Belle

The Belle was a smuggling vessel.

The Belle once docked at the spaceport on Ord Zat, and became infested with rat roaches there. Two hyperspace jumps later, the ship began handling unusually. One of the ship's two operators began pulling down the ship's bulkheads, finally locating the rat roaches' nest; as soon as it was exposed to light, however, the creatures dug into the ship's conduits. It took the crewman and his partner seven hours to extract them with tongs and crush them with a hydrospanner. The creatures had devoured enough circuitry to have destroyed the Belle on its next jump to hyperspace.

About six seasons later, the smuggler who had located the nest was captured by Governor Wilek Nereus. The governor interrogated the man, and was about to order his termination when he brought up the topic of rat roaches. Nereus, who was fascinated by predators and parasites, was sufficiently entertained by this to postpone his order until after the smuggler finished his tale.