Krizen looks up. Aye aye, Captain. His fingers fly across the console in front of him. Come on Lexie, help me out here...
Captain, I've forwarded the results of the scan to your console.
Krizen’s scan shows the presence of two lifesigns on the lower part of the ship. There is no atmosphere within the ship. However, something seems to be interfering with the scan. With his knowledge of computers, Krizen realizes that ships’s scanners are almost avoiding the helm of the ship, coming up with a blank in perfectly spherical ten foot radius.
"Excellent work. This one is relieved it does not have to save organics from the misfortune of a hull rupture and vacuum."
The SRO eyes the repeater extended from its chair and focuses on the data there. "Sporadic illumination indicates the vessel still has power despite the vessel's putative origins and advanced vintage. Large fe..." It starts to say something, then cuts off the sentence and starts over, "Krizen, can you detect anything useful on sensors? Life forms? Atmosphere? Radiation leaks? Please also scan the vicinity; we don't want claim jumpers waiting for us to do the hard work."
Bravo breathes a sigh of relief as they get through.
"Good work indeed, Cap. Though please, call me 'Bravo.'"
He peeks over S.E.T.'s shoulder at Krizen's scan.
"Helpful information. Though I really DON'T like the look of that blind spot there at the helm. Seems like we're going to have to deal with that at some point during our exploration. I recommend locating those two lifeforms we've detected and determine if they're friend or foe first, then checking to make sure things are secure before investigating the helm. What do you say, Cap?"
Krizen nods at Bravo’s words. That was the best I could get out of these sensors - that blind spot is definitely shielded somehow. Anything with that level of shielding is probably deliberate, so let’s be careful.
Krizen unholsters his pistol, checks that it is fully loaded, then loosely settles it back in place - unsecured and ready. He flips on the “hood” of his second skin armor.
I'm ready when everyone else is. Let us go explore what no one else has seen! Well, no one except the original crew, whoever is aboard now, whoever first spotted it, whoever built it... eh whatever. We’ll be the first that matter to me!
”Captain, I’ll circle the ship and find an air-lock,” Quitch says. He positions the Pipe Dream to align with the derelict’s three axes and velocity, then fires their thrusters to rotate around the ship.
”Speaking of the life forms, what languages do we speak? Obviously I speak Common and Ysoki, plus Ejirian.”
”Derelict vessel, heavily damaged, no atmosphere, two life signs in vacuum... and no other craft in sight.” The SRO utters these phrases aloud though they are directed towards no one in particular. It processes the data for a moment, then stands up and quickly checks its functional sidearm, racking a round into the chamber, before holstering it again.
”See if you can find an airlock. If not, we may have to jump across to the boarding ramp. Be cautious. Something about this does not compute. As for languages, this one was designed for something more useful than etiquette and protocol. This one speaks only common and ysoki and is content with those limitations.”
It eyes the derelict again, then says, ”Those are either survivors, claim jumpers, or something else entirely. The first is unlikely due to the vessel’s age, unless they are some form of inorganic. The second is complicated, but also unlikely given the absence of another vessel in the proximity. The third is...disconcerting. We should avoid starting a fight if we can, but be ready for one.”
There is an airlock on the top deck, but it seems damaged to the point of inoperability, it's heavy door crumpled inward and strange melted sections fusing it shut.
... The ancient ship is heavily damaged, with long gashes in the hull, shattered windows, and flickering interior lights. A lone boarding ramp extends from the front, leading into darkness.
After they assess the available data, Set says, "This one believes we are left with a space walk to the boarding ramp. Did anyone think to bring some cable? This one is willing to go first, though it would prefer to not be set adrift due to a miscalculated jump. That would be... boring."
Krizen pulls his backpack around and rummages through for a moment. I know it's around here somewhere... ah! Here we are. It's not much, but 20' is more than 0'!
”Derelict vessel, heavily damaged, no atmosphere, two life signs in vacuum... and no other craft in sight.” The SRO utters these phrases aloud though they are directed towards no one in particular. It processes the data for a moment, then stands up and quickly checks its functional sidearm, racking a round into the chamber, before holstering it again.
”See if you can find an airlock. If not, we may have to jump across to the boarding ramp. Be cautious. Something about this does not compute. As for languages, this one was designed for something more useful than etiquette and protocol. This one speaks only common and ysoki and is content with those limitations.”
Bravo shrugs.
"Nothing wrong with etiquette or protocol," he comments. "I speak Vesk, and I know Krizen most likely speaks Azlanti, so we should be fine on the off-chance we encounter foreign nationals."
It eyes the derelict again, then says, ”Those are either survivors, claim jumpers, or something else entirely. The first is unlikely due to the vessel’s age, unless they are some form of inorganic. The second is complicated, but also unlikely given the absence of another vessel in the proximity. The third is...disconcerting. We should avoid starting a fight if we can, but be ready for one.”
"Good assessment, Cap. My thoughts exactly. I think you sold yourself short when we got aboard. Your leadership skills seem pretty damn good."
He smiles a bit, then dons his helmet, the vocoder grill adding a small digital twang to his voice.
"I'll take point."
"Nothing wrong with etiquette or protocol," he comments.
The SRO gazes at the human with a sensor glowing a dull brown. "Sometime this one shall tell you about the etiquette and protocol SRO Captain Lucky liberated from an Abadaran trade vessel. 'I am fluent in over six million forms of communication,' it reminded us ceaselessly. Prissy thing. Pira... Um, deep space entrepreneurs have little use for protocol. The crew grew tired of its injunctions on etiquette so Lucky sold it to a Vesk businessman."
It pauses, then adds, "This one thinks that SRO may have been cursed. The buyer promptly demanded a refund... This one can find no records of what happened to it after that." It muses on this for a moment, then walks off to collect its backpack. As it does so, something subtle shifts about its form. All the pieces of loose weaponry and scraps of armor seem to adhere to the SRO's carapace and their colors become somehow muted. It's not a proper stealth effect or cloaking field, but suddenly it seems as if the S.E.T. might actually be able to infiltrate hostile territory without glowing like a neon sign.
Krizen looks up at the mention of 6 million forms of communication. Oh! Right. Got distracted while I was looking for that line... As Bravo says, I am fluent in Azlanti. I also speak Vesk, Gosclaw, Ysoki, and Common, so I share some languages with everyone. I've been trying to learn some other languages in my free time, but I'm nowhere near fluent yet.
Though it isn't visible with his helmet on, Bravo raises an eyebrow at S.E.T.'s description of the goldenrod neurotic.
"I'm surprised you'd treat another SRO that way. Aren't you all supposed to kinda be like family?"
He readies his gun and begins preparing to board the derelict vessel.
”Twenty feet,” Quitch mutters to himself focused and pleased. He maneuvers the ship closer to the derelict; rotating so their airlock is near the other ship’s extended ramp. ”Lexie? Can you maintain the Pipe Dreams’s position relative to the derelict? I need to get ready to board.”
The ysoki gets up from the chair and double checks his pistol and the power level of his personal comm. From the storage locker, he retrieves his baton.
”Krizen, do you have a magnetic end to secure your line?”
The S.E.T assembled with the others by the airlock as Quitch and Lexie get their ship into position. It gazed at Bravo flatly then replied, ”Ah. Just because this one is of a particular class, it must have familial attraction to all others of the same class. Do you treat all humans as family? Trust this one, if you do, you are unique.”
It was clearly rhetorical and, after asking, the SRO switched to its integrated comm unit. ”Come down once the ship is in position and we will cycle the airlock. Everyone have their backpacks for the collection of ancient booty? One never knows when an ancient self-destruct cycle may be mysteriously triggered.”
Krizen looks over at Quitch. ... a magnetic end? That would certainly be useful... Unfortunately, I do not. Krizen's ear flicks back and forwards again as he mutters to himself: But you can bet I will as soon as we stop by a station... and more than 20' of line too! He nods at Bravo, ready to follow the ex-military soldier into the unknown, backpack settled securely on his back and his pistol at the ready.
The S.E.T assembled with the others by the airlock as Quitch and Lexie get their ship into position. It gazed at Bravo flatly then replied, ”Ah. Just because this one is of a particular class, it must have familial attraction to all others of the same class. Do you treat all humans as family? Trust this one, if you do, you are unique.”
It was clearly rhetorical and, after asking, the SRO switched to its integrated comm unit. ”Come down once the ship is in position and we will cycle the airlock. Everyone have their backpacks for the collection of ancient booty? One never knows when an ancient self-destruct cycle may be mysteriously triggered.”
"You know, maybe I should. I mean, we're all part of one big Pact Worlds family, right?"
He prepares to make the leap over to the ship.
Quitch starts searching through the storage compartments, hoping to find extra bags, cables, or propellant canisters.
”Lexie, does the ship have an inflatable or semi-rigid structure that is used to connect ships together when one of the ship’s is damaged? Something that will lock onto the hull, and allow us to cut our way inside. Or if not, how close can we get to the other ship? I positioned us just under twenty feet away, but could we get five feet away?”
Set stares at the human for a moment — shocked — before muttering, ”For a soldier, you are astonishingly naive. Did you spend your entire career in a film studio? Or did you ever use that gun in your hands? Let me tell you about the SRO working with some cultists that we came across once. We found recordings in which it was peeling flesh from victims. And I won’t even start on what the humans did.”
With that, it hits the button to cycle the airlock and open the hatch to space. ”Let’s go meet our family.”
Bravo shrugs.
"Most of my tour of duty was routine patrol work. The wars my mom fought in are over. So yeah, maybe I am a little naive when it comes to people. But combat and survival? I'm good at those, and that's why you want me on this mission. If you don't trust someone, then I trust your judgment, Cap."
He makes his way to the airlock.
"I'll take point."
The SRO has learned two things on human behavior in its previous career as a “deep space entrepreneur.” Loud voices and threats could intimidate, and the lack of organic features made it relatively easy to lie. What it still had trouble with (among other things) was reading subtext in others and discerning when organics were lying to it. And so it stared at Bravo for a moment, attempting to calculate the odds that it was being mocked or deceived, failing, and eventually accepted the human’s words at face value once again.
”You should not trust this one’s judgment so readily. Maybe this one was the flesh-peeling SRO it mentioned.” It pauses, then adds hastily, ”This one wasn’t. But...” It looks about awkwardly for a moment, then just falls silent and watches Bravo move out into space.
The party is able to easily make their way into the ship, walking up the narrow boarding ramp into what appears to have once been a cargo hold. Two arthropoid creatures can be seen inside, most likely the two lifesigns that the scan found. They seem, at least to the untrained eye, to be chewing on the walls, mandibles dripping with some sort of acid leaving the metal badly damaged. As the party walks in however, their eye stalks turn toward them and they begin rapidly and aggressively clacking their mandibles together.
[dice=S init:
Krizen has his pistol at the ready, and his eyes narrow when he sees the acid's effect on the metal. He normally is not one to shoot first and ask questions later, but the combination of acidic saliva, chewing on walls, acidic saliva, a lack of visible equipment, and acidic saliva have all led him to the conclusion that in this case, acting first is the better part of not melting. I don't like the looks of that! I'm allergic to metal-eating acid!
Krizen takes aim for the arthropoid on the right, as it seems to be the nearest threat.
His left hand signs a Common greeting, along the lines of Not looking for trouble... but the motion of their mandibles, dripping with saliva is an unfamiliar sight for Quitch. He surprises himself by beginning to cast Daze without hesitation. Perhaps a small part of my subconscious foresaw this event, without atmosphere, where my pistol won’t work, he muses.
The creature shot by Krizen staggers backward and rapidly clicks its mandibles, large eyes rapidly blinking. It wrenches itself backward before spitting a glob of acid at Krizen! The other one is unaffected by Quitch's spell, it's verminous brain too simple to be dazed. It scuttles forward toward S.E.T, mandibles dripping with acid. It manages to bite at them, savoring the taste of refined metal and complex circuitry.
S.E.T. almost seems to growl as the acid-spewing arthropod lunges at it, "Uff. Nature." Then grabs its survival knife and stabs the bug.
You can trick or startle a foe and then attack when she drops her guard. As a full action, you can move up to your speed. Whether or not you moved, you can then make an attack with a melee weapon with the operative special property or with any small arm. Just before making your attack, attempt a Bluff, Intimidate, or Stealth check (or a check associated with your specialization; see page 94) with a DC equal to 20 + your target’s CR.
"Lifeforms confirmed to be hostile," Bravo comments. He moves forward, to get out of melee range and opens fire on the critter.
Seeing that his spell has no effect upon the creature, he takes out his pistol and aims at the one that spit acid at Krizen. A single squeeze of the trigger can have such large results.
Krizen looks at the acid on his armor and feels the burn through the protection. Eugh. Yuck! He sights down his pistol and full attacks the creature he had already shot.
As quickly as the battle began, it is over. Krizen and Quitch take down the bug on the right, their self-oxidising bullets ripping through the vacuum into the beastie. S.E.T. manages to sink his knife into a fleshy bit of the mollusc before Bravo shoots the beast, shattering a large part of its exoskeleton. With the creatures dead, the cargo hold is mostly empty. However, Krizen, Quitch and Brave all spot something huddled in a dark corner, barely standing out from the surroundings.
Set withdraws its knife from the now dead bug and wipes the bug bits from the blade. ”The universe is capable of making such varied Organics. This one wonders what it ‘breathed’ to exist in vacuum.” Yet, despite the many skills in its memory, medicine and life sciences were not among them...and Set didn’t really care. It sheathed the blade, kept a pistol in hand, and looked about for threats. Finding none (nor seeing anything of note), it moved into the room just to get off the boarding ramp.
Krizen speaks up. S.E.T., wait a moment... there's someone - or something - over there! Krizen approaches with his gun drawn, but makes a reasonable assumption of non-hostility and does not have it aimed. Does anyone have a light? As Krizen approaches, he is remembering where in his pack the Medpatch is in case he needs to access it quickly.
"Only got a lighter. Not really helpful in a vacuum," Bravo replies. He slowly begins approaching the shape.
"Hello?" he calls out. Then he repeats in Vesk, just in case.
"Привет?"
The shape gives no response, and as Bravo approaches the shape he finds the reason. It is a human skeleton, curled in a fetal position. It wears tattered clothing and what looks like a sort of breastplate made from many hexagonal metal panels.
"One human. Dead," Bravo says. "Only question is how recently."
He slowly begins approaching the skeleton, half expecting it to jump up as an undead.
Set pauses when Krizen warns of the potential threat, lifting his side arm, the activates his flashlight unit when the others express an inability to see in darkness. ”Thank you. It appears that one may be deceased...perhaps an original occupant of the vessel.”
Krizen holsters his pistol and pulls his datapad out and begins to record data, after a quick sweep of his head around the ship to confirm no further hostiles. I'm sure the Society will want a record if this poor soul was in fact the original crew.
Quitch holsters his pistol. ”Could it have been undead as well?” He casts Detect Magic on the apparent corpse. The ysoki moves closer to the skeleton and examines the clothing, looking for bloodstains or other indications that it died and wasn’t reanimated.
He pauses during his examination and points to the dead creatures. ”How did those two get on board anyway? We didn’t see another ship.”
The SRO joins the inspection of the body, wondering if it can discern anything about the composition of the armor. As it examines the material, it muses, ”This is the Diaspora. Those things could have jumped off a passing asteroid or who knows what. If the vessel was in the Drift, then the potential sources of the contamination grows exponentially.”
Bravo doesn't say anything, but keeps alert while the others take a closer look at the skeleton.
The skeleton is quite dead. While unable to identify what exactly the armor is made of, S.E.T. realizes two things about the armor. First, it is unlike any from the Pact Worlds and second, there is a small rectangular panel on the chest that can be pressed to expand it to cover most of the wearer's body.
”That’s impressive,” Quitch says at the expansion of the armor. ”I didn’t detect anything magical.”
He looks at the cargo hold’s door searching for a mechanical release.
There is a set of sliding double doors near the back of the cargo hold. There is also what looks like a control panel, with two buttons that indicate open or closed.
”Here are the controls for the door. Is everyone ready to proceed?” Quitch turns his head to look back at the others.
Krizen looks slightly uncomfortable, one ear flicking back and forth. We ought to take that armor with us... no disrespect to the dead, but the Society will definitely want to know more. He takes a step forward, willing to do it himself since it was his suggestion.
”This one agrees. The deceased organic is unlikely to have further need of the armor. And, if the Society has no use for it, we could sell it at a nice profit to a collector.”
To Quitch, the SRO nods. ”Once the antiquity is collected, this one is ready. A suggestion: prepare for combat but if none is forthcoming, allow this one to advance ahead. Infiltration is one of this one’s primary functions.”
Krizen looks slightly uncomfortable, one ear flicking back and forth. We ought to take that armor with us... no disrespect to the dead, but the Society will definitely want to know more. He takes a step forward, willing to do it himself since it was his suggestion.
Bravo nods.
"Smart. Maybe the Society can reverse-engineer its tech or something. Make more of them."
Then he looks at S.E.T.
"You wanna run a self-diagnostic, Cap? That bug kinda did a number on you."