# Derelict — ICV Merlin — room key

ICV Merlin is still warm aft. The reactor tripped, the coolant loop failed a day later, and the engineer sealed the drive section with herself inside it. The rest of the crew waited at the mid-frame door for word. The word never came, and neither did the rescue.

Last log entry: Cpl. Petrov. Their trail runs through three rooms.

Hook: The engineer's last message went to a private address, not the company. Someone off-ship knew first.

## Main deck

**1. Bridge**

Nav plot frozen on the last fix. Somebody wrote the numbers on the glass.

**2. Medbay**

Dark. Emergency lighting only. Autodoc stopped mid-cycle. The patient is not in it.
Log fragment (Dr.): "Dosages are past what the manual covers. Giving what I have to whoever asks. Nobody is asking anymore."
Trail 1/3: Chalk marks on the door frame, Petrov's tally of the days. Below the last mark, an arrow and two words: "the hangar (7)".

**3. Engineering**

Panels off, parts sorted on the deck by someone who ran out of time.
Hazard: coolant fog. Corrosive, heavier than air, pooled knee-deep. Suits last minutes, skin does not.
Salvage: the spare coolant loop, still crated. Never fitted. Somebody will want to know why.

**4. Lab**

Sample cases open. The freezer is warm.
Salvage: a case of unlabelled sample vials, refrigeration failed weeks ago.
Trail 3/3: The arrows stop here. Cpl. Petrov's recorder is wedged behind a pipe where nobody passing would see it. It holds the last day, start to finish.

**5. Crew quarters**

Something moved in here — recently. Lockers open. Whatever was worth taking has been taken.
Hazard: deck plating hot enough to blister through boots. Something below is still cooking.
Log fragment, on a bunk wall in marker: "DAY 6. WARM AGAIN. DON'T OPEN AFT."

**6. Galley**

Vacuum. Suit up. Table set for six. Frost on the plates.
Hazard: the bulkhead door is welded shut from the far side. Cutting through takes time, light and noise: roll for an encounter when they start.
Log fragment (Cook): "Fed everyone at the mid-frame door. Eng. did not come forward for hers. Left it by the seal."
Way in: only across the breach. The way that led here went with the hull, so getting in means crossing open space.

**7. Hangar**

Empty cradle. Scorch marks.
Trail 2/3: More chalk. Petrov slept here at least one night: a bedroll, ration wrappers, and the same arrow, pointing to the lab (4).

**8. Drive section**

The torch has not fired in weeks, and the deck is still warm underfoot.
Hazard: radiation. Dosimeters climb fast here: every minute in this room is a dose.
Hazard: the door is sealed, and the seal is still good. Breaking it takes time and noise, and lets out the heat behind it: roll for an encounter when they start.

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The map for this key, free and CC0 (PNG, and .dd2vtt with walls and doors): https://bulkhead.bananafest-destiny.com/daily/2026-11-03/
Drawn with Bulkhead, a starship deck plan editor, free in the browser: https://bulkhead.bananafest-destiny.com/