Standing in the middle of the clear plasticsteel dome Denise felt as if she was standing in the middle of space. The loneliness she felt almost overwhelmed her as she fell to her knees. She could not believe the whole flight crew was dead, what was she going to do? She had not realized how much Chris had meant to her, but now it was to late he was gone. How was she going to get all these people to safety, she did not think she could do it? Should she even try or were they all going to die anyway? Then she remembered how Chris had looked at life, he had been a fighter and would be disappointed if she did not at least give it her best try. She had not been trained for emergencies like this but as a security chief of the ship, she would be expected to take control until a ranking officer was found. She took a deep breath and calmed herself, this helped her to formulate a plan. She thought, 'Captain dead, Second Officer dead, that would make the Chief Engineer in command.' She had to get to Engineering as quickly as possible now, because it could be the answer to the ship's salvation.

She left the observation dome and ran in the direction of Engineering. Getting to the Engineering floor she found her way was blocked by a closed door. This was not an emergency bulkhead door, so if she could get it open she probably would not be walking into a vacuum. She ripped open the door access panel and found the door had been shorted out and all the wiring was fried. Looking at it she thought, 'It must have taken a great deal of power to do this.' She pulled on the manual control to open the door, but it would not move. Looking at it she could see that it looked like it might have been melted. 'Oh now what am I going to do?' she thought. Looking closely at it she found that there was only a small section that might have been melted. She was getting frustrated and so she pulled out her gun and shot the area then looked like it was seized. The Tauri 9 Impact Pistol hit its target right on the mark, but she could not be sure if she had loosened the bond or not. Trying the pull the manual door release again, and this time it moved and she heard the lock of the door open. It was still closed, and she tried to get a grip on the door to pull it open. This was a futile effort because the door was of smooth metal. Leaning up against the wall she slid down it getting more and more frustrated, and almost sat on her emergence kit. She pushed it out of the way and then pulled it closer and opened it up. There was nothing that was specifically designed to open doors, but she did see a pair of magnetic boots for Zero-g work. If she put the boots on the door and turned them up to full they may hold enough for her to pull the door open. She tried her idea with just one boot first, but it did not hold. Then she put both boots on the door and grabbed each one. Pulling with all her might, the door slowly slides open. Now she figured she had a clear route to Engineering.

Running down the hall she could feel the comforting vibration of the Mass Reactor power plant and the Star Drive. She got to the door of Engineering and saw it give off a weird electrical discharge. She put on her security gauntlet and checked the door out. There was some kind of electrical field around the door, but she could not find out where it was from, it was not a feature of the ship. She reached back into her emergency kit and got to rubber gloves out of the Trauma Pack. Then she went to a panel on the wall and pulled out some conductive wire. With the rubber gloves on she touched the wire to the door and shorted it out into the floor. Denise saw the sparks at the floor and felt the power running through the wire. When she could no longer feel the electrical flow though the wire, she threw it away and went through the motion of opening the door. This door opened much easier and she was finally in Engineering.

She breathed a si of relief, until she noticed there was no one there. Walking in, there were sparks and residual patterns of electricity everywhere. Denise did not understand there didn't seem to be any damage and the atmosphere was still in tack, so where was everyone. She noticed the fine blond hair on her arms and the back of her neck were standing on end. 'What is going on?' she thought. As she was thinking, she had been moving closer to the engine compartment. Entering she saw a man lying on the floor. Looking around she saw more bodies. The bodies seemed to be the engineering crew and she ran to the closest one and found he was dead. It was not the Chief so she frantically searched the other bodies. It was not until about the tenth body that she found the Chief, dead like all the rest. Taking a deep breath, the realization came to her that she was now officially in charge. She walked around Engineering to see if anything was wrong. Though the only way she would know was if a warning light or an alarm sounded. Engines and Power systems had never interested Denise, maybe because she had never really understood them. Everything looked all-right but she would have to get someone down here who knew more than she did. So now she should head back up to the dinning hall and see what kind of resources she had to work with.

As she walked out, she thought she should call Christine and let her know what is going on. Hitting her button for speaking, she said,

"Christine, where are you?"

"I am back in Sickbay," She paused for a second the asked, "You left Pogo in charge in the dinning hall?"

"Yes Why, was there a problem when you were there?"

"No Everything was running remarkably smooth. It was just an interesting choose. He has done an excellent job. He has light, heat and the passengers were just about to sit down to start dinner again."

"Interesting, I thought he would be a good chose. So what are you doing?"

"My walking wounded are going to the dinning hall with my nurse. While I am staying in Sickbay with the more serious cases. By the way we will be getting any help?"