Both ships open fire. The Rivet opting for a chain canon for .
After the exchange the comm on the Sunrise Maiden opens. "Scrap and junk! We yield! We yield! that thing's a piece of junk... but she's got it where it counts!"
Hack-it confirms that her weapons power down. Captain Okwana continues, "By the Code, you're welcome to come aboard and discuss terms and loot. You have to bring the beer though."
Booker does not recall much of "the Code." He does a quick search of the infosphere to find out more.
"We got any beer in the galley, Dunklezahn?"
Best piece of junk in the Pact Worlds, Janzi says with the comm open before switching it back off. Demand the stars, settle for the moon? he asks his companions.
Booker is unsure about the offer proposed.
Janzi sees no way this can possibly go wrong.
Booker scratches his head, weighing options. "I'd think their Captain should be the one to come over here, not the other way around."
"But, if we're headin' over there, best to leave a couple behind to man the Maiden." He stands. "For the boarding party, I'll take Dunklezahn, of course, and Gig. What the Hells, Janzi, you too."
"Hack-It and RIGS, you stay here in case they try somethin' fishy. And Hack-It: don't mess with my settings on the pilot's seat."
Booker switches on the ship's comm. "We'll parley with you. I wanna see your entire crew by the airlock, and I don't wanna see a weapon on any of ya."
"You want me for the boarding party? Sure! I just hope this isn't some sort of trap."
Booker has no idea, but the tone of the conversation and order of things seems normal.
----------
True to your conditions, the entire crew arrives at the lock. The Rusty Rivet’s crew consists of Captain Alera Okwana, engineer Q4 , gunner Korrina “Steel-Fang” Noh , and pilot . None of them are armed.
Captain Alera Okwana is surprisingly cheerful and cheeky for a surrendering pirate. “Sorry about the scrap, but we’re pirates! Not that you had to exert yourself much." At this the vesk exhales sharply through his nostrils. "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?”
"Congrats on the Captaincy," Booker replies, and introduces his crewmates. "I'm Booker, that's Janzi, the big guy's Dunklezahn and the small one's Gig. The rest of the crew is still aboard the Maiden."
"What spoils you offerin'? There oughtta be a price for the mistake o' firing on innocent travelers who happen to be better armed."
"Truth be told, we don't have much. We're just getting our space legs. But.... I'm guessing that you're here on the tails of that Eoxian ship. Would you take intel and an IOU? Having a favor owed to you by a Free Captain isn't a bad form of currency."
Booker glances at the others and smiles. "Had somethin' like that in mind, actually. We're after some Cultists of the Devourer. Nasty bunch. We've got some favors to return, if you take my meaning," he adds, patting his holstered sidearm.
"Folks out here oughtta expect trouble, an' I suppose you've gotta ply your trade on somebody, so here's my offer. We'll take your intel, your IOU, and you keep an eye out for more Devourer types. Anything you can't bring down yourself, capable pirates that you'are, you get a message to the Maiden. In fact, get us a message either way."
She looks at Booker, hoping he'd ask for a little something more... then she snaps back to it, "Haven't seen much, to be true. No Steward-backed antipirate armadas, no fat merchant freighters; just a few sarcesians here and there. And 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. But yeah, there are cultists out here. Crazy buggers—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”
"hoping he'd ask for a little something more..."
Booker feels that she's being honest in her interaction.
Man, that Booker is cuuuuute! Dammit, don't let'em see that. I hope they're good with information, it's embarrassing how little we have. Still, the IOU is a big deal if they know what's what. Man I hope this doesn't turn violent. I hope they go after those ships... some bad juju there.
Booker flashes a scowl at Janzi, then turns back to Okwana. "Star-Eater's Spine, huh? That does sound stupid." He pauses. "Have you eaten? Dunklezahn here makes a mean brisket, an' we're freshly stocked. Wanna chat about your 'intel' over a bite?"
"That works for me! What else do you want to know?"
"No funny business? Sure."
She (and Steel-fang) board the Maiden the conversation and company is actually rather congenial.
Over some delicious brisket -- which Booker nonetheless eats sparingly -- the veteran asks a few relevant questions regarding the bone ships: "You musta scanned the buggers, no? What're they carrying? Ship class? Crew? Guns?" He also makes conversation with Okwana, asking her about her path to a Captaincy and how she gathered her crew.
After a few bites, Booker offers a tour of the Maiden and introduces Okwana and Steel-Fang to R1G5 and Hack-It. He gives Hack-It a pointed stink-eye, noting that his pilot's seat has been adjusted.
Finishing by the airlock, Booker lightly touches the small of Okwana's back. "You wanna give me a tour of the Rivet while the rest of my crew is doin' dishes?"
Gig looks carefully at Captain Okwana and wonders if he's seen her on the stage opening for Thrul Magnar before.
"Do you happen to sing, Captain Okwana?" Gig asks politely.
"Sing?! Thrusters no! I listen though."
The crew takes a mutual tour, which does include The Rusty Rivet
The conversation threads flow together, but you do get some answers. "Look, we actually didn't have much in the way of time to check them out. They were gone in a flash. We had only just got them on scanners when they vanished. Never even got a name on the transponder."
After the food, the tour, and a quick concert from Gig, Okwana smiles. "As a gesture of good will, I've got a couple of things for you. 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, which she copies onto a datastick for you. "And there's this. I was going to try to get away with it, but you've actually turned out to be alright." She tosses Booker a cred stick with 6,000 credits on it. "That's for all of you, you hear?!"
Booker catches the credstick deftly and smirks. "Heh. Thanks. This'll be good to get me set up for the day."
"Whaddaya say you and I head to your cabin and I can 'return the favor?'"
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Janzi reclines on the bridge of the Maiden while Hack-It messes about with the pilot's chair and Gig plays air keyboards. Maybe she'll keep him, the lashunta says matter-of-factly about their missing crewmate. Like for good.
Hack-It takes the proffered controller from R1G5, and in moments he's popped open the back cover, recalibrating it. He fusses a bit more, then starts completely disassembling it. "Give me a few, and it'll be better than yours."
He then wires in a control by-pass, routing pilot commands to his console. You know, just in case.
Booker stands in the Captain's cabin, zipping up his D Suit and strapping his holster back on. Okwana lies nude on her bed, watching him with a devilish smile. He catches her stare. "Goin' after those bone ships," he says, changing subjects. "Wanna come? The Rivet'd be fine company, and firepower to boot. We've taken plenty off the crazies already, there's bound to be more. Might give yer Captaincy a jump-start." He smirks. "And yer own company ain't bad, either."
Striding back onto the Maiden's bridge, Booker glances suspiciously at Hack-It and takes his seat. "Alright, kids, let's go get them bone ships. Settin' course for the Star-Eater's Spine!"
Halfway through punching in the coordinates, he stops.
"I told you not to mess with my chair!" he growls, re-adjusting all the settings on the console. "Waste of bloody time..."
"That's better," Booker mutters, and finishes setting the course.
"You loafers ready?" He punches it.
"Yes, Booker. I'm going back to the engine room to see if I can make your ship any faster. Just try to keep her out of harm's way. Remember, I'm an engineer and not a miracle worker."
"Keep that engine in tune, and I'll make sure these new computer systems sing."
The coordinates lead you to a small asteroid not far from the site of your engagement with the space pirates. It takes the 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.
Low-gravity worlds are liberating to most species acclimated to standard-gravity worlds. Such characters’ muscles are far more effective than normal. On a low-gravity world, where the gravity is no greater than a third of standard gravity, PCs can jump three times as high and as far and lift three times as much. (Movement speed, however, stays the same, as moving in great bounds is awkward and difficult to control.) Thrown weapons have their range categories tripled.
Thinner atmospheres tend to cause a non-acclimated creature to have difficulty breathing and become extremely tired. A typical thin atmosphere requires such a creature to succeed at a Fortitude save each hour (DC = 15 +1 per previous check) or become fatigued. The fatigue ends when the creature returns to a normal atmosphere.
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. There is no sign of life or occupation.
"This place doesn't look good for my lungs. Does anybody have anything that can help us with fatigue?"
Booker shrugs. "A space suit?" he offers, zipping up his own Disembarkment Suit.
He sets the Maiden down on the south side of the escarpment. From his weapons rack, he selects his sniper rifle and reaction cannon, in addition to pistol, buck knife, and grenades, and steps cautiously out the airlock.
Once everyone is suited up and Booker lands the Maiden you get your first look at the landscape proper. Nestled between a sheer cliff and a small, narrow rock formation, the ground here slopes at odd angles. To the north is a small field pocked with shards of metal, their sharp edges gleaming. To the west, a steep incline leads upward to a cave-like structure.
That metal is naturally occurring cold iron.
You notice a silvery glint on the ground among the metallic shards, which turns out to be a dented silver amulet with an oval pendant and a red stone embedded in its center. This pendant is worth only about 25 credits.
That's cold iron there, natural environment. We should borrow a bit. And that over there is different... He fetches the pendant, and grimaces with distaste. Symbol of the Devourer. We're close to our goal.
Janzi holds up the symbol.