I did not know where I was. It seemed to be an alien interrogation chamber, but for all I knew I am halfway across the galaxy.
"T'sil novarlek noklar?!", an alien demanded. I remained silent.
The last thing I remembered was being attacked while on patrol duty off of Beta, the first extrasolar planet colonized. Beta is one of the planets of Upsilon Andromedae. The entire Federation fleet was on high alert, after the disappearance of the F.E.S. Pearl.
"T'sil novarlek noklar?!", the alien demanded again. It's tone grew more harsh.
The aliens were insectoid - they reminded me of the praying mantis. They were wearing atmosphere suits.
"Tasalach!", another alien screamed. I was beaten with an instrument of torture.
That was the last thing I remembered, before I found myself adrift in a Federation lifepod.
It was cold. And dark. The air was growing thin.
I fumbled around the pod, looking for the life support. I tried to activate it, but to no avail.
I desperately struggled to find the power core. I suspected that the aliens removed the core, leaving me out to suffocate and freeze. I found my suspicions to be correct.
I tried to find the weapons compartment. The compartments are encased in a material that is impervious to low-level scans. Federation devices use a power cell that is almost completely universal - and lifeboats are designed to take such power cells.
A pair of medium plasma rifles and standard issue pistols were in the compartment. And the power cells appeared to be intact, and fully charged. Four fresh power cells. Enough to make it to the nearest Federation outpost with full life support remaining. The pod had limited supra-light capabilities, and the cells were used primarily to regulate antimatter flow in the engines. I quickly removed the cells from the weapons and inserted them in slots on the power converter.
Standard-issue power cells contain highly compressed antimatter- one was enough to heat a lifepod for a week, and could be used as a backup fuel cell.
Once I'd inserted the cells, I heard that extremely uplifting drone of the atmosphere synthesizer working. The temperature almost immediately shot up by thirty degrees.
I activated the console, and plotted a course for Outpost Omicron.
While the pod was realigning, I saw a bright flash through the viewport. Suddenly, the console lit up like a Christmas tree. An Alien warship entered hyperspace, and was headed for Earth.
(This message has been edited by moderator (edited 02-11-2002).)
Just kidding... see below.