>>5531865The Marrok is cut off by the frantic sound of claws scrabbling on metal accompanied by a deep growl. Your Ulveng Navigation Officer, Cleo von Clifton, comes tearing up the stairs from the observation deck to your raised bridge section. She pauses at the edge of the command area, panting, and with wild eyes. “Lieutenant Clifton reporting for… haaa… duty, Sir.” her translator produces an incongruous young female voice for the guttural growls and yips the hulking canine actually speaks in. “I don’t know why I just woke up on the deck in front of the viewport but nevermind that…”
She races to her command station in a blur, slamming into the too-small seat next to Kiro.
“Hey squirt,” she greets the speechless Ops officer. “I think we have company!” She points emphatically at the forward viewport, where a bright, twinkling star appears to be growing larger by the second.
You squint at the pulsing yellow light, quickly turning to compare it to the sensor feed currently displayed on the main screen. Same pulse frequency and wavelength, you realise, sweat beading on your brow.
“Seems like there’s more of them.” You say to no one in particular.
“I don’t know who <span class="mu-i">they</span> are, Ell-Cee, but they sure as hell ain't catching a von Clifton unprepared!” Cleo grins toothily back at you. “Now let's see who's come to play!” Her snarling voice is translated in an almost sing-song manner which causes an involuntary shiver to race up your spine.
“What’s wrong with the dorsal optics? Nevermind, I’m borrowing ventral, Ops.” Without waiting for a reply the Nav officer wrests the optical feed from her fellow officer’s control and focuses them forward. An image resolves on the main screen showing not one, but five separate small vessels burning retrograde in close formation to intercept you. They bear a shape reminiscent of the cruiser which attacked you, each an identical black, featureless, prism.
“Boarding craft.” Kiro gasps, wide eyed. “The enemy vessel must have dropped them before they coasted past us and attacked.”
Turning to his console again, he starts to read the new data coming in from the sensor suite. “ETA is five minutes, Cap!” he squeaks.
“They’re just about to hit the point where we won't be able to outmanoeuvre them, Sir.” Cleo adds, “Are we in a position to handle this? Or will we be repelling boarders?” She bares her teeth in a feral grin and brandishes her claws with a dramatic flourish.
What will you do?
>It’s too late and we mustn't show our hand. Use this time to prepare the ship for boarding action.>Start the ship spinning, make it hard for them to board while we work out a solution.>There’s too many craft for our injured crew to handle, we need to shoot them down.>Maybe this is all a big misunderstanding, open communications and try to talk it out.>Perhaps a combination or something else entirely. Write in. 