Ted surveys the shuttle's sensors and focuses them on the Acreon. He's principally looking for weapons or threats (and things that would make a good "boom") and finds nothing. The ship seems to be, structurally, in perfectly find condition. The power core is functional and appears undamaged, but all the other systems are powered down. Further, each of the three access hatches are open to space. There are some life signs on board, though they are faint.
He shares this information with the rest of you with an air of disappointment. "Not seeing anything to blow up, though..."
"For a derelikht ship, I sure don't likhe that Akhreon having life signs while depressurized. Might be something nasty in there. No, definitely something nasty in there. I khan feel it." He also continues to eye the wreckage of the necroglider, hoping someone else is interested in taking a look at it.
Since Grix isn't in a commanding role here, he lets someone else make the call on what to check first.
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"We are closest to the Acreon. Shall we ensure our environmental seals on our armor are holding, spacewalk to the ship, and board? This one proposes shutting all the exterior hatches and trying to restart life support so we can properly explore it. And if there is alien life onboard... He pauses for a moment, fingering his weapons..."All the better."
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Arcalinte nods at Isu. "Not just a talented gunner, but a wise tactician too. We will mesh well, Isu."
He seizes his mote and lowers it towards his head, again, the helmet of solid light reforming on it as the rest of his solar armor seems to flow forth from it. His eyes take on the golden glow again as he smiles at the others.
When Grix comments on potential trouble aboard the Acreon, he nods.
"We may also want to investigate our mysterious interloper as well. It didn't respond to hails and just started gunning for us immediately. Why? The only reason I can think of is that it didn't want us reaching the Acreon...at least, not before they did. And we should identify them too. Are they Downside Kings here for revenge? Or maybe more hired guns from one of the several sides in this conflict looking to keep the legal dispute from moving forward?"
Solaria struggles to put on her armour and seal it tight, her legs and arms kicking out in a most awkward dance of contortion. "Be with you, not quite got the hang of it yet." As the armour seals, there is a sigh of relief, and over the comms unit in the suit you hear "Glad that's done, I agree with you, the Acreon should be the first place we go. Get the mission done, right. It's what you agreed with the Eoxian ambassador. And Grix, don't be so pessimistic, there are no life forms, so don't worry so much. Com'on Grix we've got Sydney, Isu and Arc, they know what they're doing." She smiles at Grix.
"Then we can find if there were any survivors from that craft we shot down or if it was just a drone."
"(...)And Grix, don't be so pessimistic, there are no life forms, so don't worry so much. (...)"
Grix spares another look on the monitor for the shattered interceptor, wiping away an imaginary tear for the salvage that'll probably be missing by the time the group gets back from the Acreon. "Arc, I'm as khurious as you are. Some eokhsians opposing their ambassador, trying to skhuttle the investigation. Either that or they don't want us rekhovering the ambassador's sekhret pakhage?" He looks around the ship for the camera drone to make sure the thing picked up the fight against the interceptor.
When Solaria speaks he shrugs and says "Alright, Khaptains orders are orders. Let's takhe a lookh at that hulkh first." He activates environmental seals and gets ready to disembark.
Grix points at the access hatch closest to the station (map south) and says "How about that one first? They should all khonnekht inside anyway."
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"Agreed. One is as good as another. Is everyone ready to disembark and proceed to the Acreon?"
Isu scans the group, who seem to have their environmental controls up on their suits and weapons ready to go. Now that they are facing a probable battle situation, his guard is up and he is almost instinctively assuming command.
You "park" the shuttle a short distance from the aft of the Acreon and, after cycling the atmosphere, make the short spacewalk over to the Acreon.
The hatch through which you've chosen to enter is sandwiched between the old freighter's thrusters. Flickering emergency lights do little to dispel the darkness inside the derelict ship, and the sense of abandonment is only heightened by the apparent lack of any movement or life inside its airless corridors. Artificial gravity is still functional, however, so there’s likely still power to run essential systems and possibly restore life support and atmosphere to the ship. Unfortunately, there are still no obvious clues as to the fate of the Acreon’s vanished crew.
Grix floats on over and scoots his way into the access hatch. He seems a little disappointed when the artificial gravity of the ship pulls him to the ground. Over comms he chitters out "Very welkhoming! The ship still has gravity!"
As he waits for the others to join him, he places a claw against the closed internal bulkhead and tries to feel if there are any suspicious vibrations.
Still getting used to 'no gravity' Solaria makes her way floating and swimming in space. She maneuvers herself towards the entry hatch, "Perhaps one of you strong types can go in first and make sure the way is clear, Isu or Arc? I don't mind following, once we're safely in. You know it might be a good idea to get the power on first, do you know where the engines and power is supplied to this craft?" She hovers, then slowly falls on her feet as the gravity of the ship takes hold. She watches as Grix wanders off, "We'd best follow him, before he finds himself in trouble."
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Isu enters the south hatch behind Grix, but immediately puts himself in the lead. He draws his longsword with with left upper hand, his assault hammer with his right upper hand, a grenade with the left lower hand, and the right lower hand remains empty.
Isu flexes that empty hand as he walks forward. Still aches from the implantation procedure. But this one believes it will prove useful; useful indeed.
As you gather in the airlock, you cast your gaze deeper into the ship. This particular corridor seems to run the width of the ship and, at the opposite end, you see another airlock opened to space. Signs of battle—bullet holes, scorch marks, and droplets of blood—are clearly visible on the walls and floors. A small body in a space suit lies sprawled on the floor in the middle of a junction in the hallway.
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His armor tightly protecting him from the vacuum environment, Isu talks through his comm unit to talk to the group, acting like a sergeant with a platoon.
"Obvious signs of a battle here. One body ahead. Clear path to the airlock on the other side, but another hallway crosses through. Spectre, secure the airlock behind us. All should proceed cautiously to the intersection ahead. Possible hostile forces still present."
Isu walks 25 feet north to the intersection and peeks around the corner.
Solari calls after Isu as he goes off down the hall, "Isu, where are you heading, we should try and find the power generators first. Sydney, do you know your way around this craft?"
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Solari calls after Isu as he goes off down the hall, "Isu, where are you heading, we should try and find the power generators first. Sydney, do you know your way around this craft?"
"Only one direction to go, and I'm going there. Don't yell extraneous communications into the comms during a probable battle situation."
Isu shakes his head. This group has no discipline. She was captain of the ship, but battle tactics are his field.
"Spectre may be a jerk, but I don't think he really cared about the loud noise, so I'm not sure he got the message you were trying to send."
Sydney gives Arc a confused look like she doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Is he a jerk? She glances over at the android, unsure what to make of the Solarian’s statement. I wonder how far back those two go.
Grix prepares himself to disembark, activating environmental seals on his armor just in case. As he does so he calls over to Sydney "Oh and remind me after we're done with this job to tell you about another one I have in the workhs. Bigger, more interesting, more uh, ekhciting! You might get a khikh out of it."
Sydney smirks, “Yeah. Okay, man.”
~*~*~*~*~
Sydney pushes off from the wall, propelling herself towards the ship. She grabs onto a handle as the gravity takes effect, pulling her boots-first to the floor.
As you gather in the airlock, you cast your gaze deeper into the ship. This particular corridor seems to run the width of the ship and, at the opposite end, you see another airlock opened to space. Signs of battle—bullet holes, scorch marks, and droplets of blood—are clearly visible on the walls and floors. A small body in a space suit lies sprawled on the floor in the middle of a junction in the hallway.
Sydney pulls her flashlight out of its leg holster and clicks it on, providing additional light. "Looks like we missed the action."
Solari calls after Isu as he goes off down the hall, "Isu, where are you heading, we should try and find the power generators first. Sydney, do you know your way around this craft?"
Sydney silently nods. What is Isu doing? Sydney creeps after her companion as stealthy as she can manage...
...which isn't too stealthy. She looks around for a computer terminal to access. Something that will give her the layout of the ship or more information about the security system.
"I hear you sekhurity officer Isu!" Grix speaks through his comms, his rasp somehow even more pronounced through the speaker. "What's that body out there?" He creeps forwards.
Grix mutters more quietly into his comms, so that the camera drone doesn't pick it up "Something very khurious just khame bakh to me while we were spacewalkhing... when Chiskisk introduced this job to us, and again when the ambassador did, they both said there weren't supposed to be any life signs on the Akhreon. But once we got here, there were." He gnashes his mandibles audibly over comms "They had this place khuarantined, yea? That doesn't add up. Someone was lying to us."
"First the interceptor, now the fakhts not staying straight..." Peering over Isu's shoulder, Grix examines the body in the intersection.
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On approach toward the ship, Spectre made sure the rest of the crew knew he did not require life support to survive in the vacuum of space, and that in the event of a sudden loss of life support, he would return to the ship and let the Starfinders know of their demise.
"If you have any final instructions, I am happy to pass that along, as well," he says.
For a price...
Once inside, he moves forward with his longarm held aloft. "I can secure the airlock," he says. "Further, I have been experimenting with a personal deflector shield. Should hostilities commence, it should shield me from additional damage."
Solariai shrugs and follows along, clearly out of her depth in this situation. Her eyes dart from side to side, her antennae twitch, her mouth open in excitement at the thought they are exploring a deserted ship with much to discover. Even the distress of walking close to the dead body, can't halt her enthusiasm. In hushed tomes she asks between an almost panting breath, "Grix, do you know how he died?"
Ted looks at nearby consoles and quickly determine that all functions have been locked out subject to a command from the bridge. The only way to release the functions is to enter the commands from the bridge.
Sydney gives a quick glance at a terminal on her way towards the corridor junction and determines roughly the same, though the effort distracts her a bit and some of her gear clangs against a wall while her flashlight also illuminates the way like a signal flare.
Isu and Sydney pause at the intersection. Glancing down the corridors they see it is lined with machinery and equipment used to operate the ship. It makes for rough lines and an inexperienced spacer may think it chaotic and ill-kept, but the lack of aesthetics actually makes for easier access and quicker repairs.
Scans indicate the body in the hallway is most definitely a corpse. There are no life signs. It is face-down but appears to be a small humanoid with a cobbled together and ill-maintained space suit. It looks like the suit has been ripped open at various points resulting in bloody wounds. The injuries are the likely cause of death but it's hard to know more without physically inspecting the body.
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Arcalinte follows after the group to meet them at the corridor, sword in hand, and the glow of his solar armor making the darkness of the ship a little less oppressive. He first turns to Isu.
"I can take point if you need me to, Isu. I know the armor looks conspicuous, but I've learned how to compensate for it when doing recon stuff. Besides, if there IS something on here with us, it'll probably hear us long before it sees us. I'm hoping to one day master the mysteries that allow a solarian to bend light around them to conceal them from view, but I'm not quite there yet."
When Grix gives his analysis of the situation, he nods.
"I think you're right, and I think it's got to do with why the Ambassador reached out to us the way he did. He contacted us personally, instead of doing something like...say...petitioning the Society for aid, in an official, public way. We're disposable: we succeed and he gets what he wants, we fail and no one's going to ask too many questions about a few mercenary Starfinders that got in over their heads. Like I said...we're pawns here, and we're still learning the nature of the game."
Sydney silently moves up five feet and examines the corpse.
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Isu nods at Arc and talks into his comms. "Every squad needs a scout. Don't fail us, solarian. Shall we remain in this central location as you look inside some rooms? This is a solid tactical location, because at this intersection, we can see up and down the length of the ship. If enemies threaten, you can retreat back to this location and we can shoot them down before they can close on us."
Sydney moves up to examine the corpse. Nudging it with her foot, she realizes it's... a goblin!? Just as odd discovery comes to her, two creatures detach themselves from the machinery on the walls and leap to attack. One of them misses, its attack almost serving as a distraction, while the other bites deep and chews at Sydney's leg.
The sudden violence playing out in front of them takes most of the party by surprise, while Grix, Spectre and Arcalinte seemed to sense something was about to happen and are already snapping to the ready.
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Grix chitters in anxious surprise as Sydney is suddenly jumped. "Kh-khiller tentakhle beasts! Get off her!" Not wasting any time, he raises his semi-auto pistol and fires a wild shot.
A long string of profanity escapes Sydney's lips and keeps on coming out. Every curse word in the human dictionary and a few in Akitonian reverberate through the ship's darkened halls.
Sydney fearlessly tries to grasp some of the slippery face-tentacles - while avoiding the teeth - and unwrap them from her leg. With her other hand, Sydney smacks the biting creature with her flashlight as if to say: Down! Bad space monster! Sydney is too busy cursing like a space pirate to communicate with her companions.
With the sudden turn of events, Solaria is taken aback, and gasps audibly. This is her first real experience of fighting for her life, she hesitates waiting for someone to tell her what to do. Her mind frozen, then she thinks, Calm young lady, think your dealing with unruly guests, do what you do best. What do you know of the problem? She lets out a sigh and tries to remember if any of the simulations, visuo-reality programs or books she read about the great expanse of space contained any reference to creatures such as these, so she can relay the information to her companions.
Taking out her pistol she readies to shoot at the creature she can see, she attracts it's attention, by faking the shot at it's left flank, hoping to make its right easier to hit.
Takes out Pulsecaster Pistol
Against Akata Solaria can see (one with purple hat). Bluff for Clever Feint
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Ted chuckles, "These must be the goblins' pets! Wonder if they were the ones flying this ship against us. Spec, maybe trying feeding the animals instead of shooting them... They look hungry."
He makes a flicking motion at the top spinning around his head and points at the nearest beast. The top begins spinning faster and faster as energy sparks around it.
Grix: Identify; Fire-Hit
Spectre: Miss
Arc: Miss
Spectre fires off a snap shot that goes wild while Grix searches his brain for anything he can recall on these creatures.
With that little bit of knowledge percolating through his brain, Grix snaps off a shot from his pistol. It slams into the hind quarter of one of creatures, leaving a splash of blueish blood in its wake. Arcalinte charges in and swings his longsword, striking true and further injuring the creature.
The wounded creature whirls and bites at the latest source of injury, grazing Arcalinte. The other one, just around the corner and that previously missed Sydney, lunges forward and bites deep into Sydney's back, blood splattering on the inside of her helmet as she begins to cough crimson fluids.
Sydney looks badly injured, but she takes out one of her guns and shoots at the creature currently gnawing her leg. She's still swearing up a storm.
* When you threaten a space and the opponent moves out
of that space in any way other than a guarded step (see
page 247) or withdraw action (see above), you can use your
reaction to make a melee attack against the opponent.
* When the opponent in a space you threaten makes a ranged
attack, you can use your reaction to make a melee attack
against the opponent.
* When the opponent in a space you threaten casts a spell or
uses a spell-like ability, you can use your reaction to make a
melee attack against the opponent. However, some spells or
spell-like abilities state in their descriptions that they don’t
provoke attacks of opportunity, so be sure to confirm that the
enemy has provoked your reaction before you take it.