Pancake - Boarding the Red Dwarf

Who: Justin, Rosette Efof and others (insert your characters here if you want to
come along)
Where: Starbug
When: After they discovered the Red Dwarf
Justin was late for the Starbug launch and almost missed it. He quickly ran up
the boarding ramp as the engines fired.
"Sorry I'm late." He told the away team, heading into the cockpit. "I just has a
quick meeting with Captain Chrysler. He wants to know if this is the real Red
Dwarf and not a trick, like a hologram or a fake."
Efof piloted their Starbug towards the big red vessel, and they all stared at
it. This was the ship they'd all been looking for for 10 years. The very reason
why they were out in space. Justin felt a little trepidation, now that they'd
found the ship it might mean they'd all have to find other jobs. There were
rumours of cutbacks in the JMC, and now that the Blue Dwarf had solved its
mission it might not be useful any more. He gulped and hoped they'd be sent on
another mission.
Rosette looked up at him from the tactical computer. "So...?" She asked.
Justin looked at her. He'd forgotten what he was saying.
"So do you have a plan?" Rosette asked him.
Justin raised an eyebrow. "A plan? Me? But you're the new head of security..."
"I mean to tell if it's the real Red Dwarf!" Rosette shouted at him, her
patience was thin when Justin was concerned.
"Oh, actually yes I do!" He said. "My dad was one of the engineers that helped
build the Red Dwarf.... Before he became an unemployed hobo."
"And?"
"And when he'd nearly finished he scratched a message into the wall near the
docking bay. He wrote 'Pancake woz 'ere'. So if this IS the real Red Dwarf, it
should still be there.
As they approached the ship, they started getting a lot more nervous. What would
they find onboard? Would they solve the mystery about why the Red Dwarf has
drifted for a decade? Would they find all the crew dead?
As they flew closer, Rosette said something nobody expected.
"It's firing at us!" She shouted.
"What?!" Justin said, and pulled up the schematics for the Red Dwarf. "It was
never fitted with weapons turrets! It's just a mining ship!"
"The Blue Dwarf has weapons turrets." Efof said.
"Yeah but they were added after we realised the galaxy was inhabited by hostile
aliens!" Said Justin. "No offence Efof." Justin checked the schematics a second
time. "The Red Dwarf definitely isn't supposed to have any weapons."
"Then why are they shooting at us?!" Rosette said.
Justin watched as lasers arched across space and over their heads, only narrowly
missing their ship. Several hit them, making the Starbug shudder. Justin pressed
a few buttons and ran a scan.
"Those are quantum spectrum lasers." Justin said. "They're definitely not made
by the JMC or the Space Corps. They must be alien."
"Aliens have added lasers to the Red Dwarf? But why?" Efof asked, flying
erratically so that they were harder to hit.
Justin shrugged.
"Returning fire." Said Rosette when they were close enough. The Starbug opened
fire on the turret mountings and the attack stopped.
"We're safe to land." Said Justin. "But the docking bay doors won't open.
They're not responding to the normal JMC passwords. I'm going to have to go out
in a spacesuit and open them using the manual release." He gulped as he said it.
Going out in a spacesuit sounded dangerous.
A few minutes later Justin was suited up. He floated out of the Starbug and
towards the hull of the Red Dwarf. He aimed towards the right of the hangar door
and used his spacesuit's thrusters to get there. He banged into the hull and
came face to face with his Dad's writing. "Pancake woz 'ere" was carved into the
hull.
"Guys it's real! This is the real Red Dwarf!" He shouted over his radio.
He pulled on the manual hangar door release and the large metal door opened
slowly, then watched as the Starbug flew inside.
"Hey wait for me!" He said, crawling through the hangar door before it closed.
<Tag – who wants to go next? Do you want to come up with an explanation for why
some aliens have added turrets to the Red Dwarf?>