Find the Founders VIII

[stitch626]

Fires were blazing throughout the corridor. Lieutenant Mark and crewman Nickswitz barely made it into the escape pod. Quickly checking the hallway for anyone else, Mark shut the door to the pod. A few seconds later, the pod ejected from the ship, carrying the two engineers towards a nearby planet.

Lieutenant Deepcrush rushed crewman Staplic, chief petty officer Tsukiyumi, and chef Bob into the only escape pod in sight that wasn't damaged. After everyone was in, Deep shut the door and slammed the eject button. The small pod quickly jettisoned from the ship, heading towards the planet.

Commander Stitch rushed the surviving bridge crew into an escape pod. Ensigns Mikey and MM&I strapped in. Lieutenant Rochey and crewman Lazar followed shortly carrying some emergency supplies. After everyone was aboard, Stitch shut the door and ejected the pod. As the pod drifted towards the unidentified planet, he looked at the small viewscreen at the dieing Intrepid class ship. Seconds later, the ship exploded. The resulting radiation destroyed the pod's sensors and they dropped to the planet blind.


The three pods landed fairly close. The eleven remaining crew of the U.S.S. Hindenburg scrambled together in some nearby caves. After about four hours, they had set up living quarters for each of the crew. Three hours later, a makeshift communications array had been constructed. As night approached, the ship's first officer decided that some things could not wait until morning.
"Alright everyone listen up. The disaster on the Hindenburg was not an accident. Due to sabotage, the EPS conduits on the ship began to overload. This sabotage was caused by one or more Founders. They know how vital our mission is to the war. The CMO was planning for a surprise screening tonight. When the ship started to burn, I knew who was responsible. So I grabbed this as we ran to an escape pod. This is our only medkit. Tonight I am going to take a sample from each of you. It will take most of the night to get the results; this is only a basic kit."
Stitch took blood samples from each of the remaining crew. Then everyone went to their respective "quarters" and prepared for a good nights rest.

==============================================================================================

After handing the medkit to the first person whose results came up human for safekeeping, commander Stitch worked throughout the night. It took a lot of work to get results from the blood samples; the emergency medkit wasn't very sophisticated. At about 5:00 AM, the results came in. Commander Stitch quickly began writing on a pad. His gut told him there was little time. Unfortunately, time ran out.
Before he could even finish a sentence, a sharp machete sliced through his torso, splitting his body in half. The machete morphed back into an arm, and the Founder it belonged to chuckled.
"You won't be stopping us commander. You can't possibly hope to stop us."
Before leaving, the Founder smashed the vials and displays, wanting to leave no information of their identities. He returned to his quarters silently, no one noticing a thing.
On the ground lay commander Stitch's two halves, the shattered remains of his test results, and a pad with the words "The three Founders are..." written on it. It wouldn't be for another hour before the first poor crewman would discover the body.

[Nickswitz]

Commander Stitch, everyone is waiting for the results in the foyer area
::knocks on the door, and hears nothing, then he walks into the room::

"Everyone!!, come hear, Commander Stitch has an announcement to make..."

::Everyone comes to the entrance, waiting eagerly to hear the news::

Don't be so excited, he's dead, but we know one thing; raises the half intact PADD;
there are three founders among us, and we don't know who they are.

anyone want to volunteer their identity, it would make it so much easier for all of us.

[Tsukiyumi]

"Don't be excited?" Seriously?

There are three founders in this encampment, the Commander has been killed, and you say, 'don't be excited'?

Gimme a break. The Founders aren't going to give themselves up, by the way.

[Nickswitz]

Well, you all looked like you were gonna start eating the first meal you've had in months or something.
And I was hoping they would, but They probably won't, you're right.

[Sonic Glitch]

Oh good God... {color drains from face}...Alright... What do we know? Three founders, and they went for the ranking officer first. Is it possible they might work their way down the ranks?

[Lt. Staplic]

I doubt it...I'm not that lucky.

Is there any other information?

[Tsukiyumi]

Looks like this is all we've got. The samples the Commander took have been smashed; they're useless.

[Lt. Staplic]

what about the med kit...we can start over...process the results as a group.

[Tsukiyumi]

Good point...

So, where is it? I checked the area; either the Commander stashed it somewhere, or someone took it.

[Sonic Glitch]

There's also a communications relay. Is it working well enough for a realtime signal to a starship.

And yes, where is that medkit?

[Tsukiyumi]

The relay is good enough to send a message out, but we won't have real-time transmission capabilities unless a starship enters the system.

[Sonic Glitch]

Crap. So we're on our own?

[Tsukiyumi]

Unless I can figure out a way to boost the signal, yes.

Before you ask, I'm working on it.

[Lt. Staplic]

maybe I can assist you...

[Tsukiyumi]

I assume with your science expertise, you could help quite a bit.