As the
engineering party headed down the dark and echoing corridors of the
freighter, which was strangely cold (but probably to conserve power),
they couldn't help but feel that something was about to happen. And
happen it did, when two crazed Andorians attacked them with kitchen
knives. They were quickly subdued though, as the Andorians didn't obey
the cardinal rule: don't be stuck with a knife in a gunfight. A quick
check by Beltana confirmed that the Andorians seemed to have pulled out
their antennae, and there was some sort of brain damage near the
auditory canals.
And what could cause that damage? Serin and Krystal were about to find
out. As they exited the stairwell into the bridge level, with Krystal's
flashlight dancing around (they had found three flashlights before
splitting up), Serin saw something scurry into the Captain's Cabin.
Cautiously the three entered the cabin, a luxurious suite complete with
bath and a sauna. Mmm, sauna, thought Serin as he hypnotically headed
into the sauna room. Too late! The trap was sprung as some sort of
giant lobster attacked Serin. The lobster let out this horrible keening
wail, which stunned red shirt Bud and Serin. Good thing they brought
Krystal, because she cooly phasered the little crustacean and knocked
it out.
Serin and Krystal examined the wee beastie, but it was just a giant
lobster. Curious, don't you think? Perhaps some sort of inhabitant of
the ion storm. Krystal tried to read it's mind, but only got lobster
dreams: tearing and eating and living free, free! Either it was a
subtle and diabolically intelligent race, or it was just a dumb
lobster-thing.
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Whichever it
was, Serin and Krystal decided to leave that mystery alone for now. The
bridge was sealed off by a bulkhead door, which would be hard to open
without any power. Still, Vulcans are reputed to be strong, and with a
crowbar from the nearby storage room Serin proceeded to prove his
virility by cracking the door open enough. A high-pitched whistling
sound filled the room as the air started being sucked into the bridge.
With great effort, Serin closed the bulkhead door again. A quick
tricorder scan revealed a vaccuum in the bridge. What the heck happened
on this ship? And where were the Kzinti that the GM had apparently
forgotten all about? They would soon find out...
Back to the other group, who stashed the two unconscious Andorians in a
bathroom and continued to engineering. There they found nothing. Hard
to tell what's wrong with the engines when the gauges don't even work.
And no one wanted to volunteer to go into the warp nacelles. Damn, I
knew I should have gone to the shuttle bay, said Jon (who had
volunteered for the shuttle bay, but had been overruled by that
sadistic taskmaster, the high-and-mighty Vulcan).
Things were not going well for Clancy. In command of a starship for
five minutes and already he had to write "I'm sorry to inform you that
your son has died" letters. Unless... they weren't dead. Perhaps
cloaked? Send in a probe, which promptly went through a subspace rift.
The probe reported that it's warp engine was offline, but it still had
battery power. It also saw the "Wandering Child" drifting away from the
rift. Well good, said Clancy, all we have to do is harpoon the
freighter and reel it back, it's not worth the trouble to recover the
probe. Probe: "Nooooo! Don't leave me!"
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