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As you try to open up communications you only receive static.
Docking is relatively easy and you connect to the rear of the ship where there is an air lock located between it's engines.
The Struggle’s Scholar is on its last legs, but it has enough power to provide both basic life support and normal gravity. However, only low-power emergency lighting illuminates the ship, so each area should be treated as having dim illumination.
After you enter the air lock:
This entire chamber is one large airlock, with access doors to the north and south. Loose netting floats in the gravity-free chamber. A warning light above the interior door flashes every few seconds, periodically bathing the room in a dim orange glow. A small panel next to the door flashes orange in time with the warning light.
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Vchk takes spends the short journey swapping his armor and firearm for the gift given by the Honorbound.
{"Ugh, how do vesk wear plate like this? It's like wearing a starship."}
Vchk will lead the way into the airlock, new machine gun in hand and infrared sensors scanning the gloom. He checks the flashing panel next to the door.
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If you examine the crates in the airlock, you find the boxes full of mundane equipment used to adapt nonstandard airlocks, make minor external repairs, and so forth. The items are of no value and cannot be easily transported.
The panel seems to operate the air lock, there are 2 buttons inner door and outer door
The use of the panel causes the outer door to close and the room to automatically pressurize; artificial gravity then kicks in gradually. As air fills the room, a blaring alarm can be heard, timed with the light. After 30 seconds, the alarm and light stop flashing
"Since we're no longer aboard the Sunrise Maiden, I'm relinquishing command until such time we return to our vessel," Navasi announces over the comms as they enter the air lock of the kasathan ship.
"V, you have the command of the boarding mission," she nods to the shirren warrior and draws her pistol, following after the others.
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Angrid steps beside the Shirren.
"Purty gun. Love tha sound of shells bouncin' off a steel floor."
She unclips a polished steel greataxe from her backside and appraises its weight before swinging it a couple times for practice.
"If there's anything dangerous left in this coffin, you aim for its head; I'll take out its knees."
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Chetna finds out that these panels control nothing besides the airlock.
As she's busy studying the panel the nearby etheric storm occasionally pulses with great intensity, sending a shock wave of etheric energy through the unshielded Scholar’s Struggle that causes lights to flicker ominously.
Just as Chetna is about to hit the panel to open the inner doors a horrifying screech echoes past the sealed door.
The doors hiss open as the last screeching echoes die off and you see;
A gruesome trail of blood runs across the floor of the ten-foot wide hallway that runs horizontally across the ship; at each end of this hall are metal access doors leading to the north and south. A shorter hall leads to a door to the north, with two doors halfway up that hall exiting to the east and west.
Finally, a large airlock seal covers the center of the southern wall here. A double-barreled weapon turret limply hangs from the ceiling, just west of the southern airlock door.
Navasi carefully steps through the inner doors and stops just inside to have a quick look around, searching for a panel or terminal that might access the turret to the south.
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{"Oh. Lovely. Yes, nothing wrong with a long streak of blood across a ship. That's just the newest trend."}
Vchk steps forward until he's at the nexus of the dorsal and transverse corridors.
{"We should probably take control of the bridge first, grab the hard drive, and then clear the rest of the ship with the time remaining. Any objections?"}
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As you make your way forward the light continue to flicker as the edge of the storm causes a glitch in their power supply.
When you get to the most northern door you find it locked and utterly unresponsive to your attempts to open it, brute force isn't budging it and more technical way to pry it open fail as it seems to be completely without power. To get it to open you would need some way to restore power to it.
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To Vchk's surprise this door opens without any problems
Four beds fill most of these tidy crew quarters. Each bed is neatly made with a prominent item placed atop its center. Above the beds are tightly sealed storage compartments. A single-tier metal shelf curves around the southwestern wall, its surface pristine but entirely empty.
The items placed atop the beds are each part of a kasathan tradition for those who are making a journey from which they don’t expect to return. The crew members left personal items on each of their beds, as gifts to those who survive them and continue to create future history. You recognizes this ad hoc version of the tradition
The items:
One of the items left atop the bed items is an electronic scale model of the Idari (the roughly cylindrical kasathan worldship that currently orbits the Pact Worlds’ sun) rotating slowly in the air above a smooth stand. The Idari model is worth 100 credits Note that the model is too low powered to serve as a battery.
Another bed holds a personal datapad, flashing with a low battery warning. Any flashlight or similar battery can be used to power the datapad, unlocking the most recent personal logs of one of the kasathas, Teliu .
A ceremonial Idaran force training baton , engraved with the lengthy lineage and titles of its owner, rests atop the third bed. This uniquely crafted force baton can be sold for 650 credits.
On the fourth bed is an elegantly bound copy of the book Customs of Kasath, a gift traditionally given to a kasatha who has just completed the Tempering, a coming-of-age ritual. The nameplate inside identifies the copy as belonging to Yotto, one of the kasatha crew members. Nestled inside the cover is a least photon crystal.
The compartments above the beds are locked
The compartments contains 3 basic medkits.
Activating the infrared sensors on her armour, Navasi accompanies Vchk on his quest for an unlocked door. Reaching the crew quarters, she steps inside and looks around.
"I've heard of this before," she gestures to the items atop the beds. "A kasathan tradition left by those who set out on a journey... they do not expect to return from."
She takes out her torch and removes the battery, using it to power the datapad. She reads the logs shown on the handout aloud. "Teliu Davead Mord of Clan Ferrous, House Elwood, truth-keeper of the Ferrous Stones," she finishes and looks around at her companions.
"A ghost?" she shrugs, unsure. "We best be careful near the Captain's quarters. And that's assuming the battery's held up..." she glances around them in concern. "We should take those items with us, too - in case we don't have time to return for them. We just might need that baton ourselves."
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Itch nearly drops the Kasatha book as he reads the logs. "Whoa, this Yotto came back to life? And they trapped it somewhere on board? Maybe it got out again and killed them? Or maybe that's what's locked in that room."
{"If one of the crew members rose from the dead, they're probably still active. Somebody grab that force baton - let's see if we can find that sparring chamber; the records mentioned more of these batons. They could be useful."}
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As Vchk makes his way across the hallway to go to the next door the turret whirls to life and slowly although with a screeching sound and while spluttering starts to track his movement. An pulsing red light blinks between its twin barrels.
It's not firing or even powering up it's weapons and it's leaking sparks everywhere.
Navasi instinctively ducks as the turret whirrs and screeches above their heads. "Someone make sure that thing is not going to shoot us!" she says while ducking for cover.
When it becomes apparent the weapon isn't preparing to fire at them (yet?), Navasi slowly stands and takes a closer look at the turret. "Now how do we turn you off?" she muses aloud.
Once they finish with the turret, Navasi will continue to follow Vchk to the other end of the corridor, pistol ready.
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As you continue down the corridor to the door Vchk wants to open you feel slightly saver knowing that that's one turret that won't be tracking your movement any longer
As Vchk pushes the door he is somewhat surprised to find that it opens and behind it you see;
A single door opens into this open space. Just inside the doorway, the entry floor is caked with blood, and several batons and shuriken are scattered throughout the room. A simple sparring mat covers much of the center floor. An alcove along the eastern edge houses a weapon rack filled several kinds of batons and a dozen fine shuriken. On the opposite wall is a pad of self-healing foam with colorful abstract targets painted on it. A four-armed metal robot stands in the southwestern corner of the chamber.
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"Reminds me of this one time when a Spike Rat swam outta toilet and ran around our guild hall. It was bleedin' like crazy for some reason. I don't know what caused more of a mess, it runnin' around for dear life, or the dozen of us miners tryin' to beat it down with shovels and picks."
Angrid appraises the rest of the room.
"Let's focus on gettin' the ship workin'. We can come back here if we got time."
Navasi follows the others into the training room, careful to avoid stepping on the blood smears. Inspecting the weapons, she searches for the extra force batons mentioned in the log.
Should she find any, she takes one for herself, before passing any others to her crew mates.
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As soon as Navasi enters the room the floor-mounted, four-armed parring robot whirs to life
It proclaims
Navasi and Itch find that the weapon rack in this chamber contains an Idaran force training baton (see sidebar), 10 carbonedge shuriken, 8 tactical batons, 4 cestus battlegloves, and 2 serums of enhancement (commando).
<Not at this time. Stand by.> Navasi commands the robot in Kasatha.
She laughs as she almost collides with Itch when they both have the same idea. Gesturing for him to have first choice, she will collect the force baton if he leaves it, and offer the other items to her companions.
Navasi nods to Itch in appreciation. She grimaces as she hefts the baton and offers it to her companions along with the other items. "Heavier than I expected."