Rather than use the intercom, you decide to speak directly with the Marine Lieutenant. You leave the bridge via the lift opposite the main display screen. You ride the lift to the lowest deck. As you exit the lift, you glance to your right towards the Engineering section. The few crew members you can see are preparing their stations for the pending transition to normal space and rescue operations.

You turn left and stride down the hallway until you reach a door marked “Wardroom.” You step inside and see some Marines enjoying their leisure time playing poker and other games a the large table that fills the center of the room. You look at the nearest soldier and ask, “Where is Lieutenant McClusky?”

The soldier glances at you and grins, “I see one of the elite Mighty Ones has come down from On High to speak with us lowly beings. The boss stepped out for a minute to freshen up, she will be back before you can get any of our dirt on your pretty uniform.”

You lightly punch the soldier in his shoulder. “If you weren't married to my sister, I'd put you on report for that attitude of yours. On a serious note, I do have orders for you. How long until McClusky gets back?”

The wardroom door opens just as you finish asking your question. In walks a woman in the tight, basic overalls that are standard wear for soldiers on duty while not on an active assignment. The new occupant walks up behind you and wraps her arms around your stomach. She presses herself against your back and breathily speaks against the back of your neck.

“Whatever could bring Your Mightiness down here to the slums with us regular folks?”

You turn around in her grip and look affectionately in her eyes. “I have a purely professional message to relay, just a personal reason to want to do it directly. We are altering course to rescue a colony ship in distress. We will need a boarding party outfitted for unknown conditions. There is no word from them yet on the status of their life support or environmental systems.”

The lieutenant looks deeply back into your eyes. She smiles as she replies, “I'm more than glad you decided to sneak away from the bridge for a minute to deliver the message yourself. We'll outfit two patrols in full environment suits and send them in first. Everyone else will be in combat gear with their suits on standby. With that being said, can you stick around for a game or two?”

You wrap your own arms around Lieutenant McClusky and give her a gentle squeeze. “As much as I would enjoy playing with you, and maybe one or two others people in here too, I do need to get back to the bridge. We still need to notify the Medical Bay and get precise damage reports from the colony ship in order to coordinate repair teams.”

She gives you a quick peck on the forehead before releasing you from her affectionate grip. “Then you'd better get moving. I wouldn't you to blame me for delaying you enough that the Captain tosses you in the brig for dereliction of duty.”

You remove your arms from the Lieutenant and start to walk towards the door to the hallway. “I will tell the Captain of your plans and relay any more information we get down to you as soon as possible. Once the rescue operations are completed, we'll have a little celebration of our own.”

The soldier at the table calls out, “You hear that boys? Our lucky Louie is gonna have herself a little fun when we are done. Woohooooo!”

Lieutenant McClusky smacks you on the behind with one hand and the soldier on the back of the head with the other. Your “Oh” of fun merges with his “Ow” of pain, making the other people in the room to chuckle. You keep smiling as you walk out of the wardroom and into the hallway.

Your smile is broken when a young engineer comes charging towards you, he is in a hurry and breathing hard as he tries to tell you something clearly important. “Commander.......engine troubles.....we must not use sublight engines....ship will blow.....”

You do your best to calm the engineer down. “We still have some time before our course will bring us close enough to the colony ship to transition to normal space. Call up to the bridge and have the Chief Engineer come down here to help us. I'm sure we can get the sublight engine sorted out in time.”

The engineer catches his breath and manages to speak normally. “We've tried to raise the bridge. Command and data relays function normally, but voice intercoms seem to be out. They don't seem to be able to hear us. I was running up to the bridge when I saw you.”

If you head to the bridge yourself with the information from Engineering, click HERE.

If you send the engineer to the bridge and go to Engineering to repair the sublight engines, click HERE.