Handsome's hail is answered by a woman's voice,"Thats a good one kid, no crew would ever follow a goblin. Now brace for a warning shot ye yellow blaggards and prepare for a boarding'!!!" the voice is from a gruff female human by the sounds of it.
Handsome retorts, "YAAARRR!! I'm no ord-nary goblin and we be no ord-nary pirate crew, y'see. I be a supreme degenerate goblin and me crew been tempered in battle, naturally selected by de Dilbert principle! YAR!! Ye will ne'er face a more fearsome crew! Ye will ne'er encounter a more deadly fight! In honor of Besmara, we'll make ye death as long and painful as possible!!"
after the manuevering Hi-C opens fire with the Mazer, decimating their aft shields and ripping into their hull but they quickly return fire with their turret!
The maidens forward sheilds are damaged by a coil gun but they appear to be holding for now...
Engineering phase
Helm phase
Once again DR34-M12's nerves of steel, well synthetic steel probably, win the initiative and the Pirate vessel moves first!
they take evasive actions and come about!
Dreamz continues to take evasive actions as she brings the Maiden across the enemies starboard side. "Yeah, the simulated torture will have your mind so used to not having skin it will break when you wake up and see a weird organ covering your muscle!" Dreamz joined in with Handsome.
Justin likes engineering and things that keep him alive. He tries to put some shield points back
Handsome says to Hi-C, "Hitting your target is easy. It's all in the wrist... And you've got four! No problemo!"
"yeah I'm not spending another 8 weeks in a %&#$in' Escape Pod" Rover says as he finishes his beer and tosses the bottle to the ground.
after that, he lets his fingers do the work dancing over keys touching screens.
"Come on baby, tell ol' Rover that hussies secret so we can send her packing!"he says sending the scanners to try and glean as much information as possible to help direct the ship and guns to the best course of action.
"Hmmm... True. If these guys were cultists, they would've shouted 'DEVOURER!!!!' a half dozen times by now..."
"And they are kind of talking like Handsome. Maybe they are just pirates? Or the cultists hired pirates to chase off anyone that comes snooping?"
"Either way they're a problem to honest merchants and travelers as well as us and need to be dealt with. "
"Not true the Pirates actually help foster competitive rates amongst the shipping magnets as it helps secure contracts for mercenaries, as well as provides third parties such as the starfinders opportunities to pull a stealth mission to get onto a ship "rob" it and then leave blaming it on the local pirates." he reaches down and grabs another bottle and smiles.
"Not saying it isn't noble to try and stoop it just saying it does create some lucrative business for a variety of people, and you know give people like the Captain a chance at a better life."
"They have a ship. There's cargo at point A that needs to go to point B without pointing a laser cannon at anyone in between. Especially us. "
"You all know I can hear you, right?"
"You all know I can hear you, right?"
"Thats why we're being nice "
Justin restores some shields and Rover is able to find out more about the pirate vessels armaments, its port and starboard weapons are both light laser cannons.
GUNNERY PHASE:
HI-C fires both guns, missing with the deadly maser but rips through the starboard sheilds, and does some damage to the hull as well before they return fire,
both are able to hit, weakening the maidens forward shields but they still hold.
Sunrise maiden: HP: F: S: P: A:
Pirates: HP: F:S: P:A:
ROUND 3:
Engineering phase:
Helm Phase:
The pirate ship continues to move in an evasive pattern.
"Lets try to keep the metal the hulls made out of irrelevant "
"Is that SERIOUSLY how you think I repair this ship? Okay, the OUTSIDE of the ship? "
With the hit to their forward shields, Dreamz maneuvered the two ships within a razor's margin of each other. "Power to the aft shields, hold on to your butts, and get ready to shoot!" she shouted to her crew.
The ship moves as normal, but it can move through 1 hex occupied by an enemy starship without provoking a free attack (as described in Moving through Other Starships). During the following gunnery phase, you can select one arc of your starship’s weapons to fire at the enemy vessel as if the vessel were in close range (treat the range as 1 hex), against any quadrant of the enemy starship. To perform this stunt, you must succeed at a Piloting check (DC = 15 + 1-1/2 times the tier of the enemy starship). If you fail this check, your starship still moves as described above, but you follow the normal rules for attacking (based on your starship’s final position and distance), and the movement provokes a free attack from that starship as normal.
"Okay let's get this over with" he says heading over tot eh weapon and sits at the weapon controls.
He flips down his goggles and smiles."Let's blast 'em"
Justin "HORPMHS" and winds up with the magnetic clip in his mouth. It sticks to the fire extinguisher in his cheek pouch.
"Always stuck picking up after you.... "
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weapons array
engines
Sensors
engines
After Hi-C and Rover both devastate the pirate ship with those last two blasts, the ship is hailed once more by the pirate captain,"Oh thaaat Pirate Gob uh haha of course of course... well good show you got us beat that's for sure. whatd'ya say we call its truce and you can come aboard here to discuss terms? no need for any of us to actually die out here right? just about everything glitchin' out over here, looks like you might have cracked a fuel injector in my engine too. "
Handsome drops the pirate talk and says threateningly, "Damn that's tiring. Screw the accent!
"Now why would we come aboard just so you can ambush us? I'm happy to discuss terms with you right where we are... with our thumbs a slight twitch away from giving you a one way ticket to meeting your maker!
"First things first. You jettison all your cargo and all valuables in exchange for us not firing on you over the next 5 seconds. Whether we blow you up 5 seconds later depends on how you answer my next couple questions...
"Who you are and why did you attacked us!?!"
The pirate captain appears on the viewscreen, "Whoa whoa seems we got a big misunderstanding is all. Names Okwana. Captain Alera Okwana of the Free captains of the Diaspora? Maybe you've heard of us?" She says sarcastically, "I patrol these parts making sure no one can sneak up on Broken Rock, but I guess when you got a gun like that it doesn't matter what I'm doing here anyway huh?" she asks.
"As far as why I attacked you, well...We’re pirates! Isn’t it obvious? Though to be true, I’m a Free Captain. Still green, but I’m not too big to admit that, now, am I? The senior captains say the best way to prove myself is to float around this dump for a bit, fight off any pirate hunters, and capture loot for the home rock. But you’re not here looking to muscle in on the Free Captains, are ya? So let’s be done here, and we can each go on our merry way, yeah?”
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Handsome somehow manages to perform the biggest facepalm you've ever seen on a small-sized creature.
"Oh you've gotta be kidding me!!! The Free Captains?!?!? I'm FROM Broken Rock!! In fact, I've WORKED on Free Captain ships! Ask captain Smirk on the Enterprising Tribble, or Captain Reynolds Rap on the Dragonfly, or Handy Yolo of the Decade Pigeon, or Naomi Nagotcha from the Rocky or Listener from the Cyan Dwarf or ABC123 of the Rasta or Robbers & Sons of the Uranus Too?!? or Airy Suns of the Soya Sauce or....."
And Handsome goes on and on naming another dozen or so captains and their ships... But he eventually gets on with the conversation...
"Hey wait a minute!! Okwana? Hmmm...I've heard that name befo.... Do you have a goblin there on your ship cleaning toilets? My cousin Vinnie!!!!
"AHEM! Okay, okay. Back to business! Look Okwana, I get where you're coming from and I sympathize. I do. I'm all for the Free Captains and for supporting my home Broken Rock.
"But the fact of the matter is, we're obviously not pirate hunters. One can maaaaaaybe make an argument for us being pirates ourselves... So yep. You screwed up. Big time. Now I can't let you go without some kind of punishment right? You gotta be punished to learn a lesson. Otherwise, how are you gonna grow up into a big girl pirate captain, right? This is really to help you, y'know. Help me... Help you... okay?
"So like I said, drop us some of your loot and valuables and we'll go our own separate ways. In fact, when I see you back on the rock, first round o' rum for you and your crew is on me! Just to help smooth over any hard feelings, alright? What's fair is fair, even you've gotta admit.
"And because I'm feeling charitable, I'll cover the second round of rum if you spread the word around that Handsome Gob is back in town with his own ship and a new crew that is not to be trifled with. In fact, anyone who is willing to work with us may find such an arrangement to be...profitable. Savvy???"
Justin knows he probably shouldn't head desk against whatever piece of starship equipment is emmiting that many sparks into his very valuable brain but he's doing it anyway
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(\____/)
( ͡ ͡° ͜ ʖ ͡ ͡°)
\╭☞ \╭☞
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"Thats where I've heard of you! I served with Smirk a few years back... I asked about the green janitor once and he said it was halfling in a holo-suit as a joke, I guess it all makes sense now. Well if your not pirate hunters we've got no quarrel, Way I see it, you beat us and got us dead to rights. I admit that. But there’s no reason we can’t be friendly-like. I’ll give ya 1,000 credits apiece to let us and the Rivet go. You go your way, we go ours.I know the rules, 2 Free Captains get in a bit a tussle, one loses, she pays to keep her ship and her crews life. We couldn't rightly survive if we were busy killing each other off right?" she says cheerfully, " Thats why im gonna do you one better that the creds, I don't know exactly know what your really doing out in this backwater but if you plan on snooping around anymore watch out for a couple of nasty-looking bone ships. Big bruisers, and frankly above my pay grade, ya know? But they didn’t care about us little old pirates, so we just shadowed ’em for a bit. They did whatever business they had here and went on their way. I doubt even your gun would bother them long enough for you survive a broadside from them." she says with a wink and a smile.
Okwana’s description of the “bone ships” as being consistent with those commonly associated with both Eox and the Corpse Fleet.
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Dreamz' circuits glowed with delight. "Good job Handsome, I didn't realize pirating was so profitable. Wait did she say bone ships? That has to be Corpse Fleet ships then. Are they working with the cultists?"
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I didn't realize pirating was so profitable.
"Great, she's got the bug.... "
Dreamz' circuits glowed with delight. "Good job Handsome, I didn't realize pirating was so profitable. Wait did she say bone ships? That has to be Corpse Fleet ships then. Are they working with the cultists?"
Okwana cocks her head when you mention the cult,"Cult? You mean the crazy buggers on Star-Eater's Spine?'
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Handsome says to his crewmates "Eoxians? Corpse fleet? Here? What would they be doing here? Maybe we need to talk to that guy... uhh... Gippylark North, was it? That Eoxian ambassador guy back on Absalom."
Okwana cocks her head when you mention the cult,"Cult? You mean the crazy buggers on Star-Eater's Spine?'
Turning his attention back to Okwana, Handsome replies, "Yah, we had some run-ins with the Devourer cult. But we made sure their god devoured them...if ya know what I mean! kekeke! So you've got their location? Transmit it over and we'll get you a third round of drinks back on the Rock. We've got a score to settle with those cultists...."
Looking towards his teammates, Handsome says, "Amirite??!!"
Handsome says to his crewmates "Eoxians? Corpse fleet? Here? What would they be doing here? "
“How should I know? They flew around, landed on a few rocks, and left. Not my problem anymore.”
Turning his attention back to Okwana, Handsome replies, "Yah, we had some run-ins with the Devourer cult. But we made sure their god devoured them...if ya know what I mean! kekeke! So you've got their location? Transmit it over and we'll get you a third round of drinks back on the Rock. We've got a score to settle with those cultists...."Looking towards his teammates, Handsome says, "Amirite??!!"
"I suggest giving ’em a wide berth if you come across any. They got a hole on a nearby rock where they get together and do whatever it is cultists do. They call it the Star-Eater’s Spine, or something equally stupid. Come to think of it, those bone ships were headed in that direction.”
“We think the rock they hole up on is one we call K9204. I’ve never been there, so I don’t know if there’s a base there or not, but I can point you in the right direction.” Captain Okwana punches some commands into the Rusty Rivet’s computer and brings up a navigational chart of the region, then transmits it to the maidens computer.
"If we don't come back there may be additional starfinder vessels coming through as a follow up. We'd appreciate if you didn't shoot at them. We can't go into details " Justin shoots a look at the goblin "But what the cultists are doing down there could be a big problem for ..well everyone. And that includes you. If you can be of any help it would be in your best interests. If you're going after any starfinder vessels there's no outcome where you're not hurting yourselves. "
Rover gets up and heads to the galley while the conversation is going on. As the conversation continues he grabs a beer twists off the top and continues to drink.
He comes back in on the cult and does a bit of tippty tap on the screen with beer in hand. As he does he looks at the known star charts to see if he can find an easy course to K9204 on a known map of the area.
"Hey should we maybe head down there, also see if they are willing to hand over maybe a couple of bottles of decent liquor, someone drank all my beer and I'll need some more" he says taking another big swig of his nearly opened beverage
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"If you make yourself sick on rum you'll have to wait till we come back before I know if we have an extra spell to resolve an upset stomach. Speaking of which "
Group Hug. Life bubble.
Talking to his teammates, Handsome says, "Crazy cultists AND the corpse fleet? I think Chizzkiss is underpaying us. The things we do for a few creds, amirite??"
Turning his attention back to the viewscreen, Handsome says, "Yah, what the ysoki over there said. If you come across any starfinder ships they're probably more heavily armed than we are and way, way, way less charming. I mean, look at us!"
Handsome gestures to the rest of the crew... Hi-C staring intently while eating snacks, Justin head desking, Dreamz daydreaming about the piracy profit margins, and Rover wandering back onto the bridge, beer in hand and letting out a beer belch.
"Charming!
"Alright Captain. Thanks for the info and the creds. I hope the repairs don't take too long. And like I said, spread the word that there's some potential coin to be made if they respond when Handsome Gob calls in the future!"
Dreamz punched in the coordinates took the ship towards the K9204 asteroid. "Let's find us some cultists!"
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In space, no one can hear you scream...because the android doesn't believe in reverse thruster.
[
The information from the Rusty Rivet points you towards a small asteroid not far from the site of their engagement with the space pirates. It takes you 3 hours to navigate the ship 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.
after doing some fly overs you don't detect much other than a few sparse lifeforms and easily land in the only viable landing area on the rock. 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.