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"Zee galley sounds like a reasonable place to check next. Ve might even get some new clues about recent events."
Miraj looks out the window of the bridge at the exterior of the ship. When he looks at a section shrouded in shadows, he gives a grunt of surprise, blinks his eyes and shines his spotlight out the window. "When I received my treatement zat shifted my body to the summerborn form typical of my race born when zee climate is hot, zey told me there might be some other changes zat would kick in over time. It appears von of those is zee ability to see in zee dark. I can dispense with zee spotlight unless someone needs it to see something in zee distance."
Unsealing the bridge, the Starfinders turn right into a harshly-lit galley, complete with basic (if not terribly appetizing) food stuffs. Utilizing a mixture of plastic wrap, water, salt, and twist ties, they find that creating makeshift "salt water grenades" is a fairly simple procedure.
”I, uh—thought I heard your— Aureum looks down at the girl intently, a blush rising in her cheeks.
”I guess I imagined it. Sometimes it’s weird, not being around other telepaths; I forget I’m all alone in my head,” she says with a sheepish smile, tapping her temple.
{"And imagining kissing you."}
"Nothing you'd want to hear. We should get going."
~~~~~
"Since we're already on this side of the ship," Diedre says as they leave the galley. "We can just continue on around anti-clockwise."
Once back out of the bridge, Entiren will walk smugly behind everyone else as they had towards the galley. Noticing his rifle on the ground where he has dropped it, he will quickly retrieve it. Damn, I forgot that I'd dropped this earlier. I'll need to be more careful in the future. After he does so, he continues on to the galley. He will accept two water grenades.
Lauren heads into the galley and gathers supplies to make as many salt water 'grenades' as she can. If there's enough salt and water, she makes 2 for each person and hands them out. As she makes the brine mixture, she'll dab a bit on her bell front with each one in an act of reverence, praying to Triune that each finds its mark under her breath.
"These shoulds help." She says, to no one in particular.
Miraj checks that his semi-auto pistol clip is full and heads out with the group to check out the galley. "Maybe we can brew a pot of coffee while we're working on the saltwater grenades," Miraj quips.
"What is 'pot of cofee'?" Lauren asks as she works.
"Oh, Lauren. You've never had coffee?" Diedre says with mock horror. She turns to Miraj. "Don't you dare fix her a cup from ... this." She gestures to the supplies in the galley.
She steps to stand next to the Scyphozoan protectively.
"The first thing you and I are going to do when we get back to the station is to get you a good cup of coffee."
Once the salt water bombs are made and distributed, Miraj holds Alice in one hand and a salt grenade in the other and suggests other arm up the same way. Then he studies the door to the crew quarters adjacent to the galley for signs of forced entry or other sabotage. He also checks the door controls to see if they are locked or not.
When everyone is in position, Miraj knocks on the door and calls out, "Station security. Ve are here to rescue you. Do not resist. Open zee door."
Lauren beams at the suggested outing when they return to the station, her bell blushes a little and she stands a little taller. As directed, Lauren grabs a salt-water grenade with one tentacle and her pulsecaster pistol with the other, preparing for the worst.
Jehir takes two of the "salt water grenades," keeping one in hand and stowing the other in his pack.
When Miraj shouts his challenge, he presses his ear to the door to see if he can hear anything in the chamber beyond.
"If survivors are still in environment suits, they might not be able to hear us."
Then he studies the door to the crew quarters adjacent to the galley for signs of forced entry or other sabotage. He also checks the door controls to see if they are locked or not.
Of the two portside cabins, the outer door opens easily, revealing a well-used two-bunk chamber with a compact included washroom. The inner door, however, doesn't budge - not even a rattle. The door handle moves easily, suggesting that the entryway has been forcibly jammed, not locked.
When Miraj shouts his challenge, [Jehir] presses his ear to the door to see if he can hear anything in the chamber beyond.
Both Miraj and Jehir hear a sudden scrabbling sound within the cabin at Miraj's words, followed by the unmistakable sound of something heavy and metallic falling over and rolling across the floor.
"My guess... that sounds like more akatas. Take aim at the door."
Jehir steps back and then raises his doshko, prepared to strike whatever comes out of the room.
Lauren shudders to think of another akata fight. She really doesn't want anyone else injured. She raises the salt water grenade and prepares to throw. "I is ready."
Aureum, Diedre, Entiren, Jehir, Lauren, Miraj
???
"Go ahead, Entiren, open it," Diedre says, her hands clasped around her pistol.
Stowing the gear he had been holding, Entiren begins moving towards the door before attempting to open it. As he waits for everyone to state that they are ready, he hears Aureums voice a second time.
Entiren has had some minor experience with telepathic communication, but doesn't recognize it in this instance. Since Aureum had never shown to have those capabilities, he simply mistakes it for normal speech. Glancing in her direction, he raises an eyebrow at her. However, he decides to discuss this at further length later.
Miraj stands ready to attack, but he only will throw the salt water if something attacks. He doesn't want to kill a goblin or a crew member.
If Entiren's attempt to open the door is not enough, Miraj will aid after stowing Alice back in his quick release armor sheath.
Glancing in her direction, he raises an eyebrow at her. However, he decides to discuss this at further length later.
Diedre frowns in confusion as Entiren raises his eyebrow at her.
She very subtly lowers her head down and does a sniff check.
Working together, Entiren and Miraj push on the door until a SNAP is heard as the door careens loosely out of its moorings. As it pops open, a small barrage of laser fire streaks in all directions, but no one is struck.
Lauren chucks a brine balloon through the doorway while Jehir, Diedre, and Aureum wait for an akata to emerge... but nothing comes. Peaking into the cabin reveals a pair of space goblins cowering behind an upturned bed, firing blindly at the door while screaming into their space helmets with their eyes squeezed shut.
Aureum, Diedre, Entiren, Jehir, Lauren, Miraj
Space goblins
"Are you quite through?!?!" Diedre yells out.
Miraj reaches into his pack and draws out his fire extinguisher. He directs a burst of fire retardant into the room, hoping to cool the goblins off and maybe make their lasers less effective. "Cool your jets, runts!" he yells.
Miraj fills the room with extinguisher fog, but an improbable laser bolt manages to graze Entiren's shoulder, singing the clothing and charring the nuar's arm.
As the fog settles, it reveals the two space goblins standing awestruck, their patchwork spacesuits coated in flame retardant. After a brief glance at each other, they throw their weapons on the floor and prostrate themselves before the Starfinders, aggressively pleading and begging as they crawl across the floor, their gibbering partially obfuscated by the crude, bowl-like helmets of their spacesuits.
"Gottendrakens! Put your hands behind your backs," Miraj mutters as he sets his extinguisher down and fishes out a couple of binders from his pack.
If the goblins don't try any tricks, Miraj will step into the room and apply the binders to their hands, behind their backs, just to keep them from too much mischief. Pointing to Diedre, he says sotto voce, "I'd do vhat she says. She has a temper and is in no mood for nonsense."
After that, he'll confiscate their weapons, handing them to anyone who wants or needs a laser pistol and then looks around the room.
It takes Diedre a beat or two to realize that Miraj is painting her as the 'bad cop'. Once it clicks, she gives him a single raised eyebrow before her face grows cold.
The half-elf saunters forward, kicking the weapons out of reach before looking upon the goblins with disdain.
"Quit your sniveling, worms," she says in a voice about an octave lower than normal. "You are our prisoners now and will behave as such."
She glances again at Miraj with an odd expression.
"SHE has a temper?" Jehir says, as the dark clouds of his solar armor roil around him. "I am ready to chop these trespassers into little bits!"
He turns to face the goblins.
"How did you get here? And why were you hiding in here?" Jehir shouts.
Aureum does her best to look cold and intimidating as she steps in behind Diedre, towering a whole head higher than the half-elf.
She frowns down at the goblins, but leaves the threats to her companions. "Are there others on the ship?"
One of the goblins grovels face down on the ground, rapidly chattering, "We is worms-worms! We is prisoners now and will be best behavings! We will-"
"PLEEEASE DON'T EAT ME!" Somehow, the second goblin managed enough speed to reach Diedre and latch onto her ankle with all four limbs before anyone noticed. "I'M NO GOOD FOR EATINGS! ALL SKINS AND BONES AND DISEASES! PLEEEEASE!!"
After that, he'll confiscate their weapons, handing them to anyone who wants or needs a laser pistol and then looks around the room.
Miraj immediately notices that the goblins' laser pistols are hardly weapons at all - if he hadn't seen them fired, the ryphorian wouldn't have believed that they could; the devices look like disasters waiting to happen.
Behind the overturned bed, Miraj also notices a greasy sack bearing the logo of a popular fast food joint on Absalom Station. Tipping it over with the end of his cane produces a small cascade of grenades, tools, and detritus.
"...Little goblin, no one is eatings you." Lauren says, with a clear blush on her bell and a flare of embarrassment vibrating through her tentacles. She thinks to herself, "ငါတို့သည်အဘယ်ကြောင့်ဤသူတို့သည်ဆင်းရဲသားသတ္တဝါများ နာကျင် နေကြသည်, သူတို့ကအန္တရာယ်ကင်းပုံပေါ်?"
Wincing in pain at the new injury, Entiren will cautiously advance into the room where the Space Goblins had been holed up. Looking at the small pile of stuff that Miraj had found, he looks at the nearer of the two goblins. "So, where did you two happen to get all this stuff? Also, how did you get here, onto the Acreon?"
Realizing the goblins were already intimidated, Miraj says, "Just tell us what happened here and we'll see that you are taken to safety. For starters, do you know what happened to the original crew?"
Miraj stuffs the goblins' loot in a bag. He offers the grenades to whomever thinks they'll use them effectively
Diedre attempts to shake the sniveling creature off her leg.
"Get ... off!" she says, her voice returning to normal, her 'bad cop' persona vanishing.
"How about we just leave them in here for now, while we check out the rest of the ship?" she asks the others.
"There might still be zee creatures prowling about. If they vant to be locked in zee intact crew quarters next door, ve should make it so zey cannot escape and cause mischief."
"So, where did you two happen to get all this stuff? Also, how did you get here, onto the Acreon?"
"Found-it found-it found-it! We! Declare! Saaaaaaalvaaaaage Riiiiights!" With the flick of a switch, the groveling goblin hops up to stake its claim. "Heard-about-it! Hitched-a-ride! Boosted over with the PORT-A-BOOST!" With an enthusiastic hand, it points to the empty fire extinguisher, which reads Partabuest Industries down the side of the canister.
"Just tell us what happened here and we'll see that you are taken to safety. For starters, do you know what happened to the original crew?"
As Diedre shakes the other goblin off her leg, it composes itself somewhat. "Crew is all gone! Just scary-blue-monsters! PLEASE PLEASE SAVE US! I DON'T WANNA BE FOOOOD!"
"I don't think you can declare salvage rights when a ship is in a parking orbit," observes Jehir.
"How many other goblins are there?"
Lauren looks around, confused, "I thinked we were here to determine salvages rights?" She then glances around the immediate area, realizing that there isn't a safe place to stow them, she adds, "May we takes them with us?"
"We're here to determine salvage rights for the piece of rock out there - not the ship," Diedre says as she continues to watch the goblins nervously. "And I really don't want to take them with us."
Only barely familiar with the feeling of someone speaking in her head, Lauren presses against her ear piece and checks her comm unit and then says to Diedre, "I thinks your talk box is breaking. I only hear some of this."
"I wasn't using the comm," Diedre says, sounding confused as she looks down at the interface.
"How many other goblins are there?"
The less excitable of the two goblins pauses as it ponders this question. "There is many goblins! I has met... eleventy!"
"I thinked we were here to determine salvages rights?"
"Big squishy is WRONG!" blurts the other goblin, pointing a mitted hand vaguely in Lauren's direction. "Finders keepers! Losers can SUCK IT!"
Lauren's tentacles wave about in curiosity as she mumbles, "တွေ့သူငါမတိုင်မီထိုစကားကိုကြားဖူးဘူးစိတ်ဝင်စားစရာကောင်းကြောင်းဂိုးသမားဖြစ် ပါတယ်." She looks over the goblins. "I think you wrong." She flips through the pictures she gathered earlier when researching who Ambassador Nor was, and shows them his picture. "He is decides ownership."
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The goblins don't resist as Miraj zips the binders around their wrists and a bedpost in the neighboring crew cabin (ya know, the one with the working door), although they do whack their helmets against the bed while trying to get a better view of the restraints.
"Whats the deals?!" exclaims the first goblin, "you tryin' to marry me or somethin'?!"
"JOKES ARE ON YOU!!" bellows the second, adding "only reason for marrying is preferring tax statuses, and GOBLINS DON'T PAY NO TAXES ANYHOW!"
"I think you wrong." She flips through the pictures she gathered earlier when researching who Ambassador Nor was, and shows them his picture. "He is decides ownership."
"Big SQUISHY!" admonishes one of the goblins, "don't let creepy dead dude tell you how to lives your lifes!"
Diedre does her best to ignore the goblins entirely. She considers explaining to Lauren the maxim of 'Never Argue with a Fool', but decides against it.
"Let's head across the hall and check out the crew storage and then the other crew quarters," she says.
Lauren proceeds to walk to the other corridor without another word.