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your
computer and your reactor. Sprite's been tearing into your nonessential
systems, cleaning out the viruses and fixing what she can, but she couldn't
access the core systems from my cabin.”
    “You...”
the captain froze and looked at the ops tech. The Veraxin looked up and nodded.
    “I
had wondered why the systems were running smoother,” the Veraxin chittered.
“Now we apparently know.”
    “Thanks,”
O’Mallory said dryly. She wasn't sure about letting this admiral character
connect to her computer net but what choice did she have?
    “Yvonne
give admiral Irons full access. Jerry get someone to clear those parts. We'll
need them,” she ordered.
    “Chief
your reactor is about to lose it badly. A scram needs to be initiated now,”
Sprite informed them. Irons winced.
    “Yvonne
what the hell's going on in there???!!” O'Mallory snarled, leaping over a box
and then pushing a pair of people aside. “Make a hole! Get the hell out of the
way!” She snarled, now moving at a run, ducking cables and picking her way
along the corridor.
    “Irons
I'm sorry. We need your parts. We need your launch. There isn't a choice here.
We're trying to survive,” the captain said. Irons grimaced. The captain sounded
self righteous. In a way the man was right, he was responsible for his ship and
those on it. But Irons was responsible for the bigger picture.
    “So
am I captain. I have as much a right to survive as you do. I know you're
responsible for others but so am I. I will take whatever measures to protect
myself and Federation property as needed. Now, if the pissing contest is over
I've got work to do.” Sprite put a timer on his HUD. “I've got about a ten
minute window to scram your reactor before it destabilizes and breaches. If you
want to help keep your people out of my way,” he snarled.
    “He's
right captain,” O'Mallory said, sounding shaken. She'd paused to squeeze
through the half open lock door and glanced down at her tablet. Her tablet was
set to repeat the main read outs from main engineering. “We've got ten minutes
maybe fifteen.”
    “Then
by all means go.”
    “Admiral
without the reactor we won't have enough power for life support. We're about to
cut the power to the sleepers,” O'Mallory said.
    “Sleepers?”
Irons asked.
    “Stasis
pods. Anyone with a major injury or radiation poisoning was put into stasis
over the years. We've got nearly nine hundred in stasis. They...”
    “We're
going to have to cut power to them. I've ordered it,” the Veraxin ops officer
said. “However it will take some time to do.”
    “That's
a lot of people you're sentencing to death! Family!” O'Mallory snarled.
    “Never
mind. I get the idea,” Irons said holding up a hand. They really didn't have
time for a long conversation. “Chief can your people scram the reactor?” he
asked.
    “I'm...
yes,” she finally said. She tried hard not to let her emotions get to her.
    “Fine.
Tell them to do it. I'm going to my shuttle. Get the crew there to find some
cables. I'll tap my fusion reactor to help power life support. Do you have a
critical parts list for your reactor?” he asked.
    “Um...”
    “Get
it and get it to me. Sprite will watch the net. Put it up in the public net and
flag it for her and she'll put the replicator to work on some of it right away.
I'll need materials though.”
    “Um...”
She cocked her head in confusion slowing down her headlong run. “I can get you
some in a few minutes admiral,” she said with a shrug. They didn't have a
choice they had to trust the man. He could easily jump into the shuttle and
leave, but something told her he wouldn't.
    “Reactor
shutting down in five... four... three... we have flame out... cooling now.”
Yvonne reported over the intercom. The lights dimmed. Irons heard a few gasps.
More than one person started whimpering as the lights flickered and then went
out. A few emergency lights here and there popped on, but they were weak.
    His
sensors reported the