3.

When the elevator stopped moving, Tousa stepped out first. Her blade let off a soft violet glow, contrasting with the two yellow lights that lit up two corners of the room they found themselves in. It was split in two by a dividing wall, though neither Ethan nor Tousa were really in the mood for exploring it. Her first instinct after their last encounter was to check the room for vent covers, and finding none, she relaxed a bit. The room appeared to be a tool closet of sorts, with supplies littered about. A sparking panel next to the only exit besides the elevator caught her eye, but figuring it was just a shorted panel, she ignored it.

Ethan was still catching his breath. Taking deep breaths, he looked around the darkened room and took stock. There were several medical supply kits, plasma batteries, and various other tools at their disposal. Nothing that could be used as a weapon, but useful regardless. Finally feeling his heart calm down, he leaned against a wall as his Jedi companion looked around. Bringing up his communications system, he tried to contact Nother, Jenessa, or even Kinsley, but the only answer he got was static. Cursing his luck under his breath, Ethan made a not to get back to the shuttle as quickly as he could. If Nother didn't know what was going on, and whatever those things were got to him before Ethan could get back… He shuddered at the though, again recalling his own close call in the hallway. "Hey, Tousa…"

"Yes?" She turned toward him, letting the Lighsaber's blade fall to her side. The cold gaze Ethan had witnessed on the shuttle was no longer there, replaced with a look of genuine concern. He didn't find the change surprising, considering the circumstances.

"Probably not the best time to say it, but I just wanted to say thanks for saving me back there. If you hadn't decided to come with me, I'd have been dead twice over by now." He shivered at the thought of facing one of the creatures on his own, let alone the two that had been after them. "Still… what the hell are those things? They look …"

"…They look almost human." Tousa finished for him.

Ethan shivered again. "Yeah. As much as I hate to even think about it, they did seem humanoid at the very least. I wonder if Jenessa and Kinsley made it out alright…"

Tousa grimaced. They didn't have a Jedi to protect them, which was in and of itself a huge help. To make matters worse, Kinsley was the only one with training and a weapon between the two. If there were more of those creatures around and things got hectic, even her skills with the lightsaber wouldn't be enough to save both Ethan and herself given that she had trained in a very conservative style of combat –something Master Fan-Kathen had insisted upon, as he intended for them both to be more diplomatic in their work than some other Jedi. "Well, it looks like this room is sealed for the moment. I think we're safe."

"Yeah. That door is sealed. Looks like somebody hit it with a cutter of some kind, since the cut looks pretty straight. Only way we could open it is with a welder to fix the circuit, or maybe a Cutter if I tuned it right. There might be one in the other side, since there's a workbench over there."

Mentally, Tousa considered just staying there for the time being. As cowardly as it seemed, it was the best way to assure their immediate survival, which was something that she considered a high priority. However, he Jedi training demanded that they help anyone the could aboard the ship, even if it meant putting themselves directly in harms way. "Alright. Let's take a look then. Hopefully we can get the door open with something..."

Together, they stepped toward the other side, its sparking lighting flickering for a moment as they rounded the corner and passed the divide. Both of them stopped cold when the saw a mutilated corpse lying against the workbench, the bloody scrawl just above it reading "Cut off their limbs!" The need to vomit hit Ethan with such a violent intensity that he nearly doubled over, but managed to contain himself. Tousa merely looked away, unable to stare at the corpse for more than a few seconds. "…I think we know now what happened to the crew…"

"Yeah. But at least there's a Cutter over here." Among the scattered tools and magazines that covered the workstation, a gold and green-gray tool sat prominently, as if it had been set there after recent use. Moving over to the bench and trying his best to keep his eyes averted from the dead crewman, Ethan picked up the pistol like mining tool and looked it over. It immediately powered up in his hand, showing six of ten charges remaining on its holographic display. Manually powering it down and opening its casing, Ethan took a screwdriver from the bench and began tuning the tool. Much to his surprise, it had already been reconfigured, if a bit crudely, to fire a much finer blast of plasma. Scrunching up his eyebrows in thought, he tried to find a reason for such changes. Realization dawned on him rather suddenly as he looked up again at the scrawled message. "My God…"

"What's wrong, Ethan?" Tousa asked, still keeping her vision away from the corpse at all costs.

"I think they were trying to fight those things using whatever they could find. This cutter's already tuned to fire like a blade instead of a blunt blast for mining… Were they really…?" Again, Ethan felt sick. If things had really gotten desperate enough to convert mining tools into lethal weapons, then Ethan and Tousa were already deep into hell. Whispering a thanks to the dead miner beside him, Ethan finished his own tunes and closed it back up, the Cutter powering up just as it had before. "Alright, I think I got it."

"Then let's get the door open. We need to find the others and get out of here, get some more help, and quick." Tousa moved quickly back to the other side, eager to get away from the corpse. Her own words sounded hollow to her thought; really, she just wanted to hear Master Fan-Kathen's reassuring voice again.

As he rounded the divider himself, Ethan raised the Cutter, its three targeting lasers springing up in the darkness along with its flashlight. Using the light, he inspected the circuit board to make sure he wouldn't be screwing anything up too bad by just blasting it. Though his knowledge of circuit board repair wasn't on par with Jenessa's, he still figured that it would open and close properly at the very least once he soldered it. Smiling inside his helmet, Ethan took aim for the sparking console and lined it up with his sights, having set the Cutter for a welding level of heat instead of 'fry to a crisp.' Just as he was about to pull the trigger he heard something which made him stop cold. It sounded like someone was crying, or perhaps laughing, but whatever it was sounded human. He looked at Tousa, who had tensed at the sound. He shrugged, not sure what to do.

Tousa took the lead, knocking on the door. "Hello?"

"Is… is somebody there?!" A voice cried out from the other side of the door. It was certainly male, but badly shaken. "Help me! Help me damn it, I can't open it! Get the damn door open they're coming…!" The voice descended into babbling, obviously crying on the other side without even a thought of shame.

Moved by pity and a need to save the man beyond the door, Tousa moved away from the door and nodded to Ethan. He raised the Cutter again, putting it almost directly on the circuit board before pulling the trigger. He felt it kick in his hand, the smell of hot molten metal filling the air as a hint of smoke poured out from the circuit board. The metal behind it had melted into it as the plasma heated it, filling the gap between the split. When Ethan looked over at the door, a flashing blue hologram had appeared, quickly stabilizing as the door began functioning again. "Alright, it's working!"

Without hesitating, he passed a hand through the hologram, and the door began to slide open with a hydraulic hiss. Just as it did however, the man on the other side let out a scream, flailing arms visible through the opening door as a creature attacked him. Before the door could even completely open, the man was lying limp on the deck, the monster above him covered in blood from its victim. Yet another electronic screech, followed by a flat line sounded off in Ethan's ears as he watched the creature's movements in horror. It turned its wretched head toward Ethan, lunging through the door while screaming wildly. Without even thinking, Ethan turned the Cutter on it, fear pushing him to fire it into the beast's face. It stopped dead in its tracks as the plasma cut through it, lopping off some tentacles along with part of its head. For a morbidly comical second, it twisted the remains of its face in confusion, as if considering what had just actually happened to it.

Tousa wasn't about to give it a chance to figure out what had happened to it, and finished it off with a high slash that removed it's head and one of it's arms. The creature stumbled, slumping against the divide. Unfortunately, even though it defied logic, it was still alive and kicking even after losing its head and came back up for another swipe with its remaining bladed appendage. It caught on the divide however, snagging its arm in the metal plating. Ethan moved around Tousa and blasted the limb caught limb off with his Cutter, somehow killing the creature in the process. It slumped to the floor, blood from its wounds and victims pooling under it.

Ethan lowered the Cutter slowly, letting it fall to his side as Tousa moved back. The door had closed again, but Ethan didn't feel safe anymore. In fact, he felt so sick he turned from the corpse, tore off his helmet and fell to his hands and knees, hurling his lunch onto the deck. He choked on the smell of dead and rotting flesh, throwing up again and again until it was only dry heaves. Tousa was also feeling sick, but managed to keep her food in her stomach, where it belonged. Turning off her lightsaber and clipping it to her waist, she knelt beside Ethan and placed a hand on his back. "Ethan…"

He coughed, and then looked up at her and away from the pool beneath him. "We tried… we tried to save him."

"Yes, we did." Tousa replied gingerly. She could see he was struggling with their failure to save the man beyond the door. She knew the feeling all to well. "Sometimes we try our best, but it's not enough. I'm sorry, Ethan."

"I know. I know, but these things… You cut its head off, and it still moved! What the f*** are they!?" He turned back, heaving again as his stomach rebelled against him. This wasn't the first time he'd seen blood, or watched a limb come flying off of a living body. Work accidents happened, after all. However, this was the first time he had seen a man die. The shock and horror he felt weighed down on him, increasing the tightness in his lungs. He closed his eyes as he pushed back, calming himself and breathing deep gulps of air. He was useless like this and he knew it. People were dying, and his team was in danger. That thought alone was enough to clear his head, especially when he remembered Jenessa. "…We can't stay here… we can't. We need to find Jenessa and Kinsley, and get back to Nother somehow."

"I agree, but are you sure you're alright?" She looked over him with a bit of motherly concern, which was somewhat out of character for her. Normally, if a man was acting in this manner during combat, she would have called him a coward and a weakling. Here however, with this one single engineer by her side, she supported him. Perhaps it was because her survival instincts were saying he was necessary, or maybe his actions thus far had swayed her in some way; she couldn't tell either way but it didn't matter at the moment. Here, in the dark, she was his ally.

Ethan grabbed his helmet off the floor and took a hand up from Tousa. "Yeah… I just hope that's the last of these things we see for a while."

Inside Shuttle One, Master Fan-Kathen sat in silence as two engineers worked diligently on getting the guidance system back online. Aside from him, the pilot, and the two workers, the shuttle played host to five heavily armed marines, their captain, and two CEC executives, one of which was fidgeting nervously. It was slightly harder to concentrate on his meditations with the man rapidly tapping his foot and shifting in his chair constantly, but still Fan-Kathen persisted. Though his sense of the force was very weak, ever since they had entered the Aegis system he had felt something… a slight disturbance in the Force. It had been almost imperceptible to him, but it was there, and growing. It was both on the surface of Aegis 7 below them, inside the planet, and also on the Ishimura. Frustrated at his own downfalls as a Jedi, he shook his head and turned to the executives.

Both men were clad in grey and gold RIGs, as symbols of their status. The fidgeting one, CEO Brigham Mattox, was portly with a balding head and a double chin which drooped noticeably. Wisps of white hair seemed to cloud around his ears, making his head appear wider than it really was. His deep set chocolate brown eyes jumped about the shuttle, often centering on the Jedi whom he was supposed to be negotiating with. The CEO had an incredibly weak mind, and more than once Fan-Kathen had swayed him away from offering ruinous sums of money, food, hookers and drugs to simply go home. Mattox was a Unitologist, a believer in the local religion of his home world. From what Fan-Kathen understood, the religion claimed that all life came from something called the 'Marker', but that was about all he knew about it. Beside Mattox was sat the chairman of CEC's board of directors, Lithan Tolman. Tall and handsome for his thirty-six years, Tolman had a look of steel in his eyes that belonged more to a combat veteran than a businessman. Deep brown hair folded down over his ears, aided by a slicked back hairstyle which seemed more appropriate on a teenager than a man, but he made it look good regardless. The sunglasses he constantly wore only furthered Fan-Kathen's feeling that he was an overgrown 'chick magnet' who reveled in his youth.

"Something wrong, Fan-Kathen?" Tolman asked when he noticed the Jedi staring at him.

"I just sensed something, down there on the planet, that's all." Fan-Kathen shrugged slightly, "I can't tell for certain, but it seems something's not right down there. I get the same feeling from the Ishimura… I'd advise caution once we get onboard."

"I highly doubt there's anything dangerous onboard my ship, sir." Mattox said with an almost visible edge to his voice.

"Now now, Mr. Mattox, no need to get so defensive. The Ishimura may be the pride of our fleet, but that doesn't mean bad things can't happen. If something is amiss –say she was raided perhaps- then it's certainly wise for us to use caution. There's one way to find out for certain though. Pilot, can you contact Shuttle Two?"

A reply of, "I'll try sir." came from the cockpit. A minute later, "Sir, I'm getting an SOS beacon from the shuttle, but no response to hails. I'm going to keep trying, but I don't think we'll be getting through to anyone if they all disembarked."

A long silence overwhelmed the shuttle. Fan-Kathen didn't look at Mattox, but he knew the man was fuming with rage now, and was directing it at him for being right. Tolman however was devising a course of action, and motioned for the lead Marine to approach him. "Captain Hammond, what would you advise us to do. We don't have much information, so we can't be sure what awaits us once we are underway."

Hammond, a tall and bald man who's figure alone was imposing, took a few seconds to think. "With the communication's array offline on this shuttle, we'll need to use the other Shuttle or the Ishimura to call for help unless we want to head home first, or find another starship in the immediate vicinity. I'm against landing on the Ishimura or the Colony since they've been out of contact for so long without any explanation, but finding another vessel this far out could be troublesome as well. In the end, it's up to you two to decide. I'm just here to guard you."

"Be that as it may, your advice is appreciated, commander." Tolman replied easily. "Honestly, if Mister Isaac and Miss Kendra can get us flying within the half-hour, I'd be glad to try and find another ship in system. It'd be better to do so, especially since the Ishimura's orbit is decaying. If they can't complete the repairs that soon however, we will need to land and try to save the ship ourselves; I won't let all those precious resources go to waste if we can help it."

"Agreed…" Mattox mumbled, his lip twitching up in a slight grin for a moment. Fan-Kathen grimaced in response. Something was wrong, and he got the feeling that they were going to dive into the middle of it.

Ethan opened the door carefully, sweeping the flashlight across the tram control room with a heavy sense of unease. He could clearly see the main tram computer in its case, seemingly untouched, as were the windows that gave a perfect view of the Tram station beyond. Tousa was behind him, lightsaber poised to slash anything that came at her in half. So far, they had seen another of the creatures in the hallway, but its path had been blocked by debris. Regardless, Tousa had smacked it around until its limbs began breaking, leaving it to die. While its obnoxious screams hadn't attracted any more unwelcome attention for the time being, both were on edge.

"Looks like this room's clear for now." Ethan sighed a bit, but remained tense. At the very least, he wouldn't be cutting anything up again in the immediate future. He moved in, still checking every corner with the light.

Tousa stepped in behind him, watching the door until it shut. She made note of several distinct features of the room. "Two wall vents. Not good, but at least we'll know where they're coming from. I'll watch them."

Ethan nodded as he looked out the windows, trying to see if anybody was there. He didn't see anybody on the other side, which made him worry. There weren't many areas that Kinsley and Jenessa could have gotten to aside from the Tram station, which left very few possibilities; most of which Ethan didn't want to consider. He almost jumped out of his skin when he heard a Pulse Gun firing and saw several wave of blood splash out from the Tram station's door. He dared hope that it was Kinsley taking down one of the beasts, and his hope was rewarded as he saw Kinsley and the thing he was fighting tumble onto the platform, Kinsley's gun pressed into its right shoulder. More rounds fired, somehow disconnecting one of its scythe arms as the other flailed about in a mad attempt to impale Kinsley. The creature's attempts were cut short when Jenessa also burst onto the scene, giving the other arm a good stomp to force it down. Another stomp later disconnected it, and a third crushed its head as Kinsley rolled away. Immediately he got up and pointed his rifle back at the door, then slowly lowered it to his side. Jenessa was visibly hyperventilating, her suit flexing with each breath.

Desperately, Ethan tried to get a shortwave com line open to them. When a sound-hologram popped up in his peripheral vision, he almost shouted to his companions. "Hey, Jenessa, Kinsley! Are you two okay?!"

"Ethan?" Kinsley looked over, across the tram line and into the control booth. "Ah, thank God you're alive man… What the f*** are these things? Are they the crew?"

"Don't … don't say that…" Jenessa's voice came over labored. She was obviously in shock, though she didn't appear to be injured in any visible way. "…These things… things…"

Even with her limited abilities, Tousa could sense the hysteria her friend was in. From across the bay, she called out to her. "Jenessa, calm down. It's me, Tousa. Listen to my voice. You are alright," she soothed, "and we're going to get out of here, all of us, together." She raised her free hand, gently using the Force to calm Jenessa as she slumped against the tram station wall. The engineer's breathing slowed as she continued to murmur comforting words, like a mother caressing her child. Again, to Ethan she seemed to be deeply caring, but Tousa herself couldn't decide the reason for her compassion.

Seeing that his partner was doing better now, Kinsley returned his attention to Ethan. "Alright, we need to get back to the shuttle, try and warn the others about this s*** before they try to park here. Is there anyway to remove the Quarantine?"

"Other than waiting those things out or going back and trying to kill them, no, not really." Ethan sighed heavily. Quarantines needed a command level access code to deactivate, which none of them had. And perhaps that was a good thing, as the quarantine might have blocked off any access the creatures had to the shuttle bay. A plan slowly formed in his head as he looked down at the tram control console. "We could try getting to the bridge, see what's going on there, but that'll take a minute. The tram is all the way at the other end of the ship, but it seems to be functional."

"Give it a call. In the mean time, I'll grab some ammo from the requisition store. Good thing I got a ton of credits from poker with…" Kinsley trailed off as he remembered what had happened to his fellow marines. Closing his eyes, he shook his head and walked over to the requisition center on the side of the station, its holographic 'Store' sign flickering a bit as it warmed up. "Nevermind. I just want to get the hell out of here."

As Kinsley punched in his order, Ethan set about calling the tram. It was good to get his attention off the situation with such a menial task, but just as he finished, he felt something behind him. He turned, only to see Tousa with her attention still on Jenessa and Kinsley, and the vent covers behind her spinning carelessly. "…Something's not right here."

"…What's up, Ethan?" Tousa asked, also turning her attention to the vents.

"I think there's something over there." He said, raising his Cutter. "In the ventilation shafts."

"S***…" Kinsley added as he grabbed several clips from the dispenser, attaching them to his belt. "How can you tell, man? These f***ers come from everywhere!"

"Call it a feeling." At those words, Tousa focused her eyes on the man beside her. Could he be Force sensitive? She couldn't tell, but it was certainly a possibility.

Ethan said as he took two steps toward the vent. He checked the charge on his Cutter, which was down to three, and hesitated. He only had two more plasma packs on him, which he had pilfered from the store room, but reloading his 'weapon' regardless seemed like a wise idea. He ejected the three shot cartridge and pocketed it, slipping in a full one and watching its charge counter race up to ten. A bit surer of himself, he took another step toward one of the vents and aimed his cutter for the circular fan embedded in it.

"Ethan, is that a f***ing Cutter?!" Jenessa almost shouted over the com. She was up again, staring across the gap and sounding incredibly disturbed by his tool.

Ethan didn't answer. Instead, he pulled the trigger when he felt the horrid feeling suddenly pulse, the plasma round tearing through the vent and causing something beyond it to shout in pain. Ethan scrambled back as whatever was behind the vent lashed out, smashing through the vent cover and racing toward him. Tousa stopped it cold with a Force push, which sent it toppling back into the vent shaft, the sound of its scythes trying to find a hold as it slid down echoing up the shaft. Another burst out from the other vent a moment later, earning it a cutter shot to the right leg as Ethan brought his Cutter to bear. With a sickening slicing sound, the creature lost its leg and fell to the ground screaming. Tousa closed in on it with vicious intent, slicing off one of its arms as the creature tried to use it as an improvised leg. It screamed incoherently again, sweeping at Tousa with its remaining arm and catching her in the leg. She started to topple, but turned the momentum into a back flip out of the creature's range. When she landed, she noticed a third and a fourth abomination climbing out of the vents. She managed to push one of them back into the vent, but the other took a flying leap at Ethan before she could react. His own reaction was surprisingly well timed, as he brought his Cutter up and fired just as it began to bring it's blades down. The beast jabbered madly as its held fell backward, the plasma shot having cut through most of the neck, leaving the head dangling by threads of flesh. The wound, as gruesome as it was, didn't kill it however, and it took a swipe at Ethan that would have returned the favor if he hadn't ducked.

"S***, we've got to do something!" Jenessa looked around, desperately looking for a way across.

"Like what?" Kinsley shouted incredulously. Their crewmate and friend were under attack; however there was no way across, and no opening to get into the room even if they could cross the chasm between them. "What the hell could you do, anyway?! You aren't even armed!"

That froze Jenessa in place. How was she supposed to fight anyway? Getting close to the creatures that were assaulting them was close to suicide… Then an idea struck. She ran to the store and jammed her credit slip into it, quickly surfing through the menu. All the while, the din of combat continued to sound dimly through the panes of Plexiglas. Tousa had finished off her first foe, having finished it off by disconnecting it's remaining arm, while Ethan had dismembered his own and was currently stomping a third into submission. One of the creatures Tousa had pushed into the vent shaft had managed to claw its way back up, and was looking out hungrily at her as it flopped out onto the deck. One of its arms was horribly mangled and bleeding profusely, probably from having it caught in something as it fell. As it struggled to stand, she noticed something was different about this particular creature; it was wearing the remains of a RIG.

"Oh God…" A sense of disgust and pity flowed through her, motivating her to strike before it could get a firm footing for attack. She lopped its arm and head off in a single swipe, rotating her body and bringing it low for a second fluid swing of her blade that disconnected its legs. The torso toppled to the floor, once again lifeless. The room was quite again for a long moment, and then Tousa turned to Ethan with venom in her voice. "These things… are definitely the crew of the Ishimura. Look, this one was wearing a RIG…"

Ethan moved to inspect the corpse, bile rising in his throat again. He knew he'd have to get used to this sort of thing if they remained aboard much longer, but this sort of thing was still highly unsettling to him. After looking it over, he could see for sure that it was indeed wearing a RIG. "Oh, f*** me… There were over a thousand people onboard this ship, not including kids and infants. What the hell happened to these guys?!"

"I don't know… and honestly I'd rather not know what could do this to a human body." She felt the urge to vomit rising up again, but she suppressed it. Her training wouldn't allow for such a disgraceful showing, though a part of her knew that at the moment dignity was the least of her worries.

"Wait, what's going on over there?! Are you sure it's the crew?" Kinsley asked with obvious concern in his voice. If there had been that many people aboard the ship, and they had all been turned into these creatures, the odds were against them by a landslide in his estimation. "What the f*** man. This is way over our heads. We got to get the f*** out of here before these things kill us!"

Ethan shook his head fiercely as he pulled the torso closer to him and away from the vent. "Kinsley, calm down, you idiot. Panicking won't solve anything!"

The marine almost launched into a series of insults, but stopped short. His head felt fuzzy now, from the adrenaline he figured. "You're right… sorry. This s*** is getting to me though."

"You aren't the only one, Kinsley." Jenessa too was feeling a bit under the weather again. She wasn't panicking though, as now she had ideas to work with. She smiled as best she could when the store produced four small items and a large square device. "Still, I think I just increased our odds substantially."

"What's up, Jenessa?" Tousa asked as she watched Ethan mess with the corpse's RIG interface. It seemed he was quickly adapting to the horror of the ship, which was a double edged sword.

"Just get down. This is going to be loud and extremely dangerous if you're upright."

"What?!" Tousa turned, and saw that her friend was holding a large box that suddenly flipped open to reveal a large plasma array of some sort. Eyes wide, she ducked. "What the hell are you trying to do, Jenessa?"

"Break a few windows, of course." She pulled the Line gun's trigger, sending a wide wave of plasma into two of the windows and completely blowing them apart with the force of the attack. The gun closed up as she lowered it, setting it on the ground. "Sorry about that Tousa, didn't mean to freak you out!"

"A little hard to avoid that when I don't know what you're doing…" Standing up hesitantly, the Jedi Padawan looked to the windows with a mix of curiosity and worry.

Ethan too had been rattled by the sudden noise and Plexiglas explosion. "So what the hell was that all about, Jenessa?"

"Let me just say it's a good thing they keep the ships inventory system completely connected, so we can order anything from anywhere. Ethan, I snagged you a Kinesis and Stasis Module, as well as a pair for myself!" She lifted the two items via her own Kinesis, shooting the modules through the now open windows.

They clattered on the metal decks, bouncing off the wall and rolling to Tousa's feet. She picked them up gingerly, turning them over in her free hand. "Just what are these supposed to do?"

Ethan stood to retrieve them from her, but his hand slipped inside of the chest mounted RIG display and accidentally triggered the suits audio logs. A secondary audio transmission popped up in each of their helmets, a voice reaching out to them from the deceased crewman's RIG. Tousa and Ethan both jumped when the recording started. "This is Leon, Benson got hit by one of those things when it came out of the vents. Poor bastard didn't stand a chance. Everybody, watch the vents and use anything you can to cut these things up… It doesn't matter what you use, just kill them before they kill you! Head and body shots are useless, so don't waste ammo. We're going to get to the damn flight deck even if it …Frank, what are you doing with that Ripper? Frank? Frank?!"

The sound of a saw blade meeting flesh filled the air, along with various cries for help. One scream in particular caught Ethan's attention though. "F***ing crazy Unitologist!" seemed to be one man's mantra as the recording continued, until it finally, mercifully stopped.

"… We are so f***ed." Kinsley whispered hoarsely.

Ethan was shaking slightly. He took the modules from Tousa without a word and began installing them in his RIG. People had died. People were probably still dying, and probably would die in short order. He had to keep a cool head if he wanted to keep it at all, but it wasn't easy after discovering a friend of yours was dead. 'Leon… goddamnit. Two years in the academy together, and now this?'

And a part of him realized that he had probably just dismembered his friend's corpse. That little part didn't share its knowledge with the rest of his brain for the moment, instead focusing on the sound of a tram rapidly approaching, and the Ishimura's computer announcing that the Quarantine had been lifted. The first two bits of good news the group had heard since they arrived.