Hancock checks the hallway carefully. It's been a while since he's seen or heard any signs of the roaches. He's had to kill a few that investigated the lab, but so far, Kenzie hasn't had to shoot. He walks back to the corner where Lopez is working. Kenzie is kneeling with her, standing by to protect the young scientist.

Hancock says calmly, "It's surprisingly clear out there."

Kenzie replies thankfully, "Good. So... We're winning?"

"I don't know. I haven't seen marines yet, either, or any of the workers."

Lopez replies, "Someone closed the hangar doors. I can't open them from here."

Confused, Hancock asks, "Why does that matter?"

She looks up at him, replying, "The hangar doors are never closed. Not on Providence. They were shut AFTER these things arrived."

Kenzie asks, "Roaches keeping us in?"

Lopez shakes her head, returning to her task. She replies, "Requires special authority, plus you have to be local. Captain Murdock, Mr. Right, Commander Hitch; only they can close the doors without zebra switches."

Hancock remarks, "So then... keeping the bugs in, then?"

Lopez nods, "I think so. I saw throttle commands changing a while ago, too. Like, just a couple minutes ago. We're not alone."

"So, we need to head to the power plant, then? You think someone's there?"

"They're there, but it's not where we need to go." Lopez turns her laptop, showing Hancock and Kenzie the PLC logic and a small ship's map. "I think this is it. It's a single line of code. It looks to be a relic safety in the Grodrrn ships. Its purpose is done elsewhere or not useful, because it looks like it used to shut down the engines AND the jump drive if they were in some kind of energy field. But now, between all the added features, bypasses, and other safeties, it seems to lock in a safety used to shut off the main engines while in jump, probably so the ship doesn't accidentally accelerate out of the bubble."

Kenzie, trying to follow, asks, "And, that's what has our engines shut off now?"

Lopez nods. "It also locks out the jump drive ignition preparation circuit; not needed after the drive starts spooling up, and cleared when the ship finishes a jump."

Hancock states, "All I care about right now is whether or not you can clear it."

Lopez chews lightly on her thumb, thinking. She replies, "Easiest way I saw would be to power down the whole ship. It should clear this bit."

"And leave us even more helpless. And, with no safety doors or air."

She nods. "Reactors would take too long to shutdown and start back up. And, that assumes there are enough crew members to do it. BUT,..." She tugs at her suit's chest nervously. "I can reset the bit... locally."

"Why not remotely?"

She sighs, saying disappointedly, "Because I co-opted Grodrrn programming, and their programs don't talk to each other very well, let alone mine. I'm interfacing through a back door into the main engines software, accessing a node address that only the main engines can access, to a logic host on..."

Hancock cuts her off, saying, "I got it, I got it. You're doing fine, Levi. So tell me, where is 'locally'?"

Lopez frowns more. She points at the front end of the Providence. It's about the furthest point away, extending up and out of the port dock arm and overlooking the construction zone, which has the skeletal frame of another starliner in progress. Hancock knows the room she's talking about. He asks coldly, "Why is it there?"

Lopez whines, "It's how the Grodurns designed it! This interlock is in the jump drive resonator's control, and passes to..."

"But why THERE specifically?"

"I think it makes the bubble more stable having the resonator..." Hancock stares at her skeptically, and she whines more irritated, "It's how the Grodrrns designed it!"

Hancock sighs. "Fine. Let's move." Hancock jogs to the door. Lopez locks gazes with Kenzie, repeating grumpily, "It's how they designed it."

Kenzie smiles softly. She says warmly, "I believe you." She helps Lopez up to her feet, and they join Hancock in a brisk jog up the hallway. They're basically in the center of the core part of the Providence, below the main bridge. It's almost a mile total of distance they need to trek, with an unknown number of the insectoid invaders prowling around.

The halls of the Providence are eerily empty, though. Every now and then, the ship rumbles from artillery fire, implying some humans still roam free, but there are usually many more people in the halls. Granted, the Providence is typically far less populated than the starliners, but 5,000 people should still be pretty hard to hide. A sneaking fear of Hancock's is that those captured by the roaches are no longer on the ship.

But, they pass empty boarding ships and plasma doors, and still no living roaches yet. Kenzie asks quietly, "That smell... Are we gonna die anyways?"

Lope replies quietly, "Humans can tolerate some sulfur. No telling what else is in it, but we have to worry about that later."

Hancock jokes, "Be a pretty ironic way to go, huh? Fight off two superior alien attacks, choke to death on farts."

Kenzie growls, "That's not funny, Rex."

He shrugs, replying, "Sorry. Slow down and be quiet. I'll check the corner." He jogs quietly ahead, peeking around the turn. It's clear to the stairwell about 200 feet down which leads up to the main deck tying all of the prominent areas together. He waves them close and continues forward.

Hancock climbs up the stairs, peeking both ways out of the door at the top. He halts when he sees a squad of roaches searching in the way they need to go. He hides, taking a breather and carefully and quietly checking his ammo count. He slowly aims his rifle around the corner at them.

The roaches haven't spotted him yet, and they seem to be searching the rooms. Their mood and posture are strange, though. It's not like when they first boarded. They're being more careful now.

Hancock aims at the left most one. He'll have to be quick and precise. If they land a hit on him, it's over.

Instead, though, their weapons –bolted to their arms- lurch all of the eleven roaches haplessly to the left wall at a small point, crowding them together. They wail in their cricket-like cry, tugging on their arms. But, the magic hold claiming their weapons doesn't yield. The lights in the hallway also buzz and hum, dimming deeply to almost full darkness.

A man jogs out of a room the bugs looked in. He laughs triumphantly and hits a button on the right wall. The emergency zebra door closes, isolating the four humans present from the roaches. The man with a very familiar voice taunts, "Ha! Get out of that, stupids!"

"Mr. Right?" asks Hancock in surprise.

Russell Right whirls with a start. He exclaims, "Heck-fire, Rex! You almost scared what posterior solids I have left right out of me!"

Hancock steps into the hall, approaching the eccentric former buisinessman. Mr. Right sees Lopez and exclaims warmly, "Ah! Doctor Lopez! I was worried sick! Glad to see my best Sci-gal still kicking."

Lopez intentionally stares at the wall, and she growls almost inaudibly, "What are you doing here?"

Mr. Right, seemingly oblivious to her tone and well-accustomed to the notorious low-talker, replies warmly, "Believe it or not, helping the marines! That's right; billionaire, philanthropist, inventor, scientist, astronaut, soldier; I'm filling up my resumé, huh?" He nudges Hancock warmly. "Come on, I'll explain on the way." He jogs back towards the aft end of the ship, but Hancock replies, "On the way where, Sir? We have to get forward."

Mr. Right chuckles unfittingly, replying, "Not that way, you're not. Whole port dock arm is crawling with those things. We're on our way to detach it."

Lopez cries out, "YOU CAN'T!" Mr. Right looks at her in surprise. It's probably the first time she's raised her voice above a whisper around him. He snaps out of it though, reassuring her, "Don't worry, Doc! We evacuated it! Helped sweep it myself while baiting those plug-uglies." He then explains to Kenzie excitedly, "Wound an electromagnet on the fly. Still got the ol' science in me, I tell you w-..."

"You KNOW the jump resonator is in the port arm!" snaps Lopez. "If we lose it and get separated, we can't jump!"

Mr. Right stares at her a moment. He asks plainly, "What's it doing there?" Before he can even finish, Lopez shrieks, "BECAUSE IT'S HOW THE GRODURNS DESIGNED IT!" She clears her throat, saying more coldly, "It's how they designed the system."

Mr. Right tries to defuse, replying, "Alright! Alright! But, I don't know what to tell you. The port arm is almost FULL of the boarders. Marines on the other decks should have it completely sealed off by now. Waitin' on me."

Kenzie asks, "Wouldn't detatching it at least free up the engines so we can gather with the other ships?"

Lopez replies calmly, "No. The engine PLC would reference saved states. It's in case of EMP or ship damage. We would HAVE to shut down and restart then."

Mr. Right complains, "I told that feces-brained Captain to do it the moment it happened, but he didn't listen. Turn it off and turn it back on is always step one."

"It's not that simple!" shouts Lopez.

Kenzie steps in verbally, saying, "Okay, okay! If we can't detach it, how do we get to this razornator... thing?"

Mr. Right corrects, "Resonator." Lopez glares daggers at him, and Hancock suggests, "We could space walk. We have to get there."

Mr. Right shakes his finger thoughtfully, replying, "I think I've got one better. Follow me to the hangar. You'll need an airlock anyways, right?"

Lopez growls, "I don't have enough CPU to keep this ready and fly a ship."

He replies, "Just come on. Have I ever been wrong before?"

Lopez replies snappily quickly, "Yes," just as he tries to add, "I AM Russell..." He trails off, finishing less arrogantly, "Right."

Kenzie and Hancock look at Lopez, and she sighs, "What choice do we have?"

The three follow Mr. Right to the hangar bay, where five massive alien vessels are parked, having pushed the Grodrrn shuttle and conex boxes out of the way. The hangar doors are shut, and the hangar is pressurized, which is rare. Marines and workers are tending to the injured and those still seized up by the alien weapons. She sees several marines have one of the insectoid soldiers pinned to the ground and are trying to figure out how to incapacitate it alive.

Mr. Right leads them to the jet shop, saying, "Alright, Rex, put that suit on." Kenzie helps Hancock strip his current EVA suit for the one Mr. Right indicates as the former billionaire pulls something out of a test crate. He explains, "I was gonna ask Doctor Lopez to have you field test this in a week or so anyways, but no time like the present."

Hancock visually inspects the device as he suits up. It's a metal backpack with special locking clamps to hook to the now-explained metal backplate with similar interlocking clamps on the back of the suit. The backpack has hollow metal cones on the lower corners, each of the two possessing swivel joints. Kenzie asks nervously, "Is... that a jetpack?"

Mr. Right laughs, saying, "My dear, of course not. A jetpack would require far too much fuel per flight. THIS is the electro-ionic repelling-impulse propulsion entropy system, or, uh... EE-erpees... huh... terrible name..." Kenzie stares at him with annoyance, and he groans, "Fine! In less scientific terms, yes. It functions like a jet pack." He hooks it onto Hancock's back, explaining warmly, "Actually uses the skin oils from the spring eels, and..."

"How do I fly it?" asks Hancock. Mr. Right nods, "Controls in the left hand activate and control thrust. Wrist rolls and flexes control angles and roll. Be careful. It's... touchy."

Kenzie urges, "Rex, you don't have to do this."

Hancock replies, "Couldn't'a said that before I had a jetpack on?" He says more seriously, "I'm going. And, more importantly, I'm coming back." She nods, gently touching his chest.

It's at this time, Mr. Right notices that Lopez has an EVA suit half way on. He asks sternly, "What do you think you're doing?"

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Lopez says nothing. She keeps looking away from him and donning the suit. He says even more sternly as he puts his forearm up to block her from grabbing a helmet, "You're NOT going."

Lopez growls in her usual low tone, "Don't be ridiculous."

Mr. Right growls in retort, "Rex can handle it. He's a soldier. Tell him what to do, and let him do it."

She asks caustically, "What if it's different than planned? What if adaptations need to be made?"

"He'll be on radio."

"It'll be easier..."

"I'M NOT LETTING YOU GO!" shouts Mr. Right. Lopez stares at him in disbelief. Her brow furrows in anger. He starts to add, as if to rationalize, "One person risked is already too-..."

Lopez full hand slaps Mr. Right HARD. The resulting clap is audible apparently across the hangar bay. Mr. Right is frozen in surprise. It solidifies when she then screams, "YOU'RE NOT MY MASTER, AND YOU'RE NOT MY FATHER! I'M GOING! I CAN'T RISK BEING WRONG AND NOT BEING THERE!"

Mr. Right doesn't move or speak. When he does, he only lowers his arm. Lopez grabs a helmet and shoves it on, checking her seal. She grabs her laptop and says, "Come on, Rex. We're wasting too much time."

They jog for the nearest airlock. Hancock glances at Mr. Right. The unusually quiet man is watching them –her- go.

Lopez explains as the air is being pulled out of the airlock, "I think... if I hold your front, I'll interfere the least. Go slow for now."

Hancock nods. His thoughts are still on the scene he just witnessed. But, he also is able to pay attention to her and their goal. The construction bridge is about five-sixths of a mile away from their current position. They only need momentum, though. Just like the raid on Dzor's ship.

The young ensign looks down at his left hand, inspecting the curious controls. His fingers all have contact pads, and similar pads are on the heel of his hand, past where his fingers would curl in a natural fist. Similarly, his thumb has a receiving contact on his left index knuckle. The thumb contacts say 'on', and the digits on his heel say 'speed' with '+0.5', '+1.0', '+1.5', '+2.0' on the contacts on his heel.

Lopez says quietly, "Just go slow. I trust you."

Hancock smiles and nods.

Once the airlock opens, Lopez ties her laptop between them by its handle and wraps her arms around his neck. She says softly, "Ready."

Hancock says nervously, "Here goes." He steps into a drift out over the ship's hull. The artificial gravity of the Providence lightly affects them still, so they slowly drift towards a lower portion of the dock, where the new ship under construction is. He clicks his thumb to its contact, and he can feel a click and a hum in his back. He touches his index finger briefly to his '+0.5' position. The sound only travels through the metal pack, but it's a quick, energetic and electronic burp, similar to the lights humming from a brown out. The pack also pushed upwards on his back for the briefest of moments, but hasn't noticeably altered their course.

It's clear the contacts have to be held. Hancock readies himself, focusing on his movements. He clicks the '+0.5' button again, and the pack hums more vigorously, pulling them upwards surprisingly quickly. They speed almost straight away from the ship, and Hancock realizes he's doing everything he can just to keep the button pushed, which is unnecessary. He flexes his hand forward at the wrist. He's startled into letting go when they suddenly turn downwards. Lopez winces, tightening her grip. He says, "Sorry. I'm figuring it out."

"Just be careful..." murmurs Lopez. He chuckles, replying, "No promises."

With clumsy turns and swings of his whole body, coupled with short bursts of the thruster, Hancock is able to speed them towards the dock bridge.

They could chance going through the airlock, but it takes about a whole minute. Instead, he spots one of the roach plasma doors, which maintains ship pressure, but allows them to board quickly. The humans obviously haven't had time to study them yet, but Hancock grew up on sci-fi. He knows some methods of separating space from people areas include using seemingly magic doors of energy or plasma that allow objects through, but not air. One such plasma door looks like it's in the hall right outside the room they need.

Hancock steers them toward the plasma door, saying to Lopez, "Hang on." Her grip tightens a little. Hancock rolls them over with a rotating motion of his arms, aiming their feet in and down to try to soften their landing, since he didn't really know how to slow down. He tries puffing the pack a few times, and can feel the tug slowing them some, but too much is pulling them up.

The two spear into the plasma door much faster than Hancock realized. He feels a stinging tingle in his skin as they zip across the door threshold, but it's the least of their worries now. The hallway is not unoccupied.

Hancock's landing has his feet on the floor, which swings their torsos. The ensign's back ends up in the lead, but the impact with the wall is softened by the body of a roach soldier, catching everyone by surprise. Hancock and Lopez tumble to the floor hard as roaches wail in surprise. Keeping his bearings, Hancock scrambles to shove himself up and away from Lopez while he draws his rifle, firing a long burst as quickly as he can get his finger on the trigger. His rifle spits rounds quickly, and one roach dives away too late, whirling in a dead twist as a second stumbles back, shaking from each of several shots.

Hancock barely stops himself from bumping a fourth, which is still figuring out what's happening. The two process each others' existences simultaneously. The roach tries to aim its weapon, but Hancock leaps into a quick and powerful drop-kick with both feet. His kick launches the insectoid soldier out the plasma door, and its suit pops in the vacuum, obscuring it with a yellowish-white cloud.

Hancock aims his rifle both ways in the hall, verifying all enemies are down. Satisfied, he climbs to his feet, favoring his aching body. He helps Lopez to her feet, and she asks softly, "When... Did you become so... heroic?"

Hancock looks at his most recent feat. He says, a bit surprised himself, "I dunno. Didn't have much of a choice. Didn't expect them to be here."

She murmurs, "He did say they locked a bunch of them in this arm."

"True. You okay?"

She nods, asking, "You?"

Hancock exercises his left arm, replying, "Yeah. Think I tested my fracture, though."

"Sorry..."

He chuckles, "Not your fault. Seemed like a good idea at the time. Ready?"

She nods. Hancock reloads and opens the airtight door to the dock bridge. Inside, the room is heavy with smoke, but he doesn't see signs of the roaches. Lopez warns, "Electrical fire... be careful."

Hancock nods. They stalk through the room towards the resonator. Hancock does find two roaches, but they're not specifically a threat to him. Their bodies smolder where one appears to have stepped on an exposed wire, and another tried to free it. The wire sparks a startling warning at the two humans, and Lopez nudges closer to Hancock's back.

They find the resonator, which at least has control power still. Lopez hooks into it, logging back into the PLC to enact her fix. Hancock watches the area around them carefully.

There's a metal groan, and both halt. Lopez asks quietly, "Did you close the door behind us?"

"I didn't dog it. I didn't figure it would stop them."

Lopez groans softly. She says disappointedly, "I don't think they've figured it out yet. They keep cutting doors."

"Well, how was I...?" Hancock ducks, narrowly avoiding the eyeline of a roach that walks in. They both stay silent as the insect inspects the bridge. The cricket-like chatter of another one joins it, and they seem to be exchanging words quietly. Several more join them, and they begin spreading out.

Lopez whispers through the radio, "Emergency hiding spot forty one."

Hancock had to create a cheat sheet for all of Lopez's emergency hiding spots. She typically uses the single digit ones, but she has almost fifty scattered throughout the Providence, as well as five or six on any of the other ships –one of which is the Polonia's bridge-. He has no idea how she remembers them all, let alone expects him to remember where they all are.

But, he can sometimes remember where one is if he's already in a room. He looks around quietly. He remembers it suddenly. The one on the dock bridge is just a few yards away. It's behind the crane operation panel against the windows. She likely won't use it ever again, since Mr. Right spotted her there from the actual construction area. By the time he made it up to the bridge, she and Hancock were gone.

He notices the wires dangling down over top of it. He whispers back, "Live wires. We can't-..."

"They don't know that."

Hancock nods. He looks for something to throw. He picks up a nearby hairclip someone must have lost. It should be heavy enough, though. He quickly has to pull back into his cover though when one of the roaches rounds a corner. It doesn't chatter excitedly, though, so it must not have spotted him.

He carefully tosses the hairclip, low, hitting the window. The roaches all whirl to face it and aim. One of them, the first one, chatters out what seem like orders. The closest soldier walks cautiously towards the noise, weapon trained on the location. It jumps nimbly up onto the crane control panel, balancing effortlessly. Its attempted surprise attack finds nothing. It carefully walks, scanning the window area. It brushes the dangling materials away with its forearm.

Big mistake. It completes a circuit, and a hellish buzz and popping drowns out its own wails of agony as its body flashes blinding lights. Its body convulses as smoke billows out of its forearm and feet, and the other insects panic. They rush to investigate, and one reaches up to help, despite the protests of the leader. The leader's protests were heard, but the soldier touched the one being electrocuted only once. The second one crumples to the floor, twitching its legs and arms.

The leader shrieks as it waves two more soldiers back, and they all take aim. They fire on the possessed soldier repeatedly, maybe to end its suffering, maybe to try to save it. Either way, their shots eventually knock it free, and it rigidly falls to the floor, smoking intensely.

The trio of survivors are just about to resume investigating when one of the soldiers backs into the two from earlier. New popping, hissing, crackling, and screaming fills the air, and the leader and one soldier instantly turn and fire repeatedly on their comrade. It collapses, and the leader chirps and buzzes out orders quickly. Those two and two more that were at the door cautiously exit the room, leaving Lopez and Hancock alone for the time being.

Hancock jokes quietly, "I'm never changing a lightbulb again."

Lopez scoffs, saying finally, "Okay, I cleared the safety and reset the engines. Now we just..."

The bugs return, but with more of them this time. They chatter seemingly about the deceased. Hancock and Lopez are silent once more.

A male voice suddenly comes over the crane controls, "Hey! Stupids! Get off of my ship!" It's Mr. Right's voice, and the insects aim at the console. They investigate cautiously. Mr. Right adds, "That's right. Look at me. I'm not racist enough to be a liberal. I'm not even a progressive. But, you wanna know why humans are the best?" He gives the roaches a chance to discuss the voice, before he answers, "We don't stop at 'good enough'." He suddenly yells, "Levi! Hang on!"

Hancock and Lopez share a glance. Deep in the floor, they can hear a powerful winch motor activate. The roaches look down at the floor in confusion. Hanock's gut turns, and he senses something foreboding is afoot. He dives across the floor to Lopez in spite of the enemy soldiers nearby.

The only thing Hancock can compare to what comes next would be the very Earth opening up and dropping out from beneath them.

The whole bridge lurches downwards as the furthest overlook end of it tilts violently toward the construction dock below. Lopez and Hancock both cry out, and the roaches chatter furiously as well. Gravity still attracts them toward the floor, so a strange sense of vertigo sets in for a moment as they look 'straight ahead' at something vertically below them

And, the motor hasn't stopped. The metal groans from whatever is still connected, and Hancock grabs Lopez. He closes his full left hand, aiming his backpack for the door. The force of takeoff nearly causes him to black out and drop Lopez, but his hand came undone, and it ends up being just a burst that has them sailing across the bridge. The roaches wail at them, surprised to see them.

The bridge snaps free and lurches toward the dock, pulling almost all of the bridge out from under Hancock. They end up almost back where they started, but the roaches were helplessly hurled to the back of the bridge as it accelerated downwards. And now, there's no gravity.

They have maybe seconds. Hancock grips Lopez tightly, and she clutches his arm desperately with her laptop hugged firmly to her chest. He blasts the jetpack again, launching them to the doorway. He feels dizzy, but he shakes it off when his feet hit the wall that is now down. He kicks into another quick burst towards the plasma door, carefully threading them both through the air tight door to the hallway. Lopez yelps from her knee hitting the doorway, and Hancock yells, "Sorry!"

She nods against his chest, clutching firmly to him. He steps twice only from his momentum, leaning to grab the first thing he can and whip them out of the plasma door.

They thud to a floor in surprise. Rather than drifting through the inky void of space, they're in a cramped compartment with dim orange lights. The sounds of a roach chattering away draw their attention further in.

In a strange harness, one of the roach soldiers is making strange gestures as it chatters in what sounds like panic. Doors close, separating Hancock and Lopez from the derelict bridge. The boarding craft shudders with a metallic clonk, and it feels like it's accelerating and turning.

Hancock quietly peeks into the cockpit. There are no windows, and the apparent pilot is wearing a full-face helmet. It doesn't seem like it has noticed them yet. Hancock quietly whispers, "Do you think you can hijack this thing?"

Lopez whimpers, "Do I have a choice?"

Hancock whispers, "I can kill him, and we radio and hope for help."

Lopez crawls close, watching the bug's movements. She carefully looks for an access panel. She inspects several wires and cables, particularly those coming from the bug's harness and helmet, which seem to be how it sees and steers.

She calls back to Hancock, "These aren't wires."

"Come again?" asks Hancock.

"I can't tie in anywhere. They're not wires. They're tubes. That's fluid inside them."

Hancock looks closer. Sure enough, a sickly greenish yellow liquid bubbles inside the tubes, surging and slacking in the tubes. There doesn't seem to be flow, but there is a faint glow that brightens and dims intermittently.

"W-Should we try the harness?" whispers Lopez.

Hancock knows they'd never figure it out in time. Their suits have limited air, the battle could end in a jump any minute, and the bug could be flying back to his mother ship. But, he has a couple ideas.

He taps the bug's shoulder. It chitters angrily, but doesn't do anything. He taps again. This time, the bug snarls in its chirpy, buzzing tone. It turns to face Hancock, and a viewscreen illuminates like windows of the cockpit. The view is distorted, and clearly suited to compound eyes. The helmet turns transparent, revealing the bug's face and letting it see him.

Hancock presses his rifle barrel to its forehead, and it recoils and chirps in surprise. The rookie officer taunts, "Yeah, you know what this is, don't you?"

The bug chatters and buzzes at him. Hancock growls, "Shut up." He points to the left screen where the Providence's hangar bay is slowly shrinking. Hancock points at the bug and then specifically the hangar doors. The roach looks at it and then him. Unlike the Grodrrns, the roaches don't have any expressions, seemingly. It's impossible for Hancock to know if it's understanding him.

The bug seems to decide to fly, but it doesn't alter course. Hancock forcefully shoves its shoulder, saying, "Hey! I'll do it!"

The bug glances at him. It suddenly rolls the ship hard, which knocks Lopez down. Hancock manages to jump with the roll, hitting his shoulder hard but staying on his feet. He growls, "That does it."

Hancock slams the butt of his rifle into the bug's helmet, and it wails in response. Hancock yells, "Think I'm stupid!?" He kicks its torso as it tries to shield its face. "Last chance!" The bug's flailing is causing the ship to weave through space drunkenly. Still, it tries to stay on course.

"I warned you," growls Hancock. He fires into its back. It wails in agony, but seems to heroically insist on making it back to its own ship, which appears to be attacking a Grodrrn battleship.

When did a Grodrrn battleship arrive?

Hancock aims and fires for its head this time, and the engines power down as the bug slumps. Hancock says, "Welp. So much for plan 'A'. You still have the Grodrrn piloting program, right?" He helps Lopez up. She nods, asking, "Why?"

He points, saying, "Plan 'B' involves us getting to their ship and stealing a shuttle. It's too far to the Providence now."

Lopez murmurs, "That's Craw's ship..."

"Craw? You mean... our Craw's dad?"

She nods. She murmurs, "If he detected us, wouldn't he have detected the bugs, too?"

"Maybe he was already on his way. They sure aren't friendly." Hancock can make out damage from golden beams on the hull of the battle ship.

"Do you wonder..." starts Lopez softly. "If any part of it... is for his daughter?"

Hancock smiles gently. He points at the besieged battleship and replies, "That right there. One hundred percent of it is. Otherwise, he'd run."

Lopez looks down. She is silent for a moment. Hancock has a pretty good idea what's on her mind. Or at least, the subject. But, she returns to task, saying, "Get us over there. I have a plan to help him help us."

"Really?" asks the ensign surprised.

She nods. "Same as the Honolulu."

"I don't... the Honolulu is scrapped."

She nods. She points at Khla's battleship, replying, "Looks at their spacing. It's just about right for a jump bubble."

"Won't the roaches just pop it?"

"Not in time," replies Lopez.

Hancock thinks about it. There's not a lot to lose, and Lopez knows how to free up the engines now. He replies, "Let's do it."

***