The Mind Rippers (Banshee Squadron episode)

Teaser

 * In the aftermath of the Mulluran War and Jazz Phoenix's death, Banshee Squadron is in tatters. But while on their much-needed vacation, Sam Beckett is kidnapped, sending the Banshees on a wild manhunt across the New Canada system!

New Job
The Mulluran War is over, but Max is dealing very poorly with Jazz's death. Captain Cross suggests Carter give Max and the Banshees a well-deserved vacation.

Hope and Despair
Alex and Jo go window shopping and guy watching in Serenity City. Max goes flying in the asteroid belt with suicide on her mind.

Darkness
A renegade Mulluran corvette attacks Max. Max discovers that her esper powers are suddenly and mysteriously gone. The corvette damages Max's fighter and she crashes on a planetoid. Some time later, Search & Rescue picks her up.

Doubts
Carter knows something is seriously wrong with Max, so grounds her until further notice. Max confesses to having lost her esper powers, lamenting that she is useless to the squad now because she's just like all the rest of them now.

Nabbed On the Way To the Can
Carter takes the Banshees on a little sightseeing trip to Serenity City hoping the downtime will help Max overcome her trauma. Sam breaks from the group looking for a public restroom. A pair of men spring from the shadows and grab her. One holds a glowing crystal to her forehead and she passes out. The Banshees go looking for her, but find only her dropped communicator pin.

Another Brick In the Wall
After three days, the police have made no headway in finding the whereabouts of Sam. Carter and the Banshees become more and more frustrated and worried.

Orders
Carter receives an inexplicable 'cease and desist' order from Starfleet to stop interfering in the investigation to find Sam. While at their favorite El Taco, they decide to start their own investigation apart from the police or Starfleet. Rick the ruggedly handsome El Taco manager hints that he knows what happened to Sam and that he will help. No one believes him.

Strange Invitation
The Banshees return to their new barracks near the spaceport and go to sleep. Someone slips a note under the door to Carter's bedroom, but when she rushes out to catch him, no one is there. The note says to meet at the Salty Spittoon if they ever want to see Sam again.

Hyoo-mon, Play Dom-jot!
Dressed in civilian attire, the Banshees arrive at the Salty Spittoon, a rough dive bar down by the docks. Jo and Alex head for the bar while Carter and Max take a seat in a booth in the back. A group of drunken Nausicaans accost Carter and Max, but a mysterious stranger scares them off with nothing more than a look. He takes a seat at their table and declares he knows where Sam is.

Penny For Your Thoughts
Max accuses the man, named West, of being the kidnapper. West insists that he wants to help rescue Sam because Rick the ruggedly handsome El Taco manager guy asked him to. He claims that Sam was kidnapped by information thieves who deal in stolen minds. He tells Carter to meet him in Lake Town if she decides to trust him.

Nobody Here But Us Chickens
Carter flies to Lake Town on a civilian transport. The locals tell her about the legendary lake monster Ogopogo, who likes to suck people's brains out and leave them comatose and mindless. Carter wonders at the coincidence between the Ogopogo legend and Sam's alleged situation.

Kronk Beats Sralk!
Carter finds West in the middle of a game of Fizzbin where he cons enough money out of a couple of rubes to pay for a room at the Ogopogo Inn.

Short Honeymoon
West signs himself and Carter into the dilapidated Ogopogo Inn as Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Carter expresses her misgivings, and West claims he has a plan and that everything is under control. The telephone rings, and West answers. He hangs up and tells Carter to dress nice so they can go to the Ogopogo Bar & Grill.

Smiths vs. Smith
West leads Carter to an upstairs room above the Ogopogo Bar & Grill, where a shady meeting is taking place between three lowlifes all calling themselves Smith. They begin auctioning something off, and Carter realizes that it's her. She blows West's cover, and all the Smiths start shooting. West and Carter dive out the window and escape into the rough wilderness beyond the town. West claims the auction had been part of his plan until Carter ruined it. They find a ruined shack and hole up for the night.

Abandonment
Carter no longer trusts West. She sneaks away while he is sleeping. West awakes the next morning, disappointed to find Carter gone, and worried what might happen to her without him.

Out of the Frying Pan
Early the next morning, Carter is still walking back to Lake Town. She hitches a ride with a conveniently passing truck. Meanwhile, West is tracking Carter. When Carter notices that the truck driver is not heading for Lake Town, he punches her lights out. Shortly thereafter, West is also captured.

Frontal Lobotomy
Meanwhile, Max has been drinking this entire time. Her friends are missing, her esper power is gone, and she feels useless and helpless. Jo manages to snap her out of her funk, and they go to see Captain Cross. He officially forbids them to get involved, but off the record, suggest they go do some fishing at Lake Town.

The Face of Evil
Tied up, Carter and West are thrown into a damp room where they find the mindless, comatose body of Sam Beckett laid out on a table. Vincent Kelly makes his grand appearance, and explains that Carter and West will soon be joining Sam in his "employer's" collection of minds.

Into the Fire
Left alone, West and Carter manage to untie themselves, knock out the guards, get their weapons, and escape their prison. They find Kelly and his minions in the control room of his base. A firefight ensues and West is shot. Carter is captured at gunpoint.

Head of the Serpent
Kelly introduces Carter to him "employer", a Jelly Brain. Max, Jo, and Alex blow a hole in the side of Kelly's base and charge in to the rescue, but the Jelly Brain takes control of their minds and prepares to consume them. But West is still alive. He phasers the Brain, killing it. Without the Brain's mental direction, Vincent Kelly loses his remaining grip on sanity.

All the Loose Ends
Vincent Kelly is hauled away to Elba II. Priests of Gol from Vulcan arrive to return all the stolen minds to their original bodies, including Sam's. Upon the death of the Jelly Brain, Max regains her own esper powers. Carter plans to go on a date with West as soon as he gets out of the hospital.

Memorable Quotes

 * "Hey good lookin'. Your phaser is set to stunning." "Beat it, loser."

Background

 * The Mind Rippers was inspired by the 1986 movie Jake Speed, with Absalom West standing in for Jake, Lee Carter playing the part of Maggie, Vincent Kelly as the evil Sid, and Sam Beckett's brain as Maggie's sister.


 * This story is the first appearance of Absalom West.