*** Ladder somewhere between Decks 6 and 7 *** Rangi stopped to catch her breath, looking down into the ladderwell as she did so. (I seem to spend half my time crawling through tubes and climbing ladders!} she thought and began her descent again, going as fast as she dared in the dim light. Five rungs lower and she stopped again, this time turning her knuckles white as she clung to the ladder. One foot slipped off the rung as a violent judder marked another hit on Chimera. { Someones got it in for us!!....whats going on?} she wondered, moistoning her lips and waiting for the ladder to cease vibrating. When it did so, she resumed her descent. {I wish someone would tell me} she thought nearing the base and convinced herself that she would be called to the Bridge soon enough. The hatch opened out to deck 7 and Rangi crawled out. She stood up and briefly dusted herself down, looking around her as she did so. Two engineers ran towards her, one slowing as they drew near. "Are you ok Ma'am?" he asked. "Yes...are there any injured here?" "No Ma'am..not as far as I'm aware...plenty of damage though..the terminal interface junctions..and the isomiatic vertion conduit are out in section 4...excuse us ma'am? " The engineer had already begun to move off as Rangi nodded. She called out "Lieutenant?...are the turbo lifts working on this deck?" "Cant say ma'am I know they were in section 8" He paused for only a moment then turned and ran on. {Section 8..section....8...ok.} Rangi looked around, saw the deck designation sign and moved nearer.{Deck 7 section 7..thats lucky} She broke into a fast walk that was half running and headed off along the corridor. A sudden intense judder sent her staggering against the wall and the lights went out.Only the Red Alert light flashed monotonously at every corner. {Lights?...please?} she willed as she moved forward. A brilliant white light exploded to her right, three meters in front of her. A cascade of green, lemon and octarine light lit the corridor for two seconds and died away. Rangi stood shocked into stillness. "Wow" she breathed and stood uncertainly waiting to see if the display was over. Nothing happened so she stepped forward slowly. An odd spark or two glittered randomly from the terminal. Watching it warily Rangi took another step. Through the drifts of white smoke,she saw an orange glow flicker.There was a fizzing sound that grew louder and Rangi, never one to tempt fate, decided retreat was called for. No sooner had she stepped back than the entire EPS relay burst into brilliant flame.A second later the automated extinguisher activated but for a few moments only. +Taps+ Summers to engineering.....fire on deck7 section 7 + "Acknowledged commander " responded a clipped voice. Rangi glanced back. The sound of hurrying feet grew louder and three yellow uniformed men ran into view. Rangi backed away and began to retrace her steps knowing she could do nothing and was needed elsewhere. Deciding the ladder was the best option, she dismissed the thought of searching for a working turbo lift and re entered the hatch. This time the descent was uninterrupted and on the way down she decided that the labs on deck 9 were not central enough for their needs. {The cargo Bay is bigger and it worked well there last time...thats where we'll go} Two minutes later she emerged on deck 8 feeling more than a little aching and battered around the knees. +Taps Summers to Sickbay...we're using cargo bay 1 as our emergency base. ...Maikai?..Steve?...oversee the welfare and transport of patients. Scott..Mercedes..get down here as soon as you can...we need to set up triage....oh...and the turbo lifts are out. + *** End Log *** LtCmdr Rangi Summers CMO/AXO USS Chimera