Shoot for Earth: MedSci Missions 3

Deep space ship Chiron blasted rubble to clear its path through littered blackness. Unusually, second officer Jack Henson paused with his finger on the trigger. Confirming his instinct, the first officer shouted.
“Hold fire! Slow to commence evasive manoeuvres. We don’t want to run into rubble while I check something.” First Officer Dr. Heather McTavish called Captain Walsh with a button pre-set on her panel. “Captain, I think you should come look at this.”
Jack had turned his chair so he could study the large central holographic display not far from him. Crystalline chunks he’d hit with his laser pulse were growing strangely plump.
Captain Walsh hopped off the last step from his astronomy observatory above the bridge, and Heather filled him in.
“Minerals Jack targeted have used the energy to de-crystalize into cells that show life signs. Similar to the way a microbe that’s been dormant for a while becomes active. Except these cells are part of – Oh!”
As they watched, astounded, the laser-lit hunks morphed into beings. Pairs of limbs stretched out, but waved wildly. Zooming in showed gasping faces.
“Force Field Retrieval of all beings!” Walsh ordered. “It’s the only way to get those things into the aux hangar bay before they suffocate.”