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Korskal at some point finds Tofana away from other crew members. Though he rarely speaks, preferring telepathy, the android has noticed that he only speaks to her and then rarely. Something might be bothering him, but it is hard to read a bug’s features...
After a long moment of silence, he finally speaks. ”Tofana, I am sorry my thought speech bothered you as we found the Eoxian and fought the men-at-arms it had hired. I did not know it would offend you. Would it help to know I cannot read minds? I can only hear what you want me to hear.” He pauses as the familiar buzzing he makes when he is thinking fills the moment.
”I can continue to use talk speech if you prefer, but you know I meant no insult?”
"So ... who's in charge of the sensors on this crate? Can we do a scan or something - short range and long range?"
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Tofana regards Korskal impassively for a few seconds. Her response is clinically detached, "For a long time my thoughts were all I had. You -- surprised me. "
"It does help to know that you can not read my mind, and I can not deny the tactical advantage of mental communication. I acknowledge that you meant no insult. You may use telepathy."
Apparently done, she turns her attention back to a monitor. After another few seconds, she looks back at the Shirren. "Thank you, Korskal. This has been a useful communication."
After a short while of scanning, Korskal detects the Eoxian ship. It would appear that it has listed along through the Drift a little way. Another couple of hours travel brings you to it.
The Eoxian freighter is a massive vessel made of bone and steel. The front of the ship is a single enormous red lens, appearing as a sullen, bloody eye. The ship bristles with bone protrusions, as though it were some horned, skeletal beast. Some of the bones are charred and broken, indicating past battle damage. Laser cannons protrude from the front and sides of the freighter; but its rear weapon mounts are a twisted wreck. Gaps between the bones show the ship’s interior, but this is not from battle damage—this ship was never intended to accommodate living creatures.
As you close with the Eoxian ship, it becomes obvious that they knew you were coming, they must have picked up your sensor sweep...
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"Their rear weapon mounts are badly damaged," observes Latheera, looking at the sensor display. "And with some luck that battle damage may also impact their ability to turn. I want to try to fly around behind them - give them a wide berth, they've got plenty of guns front and sides! Wayf, divert power to the engines, give us a boost ... Tofana, get ready to fly around, not too close until we get behind them or see what they can do. Oh, and can someone open me a comms line to the ship? Maybe I'll dish up some verbal b+!!$ slapping on those undead pricks ..."
The Eoxian ship suddenly moves towards you, they are currently in your rear-arc.
Someone opens a comms channel for Captain Latheera, there is eerie quiet over it, and you have no idea of anyone is listening, or will respond to your hail.....[ooc]Speak....
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“Do the active sensors pick up any turrets on that thing? Magnus, I’ll leave attacking and choice of weapons in your capable hands, but I suggest we don’t fire until either they fire on us or we’re behind them.”
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As a science officer, you can take any of the following actions,
depending on your ranks in the Computers skill. These actions
can be taken only during the helm phase.
Balance (Helm Phase)
You can balance the shields, redirecting power from one quadrant
to protect another. With a successful Computers check (DC = 15 +
2 × your starship’s tier), you can shift Shield Points (SP) from the
shield in one quadrant to the shield in another quadrant, including
to depleted shields (after rebalancing, every shield must have at
least 10% of the total current SP). Alternatively, you can add up the
SP from all the remaining shields and evenly distribute them to all
four quadrants, putting any excess SP in the forward quadrant.
Scan (Helm Phase)
You can scan a starship with your sensors to learn information
about it. This action requires your starship to have sensors (see
page 300). You must attempt a Computers check, applying
any modifiers from the starship’s sensors. You can attempt
this check untrained. The DC for this check is equal to 10 + the
tier of the starship being scanned + its bonus from defensive
countermeasures (see page 298). If you succeed at this check,
you learn the first unknown piece of information on the following
list. For every 5 by which you exceed the check, you learn another
unknown piece of information. Subsequent checks reveal new
pieces of information, continuing down this list.
1. Basic Information: Living crew complement and ship
classification, size, speed, and maneuverability.
2. Defenses: AC, TL, total and current Hull Points, total and
current Shield Points in each quadrant, and core PCU value.
3. Weapon: Information about one weapon, including its firing
arc and the damage it deals, starting with the weapon that
uses the most PCU. Repeat this entry until all the starship’s
weapons are revealed.
4. Load: Information about how the starship’s expansion bays
are allocated and any cargo the starship might be carrying.
5. Other: Any remaining ship statistics.
Target System (Helm Phase, Push)
You can use your starship’s sensors to target a specific system
on an enemy starship. This action requires your starship to have
sensors. You must attempt a Computers check, applying any
modifiers from the starship’s sensors. The DC equals 15 + the tier of
the enemy starship + its bonus from defensive countermeasures
(see page 298). If you succeed, choose one system (core, engines,
life support, sensors, or weapons). The next attack made by your
starship that hits the enemy ship scores a critical hit on a natural
roll of 19 or 20. If that attack deals critical damage, it affects the
chosen system. For any further critical damage resulting from the
attack, determine which system is affected randomly as normal.
Your starship’s sensors can target only one system on a specific
enemy starship at a time, though this action can be used to
concurrently target systems on multiple starships.
Lock On (Helm Phase, Push)
If you have at least 6 ranks in Computers, you can lock your
starship’s targeting system on to one enemy vessel. You must
spend 1 Resolve Point and attempt a Computers check. The DC
equals 15 + the tier of the target starship + its bonus from defensive
countermeasures (see page 298). If you succeed, your starship’s
gunners gain a +2 bonus to gunnery checks against the target for
the rest of the round. This action can be taken only once per round.
Improve Countermeasures (Helm Phase)
If you have at least 12 ranks in Computers, you can try to foil
enemy targeting arrays and incoming projectiles by spending
1 Resolve Point and attempting a Computers check. The DC
equals 10 + 2 × the tier of the target starship + its bonus from
defensive countermeasures (see page 298). If you’re successful,
gunners aboard the target starship roll twice and take the worse
result for gunnery checks during this round (including checks for
tracking weapons).
Magnus' VR helmet draws targeting icons on the stricken freighter as the Starfinder ship manoeuvers around it. Magnus aligns his weapon to fire into the Eoxian ship's stern.
"Eat vacuum, punk!" snarls the ysoki as he thumbs the firing button.
"Suppose you were stuck in the Drift. Would you engage in some odd ritual involving skulls? Or would you try to lure a ship with a working Drift drive close enough to take that drive?"
Your coilgun fires off with no discernible shields interfering with it's course. As the shot lands chunks of bone fly off into space.
From the front of the bone ship, a shot of laser fire comes directly at you, totally depleting the shield on that arc and causing damage to your hull.
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Wayf leaps from one control console to another, checking readings.
"Great work everybody."
There is then a pause as the eco-cortex implant interfaces with the power core.
"We've got shields down but I can divert some of that additional power now that we have closed. We don't need additional speed at this point. Looks like they don't have any shields or much in the way of speed. No understanding of the benefits of tech out here. Anyway things are getting rebalanced so nobody panic. I'm on it."
Restore Shield points
Changing Roles
You can switch between roles (or assume a role if you don’t already have one), but this change must occur at the start of a round before the engineering phase. You can switch to the captain or pilot role only if that role would otherwise be vacant (or if the character in that role is unable to take actions).
With the sort of quick thinking and movement only an android is capable of, WayF redirects energy throughout the ship, shoring up the forward shields almost to their previous level. The engine strains under the pressure, but keeps running.
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Wayf excitedly chatters away.
"Well I wouldn't want us to face a constant barrage. Can we determine what weapons they have or if they have any weaknesses. There was this one time I was on a transport ship moving through an asteroid field. Pirates attacked and we didn't have any weapons. We ended up towing an asteroid behind us and using it to swipe at them. But we are doing fine. Everything is holding."
The Threnody continues to move through space, attempting to move aroudn you and find a glitch in your shields.
As the Loreseker sweeps aroudn behind the Threnody, the attcks from that vessel cease.....