A Critical Vulnerability

## Summary

The crew has an unexpected encounter at the Tiger Nebula Strip Mall. Dar takes a stand by sitting. Pasts are reckoned with. Pleck gets a Blue Julius.

## Plot

Pleck is confused reading C-53's briefing on the Council of Seven. Pleck is glad that they are friends. Dar doubts how friendly they are to one another, saying they could only have one best friend. They get an incoming call from Nermut Bundaloy. Nermut is stressed, he has to meet with his superiors about the 'K'hekk situation'. Their mission is to buy new furniture, since the K'hekk and Dar have destroyed most of it. The company are paying for half. Bargie refuses to have cheap furniture inside her, so Pleck agrees to pay. They decide to visit the closest store to buy furniture, the Tiger Nebula Strip Mall. They tempt fate by asking what could possibly go wrong.

Rebel Leader Rolphus Tiddle reads sponsor copy for MeUndies.

The crew enter Z's furniture where the shopkeeper is arguing with a customer about a chair they're returning. The shopkeeper has a no sitting policy in his store, possibly because when someone sits on a chair it collapses and turns into sand. The shopkeeper threatens C-53's creator and is then sizeist towards Dar. C-53 sits in a chair and it turns into sand. Pleck observes that every piece of furniture in the shop has one area that causes it to break, and by covering that one area the furniture could be improved. The shopkeeper thinks that's close-minded thinking. The shopkeeper reveals that he makes more than chairs: he is Zwog Tambouie, famed creator of the Planet Crushers. The crew are blown away. Pleck takes C-53 to one side, C-53 explains that as they are an ambassadorial team they have no authority to arrest him. When they return Dar has bought a couch. C-53 asks why Zwog left the planet crusher with such a big vulnerability (the exhaust port). Zwog gave the Monarchy seven months to come to him with complaints and they never did. He feels guilty for all the planets that were crushed, he didn't design the planet crusher to be specifically for that purpose. Zwog did a twelve step recovery program to find his place in the Federated Alliance, to deal with his feeling and learn to forgive himself. Zwog and Dar fight, Dar destroys some chairs. Pleck proposes that they get a Blue Julius together and calm down.

Seesu Gundu, hiding from Federated Alliance aerial bombings, reads sponsor copy for the podcast 'With Special Guest Lauren Lapkus'.

Post Blue Julius, C-53 hears a deep humming, which Zwog explains is the backspace where he lives. After sharing a laugh over the fact they aren't Federated Alliance Zwog invites them to see his place. Upon entering they learn the Zwog has worked out how to bend matter and make the space inside his apartment almost infinitely big. They swim into Zwog's new planet crusher (the third) through its exhaust port. The exhaust port is larger than the one on the previous models, Zwog designed it as a double bluff. Zwog is living in it but has it listed for sale on some message boards. The crew declines to stay the night on the super weapon. C-53 protests that the ship is not inherently evil. Pleck tries to inspire Zwog towards creation rather than destruction but Plecks it up. Zwog reveals that planets naturally form in his pocket universe. When Zwog sold his last pocket universe (which contained a civilization) to developers they demolished it and collapsed the pocket universe. Pleck wished that Zwog didn't survive Black Death disease, this divides the crew.

Back on Bargie the Crew tell Nermut about their meeting with Zwog. He is frustrated that they didn't report the meeting within the mandatory four-minute window. They are now guilty of treason. C-53 marks the transmission as 'low priority' so they are not lit on fire as punishment, and Bargie not turned into ingots. As punishment for the K'hekk encounter, Nermut was bent over his superior's desk and spanked with a mallet. The couch has already dissolved into sand, which they have to eject into space. Bargie reveals that she used to date the original planet crusher.

## Firsts of note

* Other universes are contained within this one (a "pocket universe")
* Blue Julius franchise introduced
* Concept and existence of a "planet crusher"

## Quotes

"The best ships of all are friendships." - Pleck

## Trivia

* Distance is measured in light years.
* Zwog had the black death disease and beat it.
* Pleck's photo is hung up in Blue Julius for drinking a whole one.
* Zwog is on four Federated Alliance wanted lists.

## Credits

### **Voice actors**

C-53 - Jeremy Bent

Pleck Decksetter - Alden Ford

Dar - Allie Kokesh

Nermut Bundaloy - Seth Lind

Bargarean Jade - Moujan Zolfaghari

Zwog Tambouie - John Murray

### **Production**

Edited - Seth Lind

Recorded - Braund Studios by Shane O'Connell

Sound Design and Mix - Shane O'Connell

Music - Brendan Ryan

Opening Crawl Narration - Jeremy Crutchley

Ship Design - Eric Geusz