Let’s Play Star Trek Online: Episode Five

Welcome back to Let’s Play.  Last time, O’Malley explored Earth Starbase before embarking on his first assignment – to rescue the S.S. Azura.  Will our intrepid captain be able to handle this task?  Let’s find out!  (If you’re new, you might want to start with Episode One.)

Well I’ve used up my recreation time, so I’d better head back to my ship.  I beam back up, and head to sector space to look for the S.S. Azura.  Their last known coordinates are just a few light years from home:

We approach the coordinates as quickly as we can, and soon receive a short-range distress call:

Sounds like we arrived just in time!  I order an immediate approach.

As we get closer, we see that the Azura is under attack by Orion raiders.

There’s only one thing to do about that:

We blow them up.

The Azura looks pretty bad.  They’re venting plasma or something, and… oh yeah, their warp core is about to breach.  I suppose I should try to rescue the crew.

“Beam them out,” I tell my crew.

“Let me get this straight,” I say to Tarah, who has apparently become my second in command.  “We can’t beam them out because radiation levels are too high.”

“That’s right,” she says.

“Even though their warp core will breach soon, and they’ll all die, it’s still better to not beam them out.”

“Correct, sir.”  She looks at me like I’m crazy for even thinking of it.

“But it’s safe enough for us to beam in?”

She nods.

I throw up my hands.  “Fine,” I say.  “Let’s go.”  The engineer part of my brain – that is, all of it – is telling me her reasoning is flawed, but I don’t really feel like arguing with her.  We beam down to the Azura’s aft cargo bay.

We can see some crewmen lying on the ground to one side; I suggest beaming them out, but Tarah gives me an evil glare.  “Right…”  I say.  “Too much radiation.”  I roll my eyes.

[The mission never asks you to beam out any of the crewmen lying on the floor.  You don’t get extra experience or a larger quest reward for doing it, either; it’s just something you can do if you feel like it.  And, just a quick side note, if O’Malley looks slightly different in these screenshots, it’s because it’s not actually O’Malley; I lost my original screenshots of the S.S. Azura mission, so I had to start another character and redo the mission.]

She points at the plasma leak down the hall.  “If we can stop all the plasma leaks, that should lower radiation levels enough to let us beam out the crew.”

“Aren’t you a tactical officer?”  I ask.  “I’m the engineer.”  She doesn’t answer.

We walk down the hall and I poke around on the computer until the leak shuts down.

[That crewman is lying awfully close to the plasma leak.  I don’t see how he could survive.  In Star Trek: TNG, plasma fires generate enormous amounts of heat, and the writers make a big deal out of it.]

We turn around the corner only to blunder into a group of Orion raiders.  They must have beamed aboard before we blew up their ships.  “They beamed in through the radiation,” I grumble at Tarah.  The raiders attack before she can answer.  We make quick work of the group.

[STO’s screenshots include the strangest set of things.  They never include anything on the HUD, nor do they include any hovering text; but you can see item drops, shield indicators, and various other HUD-like things.  STO also tends to save screenshots in TGA format at random times, instead of JPEG.]

From here we can see two more plasma leaks, and the engine room:

More Orion raiders get in the way:

[That raider is in the middle of vaporizing.  It’s hard to catch the animation at the right moment when I’m trying to shoot things too.]

Eventually we make it to the engine room, where Captain Brott waits for us:

“Alright,” I tell everyone, “the leaks are shut off, so let’s beam everyone out and get out of here before this thing explodes.”

Captain Brott has a different idea.  “I’ll stay here and keep the warp core from exploding,” she says, “if you take my crew to safety.”  She points at the two crewmen standing next to her.

“What about the rest of them?”  I ask.

“Oh, they’re probably dead by now,” she replies.  She turns to the console.

“But they’re not dead, they’re just…”  I trail off when I realize she’s not listening.  “Alright then.”  I tap my combadge.  “Innovation, beam us out.”

Tarah rolls her eyes at me.  “We have to get back to the aft cargo bay first,” she says.

“What?  Why?  You said we could beam out once the leaks were shut off!”

“I’m just a tactical officer.  I don’t know anything,” she says with a sneer.

I throw up my hands.  “Whatever.  Let’s go.”

Of course, more Orion have arrived from somewhere, and we have to blast our way through them.  I offer to give phasers to the two Azura crewmen following me, but they evidently prefer cowering in fear:

[Occasionally, NPC followers will help by shooting at things.  This is not one of those times.]

We stop by the downed crewmen and help them to their feet.  They beam out where they stand, without issues:

I open my mouth to ask why we can’t just beam out where we stand, but Tarah glares at me until I change my mind.  I can tell this is going to be a problem.  Maybe I’ll ask for a different bridge officer.

Eventually we reach the aft cargo bay again, leaving behind us a trail of transporter traces and dead Orion raiders.  Tarah has a self-satisfied smile on her face as we beam out.

[Player characters are the only characters that tap their combadge to beam out.  Everyone else taps their forearm near the elbow.  I’ve never understood why.  Nobody in any series or movie ever does it as far as I’m aware.]

Of course, the Innovation is already under attack when we get back.  We blow up some more Orion ships.

We’re about to fly away when Tarah reminds me to beam Captain Brott out of the engine room.  “Why couldn’t we all have beamed out of the engine room?”  I ask, almost in a yell.  She pretends she doesn’t hear me.

The Azura explodes shortly after we beam out Captain Brott.

“Good riddance,”  I say.  “I’ll be in my ready room.”

Join us next Tuesday for another Let’s Play Star Trek Online!

So what does everyone think so far?  Am I writing too much?  Are there too many pictures?  Too much of both?  Am I too boring, or too lame?  Tell me how I’m doing!