Your fingers tighten around the ensign's wrist as you pull her down the shuddering corridor. Emergency lights strobe red across the metal walls as you dodge panicked crew members. The ensign's breath comes in ragged gasps beside you, her free hand gripping her regulation sidearm with white knuckles.

A particularly violent shudder nearly sends you both crashing into a bulkhead. From somewhere deep in the ship comes the ominous groan of straining metal. 'Engineering's just past that junction!' you shout over the alarms, pointing to a glowing sign ahead. The words flicker ominously as another impact rocks the Dawn.

You round the corner to find Chief Oren barking orders to his team. The massive Tellarite's muscular frame strains against his grease-stained coveralls as he jams a hydrospanner into an overloaded conduit. Sparks shower around him like angry fireflies. 'Apprentice! Thank the stars!' he bellows when he spots you. 'Get to the secondary coolant pumps before they—'

His words are swallowed by an earsplitting screech of tearing metal. The deck plates beneath your feet ripple like liquid, throwing you against a console. Through the engineering bay's main viewport, you see it—the obsidian structure has extended jagged tendrils that now pierce the Dawn's hull. Crimson energy pulses through them like blood through veins.