Panic was the easiest emotion to describe the feeling Jetta Dowe felt. But the real reality of it was that she could barely even feel her fingertips; this was a lot. Not too much, but it was quite a lot for her.

She crawled through the Jeffries Tubes, with Plimmitt trailing closely behind. The two had hit a few floors by now; but this was no easy feat.

“Captain, I think I can slow down our clock if the opportunity shows itself.” Plimmitt squeaked out as he pulled himself up the shaft.

“Anything is useful now. What’s the plan?” She called back as they climbed.

“If I can get access to one of the shuttle bays and dismantle a shuttle…” Plimmitt started, pausing as he lifted himself just a little bit higher. “..I could potentially give the more vital parts of the ship power.”

”I’m not against that, but I don’t like how unprotected you’ll be.” Jetta sighed as they finally got to a resting point, both taking a minute.

“Where is Sylvester when you need him. . .” The Chief Officer sighed, rubbing his face.

“If you can promise me you’ll be safe, then I’ll allow it. But I mean it, Plimmitt, actually cautious. Not careless.” Jetta continued to crawl. “Looks like the tables have turned, eh?”

“..I guess so.” The Saurian huffed, his eyes glancing at the inner workings of the tubes. “Surely you cannot be concerned about me walking down a hallway, Captain.”

“You and I both know you’ll have barely any light, little to no helpers, and by yourself. With no comms. If something happems, Plimmitt..you have to understand where I’m coming from here.”

“I do. But Captain, you and I both know how important this could be—“ He starts, being cut off very quickly.

“I understand! I just….worry.” Jetta eventually stopped when they came to a split in the tube; it was the way onto the current floor. She hesitated, not able to look back at Plimmitt.

“Godspeed, Captain.” He gave a small salute, before hastily shimmying down the other tube.

”Just a little bit more, and we can rest. Yeah?” Runt mumbled, carrying the hobbling Mazev closer and closer to one of the storage rooms. There had to be medical supplies in there—but even then, the cat was feeling woozy himself. He wasn’t able to check, but the poor guy hit his head hard. Blood had dripped down the corner he had slammed into, and each step made them more off balance.

Mazev groaned as he clinged onto the cat, his grip ironclad and his body cold and clammy. He’d lost a lot of blood, even more than Runt. The basics had been applied, but Runt still needed to get something to help him.

”Okay…just around the corner. Ready?” He nudged Mazev, trying to get him to stay awake. Just as they started walking, however..

“Wh—AYE!” Plimmitt suddenly yelped, nearly running straight into Runt and Mazev. He turned to say something, but..

“…Oh.” The Lieutenant stared, wide eye’d, at the cat. Said cat stared back, feeling his face heat up just a little bit. “Uh. Hi.”

”Hi.” Runt stared back, eyebrows also raised. Both held each others gaze for quite a good few moments, trying to make of the wave of emotions running through them both. It was only broken by Mazev’s shifting.

”Uh—wow, are you alright, Ensign?” The Shaurian asked, holding out his hand.

”Uh—y-yeah! Yeah.” Runt took said hand and gave a sort of goofy smile. “Plimmitt Ruuvon, right? Lieutenant, head of Engineering..”

”I am.” For some god forsaken reason, Plimmitt wasn’t very upset around Runt. It seemed like the two quite enjoyed speaking to the other so far. “Uh—but, I’m on a bit of a mission. Somethings hit us and we need to get the power back to a few decks. My team should be able to hard reset a few systems and get life support back up—“

Runt and Mazev started to listen, but both quickly stopped. Nearby was a wide window along the deck, and they were both staring at it. Runt’s ears went flat against his skull and Mazev looked on in genuine horror.

”—so if we can reroute some of the shuttles…Ensigns? Are you listening??” Plimmitt looked in the direction they were looking. His speech stopped as he stood, wide eyed and slackjawed.

And then, after weapons charged and fired, the ship lurched forward, sending the three flying down the hall, and the USS Morro Bay spiraling. The last thing Runt saw before blacking out was a unresponsive Mazev and a scrambling Plimmitt.