Time is running out... or is it?

<ooc: wow it has been a seriously long time since so many of us were here. But with this, TWO of the admins have posted again within a week of each other. Doesn't that just give you the warm fuzzies?.... or is that a despair squid...... i'll let you decide>

<snippettes>
‘The engine core is drained, we’ve barely got enough fuel to get us to the other side of the system,’ reported Jamie, ‘The diesel decks will keep emergency power going for a few days but that subspace hop emptied almost everything – the core, the fuel tanks, I’m pretty sure those triple As behind the couch are gone too.’

‘What about the ramscoop? Isn’t that meant to keep us going indefinitely?’

‘Subspace has clogged the scoop feeds. We’d need to manually scrub them before it can start taking any hydrogen in. That’s a 48-hour job at least.’

‘Long range scanners put the Fazon gunship 24 hours away,’ Plisken said, ‘They are moving fast though.’

----
‘And it’s working? The fuelling?’

‘Should be, looks like it was hardly used. No wonder if it managed to get all the way out here. We will know better when we are closer, Ops can try do a handshake.’

---
‘Set a course, Tanaka,’ ordered Cass without a pause. ‘Jamie get down to engineering, take Bruno with you. Let’s see if you can get us ready to go as soon as we have docked
</snippettes>

"Well, I'll give them this, they learned how to make efficient refuelling stations since however long we've been gone." Jamie mused out loud as the unmanned, automated station connected up with the 'Dwarf.

"But we still don't know how much uh... how much fuel they have, or how fast they.... pump it, do we?" Bruno asked, nervously.

"No... You keep an eye on this, and I'll go check on the ramscoop." Jamie said, heading for the prow. "I won't know how long it'll take to clear it if we don't get a look at it."

Bruno held up a hand, as if to interrupt, but Jamie wasn't looking. "but, but..." he stammered, but Jamie hadn't heard him. "but what if it stops fuelling?" he finally managed when the control room was empty.

Jamie was walking at a very brisk pace, while thinking out loud. He bumped into a few people with barely any recognition, muttering about Plisken, and ramscoop weapons, and subspace gunk.

The timer for the Fazon arrival was counting down. By the time the fuel lines were hooked up, they only had sixteen left. An hour after that, and Jamie was in a space suit, standing on the outer hull, surveying the ramscoop.

"Bruno." he said over the radio. "Any sign of the fuel pumps slowing down?"

A short delay, "uh..." came the reply, followed by a short burst of static.

Jamie sighed. "Hold the button down while you're talking."

"oh, right. sorry." Bruno replied. "No, the um, the pumps are still going, and I, I think the readings say we will fill up."

"with some to spare?" Jamie asked.

"I don't know." came the reply. "Won't be able to tell until it's done."

"Hey Plisken, you there?" Jamie asked into the radio. "I don't know what it was you did on the Ark Royal, but I think a ramscoop weapon is a real possibility. Might need your help to make it work if Cass agrees."

"sure, say when." Plisken responded eventually.

"Might need your help to make it work if Cass agrees." came Jamie's voice from Plisken's radio again.

"I already said sure."

"What? I didn't say anything else." Jamie responded.

An ominous silence hung in the radio waves between them, before Jamie shook his head and got back to work.

Several hours of surveying and fuel pumping later, Bruno's voice stammered into Jamie's ear.

"We-we're done."

"Is there still any left in the station?" He asked.

"Ye-yeah. Flow was still high when it finished."

if sound waves travelled through space, anyone near the ramscoop at the prow of the ship would have heard a manic laugh.

"Oh, we are on." he said to himself.

"Cass. You trust me, right?" He asked through the radio.

"Bit busy here, but yeah, I guess so." She responded. <ooc: gives you an opportunity to get involved with those zombies or whatever!>

"Ok, this is going to sound stupid, but when the Fazon get here, I'm gonna need you to shut down EVERYTHING using power across the whole ship." Jamie said, talking quite fast.

"What? that's crazy." She replied.

"You said you trusted me. We don't have enough time to explain. I can give us a way to get out of here and not be tracked." He said, then switched channels.

"Plisken, we're on. Get down to the engine room, and man the thruster inputs. There's less lag down here, we can be more accurate." He said, and began his trip back inside. His suit air tank was beginning to get low, and he'd done all he could from the outside.

It's at this point that if this were a tv show or something, a camera would pan out from Jamie as he was walking, to show the highly charged mess of proto-matter clogging the ramscoop intake. Occasionally a static charge would dance across the surface. The charge only being kept away from the 'Dwarf by the insulation on the collectors.

<tag!>
<OOC: ok, we've got a plan for a proto-matter cannon, and some ominous micro time loops. What could be the cause?>