabin's eyes snap open. His stance takes on a sudden sense of urgency.

"Someone is still alive in the command center! Captain, whomever it is won't last long up there without our help."

He reaches down through the hatch as an offer to help the rest of the group up out of the turbolift.

"We should hurry, sir" he says to Captain Sumek. "There's more, but I can fill you in on what else I sensed once we get moving."

Reiter is not one to shy away from adventure -- or a rescue mission. He hops up to the top of the elevator with Sabin's help and begins to eye the best path up. "Two levels, Commander?"

"The triolic radiation has so far originated in the upper mantle of the star. Although the hull does protect us from some of the radiation, nothing short of getting the shields up or moving the station out of the system will get us down to safe levels. We might be able to treat the radiation sickness from the lab though. I understand some of you have medical training?"

Turning to Jiral, Mosa exclames: "What? Is that where the explosion was? Ops? How many survived?" She looks a bit shaken at the thought of humanoid casualties.

Sumek's scans comfirm what Jiral said. There is a single feint lifesign from the command center, and the ambient temperature of the crew quarters suggest there is still a fire going on in there. There are also a handful of stable lifesigns from the crew quarters level and science labs, otherwise the station seems empty. And as far as you can tell, the radiation is coming from the systems sun. You also see some strange energy fluctuations from main engineering, but you'll probably have to get closer to find out what's happening there.

Codral wants to dash straight to engineering, but holds off in case this rescue operation requires his technical ability -- and to assess Ops functionality. He takes the offered hand and follows along.

Reiter turns to Sumek and the Orion captain, "Captains, perhaps we should split up and cover more ground. Maybe Paja and her colleagues can try to assist some of the stranded crew, some of us can make our way back to Ops to help out whomever is up there and another party can head to main engineering and try and get both power and shields back online."

Yes, splitting up may be the quickest resolution. Please take Captain Pajenko and Lieutenant Commander Jiral with you to the Command Center. Codral and Dr. Mosa will accompany me to main engineering where we will endeavor to restore shielding and emergency power to the station. Stay wary Commander. Sumek says, weighing options in his head as quickly as he can.

Captain Tajenko looks thoughtful, then nods. "Wery well, Captain. We'll accompany the Commander." She gestures to her bodyguards, who boost eachother up the escape hatch, then pull her up after them.

She turns to Reiter. "So, commander.. How are you planning to get up there with the ladder missing? Through the 'goffry-tubes'?"

"As you wish, Captain." She nods to Sumek, then pulls herself out of the turbolift. Once there, she turns to Reiter. "Oh, Commander. Good luck with the rescue up there. I hope you're able to save them."

Sabin looks dubiously at Captain Tajenko, but decides to push his misgivings aside for the sake of the task at hand. Turning to Reiter, he asks, "Commander, the Jefferies tubes will take time to navigate; time we may not have. However, it may be possible to pull some ODN cabling from behind the panels in the turbolift and use that as rope. If we could fashion something that could work like a grappling hook and tie it to the end of the cabling, we could use it to climb up the shaft. I don't know if that sort of rig could hold our weight though."

Codral takes the lead in the Jeffries tube to go down a level to Engineering.

"I'll take point, if that's alright with you, Captain."

By all means, Cordal, lead on. I will follow. Sumek says as he follows Nosim down to engineering.

Jiral opens a panel and rips out som ODN cabling, fashoning a provisory grappling hook from a rung dislodged from the fallen ladder. He throws it up, and catches the ladder above on the second try. But as he checks the strength on the hold and cable, it snaps, making it clear that this ODN cabling isn't going to be much use as a rope. Tajenko seems a bit amused at the display, but keeps silent.

Nosim, Sumek and Dr. Mosa have better success in traveling down. You find yourself in a crawlspace one level below. The station seems to have taken less damage here, and Dr. Mosa tells you that you're on the science labs level. Below you is the transporter room and shuttlebay level. Below it is Main Engineeering.

Codral nods at Lenana and continues on.

Sumek continues following Cordal, moving adeptly along.

The climb downwards continues without incident. Sumek, Cordal and Mosa find themselves on the transporter room and storage level, with main engineering a single level down. It's eerily silent down here without the distinct warpcore humming you would normally hear this close to main engineering.

"Lenana, do you know if the station has made any custom modifications to engineering or is it the standard space station setup?" Codral asks as he anticipates the work ahead.

Sumek continues following Codral.