"Oh, excellent!" the Warden squeals in telepathic excitement. "You shall be known as friends of ours for eternity!" They extend the credstick to Navasi for the exchange, LED pips decreasing on her stick and increasing on their stick.
"The antenna relay for the vidscreen in my office needed upgrading to enhance reception and definition, and this will just about cover the cost. If you return with an additional 200 credits, we might be able to fix some of the showers. Now, the tour."
The four barathu guards silently surround you and escort you through the administrative complex and into the prison proper. Once through the secure doors, the four melt together into a single larger barathu. Sweat-soaked prisoners in the halls stare at you as you pass, some of them leering at Navasi and Raia. The one vesk prisoner you see leers at Obozaya's colorful scales.
They lead you to a table in some sort of recreation room, although there are no objects of recreation. At the table is a lone ysoki frantically licking her paw and grooming the matted hair behind her ears.
The ysoki looks at the composite barathu, and they split into their four component barathu and float to the corners of the room after a short, telepathic exchange. She looks back at you and says, "Hiya. I'm Livewire. What can we do for each other?"
Altronus is silent as the exchanges go on around him, glancing this way and that, marking exits and points of interest within the prison. When he snaps from his reverie, he finds himself in front of the one they wished to speak with in the first place: Livewire. She's true to form, he thinks. Livewire indeed.
He looks around at the room and the barathu.
"I'm sure a generous donation to fix the showers could be arranged as well. Might we have a moment alone with the witness? Our client values their privacy above all."
The barathu guards make no indication that they have even heard Altronus.
"Oh, poor thing" Quig says as he sees the damp fur on the other Ysoki. He immediately starts grooming himself.
"Argh! That cursed mission!" Livewire laments. "I wish that I had never heard of that stupid false moon."
She composes herself and takes a calming breath. "It is so blasted hot in this prison camp. Sorry, what were you asking me? Oh. That moon. Yeah, it's true. I didn't want to take the job. The mission leader is a lunk head named Borgor, but his first mate is a friend of mine. His name's Bago. I had planned to use my share of the profits to help Bago get free of Borgor's influence."
Livewire sniffles. "There were two others on the mission. Snips and Xalak-don. Neither one of them are worth the time of day. Bloodthirsty and stupid. They were planning a mutiny after the job on Salvation's End. But they went down with Borgor and Bago and never came back. I wouldn't have either if I hadn't done what I did."
"Now," she says with a merchantile gleam in her eye, "What is my information about the false moon worth to you?"
|
"Hello, Livewire. My name is Raia, and we came here because we want information, and hope that you can provide it for us. Please, tell me what you can about Salvation's End. We are going there, and we need to be prepared for whatever is waiting for us."
Raia words her message as a polite request, hoping that her openness and sincerity will help overcome any reluctance on Livewire's part.
"Raia, she is asking for money, you dolt! Not for a friendly word! Now who had that cred-stick?"
Quig turns to Livewire "working with Lashunta can be so tiring from time to time!"
"Almost are difficult as humans," Livewire tells Quig. "She did give me one thing, though. She told me how badly you need my information."
"There are now showers here. No way to groom. It's awful," the ysoki says to you all. "Let's say... a year's supply of hygiene kits. Go to that guard there--" She nods her head at one of the barathu. "--and transfer 1000 credits into my prisoner account so that he, she, it can make the general supply purchase. Sound fair?"
Navasi smiles at the exchange, it reminds her of herself years ago, always looking for easy credits.
I was thinking more along the lines of 500 credits. While your information is valuable, I am sure there are others that will not be so nice is obtaining it. so perhaps you take our offer, and we ensure your safety.
Obozaya looms behind Navasi and peers down at the little ysoki. "I would be glad for 500 credits. That would buy some hygiene kits, and we could say some nice things to the Warden for you. They like us. Or we could keep our money and tell them how uncooperative you've been. Like I said, they like us."
Altronus, although loathe to use such brute tactics against the ratfolk, chimes in and says, "Yes, it would be a shame to make enemies of such imposing figure such as our associate here."
"Oh come on! Can't you see she really needs those supplies! And for #$%#$'s sake, we were authorized a spending account just for this purpose and you are still haggling?"
Livewire shrinks in on herself, her eyes going wide with fear--not fear of physical violence, but fear of her time on Veros being made even more unpleasant that it is at baseline, fear of never getting her fur dry or fluffed or dust free, fear of the barely functional climate control in her cell becoming non-functional.
"Fine! I'll tell you, you nasty piece of work." She sniffles, "You're almost as bad as Borgor. He used threats to get what he wanted just like you. I'll tell you the truth about the moon because I hope, somewhere in your black heart, you'll find the compassion to rescue Bago if he's alive."
The ysoki scrubs furiously behind her ear before speaking again. “People call Salvation’s End a ‘false moon,’ 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.”
“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." She looks askance at Obozaya, "You'd probably get along great there. 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. 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!”
“On our first flyby, we ended up skirmishing with a few goblin junkers. After the battle, we detected a strong signal emitting from underneath the space goblin spire, and even thought our sensors could barely penetrate the tower, the source of the signal was just under the surface of Salvation’s End. There’s something down there, I swear! Now go make the purchases with the guard like you promised!"
As the mercenaries turn to leave, Livewire grabs at Quig's hand. With dark eyes filling with pools of tears, she asks, “No matter what, please let me know what happened to Bago. If the old lunk’s still alive, tell him I miss my ‘Hairless Monkey.’ 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 for my entire term.”
Navasi thanks him for the information, and provides the promised payment, with a small bonus of about 100 credits. your help is most appreciated.
turning to the guards, Lets see if our donations can go to helping this fellow and his environmental needs.
As the mercenaries turn to leave, Livewire grabs at Quig's hand. With dark eyes filling with pools of tears, she asks, “No matter what, please let me know what happened to Bago. If the old lunk’s still alive, tell him I miss my ‘Hairless Monkey.’ 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 for my entire term.”
"I will see what I can do, thank you for your assistance."
The barathu guards escort you back to your ship where the climate control and sterile smell are reliefs to your senses. Once in orbit, First Seeker Luwazi messages your ship.
"So? How did it go?"
You share what you’ve learned with the First Seeker, who congratulates you on a job well done. She then gives you permission to engage the Drift engine in order to head to Salvation’s End.
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 fire 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 a little over a fortnight 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.
Quig straps himself down in the engineering seat and starts pressing buttons on the console
"Shields up captain! Diverting auxiliary power to the guns!"
Quig dives under the console, taking out a screwdriver "Aaargh! Why didn't they properly test this!?! Fixing the auxiliary power outlet!"
Altronus's four arms slide across the controls to one of the gun turrets. As he does so, he says, "The universe always seeks balance, Quig. You may find it to be on your side in the future."
Pilot’s Rolls
gonna take a bit to get the feel of this ship, but nothing I can't handle. Navasi says as she looks for an opening to get with gun range of the intended targets.
besides, these jokers really don't realize who they are dealing with, do they.
Helm Phase
Quig bangs on the console with little effect. Navasi kicks the tactical engines into gear as one of the goblin fighters breaks formation and heads in their direction.
Obozaya and Altronus exchange fire with the goblin fighter directly in front of the Pegasus. Their forward shields diffuse the laser fire from the tiny vessel while they, in contrast, burn through the fighter's forward shields and completely disable the ship. The Pegasus' starboard shields also hold fairly well as the distant goblin fighter fires its forward laser. The remaining goblin vessel swivels a turret at the larger ship and releases an absurd amount of junk and debris--you're not sure how such a tiny vessel could hold all of that junk. The debris strikes your forward shield in dozens of tiny strikes that ultimately drain it of power .
Starship Combat Round 2!
1 down, two to go. Ready all guns I'll get us in position to use them all
Pilot’s Rolls
Navasi heads straight for the junker in front of her and with a sudden flyby attack to position the ship to fire on the other enemy.
Quig climbs back in his sheet, putting the screwdriver away and starts to punch several buttons "Captain, shields status now: front 14, sides 13 and aft 13!"
Evalutaion
Racer-class (Tiny) | 1 Crew | 10 units | Perfect Maneuverability
AC 14 | TL 14 | HP 20 | Shields 5x4 | 80 PCU
Forward Model ??? Light Laser Cannon (10 units) (2d4)
Rear Model ??? Light Laser Cannon (10 units) (2d4)
Turret Model ??? Configuration ??? ERROR
Altronus uses his limbs to control the secondary gun again.
"We won't be taken out by goblins here, before we even land!"
Obozaya hisses with pleasure as the goblin ship explodes and continues blasting away.
Helm Phase
Obozaya fires at the goblin fighter as Navasi maneuvers close in a swift flyby, but he fails to land his shot. The two goblin ships zip around into the Pegasus' forward arc, where they believe the shields to be the weakest.
Altronus fires into one of the tiny fighters. The particle beam burns away the shield and tears into the ship's weapon systems. The returning laser fire strikes your forward shield, but it proves to be stronger than the goblins expected and holds (barely).
Quig repeats the sequence on his console "Captain, shields status now: front 15, sides 13 and aft 13!"
Bzzt! Click Click