[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7MNCvzgBpQ]

Oh, Ensign Franklin, truly you were the best of us.  I will always remember your generic face and one-dimensional character.  A hundred years from now, people will repeat that thing you said that one time or something, and tell each other how you were not obviously the redshirt  whose only purpose was to immediately die and show everyone how serious the situation is.  Rest in peace, good buddy.  *Sniff*

*Ahem*  On with the show.

You may have noticed that I don’t care much for the Jefferies Tubes.  This is for several reasons.  First, they all look alike, which further compounds this game’s problem with confusing level design.  Second, they are functionally identical to the ventilation ducts that appear in basically every game ever.  Third, you can see that I have some trouble entering them.  This is because they are small enough that you have to duck, but they are a little above the level of the floor so you have to jump a little while moving forward.  The whole process is just plain awkward, and never ceases to annoy me.

Once we reach the transporter room, we’ll get a little more of the story about this trick they pulled to save some of the crew.  As much of a get-out-of-problem-free card as it is, it has an actual basis in the show.  To my knowledge it’s actually been done three times: twice in TNG (Relics and Realm of Fear if I recall) and at least once in Voyager (I can’t be bothered to look up the episode).  Don’t get me wrong, it’s still silly to imagine that the transporters are apparently the only system on the ship that still works after everything else has been chewed up by alien bugs.

On a final note, I know we got that sweet new gun, but I’m likely to keep using the one you see in this episode for a while.  The rapid fire makes it very useful against these fast-moving enemies.  Still, I’ll try to show off all of the new guns when I can.