By a thread

[JJLexi 0]

So close to Camelot Station. But not close enough to expect help from them. With no time to react with anything more than horrified shock, Anna automatically noted the presence of magnetons as sensors revealed the wormhole pattern forming in front of the ship. It was so close!

 

Suddenly, JJ felt sick to his stomach. His first day on Alpha Shift and he was faced with this. "Full Reverse!" he heard the Captain yell, the pain obvious in his voice. Quickly and obediently, JJ flung the ship into full reverse, but immediately he knew that something was wrong. The ship didn't have the power to escape the wormhole. He thought about vocalizing his thoughts. But before he could, gravity took over. . .

 

Those next few minutes passed in a blur as they were pulled into the wormhole and found themselves once again in the Beta Quadrant. Right back where they'd started-the Proxima there along with three Romulan ships that wasted no time in yanking back the welcome mat. It was pointless, probably, but she did what she'd wanted to do since she'd first read about Proxima's doomed crew-using the command codes, she accessed and began uploading the ship's archives.

 

The knot in JJ's stomach tightened even more. There he was, the pilot of a half beaten shell of a ship facing down a squadron of some of the most menacing warships in the galaxy. Reality began to slowly set in, no heroic maneuvers, no rescue, and no off button on the simulators. This was a real as it gets, and it wasn't looking good.

 

Reaent was being pounded, and it was all Anna could do to keep from being thrown from her seat. Power failed and backup systems were slow to come back up and then failed anyway, and the entire time, she listened to the damage reports coming in, each one worse than the last.

 

JJ looked around, from Murray to Anna. As the ship was getting pounded, he couldn't help but feel that he had failed everyone. The ship was slowly losing power with each shot until the knock out blow came. . . A massive explosion ripped through the bridge, knocking JJ out of this chair.. . .Disoriented, he began to haul himself back to his feet, the game was over now.

 

The explosion deafened her and the smoke was blinding. She felt the carpeting that covered the Bridge decking under her fingers, and struggled to get up, disorientated and starting to choke as she inhaled the chemicals released from burning conduit and wiring. The screaming. All she could hear as her ears adjusted was the screaming. She'd never heard a sound like it before. Standing up, she grabbed the edge of one of the science consoles and turned to see a sight straight out of a horror holo. The Captain was screaming--his face and upper body horrifically burned. She stumbled and turned towards him, and then saw Brian-lying on his side also burned almost beyond recognition, unconscious. The screaming stopping, she heard the Captain call for them to evacuate; to abandon ship. She went to help Brian, even as she saw Jon reach the Captain and heard JJ call to Wim. A glance through the smoke filled darkness revealed, though mercifully not too clearly, that Wim had also been burned in the explosion.

 

JJ ran over to Wim, hoisting the badly burned man gingerly up and to his feet. As he pulled him up he heard Wim ask "How do you like your new job?". Despite the chaos and bleakness of the situation, JJ had to grin. "I've had better" he told him, and probably meaning it. He led him off the bridge and down towards the nearest escape pod. On the way out, he could just make out the sound of the Captain, activating the self-destruct sequence. Setting Wim down in a pod, he took a glance around to look for any more comers. Through the smoke and destruction, he could see Anna, dragging the seemingly lifeless corpse of somebody, Smith, he thought. "I think we all should hurry!" he yelled towards the oncoming duo, making room for them as they approached.

 

Anna heard JJ call out that they needed to hurry but she would never have made it if Commander Swan hadn't rushed forward to help her pull/push Brian into the escape pod. She fell into the seat next to Brian and reaching over, attempted to secure his harness and that was when she realized he was dead. Numbly, she finished belting him in, since Commander Swan had already sealed the pod and it had been ejected. Within seconds, the debris that used to be Reaent was all around them. She'd heard the Captain order the self-destruct sequence begun and she'd seen Jon at his side as she'd helped Brian from the Bridge. She knew they hadn't made it. There hadn't been time. She leaned back in the seat, listening to Wim somehow joke with JJ in spite of the agony of his terrible burns. It was so Wim and she had to look away and her eyes fell on Commander Swan. Anna was almost sure that Angel hadn't made it. She didn't think any of their chances were too good at this point.