Starship: Togetherness - Lost in Space <FT|IC|See SignUp>

[Mewsland]

<OoC: Please do not post here unless accepted in the OoC and signup thread.>

It is the year 3530.

After the First Conference of Interspecies Cooperation in 3525, Tali'Zorican president Mew Mæow XVI set to work penning resolutions in both his nation and on the international stage to help accomplish the goals laid out by the Conference, which the President deeply supported, in a reasonable timeframe. However, in addition, he helped set in motion one of the greatest experiments in known history - crewing a starship with beings from across the universe. It would be the ultimate in interspecies cooperation.

Commissioning the design of a starship in 3527, it was extraordinarily difficult to consider the challenges of the design - functionality for multiple types of lifeform, habitability, structure, technology. It was determined that, not only would the ship be a pioneer in interspecies relations, but it would also take a leading role in technology, flying with a revolutionary 'negative-mass' warp drive, which functioned on the same basic principle as the warp drive whilst also giving the ship negative mass, allowing it to reach intergalactic speeds of more than one light year per second.

Christened and launched on May 18, 3530, the Starship Yorktown <NCX-1717> - affectionately known as the Starship Togetherness - launched under the command of Captain Karisa Aveyo from Kardon IV to much fanfare. When Yorktown finally cleared the Kardon sector, however, that fanfare turned to sorrow.

The Kaliem Galaxy is often in a state of spatial flux. Unstable zones in the fabric of space-time can cause unpredictable errors on board a starship. The Yorktown warped right into one of these zones, and the unthinkable happened.

The warp drive of the starship greatly intensified the instability, which in turn caused an exponentially stronger space warp. In mere seconds, the Yorktown was thrown three billion light years across the universe. Even if Yorktown were to somehow slave the engine into running at its maximum cruising speed 24/7, to say nothing of fuel, it would take ninety-five years for the ship to return home...

June 25, 3528
Aveyo Residence - City of Armitage, Kardon IV

A mother and two teenage children answer the door of a residence on the outskirts of Armitage.

"Captain Aveyo?"

"Indeed."

"You're hereby being recalled to active duty. We've got a new command, and you're the top candidate."

"What starship?"

"Yorktown, Captain. You're in command of the Togetherness project."

Karisa paused for a few seconds.

"I'll pack."

April 12, 3530
Starship Yorktown <NCX-1717> - Starbase 1A - Kardon IV Orbit

Captain Karisa, now wearing the traditional Starfleet uniform, sat at her desk in the captain's ready room of the still-unfinished Yorktown. Turning to her desk monitor, she sighed. "Computer, video record commence."

The computer beeped in response and, with her heavy Tali'Zorican accent, the captain began to record her message for the interspecies officers and crew heading to join her in little more than a month.

I am Captain Karisa Aveyo of the Tali'Zorican Starship Yorktown, and head of the Togetherness Project. I preface this recording with the statement that my Basic is not the greatest exactly, but I shall do the best I can.

Five years ago, our President, Mew Mæow XVI, outset to begin the union of all beings of this universe. Within the First Conference of Interspecies Cooperation was set an unspoken goal - the commissioning of starship which would bring the unique lifeforms of this universe together for the sake of peace. While I was present not at this conference, I was briefed by President Mew himself on the details of this critical mission.

Two years ago, I was selected for command of this vessel, and of Project: Togetherness, which sees me broadcasting this message to you today.

Today, we have finalized selections of the officers and crew of the Starship Yorktown to a final crew count of 412, consisting of beings from across this universe, as promised. This vessel will launch one month six days from now. Those of you receiving message have been selected for the crew of this prestigious assignment, and I expect all of you present on May 18 for our departure. Thank you.

May 18, 3530 - 09.45
Main Bridge - Starship Yorktown <NCX-1717> - Drydock 43 - Starbase 1A - Kardon IV Orbit

Captain Karisa took her seat at the center of the main bridge command dais. "What is status of senior staff?"

The junior Contact Officer reported in. "Senior staff approaching alongside, Captain. I am still showing 73 crewmembers yet to board."

"We launch at 11.30, Ensign. Inform me when senior staff begin arriving. I'll be in my ready room." Karisa left the bridge, leaving the junior officers currently there to wonder what Karisa's unusually short visit was all about.

[The UEG-Space Command]

Walking towards the ship was a rather large Flood, standing in at 10' 8 it looked around before walking into the ship. Wondering who will help him he walked up towards the main bridge.

"I am the Executive Officer of this ship am I right?" The Flood said in his dark and menacing voice which was shared among his parasitic species.

OOC: Note which nation I post with depends on which one I am active with so expect me to post with this or the Flood puppet nation. Also I couldn't think of anything for the post but it is subject to change.

[Starkindler]

Standing at 10' 6", or 3200 mm in her system of measurement, Lieutenant Hesperashi Masami was one of the tallest beings to board the starship, comparable in height only with Na'vi, or Species 8472 (Undine). Clasping her hands as she walked towards the ship to be commissioned as the first interspecies starship, and the flagship of interspecies cooperation, she was grateful for herself to be able to reach so much. It was her first interstellar mission in a Navy. Although she spent countless hours on the holodecks, training for every situation given, training on planetary facilities both in the Empire, and in Tali'Zora, and assimilated terabytes of engineering material, she considered herself ready for the challenge of maintaining the revolutionary starship. Although a part of her knew that it's just her optimism speaking from her, as a real interstellar mission contains twists and turns unimaginable to even the most pessimistic situation modeler, writing the holoprograms of the training simulators. She also looked over the mixed crew of many nations, being grateful to work in an environment like this.

With a cheerful smile, she walked up on the planetfall ramp, and looked for a turbolift in order to immediately assume her assigned position on the bridge. After recalling the map of the vessel from her eidetic memory, she found Turboshaft 2, and took the turbolift to Deck A, where her workplace was located. She noted a junior officer on her position, who was probably as excited as she was.
"Junior Ship Resources, you are relieved of duty here. Would you please report to Main Engineering in Deck O?" She asked as if she was requesting a favor from her subordinate. That was her weakness, and that was why she had near failing grades in Command classes. Giving out orders, and seeing them being carried out was alien for her personality, and when around subordinates, she always tasked herself with the toughest jobs, leaving the easiest ones to her subordinates in simulation and training exercises at home.
"Yes, Miss." The junior officer saluted her, and left the station, as the senior officer saluted back.

She assumed her station, and looked over the data flowing in from different parts of the ship. For a few seconds, she had viewed the systems displays in front of her, then she started singing, quietly. Along with the hum of the ship, her voice created a pleasant atmosphere on the bridge, as she was being accompanied by a second, complementary tone. From her back, first white wings started to emerge, and seconds later, like if she had a Siamese twin, from the center of her back, emerged her angel. She looked behind to the familiar female figure.
"Ah! Star of Serenity! Shall we start setting this magnificent vessel up for launch at our Captain's order?" - she said to her, smiling on her, albeit knowing that she could not understand anything out of her speech, only the echoes of it traveling through the interconnect pathways created on the analog duotronic FPGA's operating in her brain. The angel looked as understanding it, holding hands with her master for a brief moment, then they both started singing on a very low voice, and started working on the two consoles available to them, as they had separate sight, and the force fields projected by the lieutenant's holoemitter simulated the touch of fingers. While the angel worked on the preliminary level 4 diagnostics of the ship, ensuring everything is in order, and the vessel is ready for commissioning, Masami worked on analyzing the power consumption, and the antimatter reaction equations, starting to optimize them to her best knowledge.

[Mewsland]

<OoC: After the OP, I'll be writing my posts from a first-person perspective, unless otherwise noted.>

<OoC 2: Starkindler, Mewsland is ICly known as Tali'Zora.>

"Captain, Lieutenant Masami has just arrived. She's already relieved the Junior Ship Resources officer and assumed her station."

"Understood. I am en route." I set down a padd I was reading (on the final systems reports for tactical) and stepped out onto the bridge of my ship. "Ensign, I hope you have station ready when our new tactical officer arrives."

"Yes, Captain."

Taking my seat at the center of the bridge, I turned to face the Lieutenant, already hard at work at the Ship Resources station. "Lieutenant?"

[Colonial Forces]

Colonel Samuel Smith, or Lieutenant Commander, made his way to Turboshaft 1. The ship, the Yorktown, was very diffrent from the Battlestars he had served on for most of his life. As was his position of Cheif Operations Officer. For the past decade he had been the executive officer on two Battlestars. But for all the diffrences, it was better then being stuck in a dead-end position because some admiral had a vendetta against him, for whatever reason.

Reaching the Turboshaft, yet again something you would never find on a Battlestar, he stepped in and hit the button for the bridge, needing to report to the captain, and then seeing to his station. And to make sure his subordinates were up to the task. He didn't think they would like him, few of his other subordinates in the Colonial Fleet did, but they were always the best once he got through with them. The turbolift stopped and the door opened, allowing him to step onto the bridge. A quick scan of the bridge told him that not all of the senior officers were present yet. Seeing the captain, he made his way to her, and saluted.

"Ma'am, Cheif Operations Officer Colonel Samuel Smith reporting as instructed." He introduced himself, though he was sure she knew who he was, as he hoped she knew all the senior officers.

[Mewsland]

"I am Captain Karisa Aveyo. Welcome to the bridge." Pointing out a station to the right of her chair, I said "The operations station is yours, Colonel."

My eyes finally fell upon the Flood form on the bridge. "Welcome. Yes, commander, you have been named the executive officer. I am Captain Karisa Aveyo, and I seem to have forgotten your name."

[Starkindler]

<OoC: Corrected. Sorry.>

As the angel had seen the captain exiting her ready room, she notified her master, and saluted the commanding officer.
"Captain on the bridge." - The engineer's voice filled the bridge, as she stood in attention, and also saluted the captain entering her post. She looked over the bridge noting the junior officers also paying respect to their captain. In Starfleet Academy, it was one of the more difficult tasks to learn to salute one's superiors instead of bowing or curtseying before them, according to the rank difference, as in the Empire. Even now it was hard to suppress the urge, and scold her angel to abstain from bowing before Captain Aveyo.

As the officer had her seat, the Clank and her familiar looked towards resuming their jobs, however, they were asked for a report.
"Captain, I have started the checks and procedures required for the commissioning of the ship. The Junior Ship Resources officer was sent to oversee the final settings and touches in Main Engineering, and control the procedures from there. I am working on optimizing the power distribution grid, increasing efficiency wherever possible, and create a multivariable antimatter reaction equation, which can be quickly switched to account for an increased power load, or a conservative fuel setting. I am also investigating into power plant security, to see if temporary overload is possible, as in my reactor. Star of Serenity is conducting Level 4 diagnostic on the ship's system ensuring correct functionality. Currently the power plant is running at 60% rated output, main systems have an overall efficiency of 99.7341%, all engines are off-line. Life support is working optimally, available resources may keep the ship running for 15,000 hours of operation, and increasing as the ship is being fueled up, and stocked. Your orders, Captain?"

[The UEG-Space Command]

"I have no name, just refer to me by any name you can think of." It said as it observed the area around it. "So when shall we take off? I believe the others have not arrived yet?"

[Strykla]

Xek’les ran back. He pivoted and fired at the bug; it shrieked and collapsed, the explosive bullets wrenching it apart. Another jumped; he slashed with an armored claw and cut it open, pausing to curbstomp it. The arm-mounted autocannon loaded round after round into the breech and accelerated it to supersonic speeds with the magnetic coils surrounding the barrel. It was actually not that powerful; the coils didn’t go that far, only a third of a meter, but they were deadly. The magnetic sabot tore off when the shot left the barrel; there were times when it stuck inside the barrel and jammed.

But Xek’les was fighting for his life; him and the other Regal Marines were desperately trying to get back to their dropship. After an hour of exploration, what did they come upon? This.

“Xek’les! Cover fire! Die’sch, give ‘em your ammo!” That was Point Lead Mah’kol; the officer here. Die’sch threw a roll of ammunition to Xek’les; he loaded it into his autocannon and kept firing. They just kept coming; one after the other. He walked back as he was firing; they would overwhelm him by sheer numbers otherwise. Would they drown him in their blood? Perhaps.

But now vines were coming. It seemed this planet was wholly alive; the slithering things came across the dirt ground, out from under their claws. Xek’les swept at one, bisecting it; it wriggled then fell limp. Another gripped his shin and pulled; Xek’les fell over. The last thing he could see was being dragged away; the next thing he knew, he was smashing the vine with his grip. The dropship was several hundred meters away, he saw with a start. How had he been dragged so far? It took off and hovered over him; his Point, the four Marines he’d lived with for so long, weren’t going to abandon him so soon.

Bullets rained down about him. High-explosive shells weren’t a danger to him unless they impacted very close, or directly, for his armor was resistant to most shrapnel and, being sealed, he wasn’t in danger from overpressure damage - Unless, of course, the overpressure was strong enough to break the suit. He jumped, triggering his jets with all the remaining fuel; Xek’les soared into the dropship cabin with a bump. The soldiers shared a quick laugh at death, which they had just punched in the face. But their luck wasn’t to be; the dropship suddenly lurched. Something was wrong; Xek’les looked out the open troop bay and saw their ‘birds’ flapping madly after them - With no luck, because they were reaching the high atmosphere. Something squawked and Xek’les was suddenly out of the cabin, into the vacuum of space.

He twisted to look back at the dropship, in confusion, but sent himself spinning dizzily. Vertigo tugged at his mind. What was going on? He blacked out.

[Colonial Forces]

Smith ended his salute and walked over to his station. Normally he would be standing on a Battlestar, as most of senior officers did. Sitting down while on duty would take some getting used to. He hesitantly sat down and started to familarize himself with the station. He had been trained in it before being sent to the Yorktown, but it was always best to re-familiarize ones self whenever possible. He fidgeted every now and then, his body demanding that he stand. Thankfully it wasn't long before something that would get him on his feet again presented it-self. Apperantly the loading of supplies wasn't on schedule, and now was the best time to show people that he expected a tight-ship. He shook his head. He was too used to serving on a Battlestar.

Standing back up, Smith turned to Captain Aveyo.

"Sorry to interrupt ma'am, but there seems to be a problem with the loading of supplies. I'll get down there and set them right immediatley if you want."

[Rupudska]

Barnabas half-crashed half-slid into the turbolift just as the door began to close. He was no tengu, so he wasn't gifted with superspeed, in fact, his arm/wings were a bit of a hindrance while running. Nein, nein neinneinneinneINNEIN! He barely made it into the lift before the door slammed shut.

He sighed as the elevator slowly cruised to the bridge. In a ship this small, it probably wouldn't take this long. It was nothing compared to the massive Bismarck-class dreadnoughts, which were enormous. A trip across the ship in a horizontal lift (Commonly referred to as Wonkavators by crew) could take several minutes. The turbolift on this ship was much cleaner, much... whiter than an Imperial lift. Those were normally painted the same color as the outside of the ship, usually a light blue. Of course, a ship as small as the Kobra had regular elevators instead of turbolifts.

And, in fact, the trip in the elevator wasn't long at all. Soon enough, he found himself on the bridge of the Yorktown. Walking towards the captain, he made a quick salute, then said, "Lieutenant Barnabas Braun, chief helm officer, reporting for duty as ordered."

[Mewsland]

"I am Captain Karisa Aveyo. The helm station is forward and to my right. Of course, it is yours." I gestured toward the appropriate station.

Turning to the Colonel, I listened to his statement. "Yes, Colonel, seeing as operations is your purview, see to this supply problem at once. We need to be fully prepared for launch. By the way, ma'am only works when it's crunch time, Colonel. I prefer Captain."

Turning back toward Lieutenant Masami, I quickly reviewed the situation sphere before making a decision. The redundant AI on the computer was impeccable at bringing up the supply and efficiency calculations in mere moments. "We need to get the warp core up to full power by 10.15 - see to it. I'd like to conduct a stationary test of the negative-mass drive before 10.45, and pre-launch countdown begins at 11.00 sharp for a launch at 11.30, and so far, everything is proceeding almost as planned. Keep those calculations for multivariable antimatter reaction in mind - we may end up needing them one day. What is peak efficiency we can expect from the main systems?"

Turning to my exec, I began to think. "How does 'Richy' sound? As I said, we launch at 11.30, one hour and forty-five minutes from now."

[The UEG-Space Command]

"It sounds nice, you may all call me Richy henceforth." Richy said as he looked around observing the strange area.

[Starkindler]

<OoC: Corrected negative mass technology>

As she was standing in attention, waiting for the orders of the Captain, her angel, tapped her shoulder as she got the measurement data. Masami blinked of the screen displaying two errors in the data.
"Yes, Captain. According to my preliminary calculations, the peak efficiency is limited at 99.9999999999%, only hindered by the fundamental laws of physics. It means that all the losses to dissipation, unwanted heat production, sound and friction combined would be less than 1 kWh for the entire starship at nominal design power. It will be reached within the hour. From the level 4 diagnostic I deduced that the efficiency might be raised to 140% for at least 30 minutes, but I haven't been at the reactor core to make physical tests, yet. From the plans, I am confident that the reactor could be overloaded to at least 300% safely. Captain, Star of Serenity would like to point out an error on the subspace sensor diagnostic. It appears to sense an organic lifeform in space 1.2034 light years fro our current position. I would like to ask Contact and Tactical's expert opinion on this, however."

After finishing, she saluted again. She tapped her commbadge, even though she was capable of reaching the ship's comm system with her built-in transponder.
"Lieutenant Hesperashi to Main Engineering. Please, clear the area around main particle accelerators. Please also take care to clear the area around main reactor antimatter inlets."
She waited a few seconds, then increased antimatter flow to the warp core, as the reaction accelerated, with power outputs approaching nominal power, what were being soaked up by the particle accelerators to prepare for the creation of the first tachyon field for the stationary test of the negative mass drive. Meanwhile, the angel was tasked with working on the efficiency of the ship, by eliminating phantom power losses, and implementing multi-adaptive Clank compression algorithms to speed up the network on the ship.

[Mewsland]

"1.2034 light years? Computer, display subspace sensor schematic on aft viewscreen." I reviewed the schematics of the area, before making a decision. "Pre-launch countdown begins in fifteen minutes. This lifeform reading is too much to ignore."

[Starkindler]

The Clank and her angel looked into each other's eyes: they are going to leave the planet, and the ship will be launched shortly. Soon, their first interstellar will start. With fire in their eyes, they prepared the ship for launch, as Masami again tapped her commbadge.
"Lieutenant Hesperashi to all hands. Please finish pre-launch preparations. Pre-launch countdown will start in 900 seconds. I repeat, pre-launch countdown will start in 900 seconds."

In harmony, the two ladies at engineering began singing a fast-paced song together in a low voice not to bother anyone in the bridge, as their hands swept across the panels, vastly increasing reaction at the power plant, finalizing the life support, and starting an alert at hangar bays instructing personnel to board the ship. With a few commands, power was also redirected to the warp coils and the impulse drives, warming them up for Helm to use. In a few seconds, Helm controls, along with the MSD and her own display showed all engines powering up, and within a minute, they were ready to go, as they displayed appropriate readings and fields for anchored, stationary state.

[Michael Kenmore]

It was just at this moment that the tall, slender 6'5" form of the Tactical Officer arrived on board the bridge. She briskly stepped from the turbolift and planted herself with hands clasped behind her back at the tactical station just behind the captain. Staring with gold, vertically slitted eyes at the viewscreen she reported, "Tactical division accounted for, sir," and she remained in that position awaiting the launch.

[Nexus-7]

The doors of the turbolift slid open just as the countdown for prelaunch began, and lieutenant-commander Underwood stepped out onto the bridge just behind the tactical officer. The sleek interior was vastly different to the spartan layout that he was used to onboard the Nexus-7 ships, but he was nothing if not adaptable. And already he was being made to adapt - just moments before, his commbadge had sounded with the captain's order that they pursue a distant reading of a life form. Father never would have indulged such behaviour, he thought. But his purpose on the mission did not include questioning the captain's orders, no matter how contrary they ran to his personal beliefs. This was not one of the Community's ships.

Underwood crossed the bridge to his station, standing before it briefly to salute the captain. "Contact accounted for, captain." He took his seat, glancing over the information displayed on his viewscreen, already calculating the best way to retrieve the unidentified drifter. They'd be in position shortly enough, and it would be up to him to coordinate the EVA crew in order to retrieve their newest passenger. He glanced at the nearby wraith queen, "Commander, any recommendations on the deployment of the EVA team?"

[Colonial Forces]

As the captain gave the order to begin the pre-launch countdown, Smith hastily made his way to the turbolife, passing by two other senior officers who had just arrived. Not having time to introduce himself, he walked past them and into the lift. It took him rougly seven minutes to get to the crew that was behind schedule. And who soon saw why. Half of them weren't there.

"Petty Officer, can I have a moment of your time." Smith said. It wasn't a question. The man walked over and saluted. Smith didn't return it. "Wheres the rest of your team, Petty Officer?"

The Petty Officer seemed to search for the right words before speaking. "Well sir, another loading team called in and asked for some help, so I sent them down to help them out." The man said after a moment.

Smith nodded. "And did you clear this is any of your superiour officers? Or did you think it was a good idea to compromise your teams ability to preform its job?"

"Well sir, I thought-"

"I don't give a frak what you thought, petty officer. Theres a very clear way of how things are done in this line of work. And right now you aren't showing me that you know how to do them. Don't you worry though, when I'm done with you, you and your crew will be the best Gods damned crew on this ship. Now get that supplies loaded or I'll put you out an airlock." Smith scolded the man, who quickly saluted and got back to helping his crew, who seemed to have greatly increased their rate.

Smith stayed for another minute before making his way back to the bridge.

[Mewsland]

<OoC: For future reference, here is a typical Yorktown warp jump (though with the Enterprise).>

<OoC 2: I'll be picking up the role of the Chief Medical Officer, and his parts will be written in third person (along with being separated by horizontal lines) to differentiate them from Karisa's.>

"I show sixty seconds until launch," I said as I glanced at the countdown on the conn table. "Alright. Senior officers, get me a full systems report."

---

"Sickbay ready, captain," Doctor Torgersen reported. "Let's hope my preparations are not needed."

---

"Got it, Torgersen. I agree with you," I said. Somehow, however, I had the gut feeling that this mission would not be anywhere near as routine as anything I had trained for, and that we would be needing Bradley's services a lot in the next few years...

[Starkindler]

"Captain, all systems ready. Warp core running at 100% nominal power, all engines are powered up and ready to use. Negative mass drive tachyon storage charged. Star of Serenity has completed level 4 diagnostics on the entire system, and I have managed to get an approximate inventory on the load based on the orders and security camera checks. To my rough calculations, supplies should last 30 000 hours of operation, dependent on multiple factors. Systems efficiency is at 99.999999% and increasing. The complete analysis will be made in a few moments, please stand by."

The Clank and her angel put their hands together, then slowly pulled them apart. Between their hands the light and sound effects common in replicators or transporters have appeared, as they replicated a PADD, already loaded with the data of the full system analysis of all the systems under the Clank's control. Having wings, her program was not bound to move on the ground, as she brought the PADD to the nearby captain's chair, and handed it over to her. The PADD contained the report of the Clank in a precise, but easily navigable and readable format. It sported an abstract that provided a quick overlook over the systems of the vessel, and a detailed report on all the subsystems, giving the commander even the most minute details of them.

[Nexus-7]

The clone's fingers flew over his workstation, and he quickly pinged the conn table so that the captain could track what he was doing. "All my systems are online, sir," he said, checking them off one by one, "The hangar is locked and ready for warp, uplink to the navigation network is intact, and communications transmissions are secure."

Once all the checks were completed, Underwood sat back a little in his seat. His fingers slowed, now merely monitoring the entire communications network. If something went amiss with any of the systems he was responsible for, he wanted to know immediately.

[Rupudska]

Barnabas' taloned hands (They were on the underside of his wings, roughly the same size as human hands but much thinner) rapidly went through the helm's controls. He mentally kept track of each check. Everything looked fine from there. "Steering, power, acceleration all check out, ma'am. Systems are go." One of the good things about being on a ship like the Yorktown was that the controls were much easier to understand than the Imperial warships he used to pilot. Although, he did miss the hard-light steering wheel. A little.

[Strykla]

Xek'les wasn't awake; he hadn't been for around seven months.

His suit had long ago brought him into cryopreservation to allow him to survive indefinitely; his metabolism was slashed, slashed again, then slashed a few more times, until he needed very little sustenance at all; the suit allowed him to survive like that for almost a year. The very blood in his veins had, with the help of a one-to-three ratio of nanomachines, been replaced partially with antifreeze compounds, preventing cellular damage, and he was clinically brain-dead until the suit 'warmed him up'. Which it was doing.

The nanites in his blood were mostly dead by now, for they were powered by body heat; suspended in the supercooled blood, they had lost their energy source. But the suit had its own heat sources, and the ones outside his body, in between the scales and the suit's inner wall, began to reactivate. Then, acting as one large electrical source, reactivated his heart. Blood started pumping, though it was very carefully monitored, for a mistake would instantly freeze the blood and kill Xek'les.

Thankfully, nothing bad happened. The suit began swapping out antifreeze compounds for nanites, which would temporarily replace missing blood; the process began. Slowly, he was warmed up; he remained unconscious and would be so for as long as it took to get to wherever could get the suit off him. Xek'les' lungs were filled with liquid-breathing compounds; with them, he couldn't speak and it was uncomfortable at best, terrifying at worst - Like drowning, but without the dying part - But very useful for things like this.

And all the while, he waited....

[Mewsland]

"Computer, crew status readout," Doctor Torgersen asked.

"Crew status: 2-4-3 at duty stations. 1-6-5 off duty. 0-0-4 on medical leave. 4-1-2 total."

---

"Colonel Smith, I need the ops report in the next 40 seconds or else we miss the launch. I also need the tactical report, Commander... I'm sorry, what was your name?" I said, addressing the Wraith at tactical.