*Action* - The Blue Dwarf's mission

A spacecraft landed on the flight deck with only a slight jolt. The small thud
as the metal landing struts hit the steel deck plates didn't exceed the
regulation 80 decibels. The ship was a White Midget, one of the Space Corps
newest range of crafts. The door opened and the gangplank lowered, allowing a
sour looking inspector to walk down.
The inspector looked around, but there was nobody there to greet him. He looked
at his watch and counted the minutes.
A reddened Captain Jay Chrysler ran onto the flight deck, and quickly apologised
for being late and shook the inspectors hand.
"I am Inspector George Sourmutt, from Space Corps Internal Affairs." He said.
"You are 3.75 minutes late to greet me."
"I'm sorry Sir, I had to go to the…" He gestured and whispered. "Toilet."
"I am here to assess your crew." Explained the Inspector. "The JMC are making
cutbacks and I'm here to decide if your ship needs to continue pursuing its
mission."
Jay nodded. "I'm sure we can prove you that we're needed." He said, biting his
lip only when the inspector looked away.
"And how close are you to completing your mission?" The Inspector asked.
"Which mission would that be?" Jay asked.
"Finding the JMC Red Dwarf." Said the Inspector sternly. "It went missing 10
years and 9 months ago. Have you made any progress at all?"
Jay struggled to find his next words. In truth they'd not seen any sight of the
missing Red Dwarf in his entire time on the ship. "Progress is…. Slow." He
admitted.
The Inspector stopped and shook his head, then he started writing something on
his clipboard.
"But… I'm sure we're close." Jay said.
When the Inspector finished writing, he then looked at Jay and said "I'm also
here to determine your ability to command this ship. Recently you requested to
promote an officer to your Chief of Security who came aboard your ship as a
stowaway and doesn't have the relevant academic experience."
"Rosette LaChance is a fine officer." Jay admitted.
The Inspector raised his eyebrow. "I'll be the judge of that. I'll be assessing
her very closely." He said.
They started walking towards the Captain's meeting room. "I want you to show me
your plan of action for finding our missing Red Dwarf" said the Inspector.
<Tag – Andy do you fancy having a battle of wits with the Inspector? >
----------------------
Who: Justin, Efof, Rosette, Jayne
Where: Water tank, Blue Dwarf
When: After crashing
The crew plunged into the water and swam away from the escape pod towards an
emergency water airlock. A small eel mistook Efof's genitals for a mate and swam
round until Efof pushed it away. Rosette punched a shark, then quickly swam to
the airlock before she ran out of breath.
The airlock closed and the water drained around them, leaving them stood in
their soaking clothes.
"I don't ever want to do that again!" Said Rosette. Justin nodded, but Efof
grinned. "That was fun!" He said.
Rosette looked down and noticed there was still a enough water to cover their
feet. She looked back at the airlock which wasn't sealed properly. "It's sill
letting some water through!" She said, trying to stop it from leaking.
"Oh yes, another thing one my list to fix." Said Justin.
Efof watched as the water flowed past his feet, out into a corridor, and where
it cascaded down onto some machinery below. The machinery sparked in an unusual
way. "What are they?" He asked.
Justin looked over the metal gangway. "Those are the Wormhole drive capacitors."
He explained. They send pulses of energy into the forward ramscoop spindles at
the front of the ship, and that's what causes the wormhole to open."
"Oh" Said Efof. "It looks like the water is making them do something… iffy."
-------------------
Who: Amber and Wolfgang
Where: Drive Room
When: A minute later
Amber wasn't quite sure what the readings on the Navigation computer meant. She
called Wolfgang over who was also in the Drive room.
"Vot is it?"
"I was running a diagnostic on the Navigation computer and now the Wormhole
drive is acting strangely…" said Amber. "It's starting by itself!"
Wolfgang looked around. Nobody else could have initiated the drive. "Vere is ze
location?" He asked.
"I have no idea!" Said Amber. "If it creates a wormhole now, we could end up
anywhere in the galaxy! We won't have a clue where we are!"
"Can you stop eet?"
"No! Oh god, it's created a wormhole… it's pulling us through!"
The ramscoops sparked with energy and formed a crimson wormhole in front of the
Blue Dwarf, pulling them through into the unknown.
Amber opened her eyes. Then types something into the navigation computer. The
map appeared blank, they were in a totally unexplored part of the galaxy.
"Vere are ve?" Asked Wolfgang.
"No idea." Said Amber. Then the navigation computer exploded in her face,
knocking her off her chair. "The wormhole drive and the navigation computer are
offline. We've got no way of pinpointing our position until we fix it."
Wolfgang walked towards the window, transfixed by what he saw outside.
"What is it?" Amber asked.
All across th ship, the crew all caught sight of the same thing outside the
window. They took a good look. Seymour was so shocked he dropped his Earl Grey
tea, CK was so shocked he dropped his spanner, even Dr Keto did a double-take
and moved closer to the window for a better look. Near the water storage tanks,
Rosette glared out of the window. "Is that…?" She asked.
Several hundred meters off their starboard bow, a large red mining ship drifted
silently. Not a single light shone through a window. It drifted, seemingly
totally devoid of life. The name on the front of the ship was clear to see.
It said `Red Dwarf'.
<OOC – Here's something special for Christmas! After 10 years of searching we've
found the Red Dwarf, if you want to get involved in this s tory get to a Starbug
and board it! You'll find it deserted, apart from maybe some pre-evolved Cats! >