===Station shuttle bay=== Keylor sat in the co-pilots chair thinking. He was trying to piece together all of the scraps on information that had been collected by the away team. Even thought it would appear that they had done little more than get lost, separated and then find each other they had accomplished something. By now Rangi and the others had arrived from the sickbay. With the exception to Hathaway having received injuries form a ghostly intruder, everyone else from the infirmary seemed ok. There were a total of 5 researchers in that group and the two that arrived on the shuttle they all now occupied. Keylorhad assigned the flight of the shuttle to the Starfleet officer that originally piloted the shuttle to the station. She was currently looking over the shuttle with a finer toothcomb than Keylor had given it an hour before. But until Kilpatrick and his team arrived, Keylor would not leave the station just yet. So now all Keylor could do is sit an hope that Kilpatrick would find his way to the shuttle bay. Earlier when Keylor was searching for EVA suits, he had marked the walls opposite of every Jeffries tube he found, indicating a path for any one to take to find the group. He could only hope Kilpatrick would stumble across one of his signs and join them soon. Their escape was planned, at least in Keylor's mind. They would load everyone on to the shuttle, open the outer doors and fly away, at least that was Keylor plan. But there was always something that could go wrong. First there was the knowledge that the force field on the shuttle bay was not working. This means they would have to seal the access to the corridor from the shuttle bay to make sure they did not decompress the station and kill any one they had failed to locate. Secondly, and the thing Keylor would not be able to tell until they power the shuttle was the opening of the bay doors. If they are unable to opening remotely form the shuttle, then some one was going to have to go outside of the shuttle and open them manually, a risk that might have to be taken, and one Keylor hoped he would not have to choose. But on top of all of his worries about their escape, there were the seeming insignificant clues that they had gathered during their time on the station. There was the device that Mercedes and Rangi had found that seemed to hide them form the intruders senses. Then there was the protoplaser that Rangi told Keylor about. A simple device that seemed to inflict more pain to the intruders than their modified phaser rifles. Two items that seemed harmless, but in this situation effective to some degree. He only hoped that by returning to the ship the items helped to find a way to combat the intruders. Next was the event that Mercedes and Rangi had reported seeing. The aliens, physically examining a torpedo. It was worrisome to Keylor. If the aliens had figured out what the torpedo was the question would be are they trying to figure out how to make another artificial portal to their subspace, or were they up to even more devilish deeds and preparing it as a weapon against them. Either way, it would not fair well for Keylor and his crew in either scenario. Then a call came form outside the cockpit window. The female Starfleet shuttle plot motioned to the back of the shuttle bay and called out to Keylor. "Sir! More marines!" He tried to strain a look through the side of the cockpit but was unable to see any one. He quickly rose from his seat and walked back to the open door towards the rear of the runabout. Keylor navigated past the several people now crouched and huddled n the rapidly filling runabout. He tapped on Rangi's shoulder as he passed. "Come with me." He said softly. He then motioned to Mercedes as well and he continued to the door. He was greeted at the runabout door by Kilpatrick and his team. Accompanying them were three very weary civilians, researchers. "Lance Corporal Kilpatrick reporting in SIR!" he said with a salute. Keylor nodded and saluted back. "Glad you could make it corporal. Was beginning to wonder there if you would ever see one of the sings I left behind." He smiled. Jason nodded back, "Aye sir. Was a nice sign to see." He looked at the shuttle. "SO this is our ticket out of here sir?" he asked. Keylor nodded. "Yes it is. " He then pointed to the researchers Jason had collected. "Doctor's why don't you show the researchers here where to sit in the runabout. Once they are settled please join me and the corporal out here." Rangi and Mercedes nodded. Each motioned to the weary group and led them in to the shuttle. Keylor motioned to Jason and started walking to the front of the shuttle. They were intercepted by the female Starfleet officer. "Are we ready to get out of here sir? Is that everyone?" she asked nervously. Keylor nodded, "Aye for now. We are still 2 researchers short, but I don't think we want to press our luck much longer." The female officer nodded nervously. "well as far as I can tell we are ready to fly. I will be able to tell you for sure once I power up the shuttle." Keylor looked at the shuttle, "how long will it take for you to get this thing powered up, checked and ready to go?" he asked. "Five, may be ten minutes tops sir. Once I start powering up systems I will be able to do a quick systems check and we will know for sure." Keylor then looked over to Jason. "Corporal, I have a job for you." He paused for a moment. "First of all, I need you and your team to seal every access to this shuttle bay. The force field that usually prevents decompression on the bay doors is not functioning. I am not prepared to decompress the station just yet. If anyone of the missing researchers are still aboard, I want to give them a fighting chance to survive." Jason nodded, "Aye sir, and the second thing?" he asked in a professional marine tone. Keylor looked at Jason squarely in the eyes. "I want you to hold a perimeter around the shuttle to the last second. Once we power up the shuttle, we could attract every intruder in the station. We will need to keep them at bay for as long as we can until we are ready to open the doors and leave." Jason nodded. "Aye sir will do!" Rangi and Mercedes then approached the little group. Keylor turned to be able to see them. He looked each one of them over slowly. "Ok we are going to try to leave now. Doctors, this can be a bumpy ride trying to get out of here. There is no telling how this event horizon will affect the shuttle systems. I want you to take care of all the passengers and crew in the rear of the runabout. Get them ready for the flight." Rangi and Mercedes nodded. Keylor then nodded to Jason, "corporal, you know what to do. Once you signal the bay is sealed the Lieutenant here" he pointed to the female officer, "will begin the power up of the shuttle. Get back here and set up a tight defensive perimeter and be prepared to move quickly." Jason nodded and headed out. Keylor then looked at the lieutenant, "Lieutenant, get in there and wait for the signal. Once you have it, get this thing powered up and lets get out of here." The lieutenant smiled nervously." "Ok" he said looking now at the three remaining women, "Lets leave." He said with a forced smile. Everyone headed back in to the shuttle. ===End log === Col Bretam Keylor Captain USS Chimera