Well, one possibility is for the crew to find some sort of advanced alien starship leftover from some extinct alien race. Maybe they are conscripts sent aboard to investigate and the ship, seeing a threat to itself, instead deactivates their bomb collars or bomb implants. (Those of you who are science fiction fans will recognize this premise)

Maybe they are a bunch of pirates and get shot down by the authorities and land before some sort of ancient alien temple which houses the starship inside?

You might also want to give some thought to psionic abilities, cybernetics, bionics, weapons technology and the like.