Rett walked up to the med-bay doors and they slid open with the slightest hiss. The stark white of the wide room was a sharp contrast to the grey in the rest of the station.
Within was a large transparent tube of bacta, always ready incase of injury and in a corner to the right was a deactivated medical droid. The room was pristine and quiet as if no one had ever been here which Rett supposed made sense since there had been few injuries on the station.
"Doctor! We need you on standby!" Rett cried "Where the hell is she...?" He muttered to himself.
Doctor Vaz'ezali'cittig or Zali as she was more well known was the stations only doctor and was well known amongst the skeleton crew for being Chiss. Not even Vale who had visited planets Rett couldn't even name had never heard of the Chiss before Zali's arrival.
None of crew aboard the Sentinel had even seen her. She had personally been asked to be transferred here for reasons unknown but the skeleton crew had speculated it had something to do with the research taking place in the ravine.
Rett thought she was stunning. Her raven black hair and scarlet eyes. He had not "made moves" on her and he doubted he ever would since he wanted to make sure that their relationship was purely professional. It was far easier that way.
Rett shook his head, his mind wandered far too often. He quickly strode to the entrance to Zali's quarters smacking his palm against the door.
"Doctor! You may be needed in the near future, if you aren't ready now please be ready then." He said loudly. Suddenly, the doors hissed open.
"I'm always ready, Rett. I just prefer to use my time wisely." She said breezing past him, her hair flowing over her shoulders. She walked to the nearby Medical droid and activated it before heading to a nearby by cabinet removing bandages and painkillers.
Rett watched on she worked, unsure of what to say. Being around her made him... uncomfortable. He was always in two minds about her. Her deep red eyes unsettled him greatly if he stared for too long and she carried herself with confidence. After some brief research on the Chiss he had discovered they were a very proud species.
As she prepared equipment around the room she asked "What is the situation Admiral?"
"We've lost comms with a shuttle out in the storm, worst case scenario is the shuttle goes down..." He trailed off, if the shuttle went down in that storm who knows if they would even be able to find them. "It contains supplies essential to the Empire if it goes down we could be in a lot of trouble."
She looked over at him sharply. "You lost that shuttle out there?!" She practically hissed him.
Rett stared at her shocked at this sudden outburst from from the usually calm and collected woman. "It... It was a completely unforeseen circumstance, there was nothing any of us could do."
Zali rushed past him back into her room and before Rett could ask she rushed back out again with something in her hands.
"Zali, where are you going?!" He cried after her before following her out. He pulled his wrist up activating his comm-link once again. "Vale, what the kriff is going on?! Have you found the shuttle?!"
"Something's not right, Admiral. It says they're well within communication range but there's nothing but static. I don't have an exact location but they're definitely getting closer." She said quickly.
"Keep trying to get through, we need to know their status ASAP! And get the security team ready, if this ends up being a crash instead of a landing we need everyone to help or people could die." He said, still rushing after Zali who strode ahead, continuously going up floor after floor. After the elevators had malfunctioned the the long range communications had been prioritised instead of a faster way up and down in the station.
"I'll call you back Vale, I think me and the good Doctor are about to make a quick trip outside, tell me if you get some new information." He quickly ended the call just as he caught up with the Doctor who was just entering the access codes for the top floors roof exit.
"Doctor, I really don't think this is a good idea, the conditions are terrible outside. Why are we even leaving?" He asked the door slid open and any answer he received was blasted away by the wind and rain.
It came down in torrents, lashing against his face. Through squinted eyes he could see the Doctor leaving, her hand covering her face and in the distance lighting before the rumbling clap of thunder followed.
He pushed through the wind after her, half blinded by the force of storm. He reached her once again and she stood with the object he now recognised as a pair of macrobinoculars. She scanned left and right, her face in a grimace.
He shouted to her so that she could hear him over the wind "You won't find anything, the storm is too bad!"
He couldn't if she simply didn't hear him or had ignored him but she continued to scan nonetheless. Whatever was on that shuttle must have been very important for her to brave this weather.
Rett turned his back to the storm and realised his comm-link was blinking rapidly. He activated it and pressed it to his ear. "-oming in hot Admiral! It's far too fast, they must have lost control! Admiral, do you copy?! The shuttle is going to hit us!"
It was as if time slowed to a crawl. The Admiral lowered his wrist from his ear and turned, starting to sprint towards Zali. But he was far too late.
The Doctor had turned and was looking off to the left. Perhaps believing the shuttle had gone off course and could not see the massive ship, one of its four wings burning, heading directly at them far faster than could be recovered from for a safe landing.
The last Rett remembered before being flung from his feet was the shuttle smashing directly into the side of the station.