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Upon completing pre-flight checks, Al adjusts in their seat while having their exocortex block off one of the android's ears, to play music as if using a headphone-earbud. They think about how one of the more recent previous souls who inhabited their hardware-body wrote her dissertation on the use of music as a mnemonic method, and how they themselves applied this research while undergoing flight training. For a change, Al decides against sharing this with their team - the current mission to the Scoured Stars is perhaps not always the best time or place for personal histories or anecdotes. They also make the decision to not share the fact that they have only piloted a starship in armed conflict once - their use of simulations would probably "not count" in the eyes of their peers.
Once everyone reports that they are ready for lift-off, Al will ease the Verde away from its docking clamps and towards Bastiar-7.
Upon hearing Sev+'s analysis as well as Antoine's thoughts, "A logical approach. I will begin my approach once a decision has been made on firing on the indicated debris."
After the gunners (or if the crew decides not to) blow up the two previously-discussed ice chunks, Al will ease the ship towards the first wreck.
(Assuming this is enough...)
Noting the positioning of the wrecks, Al will point out, "I believe we can cover the field of derelict vessels more quickly if we start here then move along the inner orbit, circling back to near our starting position."
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Ivok settles into the routine of engine diagnostics as the group moves more and more into the influence of the planet's gravity.
"I'm a bit slow on thinking on this, so hate to seem like I'm not keeping pace with the pack. I'm not completely on board with firing weapons too much when we can get away without, even if they are just chunks of ice."
"You are all much better pilots though, I'm not going to suggest that this is a bad idea if you need our path clear."
First Seeker Luwazi Elsebo addresses the Society through communication devices across the Scoured Stars: “Starfinders, thanks to your efforts, we have gathered a large amount of data about the whereabouts of several groups of survivors from the first mission to the Scoured Stars. We have analyzed the data and now know enough to start locating and evacuating our friends and allies. We still need more intelligence on other groups of survivors, however, and we must continue to run reconnaissance missions at the same time.”
First Seeker Luwazi Elsebo pings each of your comm devices. ” Starfinders have recovered a signal beacon from a steamy swamp on Agillae-2. Our analysis of the data indicates there is a large group of survivors on another planet in the same system, and we will soon be ready to commence the evacuation mission.”
Your comm device tune erupts, breaking the silence once again in quick succession as the dreaded group chats will. ”The results of your explorations are coming in fast. Our agents explored a starship graveyard on Agillae-5, where they found many more of our comrades kept comatose in stasis chambers. Our scientists are studying the strange technology so we can decide how to safely release them.”
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Sev takes expert aim and blasts away two of the large chunks of ice, which disintegrate into a hail of ice crystals. The crystals disperse, and several come toward the ship, but have lost the initial momentum from the blast and bounce harmlessly off the Verde's shields.
Approaching the first derelict ship (#1), AI brings the Verde smoothly alongside, while Sev extends the ship's manipulator arms to extract the first ship's data module. Despite his excellent work, however, the log is burnt out. The investigation of this first ship is not without its interesting benefits, however, as Sev notices the impact patterns that mar the wrecked vessel. It seems that the ship was destroyed by starship weapon damage. Stranger yet is the familiar pattern of the damage. Could this be? For some reason, the damage looks exactly like the ship had been
attacked by another Starfinder ship!
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"Caution!" Sev notes, alerting the crew. "My analysis indicates that this ship was incapacitated by starship weapon's fire."
"Of even greater concern," the android continues. "The damage pattern is consistent with an attack from a Starfinder vessel. It may be that one or more of these ships is still functional and, it would seem, manned. There is also the risk that our own vessel may become compromised. Let us proceed with caution.
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"Could this be another version of the virus that infected the ship?
We were only in there for a bit before it took over, but there might be something stronger here that could take over a ship and force it to attack like the other Starfinders."
Ivok puts a hand on the hull, measuring out the hum of the ship.
"I'm going to be keep on the lookout for the health of the ship"
AI moves the Verde alongside another of the derelict ships, carefully navigating between the drifting chunks of ice as he goes. Meanwhile, Ivok keeps a close eye on the ship to watch for any signs of another attempted takeover of the ship's systems. For the time being, the ship appears to be fine, but he remains vigilant.
While Ivok watches over the ship, Sev and Neon once again use the Verde's manipulator arms to extract the data log from the ship AI has brought them to. Thankfully, this ship's data logs are intact! What they find on the logs is no cause for celebration, however, as they seem to corroborate Sev's inclination that the ships had been destroyed by a fellow Starfinder ship...
To sum up, your ship had already investigated Ship 1 and discovered no log, but plenty of evidence that it had been destroyed by the guns of another Pathfinder ship.
On Ship 3, you find an intact data log! Buoyed up by the success, you head on to the next ship.
Although Al’s piloting check to Ship 5 was a bit cocky — he slid your ship dangerously close to an ice rock, you took no damage.
Sev sifts through the ship, but alas, this one is too battered to contain an intact log. You all are about to hand the one intact log you found off to Neon, when something else happens.
A ship starts hailing you, and Neon’s scans reveal there are no intact ships anywhere near you. Only derelicts. Do you answer the hail?
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“Something is bothering me about these logs...” Neon says just before he is interrupted by the hail.
Frowning, he says “Wait a moment before answering...”
Neon double checks the data they have so far. “Weapon damage on the hulls is consistent with other Starfinder vessels...”
Neon, the damage wasn’t from a Drake or a Pegasus, but consistent with Explorer class vessels that were in vogue a few years ago. Do you answer the hail?
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“Everything is consistent with explorer class vessels in use before the Pegasus was commissioned.”
Neon Ten pauses only a few seconds before saying “I will isolate the comm channel. Ivok, please be on the lookout for any signs of systems being compromised.”
“Either it is another virus or someone is spoofing our equipment to give false identification.”
Neon Ten takes some preventive measures to protect the ship systems, then nods to accept the hail.
A weary and suspicious woman’s voice comes out of the hail. “This Captain Kathryn Mathus of the Starfinder ship, Empyrean Eye.” She rattles off an old Starfinder identification number. Because of Neon’s checks, he knows the identification number does match with one of the vessels sent to Scoured Stars. Captain Mathius pauses and then says, “Who are you? What's your mission here? I warn you, I’m on to any tricks. We’re done with lies. Now answer my damned questions!”
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Neon is intently concentrating on the computer system, doing everything he can to isolate a channel over which someone can accept the hail.
Once he has the protections in place, the channel turns green so someone else can answer it. Neon Ten’s attention remains focused on the computer systems and the protections he has placed around the channel.
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Taking worried glances at the systems Ivok opens up the discussion. "I'm Ivok Dracusk, Engineer aboard the Verde. Among us are recent inductees into the society commissioned and sent here along with many others to locate and rescue any Starfinders."
The nerves get to Ivok as he tries to avoid conflict with random conversation.
"Have you been maintained your exercise regimes in the past year? How about diet? Has your food reserves offered a variety of nutritional supplements to keep you healthy? How much can you lift?"
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Antoine wanted to lie to her. This is so easy for him. But, because of the women’s plea and his companions insistence, Antoine decides to tell the “Truth”.
“Ivok, let me handle this. You give too much information for her."
The photojournalist takes a deep breath and talks with a slow and powerful voice. This will help her understand.
”As my friend said, we are Starfinder and we have a mission to rescue you. As you may be septic of our intention and Identity, I will say to you common facts about the Starfinder society and the Pact Worlds system. I hope this will convince you.”
Antoine takes another breath before continuing.
”Our undeads love reality T.V. We have a strange machine called Guidance that take your DNA for a shining tatoo.”
Antoine shows her the tatoo.
”Androids have a soul and believe in reincarnation. Our primary objective is to fill the gap and our second is to follow the first seeker. You are safe now.”
I curse yours to have put you in this situation.
Neon does not remember a Kathryn Mathus — but he does remember someone that his instructors have fondly referred to as ‘Meteor’ Mathus — a human woman whom in her early cadet days was famed for clever flying stunts around asteroid fields, and who had a subsequent meteoric rise in the Starfinder fleet.
“Exercise regimens, Zo and Guidance?” Mathus mutters under her breath, “Huh. That’s a different line...” Then her voice comes back, rapid-fire. “Why would you be worried about exercise regimens? In the past year? If you’re who you say you are, you know we’ve only been out here a few weeks!” There’s another pause, as she clicks out for a moment to talk to someone else on her ship. “Your ship appears to be an Explorer-class Starfinder ship, but not one I’ve seen and I know our ships. Also, our sensors indicate you're phased out of the Material Plane. What is this technology?”
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"I just meant that it is critical, especially in longer missions to ensure you get the proper amount of exercise. Do you know that weeks of ship travel is the greatest leading factor to muscle deterioration?"
Ivok shakes himself to reality as he tries to compose himself as he turns his mind away from work outs to mechanics. Whether Mathus hears him is at Antonine's call.
"I do not wish to bear you ill news, but we have already seen areas showing potential signs of time dilatation. The date we have as of leaving the range of Absalom Station was 8.14.318. If you hold for a moment I can get the date of this ship's maiden launch."
"I do not know why we are showing out of phase. We have no such technology. Could it be you are detecting us because your sensors are out of phase?"
Rechecking the sensor logs Ivok adds, "Our systems are not registering you on scanners at all."
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Realizing his limitations, Sev remains quiet during the exchange with the disembodied voice coming through the transceiver.
With the mention of the time differential, Sev notes to his fellow crewmates, "Although it was I who had, at least initially, surmised the earlier date on the the prior broadcast was the result of gravimetric forces, that theory was never adequately tested. Indeed, the message turned out to be a delivery vehicle for a dangerous viral attack."
“Time delation?’ Captain Mathus considers, as she listens to your explanations. “A year?” There is a pause, and then she says. “Wow. Okay. But before I unpack that possibility... I have one last question.” She takes a deep breath. “Did you come to kill us like the others did?”
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"As someone who was mauled by a still living creature which could lift at least 10 times as myself, I can say we have little intent to kill. We want answers and your safety."
As he says that Ivok can't help but flinch as he recalls the creature's jaws around
"Did you fight with these other ships?"
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Antoine continues to say whatever is necessary to make her believe she is safe.
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Al will remain silent, but will send their grad student a text message to chime in and assist with the current conversation.
Yang will pipe in, adding to the others that she's along as a student and observer, and there is absolutely no way that the society would authorize sending a noncombatant like her out here if the mission in any way involved attacking fellow Starfinders!
“Meteor!” Mathus exclaims. “I haven’t heard that name in a while. Is it true? Have we finally been relieved?”
“We were conducting a scientific mission looking for rare minerals on First Seeker Jadnura's orders when the force field appeared. After all of that, we're just trying to survive.” The static on your screen finally clears, and the woman and her crew can be seen on your monitors. Mathus has a stern face — a woman in her thirties or forties, aged before her time.
At the same time, a ghost version of ship number 9 appears, superimposed on the derelict. “The other ships here went mad and started firing on us and each other, unprovoked. At first we tried not to fire, but instead did defensive loops around the ice rocks.” She pauses, a faint smile lighting on her otherwise stern face. “I figured, I earned that name ‘Meteor’ for a reason — right? But finally a few of the remaining ships started hitting us, and we had to fire in self defense. We took so much damage.” She looks at you, with a sad look in her eyes. “But I told my team that we would not give up, no matter what. We would continue with our mission until relieved.”
“Our logs will confirm our story. May we... may we rest now?”
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“We encountered a virus that disabled some of our systems until we could purge it. Perhaps something like that happened to the other ships?”
He pauses a moment, then says “If there is anything in your logs that might help us discover what went wrong, we would very much like a copy. In any case, yes you may rest now. A rescue is in progress for all the trapped Starfinders here.”
You notice Neon munch on what you assume is yet another piece of popcorn. Just how much popcorn do those cheeks hold?
Neon realizes what Antoine suspected. You are talking to a ghost ship.
“Thank you. There’s something you should know before we go. Many Starfinder ships tried to reach Bastiar-2, a mostly barren but relatively safe planet to establish an outpost for survivors. If there are any of us that you can rescue... That may be where you can find them.”
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Al mentally starts recording as much data as possible regarding the conditions surrounding the 'ghost ship' knowing that they are not the best at socializing with the living...much less a weary crew not entirely of this dimension. They keep their hands on the flight controls, however, just in case evasive maneuvers are called for, or if simply to continue on their path to the next derelict that Sev+ and the others need to scan.