Chapter IIa: Absolute Disaster

"That sounds like a wonderful idea, captain!", the voice replies again. "We will open up our shuttle bay doors and release the forcefield. We will welcome you there once you've landed.

You know they're lying and that this is almost certainly a trap but the landing procedure would give the hull team a lot of time to safely install the device without any risk of the other ship raising their shields.

"Not much", Lt. Mezron replies. "We can only use minimal sensors without being detected by the Star Flare. Our hull team is still alive and on the outside of the ship and it appears that the pirates have opened a set of hangar doors."

Kendall, you receive another communication from the Star Flare. "What are you doing? We require your help here!", the voice asks over comm. It sounds very tense now.

Marbo, you see an unknown ship approaching. You've heard of a private vessel arriving and its captain having a conversation with Cass so you assume this is it. It's flying very slowly towards the pirate ship, towards an open hangar bay, but before it enters, it suddenly veers off and takes cover behind the Antarctica. Whatever happened there might have alerted the pirates that something is wrong. You're almost done with the installation of the device but you still need a bit more time. Do you want to keep going like before, work faster (which would make it more likely to be detected) to finish up sooner or abandon the mission in case the pirates will raise their shields in response to the unknown vessels action?

Cass, you also observe this maneuver from the bridge of the Potential and can react however you wish.

You don't get a response for a while. Suddenly, your displays give out a familiar warning to you: A transporter is locking on to you, and you're prettys ure it's not the Potential. The pirates are trying to beam you out of your ship into theirs.

---

"Commander!", Mezron suddenly speaks up. "The pirate ship has just engaged their transporter. It appears as if they're trying to beam Ms. F'brei onto the Star Flare!"

Laser Feeling: You've heard the name pop up once or twice in the context of black markets. From what you've heard, she's not a big deal in the crime world. She used to organize and fence drugs but she disappeared from those circles a while ago.

Do you want to change your action or keep going with it?

Marbo continues to work at a steady, but controlled pace. He refuses to let panic set it. if he speeds up too much he may miss something when installing the device, and then the whole plan would end up just being a loss of resources. He will looks up at his assistant in between installation steps.

"Great danger." The alcohol is wearing off, he can feel himself tensing up. "You can leave. No point. Marbo almost finished here." He continues to work away at the final steps of installation.

Lt. Kun looks up at you, Marbo. You can barely make out his eyes through the thick helmet of the space suit he's wearing. "I have a job to do, Doctor.", he explains. "And unless you're ordering me to return to the Potential, I am going to finish it."

Marbo, you and Lt. Kun finish installing the device and activate it. You can't really tell from the outside but it appears to be working fine and the inside of the ship should be filling with gas now.
You don't see any immediate points of intereston the hull. Shield projectors would be installed under the hull so you'd have to break through it to access them which the crew would definitely notice.

---

Kendall, you feel the familiar sensation of a transporter and suddenly find yourself in a small cargo hold standing on a cargo transporter. You have a gas mask and your self defense pin with you. Two humans are standing next to the platform, both armed with small hand held phasers. They're not aiming at you yet but they seem tense.
"Welcome to our ship", one of them greets you. "Thank you for coming over. We require your help. Come with us please!"
You notice a faint, barely noticeable smell of chemicals in the air.