"Tell us about Salvation's End."
Livewire grimaces. "That whole bloody debacle is what got me locked up here in the first place. I didn't even want to take on that salvaging mission. Captain Borgor's cruel and selfish and rules with a heavy hand. The only reason I agreed to go was as a favor to the second mate, Bago. I saw him as a kindred spirit--I was gonna use the loot we got to help Bago free himself from Borgor's influence. We were gonna start a more honest living together.
"There were two other crewmates with us--Snips, a cutthroat merc, and Xalak-don, all brawn, little brains. They were dangerous, too. They were planning a mutiny after a successful mission, and Bago and I were gonna use the confusion to slip away. But all four of them went down to the surface of Salvation's End and never came back up. I got nervous and bolted, and that's when I got pinched and wound up here."
Livewire's nose twitches and she glances around. "I can tell you more, but first you gotta do something for me. I need something hard to come by here at the Sauna--personal hygiene products. This humidity is murder on my fur! I'm sure if you ask around among the other prisoners, you can scrounge some up, but it might cost you some creds."
Navasi studies the ysoki as she talks, evaluating her body language to tell if she's being forthcoming.
When Livewire asks for hygiene products, Navasi fishes in a pouch and hands her a personal hygiene kit. "Will this do, or do you need something special? It must be hell in here. We're happy to do whatever we can for you."
Navasi can sense Livewire's earnestness when she speaks about Bago. It seems the ysoki truly cares about him. Still, the envoy gets a hunch that she's still holding something back about the second mate.
Livewire squeaks happily when Navasi gives her the hygiene kit. "Yes, this is lovely! Thank you! Okay, I'll give you details.
"People call Salvation's End a 'false moon,' but that can't be true. I'm pretty sure that floating metal hulk is actually some kind of really old starship caught in the nearby planet's orbit. I don't know what happened to it, but its signature and style don't match up to any Pact World design. There's a noticeable spire rising from the false moon's outer hull. It's teeming with activity. Crude painted symbols are all along structure's exterior. Inside, a hive of space goblins flourishes in one of their misbegotten makeshift nests. The goblins sneak out to rummage for scrap metal and other junk found on the false moon's exterior.
"Lots of ships disappeared while flying too close to Salvation's End. Until recently, this phenomenon was kind of an urban pilot legend, but I know what it is! There's some kind of really powerful tractor beam on that moon. It was strong enough to reel in my ship, the Archer, and I only got my whiskers out of there by crashing into the damn thing and ejecting an escape pod right before impact!
"On our first flyby, we ended up skirmishing with a few goblin junkers. After the battle, we detected a strong signal emitting from underneath the space goblin spire, and even though our sensors could barely penetrate the tower, the source of the signal was just under the surface of Salvation's End. There's something down there, I swear it! That's what the crew was going to find before I lost contact with them."
"So you think the moon is some kind of giant space station?" asks the Vesk.
"Armed with tractor beams, and defended by goblin junkers? What more can you tell us about the rest of your crew? Think they could have survived down there without you this long?"
"Snips is a human woman, and Xalak-don's a vesk soldier. Borgor and Bago are identical twins, but their outlooks couldn't be any more different! I don't really care about the rest of them, but I hope Bago made it. No matter what, please let me know what happened to Bago. If the old lunk's still alive, tell him I miss my 'Hairless Monkey!'"
Navasi sets a gentle hand on Livewire's shoulder. "Thank you. This will be very helpful. If we can, we'll try to find out what happened to your friend and give him your message. We'll also let the warden know you cooperated with us and maybe they'll get you more hygiene materials when you need them. Stay strong. If you can think of anything else that might help a rescue mission to the 'moon', let us know now. Otherwise, we'll be going."
"That's all I can do for you. Good luck! If you find it in your hearts after exploring that damnable false moon, please put in a good word for me with the authorities. I'm not sure I can last here for my entire term." At that, Livewire watches you leave the common area with crocodile tears welling within the corners of her soft eyes.
The barathus escort you back to your ship, and you depart the Sauna. Luwazi Elsebo opens communications to find out what you learned from the ysoki.
"That's some good intelligence you managed to gather. Well done. I'm authorizing you to enter the Drift and make your way to Salvation's End. Send a message once you've arrived and let me know what the status is before you land."
Once you are ready, you activate the Pegasus's Drift engine, slipping into the kaleidoscopic plane to speed your journey.
The mighty Obozaya spends the days in the drift in constant practise. Anyone who has been confined to a small spaceship with a sweating lizard knows that can't be fun...
Raya spends the trip reading a novel.
Are any NPCS coming with us? If some I'd ask questions about the drift and the space area around us to gain some knowledge.
The mighty Obozaya spends the days in the drift in constant practise. Anyone who has been confined to a small spaceship with a sweating lizard knows that can't be fun...
Navasi looks up what she can about the fighting habits of goblins. She memorizes some goblin jokes to use as zingers to distract or intimidate them in combat.
Space goblins are orally fixated. There is an even chance that upon encountering a strange item, a space goblin will try to either dismantle it or eat it. A space goblin might even attempt to diagnose a problem with a small piece of technology by putting it in his mouth and tasting every part of it.
Goblins' instinctive hatred and fear of dogs and horses has also adapted over the millennia. Space goblins tend to refer to any quadruped (or anything shaped even remotely similarly) that they dislike as a "dog" or "horse," depending on its size. In that vein, they still refer to their iconic crude melee weapons as dogslicers. Some tribes have taken to adapting flame pistols and flame rifles to suit their needs, dubbing them "horseroasters."
After several days in the Drift, you finally reach your destination. You slip back into realspace near Salvation's End. In the distance, a great metallic structure breaks the bleak monotony of pace. Massive in size, the grandeur of this planetoid is hard to take in all at once. Before the scale of the moon sets in, a shrill song pierces through the ship's communications system. As the first notes of the song shriek out, a pair of vessels blink on the sensor screens, followed swiftly by a warning alarm klaxon.
Jam your sensors, you be blind,
All our targets we will find.
Sitting duck depleted shield,
You go BOOM in our starfield!
Obozaya pulls down her helmet visor, turns on computer aided tracking and slips into her turret harness.
"Turret ready!" she calls out through the intercom.
Navasi slips into the pilot's chair and begins to prep for battle running.
Navasi muttered under her breath as she made a few mistakes powering up systems in the wrong order. "It's been a while since I had to pilot in a firefight."
If the pilot can keep two guns focused that would be good. Firepower wins battles.
Obo has a good BAB so I could try firing two guns at -2, that might also help.
The furthest starship races towards you, and as it draws near you can see it barely resembles a spaceworthy vessel, cobbled together as it is from random bits of junk parts. But it's fast and nimble, and it turns to bring its weapons to bear!
so I do a scan?
Keskodai works the sensors, getting some basic information about the goblin junkracers.
Tiny starship racer
Speed 12; Maneuverability perfect (turn 0)
AC 14; TL 14
HP 20; DT —; CT 4
Shields basic 20; forward 5, port 5, starboard 5, aft 5
Power Core 80 PCU; Crew Complement: 1
"Thanks for that scan, Keskodai."
Navasi takes advantage of the first ship's eager advance and pilots the ship back toward where that ship started. She hopes to be able to maneuver to a point where short range weapons won't be as accurate, while also turning so the best shields, the forward shields, were facing the enemy. She can't quite get far enough away for this, but she ends up with both the ships in the forward arc. The other ship might get to a point where only the turret gun and the starboard arcs would be able to target it, but it seems a good compromise.
"Raia, watch where that second ship ends up and get to the gun that can target it. Or if you think it better, we can fire everything we have at one of them. If we can take down one quickly, the other won't be such a problem."
Navasi is so used to being the captain in these battles, she finds herself giving orders despite her being the pilot.
The other goblin ship barrels straight towards you, seemingly unconcerned with trying evasive maneuvers.
Your ship suddenly lurches in space, and warning klaxons sound indicating that a tractor beam from Salvation's End is trying to lock onto you! Fortunately, Navasi is able to evade its grasp.
The goblin ships swivel their turret-mounted weapons and launch shards of flak in your direction! The first shot sails past the Pegasus, but the second impacts your shields, causing them to glow briefly as they absorb the hit.
"Tracking...tracking..." calls out Obo.
"Blast those fighters are fast. I can't get a fix" she calls out in frustration as her laser blasts trail the agile ship.
You're welcome, anything else I can help do as captain?
The goblin junkracers dodge your particle beam shots as they dart and weave through the starfield.
Navasi grits her teeth and focuses on the controls.
"I should have spent more time in the pilot's seat on the trip in. I can't get used to how different this thing responds compared to the lighter craft I'm used to flying."
You can encourage another member of the crew to give her a bonus to her action. This works like aid another, granting a +2 bonus to the check required by a crew action if you succeed at a DC 10 check using the same skill. Alternatively, you can grant this same bonus by succeeding at a Diplomacy check (DC = 15 + your starship’s tier).
Raya will divert power to shields.
Navasi knows the goblin racers can fly faster and turn better than the Pegasus so she just tries to circle away from them and then point back to keep the rear shields away from their reach if possible.
While doing so, she zigs and zags, trying to make the ship harder to hit.
"Doh! Silly me. I had the inertia dampers activated. This should be a bit more fun now."
Remember gunner, when you fire, to calculate the speed of the ship and where he is moving. like if he is moving at a 90 degree angle away from the ship, don't fire in the center, fire at the nose, the ship will move into the fire. That always applies when shooting. And if he is zigzagging constantly while he moving away from you, don't try to follow him with the gun while firing into his rear, fire in the center of the zigzag, he will always zigzag back into the laser even if the nose end of the ship catches it
Obo grits her teeth as the advice comes over the intercom.
"Yes, yes..."
The first shot goes straight into the nearby fighter.
"Good call, got a solid hit in there."
As the goblin ships swoop around behind your ship, the tractor beam locks onto the Pegasus, slowing it down to counteract Navasi's evasive maneuvers.
Obozaya opens fire on the goblin ship behind you. The particle beam blasts through its shields, causing its flak thrower to start glitching. Both ships fire lasers and flak your way! One scores a hit, your rear shields absorbing the blast.
Navasi's eyes have a laser focus as she tries to shake both ships. She outmaneuver's one of the two ships, at least.
"Raia! Our rear shields are almost gone. I'll try to keep our facing toward them but one of them might be able to get behind us and do more damage."
The goblin starfighter with the damaged weapon peels off to put some distance between it and your ship. It turns to keep you in its front arc.
Navasi pilots far away from the damaged ship but keeping it in range of the medium range guns on the Pegasus. She knows the other ship will keep behind the Pegasus, since it is faster and more maneuverable. She zig-zags to try to make the Pegasus a harder target. "We can give the damaged one both of our big guns now. Raia, hows that rear shield coming?"
As predicted, the other goblin ship stays on your tail, readying its weapons for another assault.
The tractor beam locks into your ship again. This time, it rotates you towards the false moon, throwing off your aim!
"Tractor beam is spoiling our attack on the damaged ship, but we can still hit it with the turret and use the starboard light laser on this bogey on our backside."
Another thing to remember gunner Obozaya, if ship goes at max speed constantly they get dizzy, eventually they have to ease up for a second, not to mention twists and turns slow up the ship ever so slightly and friction is a thing even in space, which can vary ever so slightly, and space gravity is everywhere with objects nearby. Fire when the enemy is slowest, as you pay attention to his habits and figure out where he is. It is like driving on a highway, you can put your vehicle on cruise control for sixty miles per hour, but you go up a ten degree slope and you slow down to fifty-seven even if just for a second.
"I am hearing your advice. But these are sneaky ships.." she mutters back through the intercom.
The turret tracks the already damaged ship and opens up.
Raya will again divert power to shields.
Obozaya's shot blows through the goblin racer's starboard shields, damaging its sensor array. Both enemy ships open fire on you, but neither one scores a good hit!
"Hold on." Navasi took more evasive actions, hoping to avoid more interference from the tractor beam.
The goblin ships loop around behind yours again, keeping you in their sights!
"Shields back to full. Raia, can you divert some power to our weapons? We need to take them out."