Tell Ensign Knight to go with the medics and put Martinez at the helm?
From Create Your Own Story
You are worried about Ensign Knight. She is very young, and she is hurt. The flow of blood from the gash on her cheek shows no sign of slowing. You decide that she needs to see the medic right away.
"Ensign Knight," you call out. "Go with the medics; Martinez take the helm."
The injured girl gives you a confused look, but obeys. Martinez takes her position.
Thenalak quickly explains how to read the modified sensor data and warns that there will not be much time to react before the plasma ignites.
"I'll have to use thrusters only," says Martinez. "The inertial-compensators are still off line."
The fate of the entire crew of the Excalibur now lies in the hands of Jose Martinez. Beads of sweat roll down his brow as he tries to concentrate on the sensor read out. The data tells the tale, he sees a pocket of plasma off the starboard bow about to burst... his hands fly across the control panel adjusting course and speed. The ship gently rumbles as the plasma ignites... that was close. The bridge is in shambles, small fires burn on control panels. Cmdr. Jenkins chokes on the smoke slowly filling the room. The throttle control in Martinez's hand is covered in the blood of the pretty young ensign who would normally be at that station. Another blip in the data. This time to port. Martinez once again expertly works the controls, avoiding a substantial burst of plasma that would have likely crippled the ship. Martinez licks his dry lips, but it doesn't help. A damaged light flickers over head. Fire flickers to the left. The data read out flickers in front. All these flickering lights are making it hard to see exactly what the data is trying to say. Excalibur nears the edge of the nebula.
"Its almost over." Martinez thinks to himself.
But its not over yet. One last blip of data. Its almost as if the nebula knows its about loose its prey. It lashes out wildly. A large pocket of plasma dead ahead is about light up the void. There is no steering around this one. But Martinez is not about to falter when he's already come this far. He throttles back hard, causing everything on board to lurch forward. You end up on your ass four feet in front of the chair you had been sitting in. The ship shakes as the plasma ignites just ahead of the battered vessel. The monitor clears.
"This is it!" Martinez shouts as he guns the throttle hard. The ship speeds forward violently. Just as you were thrown forward before, you are now thrown back. You're momentarily stunned by the pain of whiplash, but you come to when you hear Cmdr Jenkins exclaim, "We're out!"
Excalibur burst through the gaseous skin of the immense beast, out into the wide openness of space.
Martinez lets out a sigh of relief as he lets his tense arms go limp. You are safe.
"No time to rest now Chief Engineer," You tease. "I need a damage report."
Martinez brings the ship to a stop a safe distance from the nebula and returns to his engineering station. He begins to assess the situation:
"We've burnt out the sensor array, auxiliary power is gone, main power is at 53%, the inertial-compensators are messed up pretty bad... I won't have them back online for at least a few days. There is heavy buckling on the hull. I'm sorry sir, but this ship is not space worthy. Luckily the main engines are fine, we'll be able to generate a wormhole to take us home with no problems. Unfortunately since we can only use thrusters, it will take us 11 days to travel through the wormhole."
"Well," you sigh. "Go ahead and get that wormhole open. The sooner we get going the sooner we'll get home."
You press the com button to signal the infirmary.
"Doctor Russell on the line." the voice responds.
"What are our casualties Doctor?" you ask gravely.
"17 wounded, no dead thankfully. The prognosis is good for everyone here, they'll all heal up fine eventually."
You sigh in relief.
"wormhole is ready Captain." Martinez says.
"Lets go home."
DEBRIEFING
Your mission was to chart the Dark Nebula. The nebula remains uncharted. We understand that plasma storms are dangerous, but that’s why we needed that thing charted in the first place. Also, your ship and crew are a mess. Its going to take weeks before you are ready to go out into space again. We are not happy.
YOUR FIRST MISSION ENDS IN FAILURE
