Sensors
Life Support
Ruuk and Pilgrim both land devastating blows on the enemy's hull, while their own turret narrowly misses your forward arc thanks to Buzz's evasive piloting! The drone continues to wreak havoc on your hull, but the enemy ship is in visibly bad shape, its power core still surging with uncontrolled electrical activity.
Drake FS/PS/SS/AS/HP: 0/0/0/4/26. Engines are glitching (-2 pilot actions), power core is malfunctioning (-4 engineer actions except hold it together and patch, -2 all other checks). All turret missiles fired. Vandal rocket drone active.
Power core glitching
For a moment, the enemy ship seems to get their power core under control, and their pilot kicks the thrusters into high gear.
Omen-Seeker tries to open communications, but the only result is deafening feedback.
The enemy ship reverses itself again, getting you in its forward crosshairs. The turret aims long and misses, but the twin laser blasts the Drake directly in its forward arc, sending it reeling.
In a blinding display of starship firepower, Pilgrim and Obozaya cut through the attacker's forward shields and lay into its hull, setting off a chain reaction of explosions that leaves the ship dormant. Its violet surface lights suddenly change to flashing red, and the feedback screaming through your comms unit vanishes as both your ships drift impotently through space. Dr. Monsylkis's voice suddenly cuts back in. "...hear me?! Is everyone alright?! What's going on up there?!"
"I know, we saw the whole thing! We weren't able to break through whatever was causing the comms feedback, but our orbital sensors allowed us to follow the whole thing. We launched some defense satellites as soon as they fired upon you, but they're still en route. Is your ship badly damaged? If so, we should be able to tow you to our landing pad once the satellites arrive. I gotta say, that was some fine dogfighting, Starfinders!"
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Ruuk slams all four fists into the screen, breaking it as it spiderwebs. "F$*&! Fine dogfighting? We were just nearly slaughtered." He slams out of his chair, anger fuming as he heads to the science bay. Leaning back from the doorway he calls out. "Any of you know how to work this?" He points one arm to the computer terminal. "What in the Pact Worlds just kicked our collective asnos?"
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"I'll try, but Pilgrim certainly had a hard time trying to scan for the rough schematics she sent us in battle..." the android begins to speak as he plugs his datajack to get access into the Science Officer tools, as they are a bit of a different beast than Engineer configuration.
"That should do it... Unless our Power Core is still glitching, then instead of a minute, it will take... about 5 days according to my calculations.
On another note, Captain Seeker, should I space walk around the Drake. It sustained some heavy damage, like Ruuk said, albeit, he was far more passionate about it. I fear it may not survive if we need it burn through any sort of atmosphere."
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Returning to her station she punches a few buttons, half scanning the results before regarding the rest of the team. "We sure want to pack and leave? there might still be survivors on that ship and if they treat us like they just did and give us chase, we might have more of a fight on our hand on the surface then we want..." Shrugging after that she grabbed her rifle, checked to make sure all was ready and then waited to see what the rest wanted to do...
Pilgrim begins scanning the derelict ship, registering that the power core is largely offline due to intense damage, but just as data from the life support system starts to roll in the red lamps on the ship's surface suddenly flash with blinding light, and the entire ship detonates, sending a pulse of shrapnel into the silent vacuum of space. Evidently the ship was equipped with a self-destruct system, erasing all evidence of its existence beyond the damage your Drake sustained...
Shortly after that, a squadron of remote-controlled satellites encircle your ship and lock it into a magnetic field, allowing them to crudely but effectively lead you through Icefront's atmosphere. The churning gray clouds eventually give way to a wooded area blanketed with snow. Much of the planet’s surface appears untouched by civilization, save for a small complex of artificial structures: a landing pad, greenhouses, satellite towers, rows of irrigated crop fields, temporary humanoid shelters, external generators, and biodomes outfitted with all manner of measuring devices. A tall scaffold tower sprouts from a walled enclosure far from the other buildings, its length regularly pulsing with blue light.
The satellites guide your ship to the cleared landing pad, and a full team of winterborn rhyphorian technicians rushes toward you with repair supplies. Three figures of disparate height emerge from the bustling team to greet you as you disembark: Dr. Monsylkis, whose lanky frame stands just shy of eight feet tall in person and whose pale skin is laced with cybernetic augmentations visibly designed to insulate heat; a short winterborn ryphorian wearing a suit of armor that appears to be a technological masterpiece in its own right; and a towering dragonkin, whose sharp features naturally form a perpetual scowl.
Dr. Monsylkis claps her hands as she sees you. "Starfinders, welcome to my research station! I'm so glad you landed safe and arrived in one piece after that harrowing fight! Let me introduce you to some of my staff. This is Spinjack, my lead technician and head of facilities, and this is Farvenzi, my head of security." She gestures to the rhyphorian and the dragonkin, respectively. The rhyphorian flashes a quick, closed-lipped smile when he's introduced, but the dragonkin remains stoic and unmoved. "I'm so excited to share some of our work with you! Please, allow me to give you the grand tour while my people repair your starship. While we walk, I very much want to know: who or what would attack you so viciously so far out in space?!"
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"Hmph," Obozaya growls. "Well, at least the landfolk saw the fight, so can tell other people about it, even if we don't have any evidence."
After landing, she looks over the three figures, eyes lighting up at the armor and the dragonkin's weapons. Her jaw drops in her customary toothy grin.
"Who knows," the vesk answers her question. "They didn't want us to find out, apparently. Maybe once the ship's fixed, we can at least get a closer look at the debris."
Still, her attention turns more to Skipjack and Farvenzi, letting others -- presumably 701, he seems like he wants to know everything (or maybe he already knows everything?) -- take the lead with the head of the research station.
"So that armor? Tell me about it, please. Much need of it here? What do you need to keep secure from, other than this cold?"
As usual, she tends to be more direct and blunt than diplomatic, which has been a failing of hers almost her entire life.
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Following the rest after witnessing the distruction of the ship she disembarked the shuttle and stopped for a moment before taking in her surroundings and seeing where and what they had stepped into. Noting the team that was going to accompy them she gave them all a curt nod before giving her rifle one final look before falling in with the group.
"Interested in a tour ofcourse, but also interested in knowing if anything like what we experienced has happened before and if any other ships have been under attack or destroyed..."
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Buzz breathes a sigh of relief when the other ship is disabled, even as the party's vessel is nearly junked.
"That... cut things a lot closer than I would have liked."
When the scientists offer to help out, he is initially suspicious, but, realising that the party really has few options, goes along with it.
However, after meeting the 'welcome party', he relaxes.
"Yes, after that rather harrowing dogfight, a tour would be a nice change of pace!"
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Being unable to verify the Drake's status after being pulled by the satellites, 701 goes along the rest of the crew, certainly there will be a few new things to learn in Icefront.
"After surviving our slight mishap Dr. Monsylkis, I can't tell you how ecstatic I am to see you in the flesh. Spinjack, Farvenzi, I'm delighted to make your acquaintance, sadly I have not learned enough Triaxian or Draconic to hold a decent conversation, perhaps you can teach me a few words if we have time to spare?
"I agree with my teammates, a tour of these marvelous facilities would be a great way to clear our minds of our recent near-implosion experience.
"If I may, please pardon my bluntness but my curiosity has been piqued, while we were bring brought to the landing pads, some structures were easily recognizable, like the greenhouses or shelters, but the tall scaffolding tower, what purpose does it serve?"
Spinjack shrugs to Obozaya. "I tinker around when all the machines are running right. Armors are fun to work on, though not much need for them here." Meanwhile, despite your friendly advances, the dragonkin remains completely silent, largely ignoring your presence.
Dr. Monsylkis beams and leads you to some of the greenhouses. "Fascinating! Well, if the no one in the Pact had encountered ships like that in the past, I guess it's not personal at least. As for us, we're here on behalf of a nonprofit called Winterharvest, which hired me and my team to find genetic solutions to optimizing seasonal agriculture on Triaxus. These greenhouses hold some of our botanical experiments, where we try different approaches to synthesizing some desired phenotypes. We've already had some promising trends in the data: non-toxic alkali that repel insects, frost and winter rot resistances, exciting stuff!" She points to several of the plant habitats, as well as a whiteboard with some desired traits, some of which have been circled or crossed out. She then turns to 701. "Would you like to see the scaffold tower next? It's our climate control device, we use it to help remove uncontrolled environmental variables for climate-sensitive experiments."
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Dragonkin are the strong and silent type, I need to remember this for my next visit to Triaxus.
701 turns to the doctor as well and replies "I would like to take the full tour, but the will of the majority suits me well. I'm guessing you understand, coming from one of the most socially advanced cultures in the Pact Worlds.
"Since you're holding your research so far away from Triaxus, does it share any physical or geological characteristics with Icefront?"
The sort of expenses related to such a large undertaking doesn't add up to a nonprofit's limited budget, no matter the size of the nonprofit. We should take a deeper look into Winterhaven's sourcing.
"While our ship is being repaired, where would we like to head first?" He asks, now turning to the rest of the Starfinder crew.
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Obozaya shrugs at the dragonkin's lack of response.
Should've remembered that, Obo, she reprimands herself. Good soldiers, keep to themselves until they have reason not to.
She shrugs as Dr. Monsylkis suggests the next area.
"I guess that's fine," she says.
... But any defensive installations would be a lot finer.
She stifles a yawn as the tour gets science-y, trying with mostly limited success not to let her eyes glaze over.
"If there's not much need, you must have a lot of time," she says to Skipjack. "That's the way of things, I guess."
Dr. Monsylkis smiles at Ruuk. "Yes, phenotypes: manifestations of specific traits caused by genetic coding. By tinkering with some of these plants' genomes, we can cause them to be rot-resistant, frost-resistant, parasite-repellent, any number of things! That's what Winterharvest is most invested in: they want us to devise some genetic solutions to problems with Triaxian staple crops so that the planet's long, harsh winters are still bountiful. They sent us here to Icefront because of how similar the climates are, helps control some of the variables. Speaking of which, your captain wanted to see the climate device. Follow me!"
She leads you to the most southeastern point on the station campus, a chokepoint between two hilly barriers. Not even the snow can muffle the shrieks of steam valves and the hum of electric generators emanating from the steel scaffold tower, which stretches far up into the misty sky. Regularly spaced blue signal lamps send waves of blue light up the length of the tower, while thick reinforced plastic walls enclose the tower’s base like a makeshift fortress. Three rhyphorian guards stand watch on the walls, but they salute as Dr. Monsylkis waves up to them.
The verthani leads you up to one of the mechanical doors to the site, punching in a code to open the doors and revealing several roaring generators powering the device from its base. She raises her voice to be heard over the generators. "This beauty keeps the climate cold and snowy in a one-hundred-fifty meter radius! The winters here are already long, but with research this sensitive you can't be too careful!"
At this point, Spinjack steps forward. "Doctor, I know how exciting it is to show off our facilities, but these Starfinders are not here for an audit or a science lesson. They came to this planet for a reason, and we shouldn't delay them." He turns to you. "What is it that brought you here? We're more than happy to help you move on to the next leg of your mission, if we can. Might save you a trip back to the center of campus anyway."
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"Doctor don't the generators sound a bit.. tired? Perhaps your research would benefit of assigning a few engineers to look at them, since winter is leaving this part of the hemisphere."
I need to find a way to tell everyone about the chokepoint, but it seems Spinjack wants us gone... How much can we share to each other, with such a close watch.
While Omen and Ruuk explain our presence. Perhaps I can assuage Spinjack's doubts about us.
"Mr. Spinjack, I can see how we are likely to feel somewhat of a security breach, being uninvited guests abusing your unwarranted hospitality. But Dr. Monsylkis is the one in charge of research or am I seriously mistaken?
"You wouldn't be the one to deny the pleasures of civil conversation to a verthani leader such as herself, would you?"
Spinjack's smile vanishes as 701 challenges his assertion. "I don't handle security, friend. I'm just trying to save you all some trouble. Unless you're really all this way out here in the Vast to, I don't know, poach Winterharvest intellectual property, or—"
Dr. Monsylkis interjects. "Nonsense, Spinjack. The Starfinder Society has no stake in our research, these are just a handful of curious minds. Yes, the device is working harder than usual, probably because this part of the hemisphere is coming up on springtime. I trust Spinjack to keep her running, though, at least until the first wave of experiments is done."
"We don't know of any spacefaring peoples who settled this planet before we got here, but I'm betting the locals might. They call themselves 'izalguuns.' I'd be careful about broaching the topic of starship technology with them too quickly, though. They're a peaceful people, but very primitive, bows and spears and the like. If your lead is accurate, I wouldn't be surprised if the visiting life forms you're tracking were worshipped like gods in their culture." Spinjack sneers a little at the verthani's mention of the locals.
Dr. Monsylkis smiles. "In any case, you are my guests, and I'm happy to show you around the station further if you'd like. That said, I also understand that you have a pressing mission to attend to, and if you'd rather be on your way I can point you toward the nearest izalguun camp. It's just a couple hours' walk southeast of here through the forest, easy to find if you keep to the trails. I'd offer you a ride, but your starship will need some time in our shop before she's fit to fly again, and I'm afraid we don't have any exploratory vehicles for you to use."
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Obozaya grins.
"Worshiped like gods? Now we're talking," she says happily.
Even so, she worries about Spinjack's sudden seeming hostility. It's probably nothing -- just a little bitterness at being misidentified as someone clearly important enough to handle security instead of whatever he actually does -- but a smart vesk is always better safe than sorry.
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'Poach WinterHarvest intellectual property' he said, why would a nonprofit be so adamant in defending their IP?
With no time to spare, 701 can't keep those thoughts for long, he turns to the ryphorian once again. "My apologies Spinjack, I didn't mean to imply you were in charge of security, only to admit we are no more than unexpected tourists in your domain.
"I can only speak for myself, but my intention was only to accept Dr. Monsylkis tour of the facilities, not to poach any sort of IP, but to admire how you've come to adapt in such an extreme environment. If weather is similar to that of Triaxus, you've overcome every challenge so far, and I applaud your team's tenacity. With you in charge of engineering, Farvenzi as head of security and Dr. Monsylkis overseeing science and research? What a formidable team you all make!"
On the other hand 701 needs to acknowledge his own team's mission, knowing about Frozen Trove's involvement in Icefront via hearsay, he can't fully believe Yrkis words yet.
Spinjack does not seem to notice 701 or Ruuk staring at him, but they can't seem to get a glimpse of his equipment nor get a read on his motives.