Chapter I: A Ship in Peril

"The sensors pick up five life signs, one human, the others unidentified.", Lieutenant Mezron explains. "There are also no weapon systems showing up on the scans. The sensors can't determine the exact damage to the ship but I do not read the signature of an anti-matter chamber so this ship is not equipped to go to Warp speeds. And this is not a result of whatever damaged it. If the anti-matter chamber had been destroyed, nothing would be left of the ship now."

The new signal repeats itself a number of times and then stops as well. There is no response to your hails.

M1-K3 and Zephyr, you assemble a team of security officers and meet them at the transporter room. After a short period of preparations to boost the signal enough for a safe transport, the transporter chief energizes.
You materialize in a medium sized room that appears to have been the bridge of the ship. However, all computers and even the view screen have been removed, except for one small computer near the captain's chair. It appears as if someone has stripped the ship off of all valuable components.

In the middle of the room stands a male human with white skin. He’s dressed in rough cloths and he’s holding a disruptor in his hand. He lifts it and aims straight at your team.

"Drop.. your… wea… pons" His voice sounds pressed and as if he has difficulties speaking.


In the meantime, on the bridge of the USS Potential: Without so much as a warning due to the solar radiation blocking your sensors, three ships jump out of warp, surrounding the Potential. All three ships are of very different designs. Two of them appear to be private space crafts, the third one is definitely Spacefleet.

All three ships’ shields are raised and their weapons are readied.

You receive a communication from the Spacefleet ship – no visuals, only a female voice speaking: "Consortium space ship, deactivate weapon systems and drop your shields. Allow us to board your ship or be destroyed"

M1, right after you finish speaking, the man shoots his disruptor at you. He misses due to his hands shaking but the next time, you might not be quite as lucky. The man's face is contorted, as if he is in pain. "Drop... Weapons!", he repeats. He staggers towards you, his shaking finger still on the trigger of his weapon.

Cass, you hear the shot over the communicator. Nobody seems to have been hit but your away team is in danger - and you won't be able to beam them out without dropping your shields. One of the private looking ships moves closer to the broken down ship that your away team is on.
You also receive another hail from the Consortium ship. This time, they request video communication as well.

The view screen lights up showing the bridge of a Consortium ship, smaller than the Potential's and matching the outer appearance of the ship in front of you. In the Captains chair, you see an alien woman wearing Spacefleet uniform with the markings of a Captain on her collar: "Commander of the Spacefleet scout ship Potential, this is Captain Ery-An of the USS Sigma. You are interfering with an important Consortium mission. Lower your shields immediately and allow my people to board your ship."
Cass, you notice that the chair next to her where the First Officer would sit is empty. You also notice that Captain Ery-An's uniform collar is slightly damp from sweat.

You charge forward but before you can reach the man, he fires again, hitting your shoulder and burning a hole into it. If you were human, this hit could very well have killed you but fortunately, you are more resistant to disruptor fire than your crewmates. You grab the man by his throat and he, shocked that you are not dead, drops the weapon to the ground. "It... too late... for you..." he manages to say with audible difficulty. His eyes seem barely focused on you as if he is only half aware of what's going on