"Alan? Manually disconnect critical systems in order of importance from the cockpit and connect them to battery backups. We just lost thermal sensors, LADAR, and NavSat access. I'm going to try and get rid of this... bug." Harmony says, as soon as the realization strikes her that it's not a mechanical fault, but a virus. She starts shutting down all non-critical processes manually.
"...And let me know if this is getting through: I don't know if we still have internal communications..."
Internal communications are still functioning.
Alan, you could possibly get the engine restarted manually. Harmony would need to override whatever it is that has messed up Gan Ying's control system, though, or you would be rocketing ahead without much handle.
It is at this point that there is another lurch, and the ship rattles as something hits it, knocking everyone to the floor again.
Harmony, very glad she's strapped into the pilot's seat, lurches against the ship, and then gets back to work trying to regain control of the ship. She wracks her brain for every single command code she'd ever learned for an alliance vessel. "Captain, I'm not sure we'll get control back before whatever we keep hitting hits us again..."
After a few seconds, she gets an idea, and asks, "Alan, what kind of timing can you give me on reaction thrusters? I've got one of those odds-are-one-in-a-million ideas that you see in movies..."
Getting to his feet and steadying himself, all Alan can think of is how lucky he was not to smack his head on the hard metal engines. "I wish that things would go from bad to good rather then bad to worse, just this once..."
Alan moves back to the intercom after Harmony finishes talking. "I've never liked trying to beat the odds," Alan mutters to himself, despite the fact that he can be damn lucky at times. "Tell me what your idea is, Harmony, and I'll tell you whether I can do it or not."
The nearest person to Kenneth is Phillip. And so it is Kenneth that feels something jab into his back and stay there.
"Don't move," Phillip says, firmly.
-
"Don't jinx it," Kelly says to Alan, supporting himself on some pipes to remain stable. "What's on your mind, Harmony? And can you tell me what the hell just hit my ship?"
"No sir, our entire sensor array is offline..." Harmony says, "But... Well, we should get one of our escape pods and wire our reaction thrusters and maybe even pulse drive to its NavSat. It'll turn the ship automatically and hive us hard burn towards the nearest planet, and since it doesn't have any connection to the onboard computer, it won't be... infected. We'd have to cut the drives before it attempts re-entry, though, and it's computers won't be able to regulate the plasma flow through our engines... We'll have to do that manually. We'll head for a planet, stash the cargo in some of the escape pods, rewired to launch if accessed incorrectly, and broadcast a distress beacon once we get there. Should get fixed up in no time... If we don't mess up regulating plasma and explode." Harmony laughs nervously, realizing how crazy she might sound. "Or... Well, anyone have a better idea?"
"Thanks, sir. I'll try and find out..." Harmony says, "But escape pods aren't light: we're going to need everyone to get one to the engine room, and then I'll need to get over there to pilot it." Harmony tries to use any hull-monitoring or airlock-monitoring equipment she can still access to determine what the object that struck them is. As a safety measure, she also magnetically seals the airlock blast doors, if they aren't already.
If that doesn't work, Harmony opens up a Cortex screen and prepares to send a wave. At the same time, she monitors the data stream going into and out of the ship, over the Cortex, looking for relay points; if she isn't locked out of the ship's radio receiver, she sets up a quick radar program to read any bounces from the wave that might make their way back to the ship.
Taking advantage of the fact that the cortex is currently locked out of positioning software, and therefore will be broadcasting in all directions, Harmony is planning to read any bounces- either data relays from a vessel with Cortex access, or just radio waves bouncing off the object and making their way back to the ship. Hopefully, she can find out what's out there...
Of course, if that doesn't work, then she grumbles a bit and gets back to work trying to reclaim the ship from the virus.
Harmony, you set up your make-shift radar program since the sensors are still offline... there is something rather large attached to the hull of Gan Ying. And now there is a great deal of clamor towards the back of the ship.
"Last warning, everyone shut up and get on the ground or I put a hole in the good doctor," Phillip says, dramatically cocking the holdout revolver that he smuggled on his person. "Drop anything you've got on you."
"...Captain, I think that jolt was an airlock sealing." Harmony says, while trying to override airlock controls and keep the ship sealed. As a precaution, she also depressurizes the airlocks on their own side, if she can. "Because whatever hit us is stuck, and I'm not getting any hull damage alerts... I'm trying to keep our airlocks as closed as possible, but they'll be able to cut through eventually."
Well, there goes that rush of confidence from having saved the day. Then, she gets a eureka moment. "Alan!" Harmony shouts, "Let's go for a manual burn on the port reaction thruster: might cook them off of us or break the seal!"