Challenge #01612-D151: Our "Hero"
"So the only defences are [Cosmic Chew Toy] and the automated ones."
"...which means, the only defences are the automated stuff." -- RecklessPrudence
The ship's human was a Lucker. Unfortunately for him, all that luck was bad. Unfortunately for everyone around him, he had the deplorable tendency to blame everyone and everything else around him except himself. Edger Arnold never got officially tested for the Luck Gene, and said it was against his religion to do so. Nevertheless, all the signs were there.
Just as success seemed to be in Edger's reach, he always managed to pull the rug out from under himself. All his cases of "I'll do it later" neglect exploded in his face. Sometimes literally. Enough to hurt, but not enough for permanent damage. In the unlikely event of a promotion, a messy and publically embarrassing demotion was bound to follow soon after. He never rose to the level of his incompetence. He was his level of incompetence.
And all the crew knew it. So when a Vorax ship turned up and the Elemental Force managed to dodge out of sensor range by the skin of their collective mouth parts, the Captain asked for options.
"Since Second-technician Arnold's last... incident... our only defences are the ship's human and the automated debris sweepers."
The Captain considered this. "So... all we have is the automated debris sweepers."
"Not entirely, Captain. Grazzix has come up with a plan."
Grazzix stepped forward. "We send the human to them sir. Fill Second-technician Arnold's head with visions of a rescue mission that only he can survive... and let him 'help' the Vorax sir."
The Captain heard those quotation marks. It was like a light dawning after a nigh-apocalyptic storm. "That's the best idea I've ever heard."
It's the first recorded incident of the tactical deployment of a Bad Lucker. And, co-incidentally, the first stress testing of the automatically-deploying livesuit.
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / aaronamat]
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