[snip]

Caelian frowned and closed his eyes, his mind racing along the corridors and byways of the Ark Angel. His eyelids twitched with each twist and turn as he did the math. Jackson had the furthest ground to cover—as did her team—but the woman could hustle when she put her mind to it. Once L’Nel was in place with his team, assembly would take less than fifteen minutes. Assuming he could get the captain behind him, and praying that nothing went wrong, his best estimate for readiness was…

“Twenty-six minutes,” he replied. “Thirty-one if our systems can hold the projected average charge.”

Twenty-six minutes. Nearly half-an-hour. It’ll have to be enough. She nodded.

Snapping his fingers, the engineer tapped his comm badge. =^=Weir to Bridge. Captain, it seems there are protoforms entering the end-stage of their existence not far from our current position. I’ve got my team started on the modifications, but without knowing exactly how long we have until this event I’d like to request additional hands. With everyone’s help, we could be ready to scoop up the energy we need and be on our way within a half-hour.=^=

“V’alura,” he smiled as he strode past the woman on the way to the holodeck door, “I’m headed to Engineering. Once we’ve got the go-ahead, I’ll keep the line open. Things here are in capable hands. Good luck, to us all!”
—Caelian Weir, Engineer—

=/\= Get who you need Ensign, if though you don’t think you can secure this in time we do got the Slipstream drive at the ready too =/\= Andone said

Drudoc Andone CO

V’alura paused in her work to salute Caelin and offer one last encouraging smile before he slipped out of the holodeck. She looked to Minifayth and offered the young lifeform another smile, one that did not quite reach her eyes. “I won’t lie to you, I’m scared silly right now, but that’s all the more motivation to get this right.” She asked the computer to create a chair next to her that is suitable for Minifayth’s size. “The thing to remember when scared is that I’m not alone. And now, neither are you. Together we’ll forge ahead.”

She stepped back from her console to breathe in, then out, through her nose. She repeated the motion one more time, and muttered an old Vulcan meditation mantra taught to her years ago. “As they say in the entertainment business, the show must go on.” V’alura stepped back to her console and alternated between ironing out her program, various calculations and monitoring her many screens. The programing was easy, she wrote her PhD. thesis on starship automation after all. The calculations less so. She did all she could, estimating the limits of the systems involved and in turn plugging that into her program.

She worked straight until the very last second, then turned her gaze to the terminal screens before her. “Alright, little one. The moment you or I feel like everything’s going to hell in a handbasket we pull the plug and activate the failsafe.”

Ensign Belmont (Science)

As things were as ready here as they were going to be, MiniFayth took her spot on the minichair nodding a bit. She looked back at the readings. “..I do not know for certain but I believe the second of the three is the first to begin going into death and rebirth.” She said. “..We got less then ten of your minutes left.”

GM CockRoach

As if the protoform’s words were somehow prophetic, an alert chimed on V’alura’s console to let her know that the modifications they’d all worked so hard on were ready. It was do-or-die time… hopefully without the latter.
—Caelian Weir, Engineer—

A moment later Drudoc’s voice came over ship wide. =/\= Attention all hands brace for a possible rough ride, we’re about to attempt to harness protomatter energy to return to our home. Secure all stations and standby. =/\= Andone said.

Drudoc Andone CO