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"Hmmmm, this is a muumuu. I don't know how this falls into the 'tactical' section. And this is a sarong. Okay, closer, good good. These are...something out of RHPS, also technically accurate but I'm not wearingooOOoooOO! Frilly underthings! Score!"
"Alright! Let's blast those scurvy dogs into parsecs! Go get 'em guys!"
Imagine stands and blinks nervously, never having actually been in a spaceship fight before.
Boreal drops what she is doing and thunders down the corridor and into the turret.
Manteca joins EH-RK on the bridge, where he can see what else is going on on the ship. "EH-RK, would I be more help to you here or manning scanners?" the shirren asks sincerely.
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A very handy guide to ship combat
Eric is sure that he isn't speaking with a Cultist. they would have said something insane...Also, Eric was brought up amongst the pirates of the Diaspora
Attention Diasporan Pirates: This is designation EH-RK formerly crew member of Free Captain Ro'bert. I am formally requesting a halt to hostilities. The Sunrise Maiden is in contract with the Starfinder Society, we are investigating Devourer Cultist activity nearby.
Manteca chimes in, grabbing the comms from EH-RK. "This is Doctor Manteca Imani here - we are arriving in this system as part of critical research relevant to not just the Starfinder Society, but the Pact Worlds and the Stewards. We have people who know our intended location in Absalom Station, Qabarat University, and beyond. Rather than draw the ire of every organized peacekeeping force in the Pact Worlds, how about we simply... converse?"
"Nice namedropping there. But all of those are days or weeks away. But they are all loaded. How about you offer some bribe?" the pirate woman suggests.
""Loaded" is correct - but not in the way that you're thinking. They're all highly armed - as are we. You've already lost the element of surprise, I see our pilot flying circles around your freight hauler of a flyboy, and to be honest, I don't want me or the crew to have to waste time, energy, or power turning you into scrap, so how about you offer us an apology and get out of our firing range? Seem fair?" Manteca's tone is dry, confident, and annoyed.
"So far you're all talk. I won't let you get off that easy." the pirate laughs. "How about you pay me for telling you on what rock the devourer cultists sat then?"
"I can assure you that the trail of dead cultists will speak to our being more than just talk. How much are we talking for the pleasure of your information?"
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"A mere 1000 credits will do. Come over and visit me on my ship with a credstick, and I'll lead you there. I'll even show you some footage of those who were faster than you." she offers.
Almost no real pirate would brake this truce when offering parley. So EH-RK can tell even without sense motive, that this invitation is no trap.
Humanoid Crew of the Sunrise Maiden: This is no trap. This woman will not break the rules of the code. Do we have the payment credits?
Eri replies back to the pirate Pirate Captain of Undetermined Species: We accept your offer of truce. We will prepare payment for services rendered. Please send coordinates for our rendezvous.
The other ship transmits it's coordinates.
Eric will pilot the Sunrise Maiden over to meet with the ship.
The two ships rendezvous and the crew of the Sunrise Maiden boards the ship. "Welcome to the Rusty Rivet." the woman from the comm greets you aboard.
You are led to the bridge where the rest of the crew awaits. Besides the Captain, a human female, there are a male android who seems to be the mechanic, a female korasha lashunta, and the pilot a male vesk.
"You brought the credits?" the Captain asks.
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"...so I'm just saying that success comes when you kill people and take their stuff, so I don't see how paying other people is going to--oh HI!" she abruptly changes tack once other people enter her line of sight. "What a WONDERFUL ship you have here! I bet you get invited to the NICEST ship parties!" she says, her Best Smile number 3 plastered on her face.
Manteca is doing his best to talk over Imagine as they round the corner."Well, certainly that's one narrow metric of success, but if you factor in the complications of killing people indiscriminately, I think you will see that the costs, though dispersed - Oh hello!"
At the question, Manteca pulls out the credstick and walks over with it in hand. "Right here. Scan it if you want, it's all here - and I'll happily hand it over once we've been told where we're going."
"Sure. Want a grog to wash down the information?" the captain asks. She fires up the video on teh main screen. "Here they are."
On the screen you can see how the Rusty Rivet watches from safe distance, hidden between the asteroids, like starships crafted from bone enter the area. Slowly they move through the rubble field that is the diaspora. Dozens of tiny bone ships emerge from the large ones and search the area for quite a while. Skipping some of the show, the captain moves the video to the point where some of the ships land on an asteroid. "They stayed for half a day and then left." she tells. "Gimme the stick and I'll lead you there."
Humanoids: I believe that might be the Corpse Fleet.
Pirate Captain Human Isabella Locke: We thank you for this information.
Boreal stands a bit back from the group, keeping an eye on the pirates, "When was this recorded?" Boreal asks Isabella, not directly responding to Imagine, "Old information is always worth less."
"No renegotiations of the price. It's just a few days past that they were here." the Captain answers.
Manteca hands the credstick over to the captain, giving a telepathic prod of alarm in response to Boreal's question. "No, of course - that all makes perfect sense," says Manteca agreeable. "You had more than we did. Now - would coordinates make sense? We'd hate to distract you from waylaying less wary travellers."
The captain nods to the science officer, and the message with the coordinates gets sent to the Sunrise Maiden. "So, all is said and done. Wanna stay for a grog?"
Pirate Captain Human Isabella Locke: That is unneccsary. The nature of our inquiry is time sensitive. We will be going. Fair weather and following seas.
Eric is ready to pilot the Sunrise Maiden to the coordinates.
"If you brought a mug?" the Captain asks. She accompanies the group back to the exit, to make sure no one leaves behind.
The information from the Rusty Rivet points to a small asteroid not far from the site of their engagement with the space pirates. It takes two hours to navigate the Sunrise Maiden through the Field of Lost to the planetoid. Officially designated K9204, the asteroid is less than a mile in diameter and is made up of treacherous rock- and ore-infused terrain.
Jagged cliffs cover the asteroid’s surface; in fact, there’s only one relatively open area of any size on the entire asteroid. The asteroid is
dense enough to provide low gravity and is enveloped with a thin atmosphere .
"If you brought a mug?" the Captain asks. She accompanies the group back to the exit, to make sure no one leaves behind.
Do. Not. Drink. That. Manteca says to Imagine as they leave the ship.
When they arrive at the asteroid, Manteca scans the area, trying to anticipate any trouble.
The sensors catch nothing that would catch Manteca's attention.
Eric pilots the ship past the asteroid a few times, attempting to get some sort of sensor reading for where a good landing spot might be, and where the Cult activity might be located.
The large expanses take the form of sheer cliffs that rise about 40 feet high and stabilize into flat surfaces. Collected in the crevices at the base of the cliffs—as well as at the bases of the smaller rock formations—are drifts of a strange sort of space ash made up of metal flakes, rocky grit, and space dust.
There’s only one open area on the asteroid large enough to accommodate a starship. Deep grooves and scorch marks in the rocky ground show that starships have landed and taken off from this area repeatedly, though no such ships are currently present. The Devourer cult base is nowhere in sight.
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"Drink what?" Imagine asks Manteca having already forgotten what they were talking about.
Later, as the ship circles the empty asteroid, "Whoa. Why would anyone come here? You couldn't even find a decent Chernobyl C anywhere around here."
Noticing that the captain's chair is empty, she sits in it and starts doing her nails, tapping each to change their color, before frowning at them and tapping them again, looking for a color she likes.
Manteca sets the landing parameters to the only large-enough area on the asteroid and leaves the science console. "I imagine the secrecy is at least part of the appeal for the cultists," the shirren says in answer to Imagine.
Î front of the landing place a narrow pass is flanked by a sheer rocky wall to the north and a more slender—though just as tall—rock formation to the south. A deep pile of silvery ash sits in the cleft between the cliff and a stepped outcropping. Otherwise, the rugged ground is pockmarked but flat. Looks like from there on it's by foot.
Someone is hiding at the top of the northern rock wall.
Eric seals his armor and exits onto the asteroid. He checks the sighting on his Shirren Eye rifle and takes point, trying to blend in with the rocks and take as hidden as possible.
Boreal shoulders her Doshko as she steps out onto the asteroid, scanning the area.
She bounces on her toes a few times, making small hops before she takes off in long lazy looping arcs. Gaining speed as she does.
She launches herself almost vertically into the air, a wide grin plastered across her face behind her tinted visor. She turn slowly through the air as she climbs. Seeming to hang in the air for ages, before coming down in a cloud of dust.
Boreal is hit hard in mid air by something unseen and catches fire.
"A fight!" Boreal roars as she lands, preparing to jump again "We have another sniper." she says before launching herself directly at where she thinks the sniper is.
Landing just short of the edge she tries to grab onto the rockface.
"Boreal Typhon! Stop being so happy about being shot!" yells the shirren concernedly. He runs for the wall, looking about for the sniper.
There is nothing to see from down here. But there are natural stairs that leads up to the position the sniper must be. These stairs are three feet tall, so not build for medium sized humanoids, but better than free climbing.
Boreal lands two stairs short of the top. Boreal's action gives you a good idea where to look and where to go, but no target to see yet.
Eric lays prone and sights down the sniper rifle. He holds his shot until he spots a sniper.
While Imagine is still powdering her nose the sniper looks over the edge and shoots at Boreal again. EH-RK shoots but misses.
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"You jumped so high you started on fire!" Imagine claps in delight before it becomes obvious that combat has actually started.
"Whoa, that's really high up," she states. "Might need something that flies. And you know what they say, Quantity has a quality all its own."
She begins casting one of the most powerful spells she knows.
Manteca continues to move along the edge of the cliff, shouting up to the sniper as he goes. "You fool! You attack the toughest of all of us, forgetting that what makes her so deadly is being directed by my incredible mind! Go ahead and keep shooting at her, you're just playing directly into my hands!"
As a standard action, you can antagonize a foe that can see and hear you by attempting a Diplomacy or Intimidate check (DC = 10 + your opponent’s total Sense Motive skill bonus, or 15 + 1-1/2 × the opponent’s CR, whichever is higher). If you succeed, the foe is off-target and takes a –2 penalty to all skill checks for 1 round plus 1 additional round for every 5 by which your result exceeds the DC, or until it makes an attack against you, forces you to attempt a saving throw, or damages you (whichever comes first). Once you have attempted to antagonize a foe, that foe is immune to this ability for 24 hours. This is a language-dependent ability.
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Three small tufts of air come into being around Imagine like a halo. They take off like SHOT and zoom through the air at rocky outcropping where the shots had been coming from.
Once they see the attacker the first one DIVES at him and begins a tumultuous WHIRLWIND.
Imagine for her part begins and languorous walk up the steps.