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Naranja propels himself from the lounge towards the cargo transporters where the crew assembled after being beamed across. He stops himself by Lieutenant Abernathy and hangs in the air by one of the hand grips in the corridor.

"He stayed . . . he stayed behind. He was going to be the last . . . but it's gone. The Republic is no more." Naranja hangs his head. "The alien ship has warped off. I suppose they don't think about scanning ships they know to be drifting dead hulks." He would have held back a tear only he feels hollow inside. He doesn't feel like he has a tear to spare. "I guess I'll be, I'll be on the bridge to see what's what."

And with that he moves off solomnley to the helm station on the bridge.

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Unseen by the rest of the crew the limp Caitian form of Captain Bruno Chait rides the wave of the explosion along with debris. Among that debris is one of the shuttlepods from the shuttlebay the Captain was in when it was torn open. The cabin if the shuttlepod is ripped open from the explosion.

He shakes his head as he recovers consciousness. "Chait to Republic . . . uh, Atlantis . . . hello?" Bruno is rewarded by nothing but static. "Demmit, out of range." He turns and looks at his travel companion, the damaged shuttle. "Now then . . . "

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Lucius nodded solemnly before pushing himself off the wall to head for the Bridge. He'd not served aboard this particular class of starship before but it was small and the Bridge could only be so many places. Really only one in fact. So with that in mind, he made is way 'up' toward the ship's command center in the hopes that he could do something to get the ship's sensors operational. Though his knowledge of ship's systems was fairly limited to it's tactical functions. He would see what he could do anyway and once at the weapons console, began assessing the damage.

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Most systems just appear to be locked out. Seems there was an overload that shut most systems down. According to the Captain's log they abandoned ship after scuttling it but before the Klingon BoP had swooped in for the final blow. Had they remained on board the ship would certainly have been destroyed.

The USS Atlantis was supposed to be recovered but when war was declared those plans were aborted and the ship was reported destroyed and a lost cause. She had been waiting out here, floating and defenseless ever since.

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Once aboard the nearly-derelict Atlantis, Alon carefully moves among the frighten and disoriented crew, many of who were also patients in emergency triage. He did his best to reassure and treat each one, despite the low temperature and lack of gravity. Having fashioned makeshift passive restraints, the CMO was able to keep the most critical ones stable. He was keenly aware, through overhearing general chatter, that the Captain was still missing, which concerned him. Unfortunately, the condition of his patients precluded his conducting any manner of search, at present.

The loss of so many, including the one caught in the hairline crack, of the bulkhead, gnawed at his thoughts, like a hungry targ. Nonetheless, Alon pressed on, doing his best to make his patients as comfortable as possible, given their current circumstances. It was this activity and medical training, that allowed Alon to maintain a semblance of internal order. Moving about at a steady clip also helped stave off the chill, threatening to engulf the entire section.

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Twisting, turning, Chait grabs hold of a sharp twisted piece of hull on the nearby shuttle. Turning he glides into the busted open cabin. Another shard cuts his EVA suit and slices into his leg. The sudden cold vacuum of space bites into the wound right down to the bone before the suit self-seals. Wincing he goes over the systems that are left.

Since the shuttle was in the shuttlebay at the time of the rupture, it hadn't been fueled yet. It had enough to start the engines and power maneuvering thrusters.

Trying to keep an eye on the Atlantis as it oscillates in front of him is no easy task but he times it so that he hits the engine start and main aft thrusters at the same time just before he's pointed at the other ship.

The engines splutter, cough, shudder, showering ice behind that joins the gases from the smaller aft thrusters and by the time momentum kicks in and he gets some forward motion it's headed directly for NX-05.

As the ship slowly drifts towards their new home all he can do is wait.

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Fur fluffs up to preserve what little heat he feels, Magnus drags his way as he floats through corridors. He set out to get a personal idea of the state of the ship he suddenly found himself captain of. With Captain Chait gone the crew looked to him for inspiration. Mostly he wants to go around the ship to get some time with his thoughts.

It's probably this distracted state of mind that seals his fate.

A quick cursory glance into the shuttlebays reveals a quiet, calm serene scene. He can get some sense of isolation and check on the shuttles both at the same time. With no electronics working there's no real way to check on the interior before entering.

Commander Magnus Brougham, Kitsyne of the Cygnai Expanse on Coscoroba places his paws on the door handle and pulls.

The door seems to be stuck solid.

The ship had been hanging around for about a year without any kind of servicing. Some of the doors would stick a little.

With an almighty effort Mags wrestles the door open . . . that's when bedlam breaks out all around him.

Winds like he's never felt before whip up and before he knows it he's hanging on the wrong side of the door into the shuttlebay and the atmosphere is venting out.

The crew are shaken and same atmosphere is being lost. His crew . . .

Not able to prise himself back into the corridor he performs one last duty to his ship. Bracing himself for the exertion he closes the door slowly the wind slowing down, preserving what little precious atmosphere remains, the cold biting into his bones, despite the fur, his eyes, his ears feel ready to pop, tingling sensations as the blood boils within his viens adding to the dizziness felt from the zero gravity, he understand that space has him. That soft, black velvet, cold to the touch . . . Careless astronaut, there is nonesuch . . . He recalls some poem sometime during his training.

He is not the careless astronaut now . . . he knows exactly what he has to do to save his people. With one final effort he slams the door shut . . . awake for just a few seconds more he knows that he is all but dead. There is no coming back from this. All the times he's managed to escape, those close scrapes, this is it. He was given one life and he owes one death.

Letting out the last of his breath he feels the cold embrace his lungs as they start hemorrhaging, the pain now is intolerable. Having little choice he waits until shock takes him away. The thrumming in his ears continue but take on a different tone as the pain subsides. thrumming starts to murring . . . the noise he heard when he was a kit by his mother's side . . . her warmth he can feel past the cold . . . the darkness gives way to the first thing he had ever seen . . . his mother's face.

His last thought . . . "Momma, I'm coming home."

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Naranja grabs hold of a stanchion as the whole boat rocks. After the mild ship-quake the wind picks up sharpish like being caught in a mistral. When the winds die down he feels light headed and makes his way to a comm panel. "Bridge?"

With no answer he makes his way to the bridge.

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Through the hole in the open cabin of the shuttle, Chait watches the expulsion of gas from Atlantis' torn shuttlebay indicative of explosive decompression, sending the ship into a pitching forward roll. "Atlantis, do you read, what happened?" Still too far away.

Dialing up what few systems are working on the shuttle he gets the scene on a short range scanner. He watches Mags on the monitor, limp, but seemingly awake. At least awake for a couple of seconds. The convulsions kick in as Magnus Brougham goes into shock and the life ebbs away from him. Chait touches the screen. "Goodbye Commander."

He redoubles his efforts and releases the emergency O2 aft for extra propulsion.

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Lucius hits the weapons console in frustration and lets out a sigh. Looking up, he says to whomever is in command, "I can't get weapons online at all."

Right as he says this, he feels a lurch as the ship moves suddenly. Grabbing the console he yells out "What the hell?!"

Hoping Engineering will soon get the ship under some sort of power, he sighs. "It's up to Lieutenant Shaw now."

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Naranja joins Lucius in the bridge. "Lieutenant? What happened? Where's Commander Brougham?" He instinctively takes his position at the helm and tries ressurrecting any kind of life in his controls. "Dead, like just about everything else. Ancillary systems like logs or communications seems to be operational but anything that's not on an independent circuit is dead."

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"Chait to Atlantis. Come in Atlantis." Getting closer to the Republic Crew's sanctuary, his damaged shuttle's comms just manages to scrape the range of the ailing radio on the Atlantis.

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After a period of time elapsed, Doctor Telor tracked down Lt. Shaw. "We need life support, how long will it be, until we get it online? That is our first priority, followed by other critical systems, such as gravity and sensors," he pressed, eager to get things back on track again.

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Lt. Shaw finally manages to gingerly get the heating system and the rest of the life support systems. After a lot of tinckering. Although not at full capacity, but at it least it will get warmer and easier to breath.

Then for gravity.. Would be good to get back on the floor without having to use the claws.

Gradually making her way, by swimming motions and jumping on walls and ceilings. Grapling on and diving in to a mess of cables, she finally finds the connection problem and reconnects. Getting out is harder then getting in. Not yet having gravity everything floats. When finally out, gets to the console and puts in the command.

After a few seconds, there was gravity. Barely getting her paws out in time before her face slammed against the floor.

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From all around the ship comes the resounding short cries followed by wet thumps and crashes.

Meanwhile out in his open-top Shuttle Chait manages to get into working communications range of the Atlantis.

"Atlantis, this is Chait, come in Atlantis."