Stardate 52013.5

	Elea lay on a diagnostics table in a room just off of Main engineering. She knew
nothing, just laying there perfectly still. Her eyes staring at the ceiling, and a look of
semi-surprise frozen on her face. Various pieces of equipment sat around, and over, her
still form. Some beeping slowly, others beeping urgently. Two tubes ran from her open
abdominal cavity to a small box near her side, a dark reddish fluid moved slowly through
it. Lieutenant Commander Syxx withdrew his hands from her innards, and wiped them off
on a cloth one of his assistants offered. He looked tired, and worn.
	"Syxx to Captain Mason", he said after leaning against the wall to push the
intercom button.
	"Mason here, report Lieutenant", curt and blunt, the Captain was unhappy.
	Syxx glanced over at Elea's form, "We've managed to stabilize her. Its a good
thing too, whatever happened stopped her nutrient fluid pump. We've managed to rig up
an external one to keep her brain alive...but...", he sighed.
	"Lieutenant, but what?", the frown was almost audible.
	"Well sir, I can't find anything mechanically wrong. Besides the fact her systems
are locked, I'd say she should be doing cartwheels down the halls right now. It seems the
neural interface isn't working, and her body's automatic systems are off-line also. Its like
the software just crashed, and I have no idea how to reinitialize it."
	There was a pause on the intercom, "Very well Mr. Syxx, do what....", the signal
faded to static.
	Syxx arched an eyebrow, "Sir?", he hit the intercom button again, "Bridge?"
	Static.
	"What in the bloody hell’s is going on?"
	In response, the lights in engineering began to flicker ominously. Alarms sounded
from the other rooms. Syxx cursed and grabbed his assistants. They rushed from the room
into chaos. The Warp core was still active, but consoles were flashing on and off
intermittently, the lighting flickered and alarms howled. Syxx stepped into the center of
the room.
	"Report!", he bellowed, his voice echoing over the noise.
	An ensign rushed up, "Weapons and Shields just went off-line sir! All decks below
10 are reporting power brownouts!"
	Syxx punched up a display, and frowned as he watched the schematics start
turning red. 
	"Damnation, its in the device drivers! Disconnect all essential systems from the
computer, engage auxiliary power! If it doesn't have a backup control system, do it
manually! I want to know the extent of what we are dealing with, give priority to engines
and life support. Someone get me a working line to the bridge!", the ensign saluted and
scurried off. 
	All over engineering, people began ripping access covers off. Isolinear chips were
yanked and rearranged, disconnecting all unaffected systems from the ships computer, and
each other. The weapons and shield systems were mostly ignored, since the engineers
were more concerned with stabilizing than repairing at the current time.


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	She knew they had left. As soon as the lights started to flicker she had excepted
them too. It was maddening, for the last few hours she had been staring at the exact same
ceiling panel, and was totally unable to do anything about it. She could hear and see still,
and feel the engineering team's hands on her skin. But she couldn't do anything about it,
couldn't let them know she was still conscious. 
	She hadn't been when they first got her there, she had been technically dead, her
brain starved for oxygen. It had been horrible, she knew what was happening, but couldn't
make her nutrient pump work, the world had slowly faded to black. She shuddered
mentally, and started crying mentally too. Yet her body remained frozen and unmoving,
except for a single tear that tracked down her cheek. 
	At first, she had excepted them to know how to fix her. But now, after
overhearing Lieutenant Commander Syxx talking to the Captain, she wasn't so sure. They
had no idea how to repair her, and she couldn't tell them. All she could do was lay there
and stare at the ceiling, hoping against all odds that someone could help her, and that they
wouldn't just pull the plug...