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Al remains silent during A-1's admission, and likewise does not speak until the team returns to the safety of a Starfinder vessel.
"As someone who takes great pains in avoiding killing intelligent creatures even in the chaos of combat," they say while making sure their rifle's merciful fusion is still active as is the stun setting on their sidearm, "that situation was extremely disheartening. There are always ways to fight without killing - the technology and magic exist to make it so. I am glad that we have learned this information, but strongly disapprove of A-1's 'control' over its forces, if they kill first and ask questions later."
Al 2O3 doesn't offer much more after that, clearly unhappy with the results of the team's first recon mission.
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Nodding with an tepid agreement with AI, Ivok does add, "Sometimes situations can be far messier than we are able to handle well. Sometimes mistakes happen when the answer is so clear in hindsight." Taking a few minutes while moving forward, Ivok traces the runes of merciful magic upon his cryopike. "It is important to learn from those mistakes and be prepared going forward."
Ivok contemplates Antonine's comments silently as he moves to his station.
You return back to the fleet, sharing the news you found. Radaszam looks thoughtful as you tell him the news — both of the dead, and of the survivors. “Not exactly what I hoped you would find, but if there are survivors to be rescued, I’ll start looking into getting a team there.”
★ --- ★ --- ★ --- ★
Venture-Captain Naiaj looks up with tired eyes as they brief you. “Ah, there you are. Our scans detected a lone Starfinder starship, the Aeon Horizon, orbiting Bastiar-4. The ship looks fully operational, but we haven’t detected any communication signals. Nonetheless, the ship likely contains hints as to what happened here, so I’m sending you to investigate. See if you can find any survivors, or at least any data logs about the ship’s mission.”
As the ship slowly limps through space, it gives you a chance to scan the vessel.
Do you dock with the ship to investigate further?
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Neon Ten checks the scanners using his datajack.
“Yes, definite life signs,” His whiskers twitch in irritation. “Unfortunately they are not humanoid. We best be careful, I can’t tell exactly what is there.”
Looking to the others, the cable still hanging like a spaghetti noodle from his cheek, he adds “I think we will have to dock in order to identify them. I suggest sealing our suits.”
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"I may be able to identify the life forms." Sev suggests in response to AI's request. He begins to scroll through the scanner results.
Deeming it efficient, he decides to make an inquiry of AI as he reviews the scans. "Neon Ten postulates that the entity that we encountered, A-1, was displaying an emotional response akin to that of a child seeking the approval of a parental unit. Yet, Neon Ten conceded that his conclusion may be the result of social or organic bias. Therefore, I would request the input of your own, independent analysis on the issue."
Then, thinking that additional input would be helpful on the theory being considered as well as the task at hand. Thus, again in what he deems to be most efficient, Sev invites the aid of others in his analysis of both the behavior of A-1 and the scans.
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“Yes, definite life signs,” His whiskers twitch in irritation. “Unfortunately they are not humanoid. We best be careful, I can’t tell exactly what is there.”
Realizing that Neon Ten had already completed the scan as he was still attempting to do so, Sev runs a quick diagnostic: Conclusion: Combination of inquiry and task did not result in greater efficiency.
Looking to the others, the cable still hanging like a spaghetti noodle from his cheek, he adds “I think we will have to dock in order to identify them. I suggest sealing our suits.”
Not certain that he had heard the ysoki correctly, Sev almost instinctively states, "What's up? Dock?"
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Glancing at the data the group is pouring over, Ivok isn't able to comprehend the data in a useful way. He shakes his head and performs another gear check. "I will need to defer to your expertise here. I can't tell anything machine from organic from the scanners here. If I had some more solid to grasp I might be able to tell you how they move, but as it stands I need to see them to be able to tell anything."
The party docks, cautiously entering the airlock of the Aeon Horizon. The airlock chamber itself is in disarray; spacesuits and other equipment lie strewn about the floor.
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Reeling in his datajack cable, Neon quickly stands and checks his pistol.
Sealing the environmental systems on his suit, he quickly makes his way to the docking port.
Leaning down to inspect the equipment on the floor, he says over the radio channel “Looks like someone was tossing the place in a hurry, searching for something.”
Straightening, he waits for the others before moving on.
You enter what appears to be a cargo bay in the central part of the ship. There are a set of doors dead ahead, and another set leading to an access corridor. The two doors leading to the access corridor in the center of the ship have been barricaded with containers and other heavy items.
Noticeable dark stains mar the floor here.
The discoloration is blood that has dried up long ago.
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Carefully navigated the discarded gear, the vesk takes position at the head of the party. While leaving enough room for others to check for any number of traps, he stands firm in tackling anything that might leap at the party.
"I don't suppose you can tell if it was Starfinders or others tearing through it all? Could something have been stowed here? Scavengers would have still taken anything of value and not left these bits and pieces."
"I think we should move straight ahead. Attempting to open more passages will just leave us more open to ambush. Being able to teach you proper lifting technique can wait."
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Al presses a few buttons on the chest-plate of their armor, activating the environmental protections and seals, then motions to Yang and the others.
"Before we go further, I recommend that we seal our suits. Sev and I may be at slightly lower risk of being affected by parasites, but if there are strange life-forms aboard, we should all be cautious."
Al nods to concur with Sev's blood-analysis, then takes position near the rear and follows Sev's and the others' lead.
Quietly, through their personal comms to their grad student, "What do you mean, look for someone named Betty...a bodyguard? Yang, maybe you should stay off the line for now."
There is no discernible blood trail — merely a stain on the floor.
Heading towards the unblocked passage?
This room appears to be a laboratory. A faint odor of preserved flesh and disinfectant hangs in the air. It contains medical and scientific equipment, computers, and glass containers holding scientific samples. One of the containers holds what looks a shed skin.
The second container contains a gelatinous egg the size of a human's head. The third container is broken, and it appears something broke the glass from the inside.
An audio recorder lies on a table. It has a big red button marked ‘PLAY.’
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Dr. Cuddles scurries into the room
"I can't make heads or tails of this, boss" Dr. Cuddles squeaks
Sorami scrunches her face, "That's okay Dr. Cuddles you did you best. Let me see what I can do.
"Hmm, I have no idea what to make of this either. Can any of you fine people see what this could possibly mean?"
Before waiting for a reply, Sorami heads to the table and presses the "PLAY" button the recorder.
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Neon Ten inspects what looks like shed skin.
“It appears to be human skin! I shudder to think how it came to be peeled off like this.” The distress is clear in his voice.
Looking at the audio recorder, he then pulls out his personal communicator. Setting it to the same frequency as people have their armor comm units set to.
Thanks to Neon Ten’s quick thinking, you maintain your suit seals while you hear a man with a shaky voice say the following: “If you're listening to this message, I… I'm probably dead. Gods, I sound like a punchline from Zo!'s show. Ha! Haha! Ah! Don't stay too long. If you make it to the bridge, please blow up the ship. I had no choice but to run. I'm sorry. Sorry I let everyone down. I'll see myself out of here.”
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Ivok listens to the message solemnly before turning to the rest of the room. He eyes the egg warily for any movement. "It is unclear why, but I expect we will want to follow his request. We should redouble efforts to find anything that might have survived." Directing at the systems he adds, "Is there any sign from the computers on what they were working on or what lies in this egg?"
Antoine makes a half-hearted attempt to push at the boxes leading to the corridor. Much to Neon Ten’s disgust, there are no notes to be seen — anywhere. Who were the bozos that ran this lab?
Sev remembers that there were some steel crates blocking the hallway to the access corridor.
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Shaking his head, Neon says “These glass containers aren’t meant to hold anything that would try to get out.”
“Do we cut into it or try to contain it? I must admit that I prefer to know what I’m dealing with in most cases.”
“That said, I wouldn’t mind people standing ready to violently decontaminate the area with a flamethrower or something if things goes wrong.”
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Realizing that the ysoki does not intend to take the egg aboard the party's ship for further analysis--no doubt having identified it as a potential security threat--Sev aims his rifle at the egg and removes the safety.
"May I suggests a lateral incision." he states clinically even as he prepares to incinerate any hostile that may emerge.
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Ivok does look over the egg but doesn't dare attempt to adjust it. "If you want me to touch it see it will explode into millions of tiny swarm, I can do that. Aside that I can't tell anything from this. I have a feeling running the length of my scales telling me that this is bad. We knew this coming here though, we need to find out exactly what sort of bad we are dealing with."
"There may be more of these throughout the system and far many more frailer Starfinders who might run along them."
Ivok prepares his cryopike for whatever may come from this study.
Weapons drawn, the group readies for Neon Ten to dissect the egg, and a dead larva plops out wetly onto the counter of the laboratory. It looks like a worm with a bunch of spikes jutting out at odd angles.
Because Neon Ten is a forerunner, he recognizes the creature as the larval form of a huskborn, a nasty insectlike abberration. They’re not that impressive while young, but after dissecting some of the organs, Neon thinks that they might develop into some scythe-like claws. Also, he finds evidence that the creatures might have some sort of blind sense.
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“I expect they would have left something behind...but I can’t be sure. Aberrations are called that because their physiology is so different than other creatures.”
He finishes the autopsy and then disposes of the remains, making sure it is completely destroyed by the lab sanitizer.
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Ivok lowers the weapon searching the room for anything lurking in the shadows. "It would make sense. This type of thing may have been what you were seeing on the sensors. No matter what we need to move deeper into the ship. I don't see any exits here, so we will need to clear the passage."
"If you are able, help me move them. It will be much easier as a team. Let me know if you run into anything you can't move yourself safely. Proper precautions should be always taken into consideration when lifting. We should also check them as we pass by. Make sure none contain lurking horrors or signs of the crew."