Right out the gate and someone is already trying to play us... I suppose funding is hard enough to come by, but you'd think that is something this Society would have known beforehand. This could be quite the wrench in our plans!
"Sounds reasonable enough, let's get going with that tour then!" There are likely to be all sorts of life forms in this place!
________
Aid Another Diplomacy
Kesko adds another 300 credits to the pot. "I'm sure this will make our tour guide happy. And it would pay for more exciting ingredients for the next dinner held here."
"Excellent," the telepathic voice fills your minds. One of the Warden's tentacles extends the credstick until it is close enough to Iseph's for the transfer. The LED bar on the investigators' stick goes down by four pips, and the empty stick in the Warden's possession goes up by four pips.
"Oh, but we are, friend Quig!" says the Warden. "We have had such lovely exchange of stories. We cannot simply throw out the rules, though, can we?
The credsticks exchange another three pips on the LED.
Bribe: 700
Aid Another: 3 success out of 4
Yes , a tour Obo growls.
"Oh! This is wonderful!" the Warden overwhelms your brains with his high-pitched, ecstatic outburst. "So much renovation we can now afford! The vidscreen in my office definitely needs an upgrade! Oh, thank you for our lovely time together. We are your friends for eternity! If you ever end up interred here, we will make sure you get an extra ration of soap each week."
There is a silent, telepathic exchange between the Warden and the guards. They float back into formation and wait for you to arrange yourself in a line. "Please, enjoy your tour."
Once the four barathu lead you to the prison proper, they merge together into a single, larger and more menacing entity. The smell of the Warden's office was rancid. The smell of the prison is an olfactory experience that defies description. There are several half-naked, sweat-drenched members of a variety of races crowded in the halls. All of them part as the guards lead you past them, although not a few leer at Navasi and Raia and the rare Vesk leers at Obozaya and her colorful scales.
After several minutes, the combined barathu leads you a table in a cafeteria-like room where a sweat-soaked ysoki licks her paws uncomfortably while grooming her matted pelt. She looks up as the amalgam barathu arrives, something passes silently between them, and then the guards split into their four component barathus and float away to the corners of the room.
The ysoki looks at you with cautious interest. "Hiya. Name's Livewire. What can we do for each other?"
"We're here representing a party who wishes to remain anonymous. They are most interested in Salvations End, particularly because they've lost a number of ships whose flight paths have taken them near it. We know that you have been there and were hoping you might provide some information. You'll be rewarded for your information."
Iseph responds.
And your reward will come from the others, I've spent enough on this endeavour already. They think to themselves remembering the 700 creds they gave to the cause.
"That's right! Would you be willing to speak to the role you had during your own expedition as well?"
Quig stands with his drone, and as soon as all the talking starts he begins tinker again until his expertise is needed.
"They have spoken truthfully. We are here for a purpose. Any help you can give this group of stragglers would be greatly appreciated."
"That stupid mission," Livewire begins, "I never wanted to do that job in the first place."
"Borgor, the captain, is a bastard of a captain. He takes all the best salvage for himself and isn't afraid to push you in front of blaster fire to save his own skin. He's also not afraid to give you a tooth-jarring smack if you say the wrong thing to him." Livewire curses the captain in ysoki for a moment before returning to her story. "I only took the job because I owed the first mate a favor. Bago has a good heart. We're cut from the same cloth. Anyhow, I was going to use my share of the salvage on this cursed job to buy Bago's freedom. Together, he and I were going to start up an honest salvage operation, and we wouldn't be abusing any of our employees."
She licks her paws and then rubs behind her ear. "The other two of the crew didn't have any love for Borgor either. That cutthroat Snips and the muscle-headed Xalak-don were going to mutiny after we finished the salvage. Bago and I were going to escape in the confusion. However, the four of them went down to that blasted moon and never came back. If you find our ship, the Archer, the audio logs will prove my story."
"Now," the ysoli prisoner says with a gleam in her eye, "You said something about a reward? If you want to know more about that death moon, you'll find some way to make my life more comfortable."
Livewire slams her paws down on the table and looks at Navasi desperately. "Hygiene kits! I would sell out my family for a year's supply of hygiene kits. Just look at my fur!"
Livewire slowly raises one of her eyebrows at Navasi. "Look. I know ysoki mature quickly, but I wasn't born yesterday."
She looks over at one of the barathu guards in the corner, and they seem to share a silent exchange. Turning her attention back to you, she says, "Take your nice fat credstick that I'm sure your anonymous patron gave you because they're not idiots and know how things work over to that nice guard there. He'll log you into the prisoner accounts, and you can buy me the supplies directly. When you're done, come back."
"How about we give you 800 credits? That much should make you a king in this place. You can get hygeine kits and whatever else you want for that much. Sound fair?"
Diplomacy
"If you use them sparingly, you can stretch them out for even longer," Raia adds in.
"Sure. If that's all you think my information is worth," the ysoki prisoner says and gestures towards one of the barathu guards, "He'll let me know when the exchange is complete."
"Look, I know us Ysoki need our hygiene taken care of. Those non-toxic cheek pouch cleaning swabs are great as well as that moisturizing shampoo, but I also know that 800 credits is quite a bit in a..." Well, better not say "dump" in case one of those things is listening "...prison like this, or anywhere really. We aren't just made of money here. We're willing to help out but we gotta meet somewhere in the middle."
When Livewire agrees to the 800 credits Iseph shrugs and moves over to the guard in question.
"I need to make a deposit into a prisoner account, I was told you're the one to speak to, is this correct?"
Livewire looks to the guard, and the two share a silent exchange. The guard opens a locked console and logs into a screen that allows Iseph to make bulk purchases of ysoki hygiene kits directly into Livewire's prisoner account.
Once this is complete, the barathu closes the console and seems to share another exchange with the ysoki.
"Much appreciated! So, that blasted mission..."
“People call Salvation’s End a ‘false moon,’" Livewire begins, "But that can’t be true. I’m pretty sure that floating metal hulk is actually some kind of really old starship caught in the nearby planet’s orbit. I don’t know what happened to it, but its signature and style don’t match up to any Pact World design."
She rubs her nose vigorously before continuing, “There’s a noticeable spire rising from the false moon’s outer hull. It’s teeming with activity. Crude painted symbols are all along structure’s exterior. Inside, a hive of space goblins flourishes in one of their misbegotten makeshift nests. The goblins sneak out to rummage for scrap metal and other junk found on the false moon’s exterior.”
“Lots of ships disappeared while flying too close to Salvation’s End," the ysoki looks a ashamed for a moment. "Like I said. Bago and I had a plan. Anyway, until recently, this phenomenon was kind of an urban pilot legend, but I know what it is! There’s some kind of really powerful tractor beam on that moon. It was strong enough to reel in the Archer, and I only got my whiskers out of there by crashing into the damn thing and ejecting an escape pod right before impact!”
Livewire reaches out to Raia as you prepare to leave. "No matter what," she asks meekly, "Please let me know what happened to Bago. If the old lunk is still alive, tell him that I miss my 'Hairless Monkey.'" She sniffles and continues, "If you find it in your hearts after exploring that damnable false moon, please put in a good word for me with the authorities. I'm not sure I can last here my entire term." Tears well in Livewire's wide eyes.
Iseph turns away to leave, their face impassive at first, but they turn back and kneel to the Ysoki's height.
"Thank you, for the information. Knowing a tractor beam is involved may really help. I will look for whatever information about your crew that I can, and perhaps find a way to truncate you sentence if that information is available. I can not promise anything, but I will try."
Their statement made, Iseph nods to the ratfolk and moves to leave.
"Certainly, if we find him I will pass on your message. Would you mind describing this fellow?" Raia asks, ready to note down Livewire's description. "What crime were you convicted of? I can put in a good word, but words can only do so much considering your actions."
________
"And there could be more gold in it for you, if your advice were to lead us to a success in our mission. Anything else you can think of?"
Livewire looks at Iseph in surprise. "Oh, thank you!"
"Trespassing. Salvaging without a license," she confesses to Raia. "Bago and Borgor are twins. They're both big and strong, but Bago is the nice one."
Finally she turns to Keskodai. "Nope. Not a single thing. Sorry."
The guards ultimately escort you back to the administrative building and then to the docking platform. The hot winds of Varos once again blast against your environmental protection for the short time that it takes you to cross the bridge. The climate controlled and sterile atmosphere in your ship is a welcome relief.
Once in orbit, the First Seeker contacts your ship. "So? How did it go?"
"I see, when we complete our mission, I will do my best to see what I can do with the warden."
On the ship, Raia is content to let Navasi explain their progress.
________
"Agreed, I'm not thrilled about the idea of being drawn into the center of this thing with no way out. As if the goblins on it weren't bad enough, it sounds like we'd have no way out. Is there a way to disable tractor beams remotely?"
At Raia's prompting, "Bago and Borgor are like half-orcs but bigger. Don't know the name of their race. Can't be orcs. I heard they're extinct. Only one of their kind I've ever met. Oh, since they're twins, I guess it'd be hard to tell them apart. Bago's the one without the obvious brain cybernetic augment."
To the androids questions, "Um. I flew a starship at it and ejected in a lifepod. Do you think I would have done that if I knew how to disable it remotely?"
First Seeker Luwazi congratulates you on the information recovered, "Good work, associates! Information is the key to successful missions. Don't worry. Your permits cover all forms of exploration and recovery, including removing both raw and manufactured materials from the moon. Now, you have permission to use the Drift engine. Use it to fly to Salvation's End and discover what you can. Be careful in the Drift."
"Alright then, I guess we should get going?" Iseph sits in the pilots chair and gets ready for take out. "Let's see here..." They say, getting used to the controls and making sure they have the coordinates locked in correctly. "I'll try not to take us too close. Maybe we can avoid the tractor beam if we can come in from the correct side?"
Quig heads back on the ship and tries to divert any power he can to the drift engines to help out Iseph.
Keskodai took a seat and began scanning the nearest computer panel. He wasn't an expert, but he wanted to make himself useful when the group encountered the tractor beam that was surely waiting on them.
"No, the only way to disable a tractor beam is to destroy its emitter array or its power supply," the First Seeker answers Iseph. "But I have faith in your ingenuity. Good luck!"
Once the First Seeker's transmission ends, Navasi eagerly orders Iseph to engage the Drift engine.
There is an ephemeral humming and then the sound of whales singing for a moment before the dark cloak of stars seems to stretch and then tear, spilling forth a kaleidoscope of colors. Through the windows, you can see a few tiny spheres of water appear next to the ship and float away into the techno-colored Drift space (or rather be left behind as your Drift engine pushes you through the trans-dimensional realm of Triune.
It takes you nearly a month to reach your destination, but you manage to avoid any significant sized planar remnants or their displaced and enraged occupants. The ship slows as the Drift engine hums in preparation of piercing the trans-dimensional barrier, then the Drift's colorful vista seems to be sucked away and replaced with a starry void.
In the distance, a great metallic structure breaks the bleak monotony of space. Massive in size, the grandeur of this planetoid is hard to take in all at once. Before the scale of the moon sets in, a shrill song pierces through the ship’s communications system. As the first notes of the song shriek out, a trio of vessels blink on the sensor screens, followed swiftly by a warning alarm klaxon.
"Jam your sensors, you be blind, All our targets we will find."
"Sitting duck depleted shield, You go BOOM in our starfield!"
Three tiny ships that appear to have been cobbled together using various parts from multiple starships--and possibly a tractor and maybe a trash compactor--face you.
Iseph curses from the Pilots chair.
"Goblins..." they grumble as they prepare for a fight.
The goblin song jamming your communication systems also gets on your nerves. A lot.
Engineer's Rolls
Quig, already in the right place, continues to support the ship through engineering.
"Diverting power to Computers! Scan them! We need to know what we're dealing with so perhaps we can steer ourselves into a blind spot of their weapons!"
Using the ship's integrated duonode computer system, Quig manages to just barely hack out a bit more range on the scanners and processing power to the science station.
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Keskodai starts banging on the computers, trying to get their output as high as possible.
Science Officer/Computers check with bonuses
"Goblins? I've never encountered those before!" Raia remarks, trying to contain a squeal of excitement at interacting with a new lifeform. Now if only they weren't trying to kill us...
Refocusing, she works away at her computer station, trying to scan the ships for as much information as she can get!
Science Officer’s Rolls
*Bzzz Whrrt!* Bot on standby.
Keskodai tunes the scanners to lock onto the goblin fighters' weapons systems. Meanwhile, Raia quickly deciphers the scanner data.
Single Pilot/Crew | Racer Class | Micron Ultra (80 PCU)
Fast (12) Perfect Maneuverability (0)
AC 14 | TL 14 | 20/20 | Shield Output: 5 x 4 quadrants
ERROR ??? light laser cannon (forward)
ERROR ??? light laser cannon (aft)
ERROR ??? ??? ??? unknown configuration (turret)
The goblin fighters streak towards you. One of them breaks off, anticipating your maneuvers and attempting to flank you.
Iseph attempts to pilot around the pincer maneuver.