[SFS_Aerondor] 01-03 Yeasteryear's Truth (Inactive)

Game Master Aerondor

Venture-Captain Arvin stands before a hologram of a planet that appears to have been ravaged by some disaster; there is very little water and no obvious greenery.

“Greetings, Starfinders,” he says, without turning.

“You are looking at Elytrio, a newly charted planet in the Vast. While you might dismiss it as a lifeless rock at first glance, it still has mysteries to plumb. The starship that discovered it was attacked by some kind of orbital defense system when it got too close; the vessel didn’t have the firepower to respond, so the crew made a prudent retreat. But we Starfinders don’t let these sorts of things go.” He pauses before continuing.

“I’d like you to take a starship, travel to Elytrio, and discover all you can about it. If you find any inhabitants on the planet, do everything in your power to make peaceful contact with them. If the place is deserted, try to locate information about who might have built those defenses. Once you’ve got something interesting, report back to me here at the Lorespire Complex. Any questions?”

Pangea-Zeta bows its head to Venture-Captain Arvin: "Greetings, Captain, good to be of service to you again".
Zeta is an android, a bit over 6 feet tall, who smiles to the other Starfinders present or or arriving, showing that it is rather charismatic for a non-organic.
Wearing light armor under its travel outfit, with an industrial backup strapped on its shoulders, and a coil of cable attached to the pack, Zeta has an auto-pistol and a knife on its belt, as well as several grenades and some serum vials.
A Starfinder Insignia proudly displayed on its chest, Zeta has an aeon stone circling its head.
Bowing its head to the newcomers, it introduces itself: "Greetings fellow mission goers, I am Prototype Android & Nanite Genesis Enterprise Akiton - PANGEA - Zeta model, serial #101218-706, but you may call me Zeta. I am proud to be by your side, and hope not to let you down. I imagine I have been requested to serve in my quality as Xenoseeker, if there indeed are inhabitants, they might be Alien".
Zeta types on its comm' unit and sends everyone a VR file:
---PANGEA---

Silveras briefly glances over the file Zeta sent. Hmm, should've figured The Dealmaker is working with PANGEA.
"Capn', good to see you again. And good to meet you, Zeta," Silveras acknowledges with a nod. Wonder what they expect for us to find if they're sending two Xenoseekers. Eh, I'm sure it's nothing we can't handle.
Silveras doesn't look to be a very well-built Vesk. He's notably short for a Vesk, standing at a comparatively meager 6 foot 1 inch. While most Vesk have a number of facial and head spikes, Silveras is very smooth-faced. Clad in Hidden Soldier Armor, he visibly has a Tactical Dueling Sword sheathed on his left and hanging from his hip, it makes a quiet, but pleasant humming noise (Merciful Weapon Fusion); strapped to his left thigh in a Quick-release Sheathe is a Static Arc Pistol. He currently holds his helmet to his right side, at ease; the rest of his gear stashed away in his Consumer Backpack.

Silveras briefly tilts his head to Zeta and then greets everyone: "Hey. For those who don't know me, my name is Silveras Vazinus; friends call me Silver. I'm not the best in a fight, but I'm fairly confident I might be able to convince people to be nice and friendly with us. I'm sure we're gonna end up being great friends." He finishes off his introduction with a smile and nod to everyone before returning his attention to Venture-Captain Arvin.

"Right, before I forget, Capn'. I have two questions. Do we know anything about the defense system around Elytrio? And is there anything in particular we should keep our eyes peeled for planet-side?" Silveras asks giving a serious expression.

Kimp looks excitedly at the Venture-Captain. "We get to go to a new planet? Tell us more about the defense system... did they use lasers or explosives or what? Man, this will be so much fun! Maybe we'll meet a new alien species and be the first to interact with them!"

"Ah, a new planet!" Hesperrio blurts as the Venture-Captain begins. He looks crestfallen as Arvin describes the attack by the orbital defense system. "I do hope everyone was able to get away without harm."

He looks over to the ysoki. "That would be worth the danger, indeed! I'm Hesperrio, by the way," he holds out his hand to the furred mechanic.

Kimp looks suspiciously at Hesperrio... I don't know where that hand's been! Oh well, I'm out of my room now, guess I'll have to deal with people trying to touch me... before shaking the lashunta's hand. "Kimp. Friends call me "Griefer". Used to be a pro-vidder. Nice to meet you." he mutters quickly, as if he has little practice speaking to people out in the "real galaxy".

A somewhat normal looking Android enters the room carrying her gear and wearing a wayfinders badge.. She takes a seat and listens intently to the venture captain after which she turns to her companions..

"Greetings, you may call me Scarlet."

She promptly becomes quite again..

It is the 6th here, and I think this is enough check-ins to kick off

VC Arvin shakes his head. "We know almost nothing about it, it seemed to house a lot of drones though and they were laser armed. As for whatever is planet side... we know nothing, other than presumably it has, or had at some stage, some high technology."

He pauses, going over a report.

"Initial scans were too brief to get too many details of the planet. The other Starfinders did report trace amounts of radiation in the atmosphere, so there is a distinct possibility the planet’s current appearance is not entirely natural.”

He calls up another report.

"We have both the Drake and the Pegasus available to you, so you can choose which ship you would prefer."

But feel free to ask any more questions you have, you get a choice of starships

Aerondor, could you post us the stats for the two ships? I know they're available in the Guild Guide, but I figure it'd be helpful to have them up here somewhere.

"Firepower vs Maneuverability.. I like to think Firepower wins that fight. I vote for the Drake."

A little voice chimes in. "I vote for the one with the biggest guns!" he exclaims, a little too excited at the idea.

Looking more closely at the creature, you see a lightly armored ysoki with a pistol strapped to his hip. His fur is meticulously cleaned and trim, and he frequently strokes his long whiskers.

Silveras inspects the specs for the two ships. "Hmmm, I'm with Scarlet on this one. Drake seems like the best bet. I like not dying," he says turning back to the group. "Though I hope one of you can fly a ship. I'm pretty useless at the controls."

Zeta bows to the Vesk: "Greetings, Silver, if I may call you that, hoping that we will at least act as friends during this mission"
He then turns to the Lashunta and the Ysoki and bows deep again for both: "Hesperrio, Griefer, well me!".
Facing the fellow android, Zeta smiles: "And Scarlet...", then, upon seeing the second Ysoki that did not introduce itself: "And hello Long Whiskers".

"Whatever ship you wish will do fine. And we will not die Silver, for Triune smiles over us".

Hesperrio listens to the discussion regarding the selection of starship. ”The Pegasus actually has more firepower and more available arcs, I note.”

"Good to know Triune's got our back," Silveras says with a smirk towards Zeta. Crossing his arms in thought, Silveras cocks his head to the side. "Fair point, Hes. Can I call you Hes? But more firepower is only as good as the people behind it. Let alone needing to have someone behind the firepower in the first place." He glances back at the spec sheets thoughtfully pursing his lips. "Not saying Pegasus is a bad idea, but it really boils down to who's doing what. For the safety of everyone, I'm not touching any controls. I'll just try to support where I can."

Klitch rolls onto his back in a fit of giggling laughter. "LONG WHISKERS! MY NAME ISN'T LONG WHISKERS! Though they are rather long, aren't they..." he whispers proudly to himself while fiddling with his whiskers.

He rolls back upright and continues. "My name is Klitch Nibbler! I can do a little bit of everything on a ship." Especially cleaning! I wonder if I can do that!

"Well met, Klitch Nibbler!"

"The Drake! That's just like the Commando Cruiser I used to pilot in Splatterbots! I would be very comfortable flying it, I would think." Kimp votes Drake.

"I contain the proper program files to operate either ship, as well as serve as computer operator or science officer. I will perform duties where I am needed the most."

Silveras grins at Klitch's display of amusement. "Pleased to make your acquaintance, Klitch." He turns his attention to Zeta, Hesperrio, and Klitch. "Any volunteers for manning the guns? Unless we get more than two people on guns, I think we should stick with the Drake."

"I can volunteer for the guns, yes. Just that it is the worst position I can take on a ship. I am quite bad with such weaponry".

"I will be the cleaneeeeer!" he sings merrily as he dances in a little circle. "Firing big guns is GREAT! I'm happy to do that. OOOOHHHHHH OR FLY THE ROCKET!" he yells as his imagination drifts off into thinking about what it would be like to fly a spaceship on this mysterious, new planet.
________
Klitch is happy to have a seat in the ship and will work any job. It looks like Silveras can only be the Captain, and Kimp has requested to be the Pilot. That leaves, the Engineer, Science Officer, and Gunners. Perhaps Scarlet and I could decide on who will be the Engineer/Science Officer, the remaining PC's are the gunners and then if/when Scarlet and/or Klitch feel the need, they could pitch in as extra gunners?

"Yes. Hes is fine," the lashunta replies to Silveras with a smile.

"If there is no more data on the satellite or the planet, we should get settle on our ship and underway," Hesperrio suggests.

"Awesome! I get to pilot a REAL starship!" Kimp is obviously giddy about the idea.

Pangea-Zeta checks out the computer array, and the Engineering and Science Officer posts, making sure it will be able to step in for either.
Then it looks around to see who it will be following orders from as Engineer and S.O., and as simple traveller under the captain.

You head off towards the ship bay, when the team is intercepted by a small drone.

The drone projects a holoscreen with the image of a confused looking ysoki child, whose head is quickly pushed out of the screen by an older ysoki woman. “Fitch from the Wayfinders here. Sorry about Kirkath popping on the screen; kids always like the holoprojectors. Anyways, long and short, I hear you’ve been assigned to explore Elytrio. First contact is important. Need to make a good impression. Wayfinders specialize in this sort of thing, so I wanted to offer some help! The drone has a translation module strapped on its back. It’s not as reliable as some magical solutions you might have, but if you’re in a pinch for communicating, it might help!”

The back of the drone has a Tetrad certified translator which you can use during this scenario.

Silveras lightly chuckles at the young Ysoki as he's swiftly removed. "Thanks. Any help is greatly appreciated." He examines the drone and takes the translator off of it. Silveras turns it over in his hand, inspecting it. This could really do us some good.
"Part of me wants to hold on to this, but does anyone else want to pocket this for the mission?" He asks holding the translator out to the team.

"Feel free to keep it," Hesperrio says.

"You can hold onto it, unless you think it would be more useful to slot it into my datajack." He indicates the small port on the right side of his skull, right behind his ear.

"It is sad that living beings have to raise their young ones and waste so many years" Zeta thinks when seeing the Ysoki toddler, before looking at the Vesk: ""How many parts do you have?".

Damn, not even sure if that's sarcastic or not. Quick wit on this one. Silveras thinks, grinning at Zeta. "Not sure if you were programmed with any idioms, but within context, it just means I'd like to hold on to the translator, but if you or someone else would like to use it instead, then I'm fine with it," he says almost apologetically.

"I doubt any of us will know this Alien language, if it is indeed a First Encounter, so the Wayfarers gave us a nice gift, there".

"That they did, I'd say. We will make good use of it. Let's get going." Kimp says, impatiently.

I still need a decision on Drake vs Pegasus, but that is not critical just yet

The team board their spaceship and once in deep space, enter The Drift.

Several days into it, you are hailed by a ship called the "Clutter Collector"

"Hello! Winks here. How's it going? See anything interesting?" comes across the Ysoki voice.

Zeta glances around, trying to recall if it ever had the names "Clutter Collector" or Winks added to its memory banks, and starts to prepare the scanning array for Kimp: "Want to scan to see what's out there?".

From his seat at the Gunnery Station, Klitch turns on his microphone. "UUUGGGGGHHHHH NOTHING BUT BORING SPAAAACCCCCEEE!" he moans dramatically while spinning lazily in his chair, one arm draped over his head and another extend outwards. "I've cleaned EH-VER-Y-THING three times already and we still aren't there!"
________
Which ship we are on doesn't matter to me tbh

I think we've got at least 3 for Pegasus now with 1 ambivalent.

Hesperrio leans over and cautiously activates the ship-to-ship communications. "Hello? There's always something interesting to see in the Drift--bits of planar material everywhere."

He turns off the communications and looks at the others. "What do you think he wants?"

Let's go Pegasus then. No problems here.

Kimp spends some time getting familiar with the ship's computer system, finding some classic "three-dee" games hidden on its hard drive, and contents himself with some old-school gaming.

While the Engineer is busy playing games on the computer, Zeta thinks that Fitch did say that Yoski younglings always like the holoprojectors, and then it runs a scan on whatever is out there and hailing them, to see if it is this "Clutter Collector" or not?

rolls above: Computer Scan was 24 & Culture Recall Knowl' was 22 (names Clutter Collector or Winks

Silveras stands in the bridge with Hesperrio, arms crossed in thought. "Hey, Klitch, on the bright side, at least we've finally run into something," he says over ship communications. "Clutter Collector doesn't ring a bell and neither does Winks. Though maybe they're just as bored as us. They sound friendly enough, at the least."

The ship appears to be a salvage craft. With a crew of ... one... you suspect that the captain is just a bit lonely and happy to have someone to chat to for an hour or so before you get out of range again.

Assuming you don't launch an unprovoked assault on it...

A couple of weeks later you drop out of the drift and into normal space. Your navigation was spot on and you are only a couple of hours away from Elytrio. As you approach Elytrio, your comms suddenly squawk to life, filled with a crackling robotic voice in an alien language. The tone of the message is strident.

Culture: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (13) + 4 = 17

"Language is not understood, but meaning is calculated. Warning!, Warning!.."

"Silveras, can you get the translator running for us?" Hesperrio asks.

That sounded foreboding. Silveras shudders a bit before reaching into his bag and pulling out the Tetrad certified translator and starting it up. "Sure thing. Let's hope this can shed some light on the situation."
Sense Motive: 1d20 + 1d6 + 5 ⇒ (18) + (4) + 5 = 27
Not sure if the translator does anything for the check.

"What's it saying? That translator is slow. It should be working by now, right?" Kimp says, unhelpfully.

"A VOICE?! A WARNING?!" Klitch leaps out of his seat and grabs the gunnery controls. While keeping both hands on the joystick, he stands on the machinery and gets his little face as close to the display screen as possible. His eyes begin to twitch as he does his best not to blink. If something goes wrong, I gotta be ready to blast something WITH THE BIG GUUUNS!
________

The translator boots up for a moment, and then utters.

"“Unknown vessel: turn back or be destroyed.”" the rest of the message is distorted by static.

Pangea's finger hovers over the Shield controls: Probably of use soon, he thinks.
"I imagine we are not complying?"

Silveras sighs, exasperated, at the message. Had a feeling.
"You imagine right, Zeta. Though maybe there's a way to get out of this without fighting. Everybody be ready to respond if things go south, I've got a bad feeling about this," he says scratching the back of his head. Clearing his throat, Silveras uses the translator to respond: "We are with the Starfinder Society. We come in peace."

Pangea-Zeta mumbles: "Hopefully not in pieces..."