A space chase.

There was a rumble that jostled me back into consciousness. I looked around to find myself back in the cell, but joined by Jenny, Lieutenants Bethan and Barberi. They were coming around as well. I pulled myself up and looked out the window to the hallway. Jaquon was nowhere to be seen. There was another rumble as the ship shook.

"Where are we?" Jenny asked as she sat up, rubbing her head.

"In a cell," I explained. "Jaquon was keeping me in here earlier..."

"Feels like we're already off planet," Bethan surmised, "And in the middle of a battle."

"Then hopefully the Ishtar got my message," I said with a little pride.

"And Jaquon should be having some troubles after I sabotaged his engines," Jenny added.

"When did you do that?" I asked.

"After you sent that SOS... I explained it in my response message."

"Uh.. yeah..."

Barberi came to by now a another shot rocked the ship. I went over to see if she was alright, realizing that I was the only one naked in the room. I sucked down my modesty and helped Ellie up. She smiled and was able to stand on her own.

"Let's assess the situation," Bethan ordered, being the senior officer. "What do we have on hand and what kind of room is this?"

"I've searched all over, but the walls seem impenetrable," I surmised. "I did notice the floor is weaker, that was how I was able to send the message down to the engine room."

"If the floor leads to the engine room, we could shut them down directly if we can find a way through," Barberi suggested. "Or we could try to get through this door..."

"Looks like Jaquon confiscated our weapons," Jenny noted as she checked her person. "I do have my spare micro toolkit on me. Guess he was in a rush to put us away so he didn't search us thoroughly."

"No doubt the Ishtar came on to him quickly. That's good news. They're also on the chase, so if we can stop or even slow down his ship, they'll be able to take it from there," Bethan concluded. "I checked the specs on this ship, it's maneuverable and capable of warp 8, and it has a cloaking system. If Jaquon manages to get that system online, we're lost."

"Then we'd better move fast," Jenny chimed in. "I took a quick look at that system and it only needed minor repairs."

Jenny laid out her tools, among them was a plasma welder. It was small, but capable of cutting through several centimeters of metal.

"We could use this to cut the floor and access the engine room," Bethan said.

"Wait," Barberi said. We all stood silently. "The attack has stopped. He's got the cloak on."

"We need to hurry. LaSalle and I will go down to the engine room, meanwhile, Barberi and Trask, you two use the tools to open the door and try to stop Jaquon from the bridge."