As Isaac and Chrysalis headed towards the Bridge once more, to fix yet another broken part of the Ishimura, the mood was slightly different than it had been when they were riding the Tram to the Mining Deck, where the asteroid had been located until a few minutes ago. Isaac was happy with everything they had done, as he, Chrysalis, Kendra, and hopefully Hammond had survived everything that the Necromorphs had thrown at them, repaired critical parts of the ship to ensure that none of them died from poisoned air or asteroids, and had sent out a distress beacon that would ensure they escaped from this nightmare in one piece. He was sure that if he had been forced to do this all by himself, without any backup at all, he would have completed all of this anyway, but he found that having a partner like Chrysalis meant that things were easier since someone was watching his back... even if his companion was being silent for the majority of their journey to the Bridge.

Chrysalis, while extremely happy for their successes so far, couldn't help but be weighed down by the pain of her past, because she had buried her broken heart with Wildfire and had tired to forget about it, and she originally thought that she had succeeded in that regard... until the Marker pulled her darling out of the past and brought her here, as if it was trying to break her will or something. She supposed that, in a way, the Marker could have already succeeded, as she had frozen up the first time she saw Wildfire and was constantly crying every single time she thought about her, though all this told her was that she was definitely going insane, regardless of what Isaac said. Still, despite her own issues and questions regarding her sanity, she still felt happy knowing that there was a possibility that they could be rescued from this nightmare, though she didn't spoil Isaac's mood with her sadness, as she considered him her friend and didn't want to ruin the moment.

It wasn't long before they reached their destination, though as Isaac walked towards the door of the Tram he noticed Chrysalis open her helmet for a moment so she could finish wiping away what remained of her tears, but he didn't say anything since he figured that she would tell him everything when she was ready... before she walked up beside him, with her helmet engaged, and the two of them walked off the Tram and returned to the station they had visited earlier.

"Things are looking up!" Kendra informed them, appearing on the video link once more, though with the smile on her face Isaac couldn't help but smile as well, as he was sure that the news was great, "A military ship just shocked in... the USM Valor. I don't know what it was doing all the way out here, but it must have gotten our distress signal. We can't talk to it unless the Comms Array is fixed, which you both know by now, so I'm going to hack the doors to Communications for you. Get in there and find the Comms Control Station."

"Not to rain on everyone's parade, but am I the only one worried about this?" Chrysalis asked, because there was something extremely alarming about what Kendra just told her and Isaac, something that neither of them seemed to have noticed, "I mean, there just happens to be a military grade ship, no doubt armed with weapons and soldiers that are trained for battle, sitting near where the Ishimura is located and only made itself known when we launched that asteroid a few minutes ago. Surely the both of you can see that something is extremely wrong with this picture?"

"Maybe they were on their way to an outpost or something." Isaac stated, though even as he spoke he had to admit that Chrysalis raised a valid point, because if the Valor was so close to the Ishimura he had to wonder why they hadn't done anything until the asteroid had been launched, "Either way, we still have to fix the Comms Array before we can do anything else, so we had best get moving."

Chrysalis was thankful that someone was willing to listen to her, even if he didn't fully agree with her take on what was going on, but instead of saying anything else she and Isaac moved on as the link between them and Kendra was cut, indicating that she was leaving this to them. The two of them made their way back to the Main Atrium and passed by the store that was along the way, though as they entered the main chamber, however, they discovered that one of the elevators was plugged up by the organic growth that they had encountered earlier. It was impossible to know if this was recent or if it had grown in before the death of the Leviathan, but instead of waiting around for anything to happen the duo walked forward... which, in turn, caused the quarantine gates to fall around them as their enemies came for them. This time around both Isaac and Chrysalis were surprised with the amount of enemies that came towards them, as there were at least ten exploders, three slashers, and a leaper that wanted them dead.

Bullets rained on the ground as the duo opened fire on their enemies, making sure that the exploders were grouped together before one of their goo blobs exploded and took them all out, while using the Stasis Module to slow down the remaining enemies, who were darkened and empowered, before they were overwhelmed... though after a few tense moments of fighting the gates opened and the quarantine was over.

Once they were sure that there were no more enemies in the immediate area, and had collected all the ammunition that had been dropped for them, Isaac and Chrysalis headed towards the elevator that was in front of the path down to the area that Hammond had been stationed in until he left for the Hydroponics Deck. As they climbed into the elevator, however, they discovered that the Level 1 option was no longer accessible, confirming that the growth had been active since the moment they left the deck. Isaac sighed and tapped the icon for Level 3, since they were on Level 2, and the door closed before their eyes, allowing the elevator to start it's ascent to the level above them, where they could begin the repairs that needed to be made.

"Isaac, Chrysalis, the door to Comms is open." Kendra told them, which was great news for them, as it made their lives that much easier, but at the same time they both detected that there was something else she needed to tell them, "But I've been getting some weird feedback spikes on the local comms... I think someone might be listening in on us, so be careful."

Chrysalis wondered if it was Mercer that Kendra had discovered the existence of, as she and Isaac hadn't seen anything of the mad doctor since they trapped the hunter in an icy tomb, but at the same time she knew that they would keep their eyes open for anything out of the ordinary. She knew that, at some point in the future, they would figure out who was listening on their conversations and put a stop to it, though she pushed that thought from her mind as she and Isaac reached the level that allowed them to access the ADS earlier. As they walked off the elevator they found that the screens that were hanging on the walls were showing what was called static, though Chrysalis paid them no mind as she raided the crates of their ammunition and joined Isaac as he walked into the hallway once more.

As they walked out of the room they had been in, and turned to the left, they noticed a guardian resting on the wall in front of them, which was already starting to launch pods at them, to which Isaac loosed a few shots at the pods while Chrysalis tore the Necromorph apart with her Pulse Rifle. It didn't take long for the two of them to make short work of the guardian, but as they walked forward a little more they discovered that a second guardian was resting on the same wall as the first one and was ready for them. The duo let out a sigh as they opened fire on the pods and the guardian they came from, though as they tore it apart Chrysalis noticed that the door to the ADS was locked, indicating that the growth had either sealed it in some manner or someone didn't want them heading out there anymore.

When the second guardian was dead, and had stopped moving entirely, the duo approached the door to the Comms Array and opened it, where they found another survivor crawling towards them before expiring like all of the other people they had encountered so far. A few seconds later a new Necromorph, which looked like the combined form of all the limb shaped Necromorphs they had encountered so far, walked around the corner and stared at them for a few seconds before starting it's walk towards them. The duo immediately opened fire on the creature that was coming at them, shooting off it's arms and legs like they were supposed to, though when the Necromorph was on the ground it separated back into the lesser limb creatures and continued their advance... up until Chrysalis and Isaac blasted the creatures into a thousand pieces, only stopping when the coast was clear.

Once the divider, a name Chrysalis had chosen for the unique enemy they had encountered, had been taken care of the duo followed the hallway that would take them to the Comms Array, which immediately brought them to a door that had come chairs and desks blocking the way... though while they removed the obstruction Chrysalis picked up a ruby colored semiconductor, which she pocketed for later.

The area behind the door contained a Bench and a cargo lift, though since they didn't have any Power Nodes to use, and Isaac didn't want to use the ones that Chrysalis had in case she purchased a new weapon in the near future, the duo walked onto the cargo lift and activated it. At the top area that the cargo lift connected to the duo found an audio log, this one from First Comms Operator Bailey, though this time they learned that Bailey wanted to send out a distress signal and was denied by Captain Mathius. It was then that they discovered that the Ishimura wasn't supposed to be in this prohibited system, making this entire venture an illegal operation that the crew had known for months, and that Bailey was going to disregard his captain's orders. When Bailey started to send out a distress signal, however, he learned that the entire comms array was offline, where he immediately blamed his captain and the log ended, though Isaac and Chrysalis determined that he must have come here to try and fix everything himself.

They walked through the door in front of them and found a Power Node in the box to their left, though once they had the node the two of them climbed onto the trolley in front of them and accessed the terminal, to which it started moving towards the other area it connected to. The only thing they had to worry about on their way to the other side of the tunnel was a corpse that was hanging in the air, to which the duo simply moved out of the way and let it pass by them, before finally arriving at their destination. Oddly enough the area that they walked into was much cleaner than any of the other rooms and chambers that they had walked through earlier, but at the same time they looked around for the Comms Array and what part of it they needed to fix... though it wasn't hard to find the array, since the room they were in actually overlooked the entire device.

Communications array offline. the computerized voice said, to which both Isaac and Chrysalis rolled their eyes, as they already knew that thanks to what Kendra had told them and what Bailey's log had revealed, A service technician has been notified.

"That Comms Array is in bad shape." Kendra noted, though at the same time both Isaac and Chrysalis nodded their heads, as it appeared that the Necromorphs had done quite a number on this portion of the ship, "We need at least six working dishes for a strong enough signal. Make sure they're aligned symmetrically so there are no power gaps."

Chrysalis wasn't exactly sure what Kendra meant by that, just like she had been slightly confused by everything else she had heard so far, but she was going to do the same thing she had been doing the entire time she was with Isaac, she was going to wing it and hope for the best. She followed Isaac into the side room, where they discovered a Power Node and some ammunition, before they approached the circular door that would allow them to access the array, though they had to move through a second door before they entered the Zero-G area that the array was resting in. As they entered the Zero-G area the duo discovered that the Necromorphs that had damaged the machine, a pack of leapers, had remained in this area to kill anyone that came to fix the array, because the moment they walked out of the safe area the group of leapers became active.

The duo remained where they were standing and opened fire on the leapers that were coming after them, carefully aiming at their arms so that when their targets landed they could dismember them immediately, though fortune was on their side as none of the leapers even reached the two of them... though once the last one was dead Chrysalis stared at the damaged dishes and wondered what they were going to do.

"So, how do we fix the array?" Chrysalis asked, because this wasn't as straightforward as the other things she and Isaac had to fix around the ship, though if it was easy to figure out she would feel like an idiot for not seeing it.

"Simple, we remove the damaged dishes," Isaac said, to which he used his Kinesis Module to lift one of the broken dishes out of the way and let go of it, allowing it to float through the air as he turned to the other dishes, "and make sure that the six good dishes are placed in a circle, on the same level anyway."

Before asking another stupid question, and making herself look like a fool in the process, Chrysalis noticed that the screen in the room showed the positions of the dishes, where the green lights must have been the good ones and the red lights must have been the damaged ones. One of the red lights vanished when Isaac pulled out the damaged dish, to which she nodded her understanding and helped Isaac remove the remaining damaged dishes, watching as the red lights started to disappear in the process. The moment they had all of the damaged dishes removed, and they were sure of it, the duo carefully lifted one of the good dishes up out of where it was resting and moved it into position in the circle that was the closest to the center of the chamber, where three good dishes were already resting. A few moments passed before Chrysalis moved the last of the good dishes into position, to which the area lit up and the screen returned to the color it had before the malfunction had occurred.

While that was happening, however, the duo returned to the door to this area and waited, as they were pleased with their progress and were waiting to see if there was anything else they needed to do in this area before they departed and headed back to the Tram.

Communications array re-aligned. the computerized voice said, to which the duo grinned as they heard that, as it confirmed that they had correctly fixed the Comms Array and that they could finally speak with the Valor, Messages can now be received.

"That's it, it's working!" Kendra declared, though this time around both Isaac and Chrysalis could hear the joy in her voice, indicating that she was ready to leave this nightmare behind as well, "Get back to Communications and use the control panel to send our coordinates to the Valor!"

Isaac and Chrysalis headed back through the two circular doors that were in their way and retraced their steps to the terminal that they had been standing near when Kendra told them what to do in this area, though once they stepped up to the panel Isaac tapped some buttons and the array came to life... which was followed by all of them receiving a message from the crew of the USM Valor.

"This is the USM Valor, broadcasting on all frequencies to the USG Ishimura in response to your SOS." the Comms Operator for the Valor said, though that was when the group discovered that it was an actual video feed this time around, where Chrysalis found that the man was wearing his suit with the helmet engaged, "We've picked up your escape pod number 47, and are en route to your position. This message will repeat every thirty seconds until you respond."

"Escape pod?" Chrysalis asked, though that was before her eyes widened as she remembered what happened on the Bridge the last time she and Isaac had come here, or more specifically what was inside that escape pod, "Oh no, that's the very escape pod that Hammond fired off the ship when we were fixing the ADS. It had a slasher trapped inside it!"

"What!? You mean one of those things is aboard the Valor now?!" Kendra said, though her tone went from happy to urgent, because if they didn't act fast the Valor might suffer the same fate as the Ishimura and they would have a whole new mess of Necromorphs to deal with, "No, I refuse to let this happen again! USM Valor! Come in Valor! Damn, our signal isn't strong enough... I'm going to open the blast doors to boost our signal."

Error: blast door blockage detected. the computerized voice said, though this time around both Isaac and Chrysalis, as well as Kendra for that matter, weren't happy to hear that something else was broken, Please contact a repair technician.

"Shit!" Kendra snapped, as this wasn't the news they wanted, not after all the good that had happened to them so far, in regards to them staying alive through all this madness, "Isaac, Chrysalis, there's something big on the hull of the ship, directly above the Comms Array, something organic. I don't know what it is, and honestly I could care less about finding that out. We need to get those doors open so we can transmit to the Valor. You should have a clear shot from ADS cannon 48, so get over to it and blow whatever's on the hull out into space!"

"Roger that." Isaac said, to which the connection between them and Kendra was cut off, though he paid it no mind as he and Chrysalis returned to the trolley and headed back towards the station that had let them access the other ADS cannon some time ago.

As they rode the trolley forward Chrysalis spotted a lurker running on the tracks, though when the trolley collided with the small Necromorph it crushed the lurker instantly, to which she chuckled for a moment as they came to a stop at their destination a few seconds later. The duo then walked through the door and found that a slasher had been smart enough to use the cargo lift to ambush them, though it wasn't smart enough to account for Chrysalis dismembering it so easily with the bone blades that she carried on her back. From there it was a simple matter to ride the cargo lift down to the level below them and walk towards the large door that they had walked through earlier, though once they were through that door they accessed the now unlocked door on their right and entered the elevator that would take them to the ADS cannon they needed to access.

Once the elevator came to a stop the duo walked out of it and headed towards the circular door that was in front of them, which happened to be where the seat for the controls was located, though as Isaac walked over to the seat Chrysalis opened a wall box and claimed the Power Node inside it... before the shields opened up and revealed that the organic obstruction was some sort of large crab like Necromorph, one that ignored their existence until Isaac fired at it.

As Isaac fired at it five large tentacles, each containing the same yellow weakness as a few of the enemies that they had encountered so far, erupted from it's back and started latching onto parts of the hull, where it ripped pieces of the ship off and hurled them at the cannon. Isaac had to pick and choose when to attack the yellow goo sacks and when to target the fragments of the Ishimura that were being thrown at them, though it was at times like this that he wished there was a second cannon so Chrysalis could help him out, as her magic was useless in this situation. Instead he focused on the task at hand, letting his companion help him plan when to attack the fragments and when to target the tentacles, until finally a well placed shot obliterated one of the goo sacks and tore the tentacle to pieces, leaving four more for him to take care of before the blast doors could be opened.

Chrysalis watched all of this go on and helped her friend to the best of her limited ability, though she patted him on the shoulder when the second tentacle was destroyed, showing that he was making the right move and that they would get through this together. Fortunately taking out one tentacle reduced the number of items that the creature threw at them, where they also discovered that if they hit a sack while the tentacle was holding something, like a large explosive canister, it would drop what it was holding, allowing the item to drift into space without being used against them. She also considered that this fight might be doing more harm than good to the Ishimura, but at the same time she absolutely hated the planet cracker and the mess she had gotten herself into. That was soon followed by the third tentacle being destroyed, allowing Isaac to focus on the remaining two tentacles and what they were throwing at him, to which Chrysalis smiled as she watched the crab Necromorph suffer for what it had been doing.

After a few more volleys of well placed blasts the remaining tentacles were torn off and the large Necromorph ceased it's movements, where the circular part of it that was attached to the ship loosened it's grasp before drifting off into space, where Isaac and Chrysalis breathed a sigh of relief a the sight.

Opening Communications Array blast doors. the computerized voice said, though the duo knew that this had to make Kendra a little happy with their efforts, but they were more worried about the Valor and the escape pod.

"USM Valor, this is Kendra Daniels on the USG Ishimura, come in!" Kendra called over the communications, though Isaac and Chrysalis waited in silence as they waited to see what happened next, especially since there was no telling what happened on the Valor at this point in time, "Do not open the escape pod! USM Valor, this is Kendra Daniels on the USG Ishimura, come in! Do not open the escape pod! Dammit, respond!"

That was followed by a new video replacing Kendra's, where they discovered the slasher from the pod killing one of the crew members of the Valor, though as that happened Chrysalis noticed something that immediately worried her more than what was happened aboard the other ship. The USM Valor had finally appeared in the space surrounding the Ishimura, though it was getting larger with every passing second, at an alarming rate, and there was an explosion that rocked part of the Valor as well. As Kendra started to whine about why the crew of the Valor opened the pod, and thus sealed their fate, she noticed what Isaac and Chrysalis had noticed, where she called for them to 'get the fuck out of there', before the video was terminated. Chrysalis, knowing that moving was well beyond an option at this point in time, grabbed Isaac, hauled him out of the chair as carefully as she could given the current situation, and pressed the two of them against the wall... where she expanded her magical energy and created a triple layered barrier, one that surrounded them and two more surrounding that one, before they braced themselves.

Not a few seconds later the Valor rammed right into the side of the Ishimura and forced the duo to cover their eyes as parts of the room collapsed around them, where they heard the definite sound of an explosion happening, though they remained in that state for a few moments before they dared to open their eyes... where they found that the room was on fire and that it was totally wrecked, though the barrier had saved them from being severely hurt in the process.

"I can't believe that the time I spent listening to Shining Armor talk about shields would come in handy," Chrysalis moaned, as while she was grateful to have learned a spell that had saved their lives, she was shocked by how much power it took to maintain the spell, but it was a small price to pay for staying alive.

"Isaac, Chrysalis, are you there?" a familiar voice said, though as Chrysalis carefully lowered the barriers, to be sure that the area didn't collapse on them, Isaac opened the video link and found their commander, still alive, staring back at them with a look of concern on his face.

"Hammond?!" Isaac and Chrysalis exclaimed, though they were both happy to see that Kendra had been wrong about their commander falling, which meant that it had to have been Mercer that was messing with them the entire time.

"Thank god the two of you are alright." Hammond said, though while he appeared to be happy to see them they knew that he was more concerned with what was going on at the moment, "I've been trying to reach you for some time now, but someone's been blocking my RIG signal remotely. That crash must have interrupted the signal block."

"Hammond?!" Kendra asked, though instead of replacing his video link Kendra remained as a voice this time around, though both Isaac and Chrysalis hoped that she hadn't suffered much during the collision, "Where have you been?"

"Surviving... barely." Hammond replied, though he let a small smile appear on his face, indicating that he was happy to see that all three of them were concerned for his well being, before he faced them once more, "I found some medical supplies and patched myself up. Listen, as the commanding officer I am officially calling off this mission. Fuck the CEC and fuck the chain of command. We have to get the hell out of here. I think I've located a shuttle on the crew deck, one that we can use. The flight log says it needs a new singularity core, but we can probably salvage one from the Valor... which I can see the tail-end of it sticking out of the side of the Ishimura. I'm headed there now to see if I can't find a way inside the ship. I'll meet the two of you there. Hammond out."

"Isaac, Chrysalis, if what he says about the shuttle is true, we might have a chance of getting out of here." Kendra said, though Hammond's video log was replaced by Kendra's, where she still seemed sad over something, but neither of the duo decided to say anything, "Head to the Cargo Bay and see if you can help Hammond... in his state he might not last much longer."

The duo nodded and exited the room where the ADS controls had been, where they used the elevator to return to the level it was connected to and approached the large door that would allow them to access the other room in front of them, where they had killed two guardians earlier. As the door opened, however, they had to contend with several pieces of a divider, though since they were rather easy to take care of neither Isaac or Chrysalis were bothered by them and quickly put their enemies down. From there they made their way to the elevator that would take them down to the Main Atrium and accessed the machine, to which the two of them rode down towards their destination in silence, all while keeping their weapons at the ready in case more enemies were waiting for them.

When the elevator reached the Main Atrium and the duo walked out, only to round the corner and find another divider waiting for them, but neither of them were in the mood and they opened fire immediately, breaking the Necromorph down into it's movable limbs before blasting those apart as well.

Once the divider was taken care of the duo moved into the hallway that would take them back to the Tram station, though they paused for a few moments by the store so they could sell off the ammunition and other items that they didn't need at the moment. The instant they were done with the store they headed towards the end of the hallway, though that was when they found a pregnant Necromorph walking around the corner, to which the duo opened fire and dismembered the creature before it could release whatever was inside it. From there it was smooth sailing towards the Tram, as they encountered no more enemies along the way and climbed onto the Tram, where they took their seats and started the short journey towards the deck that the Valor had rammed into.

Chrysalis wasn't sure what to expect when they arrived at their next destination, though she hoped that it would be a simple matter to find the singularity core and leave with it, so they could all get off this ship and leave this terrible nightmare behind at long last.