Sloane Kelly (Official Thread)

“What the hell is that!?”
Sloane didn't have an answer. The ship trembled and quaked all around them, heaving as if stretched in too many directions. They swayed, colliding into each other, before both women found their feet. The awesome shriek of metal tearing apart echoed through the corridors. Allison half ducked, throwing an arm over her head. Sloane had only just locked her stance down, preparing for a deeper roll, when the shifting stopped. Again, metal strained and groaned, rolling hollowly through the otherwise eerily hushed chamber. When it faded to nothing, they stared at each other in grim silence. For a long moment, nothing moved. Not them, not the ship. Sloane led out a breath she hadn't realised she was holding. “No follow-up,” she said, “that's good. Or at least, it isn't bad.”
“Another explosion!?”
“Doubtful.”
“How can you be sure?”
Sloane braced a hand against a tilted column and studied the bulk head above them, half expecting it to suddenly crack and fall. What a way to go. “'Cause it didn't feel like one,” she said flatly.
“Whatever this is, it's affecting the whole ship. Like... like an earthquake.”
“An earthquake in space? Now who's being sarcastic,” Sloane retorted.
“I figured I'd meet you on your level,” Allison muttered, more than a little superiority in the [?] jibe.
That earned her a hard glare. “All I'm saying,” Sloane said, dredging up her failing reserve of patience “is that none of my under-attack-bones are twitching, and that jives with what a technician postulated on my way here.” Much to Sloane's dismay, in some ways, an attack was easier to handle. Protect the station. Kill the intruders.
“Who!?”
“T'Von, I think. Asari.”
Allison's eyes widened. “She's alright!?” The hope in that sentence, the fact that it ended on a question, was enough to kick an ache in Sloane's conscience.
Wordlessly, she shook her head.
Crestfallen, Allison seemed to deflate, withdrawing a little more from Sloane.
“She was one of the science team.”
“Yeah...”