Sharlavaka took the time to recover once again. He was going to have to repair his armour too, once this was done. It had taken a hellish beating on this mission. Along with the crew.
You rest the evening in the ship's remains; most of you are not going to be able to see well in the dark for climbing. Irina does what she can to preserve Quinn's corpse.
The next morning, you being the long trek back to the surface. Given that you're hauling the fragile remains of a mutilated corpse and slowed by one individual who periodically has to be carried, it ends up taking you almost the entire day. You get to the top just as the sun, looming large in the heavens due to the planet's proximity, begins to bake the surface. Otis greets to as you enter the ship.
"Hey, I was starting to wonder about you guys! Looks like you find him. Otis Crembly, nice to meet ya," the engineer says taking Mesk's hand as if he were an old drinking buddy instead of one of the riches individuals in the Pact Worlds.
"Where's the captain?"
Unhooking the harness he had built, Sharlavaka gestured to the covered sled/stretcher he'd been hauling behind him. The Vesk removed his helmet and shook his head slowly, obviously worn by the long journey. "Ambushed by monsters near crash site. Body has been retrieved. Please store remains while we arrange to bring her back."
Irina embraces the older man, tears in her eyes. "I couldn't save her! It was so brutal!"
Otis puts his hand on his friend's shoulder.
"Okay, okay. Let's get her remains down to your med-bay. I can start rigging up a cryo-chamber to slow the decomposition."
The ship takes off (presumably with Isis at the helm) toward the coordinates Mesk gives you.
"Stay in low under the scanners. If you have bafflers, turn them on. I don't want us getting detected by the search parties looking for me."
Sharlavaka looked over to Isis. "You will need to pilot, please," the Vesk requested.
Isis takes the helm. Pilot
Esh is able to use the computers to detect "hostile" scans, while Isis pilots around the scan radii. Even so, the trip takes only an hour or so; at another ice well, Mesk directs you to drop vertically.
Dropping the ship into a much smaller well, the Revenge breaks several small branches as it descends. At the bottom, you set down, and Mesk bids you to disembark.
You approach a large rock wall. The area around the wall is covered in frost, but the wall itself is bare. Mesk walks to one side of the bare area and places his palm on a rocky outcropping.
The door opens into a small room lined with metals of mysterious origin and design. A set of bare metal rails apparently designed from robotic use descends from this room. It looks like a ladder without rungs.
"I'll need some assistance getting down," Mesk says, gesturing toward his leg cast.
Esh pushes the eccentric businessman outward, though the man does not fall straight down. Instead there's a slight twinkling mission of air that gently glides him down. "Congratulations, you've been assisted."
The rest of you, being uninhibited by injury, manage to slide down the rails (it's only about 6 meters/20 ft). Before you is a stock of 20 fighters of a very sleek and unrecognizable design.
For the moment, Mesk continues to be allowed his limited hovering by way of the Flight spell. "Curious. These don't seem like any Pact World ship I've ever seen before. Where did you get these?"
Sharlavaka tilted his head curiously as he looked at the vessels. "Capabilities?"
"Curious. These don't seem like any Pact World ship I've ever seen before. Where did you get these?"
"One of the ancient treasures, and mysteries, of Aballon. A few similar sites have been found here, though none that produced fighters. Most of those are directly controlled by the Pact Worlds. This little baby, for the time being, is owned solely by Elyon R Mesk."
"Also, do you mind turning this...whatever it is...off? I do appreciate the rather abrupt assistance, but it's unnerving."
Sharlavaka tilted his head curiously as he looked at the vessels. "Capabilities?"
"We're still determining that. But they're Fast. Somewhere between TL 12 and TL 14 thrusters. No shields, but they're rock solid; equivalent of Mk 10 armor made from Skymetal alloy (so no penalties in the turning radius). Dark Matter Beam weapons fore and aft, and 4 atomic missiles to top it off. Two-man crew: one pilot, one gunner, with computer access to weapons for the pilot if necessary."
And the best part; the production facility is behind those bay doors. With the parts on hand, we could build a hundred more."
"Also, do you mind turning this...whatever it is...off? I do appreciate the rather abrupt assistance, but it's unnerving."
"I'm not in the buisness of wasting my magic any more then I have to. If you're planning on going up any more stairs, the magic stays." The elf says, almost dismissively.
Aproaching the statecraft, he starts to carefully examining them while running a few analytical programs and spell matrixes within his head. He makes an effort to commit what he learns to memory, on the off chance that the information is useful for a later date. "Intriguing..."
"Impressive," Sharlavaka said admiringly. "Fighters only, or can larger vessels also be built?" A sufficient technical advantage would make up for some of the lack of numbers. Although hunting for the materials to build even a small ship like the Revenge would be hard. He remembered the other job they'd pulled, and wished he hadn't been voted down at the chance to find rarer metals.
Size: tiny
Speed: 13
HP: 35
AC: 22 (Before Pilot Ranks)
TL: 16
Dark Matter Beams (3d6)
"Fighters only, or can larger vessels also be built?"
"Sorry; afraid this facility was only geared to construct this specific model ship. I don't have any designs to make use of the parts on a larger vessel, and frankly, they're so small anything bigger built with them wouldn't have much structural integrity. Still, they're better than most fighters out there in a lot of ways, and even this first delivery should more than double Gardathir's firepower."
"No need for appologies, they shall be useful." The Vesk considered the fighters again and then looked away. "Payment is complete?"
"Your ambassador has made arrangements for a shipment of ore to pay for these 20. After that, your leaders will have to make another arrangement."
Isis asks "How will we get these fighters to Zothune? In a giant container ship?"
Thr elf humms, logging notes internally about the fighters. "Our ship can't hold many of these craft itself, if any at all."
Isis countered "I don't know that we could carry two broken down as parts. Probably one at best."
"I believe your ambassador's plan was to slave them to his vessel."
Basically, the idea is, your ship with attach it's computer to the other vessels, then it will mimic your motions. They'll be useless in combat, but the technique has been used to "tow" ships through the Drift before. Theoretically, since Vera can still pilot the ship, Isis could fly one of the fighters herself if she chose.
"As confide t as I am in my ability to put one back toguther again after dismantling, let's try to avoid such needless activity." Breathes he, full of exaspiration.
Listening to Elon's explanation, he nods. "This would be a viable alternitive. We should make sure everything is still in otder here, however, before we move on. It dosn't pay to be careless."
Theoretically, since Vera can still pilot the ship, Isis could fly one of the fighters herself if she chose.
Sharlavaka stayed out of the flying bit, as it wasn't his expertise. He was more focused on making sure that if they got jumped in transit the cargo would be safe, and that he could use the Revenge's weaponry to keep them out of harm's way.
Assuming this plan is okay with everyone, you can adjourn to the Revenge and begin the work of harnessing the fighters.
This will require a Computers check on the fighters (I'm not going to make you do each one; 4 checks total will be fine) and one on the Revenge. Failing the check can be re-tried, but each check represents an hour's work, since you're harnessing accessing alien tech. DC is 25 on the fighter checks and 20 on the Revenge.
Isis attempts her share of the computing, fighters first , , , , , , , , then the Revenge is covered by Esh, over 8 hours.
EVENTUALLY you get everything synced up. A couple of the fighters had a different firmware version that was rejecting the link.
Mesk opens a hidden launch bay and you fly the ships out one by one. They handle very smooth, but also very sensitive.
Once they're out, and you verify the links are still established, you fly back over the ice-wells, dropping Mesk off with his beacon at the top of the same well you found him at, to be "rescued" officially.
Would you like to take any special precautions before flying out of the atmosphere?
The elf sits at the console, noting that the bridge felt quieter then normal. Without the short, energetic woman sitting in her rightful place, it wasn't hard to guess as to why. He liked silence normally. Appreciated it. Right now however, it just felt suffocating.
"Running a scan to make sure we're not being followed.." He mentioned quietly, possibly to only himself.
Making sure the Captain was as well stowed as possible, Sharlavaka checked the weapon systems. He had the feeling that this would not go smoothly.
Esh manages to use the sensors to avoid detection until you're heading into orbit. By that time, you're pretty much home-free. There's no way they can get an intercept to you above such a deserted area of the planet in less time than it will take you to activate your Drift engine.
Once in the Drift, the ships seem to be responding to the data link as expected. It's possible they could take some damage from debris floating in the drift, but it should be minimal.
Since Zothune counts as Near Space, the travel time is 3d6 days. Each day, there will be a chance for an encounter.
While the crew is feeling home-free, the sensors pick up a rift opening onto another plane. I need a Piloting check from Isis to avoid getting sucked into the rift. The DC is 25, you can add +2 for Vera assisting.
Isis pilots desperately
Looking at the displays, Sharlavaka adds, "What."
Isis deftly pilots the vessel out of the path of the rift, but it manages to suck one of the fighters into it. As entering the rift for a rescue is not advisable (such phenomena are rarely stable), you arrive back in normal space on the interior of the Firehelm system (Zothune's home), about 150 hexes out (past the defensive platforms).
Esh, please make a Sensor check.
Esh is startled to find the 1st defensive outpost inactive on the ship's sensors. There is no sign of any of your intercept ships, either.
Startled, Isis attempts to reach Morgrym on the ship's comm.
The elf's eyes narrow as the information really settles in his head. "Something's wrong. Very wrong."
"I am not surprised. We were not there, after all." Sharlavaka pulled up the comm system to see if there was any foreign - especially Azlant - chatter in the system.
He remains silent at his station, checking everything he can think to check in the expectation of a conflict.