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Soundtrack for the opening scene
"Clearance for shuttle Okimoro confirmed. Proceed along flight pattern to dock 94."
Idar the Houseless sat in the jump-seat, watching through the window as the asymmetrical, six-pointed star moved out of far-focus into more specific structural features. The central core of the space station - known as the Eye - remained at the centre of focus, the forcefield dome highlighting skyscrapers and green trees set against the blackness of space. The shuttle moved smoothly towards the Arms, metallic rays housing dozens of different docks and bays ranging in size and function. In between the Arms and the Eye sat concentric rings of further metallic-grey structures known as the Ring. Only five miles in diameter, the structure of Absalom Station was well-known throughout the known galaxy, but still majestic to behold.
Idar shifted in the seat as the shuttle hewed close to the entry port of its docking bay, the artificial gravity pulling in ways that space hadn't during the flight. With a sideways peer out the window, the unique architectural feature of Absalom Station known as the Spike became more clearly viewed. The tapering pillar dropped down from the station’s central disk, its surface a thrum of blinking lights clustered densely near the tip.
The shuttle touched down with a soft clunk. Idar glanced up at the other four shuttle passengers, noting a lashunta with a curiously-familiar face collecting her positions from the bulkhead as she checked her personal comm-link. The shuttle intercom crackled to life once more, the android pilot of the shuttlecraft speaking to the passengers as the landing gear deployed.
"Okimoro mooring successful. Standard AS gravity in place. Please disembark to the forward of the shuttlecraft. Welcome to Absalom Station. May the Beacon guide your days and ways."
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August Vydoc strode through docking bay 93 en route to the subsequent bay. A riot of people crowded the disembarkment area - vesk, human, lashunta, android, nuar - and August catalogued each as he moved past, intent on the sign indicating the entrance to loading dock 94 up ahead. His implanted comm device registered that the estimated time of arrival on the current path was to be two minutes late at the present velocity of ambulation. August's stride grew slightly quicker.
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Jaxom Sandstrom stood in the service lift as it descended to docking bay 94, his kit outfitted, his heart thumping faster than normal in his chest. The dwarf had called for him! The thought repeated in his head as he fastidiously adjusted his straps. There had been no news regarding his request for off-world work for so long, and now this official Starfinder electro-document arrived - pre-emptively opened by his nosy mother - with the prior agreed-upon call for his action. The lift slowed as a dull ding rang out, indicating Jaxom's arrival at dock 94. The lift doors glided opened.
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Telion of Castrovel sat rear-facing on the Astro-Seg, gliding effortlessly through the loading docks towards his target location. The muscular lashunta relaxed as he reviewed the cryptic message from the dwarf Kreel in his mind. "Let me make things right." What could that mean? Telion passively watched the varied races slide by as the vehicle moved through the taxi lane, Loading Bay 94 looming into view. A large shuttlecraft was in the process of de-pressuring its hatch - perhaps these were the prospective Starfinders that Kreel spoke about? Telion looked around for a dwarf, not exactly remembering Kreel's face, but trusting that a dwarf would stand out from the others on the dock.
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"i'm outside your shuttlecraft on the opposite side of the loading bay. so soon; we can finally meet!"
Diamaante glanced with a flat expression at her personal comm, the instant message fading from the screen. The dwarf hopefully wouldn't be too much of a problem - perhaps he would understand that she was using him for a specific purpose. Hopefully he wouldn't need to be 'handled'. The lashunta kept her eyes on her possessions as she readied for shuttle exit, avoiding looking at the other passengers on board. "The first rule of celebrity is not to be spotted; Avoid direct glances." - Bunny's cardinal rules floated through the damaya's mind as she sauntered out of the popped shuttle hatch in front of the gathered passengers, her scarf-wrap over her head for further obfuscation.
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Diamaante keeps her head down and tries to avoid eye contact with anybody else in the docking bay. She is grateful that her assistant didn't send the dwarf's full message over to her--the description of the picture that had been attached had been enough to leave a mental scar.
She glances around furtively.
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Idar smiles to himself - and only to himself, since he hides his mouth like all Kasatha. Paying work. Respectable, too. Not like all those other responses to his advertisement seeking a mere killer-for-hire.
Rising from the jump seat, he retrieves his luggage - a single bag containing all his worldly possessions, with a padded extension protecting his longrifle. With another hand, he pulls up his hood and adjusts his scarf. (While another idly sifts through his pockets with nervous energy.)
He steps off the shuttle, looking about for some kind of sign that someone is there to meet him. Failing that, he'll look for any kind of signage to direct him toward the Lorespire.
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Idar smiles to himself - and only to himself, since he hides his mouth like all Kasatha. Paying work. Respectable, too. Not like all those other responses to his advertisement seeking a mere killer-for-hire.
Rising from the jump seat, he retrieves his luggage - a single bag containing all his worldly possessions, with a padded extension protecting his longrifle. With another hand, he pulls up his hood and adjusts his scarf. (While another idly sifts through his pockets with nervous energy.)
He steps off the shuttle, looking about for some kind of sign that someone is there to meet him. Failing that, he'll look for any kind of signage to direct him toward the Lorespire.
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August's colorless eyes sweep the vast press of organics and notes some of the other androids shying away from humans and Vesk. He remembered how surprised he'd been when he discovered that androids away from home were subservient to organics instead of being in charge.
He pings Duravor and leaves him a quick text message explaining the current delay, estimating he'd arrive approximately thirty four seconds past 1330 on the dot due to the press of traffic and what he gathered was a surly docking specialist clearing the Marchara for landing.
Telion glanced about as he walked with the crowd, noting the passengers disembarking.
A woman, eyes down, mostly covered, but her bearing is almost regal. Not used to slipping by unnoticed.
A kasathan man. The way he handled his long bag caught Telion's attention. A hunter then, at least of some sort.
But where was this dwarf, and what sort of work did he have in mind. To be honest, Telion hadn't expected to ever see Duravor again, but his timing was convenient. Telion's credit chip was running dry and he had been growing restless on the station that served as his temporary home. While he had learned to quiet his mind, he was anxious to test his new skills.
He glanced up to the small black and purple orb that floated beside him. It shocked him when it had appeared. When he had stretched out his mind to it he could feel how it was made up of strange twists in the gravitational pull from everything around him. Even from him, he supposed. Strange.
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The brightly-lit dock 94 of Absalom Station is abuzz with activity as travelers bustle by, preparing to board or disembark from starships bound to or from any of dozens of worlds. Brash and swaggering starpilots, scurrying ysoki mechanics, expectant colonists - all mingle with enigmatic kasatha mystics, hard-faced asteroid miners, and imposing vesk mercenaries, creating a microcosm of the abundance and variety of life in the Pact Worlds. New arrivals meet friends, loved ones, or business contacts, and are whisked away into the humming activity of daily life on the vast space station. Beyond them, ground crews tend to the docked ships, and dockworkers in mechanised cargo lifters load and unload freight and baggage. A sharp tang of ozone hangs in the air - a byproduct of electrical discharges from the docked ships - but underneath, the station’s atmosphere has a slightly-used aroma. The docking bay’s deck plates thrum beneath your feet, though whether it’s from the passage of innumerable feet or the vibrations of the station’s power conduits and air recycling systems is impossible to say.
You all step onto the scene, taking in the frenetic energy.
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Upon hearing the activation of laser pistols, and noting a place to take cover from both sides (assuming there is any), August activates his combat subroutines and tries to dive out of the way of the two groups while yelling in an authoritative bass.
Everybody take cover, active shooters in the docking bay!
I hope I'm not hearing things, explaining a panic to station security wouldn't be exciting.
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Tall and lanky for a dwarf, with a bristly, iron-gray beard and deep-set eyes beneath bushy eyebrows, the dwarf Duravor Kreel approaches the disembarkment channel of the Okimoro. With his patched and stained coveralls, the dwarf looks like just another dockworker, but a badge bearing the symbol of the Starfinder Society stands out on his chest. Kreel holds a hand up in greeting, a tablet computer in his other hand down by his side. Before you can return the greeting, the air is suddenly filled with laser blasts.
Bystanders scream and flee in terror, diving for cover or milling about frantically. The dwarf freezes in place, paralysed with fear.
You all see a laser beam hit Kreel. The dwarf falls to his knees, grasping at his neck for a few seconds before collapsing face-down. Further laser blasts echo across the bay.
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August and Diamaante both dive for cover as the laser crossfire strafes the dockworks. The others are frozen in shock.
The air crackles with energy as lasers fly in all directions, some hitting targets, innocent and assailant alike. Two of the shooters - one from each side of the platform - attempt to re-position for better cover after taking scorch marks to their frames, but all of the gunmen remain defiantly standing as they pump out blasts of laser-fire at each other.
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Seeing a fellow lashunta nearby, Diamaante rushes across the docking bay and crouches behind the crates beside him. She focuses on the nearest gunman and tries to cloud his mind.
Beneath her hood, her antennae twitch as she reaches out to the lashunta telepathically. What is going on? Who are these people?
As the dwarf hit the deck, Telion's mind snapped into focus. His gaze swept the room, picking out the attackers through the chaos of people fleeing the dock. "Don't know, but that dwarf is why I'm here. Be right back, and keep your head down," Telion replied to the beautiful lashunta woman who had ducked down beside him.
Telion paused for a moment, then saw a break in the laser blasts and ran towards Duravor and slid behind the crates nearby so he'd have cover as he lifted him.
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August looks at a Lashunta who's running to grab the dwarf as he's pulling his gun from the retention holster on his right hip.
Brave but a bad tactical decision.
Stay down, the threat hasn't been neutralized!
Looking at the thugs he shouts a command to cease fire, catching himself at the last minute before he identifies himself as internal security. Since they (presumably) ignore him he puts his hands together as he stands and gets into his stance.
August fires at the thug to the east of the orange barrel in front of him.
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The korasha lashunta responds to Diamaante's telepathic communication out loud before rushing to slide behind a pair of crates near the fallen dwarf's body. While this occurs, the four-armed kasatha draws his rifle and takes up a protected position at the south side of the scene. August calls out -
"Stay down; the threat hasn't been neutralized!
- and then fires a shot from his pistol at one of the gunmen on the east side, tagging him and causing him to spin toward the android with a loud
"Hey!"
A laser strafes across the room and tags the gunman closest to August.
Jaxom takes this blur of motion in with a slight bubble in his stomach as he watches from the lift doors.
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A middle-aged human throws himself behind the Astro-Seg close to Diamaante, calling for the other lashunta's attention as the symphony of laser blasts continues.
"Can you bring him to me? I have a medkit!"
The gunman targeted by August stands up, and firing off two shots at the android, calls out to his compatriots: "New shooter! New shooter! Mark 9!"
August's opponent clearly has been rattled by the attack, and misses badly with both shots, almost dropping his pistol in the process.
Telion hefted the unconscious dwarf over his shoulder and bolted back towards his previous location. Coming around the corner, he nearly ran right into the human man ducking behind the crates. "Are you a medic?"
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Diamaante doesn't know which side--if any--are the good guys, so she stays low behind the crates for now. When the other lashunta brings the dwarf near, she reaches out telepathically again.
We need to get clear of this firefight! Is there a safe path to an exit?
She looks to see if the dwarf still has his tablet computer. If he dropped it nearby, she will pull it towards her.
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Idar is reluctant to start trading bullets into a gang war? street fight? for a variety of reasons, but this is going to get worse before it gets better.
The android is clearly not part of either faction, but is going to get himself shot if he keeps taking potshots. Idar will take a shot at the same target at August.
Inhale, sight, squee-CRACK!-ze, exhale.
But the shot ricochets harmlessly off a crate.
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As he pulls out his Medkit, Jaxom responds to the lashunta's query, "I'm no doctor, but I may be the best chance that this fellow has at the moment."
Jaxom gives the dwarf the once over, hoping to determine his status, staunch the bleeding, and save his life, although not necessarily in that order...
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Jaxom sees the hole burnt through the dwarf's throat, and even before using his MedKit, thinks the worst. After a brief scan, his fears are confirmed.
Lasers dance across the room chaotically in a destructive dance.
A stray laser clips Diamaante in the shoulder as August takes a laser blast to the torso.
Telion dropped off the unbreathing dwarf with the medic and turned, "I have to help stop this before someone else gets hurt." Seeing the kasatha trying to intercede, the lashunta sprinted towards the other group to help disrupt their attacks, drawing and firing his pistol as one of the combatants poked his head up.
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Idar's blast causes the recipient to yelp in pain. Telion also scores a blast on his target. Diamaante calls out - "Get 'em, boys!" - in a strangely-scripted tone, aiming a blast at the nearest thug on the east side.
The damaya lashunta misses her target. August's original target, struck by a few laser blasts, plays it cautiously with only one attack as he pulls the android into focus.
He continues to struggle with the finer points of his weapon - like actually using it effectively.