After a hectic day of dealing with heavy machinery, falls from high places and general anxiety, spending time in the Artifact Bay with Fallen-Star and Nora was actually quite relaxing. Layth was able to work at repairing the holo-emitter for Fallen-Star, with Nora occasionally translating so that he didn't have to look up from his work, while Tasha was able to just chat with the projections about simple, pleasant topics.

The next morning, both Tasha and Layth were asked to report to the Med Bay after breakfast for further PersoCom implant-training, this time for handling bridge functions needed for take-off and landing of Bellerophon.

Tasha arrives dressed in her undersuit, with her military jacket and pants loosely over the armored inner wear. "Oi, I think that's the first good bit I've sleep I've gotten since we got here," she admits as she enters, her hand reaching to pull her hair up so the other can tie it in a ponytail. Her fur is still thin where it was shaved, revealing the tracts of silver that terminate in studs on the back of her head, but it at least seems to be regrowing steadily, if not fast.

"Sleep is for the weak," Layth claims as he follows the hybrid into the medical bay, "It is luxury. So I'm lazy, weak, and I like luxury." The buck pauses to sniff the air, then adds randomly, "And this room always smells odd."

"Then you must be Khattan," Tasha teases Layth, taking a gentle swat at him. "And you're smelling the sterilization – which apparently is a different thing from not getting pregnant."

"I hope it isn't me," PC Caravelli says, making a show of sniffing his virtual armpits. "Anyway, I'm sure you know what to expect: a deep memory implant requires a deep memory, and the strongest ones are usually unpleasant. Are you ready to go through that again?"

"I was raised by Khatta," Layth points out as he dodges the swat by stepping backwards. The buck then remarks in deadpan to Caravelli, "My life is a collection of misery and torment. That explains why I am so wise."

"I'm all about bad memories!" Tasha says, laughing and holding her arms out as she walks forward. "I collect them, I make them. I trade them with my friends!" The woman grins at Layth, then holds her hands up defensively. "But don't think I don't take them seriously," she insists, right before hopping up on one of the beds.

"Because we moved one of the systems down to the artifact bay, you'll need to share a bed," Caravelli note, pointing to the prepped medical bed, with it's various cables and tubes ready to be inserted into their life collars.

Layth falls on the bed, face first, next to Tasha. "Do I have to?" he asks. "She snores and steals the blankets."

"It's true, I do." Tasha agrees, tail wagging and a big grin across her face. "What are you doing with the second bed, Doctor?"

"It's for connecting with Fallen-Star, since she can't be reached through the ship's network still," the Karnor explains, and begins hooking up the tubes and data cables once the pair have settled down. "I'll monitor things out here, as usual, and Nora will be your instructor inside. Any last words?" he asks, finger hovering over the sedative feed control.

"Can I have a dream where I am the sultan and Nora and Tasha are my harem slaves?" Layth asks as he rolls over to his back and raises his arm into the air, pointing at the ceiling for some reason.

"You'll have to ask Fred for something like that," Eli notes.

"I'd like a hamburger when I wake up," replies Tasha as she lays back, tucking her hands under her head, just over the cables. She then peers at Layth, brows raising. "You want me and Nora as harem slaves? You know Nora and I are alike, right? Be careful what you wish for!"

"Oh, I want Fred to be one of the slaves too," Layth adds.

Tasha pauses as she gets comfortable. "I'd like to see that. Can I have Mariel?"

"I also should avoid beer. It makes me odd," Layth decides and furrows his brow.

"Were you drinking my Vartan beer?" The red woman also inquires, leaning to sniff at Layth.

"Maybe," Layth says.

"Do you like it?" Tasha asks curiously, ears perked.

"Right up to the point it decides all want to come out at once. I have never had such an urge to pee before," Layth admits.

"You just need to work at it," Tasha insist as she finally leans back and settles in. "That was me when I was little." She then waggles her fingers towards the Doctor. "Ready here!"

Shaking his head, Caravelli presses the feed button, saying, "You are both silly." Vision darkens, and the sensation of falling through a tunnel overcomes both Tasha and Layth. Soon, there is sound, and a sense of motion and of being in a large, dark space. There is a crack of light near the ground… a door? Both of them feel… small. Smaller than before, almost infants! The floor moves, and there are raised voices coming from the other side of the door…

As the world expands in to clarity around the children, they find a tall, ornate-yet-worn wooden door before them. It is attached to an equally wooden wall, which extends upward to another deck, also railed off and with similar woodwork. Dark clouds tinged in orange loom all around, blocked only by a massive balloon above, and the sprawling expanse of Rephidim's docks to the fore. The deck is silent save for the rumbling of distant thunder, and the argument within.

"He not coming! He not come even if he knew, and he not taking you away," a deep, Vartan voice insists, followed by the sound of something heavy hitting wood. "It not good for you!" The language is harsh, squawky – but despite this Layth understands it. Beside him is the small, fuzzy, wide-eyed form of his friend Tasha, who has her ears to the door and a fearful expression on her face.

Layth is even more a ball of gold and white fluff than ever. Were it not for the blinking eyes, he could almost be mistaken for a pillow. Lop ears buried in fluff twitch which makes the fluff shake like pudding. His eyes tilt a bit, betraying that he's listening curiously.

Younger than before, Tasha looks liked a winged puppy more than a half-Vartan. her physique has yet to develop, her fur is clean and new, and her wings are just downy bundles rather than proper instruments of flight. Were it not for her hooves, she might look cherubic. She listens intently, eyes widening as the voices inside raise further.

"You not know! He might come, he seem very nice! Said he come back some ti-" A feminine, albeit deep, voice begins to insists before it's cut off.

"YOU KNOW HE NOT COMING," the male all but yells, and then hooves can be herd clicking across the floor, stopping, then starting again. "You watch docks like lost fledgling waiting for mother, but he not like us, Des! He rich, he important. Just cause you have strange little chick not mean he care about it! You think he and he family going to accept THAT?"

The white and gold ball of fluff shuffles closer to the door. Or maybe it walks. Hard to tell, really. The only sound he makes are quiet 'thumps' when feet touch the wooden deck.

Tasha seems intend on listening, leaning ever closer. Her hearing was always a little inferior, even to the average of a human's, which may have only worsened with years of loud noises. When the woman inside starts yelling, she recoils at the intensity.

"SHE NOT 'IT'! SHE MY TASH, AND SHE SPECIAL!" The woman inside yells, causing the steps to pause and the male voice recommences, "She half-Vartan! Half Jupe! I never seen half-Jupe, and you neither! You think he going to pick up Tash and treat her good? You lucky he not know, if he noble like you say! You think noble family want mix-breed? I talk long to last captain, I know Des! He not coming and you be glad for it!"

A small, but unusually strong, golden fluff-hand comes to rest on young-Tasha's shoulder, perhaps trying to steady her. Perhaps testing if she is real. Still nothing is spoken; just blinking eyes as the young Lapi listens.

Tasha feels real enough, if far softer than she does in life. When the hand stirs her fur she suddenly sucks in a breath, looking back with wide golden eyes, glossy with unshed tears.

"Fine, you leave with bastard child! You see if anyone take you in – maybe brothel in Darkside!" The man inside continues, louder and louder, "Maybe find man who want babies with wings!" There's a pause in the footsteps, followed by the thud of flesh against flesh. Something inside staggers with a clatter of hooves, and Tasha gasps, backing away!

The fluffball also has to manage a quick retreat from the door, lest Tasha run over him! He may be young, but the sound is well known to him. Simple, physical, violence; a primal answer. Even all that fluff can't hide the wince that ripples through him.

"You-" The voice and movement within suddenly halt with the combination of noise form outside the door. Tasha stands stock-still, so pale it shows through in her ears. Her eyes are riveted on the door, as the masculine voice within demands, "WHO THERE?" Then, she begins backing away. Slowly at first, but she picks up the pace when the heavy hoof falls inside pick up and draw ever close.

Layth shuffles along after Tasha. When you're small, you learn rather quickly if it's loud and big, chances are you do not want to be around when it is mad. IT makes you an easy target.

Tasha backs away with Layth at her side, her hands beginning to raise as if anticipating the need to shield herself. She's just beginning to turn and bolt when the cabin door swings open and a towering Vartan man with a glass eye emerges, clutching his face.

"WHO THERE?" The massive figure demands as his keen Vartan gaze sweeps the deck. "Beak, that yo-" When his eyes catch sight of Tasha and Layth, he leans back, beak half-open with unspoken words. Behind him, a young, but no less large, red Vartan woman walks up behind him. "Tash … ?" She calls out, her tone fearful. When the two settle their gaze on her, Tasha, wide eyed, takes one more step away before she's breaks in to a stumbling, sobbing run. Behind her, her mother calls, "Oh no … Wait, Tash!"

Layth quickly looks between the retreating Tasha and the two large Vartans. At this point instinct wins and he takes off after Tasha! That's one amazingly fast, bouncing, pillow.

The two hurtle head long in to the setting light, oblivious to obstacle or direction. All that they know is to get away; away from the hurtful words and pitying faces. Their headlong flight is brought to an abrupt halt as the pair find themselves face-to-face with a Guard squad, who seem just as surprised to see them.

"Oi, hey, what's that? Are those wings?" The lead guard asks, a young Jupani with gray fur who rubs his head as he gets a good look at Tasha. The two others come to a halt, also taking a look. "It's a child – you've heard of children before, haven't you? Little people, cry a lot?" The only woman of the group replies, sarcastic. "I know what a child is," the gray man insists, growling, "But I've never seen one of us with wings – what is that? Some kind of Exile?"

"It's a half-Vartan," the older of the Guard group, a brown male, explains. "Vartan half-breed."

Layth's helpful addition to the conversation is to just blink a lot, look confused, and look rather harmless. Again, these are big people and anything big is potentially dangerous. When it appears he wasn't seen, the fluffball shuffles off to the side, trying to disappear behind one of the many boxes that abound in this part of town.

Tasha, having garnered the group's attention, stands terrified before them as they all peer down at her as if she were some sort of interesting new bug.

"Sometimes happens," the senior Guard member continues, "You get some Vartan and what-not, and you get these." He gestures at Tasha, his voice casual, if gruff. "Huh, I didn't even know that was possible," the younger male says, kneeling to get a better look at the red girl. Giving you any idea, Mary?" "Shut up, Brice," the woman replies, turning to glare at him. "I'd never touch a Vartan – you see how they talk? And how big they are! Plus, they stink!" The young Guard member is extending his hand towards Tasha, smiling and trying to look friendly, when a shadow passes over, causing the group to look up.

The shadow proves to be red, and swoops over, landing hard against the wooden dock. Tasha's mother immediately pulls Tasha away from the kneeling Jupani man, glaring daggers at him. "You stay away from Tash," she warns. Her gaze lifts even as the young man backs away, reaching for his weapon. "She had enough because of you!" Desdemona yells at them all before leaping in to the sky, hugging Tasha to her chest and murmuring, "It alright Tash. Shh. You not need to cry. You my special Tash. You not need Jupes. Eyeshine not mean it. Shh, shh … "

Layth watches the exchange from behind the box. While the words may not make complete sense to him, the smiling makes the Lapi duck. When monsters show their teeth, it's a prelude to an attack. Or at least that is what life has taught him thus far. And … well, all of these people look like monsters to a young Lapi. He's almost grateful when the red one shows up and spirits away Tasha; as that means less monsters to deal with. The relief is short lived, though, when he remembers he's lost in this strange forest of square rocks and terrifying monsters…

Everything fades, and the green haze appears, which gives way once more to the auditorium. Tasha and Layth find themselves as teenagers once more, this time dressed in Terran Space Forces Cadet uniforms. At the front of the room is Nora Argentine, wearing her full lieutenant's dress uniform and looking very prim, right down to having her hair up in a bun and wearing spectacles. "Are you two space cadets ready for your training now, or do you need a moment to adjust?" she asks.

When Tasha comes out of the nightmare, she exhales sharply as she leans forward and drops her head in to her hands. Rubbing her face – and then her eyes – she seems to work through what she had just experienced. When her hands fall from her face, she stares at the floor with a pensive expression, ears back and muzzle thin.

The only thing that seems to follow Layth into this new 'world' is the confused expression that ripples across his eyes and forehead. "I … I am fine. I think," he finally admits just before he looks over at Tasha. It's his turn to rub over his face as he thinks on the situation. He's about to say something, but then stops and seems to think better of it, perhaps. "Is your underwear starched in your uniform? Mine is. It's very uncomfortable," he remarks quietly to Tasha. An odd comment, really, but probably intended to try and keep Tasha from thinking about the nightmare.

"A harsh memory? You both look a bit shaken," Nora comments.

Tasha's ears twitch when Layth speaks, but she otherwise doesn't seem to register his remark at first. Several seconds pass until she takes in a deep breath, leaning back and turning towards the buck and smiling. The smile looks a little forced, and her eyes too-glossy, but her voice is good-natured and positive sounding. "A little," she admits, nodding. When Nora speaks, Tasha turns to smile at her, too. "Just an' old memory. I'm fine; I know what the truth is."

"Everything will be fine," Layth adds to the comment and sits back and upright. "Please, teach us the wisdom of the ages." He manages to sound serious about it, too.

Tasha nods in agreement. "Ready, ma'am," she reports. She even offers a salute.

"Sorry this has to be so traumatic," Nora apologizes. "But it's the only way to really open up adult brains. I'm thankful I never had to go through it myself."

"It's good to be reminded how far you've come, at least. I had a nightmare about the first time I realized I was really different, and I've spent my whole life trying to make up for that fact. But, I've had a lot of good teachers, and I've accomplished a lot. And you know," Tasha takes another breath, hands spreading, "That doesn't even matter. I don't need to prove myself to anyone. I'm fine as I am."

"It only ultimately matters what you think of yourself," Layth notes simply and folds his hands on the half-desk attached to the right armrest of the auditorium desk. "So, good to hear you've accepted yourself."

"Alright, turn your attention to your desks," Nora says, as the flat wooden desktops become glossy black command consoles. The auditorium also shifts, until Layth and Tasha find themselves on the bridge, their seats extended out into the viewing bubble on either side of the captain's station, where Nora sits.

"Dr. Caravelli really helped me understand myself. It's been good for me. It's like I can see clearly now, and everything that was behind all the smoke and fury," Tasha tells Layth, nodding a little. She turns her head back to Nora, then to her desk as it shifts. She takes a moment to examine the console, to see if it is Terran, Silent-One, or Vartan.

The first thing Layth notices is, well, the seat fits his butt, tail and all. Once that important aspect has been confirmed, his attention turns to the console too. He hopes this won't be as torturous as piloting that titan was.

Both consoles are Terran style, and light up with standard menus that seem… automatically familiar. There are a lot of functions, controls and readouts available. "The first lesson will cover flight engineering, from the countdown checklist through simulated launch and landing, followed by shutdown," Nora says, as the sphere around them glows and then shows an cleaned up version of the Orpheus hangar, with the huge launch doors already open. "Now, call up the checklist. You should know how, now."

After his experience with Fallen-Star, finding he automatically knows something isn't as disturbing as it used to be. So, he taps a bit on the console and brings up the checklist. The buck blinks a few times as it hits him how long the checklist is. "Not surprising, this machine is complex," he thinks to himself.

Tasha slides her hands across the console, tapping virtual buttons with almost reflexive understanding. She had explained to Layth that she shares some of Nora's memories, especially regarding engineering and certain other critical systems, and this must be one of them. "Understood annnnnd … There."

"Let's begin pre-launch countdown then," Nora says, "Starting with reactor diagnostics… " The process seems tedious, at least the first time through. There are hundreds of items! Instead of launching at the end, however, Nora restarts them from the beginning, and this time every item on the checklist has a problem that stops the countdown and has to be dealt with.

"And I thought counting incense sticks in the shop was dull," Layth eventually finds himself thinking as they go through the list, not once, but twice. The problems further test his patience, but the console survives the experience without being punched.

Tasha frowns as her diagnostic screen comes up all red, but the frown seems more or concentration than dismay. The woman is undeterred when Nora starts explaining what to do, going about the process with methodical, if not perfect, attention. "Loss of pressure in port side tube A-7J, compensating … " She murmurs; many other details follow as the lesson goes on.

After the two practice runs, Nora moves on to the launch sequence, which involves balancing the gravity stators and manipulating their effects to make the ship buoyant in air and reduce it's apparent mass. This is done manually, and has to account for uneven mass distribution of cargo.

As they go in to the exercise to stabilize the stators. Tasha asks without looking up, "I notice we only glazed over stator failure and repair scenarios," she mentions without looking up, "The Khattans are the only ones able to repair them, correct? The information is written directly to the brain?"

"Surely more than one group could repair them. It seems dangerous to have equipment on a ship that you would not have the plans for repairing should it break," Layth remarks as he taps a bit more on the console.

"Correct," Nora says. "The gravity stators are basically black-boxes to us. We're able to do minor repairs to the plasma coil systems, but we don't know what the actual matter is in the plasma, or what the stator itself is made of."

"The Khattans destroyed their own colonies to guard their technological superiority, or at lest that's what ITAIC told me when I asked about using them to attempt to secure that knowledge for us," Tasha adds the the explanation. She glances over at Layth, adding further, "This is part of the why I have a theory that the Khattans are actually Progenitor inheritors."

"However, the systems are incredibly reliable… so I'm assuming that sitting idle for 60 millennia will not have an adverse affect on them," Nora notes. A few red lights flash on the consoles to indicate unbalanced zones or areas were inertial 'sheer' is too high.

Layth's hands dance as he goes to correct the areas of imbalance that his panel has direct control of. "Correcting field imbalances in sections eight and twelve," he says.

"Be sure to have an even gradient in the wing tanks," Nora tells Tasha.

"Oh, and don't mention that theory to anyone outside the JEF. You may even want to keep it to command and need-to-know only," Tasha adds as she returns her gaze to her console to address the panel. She nods slowly at Nora's direction in a knowing way, having already been on it. "Shifting ballast, pumps active. Sheering stabilizing in sections twenty-one through thirty. Output of stator AR2 increasing to cover sector twenty and twenty-one."

Nora consults her own console and nods, "Very good. Disengage the docking clamps."

"Port side clamps releasing in three," Layth intones, waiting for Tasha to signal when she will release hers.

"Confirming response from clamp-control. Automated emergency response received; release synced with flight control, stabilizer pressure rising, standing by," Tasha explains as she works through the exercise.

After the clamps are released, the view shows the ship drop slightly and… bob. At the moment, it doesn't seem much different from an untethered airship. "Going to maneuvering jets, switch your consoles to Flight mode."

"Switching. Stabilizer pressure steady, maneuvering thrusters standing by," says the red woman as her fingers dance across the controls. "The Bellerophon uses a plasma ignition thruster system for atmospheric flight, right? Not unlike the Melchior."

"Switching," Layth says as he taps the left hand side of the glass panel. One view wipes out and another slides in to take its place.

"Yes, and we'll be using that for our initial launch, then the rocket system along with it, and finally just the rockets," Nora notes. "Start the warmup on the atmospheric engines while I take us out." One corner window shows the data on the maneuvering jets as Nora nudges the ship out of the hangar.

"All yours, Tasha. I know you want to pilot it out. I'll just monitor for problems," Layth says. His eyes flick a bit as he reads over the various status screens and gauge outputs.

"Ah, this I have experience with. Well, life experience with – it's not just a memory in my head. The Melchior uses Khattan-designed plasma jet engines, although at a much smaller scale. The heat must be incredible." She's in the middle of pre-ignition when Layth offers her a chance to go, and so she nods. "Oh? Alright, if you don't mind?" The woman smiles over at her friend, then pulls up a few more screens so that the workload is shifted entirely her way. "Pressure rising, pumps active, reactor output stable, and ignition assembly warming up – the board is as green as it's going to get until we can do further repairs."

"My experience with a titan is an effort in weight lifting and contortion," Layth remarks a bit absently, his main focus is watching the gauges for issues with the engines.

The simulation even takes into account the single working reactor. Diagnostic displays of the engines are on both systems, and Nora suggests Layth start the pre-ignition sequence for the rocket motors while Tasha focuses on the jets. Once outside of Orpheus, the rear-view camera shows the great doors closing. "Once the doors are closed we can go to the aerospike motors. We never use any main engine system while the doors are open," she explains.

"I got a look at those controls. It looks like a torture device." Tasha remarks, face contorted in a mask of concentration. "The Melchior also won't permit me to engage lift off inside the hangar; it must be a universal safety feature. And of course, if you're using something like an ion or other radiation-spewing form of thrust, you wouldn't want to irradiate the hangar!"

Layth taps the panel again and a new view slides into place, this time the rocket systems checklist. One by one he goes down the list, verifying the intake pressures are consistent and balanced and the fuel pressure is stable as well. If either outlet is off-pressure the ship will, well, experience a rather nasty change in velocity. "The rocket systems are looking functional," the buck remarks as his checks continue on. "Slight variance in fuel line three, but it is within tolerance. It should be safe as long as we don't try to push the motors to their maximum output."

"Throttling up now, watch for hotspots," Nora declares, as she applies power to the atmospheric engines and the landscape begins to accelerate below… and grow more distant. "The atmosphere is shallow, so we're going to have to do an in-air orbit to build speed," she notes.

"I'm detecting a heat spike in coolant relay twenty-four; pumping station PA24B is reporting malfunction and is initiating emergency shutdown … " Tasha's eyes flicker across her panel a moment as her hands hover and she thinks. I'm re-routing coolant from sector twenty-three and twenty-five to compensate, and alerting engineering." Then in a series of rapid taps, brings up another screen and the flashing red that reflects in her eyes goes yellow.

"Escape velocity for Sheol changes at 10,000 meters altitude," Nora comments. "We'll be out of the moon's artificial gravity effect then. This means we need to coast through that point using the velocity we've built up, then use the rockets once we're past that altitude." The tiny moon's close horizon zips by in a blur, and soon a metallic cliff rises and passes below as they pass Orpheus again. Things are beginning to shake now.

"Rocket motors look functional, all variances are within tolerance," Layth finally announces. As the ship around them begins to shake, though, he flips back to the flight screen and checks over Tasha's input to be sure she didn't miss something.

The turbulence seems to be from pockets of alternating density in Sheol's atmosphere, even though the moon doesn't seem to have winds or weather of any kind. It may be an unevenness in whatever force creates the world's gravity and holds the atmosphere in place.

"Failure in relay SA7, non-critical. The Chief Engineer warned us about this; shutting it down and re-routing its resources elsewhere." A few more taps and it's done, Tasha leaning back. "Failures in certain backup and secondary backup systems is expected, given the age and limited resources we have. It seems like only the pumps are reporting serious damage, which may be exposure to air, reaction mass, radioactivity causing a shift in properties … Kohler said he had to rig a web of them around some areas."

"I'm throttling back then, and changing our angle of ascent," Nora says, as she turns the nose more towards the black sky, with the crescent of Abaddon growing from below. "Layth, I'm going to need a 5-second impulse at half-throttle from the rockets, are they ready?"

"Yes. As long as we don't exceed eighty percent maximum thrust, they should be fine. There are issues with the fuel lines not being perfectly in balance, but it will only have adverse effects once we exceed the noted range. As Tasha said, the age has probably weakened, or damaged, parts," Layth answers as he taps on his controls without looking up. "I'll keep an eye on them once thrust has engaged to ensure nothing changes suddenly."

"The pumping systems are stabilizing now … It looks like re-routing worked. I'm bringing some backups online to help ease the load, to try and avoid further failures. Reaction mass pressure, reactor coolant, engine coolant are all looking good. No further problems, Lieutenant." The red woman reports, eyes alert despite the largely green board.

"Tasha, the aerospike will collapse after we break atmosphere, but it needs to be running as long as possible after the kick," Nora warns. "Be ready to shut it down fast."

Tasha's eyes suddenly widen. She opens her mouth to response, but seems too busy with what just caught her attention to do so. After a quick series of menu dives and selective presses, she leans back. "Understood, Lieutenant," she breathes, sounding relieved.

"Brace for rocket thrust, the inertial system can't block all of the acceleration," Nora announces, then counts down from five. There's a roar and rumble throughout the ship as water is turned to high-temperature plasma and provides the 'kick' to get them out of the atmosphere and through the transition radius. A few warning lights flash an each console, but nothing serious. After the five-second burst, there's even a moment of freefall before the artificial gravity takes hold.

Even though Layth knows what to expect thanks to the implant … it isn't quite the same as actually experiencing it. The buck tenses up and grips his control panel when the rocket motors kick in and he presses back into the gel-filled seat. "Great gods," the buck murmurs under his breath. It's then he also learns just how long five seconds can seem, especially when he's trying to fight panic and watch the rocket output at the same time! The moment of micro-gravity earns a an undignified squeak, too. When the artificial gravity systems take hold, though, he breathes a sigh of relief and finally lets go of his console.

When the kick is engaged, Tasha moves with the force. A veteran of airship travel, she's had years to get used to sudden shifting of decks, learning how to move and react. "Disengaging aerospike on your mark, Lieutenant," she warns, hand hovering over the shutdown menu.

Various warning lights go off when the aerospike runs out of air, and the powerful energy arc causes feedback that threatens to blow out the capacitors until Tasha shuts it down. "The next burn will be two full minutes for Abaddon orbital insertion," Nora says. "We are officially out of Sheol's grip now. Tasha, once you've secured the atmospheric engines, switch your console over to Navigation. That's going to be your primary role during the actual flight."

"Understood. The capacitors are running hot, but the emergency coolant has successfully engaged. There should be time enough for them to reach safe well before we reach Abaddon. I'll run a few tests when there's time." A flick of the wrist, and Tasha brings up a new menu displaying Abaddon and Sheol, their positions, and a great deal of errors. "Navigation reports no active nav beacons detected in sector, of course. Manual course control is green, flight information is consistent."

"I'm calculating a 12 hour flight, at 15% inertia. We'll decelerate into orbit by bringing ourselves back up to our full inertial profile, which means some freefall, so we'll have to double check that everything is secure. Insertion boost in three minutes," Nora says.

"I hope we will not have to remain at post for those twelve hours," Layth admits, "It would get tiring to sit here that long."

"How are you liking the training run so far?" the Karnor then asks, looking to each of her crewmen with a big grin.

"Less terrifying than I expected," Layth answers.

"Well, this is just the initial milk-run," Nora points out. "It will get worse each time, and I have time to do this at least six more times before we launch for real. I'm looking forward to the Space Pirates. That was always fun at the academy."

Tasha, who was busy staring at the nav display with a degree of trepidation, looks up and answers, "I like it!" in a cheery voice. She even wags. "It's different than the Melchior, more of a team effort, with a greater sense of separation. It's good to be back behind the control of a ship."

"Excuse me? Space pirates?" Layth asks as he turns away from his console to look at Nora. "Are you serious?"

"Well, we have sky and sea pirates, why not Space Pirates? They're Titanians, right? Arriving via their FTL?" Tasha inquires.

"Glad you're both enjoying it! Insertion burn in 10 seconds! It helps to keep your mouth open and yell," Nora replies and just winks at Layth. "It'll be a surprise! Brace for boost!" Then the Karnor starts howling as the rocket engines throttle up and begin to roar.

Shrugging, Tasha howls too! It's a strange sort of pose, to see Tasha howling for all she's worth while also trying to eyeball her console and look serious!

"Earplugs. Remember earplugs when we do this for real," Layth mutters to himself as he slouches down, trying to escape the painful howling. This is going to be a long, long, trip.

After hours of checking and rechecking readouts, then both Tasha and Layth taking turns at plotting courses and corrections, taking orbital dynamics lessons and doing a visual inspection of the interior, Nora announces that it's time to go outside. "This is the best time for an EVA to inspect the engines," she says cheerfully.

"An … EVA?" Tasha glances between the two with her, ears canting slightly. "This is … This is probably where I should tell you … I, well … It's probably nothing. I'm sure it'll be fine!" The young woman even forces her tail to wag.

"Outside? In one of those sealed suits? Ugh," Layth mutters and rubs his forehead. "If we must."

"It will be good practice," Nora insists, and leads them to the lower deck, then back past the vehicle bay to the landing ramp… and then further back into part of engineering below the cargo bay. At the rear of that is a service airlock, along with a suit chamber. Tasha's Vartan armor (with modified helmet and gloves) is already here, as are suits for various species. Layth's armor is here as well. "Get into your armor, and I'll show how to add the life support packs," Nora says cheerfully.

"Nnn," Tasha mutters as she heads towards her suit. Aside to Layth, she admits, "This is the part I've been dreading." She then steps in to her suit, extending her arms as the glossy black and gold armor closes around her.

Layth looks less than cheerful as he goes about suiting up in the rather form-fitting armor with the help of some of the robotic arms to secure the closure bolts. "I don't like being cut off completely from the outside," he remarks back to Tasha. It … messes with my senses and makes me nervous."

"Ugh, I hadn't even though of that part," the young woman says as she looks down at her control panel to check her suit's status. "For me, I have a … bad memory. Of space." She takes a deep breath, then grabs her helmet and begins to slide it on. "But, I'm sure we'll be fine, right? It's just a simulation. I'm not sure Terran simulations can induce any real pain. Right?"

Nora seems to be enjoying the others' discomfort, but says, "Once you're out there, you'll be so overwhelmed that the fragility of your situation won't seem so important. But it is, so don't screw up or you'll explode." She then holds up a black and gold, streamlined pack and says, "Turn around Tasha, while I show Layth how to hook up your rebreather."

"Oh, I expect they can produce pain. Pain is effective in learning," Layth says rather … unhelpfully. Nora's comment also earns her a look from the buck that almost says he has the urge to beat the snot out of her for enjoying this. He just pulls on his gloves and seals them, though.

Tasha drops her helmet on to her head, then waits for it to seal properly before turning her back to Layth. "I can't believe you're grinning while I do this, Nora," she accuses. "You are an evil older sister."

Nora shows Layth how the black-and-gold device clips itself to Tasha's armor between the wings, making her look like a hunchback. Two hose extrude, and she connects them to the helmet, noting how each one has a unique connector so that they can't be connected in the wrong order. "Okay Tasha, think the command; purge," she says.

Layth helps hook up the hoses, then steps back. Because, well, just in case.

"Thinking – of a lot of purges." Tasha's eyes flick about in her helmet as her gaze waits for something to happen. "And we won't explode. We have about ninety seconds, ten seconds of consciousness, and a lot of solar radiation to worry about."

A hurricane blows through Tasha's helmet, as the air inside is forced out, exhaust vents close, and a readout in the HUD shows the internal air pressure rising to 4 atmospheres, which presses in on her eyes and eardrums! INTEGRITY TEST IN PROGRESS flashes across her display.

"Ergh. Y-you're getting revenge again, aren't you?" Tasha winces behind that flat black Karnor helmet, squinting and pressing her head back. "Layth when you do this, make sure your ears are clear! Mine are popping! Ow!"

After a minute of this, the display changes to ALL SEALS NOMINAL and the pressure drops down to 1 atmosphere inside Tasha's suit.

Tasha exhales, then bangs the helmet of her suit with a hand. "I'm good now. I think."

"Your turn, Layth!" Nora says, holding up a white rebreather pack to attach to the Lapi's space-armor.

"Is this absolutely necessary?" Layth asks and crosses his arms

"Well, no, not if you can hold your breath for an hour," Nora notes. "Trust me, you don't want to try that."

"I don't want to do either," Layth says rather sharply before he puts on his helmet and turns around.

Tasha's suit turns around, and she moves to assist. As she does so, she begins to recite what she knows about vacuums in somewhat unsettled, yet forcibly cheery, tone. "Do not hold your breath in a vacuum; doing so will cause lung damage. The body is protected by its skin and vascular system; blood does not boil. Consciousness is lost due to … " her helmet turns to regard Nora, her voice trailing off with, " … Oxygen deprivation … In, … in the bloodstream …

The hookups are identical, even if the pack is differently shaped. Soon Layth is ready to do his own 'purge' test. "Okay Layth, time to binge and purge," Nora says.

Fully expecting a lot of pain, Layth thinks purge.

It isn't painful – but it is uncomfortable. Eventually the suit signals that it is intact and not leaking, and the pressure goes back to normal. Nora is already opening the inner airlock, but hasn't suited up herself.

"Ultraviolet radiation can cause serious sun burns to exposed skin; this is especially so for humans," Tasha says, almost mantra-like, as she steps back. "Heat is somewhat retained due to the nature of vacuum and the body … "

"Not joining us, then," Layth notes to Nora, "A privilege of rank, I guess." He heads towards, and into, the airlock.

"The blood will only boil if blood pressure drops, such as during shock." Tasha follows Layth in to the airlock, fingers tapping together like Mariel's do when she's nervous.

"Oh, I'm coming with you," Nora notes. "But I'm not here to learn EVA, so I don't have to deal with that part." She goes into the airlock, and slides open a panel in the wall to reveal two boxy devices with oversized pistol grips. "These are your inspection guns," she says. "Be sure to take one before we exit." Then Nora closes the inner door, and shows how to pump out the air before opening the outer door. "The outer door won't open if there's pressure in the airlock, unless you perform an emergency override."

"So, which one of you wants to cycle the air and open the door?" Nora asks.

"I … I, oi … I guess I'll … " Tasha stammers, slowly walking towards the device in no great hurry.

Layth takes one of the noted guns. "Ah, so you made sure the simulation won't apply the same rules to you," Layth remarks dryly. "Tasha is welcome to open the door if she wants."

It takes a few seconds, but Tasha reaches the controls and begins cycling the door. She takes a deep breath, too, checking her suit's life support readout again, then looking around nervously.

"Go for it, Tasha!" Nora says encouragingly.

"It's g-going," Tasha insists. She reaches back and pokes the button again, unnecessarily. "I'm going to a-adopt Mariel after t-this."

"You want to adopt all the Karnors," Layth points out.

The pressure gauge needles drop towards zero – and too her credit, Nora does not pretend to be suffocating. A green light goes on above the outer door once the pressure hits zero. Being in vacuum doesn't have any noticeable effect within the powered, armored suits.

"Tissue can survive vacuum exposure … ," Tasha murmurs. The red woman in black armor turns to watch Nora as the airlock is exposed to space, looking very relived when she sees her sister isn't suffocating – or pretending to be. Head shaking, she extends her wings to engage the suit's magnetic grip and walks over to pull out a scanning gun.

"I suggest we tie Nora to the bow as an ornament, like those on the wheeled karts we used," Layth finally says to Tasha.

"Tempting," Tasha agrees as she reaches over and taps the button to open the outer door.

The open outer door shows… nothing. Just blackness. Even Sheol has moved too far along it's speedy orbit to be seen. "Keep your boots to metal," Nora instructs. "Never lift both at once, and palms of your gloves will also stick. Your guns will stick to your hips automatically as well, or to your chest."

Layth sticks his gun to his chest and heads to the outer door. "I hate this more already," the buck says when he sees nothing but darkness.

Nora leads the way, take hold of a handgrip and swinging out into the nothing, then bending at the waist to plant her boots on the outer wall. When she stands, it's perpendicular to the airlock door.

Tasha attaches her gun to her hip, having more room there than Layth. She then takes slow, careful steps forward until she passes out of the airlock and on to the hull. Her head turns back to watch the airlock, expression longing.

"Onward to the engines!" Nora beckons, then walks with an unnatural, one-foot-to-the-floor-at-all-times gait toward the edge of Bellerophon's main hull, where the edge of one of giant gravity stators protrudes past.

Layth is the last one to leave the airlock. He doesn't look afraid over it, more annoyed. His movement out onto the hull mimics Tasha's and soon after he's clomping along with the same ridiculous gate as Nora has.

"One foot, then the other. Don't take both off the surface. Stay on metal." Tasha begins to accelerate, although her speed can hardly be called speedy, even by the standards of EVA. To Layth, she sends over the comm., "W-what a weird sky, aye? Can't even … Even fly in it." She laughs, nervously.

"I prefer to look at the hull, it makes me feel less dizzy," Layth admits. "And not think about it too much."

As they reach the edge, and go around it, several things happen. Proximity to the stator, with it's glowing green plasma torus, causes even more dizziness than the lack of gravity. From here they can also see the rear of the exposed aerospike engine – and past that, taking up half the sky is the red disk of Abaddon.

"That's … That's wise advice," Tasha agrees. "I think I would be f-fine, I just can't stop … Stop thinking about … I-it. Oi, I m-mean, I'm used to n-not feeling my b-body. That's h-how the … T-the Melchior o-operates. I-I'd share my b-beer to use c-cereabral v-virtualization n-now. And w-why can't I stop s-shaking?" Her gazes shifts to watch the stator, green light reflecting across her visor.

"I really hope I don't purge again," Layth remarks as his stomach starts doing summersaults this close to the gravity drive. "Ugh, can we go back in yet?" he asks as his march forward slows noticeably.

It's like looking at a heat mirage, where the light ripples and distorts like water in the area of the stator.

"I l-like this … It's pretty. W-wish I knew how it w-worked," the red woman murmurs, sounding a little less anxious as the soothing green light takes up her attention.

"No dilly-dallying!" Nora commands. "We need to get to the engine."

"I hate my sister," Tasha mutters as she turns around, heading on to where Nora is waiting.

"Tasha, I may kick your sister into space," Layth grumbles and marches ever onward. He deliberately does not look at the green glow.

"The C-captain said she was smartass," Tasha confides over their secure link.

"And we're walking… and we're walking… " Nora says, walking backwards and using her arms as if they were director's batons. Soon enough they're in the mass of pipes and spheres and other exotic shapes of the exposed engine. "Now, just point your gun at a pipe, pull the trigger, and sweep it back and forth a little. The laser will check for cracks that are too small for us to see."

Layth unsticks the gun from his chest and heads over to the mangle of pipes closest to him. He does a quick inspect of the gun to ensure he understands how it works, then starts scanning over each pipe slowly. As tedious as this is, a crack in one of these would be disastrous.

Tasha just mutters as she steps past Nora and begins scanning. Despite her fear, having Nora's smartass remarks and Layth's sympathetic words have allowed her to keep herself together. She isn't sure how well she'd do alone, but having others near, others who aren't being flung out in to space to die a cruel death, helps steady her.

No cracks show up, but Nora also has them test the mounting points and structural supports. Given that the engine is over a hundred feet long, a full inspection would take… forever!

"How did you scan the e-entirety of these?" Tasha asks, her stammering finally beginning to die down along with her anxiety. "D-did you use another vessel, or a pod, or … ?"

"Be careful not to loose your grip on the hull," Nora notes after awhile. "If you drift beyond the edge of the inertial field, you'll decelerate catastrophically as your velocity adjusts to match your full mass. It's not pretty."

"I say we tie up the real Nora, cover her in whipped cream, and leave her outside Fred's workroom where he retains a real physical body," Layth suggests to Tasha after about the thirtieth pipe and tenth mount.

"Oh, the hangar has a robotic scanning arm that can do it," Nora notes to Tasha.

"Nnnnnn," Tasha growls at the answer, still scanning and taking great pains to retain her steady, deliberate, and not Nora-trouncing action.

"You do realize you're only helping create yet another horrible memory to inflict on us the next time we have to go into this learning system. No more bad childhood experiences, now it's nausea in space experiences," Layth remarks as behind his visor the corner of his left eye twitches some. The sensory containment is not doing good things to his mood at all.

"Oh Gods, it can recall horrible memories!" Tasha lifts a hand to clutch her head. "I don't want to see that again!" Her breathing begins to accelerate, hand gripping at her head.

The work goes on and on and on, the monotony overcoming the fear. "We should head back in soon," Nora relents. "A word of warning: once you get back into fully gravity, you might experience some fatigue and a powerful urge to run to the toilet. The first you can ignore… the second you should follow."

"Thank you for the delightful mental picture," Layth mutters. This is going to be a long, long, session…

"I should have stuck with Titan piloting," Tasha mutters to herself. When she nears Layth, she puts a wing around him, like an arm around the shoulder – only larger. "Let's go home," she tells him. "W-we did a lot. W-we should be proud. I'm going to … T-to be proud in the b-bathroom for an h-hour."

The pounding of the Hammersong vibrated throughout the ship's hull. The door to the Titan Bay was sealed tight and the power leads disconnected, but that wasn't likely to last. The entire crew barely had time to get into their space armor, and now the exposed support beams of the upper deck gangway provided makeshift barriers.

"They're jamming comms," Mariel shouted from the bridge, before closing the helmet on her pink armor and using its external speakers. "All digital systems are down!" Gabriel and Fred dashed down the access ramp to secure the lower deck, while Eli and Remiel were holed up in the Artifact Bay. A quick check confirms Mariel's warning: the heads-up displays on the helmets are down, but regular systems seem to be working.

Tasha drops her own helmet on, securing it to her alien armor and bringing up her personal HUD. As promised, the comm. channels produce nothing but static. "That leaves us with securing the upper deck," Tasha declares. "We cannot allow them to access the bridge, or reach the artifact bay." She checks her weapon, and additional ammo supplies, then flexes her hand. "What's the status of access points, have they brached the hull yet?"

"From the hammersong, I'd say they've gotten into the cargo or Titan bay by now," Nora remarks from close by, in her own red and gold armor.

Layth's helmet locks down with a hiss. "We are outnumbered and our weaponry is questionable. Therefore, we must think creatively in dealing with them," the buck says, "How are they armored, do we know? Their weapons are solid metal, correct?"

"There aren't any standards with Titanians," Nora answers. "They probably have space armor, because even they aren't so tough to survive prolonged exposure to vacuum. Weapons will be… anything! Guns, flamers, rockets, beam-weapons, hammers… maybe even heavy rocks."

"Fred and Gabriel went down there. We'll have to leave it to the, Layth has it right: we need alternative solutions than direct force. The Melchior cannot be accessed or activated by any pilot but myself, so it's safe for now." She glances at Layth, then to Nora. "The PersoComs cannot be killed, but maybe you can be disrupted? Can PersoComs use weapons?"

"Not reliably, we can't," Nora says, sounding a bit upset about it. "We're still bound by the Terran AI restrictions. But we can be distractions… " As soon as she says that, the hammering code stops.

"Suggestion: we connect the heavy voltage lines to all the doors and bulkheads. Any of them that are not wearing insulated armor would get a rather unpleasant, if not fatal, experience. Remember Fred's lessons on electricity,," Layth offers to Tasha. "Also, we can loosen deck plates and build drop traps. Use rails ass makeshift spikes. Basically, fortify what we have with what we have." The buck pauses and then taps his helmet in thought before asking, "What do we know about their senses? Is there anything about how they see or hear we can attack?"

"Loud noises and bright light affect them as well as they do us," Nora points out. "They've stopped their chatter, so must have decided on a plan. We have to act fast, while they're cobbling it together." She points out the exposed power couplings near the Med and Mech Bays. For once, Bellerophon's unfinished interior is an advantage.

"Good idea, Layth. We can also consider flooding areas with gasses if they've removed their helmets after entering; carbon monoxide from the filtration system, perhaps?" When the vibrations stop, Tasha cocks her head up, as if listening intently, then turns and moves close tto the hatch. "I'll admit, I'm not so good an traps and the like. Maybe it's the Vartan in me, but an indirect fight is leaving me at a bit of a loss. I'll volunteer to engage them first, if it comes to that."

"Can we magnetize the hull in places?" Layth asks too, "And just, well, stick them to the walls? And good suggestion on the air systems. Let's worth with that too. I'll get the access doors in here connected to the power lines. You see to the air system?" The buck then hurries to the power couplings to see what he can shut down, disconnect, then reconnect to the bulkheads.

"We'd have to put an electromagnet in contact with the bulkheads… " Nora notes. "There might be one in the Mech Bay, but I doubt we'll have one strong enough to magnetize a large area. Might work for magnetic mines though."

"Maybe not, but we can adjust stator output. If we engage manuvering thrusters, then cut artificial gravity, we should be able to throw them in to the ceiling," Tasha suggests as she eyes the door warily, then turns and heads back to her console, sliding in to place. With a scattered touch of the display, she brings up the filtration systems and begins shutting off filtration and recycling in areas not occupied by Bellerophon crew. "This will take a moment."

There are mechanical sounds coming from the other side of the blast doors that seal off the Titan Bay from the rest of the ship. Connecting the power leads, at least, is straightforward – they've already been pulled from the door motors, and the metal contacts jam nicely into the perforations in the metal floor plates.

As Tasha works, she can see that the Titan Bay is still pressurized at least. The cargo bay behind it is a blank as far as the sensors go, so it's possible that that was the breaching area.

Mariel also comes back to join them, asking, "What can I do?"

Layth shuts down one of the power feeds to the couplings and then begins dragging cables between the panel and the bulk heads, shoving the exposed connectors into the mesh. A dash back to the panel and he turns the power back on. There's a crackle and the scent of ozone. "Do we still have access to the med bay? Can any of our supplies be used to mix up something to knock them out? Tasha is working on the air system, and that seems an effective wide-range attack."

"Med Bay and the Mech Bay still have power," Nora notes, poking her head inside. Both rooms are right next to the pressure doors, however. If there's a firefight or explosions, they could be damaged unless locked down.

"How about overpressurizing the Titan bay, can you do that Mariel? Would that be enough to eject some of them in to space, but not lose critical equipment?" The black and gold armored woman watches as the meters rise and fall, carbon monoxide building in the tanks and filtering in fom other sources. "If they're entering from the rear, we could also consider a Jon's Manuver from the Melchior, but that would result in bay damage and require me to access it."

"How many holo projectors do we have? Like the one we use for Fallen-Star?" Layth asks. "Ah, good suggestion, Tasha, on over pressurizing."

Mariel comes up to Tasha's side, and looks at the controls she's accessed. "Well, we can't generate that much pressure, but if we put the system into leak-check mode we can get four atmospheres in there. It won't keep them from opening the door though, and once they do there'll be a wind and maybe condensation as the areas equalize."

"I'm just worried about the loose items," Tasha tells Layth, looking back. She eyes her console, then taps one more point of input. "Gasses building, we should have enough carbon monoxide to flood a corridor. I have it on a continuous build up, but recharge may take some time and circulation has stopped in non-critical areas." When Mariel comes up, she gestures at the console. "Given only four of us can use weapons, you'll have to handle execution of this system. Layth," she glances back again, "Do you need anything from the Mech Bay while it's still secure? I can go now."

"We need to decide on defensive positions too," Nora notes. "We could set up a cross-fire at the doors to the Mech and Medical Bays. That's close enough that it may discourage them from using concussive grenades. The carbon-dioxide flood should keep down fires as well." She seems to think a moment, then tells Layth, "Anything big and heavy that can be used as a melee weapon."

"I still think flooding the vents with some sort of sleeping gas may work and the med bay is the place to make that," Layth suggests as he heads over to the console Tasha is at. "And as for holo systems … can we use the persocom projection system to make them think there is more of us than there is? Or … project over them so they attack each other?"

"And yes, Nora is right, we need a narrow corridor position. It's like defending a pass, only so many can get through at once, it prevents us from being overwhelmed. We need to pick the most secure place have have for that, like the spots Nora suggests. I'll scour this area quick for melee weapons quick. We should have some rebar somewhere."

"We don't actually know how the projection setup even works," Nora points out. "It's not using anything in the ship's network to do it, otherwise we wouldn't have the distance limits. And MOTHER can't just simulate extra people – we already tested that idea on Orpheus. We've only got the one Silent-Ones emitter, too."

"The main problem with a gas-based attack is if they keep their environmental gear on. If they use concussive grenades, we can also consider reducing the area to a vacuum, to eliminate transfer medium," Tasha says. She shows Layth the transfer system controls, now displaying all areas of the ship still able to be accessed by the system. "If I can reach the weapons locker, I can get the Gauss rifle. It has a flamethrower. Since we're also accumulating a lot of pure oxegen, we can consider detonating corridors as well, as a last resort."

There's a grating sound that cuts right to the middle of the skull, followed by ratcheting. The Titan Bay doors open a crack, possibly an inch wide, and immediately begin to fog up as the pressure from the other side causes a carbon-dioxide wind to blow through.

Layth smacks the side of his helmet in the middle of his quest to find heavy objects for bludgeons. "Tasha, we're /idiots/. Remember how the artifact reacted to … water? Back in the bathroom? We need to turn a hose onto it … and be /well/ back/," he says.

"The Melchior will distract them," Tasha adds, in afterthought. "They may try and open the exterior Titan bay doors and focus on stealing it, if they can't take the ship." She blinks, looking back, "That may disrupt the projection system; we could lose PersoCom support. And we only used one artifact, not all of them?"

"Does the artifact room have a sprinkler system? It's a last resort," Layth says.

"They're starting to come through!" Mariel barks. The doors lurch open another inch.

"Sprinklers?" Nora asks. "We have a carbon-dioxide based fire suppression system in place, but not water!"

"No more time to plan, we need to move into position. Tasha, get your rifle. I'll manage the vent system you've set up," Layth says as he gives up on his quest for bludgeons to return to the control panel.

With that announcement from Mariel, Tasha pushes herself to her feet. "I've done what I can here; Layth, I'll be back ASAP. I'll move to take cover in the Mech bay if it seems like they'll breach the inner door." She proceeds towards the door, stopping only to wave over her shoulder. "See you in a bit," she says, and then she's off dashing down the corridor in to the ship.

"If any of us goes down, no mourning. There is time for that later," Layth says as he slides into the control chair and starts tapping on the panel.

The door keeps cranking open another inch ever few seconds, and then stops when it's only open about a foot. The wind has stopped, and there's some dry-ice effect misting along the floor. There's silence and darkness from the Titan Bay, and then something scoots out across the electrified floor, drawing a torrent of sparks and electrical arcs until it explodes, splattering the walls with… some sort of fruit gel. A twine cord is attached to the metal pie plate, now containing only a few burnt bits of crust, and it's used to draw the dish back towards the gap in the pressure doors.

Within the ship, Tasha races to her weapon locker and begins entering in her security code, glad defensive systems like this aren't powered by general power. When the door swings open, she takes up her giant weapon and begins checked its power and fuel pressure.

"Why are they using pies against us?" Mariel whispers. These Titanians seem to be extra cautious – but maybe that's from seeing the Khattan-made Titan. The next thing to come through the gap is a bit of mirror connected at an angle to a long stick.

"There is something terribly dishonorable to die to pie wielding foes," Layth remarks as he tries to set up a CO2 timer to flood the hallways outside the mech bay (and med bay if there is enough). "Any lasers in that bay? Someone shoot that mirror!" he shouts, looking for any sort of bay laser welder or similar.

The sound of Tasha's hoofsteps echo through the corridor as she retakes position, heading towards the Titan door. As she swings by, she stops to yell, "Open the corridor hatch, I'm going to snipe at them from between the cracks while they get across the Titan bay. It's a straight line, so some of the fire should penetrate in to space. Close it when they near, and keep it ready to be charged!" And then she's off again.

"Okay, opening," Layth shouts and puts a pause on the CO2 flood. He also pauses in his search for a targettable laser long enough to open the door a crack for Tasha.

"You aren't worried about hitting Melchior?" Nora has to ask. The door to the Titan bay is only opened about a foot, and the mirror… well, that gets yanked back as soon as whoever is on the other side spots Tasha dashing from cover to cover as she zig-zags down the corridor.

Seeing the door cracking open in the distance, Tasha dashes towards it, powering her heavy weapon up as she goes. When she nears the door, she dives to minimize her outline. The Gauss rifle is braced against her shoulder, the laser dot popping in to existence against the far airlike door. If I can get this right, maybe I can kill the lot of them before they exit, using overpenetration and spray fire, she thinks to herself. She's never killed anyone before, but the threat to her family and her Titan is enough to awaken the Vartan fighting instinct in her. Her hands do not shake; she feels tense but ready.

[[[ NOTE TO SELF: Aaron says, "There's the main upper deck corridor - the bridge to the Titan bay pressure doors. That's where you are. The Titan bay is beyond the doors. The 'outer' doors of the airlock the launch doors for the titan – the Entire bay is pressurized or depressurized as needed, so the pressure doors just are pressure and blast proof. It's just like the Fenris map. You're all in the 'neck' of the ship, pretty much. The 'body' of it has the Titan bay on top, cargo behind it, lower deck is the vehicle bay and the engineering section. Layth was in the Mech Bay last, wasn't he? After Nora suggested the crossfire and you agreed, I assumed you moved up to there. You were searching around in it.]]]

Layth hits the door to the med bay with his fist as he mans the air system control console. "Doctor, can you make some tranquilizer darts?" he asks, "And do we have something to fire them?"

After securing her weapon, Tasha begins its startup procedure as she races to take up position in the Mech Bay's doorway. "The /Melchior/ will be fine; if we die and/or it's stolen, a few holes won't make any difference," she says, already starting to growl from all the impending violence. The barrel of the weapon is lowered, a single red dot beginning to slide back and forth, searching for targets.

"We have… uh… " Caravelli goes, digging through things. He pulls up a pistol-shaped object. "We have this injector, but it's contact only! It should be smart enough to give the correct dose automatically. Was that a pie that exploded outside the door?"

"You have nothing longer distance?" Layth asks with a hint of exasperation in his voice. "And yes, it was a pie."

"I'm a doctor, not a sniper," Caravelli complains. "The Bio Lab… If we have a trank gun, it'd be down there I imagine, but I don't know! With the computer down, I can't check the inventory."

Nora crowds next to Tasha in the doorway, watching the gap in the pressure door. Mariel is already in the Med Bay, near the life support controls.

"Then you man this console and I'll try to get down there and look," Layth orders as he gets up. "If they get through, floor the corridor and seal yourself in the lab. I'll be right back." And then the buck is off to quick-check the lab.

"Nora, you're military. How much damage will a stray shot from the Gauss rifle do to the ship's interior? What I'm asking is: is it worth the risk?" Tasha keeps the weapon in single-shot mode, the dot coming to rest on the central crack of the hatch as she waits.

"I don't know that it would penetrate the doors or hull," Nora says. As Layth dashes from the Med Bay and runs forward toward the ramp to the lower deck, there's a 'punft' noise and something launches through the gap in the bay doors! The grenade falls short, and bursts into a sticky web of goop well behind the high-speed Lapi.

The lower deck looks abandoned, although the Artifact Bay and Avionics are buttoned up tight. Zerachiel and Gabriel mirror the group above, having taken positions at the Zoology and Geology Labs while Fred works to disable the pressure door into the Vehicle Bay. The Zoo lab, used for storing animal specimens, seems the most likely place to find a tranquilizer gun.

"Excuse me, looking for a tranquilizer gun," Layth says as he zips through on the way to the Zoo lab! "They're coming through above!"

Up top, the doors are rapidly being cranked open now…

"Nora, anything I can toss through, then shoot so it explodes?" Tasha inquires, never taking her eye off the door as it inches open.

"The stunner," Gabriel says, and points to a tall cabinet. Inside, Layth finds a rifle of sorts, with a wide bell-shaped muzzle.

Nora rummages around the mechanics shop. "Paint… lubricant… ah!" She returns with a small chemical welder and removes the fuel canister. "This might work!" she offers.

"Perfect!" Tasha takes the canister, then chucks it towards the open space as she lowers her weapon's dot to shoot it after it bounces through!

There's a blast of noise and pressure, but not as big of an explosion as would be hoped due to the modified, CO2-heavy air mix and pressure.

Layth grabs the odd rifle and darts back towards the stairwell up. Even without a true explosion, Layth's ears register the detonation. "And it begins," he remarks as he bounds up the stairwell. "Time to die."

There's commotion beyond the door, and some barking-growling sounds. Then the opening starts to crank closed again, stopping at a mere 6-inches wide.

"Keep looking for materials, Nora. Are you sure you can't use a weapon?" Tasha keeps her heavy weapon, the Terran Gauss rifle (with flamethrower haphazardly attached) trained on the open hatch, her ears back and face all concentration.

The weird bell-shaped muzzle of Layth's stun rifle humms and distorts the air ahead of it as the Lapi fires it into the opening while dodging from cover to cover until he's reached the Med Bay door, opposite Tasha once more. There's nothing but silence from the other side of the opening.

"I can't fire a weapon, but that doesn't mean I can't be useful," Nora notes.

"Anyone feel like going to check the door?" Layth asks as he keeps the odd weapon aimed at the door.

"I can go," Mariel notes. "Just… ah… hold my armor for me?" she asks Layth.

Perking her ears at Layth's request, Tasha gestures forward. "Can you check the door Nora? It may spook them, too, to see our ship is full of ghosts. That's how I got the Titanians not to land near Orpheus in the first place," Tasha suggests.

"Why not leave the armor on?" Layth asks

"Or … you won't be solid by that point, will you?" Layth asks.

"If they shoot, I don't want to get it damaged," Mariel answers. Nora turns to Tasha and says, "I'll go too. The idea is reconnaissance, which incorporeal ghosts like Mariel and I can do easily. Hold my armor, please."

The black armored woman stands, reaching back with a hand to steady Nora's armor and holding up her Gauss rifle with one hand, thanks to the strength reinforcement. "Speaking of armors, can you and Mariel take remote command of the loaders and other machines in the bays, and get at them from behind," she asks.

"No, we won't be able to interact with anything," Nora notes. There a tug against Tasha's grip, and then Nora oozes forward through her armor. "We need the computer to control things remotely, and it's not working."

Layth grips Mariel's armor. "Well, at least that means they cannot hurt you, either," he says. "Pity we cannot get the computer back on line."

"Understood." Tasha keeps the laser dot of her weapon firmly hovering near the crack in the hatch. "Layth, have any ideas?"

Mariel is less practiced at 'ghosting' and has trouble getting one of her feet free, which just adds to her embarrassment. Finally, the two Karnor women go to stand in the middle of the corridor. Mariel is hunkered down a bit, with one arm across her chest and her tail curled up between her legs for modesty, while Nora stands defiantly with fists on hips as if daring any Titanians to do something about it.

"Nothing more than we have already prepared for," Latyh admits. "I doubt I could get the computer working again. Fred could, perhaps. If I went and relieved him below."

After a few seconds of non-reaction, the women go to the door and stick their heads through. "It's dark," Nora reports, before she turns sideways and tries to squeeze through the opening. It… is a strange sight, to be sure.

"Having the computer active may allow them to hack the system, too, unfortunately. Oi, Titanians are masters of figuring out technologies they by all rights shouldn't be able to. I was thinking of using the built up Oxygen to create a explosion near vents, since we're not ciculating muc right now. But there could be damage," Tasha tells Layth. Her ears perk at Nora's response, then she murmurs, "I'm worried about Gabri- … the Captain."

"The door below was not open yet. Do you want me to go check on them?" Layth asks.

Nora makes it through, and Mariel… waits on this side until called. "They're all knocked out, I think," Nora calls. "Only four of them… looks like the explosion got two near the door, and the stunner got the ones setting up some sort of cannon."

"Ah … " Tasha pauses to listen to the report, then nods. "You should. If they've broken through before, we'll be flanked and it's over. We seem to have this under control for the moment, Layth. If I can, I'll consider getting to the Melchior and destroying the cradle to release it, so I can defend the hangar alone and you all can support the lower decks."

"Do you want to deal with the Titanians here, Tasha?" Layth now asks. "I'll head below." With that, the buck heads back down the hallway to the starwell.

"Good luck Layth – come back alive," Tasha bids her friend, giving him a nervous smile just before he leaves.

Down on the lower deck, the bay door is still closed, with Gabriel covering it with his weapon. Zerachiel has his hands full holding Fred's unoccupied armor.

Up above, Tasha hefts Nora's armor and uses it as a shield as she advances towards the hatch. "Nora, I'm going to fine my flashlight inside. Tell me what you see, and if I can reach the Melchior." As she nears, she eyes the hatch and the unconcious glimpse of unconcious Titanians, trying to get a look at how they're dressed and if they have their helmets on.

"Where has Fred gone? Through the door?" Layth asks. "Have they tried to come through? We have immobolized those above."

It's a good two minutes before Nora's head appears through the too-narrow opening in the pressure doors. "There's just the ones up here, I think. Found a Barnacle – a pod that sticks to the hull – on the emergency ventral hatch."

"Fred's gone through to check things out, yeah," Akkers notes. "Won't know the situation until he comes back, without opening the doors and looking ourselves. Seems quiet though."

"We can hope, but no letting guard down. I lost a friend once by being too relaxed," Layth mutters as he eyes the door.

A black spot appears on the Vehicle Bay door, resolving into a canine nose. More of Fred's face eventually appears, and his first words are, "Damn, if I had a flatter face I could totally pull off a Cheshire Cat impersonation. Anyway, looks all clear down here. No intrusions."

"Then I'm going to try and get inside and defend this section; keep an eye out, aye?" Tasha eases Nora's suit against the bulkhead, then moves towards the hatch. "I'll need to get this open enough to fit through – do we have power to this hatch? Think I can force it?" Her weapon is kept trained on the Titanians, red dot glaring balefully down.

"The power for the doors is currently connected to the floor," Mariel notes, pointing the redirected power cables. "They need to be connected back first."

"If you were solid, I imagine Gabriel would want to kiss you, Fred," Layth remarks rather dryly. "No signs at all, then? They must have used the upper passageways only, then. Are there any shafts large enough they could climb through?

"Right, Layth's idea." Tasha puts her weapon aside, then heads towards the cab;es, eyeing them a moment to spot the proper grip points, then moving to attach them. "Can you remove these after I get inside?"

"Maintenance and inspection shafts are pretty tight – you know that first-hand," Fred tells Layth. "No, a Titanian would need a regular hatch – either on the upper hull or through the cargo doors."

"Could they walk along the hull and enter the ship from the fore?" Layth asks next.

"Well, if you bind the invaders before they recover, we won't need to," Nora points out.

"They could," Gabriel notes. "The only forward airlock is the small one at the head, next to the bridge."

"I'm more worried about new ones running past me while in the Melchior. If they need time to open the door again, that's time I can grab or step on them," Tasha explains. "And how do I bind a Titanian, anyway?" She gives the unconcious forms a dubious look, then offers, "Maybe throw them in one of the unoccupied crew compartments and remove power to the door?"

"That could do it," Mariel agrees. "Or we can use the suspension tubes."

"Then I'm going to check the forward airlock," Layth says and briefly salutes with the stun rifle. "Yell if something happens here." The buck turns and heads back up.

"No time to entube them, so the crew area it is. I don't wnat them waking up and destroying the Med Bay when we may well need it most," says the Vartan. Once the hatch is opened enough, Tasha grabs one of the Titanian's by the foot and hauls them towards the nearest crew compartment, her gun pointed down at his head.

Tasha spots Layth entering the corrdior ahead, then sees his backside as he runs forward towards the bridge.

"I wonder what he's up to," Tasha murmurs aloud. Her head swivels between her prisoner and the other three. "I don't like this one bit. Oi, I may be getting soft. You better appreciate this, pirate." And with that, she throws the body in to an empty room and closes the hatch, off to get another one.

The bridge section is detachable in an emergency, and the connection between it and the main corridor consists of a pressure door, followed by the 'outer' bridge airlock door. Just inside the bridge airlock, to the left, is another door that opens to the outer airlock, which is long and narrow as it extends out to the hull and the final outer door.

"I'm going to check the hull near the bridge. I will hopefully be back," Layth shouts down the corridor. The buck then steps into the bridge area and heads towards the airlock. He sets the stunner just outside and will have to rely on the power assists of the suit and his sidearm.

One by one the Titanians get dumped in seperate cabins, until Tasha is finished and back at the hatch. She stands sentinel, muzzle twisting as she thinks aloud. "The hangar isn't very big, but there may be articulation room … And there may still be more inside, or on their way." She tilts her head. "Nora, describe the Barnacle?"

"It's a small boarding craft, couldn't hold more than these guys and their supplies," the naked ghost-woman notes, as she pokes at whatever the Titanians were trying to assemble. "I think this may be a field disrupter… "

"Hmm, can a Barnacle return to its mothership automatedly?" Tasha leans out enough to eye the field disrupter, asking, "And what might this do, is it to disrupt the shock trap?"

It's pretty straightforward to cycle the airlock – and it clearly doesn't rely on the computer. As an emergency escape, it's got its own power backup and explosive bolts. There's even a panel holding inflatable emergency rafts. The outer door opens up behind one of the decorative 'wing' assemblies on the side of the ship's head. This blocks the view forward, but back along the ship is clear.

Layth activates his magnetic boots, then grips the airlock exit and swings himself out onto the hull, aiming to lock his feet down on its surface.

"These are Titanians," Nora points out. "They don't even use computers that we're aware of. There won't be any automation, and the mothership could be well away by now. It's not unusual to just launch a Barnacle at a ship and move on."

At least the glossy white hull is easy to see. The orientation is odd though, since from Layth's standpoint the ship is on its side, with one of the wings towering up overhead in the distance, and the intakes for the atmospheric engines gaping at him like caves.

"But it'll have the DC and EM jammers in it, and you need to turn those off," Nora points out.

"Time to 'walk around the world'," Layth tells himself, "At least our world for the time being." And so, step by clomping step the buck goes to circle the ship and look for signs of other Titanians on the exterior."

"Oh." Tasha sounds a little stunned at the answer, but shrugs. "I should have guessed. I was going to try and get it to return to its mothership with a little 'gift-O-Tasha,' but that's that. Well," she glances towards the open hatch, "We'd best head in then, and see if there's more. Maybe we can re-seal the airlocks and set up a better defense." She pauses at Nora's additional info, and nods again. "Aye, more the reason to head in then. Let's go. Mariel can you, reseal the hatch after I enter and then pull the connections after I enter?"

There aren't any signs of movement on the hull that Layth can see – which is only about a quarter of it, granted.

Sighing in his helmet at the huge hull, Layth decides to walk a bit further on, just to be sure, before he'll head back to the bridge entrance.

"I can work the controls, but I don't think I'm strong enough to pull the cables," the younger Karnor notes.

"Well, we can't just leave it open. I'll take cover inside with your support, then you and Nora try to get the cables off together while I wait behind cover," Tasha orders. She gestures the two women ahead, then moves to follow them inside, weapon ready and body hunched to reduce her outline.

"There's nobody else here," Nora assures, but still checks ahead, poking into gaps between the cargo while Mariel checks under the Titan Cradle. Meanwhile, not far off… but outside the hull, Layth reaches the main hull at the base of Bellerophon's neck.

"Safety first," Tasha chimes in, mimicing Fred's lesson and trying to mimic his voice.

Layth peers around the main hull, looking for out of plate spots or protrusions. "So far, so good," he mutters.

At the back of the Titan bay are the two large doors to the cargo zone, set close to the outer walls. One of them is open, and it's through there that Nora leads.

"Onward. More … walking in nothingness," Layth mutters as he heads down the neck and then around to check the underside.

Tasha follows along once the coast is clear, weapon ready and eyes scanning. She isn't sure how much more keen her eyes are than those of a computer generated simulation / ghost, but she isn't going to take any risks in being reckless to find out. "Any chance the Barnicle is trapped, or else a bomb?" A second later Tasha corrects, adding, "More of a bomb than usual?"

"I… don't know about Titanian's booby-trapping things intentionally," Nora admits. The cargo bay is crowded, of course, but there's light coming from a point just inside, in the middle of the bulkhead separating it from the Titan bay. With just a few feet between it and the head of the Silent-Ones Titan, there's an embedded ladder going up into an open circular portal. It looks just like the upper-hull access airlock on Orpheus.

"Hmm, is that were the Barnacle landed, or is that new?" tasha turns and squints, not having any better low-light vision than a Terran, for all she can see at range. She continues forward, following Nora.

While circling the neck to view the lower hull, Layth notices that most of the view is cut off by the huge landing skids, along with the ventral rocket nacelles. But once he's closer to the centerline of the ship, he can see 'between her legs' as it where – and there's a conspicuous metal wart stuck there. One with surprised looking space-wolves looking through its windows at Layth.

"I doubt you can hear this, but company on the hull," Layth says into the likely still dead comm. His brow sets and the buck marches towards the 'wart'. "Time to dislodge this this," he remarks, "Or … " He upholsters his sidearm, "Shoot out the window."

"That's where they came in, it leads to the upper hull," Nora points out, looking a bit transparent at this point. From directly underneath, Tasha can see right up into the Barnacle – the transition from clean, smooth Terran technology to the ramshackle patchwork of the Titanian airlock is pretty obvious.

"I'm heading in. Keep an eye out, both forward and back – just in case," Tasha directs. Then, she's heading up the ladder, using one arm and keeping her weapon pointed up.

It's a tight fit, with the rifle. Tasha climbs into an empty cockpit of sorts. Control systems and acceleration restraints seem stuck here and there at random, along with portholes and windows. The Barnacle is roughly egg-shaped, and doesn't have anything like an interface terminal – just bright, glowing buttons in various colors.

On the opposite end of the ship, Layth spots the reason for the second Barnacle to still be full of wolves: it missed the hatch. The inflated docking skirt is off by over a foot, with the outline of the hatch visible sticking past the side.

It occurs to Tasha as she climbs, just how incredibly frustrating and sad it must be, to be a PersoCom. Nothing to do but watch others act, nothing to do but serve, she thinks, staring down the barrel of her weapon, Not even a tomorrow to look forward to. She has little more time to consider this sad fact when she scoots in to the boarding vehicle. As her gaze sweeps across the available controls, she shakes her head in bemusement. "What a mess."

"I could shoot out that window and kill all of you," Layth remarks as he continues his approach, "Simple. But … no." Instead, he looks for how to dislodge the barnacle if possible.

From what Tasha can tell, the tiny ship is actually piloted by turning valves and pulling levers. There are a few cables running across the floor that connect inside the docking ring, and some of the button-lights are blinking, at least.

Curious wolves follow Layth through the windows as he inspects the docking collar. There are some clearly pneumatic hoses and power lines. So either the thing attaches via suction or magnets or both.

Layth checks to see if one of the cutters is attached to his suit or not. "You should all feel lucky I am not heartless and willing to let the vacuum kill you all. At least this way you have the hope of being rescued," he remarks, fully aware they can't hear him.

The utility kit is still attached to Layth's suit, including the tiny welding/cutting tool. One of the wolves is trying to get the Lapi's attention through a window.

"What I need here, is my /own/ bomb," Tasha mutters to herself. She could have just sealed the hatch and blow the thing off, but the only 'bomb' she has are her energy packs, and she isn't sure one of them won't annhilate the airlock completly. the others she needs to power her armor. "Let's see … " Following the lines connect to the hatch, Tasha wishes she brought one of the scanners. "These are either hatch controls or jamming feeding in to the ship. Well, time to try something." She scootches back in to the /Bellerophon's airlock proper, making sure her boots are secure and she can grab something, then starts yanking cables from their connection to her ship.

Layth unhooks the cutter from his belt. Before he starts cutting the suction seal, though, he looks to the window questioningly.

There's a violent rush of air as a crack opens in the docking collar after Tasha yanks out something that causes a lot of sparks.

The wolf inside is pointing to the right and down, and making other useless gestures. That is, until another one blocks out the window with a dirty rag that has something crudely drawn on it. It looks like a square or box with a line coming out of each side.

"Tasha!" Nora calls up. "I can't close the inner door myself. There's a panel midway up the shaft that will let you do it!"

Layth looks to the right and down for for something that looks like a a box with tentacles. "I do not know how your kind functions as well as they do," he mutters.

This is where Tasha's time to make sure she had a grip and was inside her ship comes in to play. She jams her gun between her legs, then braces herself against the wall, wedging in and holding on with magnets, powered, and regular grip. Fully expecting the Barnacle to release and a vacuum to occur. Her free hand then continues to remove cables. "No, no, no … " More sparks. "Maybe, no … "

"I'm still working out these connectors – keep testing the comm. until we get something," tasha yells back down. "If I try and close the airlock now it'll jam on all this junk!"

Sure enough, Layth finds a lumpy-looking box with cables coming from it. It's not on the docking ring itself, but next to it and connecting to the bottom of the egg-shaped craft itself, which means there's only about a foot of clearance between the upper hull of Belle and the device.

A pause, then, "Oh you mean the inner airlock? Coming," Tasha yells back down. She abandons the connectors, then heads back down to secure the inner airlock first.

Nora grins and shakes her head up at Tasha just before the hatch closes, and with it most of the wind noise. Tasha's been running off suit-air anyway though, so doesn't really notice the change in pressure.

Layth shrugs … and tries using the cutter on one of the cables. "Oh well, if I die at least it won't be in a stupid way anyone can make a song about," he remarks.

Tasha gives her sister a 'what?' sort of look, grinning back. "I'm a Vartan, not a Lapi!" The hatch closes, Tasha retakes her secured position, and the defoliation of wires continues.

The cable connecting to the ring is the easiest to reach, and it melts and sparks. There's no sound, but the ring slides… apparently having lost it's firm grip.

Layth sticks the cutter back onto his belt and grabs onto the barnacle. "Serve assist, do your job," the Lapi grunts as he tries to 'pull the barnacle off the ship and shove it into space. At least that means force will be pressing him against the hull of the Belle.

With the ring disconnecting, Tasha watches to make sure it releases completly. While she waits, she tests if the jamming yet remains. "Tasha to anyone," she sends.

"-7 bottles of beer on the wall, 67 bottles of beer. Take one down and… oh, we're back!" Fred says over the comm channels, as the two invading eggs drift free of Bellerophon. Layth's spurts some gas and picks up speed, falling back away and receding gracefully. Tasha's unmanned, open-to-space one, however, drifts away and then gets ripped apart when it passes through the inertial field generated by the stators, having nobody aboard to turn on whatever Titanians have to compensate for the sudden change in mass and velocity.

"It's probably an honor to have been beaten by a rabbit," Layth mutters to himself as he watches the odd craft 'float' away. He shrugs slightly and starts the long and clomping walk back to the bridge airlock.

"Hangar/Cargo section airlock Barnacle dislodged, four Titanians taken prisoner in the aft crew cabins," Tasha reports. Then, in a more Tasha-like tone of relief, she says, "I'm glad you're all okay. Sealing airlock now." And with that, she reaches over and begins closing the external hatch.

"Second group have been disconnected from the ship and pushed back into microgravity. Heading back to bridge airlock," Layth remarks into his comm.

Once everyone is back inside and the ship's systems restored, Nora asks, "Wasn't that fun?" She hasn't bothered getting dressed again yet, unlike Mariel who did as soon as it seemed safe.

Gathered with the crew outside the bridge, Tasha grins, although her tail is canted and her scent is anxious. "Between the fear of death, losing people I love, having to kill people and non-stop uncertainty?" Her head cocks to the side. "Maybe a little!"

"Less terrifying than some caravan trips I have been on," Layth says, "So from that perspective, yes, it was fun."

"Any excuse to see Nora naked is fine with me," Fred says. This causes the red Karnor to blink and realize she still needs to attend to that. "Ah… right… so… " Nora says, with forced calm. "You learned to use your available assets, eventually. Next time, you'll know not to hesitate sending the PersoCom crew members into dangerous situations, right?"

"Sending people I cae about in to danger, however immaterial, isn't my first thought," Tasha admits. "But faced with the Titanians unconcious and an unnown amount of them left, including their probably dangerous vehicle, I had to give in. This was also a different kind of fight for me, so I could probably do much better."

"Well, it's time to move on to the orbital transfer," Nora says. "I'm going to get back in uniform, and you can get out of your armor. We'll be doing it first as a Hohmann transfer using the main engines, then again as an inertial bleed using the stators. How are you two holding up? We're getting close to the immersion-time limit."

"I'm tired and I find it hard to think quickly," Layth admits, "It's like my mind has slowed down. Like I haven't slept for over a day." He stretches a bit and heads towards the exit so he can go to the bay where the armor can be stripped off. "I'll need help getting this stuff off … so whomever wants to come help." He waves then disappears out into the hall.

"Perhaps we should take a reality break then," Nora says. "And continue after you've rested. Who knows, we might be able to enter some new data and actually be able to simulate a likely landing."

Tasha gives layth a worried look as he heads off, then answers, "I'm holding together. Between this and the Melchior's training, I think I'm getting used to virtual space and neuro-chemical reduction." She turns back, looking between those remaining. "It's good for a pilot to build tolerance to extended mind-computer interface, right?"

"That could lead to brain damage," Nora points out. "Overuse of simulation can lead to hallucinations."

"Worse than talking to ghosts, nightmares, having conversations with machines … ?" Tasha prompts, head tilting as she grins wider.

"Yes, because those things at least are real," Nora notes.

"I guess I shouldn't mention I was having some difficulty telling if this was real or not, then," the black armored Vartan asks.

Fred and Mariel have both gone off with Layth, leaving just Gabriel and Nora with Tasha. Of course, it's PC Gabriel, not her Gabriel…

"Okay, time to wake up I think," Nora says, "So that you can get some sleep."

Tasha folds her arms, glancing between the two wolves in front of her. "Hokay, let me out. And … Thanks for the simulation, Lietenant!" She salutes as the simulation fades around her.