"We found something unusual in the bridge. What is the situation down in the engineering room?"
You can hear a conversation between your team mates.
Sergio's voice comes first: "Life support is up. I have some...odd readings from the slime that attacked us. Vasquez and I are headed back to engineering to share our findings with you. Be there soon."
Then Jazzming's replies. "Gotcha. We may be moving soon, so hurry up. Could use your help transporting Alain."
And finally Sergio's once more. "Don't leave before I get there, that's an order Corporal! We shouldn't have split up to begin with. Has there been any contact with the lieutenants?"
It is at this point that Jazzming calls for the two of you. After Arianna's call, Lieutenant Mfumbe speaks. "Sergeant Alain is injured, but he is stable. I believe I should return to Deronda with him so he can be treated. Once he is safe, I will bring additional supplies now that we have life support."
To you, he adds, "I do not want to risk aggravating Mister Alain's situation by moving him all over the ship. Once your team returns, we can move him to our shuttle and then you can get to the core."
You can hear Mfumbe answer Arianna, "Sergeant Alain is injured, but he is stable. I believe I should return to Deronda with him so he can be treated. Once he is safe, I will bring additional supplies now that we have life support."
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"Garibaldi, where were you?" Jazzming's voice said over the comms, a worried note to it. "You and McGregor both completely disappeared from the ships systems!"
"There's something interesting going on bridge. We have found possible survivors, but they seem to believe that their ship is just fine, and that we are boarding them as part of a war. They also do not appear to be able to identify the damage that has occurred on the ship. If we are going to take the bridge, we will probably need 2-3 combat teams. Also, the people who were chasing us vanished when they entered the damaged part of the ship."
Liam merely grumbles in agitation, and a muted "Sci fi b%!$*%#s!" can be heard over the comlink.
"Can't say I'm not curious too, but it sounds like Mfumbe is heading back, maybe you should go with him and give an eye witness report on the slime. Here..." Sergio sends the man a copy of the readings he discovered
"Getting the full force of the Deronda's science team to looks this over can only improve our situation. Come on, I promise we'll check this out when you come back."
" Glad to have you two back on communication, was worried for a second there. I only just fixed the life support, did you see how the crew for this ship was surviving? Part of a war you said? Like, between them and other humans? What the hell happened out here while we were stuck on Earth? Have you been attacked by any creatures made of acid?"
"We're back, life support isn't pretty but it'll do for now, anywhere there isn't a hull breech at least. Look at the results I have from the creature that attacked us."
You find some interesting readings. The acid the creature spat was extremely concentrated sulfuric acid, so concentrated that was almost certainly the product of industrial manufacturing rather than evolutionary process. Adding to this is the fact that you can detect the components of DNA in the creature, which does not occur in non-Earth-based life. Either this thing came from Earth, or whoever it was human
"I was starting to be worried that the 'organic mass' might be whatever is left of the crew of this ship, but if the Lieutenants have found survivors...I don't know. Won't speculate. Need more information.
Where is it we're headed Brokato?"
"From the way they were talking, it sounded like there's some sort of tentative peace on their planet. Not sure though..."
After a brief pause, Arianna adds "Do you have any idea of the Earth culture that might have inspired the architecture of this ship? I realize that it's a weird question, but it might help me when I go to renegotiate with them."
He looks from the information to the others in the room. "This is not a good thing. What could have happened here? I hate to even suggest this, but it might be useful to try to see whatever that large mass is below us."
"You run into a bunch of people who are alive without life support and your first thought is architecture? Sorry to say it's not a field I'm familiar with, but I have a few tricks I want to try. Will update you shortly."
" I was afraid you'd say that Mfumbe, but you're not wrong. I'll add it to the list of sites to visit. Brokato you said you were getting ready to go, where were you headed? ¡Ay dios mio! I feel like we're being stretched thin. We need more people on this ship to cover ground."
He shakes his head, frustrated.
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"Garibaldi, not too sure about architecture, but according to the logs I can access, this ship launched almost 230 years ago. If you're talking to the original crew members, and not a group of inbred descendants, then something more than slime is going on here."
Looking over at Mfumbe, she said, "Sir, when you get back to the ship, tell them to send aboard a more combat-ready team, and relay all the notes on this 'slime' that Sergio got."
"Agreed. We should reconvene at the shuttle and update the ship. There's something seriously wrong here."
Liams contribution to the conversation is a steady mutter of angry curses, most of them directed at hackneyed science fiction plots, time travelling and Doctor Who in particular.
"Agreed. We should reconvene at the shuttle and update the ship. There's something seriously wrong here."
"Lieutenant Mfumbe is actually headed back to the Deronda, so they can update them with any relevant information. We technically have not completed our mission yet, the Corporal and I are headed to the central core room, we should be able to rendezvous there, with the four of us together I'm sure we can tackle any obstacle while waiting for backup."
"Sounds like a good idea. We'll head in your direction. I want to get some air samples from the undamaged section first. I'm curious as to what is going on, and that might help us learn something."
Liam snorts at the implied threat, but decides to vent his spleen on Star Trek instead.
"Boldly coming indeed...I'd shove a warpcore up his arse and all..."