Title: Snap, Crackle and Pop!
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DMCI Interface Begin
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DMCI: Turn: +1 (Turn: 4)
DMCI: Fuel: -1 (Fuel: 17)
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DMCI Interface End
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The ship approaches a nearby moon.
Lt. Vanguard: Well...there doesn't seem to be anyone around and that planet doesn't look too well developed...
Ens. McAliber: Any idea where the distress signal is coming from?
Capt. Antony: Have you trans-located the distress signal's origin?
Lt. Vanguard: Surprisingly enough, it looks like it's coming from the moon, if I'm reading this right...
Capt. Antony sets The Kestrel into an orbit pattern around the moon.
Lt. Vanguard: The sensors haven't picked up much from here though, so I have no idea what we'll be getting into down there..
Capt. Antony: Ship Computer, please scan for life forms!
Ship Computer: "Scanning, Captain..."
Lt. Vanguard: I hope we don't run into another dead base again...One was more than enough for my stomach to handle.
Ship Computer: "Picking up one life-form, Captain."
Capt. Antony: Hmmm, one life-form on that entire moon? What do you think gentlemen?
Lt. Vanguard: Something must have gone wrong down there...
Capt. Antony: Given the scenario, I think we should all go down in Shuttle #1.
Ens. McAliber: The least we can do is go down to see what happened. If we can help them, great. If not, we can always bail back here.
All three crew head down to the vehicle bay and enter Shuttle #1. The shuttle takes off and goes down to the moon surface where the distress signal is originating. The shuttle lands in a clearing.
Capt. Antony: This planet seems very inhospitable.
Capt. Antony checks the atmosphere readouts.
Lt. Vanguard: Hopefully we can find this distress beacon soon then. I'd hate to be too late.
Capt. Antony: We won't need our suits, but let's make sure we bring our blasters.
The crew exit the shuttle and walk South-West towards the distress signal.
Ens. McAliber: We're certainly getting closer. Hopefully we'll be able to see the source of the beacon when we crest this next hill...
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The crew happen upon a cave. (Que Mood Music: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVVtyAGuafw)
Lt. Vanguard: It looks like the signal is definitely coming from in there...
Capt. Antony: I really hate caves! Especially what with our last cave adventure.
Capt. Antony spots a wrecked ship close by.
Capt. Antony: The weathering on this ship is interesting....It's as if....
Ens. McAliber: Well, someone was certainly here, once. Safe bet to say they were the ones who activated the beacon...
Lt. Vanguard: Might be an old fail-safe though, if that's the case...How does the ship look to you, Captain?
Capt. Antony: It looks like it's been here for decades.
Lt. Vanguard: What do you think the odds are that whoever lit their beacon is still here?
Capt. Antony pulls out his portable scanning device.
Capt. Antony: I am detecting a life-form inside the cave.
The three men enter the cave with blasters drawn.
Capt. Antony: By George! It's a man!
Lt. Vanguard: Has he been here all this time? I'm amazed he lasted this long!
Capt. Antony: Lt. Vanguard, please perform a med scan on him.
The men begin to put away their blasters. Lt. Vanguard pulls out the med-scanner, and starts to do a cursory scan of the figure.
Ens. McAliber: I'd keep at least one blaster trained on him if I were you Captain. Never hurts to be careful.
Capt. Antony: Go ahead, Ens. McAliber. Keep him covered.
Lt. Vanguard: This will take a minute, Captain. Do you think you could try communicating with him? He hasn't said anything to us yet, but that's just making me uncomfortable.
Capt. Antony approaches the figure now hiding in a corner of the cave. He can hear some distinct mumbling. He turns towards his crew.
Capt. Antony: What is that he is repeating to himself?
Lt. Vanguard and Ens. McAliber shrug their shoulders. Capt. Antony moves in even closer.
Capt. Antony: Uh...Hello...Sir?
The figure continues with his ravings. Capt. Antony turns to Lt. Vanguard and Ens. McAliber yet again.
Capt. Antony: I don't know.
Lt. Vanguard: Can you make out what he's saying?
Capt. Antony: It's all random words...and some I've never even heard of. We really have two options here...We can bring him back to the ship and try to find him some help….Or simply not take the risk and leave him here.
Lt. Vanguard: Well, the med-scan seems to be saying he's physically alright...
Capt. Antony: That's good!
Lt. Vanguard: But I'm not convinced that he's particularly stable mentally...
Ens. McAliber: I'm pretty convinced he's entirely UN-stable, actually...
Ens. McAliber keeps his blaster trained on the figure.
Lt. Vanguard: Well, if the med-bay can clean him up , he might be useful...He was on a ship once, from the look of it...
Capt. Antony: He might very well be an asset to our ship...
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The four men enter the shuttle and return to the ship. A few hours pass.
Capt. Antony: Has anyone seen our new guest?
Capt. Antony: I thought I had given orders to confine him to Med Bay.
Ens. McAliber: Last I saw, he was wandering around the lower deck...I thought you must have given him leave...
The men make their way down to the lower deck...but before they find their guest, they are propelled backward by the shockwave of an explosion. Cargo crates scatter throughout the hold. Capt. Antony picks himself up. He searches for the men just moments ago standing beside him. The Kestrel received 5 points of Hull Damage going from 30 to 25.
Capt. Antony: Lt. Vanguard! Ens. McAliber! Are you alright?
Capt. Antony pulls a cargo crate off of Ens. McAliber.
Capt. Antony: Ship Computer! Damage assessment!
Ship Computer: "The hull in the cargo bay has been weakened.…Sending in servo-repair-bots to perform temporary repairs."
Capt. Antony finds a hand underneath a cargo crate and reaches to grab it.
Capt. Antony: Lt. Vanguard...Is that you?
Capt. Antony reels in horror as the hand is attached to nothing as he pulls on it.
Capt. Antony: Oh no! Lt. Vanguard!
Lt. Vanguard appears behind the Captain limping to his feet with a visible bump on his head from a propelled crate.
Lt. Vanguard: Don’t worry, Captain...that’s not my hand...fortunately.
The three crew, all now on their feet, assess the carnage present in the cargo bay.
Ens. McAliber: This is going to take some time to clean up. I'm just glad that that hole didn't completely breach the hull. We could have been sucked out into space!
The crew assisted by janitorial bots attempt to clean up the cargo bay as best as could be expected under the circumstances. Ens. McAliber pushes a barrel towards the Captain.
Ens. McAliber: Well Captain, this is all of him.
Capt. Antony: Let's seal the barrel and jettison it out into space...
Ens. McAliber: Aye-aye, Captain!
Capt. Antony reflects as the he watches the barrel being sent out into space through the window of the cargo bay airlock door. Capt. Antony looks at Lt. Vanguard and Ens. McAliber.
Capt. Antony: Is our mission cursed? We barely made it out of the Hangar Ship...We almost became breakfast for a worm...We happen upon a Federation base where everyone was killed...and now THIS!!!
The crew return to their stations and Capt. Antony checks all the systems.
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Capt. Antony pulls up the beacon map.
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Capt. Antony: What is that!?
Capt. Antony double and triple checks the sensor array electronics.
Capt. Antony: I am detecting a massive amount of ships carrying Rebel transponders right behind us!
Ens. McAliber: That is the Rebel fleet, Captain...taking over this sector. They must be tracking our jump signatures.
Capt. Antony: This is a very hairy situation indeed. We have some options. We can head back and see exactly what is chasing us. Or we can travel forward as fast as possible. It all depends on how much distance we'd prefer to keep between us and the advancing Rebel fleet.
Hours later, Capt. Antony visits Lt. Vanguard while he is recovering in the med-bay.
Lt. Vanguard: I can't believe he would do that to himself...
Lt. Vanguard: I guess the stress of being back on-board a ship was too much for him and he just snapped...
Capt. Antony: Still thinking about it?
Lt. Vanguard: Well, I was a bit too stunned, with the blow to my head, at the time to really react. It's just...
Lt. Vanguard: What did we do to deserve this mess?
Capt. Antony: You were very close to the explosion, but you seemed to have healed fine.
Lt. Vanguard: Like you said, giant worms, slaughtered compatriots and a suicidal madman...
Lt. Vanguard: I'd say I hope it doesn't get any worse but at this point I don't know.
Capt. Antony passes Lt. Vanguard the data pad displaying the beacon map.
Lt. Vanguard: Let's just get as much space between ourselves and the rebels as possible...We've been taking our sweet time so far, and look where it has gotten us...
Lt. Vanguard: I don't like the idea of jumping towards more danger, not after all that.
Capt. Antony: Agreed. This sector seems cursed.
Capt. Antony pulls up the navigation computer and locks in coordinates for the beacon towards the sector’s east.
Lt. Vanguard: Hopefully luck will finally be on our side...
Once again...The Kestrel jumps into the unknown.
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DMCI Interface Begin
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DMCI: Hull Strength: -5 (Hull Strength: 25)
DMCI: Crew#1|Shuttle: +1 (Crew#1|Shuttle: 2)
DMCI: Crew#1|Away Team / Rescue: +1 (Crew#1|Away Team / Rescue: 2)
DMCI: Crew#2|Shuttle: +1 (Crew#2|Shuttle: 3)
DMCI: Crew#2|Away Team / Rescue: +1 (Crew#2|Away Team / Rescue: 3)
DMCI: Crew#3|Shuttle: +1 (Crew#3|Shuttle: 3)
DMCI: Crew#3|Away Team / Rescue: +1 (Crew#3|Away Team / Rescue: 3)
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DMCI Interface End
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