Into the Output Port!

Posted on Tuesday December 1st, 2020 @ 3:22am by Lieutenant Fred Krueger

Mission: The Forgotten Outpost
Location: DS3
Timeline: Current

"Well, well, well...," Krueger muttered aloud to himself as he stepped through the airlock and onto the rusted deck of DS3.

The station was a little worse for wear, that was for sure. But Krueger was no stranger to 'worse for wear'. Take his career, for instance... a little worse for wear. But now was not the time for such things. No, there would be time for that later, in the company of liquor. ...Copious amounts of liquor.

"Thanks for nothing!" he called as the U.S.S. Cygnus undocked and pulled away. "Good luck keeping that flux capacitor running without me."

With a sigh and a slouched head, he shouldered his duffle bag and headed for the nearest turbo lift. It groaned and creaked as it began moving, likely an indication of the amount of maintenance work he had ahead of himself. But then the lift stopped and a trio of giggling Orion girls stepped on. One of them glanced over at him. Her eyes were immediately drawn to his mustache, gleaming like a bastion of unparalleled perfection in the dim station light.

Krueger shrugged, "Well, at least the scenery is nice."

Suddenly the lift jerked. No, that wasn't right. The whole station shuddered! Then it shuddered again, this time more violently and the lighting flickered.

"Oh my god! What was that?" the cute Orion girl shrieked.

"Computer, status," Krueger queried.

"The mass anti gravity emitter has malfunctioned. Estimated time until catastrophic failure: ten minutes," the AI stated in its usual chipper voice.

"Well isn't that dandy! Alright, take me there," Krueger ordered.

The turbo lift screached slightly as it changed direction. A minute later, he stepped out into utter chaos.

"Why the hell isn't anyone working on the anti grav?" Krueger yelled into an ensign's face.

"We're trying sir, but the access corridor is flooded! We can't get in," the ensign replied wide eyed.

"What about the output port?" Krueger said.

"The- what? No! It's too hot in there. You'd burn up!" he said.

"Grab as many canisters of coolant as you can find and come with me!" Krueger ordered.

A few minutes later, slatered in frothy white coolant, Krueger slitered his way through the crevices of the anti grav's output port. It wasn't designed to have anything- let alone an entire person rammed up into like this, but he knew it could be done. That was, assuming he didn't burn to death first. There was a gurgling 'slurrrrr' as more coolant was injected into the cavity.

"Bingo!" Krueger said as he emerged into the heart of the machine.

Steam rose off of him, despite the copious amounts of coolant coating every inch and crevice of his body. He'd have to work fast! An adjustment here, a hearty kick there, and all of a sudden a lot of red lights turned blue. ...And the temperature began to rise! He sucked in a lung full of blistering air and dove back out the way he'd come in. The exit was much quicker, thank goodness. In seconds, the machine spat him out. He landed unceremoniously on the deck, and was subsequently sprayed with steaming hot coolant as the output port cleared itself of obstructions. A moment later, and to his great delight, the Orion girl from earlier ran to his aid.

"How on earth did you know to go in through the output port?" the ensign asked.

Krueger laughed, "You don't know me very well."