Starfinders are asked to deliver a load of mundane supplies on behalf of the AbadarCorp. You will get paid 4,000 Credits for the delivery. Your friend Cedona, who is an Android retired to the colony. Each of you have him as a friend for different reasons.
You take off in your new ship you all built yourselves
Just then halfway through space, two tiny racer drones manage to board your ship. They look like those round floating droids from Star Wars. As their are no objects nearby to crash into, the Pilot immediately drops the ship down to the slowest speed, so that it will only drift very slowly. Starfinders make their way to the back of the ship and find these things 20 feet from the door as they are in the back of the hallway. 10 foot wide hallway, and of course the room the heroes are in can fit all of them in it
Drones
vs EAC Half Blunt, Half Fire
The 2nd one fires vs EAC Half Blunt, Half Fire
Gaz-i-Gaz is eager to see his friend Cedona, for whom he used to do supply runs as part of the Pact Worlds merchant navy, back in the day; the current 'run' brings back fond memories.
When he sees the alerts about the an impending collision, he frowns.
"Something's not right..."
With the others, he quickly heads to the aft cargo hold, drawing his weapons as he goes.
Sighting along one of his rifles, he takes a shot at the closest drone.
Lilo was looking forward to a chance to work with Cedona again to help understand the "being" they two of them found on that asteroid, at least no she has a name for it Archeldon, and is seems to be able to speak and understand Aklo, but it was a start.
:There are a pair of hostile drones, i suggest evasive action:
Without thinking Lilo ducks behind cover. 'Thanks for the heads up Arkie, give me a target profile for the nearest
Thregin's last mercenary outfit had stopped over on R&R at the colony before. It had been a couple of Golarion years since, and he was looking forward to some of the old android's stories over a couple of pints...
...
The first blast comes nowhere near him, but the second is only avoided by nearly bending over backwards. Threign contorts wildly to bring his reaction cannon back into position and fire.
The daydream of spending more time in a pastry shop with Cedona broken by the sudden invasion of the ship, Oettel pulls his girth out of the captain's chair and heads back with the others, pulling his Arc Pistol as he goes.
The hostile intent of the drones made clear, Oettel decides to try to make things easier for his companions, and feints at the drone which fired first.
Vetch scrambles down the corridor once it's clear there is trouble. He's wearing a shirt under his armored coat that has an elf on it saying "Don't trust anyone over 318 years old."
He’ll try a trick attack at one of the drones.
Ghiv, from his perch in the observation dome where he can watch the Drift pass by, comms Did you see that! Small drones! and when the impact is felt he leaps from the dome to the main deck and runs to the rear.
He watches as Threign is slammed by a bolt of energy. Ghiv reaches out to the universe and summons the power of the stars.
A floating wisp of starfire appears and flies directly at one of the drones.
Heroes rush to the back. Gazi-Gaz and Threign both hit the first one hard causing metal parts to gush out. Then Vetch blasts his static arch pistol at the drone, blowing it up. Oettel fakes out the other one
The surviving drone will fire at Threign again
Despite your best efforts to avoid running into the law and other officials, you kept running into Cedona the Android. You even thought she was a bounty hunter or a police officer at the time, as she always seemed good at finding you. However, she had no interest in capturing you. She just wanted to know why you were charged for your crimes and wanted to know if you really were committing these crimes for the greater good, ie. a Robin Hood or something like that. Cedona seemed to like you, while many others either wanted to turn you in or cast you out, so she became your friend. She once showed up to provide you with a transit pass and fake identification documents when forces of the law were closing in on your home and you feel like you still owe her for that.
Heroes are up again.
Gaz-i-Gaz nods in satisfaction, and points at the remaining drone.
"Get 'im!"
Vetch tries the same routine, bolstered by Gaz's encouragement.
"Where did these bastards come from?! How did they find us in the Drift?"
:Your primary target has become inactive, would you like me to track the secondary?:
"That would be ideal, yes Arkie track the secondary target'
Lilo leans around the corner watching the potential target resolutions he raises his Laser Rifle and fires a shot at the remaining drone.
Threign steadies his aim and fires again.
Threign and Lilo shoot the drone causing several sparks to fly as it is hit. It will fire at Threign this time. The rest of you miss, not even damaging the inside of the ship which is nearly impervious to your weapons, especially the inside and it misses
All heroes are up
Trusting in his shipmates, Oettel makes a show of trying to get to a more advantageous position, working to pull the drone's attention away from them.
Ghiv reaches out and grasps a metal crate....he hurls it at the remaining drone.
The floating orb of energy moves over to assist the allies in attacking.
With a frown, Gaz-i-Gaz takes a shot.
Lilo leans out for another snap shot from his Laser Rifle.
"let's put it to bed," Thregin grates, lining up another shot.
Gaz-i-Gaz and Lilo fire at and defeat the drone Combat over. as it goes into pieces. Heroes discover that back door leading to space is closed but wasn't locked, that is how they got in. The automatic system failed them. So they pull the levers and lock the door manually.
"Well, that was worrying... I can't shake the feeling that something has gone seriously wrong down on the surface..."
Gaz-i-Gaz heads back to the helm, ready to take the ship down to the surface.
Ghiv says These drones. Can someone tell where they are from? What type? Pirates maybe?
The half-elf engineer moves froward to examine the debris.
Lilo finds out that they were pure drones sent to stop you. They are not even operated manually, just automatic and they have no info on you brought back to the enemy, as in no tied in camera system.
Threign pops his helmet to have a closer look at the debris.
"It's probable these were sent because of me. Corporations across the Pact Worlds would like to see me dead. Vetch isn't my real name, you know. He's told you this on more than one occasion. I had to go into hiding, and what better place than with the Starfinders, always moving about the Vast. I'm sorry to put you in danger, and unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any way to tell who sent these. Once this run is done, I'll move on."
As Vetch continues to claim to be so much more important than he really could be, Oettel just covers his face with his left hand as he turns to return to the bridge. "Well, for now we're supposed to be delivering some cargo, yes? Let's see if we can't get back to that while these two take the drones apart."
The Drones are already in pieces, they self-destructed when you destroyed them.
"No harm done Vetch, but you are buying the first round once me make landfall."
"No harm done Vetch, but you are buying the first round once me make landfall."
After several minutes of examining these drones and piecing stuff together, heroes figure these drones where launched from a much larger ship or the planet itself.
One hour later the heroes land on Nakonois. The planet if blanketed with some electric static, so any communications off the planet are impossible, and personal intercoms with each other will only work within a 25 meter radius at best. Just before they land, heroes are able to determine the planet if filled with human life forums. Up ahead is the settlement of Meldona, but they are forced to stop three kilometers short of the settlement just to find a landing spot, and for safety reason. And that there is a large incongruous structure in the middle of the settlement, they can't see it, but the ships computers pick it up. As they touch down, they can tell it is filled with forests and fog, but they find a place, an open field where there is no tree or fog for 25 meters in any direction. As you all exit the ship, you spot no immediate danger within the 25 meter diameter clearing. You know to get to the settlement you got to go east, but visibility is limited when you get to the forests (50 feet) and trees are everyone.
Ghiv says a prayer of thankfulness to Ibra for the safe journey as he exits the starship.
Ghiv is dressed in his simple brown robes which have Ibran symbology stitched into the hems. Underneath he wears thinplate with runic etchings of his Order. His simple weapon, a 3' straight doubled edged sword carries with it the Holy Symbol of Ibra.
Ibra willed that we survived the travels of space. Perhaps in the settlement we might gain knowledge of the drones?
Lilo pulls the battery from the charging station and re-seats it into his rifle, the green indicator showing a good connection. As he moves to the exit ramp he idly checks the charge levels on the backup batteries. he is tall for a half-elf and generally lets his shaggy hair cover his ears, his dark grey carbon skin armor has many traces of a crystalline structure, almost like circuitry covering it.
As he waits for the doors to cycle he sub vocalizes to Arkie, 'adjust the visual spectrum to account for a foggy forest environment.' As the door opens he moves down the ramp and drops to a knee scanning the area for threats.
After double-checking the arrangement of his stuff in his pack and making sure the closures are all sealed, Oettel checks the battery charge on his suit and weapon while he tries to remember what special spices or delicacies can be found on Nakonois. Oh, and idly considering that big building, too.
"Okay, so who's got point? We should get moving."
"Well it certainly isn't me! This planet gives me the creeps."
"Threign and I can move and cover our way forward. With the comms as they are I suggest a 7 meter interval."
He scans for threats and waits for Threign to move into a cover position before leapfrogging him into a cover position.
"Got it. Moving out."
Threign will move out to his best guess of seven meters and scan the fog.
Nobody immediately leads the way immediately, while Vetch is ready to aid, Threign moves forward into the fog and spots a Squirl.
Those who made the Culture check knows the building should have two starship-scale heavy laser cannons mounted on the roof, even though they couldn't see them very well in the fog. The building structure has much in common with rumors of similar structures built by the Azlanti Star Empire. The area is large enough to land a ship, but it may or may not have been safe to land there, as out here they are hidden, out there, they maybe protected by cannons and on a roof, but more exposed out in the open. Heroes are free to get into the ship and re-land the ship if they want.
Everyone else who doesn't leave the immediate area, people like Lilo spot open land, the occasional beetle, and the fact that there is fog and trees beyond the open land and no immediate danger, nor does he hear anyone or anything approaching.
"Everyone remember where we parked."
Ghiv will lead the group towards the nearby settlement.
Ghiv leads the group and makes a wrong turn at the last minute . Eventually they get back on track and come to a clearing. Heroes spot three Azlanti guards and they were warned about these guys. They quickly hide in the bushes. They are definitely patrolling the area pacing back and forth and all over the place. You see two dead goblins near them, but they will shoot you too. And on the lookout. The goblins only have long swords on them, no guns, but still they are on the lookout.
"I don't know about the rest of you, but I would rather avoid them if we can. Want to try, or do you just want to jump 'em?"
"I so not like the idea of leaving enemies behind me, the fog shoud prevent them calling for help. But I am only an engineer, I follow The Captains lead"
He waits keeping an eye on the guards.
Lilo observes their movements. Lilo can tell that one will walk right by that tree, while the other two are facing away for a second. With a proper stealth check and a bladed weapon DC=their Perceptions roll+3, he can slit the throat and pull the body into the woods.
Vetch slides a survival knife into Lilo's palm with a curt nod.