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Well, there is no time like the present. The story begins…
It began as a dull day aboard the Clutch, Nakonechkin Salvage’s only ship and your home for the past year or so. Your boss, the vesk Nakonechkin, brought the ship out of Pact Worlds space and into some of the void beyond, looking for derelict space stations or the remains of forgotten starship battles to pick through.
Suddenly, with a buzzing chime, the ship’s computers registered a starship drifting in the region. Nakonechkin rushed to the captain’s console and initiated a scan. An image of the target ship appeared on screen: a large, ornate green starship with brass accents. It looked abandoned and ill-suited to be so far from the Pact Worlds. Nakonechkin quickly pulled on his space suit and grabbed a set of all-purpose tools. “This looks like an easy enough job. You lot stay here and keep an eye on the Clutch. Try not to ‘repair’ anything while I’m away. I should be back in a couple of nanoseconds.”
He nodded curtly and cycled the airlock to float over to the derelict ship.
Two hours have passed since Nakonechkin departed, and he isn’t responding to your communications. Something must have gone terribly wrong—and Nakonechkin might need help!
Gazigaz is currently stuck in the lavatory. The rest of you are on in the ship’s cockpit. The Clutch is alongside the drifting ship. What would you like to do? The Clutch is equipped with a computer systems and scanners. The tether Nakonechkin used is still connecting the two ships together.
Nako knows her mentor Nanonechkin can handle himself, but she's concerned that he's been gone longer than Gazigaz has been in the s**%ter-a bad sign. As first mate, she feels responsible for getting this situation under control. Nako turns to the others in the cockpit. "Something's wrong here. We gotta go all six to make sure our boss is okay. Quonx--any of those fancy gizmos able to get us eyes inside the salvo? I'll get ready to cross on the tether, but I don't wanna go in blind. She grabs her weapons and exploring gear and prepares to use the tether to cross over to the other ship, waiting to see how her comrades respond.
The tips of Gazigaz's beard nearly touched the bathroom mirror as he carefully applied product with one hand and attended to the shape with three different brushes in several of his other hands. He harrumphed at his reflection. Not as drift as the beards on Brethedan.
Luckily, Gazigaz thought to himself, I have the patience required for such artistic endeavors. He washed out his beard and hefted a duffelbag full of different kinds of beard oils, conditioners, shampoos, and various other tins and bottles to the bathroom countertop. Time to begin anew.
Quonx screams awake at the sound of her name, having binged herself into a short-lived food coma after finding a special store of purple Crab Nebula Curry. With one hand she glugs the last bits from the tripleseal container. With another she sprays a specialized mixture meant to de-glop her eyes after just such a new food binge. With the others she preps her engineering and hack kits.
"Oh yes, oh sure. Of course!"
Not bothering to look for a console, Quonx hacks the datafeeds for the ship. What sorts of manifests for crew and cargo, what's it's name? And, of course, she scans for signatures of her very favorite Vesk (though it's an equal opportunity scan, any relevant movement or chatter out there?)
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In mere nanoseconds, Quonx illuminates the idle monitors of the Clutch and streams of data start flowing across the screens.
Meanwhile, Nako peers out the ships porthole to see a single tether line stretching from the airlock of the Clutch to the aft upper deck of the derelict ship. It looks to be a couple hundred feet long. She estimates it will take about two minutes to cross. The crew's armor affords enough protection from the cold vacuum for such a short spacewalk.
Quonx cackles gleefully.
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From the transponder, Quonx identifies the ship as the Emerald Empyrean, a pleasure barge owned by a Vercite company called Trendsetter Excursions.
Scans of the ship's structure show that the Emerald Empyrean is a modified heavy freighter With a forward-facing heavy weapon and a small turret weapon, but it has plenty of room for passengers and recreational activities. The only ways to enter the ship are through two airlock doors, one on the port side near the aft and one on the starboard side near the fore. The forward airlock is completely sealed shut, but the aft airlock could be forced open.
Though its thrusters are active, they are currently idle, and the ship has enough power to provide artificial gravity, interior lighting, and life support.
Additionally, Quonx reveals over a dozen life signs aboard the ship, which Nakonechkin missed on his initial scans. Most of these life signs are concentrated in an area in the ship’s aft, on the starboard side. Nakonechkin’s life signs are visible, but the vesk is currently in a semi-conscious state and his location cannot be pinpointed. An additional anomalous energy signature is detected in the ship’s center.
Dakoyo begins gearing up alongside Nako, placing his medicines and healing kits into pockets built into his clothing for just such a purpose.
In a calm baritone,
"If Nanonechkin's hurt, you're going to need me along."
Looking at Nako's resolve and urgency he hesitates a moment before also grabbing his staff and pistol. He doesn't say much else, but quietly looks for ways to both help Nako and to keep things calm.
Dakoyo sends a telepathic message out to Nanonechkin, even though he knows it might be too far and that if injured, Nanonechkin is unlikely to be able to respond.
<<Nanonechkin, are you there? This is Dakoyo. Please respond.>>
Quonx gears up to go across the tether, then spins in one of the bridge's spinny chairs.
Happy to go, you know. But should I stay and continue to research, er protect the Clutch? I could keep it very safe.
Quonx does a quick scan to see if she can disable the weapons on the Emerald Empyrean, if she can get any visuals or readings on Nakonechkin and the other lifeforms, and if there's any sort of manifest for delicious new snackfoods in any of the holds and/or galley.
(and if it needs separate checks)
Quonx scratches her chin ponderously as she looks over the readings.
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Quonx is able to obtain a bit more information on the Emerald Empyrean. It appears that most of the ships’s functions are controlled by a single onboard artificial intelligence core, which is very unusual for a ship this size. However, the AI doesn’t respond to any attempts to communicate with it and any attempt at controlling a function of the Emerald Empyrean fails. Additional information does not appear to be attainable without putting boots on the ground.
That being said, how far is the other ship from us. I am picturing this as two ships alongside one another with a cable attaching them.
We cross using the tether through open space to the Empyrean's airlock, and then we will need to force it open from the outside?
Does it seem like we will need to brute force open it, bring cutting tools, or hack it?
Nako, what's the plan for getting through the door? Can you open the door for us remotely, Quonx?
After considering various unctions and unguents, Gazigaz applies creams and oils from various bottles and shapes his beard. He uses fingers and combs in a frenzied whirl of activity about his chin.
He stops suddenly and slowly brings his hands away from his face, revealing green chin fur in three ornately curled horns. Looking in the mirror, his eyes widen and a toothy smile splits his head in two. He twists and turns this way and that and then throws his combs into the small open bag with a triumphant air.
Sauntering out of the restroom, he pats his various bags and pouches and eases himself into the cockpit. Not having been in the cockpit to catch all the conversation and happenings, he looks about at the various screens and finally catches a clock.
My goodness, it's already been two hours! Time certainly flies, my friends! Hmmm. Hrmmmm.
While gently stroking his intricate beard, he scans all the various specs of the nearby ship up on the screens that Quonx and Dakoyo brought up and exclaims, What an interesting ship! Perhaps there are strange and interesting denizens aboard! I should have talked our dear Nakonechkin into letting me join him. Well, well, well! No time like the present!
He immediately spins and heads towards the airlock.
Quonx hums a catchy little breakbeat to herself.
Hackin' tha door hackin tha door,
Quonx scans the door to ensure that no sentient beings will be harmed in the making of this door hack, and if nobody's at risk she then attempts to hack that door.
Nako pulls out her Ember Flame Doshko and turns to Dakoyo.
"If Nakonechkin is hurt, we need to get to him soon. I took part of his name and I'll be damned if he dies before I get the rest of it.
Quonx, if you can't hack the door remotely, maybe you can hack it directly from the outside? If not, I'll see what this Doshko can do to the lock.
Seeing we need to put boots on the ground, Nako looks around for Gazigaz. She's been waiting to try the centipede--two hands holding the legs of the one in front, four hands pulling on the rope--and now's as good a time as any. Once everyone's in position, she'll wait for whoever's behind her to grab her feet, and then she'll become a flurry of arms pulling the back of the centipede across the tether.
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Nako, Gazigaz, and Dakoyo hook themselves onto the tethers and push off toward the Emerald Empyrean. As they glide themselves along the tether the details of the airlock door come into view. A large Trendsetter Excursions logo, a golden rocket blasting out of a glass of sparkling wine looks brand new as if the ship just left the grav dock. Under different circumstances, one could easily imagine bounding towards the airlock to board with gleeful anticipation. However, a pleasant spacewalk turns for the worse. As the three skittermanders approach the ship, small bits of space rock start to hit upon their armor. The silent “tap” of spacerock turns into violent impacts that start to knock the skittermanders around the tether like an ikeshti hatchling swinging a yo-yo. Within moments, they are engulfed in a passing micrometeoroid storm.
Nako and Gazigaz deftly work together to spin Dakoyo out lengthwise in front of them, like flipping over a cafeteria table and using it to block gunfire. Over the coms, Dakoyo's giggles of pleasure from the delightful acrobatic movement turn into oofs and umphs as he is pelted from the back.
The storm passes and the skittermanders make their way to the airlock door. Outside the door they stare in confusion at the airlock access panel.
If possible, Quonx sets the language to Common (failing that Vesk) and the voice option to add to the call Gazigaz, Nako and Dakoyo via their armor suits.
If it's limited to her console, then Quonx taps its speaker and says, Hello, friendly door! Open up!
Regardless, she does this while walking at a brisk pace to join the other three on the Empyrean (If she can attempt to cross over this turn she will, she is eager to see this high-end tech up close).
Ooff - I'm the healer, not the shield!
Dakoyo shakes each of his arms out a little, being careful to switch grips to the tether and the team as needed.
A bit bruised, but nothing broken! I should be okay for now, but a little healing magic will patch me right up if needed. Did you know that primitive societies used to treat blunt force trauma by putting the refrigerated flesh of ruminants on the affected areas? Ridiculous!
When at the door, I would like to use my primitive stethoscope, though, to see if I can hear anything through the door/ the other side.
If a roll is needed:
Nako knows her team will be better suited at opening the door than she is, so she focuses on preparing herself to respond to any threats within should the door open.
She looks around to see if there's any visible camera installation fixed on the doorway. If she spots one, she turns her back to conceal her movements. She then pulls out her flashlight in one hand, her pistol in another, and with two more hands she covers and conceals the pistol.
If anything attacks them from the inside, she's ready to fire back.
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Dakoyo presses his stethoscope onto the door and hears the humming and rhythmic pumping of a ship that, based on his expert diagnosis, is most certainly functioning. Dakoyo focuses for a minute to hear any anomolies that would suggest movement or life behind the door, but detects none.
Quonx gently floats to the airlock door, a pleasant grin betrays her happiness that the micrometeroid storm had completely passed before her departure from the Clutch. She glances at the access panel.
Clearly Nakonechkin had already hacked the door using his trademark trick, the Zzapdamit. The Zzapdamit, named by Quonx for the sounds the hack makes, is an override which typically shorts out the panel in a burst of sparks causing minor burns to Nakonechkin's fingers. Quonx pulls out one of the many stripped wires in her fur, slides in into an exposed portion of the access panel side and the airlock door slides open exposing a small, airlock just large enough for four skittermanders. The walls are clean white, the floor is a silvery metal.
Nako slips into the airlock followed by Quonx and Dakoyo. Gazigaz stands with hands on hips and a big smile on his face, perfectly content observing his fellow friends take care of everything. He reflects once again on the rigors of fur management when suddenly he feels a sensation of paranormal interference as he is bot-ed into the airlock.
Once the skittermanders enter the airlock, the exterior door silently closes and a soothing blue light illuminates around a heavy door opposite of where they entered. It opens up and reveals a square chamber, also white with silvery flooring. Four cages are stacked in the two forward corners of the room. A flickering holographic sign reading “Welcome Guests” floats over the door to the starboard. Three hovering robots passively float on the far side of the room, lined up along another door.
You are standing in the airlock peering into the square chamber.
In a low buzzing whisper our of the side of his mouth:
Hmm - Two questions Quonx. One, do you know roughly where Nanonechkin's signal was in relation to this airlock, and two, are those robots the kind that carry freight or are they the more shooty kind of robots?
Even softer, and to himself:
Shootier or more shooty . . .
Nako moves into the room as slowly and nonthreateningly as possible. She puts two hands on her Dashko, ready to pull it out, and moves to B4 to block these robots from reaching her friends if they are hostile. I won't hear the end of it if these things mess up Gazigaz's perm.
If the robots don't act hostile, she will start slowly scanning the ground, the walls, and the doors for any footprints, blood, or scuff marks that indicate where Nanonechkin went or what happened here.
Gazigaz's face goes through several stages as Nako walks into the room in front of him. His usual massive grin stays plastered on his face, but his brow furrows up in confusion. His smile fades for a moment.
Then his eyes start to twinkle and he chortles. You all felt that too, gree? Very interesting. Hmm. Heh, yes.
He steps boldly forward to Nako's left side and throws his arms back, as if inviting the universe into a great big hug, and closes his eyes. He peeps one eye open, adjusts his beard with one hand, and then resumes his pose.
He attempts to commune with whatever paranormal force he felt previously:
Ahh, luggage robots.
Quonx whips out her hacking console in order to identify robotics, and scan for any other local weaponry, or anything out of the usual reality parameters. Basically traps.
She keeps one hand on the laser rifle.
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Quonx recognizes the robots as Observer-Class Security Robots which are routinely used to record and report specific unsavory activities for later review by their operators. Many are equipped to intervene in minor conflicts using non-lethal means, typically employing pulsecaster technology and stickybomb grenades. They are typically not very modular and have their equipment integrated into the chassis making them impossible to disarm. Many companies produce such security robots and quality can vary tremendously - you get what you pay for.
As Nako and Gazigaz enter the room, the Security Robots quickly activate and scan the furry creatures. After a bright light washes over the Skittermanders, a black orb in the center of one of the robots illuminates into a digital smiley face (think 80s Lite-Brite) and an audio record plays the following in a cheerful Microsoft Sam:
“Error! Pets must be placed in approved carriers before boarding the Emerald Empyrean. Initiating containment protocols.”
Nako focus attention on the robots as the drones awaken in a sound of internal mechanisms clicking to live and hover blades blowing into overdrive. Gazigaz remains standing with arms outstretched realizing that he may just be feeling the air conditioner blow upon the slightly slick, but still very matte protective layer of the Parlaxinne© Beard Clay.
"Contain this!" Nako takes a 5 foot step to B5 to prevent the robots from reaching his friends, then swings his Ember Doshko at the robot in A6, connecting with a sizzling and a flash of red.
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Security Robot Alpha stabilizes itself from the blow. Two mechanical claws reach out towards Nako as the robot's automated speech protocols kick in. "That is a nice *red* *kit-ty* - come here *kit-ty* *kit-ty*". The claws attempt to grab Nako by the neck and one leg.
Nako uses her four available hands to slap the robots claws away and dodge the grapple.
Meanwhile, a small compartment slides open from Security Robot Beta's chassis and a canister bounces out towards the ground (A3).
The canister bursts into a spray of of foamy goop.
Gazigaz narrowly avoid the streaming jets of green in matrix-style maneuvers while Nako simply twists slightly and avoids the entirety of the explosion. Quonx and Dakoyo however, get saturated with the goop, which quickly expands and hardens into mounds of white bubbles, locking them to the floor and door frame.
Quonx reaches a free hand to her console to try and hack the logic centers of the robots - specifically to swap their active protocol for pets with their protocol for top-level operators.
She grimaces at the possibility of doing violence to such smiling and potentially research-worthy robot friends, but reaches another free hand to her rifle.
Though Gazigaz is often quite agile, his desire to protect his beard from the flying goop grenade motivated his extraordinary display of dodging skill.
He pulls his static arc pistol and fires at the robot Nako struck.
As the electrical charge flies, Gaz shouts, "I know you are programmed badly, good robots, so let's reset you!" He turns to his comrades and attempts to rally their efforts, "We are Nakonechkin's crew! He needs our help and these security mechs might be behind his disappearance! Allsix for Nakonechkin!"
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Quonx pounds at her data pad for several seconds. Unable to hack the robots, she is able to pull up schematics which show a rear panel with several access ports allowing for a hard connection (should one get close enough). As Quonx raises and steadies her rifle with two hands, she raises a third arm to her head and fumbles around in her fur. Seconds later, Quonx pulls out a DDD-SuperBat 10pin cable - exactly what she would need to hardwire her datapad to a security bot.
A blast of blue light hits AlphaBot. With half of its rotors failing, the robot struggles to maintain a hover. In grinding tremors, small screws and bits of metal start randomly falling out of the robots chassis. The contrast of a weakened enemy behind the visage of Gazigaz's corporeal perfection catches your eyes and you heed Gazigaz's call to action.
CharlieBot's observation globe illuminates red and the message "Pack leader identified" blares out. The robot hovers around towards Gazigaz.
A fuzzy orb of white smacks Gazigaz in the chest and he feels a tingling sensation spread throughout his body as if he was being massaged by a short circuiting home-use shiatsu machine.
In a voice calmer than would seem warranted for having recently been used as a skittermander-shield against micro meteors and now being encased in foam, Dakoyo reflects,
"Ugh - This is like being trapped by marshmallows! Which, if you didn't know, were used as a home remedy by ancient humanoids as a treatment for sore throats. Can you imagine?"
While speaking, Dakoyo targets the heaviest bit of scrap that fell from CharlieBot and flings it with telekinetic force at AlphaBot.
Missing completely, the random bit of metal pings wildly around the room.