Cueta pilots as she lives life - like a hammer meeting a nail. Flipping the throttle open, the Sunrise Maiden blasts forward, then turning quickly to the starboard. With three ships flanking them, it may pay to be a little careful.
"Make sure your harnesses are buckled tight, chinney!"
The ship jumps and sways as she flies, shifting the height of an Absolom scraper with a blink of the eye. The effect is nausea-inducing - but should keep the Maiden from taking any broadsides.
All the "crazy" goes out of Astrianna, and she relaxes back in her seat with a shrug. "It was worth a try. I think he almost fell for it." She was still looking at the Jangly Man, but clearly talking to her crew.
"Yeah yeah, doom and void and all that shit, let's get this over with. Bye!" She tries to close the communications windows but finds it unresponsive. "Ugh I do not want to look or listen to this idiot the whole time. PUMPKIN, shut off all external communications and start the ShowTime application." Drones cascade from the ceiling to capture a 360 degrees recording of the cockpit, shining bright fluorescent lights everywhere.
The captain reaches for her seatbelt, and she straps herself in. "Vek, the next time I glance at the video feed I want to see one less escort ship, got it?" The words leave her mouth just as Cueta starts flying like she was as just as crazy as the people she was complaining about earlier. Astrianna is fairly sure she's the only sane one in this whole system.
"Roger that, Captain," Vek responds without thinking. He waits for the ship to settle before re-aligning the targeting systems and starting the particle beam generation process. "Targeting escort on enemy's port side in three, two, one..."
The particle beam, upgraded via the corpse of the dead invader, rips through the comparatively flimsy shield of the small fighter and lances right through the hull.
A silent explosion ensues, out of it a responding attack emerges which goes well wide of Cueta's evasive maneuvers. As it clears the fighter can be seen drifting lifeless. It's out of the combat.
Meanwhile a trio of attacks from the other two ships also miss The Sunrise Maiden. One of them from the large destroyer would have landed if not for Cueta's stunt.
The sudden shifts and jukes from the Maiden serve to confuse the enemy pilots as well. They are unable to keep up with the human and Ceuta continues to maintain the advantage. The fighter loo
"Sweeping the escorts first!" Leila chirps and aims the other much less lethal turret array of the sunrise maiden at the enemy ships. "Scanning!"
Once the external comms are cut she speaks up again. "Whew. That one seemed really unpleasant. Let's hope they spent more credits on being creeps then tuning up their ships!"
---R2---
"Well not much to get a reading on now is there?!" the halfling laughs and aims the scanners at the big ship instead.
Astrianna laughs with glee as their upgraded turret rips through fighter like Leila rips through a bowl of instant noodles. "Doom cultists aren't known for performing maintenance on their ships, what with the crippling nihilism and all. These rust buckets will probably fall apart before the second shot."
Crossing one leg over another and seeming to melt into her chair, she waves a hand absently towards the gunnery station. "Please make the other escort disappear as well, Vek."
Just before the fighter explodes Leila's scan identifies it's specifications.
Speed 10; Maneuverability good (turn 1); Drift 2
AC 20; TL 20
HP 40; DT —; CT 8
Shields light 80 (forward 20, port 20, starboard 20, aft 20)
Attack (Forward) high explosive missile launcher (4d8), twin
laser (5d8)
Attack (Aft) coilgun (4d4)
Attack (Turret) high explosive missile launcher (4d8)
The main ship is a heavily modified Atech Bulwark.
Large destroyer
Speed 6; Maneuverability average (turn 2); Drift 2
AC 22; TL 20
HP 170; DT —; CT 34
Shields medium 90 (forward 24, port 22, starboard 22, aft 22)
Attack (Forward) Persistent Particle Beam Direct-Fire Long 10d6 40
Attack (Turret) Light Carrion Missile Launcher Tracking Long 12 3d8 10 5 Limited Fire 5, Volatile
The scan of the main ship reveals Astrianna is right and the cultists have not given much of a thought to internal tech security. Leila is able to patch into the chatter between the two remaining ships.
... followed? No matter, we will push them into the blood door next. They'll not get lucky again....
”Roger.” Vek maintains his professional tone as he recalibrated the main gun towards the other ship. ”Firing in three, two, one...” The hovering camera drones slow down ever so slightly as the overclocked gun draws heavily on the ship’s power to synthesize the particle beam and send it lancing towards the other escort.
The Maiden barrels forward, ascending the height of a small mountain in a few seconds. Cueta keeps the ship turning port, and then punches the Maiden down and towards the next fighter, the pilot's stomach flipping like a 9er canyon jumper's.
"YEEEAAAWWW, CHINNEY!"
"Good flying, Cueta. I read the energy signature of the destroyer's main cannon - it is quite similar to the old one we had. That could damage us if it hits."
Prospero-4 points to the complex data readout in one of the panels, expecting it to mean something to the others.
Sunrise Maiden's power levels are good at the moment, so the android keeps the spare energy flowing to the turret.
As Ceuta turns to strafe the fighter another lance of twin linked energy bursts through the flimsy defenses of the fighter and it also dissapears into an implosion of energy and twisted.
While the fighter was unable to retaliate the massive lumbering destroyer, not able to use it's front facing weapon, does land a hit with a missile attack that slams into the aft of the Sunrise Maiden.
the weak are consumed first. As the Devourer demands. Now let us dance the true dance and see the manner of my VICTORY!
comes the message from The Jangly Man. The hacked chatter between the ships, of course, is silent, as there is no ally for the final ship to even talk to.
Astrianna barely even moves when the missile diffuses harmlessly across their shields. "I still have to listen to this guy? Look buddy, I don't think you understand. You're the weak one here. You've flailed and killed and wormed your way this far, but every time your little cult comes against us, we end up destroying you. Hells, seems like The Devourer is on our side most of the time."
She waves a hand and sighs. "Cueta, keep our flak cannon pointed towards the enemy vessel so we can shoot down any further missiles. I'd like to get this cleaned up so we can move on, I wouldn't be surprised if the corpse fleet is already ahead of us."
Her head turns casually to Vek. "Full volley from all weapons systems focused on their aft when Cueta brings them around. Disable their engines and we can cut them to pieces."
"Aye," Cueta says, pushing thoughts of kiting the cultist out of her head. Instead, she punches the Maiden forward through space before blasting a chunk of the ship's air out the ship's port aft 'lock. The Maiden swings wildly, tipping as it goes, shaking the crew like dice at craps table. But the end result as planned - turned 180 degrees, the Maiden flies straight towards the cultist's ship!
"R-roger," Vek stammers, his fingers flying across the touchscreen. Can't let her down now - especially not when the cameras are rolling. Probably live-streaming. Gritting his teeth, the vesk slams a heavy hand down on the console.
"Sensor data for engines coming up!" Leila chirps and attempts to lock onto the other ships heat signature. With a bit of luck they'll squish those engines all right!
[spoiler=Target System (Helm Phase, Push)You can use your starship’s sensors to target a specific system on an enemy starship. This action requires your starship to have sensors. You must attempt a Computers check, applying any modifiers from the starship’s sensors. The DC equals 5 + 1-1/2 the tier of the enemy starship + its bonus from defensive countermeasures (see page 298). If you succeed, choose one system (core, engines, life support, sensors, or weapons). The next attack made by your starship that hits the enemy ship scores a critical hit on a natural roll of 19 or 20. If that attack deals critical damage, it affects the chosen system. For any further critical damage resulting from the attack, determine which system is affected randomly as normal. Your starship’s sensors can target only one system on a specific enemy starship at a time, though this action can be used to concurrently target systems on multiple starships. [/spoiler]
"A hit on our rear deflector." Prospero-4 states, as the warning light on his screen flashes. "But the shield is holding well. I am diverting more power to the shields to recharge the deflector."
The sudden burst of aggression seems to take the destroyer completely by surprise and, while the flak cannon, doesn't do anything, two shots from the twin linked particle beam lances through the flimsy shields of the cultist ship and gouges a large hole in the hull. Leila reads the ships and the weapon systems are starting to glitch.
Responding fire from the front weapon of the ship does take a noticeable chunk out of the Sunrise Maiden shields however.
Leila also notes a distress signal flying away from the ship to the universe in general.
... pursuers more dangerous than expected. We will need more to destroy them. Devourer take them! They are coming for the star ender!
There's not enough time to block the message from being sent. The only way to keep the forces ahead from being put on high alert is to send an all clear signal. Which can only be done from the ship itself.
"Shields are still holding well. We are able to take a few more shots."
Despite this, Prospero-4 keeps recharging the shields - better be prepared for any surprises.
"Leila, are we able to analyze that distress signal, and generate a fake all-clear ourselves?" Boarding a ship with a crew of Devourer cultists might be a difficult task - they are very unlikely to surrender.
The halfling frowns and bites her lip. "Hmm. I'm not sure ... We *could* but it might take suspiciously long time to crack the id codes." Maybe some quick sims and knowledge checks would give a hum?
"Front shields probably down, yeah?" Cueta asks, somewhat rhetorically, as the Maiden punches forwards, the pilot back to evasive manuevers, taking a wide, jangly loop until it again is more or less facing the enemy ship once again. "Put 'er down like she's a rabid cur, chinney?"
The amount of time it would take Leila to reverse engineer the hardware signature of the distress signals based on the few scraps of communication she's scraped is too long for a convincing all clear signal to be sent. Best to board and just send it from the cultist ship communit.
"Why did you have to go and do that?" Astrianna says to The Jangly Man with all the annoyance of someone that was just cut off in line for the midnight release of the latest generation of their favorite piece of hardware. "Now we're going to have to waste time killing even more of you."
She sighs, waving a hand in the air in a circle. "Wrap this up. Disable their ship, I don't care how. Prospero, prepare for boarding. I want the first frame of the video on us kicking their asses to be you breaching their bulkhead in your powered armor." A small smile creases her lips. Prospero's fans will love it, and so will her advertisers.
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”Roger.” Vek doesn’t know why the people of Absalom love that word so much, but the captain said it increased viewership by 1.7% every time he said it. Maybe an ancient war hero? He fires up the particle beam once more, then releases it with the push of a button.
Vek's burst of fire rips through shields that had just started to recover after the last barrage and gouges another hull from the destroyer. Leila reads that, in addition to the Engines, and the weapon systems, the life systems of the enemy ship have started to glitch as well.
Her reading of the internal activity of the ships is also... odd.. a lot of the energy flow that indicates commands being transferred from the bridge to the various parts of the ship have gone silent.. only the navigation system seems to have stayed active after the distress signal was sent. The destroyer turns laboriously and seems to be making an attempt to run away. There is no responding fire, which is ironically really eerie. It's like they're fighting a headless beast whose body hasn't realized it's dead yet.
Status:
Fighter 1: dead
Fighter 2: dead
Destroyer: 400 hull forward 0/24, port 22/22, starboard 22/22, aft 22/22 weapons Glitching, Engines Glitching, Life Support Glitching.
Sunrise Maiden aft shield 95+6/105 front 67+6/105
Cueta's hand hovers over the Maiden's commands, the pilot suddenly unsure. Cueta after all, had no flair for the dramatic.
"Finish it?" she asks the captain.
Astrianna sneers when the information comes back that the ship was turning away, clearly on auto-pilot. Her fingers drum across the arm of her chair. "I don't like this." She says to herself, sucking in a breath. "You remember how whats-his-nuts blew himself up on Castrovel after he was about to be defeated? What if they're trying to get us to board the ship, so they can self-destruct and take us with them?"
The half-elf squirms, clearly upset and frustrated there isn't an easy decision here. This wasn't going to make a good scene. "Leila, I want you to scan the ship again. Make damn sure, because all our lives depend on it, that they do not have a self-destruct module installed on that ship. If they don't, initiate boarding action, Cueta, so we can penetrate their bridge and send an all-clear signal from their own communications. If they do have a self-destruct module, turn that hunk into space dust and take us towards the planet. I'd rather deal with cultists shooting at us rather than having a bomb strapped to my ass."
Even the auto pilot of the enemy ships seems to give out as the destroyer starts to drift silently forward like an arrrow. The mindless motion is a familiar sight to Cueta; moving on momentum alone is as sure a sign of a dead ship as a stinking carcass is of a dead animal groundside.
Or it might be a trap of course...
"Okay okay I'll scan! You know ... Maybe we could just cut away the bridge from the rest and improve our odds ...? But it'll take time too ..." The halfling tries to see if the ship's scanner can pick up any suspicious chemicals or power surges.
Leila's really thorough scans reveal a ship that has almost no energy flows whatsoever from one system to another. Only the life support system is fully operational.
"..Looks as safe as any doomsday cultist ship ..." By her tone it was clear that she did not consider that particularly safe.
"Eh, remember that locanth Admiral in Galaxy Wars Part VII?" Cueta asks Leila as she maneuvers the Maiden towards the floundering ship. She yells in her best raspy fish-person voice.
"It's a trap!"
"Hah. You're probably not wrong!" Leila perked up, feeling proud that Cueta would remember such a thing.
As the Sunrise Maiden pulls up close to the cultist ship. The only decision that remains is whether to force a dock with the Crew airlock on the upper deck of the destroyer or the Cargo lock on the lower.
Leila's scans map out the entirety of the ship. The only indications of life are coming from the main bridge close to the crew airlock.
"Gearing up." Prospero-4 stands up from his seat, turns off the engineering displays, and heads toward the cargo bay to put on his power armor. As he walks there, he connects voice to the ship intercom.
"If we board through the crew airlock, I suppose that's where the remaining enemies are most likely to confront us. But that is also the fastest way to the bridge."
He pauses to think for a moment.
"If there are any explosive devices, they are most likely in the cargo bay. So going through the cargo airlock, should bring us closer to them, and allowing to disable them quicker."
While he goes through the process of entering the heavy armor frame, the android seeks the local copy of infospheres of schematics and floorplans of that particular destroyer model.
"Why the cargo bay?" Cueta asks, peering over the android's shoulder as Prospero shuts down the engineering displays. Cueta follows him to the cargo bay. "I'd put them everywhere, spread out, triggered to go off at once, yeah?"
Waving her arms around, her way of denoting the infosphere, Cueta asks, "Can you like scan for explosives? I don't wanna get blown up."
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"We can scan some more; but I don't think we'll find much. If only we had an explosive finding animal ..." The halfling glanced towards her quarters - but such training would no doubt take far too long time.
Bo actually has been really freaked out since he boarded the ship. He's going to need a lot more training.
"Yeah, a goblin would be great for that sort of thing." Astrianna says casually as she suits up for a little rootin' tootin' cultist shootin'. "Let's go through the crew airlock. I want this over quick before they send reinforcements and blow the little ruse I have planned."
The vlogger thumbs the seals on her helmet and speaks directly to their ship. "Pumpkin, activate biometric locks to my ID ONLY, with additional verbal passcode of "WÜNDERSPLENK"."
Sighing, she motions towards the door. "Prospero and Cueta take point. Vek, you're watching our rear and for any cultists trying to steal our ship."
Prospero-4 sends a thumbs-up emoticon to the groups private channel (the first time he's done that, actually), and moves to the airlock. Standing there in his battle harness and holding the bulky artillery laser leaves little room for anyone else. But the android squeezes to the side of the airlock to allow Cueta to join him.
The Sunrise Maiden pulls up alongside and matches the inertia of the cultist ship.
The cultists have modified the ATech Bulwark so much that the original frame is barely recognizable. The exterior has been painted red and black to go with the spikes, skull graffiti, and other obscene trophies 'decorating the ship.
The docking protocols of the ship are easily overridden and the process completes with a hiss as the airlock opens.
Even in the airlock the aesthetic of the exterior is maintained. Red and black protrusions and marks are everywhere. The environmental sensors of the group's armor indicates a low level of background radiation to go along with a maddening aural buzz that indicates to the Engineers of team a very poorly maintained power core. It's a wonder the ship has held together before the Sunrise Maiden blasted it into the derelict it si now.
More pressing though is the loud sound of screaming that reverberates through the airlock as the door to the interior of the cultist ship opens...
Drawing her longsword, Cueta steps in front of Prospero, like a backer in the 9's breakball league. Step into the scrum, protect the slinger.
"Vek!? Company's coming!"
Vek nods from the other side of the group. ”If they keep that shouting up, at least they won’t take us by surprise,” he answers through his suit’s comm.
The screams slowly fade away. It takes a little while to realize this is happening though becauses of the echoes.
Soon there is nothing left but the irritating buzz and the slow tick of radiation warning from the group's armor....
Leila swallows hard as a shiver runs up her spine in tune with the scream. The sounds of the (not) maintained reactor doesn't help either. "Brr! What a welcome. Who wonders what dark rituals they're doing?"
Astrianna makes an annoyed face at the sound of the screaming, and then starts turning aroundi ncircles to capture a full view of the interior with her camera. "Gods, ShamefulShips is going to LOVE this one. Ha, they were literally iradiating themselves, what idiots! Let's go kill the screaming thing and get out of here before I grow a fifth nipple." There would be no comment about nipples three or four if she was pressed.
When the screaming stops and they are still standing there, she huffs over their comms. "Get moving, we need to get to the bridge! This is killing the pacing!"
Stepping out of the airlock the group finds themselves in a small room with the same disgusting decoration as the airlock. They also find themselves stepping over a dead body, a trail of blood from it leading them deeper inside the ship. A quick glance shows the person, wearing cultist clothes and piercings, was killed very recently with cruel slashes and crawled here to die.
Following the trail of blood the group turns the corner, to their left they see a completely exposed power core, to their right they see more corpses with similar wounds leading to the bridge where the Jangly man they saw on the screen seems to be finishing off his last victim with the tip of a jagged spear.
He looks at the group and lets go of the body he is holding, letting it slump to the ground with a wet thud. He is tall and his dark purple and dirty blue robes are stained with blood, he grins and the group can feel the stink that must come from it even through their armor's filtration systems.
The price for failing to serve the Devourer is to have your soul devoured false devotees. Come... let me show you sweet OBLIVION!