=/\= USS Gott, Bridge =/\= Rangi walked out of the Bridge with Lt. Foster and Pvt. Jacobs, toting one of Lynch's flamethrowers at his hip, close behind her. She paused, half turning and waited for the marine to take the lead and when he did so, the three set off in silence. She was still angry with Samantha Palmer and the fact she had withheld information that could have saved lives. The marine slowed his pace as they approached a junction, signalled for them to wait and went ahead to check that the coast was clear. Rangi and Andy glanced at each other while Jacobs patrolled ahead. "I saw how many crew we lost when the Chimera went through the rift," said Andy quietly, as the two waited. "I'm sorry." "Yes," Rangi replied quietly, "so am I." She looked away from him, waiting for Jacobs to signal them forward, then returned her attention back to the Lieutenant at her side. "How did you fare in that?" she asked. "I assume you were alright, since you didn't come to sickbay." Jacobs beckoned them forward. "I only saw two fights," replied Andy as they carefully made their way to the marine's position. "Three X'Chi attacked us in the Jeffries tubes on deck 5 or 6 when we were recovering the two Gott crewman." Andy thought briefly of the two young women officers who'd been in cryofreeze for a few weeks before waking, and wondered briefly how they were doing. "Then there was the larger battle to take engineering," he continued, " ... when we lost Williams." Andy frowned. "The X'Chi recently mounted a second attack and re-taken it." Rangi looked at him suddenly as they walked step in step after Jacobs. "You were fighting the X'Chi?" she asked. "Did they manage to touch you? Were you injured?" Andy looked at her blankly for a moment. "Me?" he said in an amused tone. "No ... I don't think I got within 5 meters of one. The marines told me to keep my head down, and I was more than happy to oblige." Rangi couldnt help but smile at the expression on his face. "Very wise," she said, but the smile faded fast. " We have a growing number of them in sickbay. The X'Chi carry a virus." "Oh," said Andy, as they approached Jacobs, who apparently caught the last of the conversation. "Bugs killed two of my squadmates," he said as he peered around the next corner, "and another two are laid up in sickbay right now, rotting away." He turned to Rangi, "I hear it's fatal if it's not treated in time, commander." It was obvious he wanted an answer. "The X'chi carry a type of virus for want of a better word." she said. "It's passed by contact from their claws or mandibles. We have a treatment though, and it shows good results," she said evasively. In truth, it was too early in the stages to know the results was beside the point, and not something rangi was prepeared to explain there and then. Jacobs nodded and resumed his position. The trio made their way to the turbolift and entered. "Deck three," said Andy. The lift hummed, but quickly lurched to an abrupt stop. All three looked at one another doubtfully. "Computer," said Andy, "why have we stopped? There was a beep, and the expressionless voice of the computer replied that there was a mechanical failure in turbolift one. Andy grumbled to himself, then added "Well, at least the emergency clamps engaged. I don't like the idea of a five-deck drop." Rangi smirked. "Computer, open the doors to Turbolift one. Authorization Foster Epsilon seven eight four five." "No!" shouted Jacobs, and thrust Andy and Rangi to the back of the turbolift. After a few tense moments passed, and nothing moved, Jacobs slowly turned to Andy. "Next time, sir," he said with forced calm, "I need you to tell me you're doing something like that." With that, he turned, muttering something about PADD-pushers, and kneeled down to the bottom of the lift, which was suspended a little over a meter above the floor of deck three. He landed gracefully on the deck, and offered his hand up to Rangi. "Ma'am?" Rangi stepped forward, peered down at him, knelt by the bottom of the door, and accepted his offered hand. Her descent wasnt quite as graceful as Marine's, but before long, she stood looking up at Andy, and rubbed her elbow, which had received a nasty blow on the wall when Jacobs pushed her back. When all three stood together she turned to Jacobs "Now what ...do you know where we are exactly?" Jacobs took a tactical PADD from a pouch on his belt, and oriented himself. "Let's see," he mumbled. "We're on deck three..." "We're on deck two, Private," said Andy gently, and reacting to the looks that both doctor and marine gave him, said "My first assignment was the t'Rathna -- a Nova class vessel." He shrugged and smiled. "It was the reason the General wanted me on one of the away teams in the first place." Andy looked around for a few moments, getting his bearings, and finally pointed to their left. "Turbolift four is on the other side of the Lab, over here," he said taking a few steps. "We can take that down a deck to Sick Bay." Jacobs nodded, and stepped forward to be the first inside the room. Rangi entered after, and looked around. It had once been a lab with state of the art equipment, but now little was usable. She followed the marine, skirting around overturned and burnt out consols, hoping that he knew where he was going now. She eyed the debris wondering what some of the equipment had been used for. Some was obvious but there were other intrigueing things that she didn't recognise. It all added up to the secret mission that the Gott had been on and that the Chimera had been sent to retrieve. Rangi heard a whistle behind her, and saw Andy standing at the other side of the room before a console, his face illuminated in a soft yellow-white light eminating up from it. "What is it, Lieutenant?" "Just looking at this, Commander ... seems to be one of the few useable things left in this room," he said half in humor, but obviously curious about the nature of the device. He took out a PADD and started collecting data. He shook his head, not fully grasping the use of it, but it didn't take long to deduce that it had something to do with the temporal drive -- it had the same four axes as the special navigational console on the bridge. "This is ... wow," said Andy, at a loss for words. He shook his head, and closed the PADD. "We've got to get Oraina down he --" he was abruptly interrupted by Rangi's shout. He abruptly had the wind knocked out of him, felt a hard blow against his hip, and he was thrown to the southwest corner of the room. In two great leaps, a X'Chi was upon him. Not even able to draw a breath to scream, Andy held up his arm to block a blow to to his head, and felt the creature's claw scrape deeply into the hard plastic of the EVA suit he still wore. If he had more presence of mind, he probably would have been amused at the irony -- what Welsh had intended as a practical joke, was affording him a small measure of protection against the huge insect. Jacobs ran back, pushing Rangi aside, the flamethrower already raised in aim. Rangi followed his line of site and saw why he hesitated -- the X'Chi and hapless operations officer were now too close for the weapon to hit one without the other. The marine stood lost in uncertainty, unwilling use his flamethrower, incinerating the Lieutenant along with the X'Chi, and knowing his phaser would have no effect on the insect. "Flamethrower!" Rangi said, scrambling to Jacobs side. "Fire it ... now!" Jacobs looked at her to make sure she understood what she was ordering. "FIRE IT!" she yelled at him, desperation raising the pitch of her voice. Shifting his eyes from her back to the insect, Jacobs clenched his jaw, raised the weapon and released a long stream of fire over man and insect. There was a terrible scream as the X'Chi lurched forward already burning in the flame, growing black and charred. Like a nightmare come alive, it moved in their direction and Jacobs gripped the modified rifle with all his strength spraying wave after wave of flame at the creature which staggered, tottered and fell to the floor, writhing in its death agony. The room filled with smoke and the stench of burning flesh. Rangi began to choke, as did Jacobs and when at last the weapon was exhausted , nothing could be seen in the curling smoke. End Part I LtCdr Rangi Summers Chief Medical Officer/2XO Lt Andersen Foster Operations Officer