Ambuscade in Repair Bay Astor

Clearing the Docking Bay access port, the crew of the Belgrave dived deeper into the guts of the space hulk.  An eery silence pervaded the corridors, the only sound coming from the movements of the crew.  After what seemed like hours Shino S spotted a flickering sign indicating that they had arrived at Repair Bay Astor.

A dim light emanating from a fusion reactor lit the repair bay as the crew entered, their eyes struggling to adjust to the gloom.  Wells raised his hand signalling to the rest of the crew to be on their guard, his keen ears picking up the sound of soft padding footsteps.

The bark of Wells` autogun sounded as he located the shape of a deformed mutant trying to sneak up on Shino S.  The high-powered bullets sent the pulped mutant`s body flying, but a few stray rounds fractured the fusion reactor.  Alarms in the bay sounded as the ancient reactor suddenly went into melt down.  The sparking and spluttering from the reactor revealed the presence of three more mutants.

The filth encrusted mutants hissed as they charged towards the crew of the Belgrave.  Okunishi Blue stepped forward opening fire with his las-pistol drawing the mutants away from Shino S and DCL-74 as they tried to stabilise the reactor.

Sweat dripped from DCL-74 as he worked on overriding the safety switches of the reactor, one false move could blow himself and his crewmates to pieces.  The surgeon was so focused on the task at hand that he failed to notice the mutant as it raised its weapon to cut him down until the purple light of YT-75`s laser sword flashed out and the mutant`s head rolled onto the floor.

Okunishi Blue feinted away from the first mutant, twisting on the spot and catching the second mutant with a reverse slice.  Too late, he realised that he was wide open to the first mutant and his luck had finally run out.  A wave of heat spread towards the first mate as he waited for the killing blow that never fell.  Looking up he saw that the Bosun, Hanley had set the mutant alight with his underbarrel flamer.  Okunishi Blue nodded his head to Hanley in appreciation.

With the threat of the mutants finally dealt with the crew were able to turn their attention to the fusion reactor.  The rapidly pulsing reactor was on the brink of detonating when it was finally brought under control by Mandrake.  He was able to locate the emergency cooling valve controls and flooded the reactor with coolant.  Audible sighs of relief could be heard from the crew members as the emergency sirens cut out.  Another danger averted; they could continue with their exploration of the hulk.