Logbook Entry: 2400-03-01 - A blip on the radar

Turn a bit right. I think I see another spot of this damn fungus... Ray radios to Ezra. He, Filip and Jettison are hovering above the hull of the 'Lucky Chance' in vac-suits, using plasma lances to burn away the layer of fungal growth that has appeared on the ship once again.
Ezra meanwhile turns the ship like a shish kebap over a grill. Only that the grill is a white dwarf. The bright blue light is a perfect contrast to the brown spots of mould.
This has been the 27th time they had to do this procedure. The first time it appeared the fungus nearly closed some maneuver thrusters. Luckily enough the fungus seems to die when it comes in contact with air, so at least the inside of your ship is safe. Only a thorough cleaning procedure, along with partial disassembly of the hull could get completely get rid of it but the cost of 10₡ to do so is not a small sum and so you just stop every few days to clean off the fungal growth.

The 'Lucky Chance' is a very old space freighter with a lot of problems. Life support can only heat the ship slightly above freezing temperatures. The hallway doors only open halfway and the mentioned fungal growth necessitates regular cleaning of the hull.
Nevertheless for such an old vessel it still does a remarkable job. There are freighters that are half its age that have been decommissioned because of mounting issues. And last but not least, it's the only ship you can afford. Despite its age the ship is still capable of running the occasional odd job. You're not rich but you earn enough to afford a modest and independent life.

*BLIP-BLIP-BLIP* the sensor workstation emits a beeping sound. You are not alone it seems. A space-vessel of some kind is approaching. The transponder is turned off. A bad sign. You have about 15 minutes until it reaches you.. Oh no... 10 minutes. It's accelerating towards you! This is a very bad sign.
Better come in guys. Someone is visiting us and we better be prepared... Ezra radios back to Ray
Time to prepare for battle it seems

Ray turns off the plasma lance, and instinctively takes a quick look around him. He doesn't spot anything as the approaching space-vessel is still far away, but even if it was closer, space can be really disorienting when trying to spot anything around you. Ray is not the kind of person that looks forward for trouble, but he is also cautious against all kinds of dangers a space crew can face (which are too many) and he has learned to waste no time. A turned-off transponder could always mean it's just broken, but it's better to be prepared for the worst. Ray waves to Filip and Jettison and reaches them using the radio, as he starts moving slowly towards the airlock.
Guys, we may have guests. Fungus should wait for now, lets head inside to see what's going on.

"Roger Roger Ray Ray" Jettison answers flippantly. He's been doing that since he joined the ship ... how long ago? A person of no mentioned history, he just showed up one shift while the Lucky Chance was docked at Tannhauser Gate. He pulses the thrusters on his vacsuit and glides smoothly toward the airlock.

Ezra worriedly monitors the crew as they scramble into the ship and get ready to cycle the airlock. Ezra is watching Filip on the grainy exterior camera hoping he makes it into the airlock quickly.

When you get inside, hussle to your stations. I'm thinking we strap in and do a hard burn. Anyone disagree with that tactic? I've got a really bad feeling about this.

"I figured this trip would be my funeral." Engel says to himself as checks the med-bay to make sure the appropriate supplies and equipment are well-stocked and in the right place. The action was more of a way to calm his nerves, an almost ritualistic act whenever danger started to present itself on the "Lucky Chance".

Ezra rolls his eyes at Jettison's remarks. Always cracking a joke even if we might not live to hear another punchline, thinks Ezra.

Ezra frantically flips switches on the bridge control panel and preps the ship for a hasty departure.

Not sure if we can outrun these, um, herb pirates. Better think about our tactics if we face a boarding party.

With everyone back in the ship you have only a few minutes left to decide what to do.
The ship stopped accelerating. A casual glance at the sensor readings shows that is apparently turned it thrusters towards you and is doing a reverse burn probably to stop close to the 'Lucky Chance'
Ezra will recognize this as a classical military attack maneuver. Come in hot and do a reverse burn as late as possible in order to close in FAST. Usually used by boarding crews or ships built for close combat.
There still is no activated transponder and the ship is not hailing you.

So what do you want to do?

-Try to speed off in order to flee?
-Attack? Your ship only has minor offensive capabilities. Its cannons are built for warding off debris, asteroids and torpedoes and not for space combat
-Make a scan? Maybe you can use your sensors to discover the capabilities of the ship
-Brace for contact or maybe even impact? Just sit in place and wait what happens
-Or maybe something else? Of course you can come up with your own course of action.

Ezra shouts over the comms, "Hang on! Let's see if we can outrun them and evade fire while I see if I can talk some sense into them."

Ezra fires up the engines on the 'Lucky Chance' and speeds away. Even though the enemy ship hasn't hailed them, Ezra decided to see if talking can help give them an edge. "Unidentified vessel, please announce your attentions."

Jettison waits for the others to get in the airlock, then ducks in and cycles it closed as Ezra activates the engines. He doesn't have a firm hand hold, and tumbles across the lock chamber as the ship accelerates.

As soon as Ethan enters the ship, he rushes to his seat and starts operating the supporting systems panels in front of him. He takes a quick look at the ship's status, making sure the shield is up and all systems running, and then he proceeds to use the sensors to do a tactical scan of the approaching ship.

Onboard the Lucky chance
Ezra tries to speed off but forgets that the thrusters are still in rotational mode. So instead of accelerating the ship he just spins it violently.
Filip and Ray are already strapped in but Jettison is violently thrown around in the airlock like a lone sock in a washing machine. He smashes against the rack with the vac suit and hears a crack. Luckily instead of his ribs, his armored vest took was the thing that cracked. Until he can get it fixed it won't be much protection

---

Onboard the boarding vessel
Acker and Landonis found out about this old battlefield. A bunch of military grade equipment just waiting to be picked up. They booked a freighter that would bring them here and help them with picking up the most valuable pieces.
Unfortunately the freighter jumped away when it was full with goodies and left you two stranded.
At least you had a bit of luck. You had just enough air in your vac suits to reach an old boarding craft with a functional reactor and a functional life support system.
But that was all the luck you had.
As soon as you booted it up, the main screen flickered, printed the message "TARGET ACQUIRED" and sped to an unknown destination.
After a few minutes you saw a dot on the radar screen and a countdown printed next to it.
As soon as the countdown read '3:36' you can hear a sound coming from the comms unit. "Unidentified vessel, please announce your attentions." Very noble of you. Jettison breaks his vest
Yes, you are supposed to man stations. I made a post describing your ship here. Here you can see what stations your ship has.

Strapped into the co-pilots seat, Acker shouts once more into little ship's comms unit, "I said we have NO control. Do you read?!"

She smacks her open palm once more on the flickering instrumental panel and snarls at Landonis.

"Either you get control of this ship or I get the comms online, 'cause if we get neither we're either getting blasted by them or we're ramming them against our will. So, let's not do that!"

She kicks the underside panel of the instrument dash, then pries open the section she loosened. She stares bewildered for a second, then grits her teeth and starts pulling at electronics wiring.

Whatever you say boss says Landonis as he shakes of dizziness of hyperdrive jump. He starts flipping and checking all the switches around to regain control of the ship. hi girl talk to me. We could be friends he says directly to the spacecraft with a smoothing but nervous voice.

As Acker smashes comms he adds common boss be gentle to her! She probably saw some crazy shit before

"Ah nuts!" says Jettison. He scrambles around the airlock, makes it to a seat and straps in. "Ezra, man, I understand you're in a hurry ... next time you thrust, remember to hit the switch for the seatbelts lights, right?" He looks for some controls to operate. Weapons. He starts to power them up.