Notes: A quick reply to Neoseether's comment about the ship's name. The name EAS Titans came up in a short story published some time after I wrote Reunion. I considered changing it when I began updating this story, but I didn't like the name Titans, mainly because it doesn't really match the dark wizard theme that the name Warlock suggests, but also because at least two of the Greek titans have been used previously for ship names (Hyperion and Hectare).

Chapter 3

Susan rubbed the bridge of her nose wearily, thankful that Admiral Kiernan appeared to be ready to leave and he was taking the reporters with him. It had been a tiring two hours as she had sat through another round of speeches that the Admiral had insisted on giving, before finally being dragged up in front of the assembled crew and reporters and asked to give a speech welcoming them all on board. Still it could have been worse. At least her new crew seemed to accept her words of welcome.

She had kept her speech short as possible, always aware of the ISN recorders swarming above her, probably relaying every word to the interstellar news network's vast human and alien audience. Still they were leaving now, already the ISN crew had packed away their recorders and now they were dismantling the heavy monitors and other equipment they had been allowed to being aboard. Soon they would be gone and she could get on with running her ship the way she wanted, and that would mean no more interviews, in fact no more reporters full stop.

Susan wanted to get out of here now, and up on to the bridge where she would be in her element. Commanding a starship had long been her dream job, and her experience running C&C on Babylon 5 had only heightened that desire. Now she had her chance, and she wanted to make the most of it, as long as she could make it through this day. She had not slept well last night at all, the nightmares that had been her constant companions ever since Marcus had died had made her sleep restless and left her tired and grumpy in the morning. Now after an entire morning of speeches by Admiral Kiernan, and questions for the ISN reporters she felt exhausted, and it was not even midday yet.

Susan became aware of someone approaching her, and turned to greet the Admiral as he walked up in the company of Commander Petrov, and the rest of her command staff. "Captain," Kiernan said warmly, gabbing her hand and shaking it vigorously. "Congratulations again on your new command, you must be very pleased."

"Yes I am Admiral," Susan answered, managing to disengage her hand from Kiernan's clutches. "It is a fine ship and I look forward to serving in her."

"Good, good. I trust Philip showed you the bridge and the rest of the ship as I asked."

Susan nodded, "yes he did Admiral, I was most impressed. Some of the new upgrades in the bridge are better than anything I could have hoped for."

Admiral Kiernan nodded and then took Susan by the arm, guiding her away from the rest of the group so they might speak in private. "Yes they are Captain, but that is not what makes a good ship. Just to warn you, there are likely to still be some problems to iron out, which is why I'm sending Kozlowski with you. I'm afraid that Earth Central has really been pushing us to get the Warlock class ready for action, and although I understand their reasons, I would have preferred at least another month or two to run some more tests on some of the more advanced upgrades. This is one of the reasons why I was so pleased when Earthforce finally agreed to let you command the Rasputin, we need someone experienced with new technology in command."

Susan looked a little concerned as the Admiral spoke, but he quickly moved to reassure her. "That's not to mean that anything is likely to go wrong. We have tested everything as fully as we can, but you do remember what happened to the first of the Omega class. Of course, we have learned a lot since then, but despite all the testing, we can never hope to fully emulate battle conditions."

"I certainly hope so Admiral, I wouldn't want the reactors to fail the first time I went into hyperspace like they did on the Omega."

"Yes a sad end to a ship that was," Kiernan said. "A real pity, but the later Omega class destroyers have been the mainstay of Earthforce for more than a decade, so it was hardly a failure." The Admiral turned and smiled at her, "but of course, with Earthforce's finest captain in charge we shouldn't have too many problems."

Susan blushed slightly at his praise. "I would hardly consider myself the best Captain in the fleet. The newest perhaps, but not the best."

Kiernan snorted. "Nonsense Susan, you don't think Earthforce would give you this ship if they didn't think you were up to the job. Despite your recent activities, they are still very impressed with you. If you work within the rules this time, I can see you rising high in the ranks. You are still young, a lot younger than most of the fleet captains and you have a very good future ahead if you play your cards right."

"I will do my best Admiral," Susan said, pleased with the praise he had given her.

"You do that Captain. Anyway, I had best get back my shuttle. I don't want to be late for lunch now do I." Kiernan smiled at her, and grasped her hand once more, in a gesture of friendship and congratulations. "Now you take care of yourself Captain, and try to keep this ship in one piece. She is the only one in the fleet, and I would hate to see anything happen to her, or her captain, especially as the senate is about to discuss changes to our budget."

Susan nodded, and with a final squeeze of her hand the Admiral pulled away and saluted her sharply, a gesture she returned in kind. Then with a nod towards her command staff, he strode across the shuttle deck and boarded his personal shuttle. Before he entered, though he paused and looked back at the gathered crewmembers for a moment before saluting them all and entering his shuttle.

With its final passenger on board, the shuttle's doors were closed, and crew from the Rasputin dragged away the ladder that had been used by the shuttle. From the roof, huge magnetic clamps dropped onto the corners of the shuttle and dragged it smoothly off the deck and across the shuttle bay to the massive airlocks that led out into space. Susan could see the shuttle pilot waving jauntily at them from the cockpit, but resisted the compulsion to wave back, instead standing calmly next to her command staff as the shuttle was loaded into the airlock.

Then as the large pressure doors slid shut with only the faintest whisper of noise she turned back to her staff. In a weary voice she said, "well that is finally over. Lt-Commander's Dreyer and Schmitt, perhaps you would like to dismiss the crew and we can get this ship under way."

The two officers quickly saluted her and went to speak to the crew who had been gathered in the shuttle bay to listen to the Admiral's speeches. As the crew began to slowly drift back towards their duty stations in small groups, Susan realised just how different this posting was going to be compared to Babylon 5. Back on the station she had had five thousand Earthforce personal and many more civilians under her command, and here on the Rasputin she currently only had a small skeleton crew of just under three hundred, all that were deemed necessary for the short flight to Mars. That number would rise once they reached Mars, but even at full strength, the Rasputin's crew would be tiny compared to Babylon 5. As she waited for her two senior officers to return, she wondered how she would adapt.

Most of the crew were gone now, taking the lifts and stairs up or down to their various stations. Only the few crewmembers needed to clear the shuttle bay, and move the Rasputin's second shuttle back into position remained. The large Phoenix class shuttle had been moved earlier to allow the Admiral's smaller shuttle to come aboard and now they need to move it back so it would be in position to be used once they arrived at Mars. As the crew busied themselves with this task, Alister Schmitt and Vincent Dreyer returned to join to the Captain.

"Captain," Alister asked before Susan could speak. "I was wondering if you would allow us both some time to familiarise ourselves with our sections. While we've been aboard longer than you, neither of us have had much of a chance to look over our systems yet, and we need to be familiar with them if we are going to be ready when the rest of the crew comes on board. You don't really need us up on the bridge do you?"

Susan looked over at Commander Petrov who shook his head at her before saying, "I don't see why not Captain."

"Very well then," Susan said as she turned back to face to other two officers. "Take as much time as you need. I don't think I will need you for a while. Just try not to break anything or you will be getting the bill."

They thanked her and hustled off towards the freight lift at the other end of the shuttle bay. The larger lift was designed to move crates of spare parts and even entire Starfuries from the shuttle deck to the repair bay below the flight deck, and was a much more direct route than the lifts near where Susan and Petrov were standing.

Susan looked around her, and noticed that the rest of other command staff appeared to have vanished as well. She could see Philip Moore off in the distance, chatting with the crew about to move the shuttle, but there was no sign of either Amanda Taylor or Dr Kozlowski, in fact she realised that the scientist had been missing for some time, although she hadn't noticed his absence until now.

"Anything you need me to do Captain," her executive officer asked.

Susan frowned as she thought for a moment before responding. "Not really Commander, but I would like you to check that the repairs to the artificial gravity system are complete. I know everything was supposed to be finished up last night, I would prefer if I had confirmation. I will go up to the bridge and see if I can't sort out how to start the engines. You can join me before we depart."

"Ok Captain," Petrov agreed. "I will meet you on the bridge later then. I will bring up the crew lists as well, you might want to take a look at them."

"Good Idea Commander," Susan said as she pressed the button to summon the lift. "I should get some free time before we get to Mars to have a quick look over them."

The lift doors slid open and after a quick exchange of salutes with her executive officer, Susan backed into the lift and quickly informed the computer of the required level.

As the lift doors closed, Susan suddenly became aware of Dr Nathan Kozlowski sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of an open panel close to the floor of the lift. She couldn't see what he was doing from where she was standing, but noticed that he appeared to be working on some sort of control mechanism, with the slight glow of a fibrous power cable visible through the open panel. Before she could ask him what he was doing the lift began moving upward, but she quickly realised that something was terribly wrong. The lift was making a lot of noise as it moved, and there was a faint scraping sound of metal on metal.

Then the lift jerked violently and with the hideous sound of screeching metal came to a sudden and violent stop, throwing Susan and Kozlowski to the floor. As she picked herself up Susan felt fear rising inside her, and the colour began to drain from her face. She knew that the modern lift systems did not have any cables holding them up, rather they relied on magnetic levitation, and if that failed then only the emergency braking systems could stop them from falling to a rather messy death at the bottom of the lift shaft.

Bracing herself carefully against the panelled wall, she looked towards Kozlowski and the open wall panel where he had been working. The doctor had also climbed back to his feet and was now poking around inside the panel once more, muttering to himself as he worked. "What did you do Doctor," Susan managed to ask; amazed that he could be so calm when the lift could fall at any time. She soon felt her anger rising as she began to realise that the lift seemed stable for now and that Dr Kozlowski had been responsible for the problem, whatever it was.

Kozlowski didn't even look up at her words, and did not seem to notice either the fear or accusation in her voice. "Hmm, won't be a minute Captain. I am just adjusting the speed a little. When I was in the lift this morning it was very slow, so I though it needed a little adjusting. Nothing to worry about, I will be finished in a moment or two."

Susan slowly pulled herself away from the wall, breathing a little calmer now. Her eyes bored holes into the white-coated back of the scientist, now more annoyed than worried. "Well do you think you can do it later," she asked, her voice betraying her annoyance. "I don't want to be stuck here, I need to get to the bridge. I do have a ship have a ship to run after all."

"Won't be a minute Captain," the doctor muttered as he carefully inserted a thin metal rod into the open panel and began to lever at something hidden from Susan's eyes. "I just have to remove the safety protocols and make some minor adjustments."

"What?" Susan yelled at him as she reached out to try to stop Kozlowski before he did anything dangerous. She was too late though and the lift jerked again. Then she felt herself almost lifted off the floor towards the ceiling as the lift threw itself towards the bottom of the shaft at a speed it was never meant to reach.

'I am going to die,' Susan thought, or she would have thought if she had taken the time to think. She didn't even have time to scream though as the lift came to another sudden halt and she fell solidly against the floor. She landed with a painful thud on the metal floor, before rolling into a corner with pain shooting through her leg, and a throbbing headache. As she lay on the floor she realised that the emergency braking system must have activated and as full awareness returned she could smell the acrid taint of burnt metal and plastic coming in from outside the lift car.

Her leg still felt painful, but the sharp pains she had felt at first were already beginning to fade so she hoped she had escaped major injury. She rolled over onto her back and began to feel along her leg to see if she could discover anything broken. Finding nothing, she pulled herself up so her back was resting against the wall and looked across to where she had last seen Kozlowski.

He was sitting where he had been when she first entered the lift and despite the spots of blood she could see on the floor, he did not seem that perturbed by what had happened and continued with his work. As he worked, she could hear him muttering, "that was a little too quick I think. Now if I just make a minor adjustment it should be fine."

Before Susan could get up and strangle him though the doors opened from the outside and a concerned looking Commander Petrov rushed into the lift, followed by two of her crew. Seeing his Captain lying on the floor he rushed to her side and helped her up to her feet. She accepted his help, but winced slightly as she put weight on her injured leg. It was the same leg she had injured once before but fortunately it did not seem too bad and after testing it a couple of times found she could walk, although she might have a slight limp for a day or two.

Resting with her arm around the Commander's shoulders Susan suddenly noticed that Kozlowski was still working in the open control panel and with a strangled gasp she threw off Petrov's support and ran to drag the scientist away before he could cause any more trouble. Grabbing him by the collar, she dragged him bodily out of the lift and threw him out into the shuttle bay, right into the arms of a rather surprised Phillip Moore who was just arriving to see what the fuss was.

One look at the still furious Captain he quickly pushed the startled doctor behind him. "Um I am not sure killing him would be a good idea Captain," he said calmly. "We still need him."

Susan closed her eyes for a minute to recover her composure before responding. "No probably not. But if I ever catch him messing with the lift with me in it again I will toss him into an airlock and open the outer doors personally. Get someone who knows what they are doing to fix it, I am going to take the stairs."

"I will look after it personally Captain," the chief engineer said as Susan stormed off, her anger driving away any pain that she was feeling. Commander Petrov stepped carefully out of the lift, noticing the burning smell that seemed to be hanging around it, and decided he didn't really want to be standing in a lift car that could easily continue its fall if the brakes broke away.

The doctor pulled himself to his feet, brushed off his white coat and flatted out what hair he had left. A little confused he looked somewhat embarrassed by what had happened. "I don't understand what happened. It should have been fine. Still no-one was injured and the emergency braking system worked fine."

Philip shook his head in amazement. "I am not sure the Captain would agree Nathan. I don't think nearly killing her is going to make her like you very much at all."

Kozlowski shook his head, not really understanding what the Captain's concern was. "But what was she doing in the lift. She started it up when I was trying to work on it. Fortunately, I was able to stop it in time; otherwise, we could have both been killed. I was only trying to improve the lift, as I told you yesterday they are not working as well as they could."

"I will get someone to look at it Nathan," Philip sighed. He passed a critical eye over the scientist and noticed that he was bleeding profusely from his nose, which was probably broken. "Why don't you go down to Medlab and get the doc to patch up that nose of yours. We can't have you leaking blood all over the place; it might cause a short circuit in one of the systems. Then when she fixes you can up head down to engineering and help Lieutenant Eades with the tests on the reactors. We are about to leave for earth so you might want to keep an eye on the power levels, I noticed some fluxuations a couple of days ago that might need investigating."

Kozlowski's nodded slowly, feeling his face and finding blood flowing down from his nose. He carefully wiped it away with a rag he dragged out of a pocket. Then to the amazement of the two officers he went back into the lift and began to work on the control panel again. Taking only a few seconds to finish what he had started he picked up his tools he put them away carefully in a leather pouch, which he slipped into his pants pocket. Then with that done he closed up the panel and said with an air of confidence, "Lift, deck 5."

To the surprise of Petrov and Philip, the door closed and the lift rose smoothly upwards towards the main deck. Only the now faint smell of burnt plastic and melted metal remained to show that anything had happened at all. Philip wasn't going to take any chances though so tapped his link and spoke to the ship's main computer, ordering it to shut down lift one until further notice.

"Is he usually like that," Petrov asked, more than a little concerned about the narrow escape Captain Ivanova had just had. "I don't think the Captain sounded very happy at all, and I don't really blame her."

Philip sighed helplessly, "I am afraid so. Kozlowski usually doesn't leave the research station much. He has been there for nearly six years now, most of that time working on the Warlock destroyers. He was always replacing and altering things as he notices problems, without informing anyone. I will have to talk with him and tell him that he can't do that on an operational warship, or that the very least inform the central computer what he is going to be working on."

"That might be best Lt-Commander," Petrov said, eyeing the now closed lift doors with some suspicion. "Send someone from maintenance to do a complete check on this lift as well. I don't know what he did, but I want to make sure it is fixed before anyone else uses it."

Philip nodded in agreement, realising that the precaution was probably necessary, despite the fact that the doctor had likely done a perfect job on the repairs as usual. He quickly turned to the small group of crew members that gathered around to see what was happening and ordered them to get together a repair crew to check out the entire lift system.

"That should keep them busy for a while," Petrov said. "Well shall we get up to deck 8. The captain asked me to check and make sure the repairs that were done there last night were complete."

Philip nodded his agreement and the two officers headed towards the stairs on the far side of the shuttle hanger, both still not willing to trust the lifts.