The android sighs, enjoying the sensation in his throat despite the staleness of the recycled air.
Alright, time to see what I can do for my crewmate.
Verne presses the intercom on the door to Nat's quarters. He hears a gravelly "Come," and the door slides open with a small squeak.
We'll have to get JD to take a look at that, Verne remarks to himself.
"A...Asenath?" Verne calls out as he moves to her bedside. The covers are lit from within with a faint, but perceptibly, glow.
"I did it..." he says. "I managed to cure myself with one of the gemstones. I don't know what your thoughts are on magic, but we're running out of options. I'm going to try to use the other gemstone to cure you."
Yaraesa, I hope I can do you proud.
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On the morning of the sixth Drift Day, Verne awakes with a return of his sore throat. He awaits the arrival of Lih Soloroh within his chambers, not wanting to display the return of his illness (now that the spell-gem effect has worn off) to the rest of the crew. Lih's solemn face when he enters the android's chambers says all that he needs to know about the strixian pilot.
On his off time, Jarix spends some time in Nat's quarters visiting with her. He asks her questions about cooking and piloting and cleans her room. He tries to keep her spirits up.
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On the morning of the seventh day, Lih heads off to make his rounds, stopping at the room of his strixian crewmate first. The smell of burnt feathers and hair assails Lih's senses as he opens the door. It takes little time for the makeshift medic to discern that Nat has declined further in the night. The former pilot struggles to open her eyes as Lih listens to her rattling breathing gingerly, her skin almost too-warm to touch.
"How are you today, Doc?" Nat smiles weakly.
After leaving Nat's room, Lih shakes his head slowly and sighs. He then straightens his shoulders (and his demeanour) and enters the android's quarters to find a similarly depressing scene. Verne frowns in acknowledgment at Lih's concern.
"Yes; I am aware," Verne says shortly.
**********************************************************************
Up on the bridge, oblivious to the action in the crew quarters, Mallura, Jarix, JD, and Sh-Ux the 4th study the panel readouts as a timer counts down the few minutes remaining within the Drift. Suddenly, the ship-board AI voice comes alive.
"Unidentified hailing frequency detected. Broadcasting now."
A static-filled and garbled message fills the speakers on the bridge, obviously distorted by the remnants of Drift energies as the Brilliance passes between planar spheres. None of the crew mates on the bridge grok an iota of the recording. The message repeats itself a few moments later, though, the distortions less obfuscating.
As the message ends a second time, alarms flash as the AI announces:
"Location coordinates in range; disengaging Drift engine. Hostile crafts moving to intercept at speed."
Jarix tries to make out the message. "Hey, JD, you think you can clear up that message some? I'd do it myself, but I have to focus here." He listens some more. "Did he say under siege? Wounded? Captured?" Jarix does not believe he's hearing the garbled message right until the alarm klaxon sounds. His military training kicks in. "I hope you paid homage to Damoritosh today. We're going to need him on our side."
"That's what I heard. Raising shields."
He attempts to clean up the message, furiously pressing buttons at his station.
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As the Brilliance exits the Drift, the bridge crew spies a pair of very small emerald green craft swooping in attack vectors towards the ship, all on the background of a dark green-gray planet.
Jarix guns the engines out of the gate to accelerate the Brilliance into attack speed, outpacing the tiny ships!
CAPTAIN
ENGINEER
PILOT
SCIENCE OFFICER (+2 to scans)
GUNNERS
JD brings his fist down onto his station in frustration "Jammed!"
Without any of the ship's science officers on the bridge, JD swipes his readout over to the science officer's interface and attempts to scan the incoming vessels.
"Those look like Azlanti Empire ships. This is going from bad to worse. What are your orders, Captain? Fight or flight?"
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JD's scan of the ships brings up a great deal of useful information.
Tiny racer drone
Speed 12; Maneuverability perfect (turn 0)
AC 15; TL 15
HP 20 each; DT —; CT 4
Shields none
Attack (Forward) light laser cannon (2d4)
Power Core Micron Light (50 PCU); Drift Engine none; Systems autodestruct system
Expansion Bays: none
CREW: None
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Automated (Ex) An Azlanti orbital drone has no crew, though it has an on-board computer that can perform most crew actions. The on-board computer can perform pilot and gunnery actions as if it has a crew of two.
Auto-destruct (Ex) The auto-destruct system triggers when an orbital drone reaches 0 Hull Points.
Jarix calls out to the ship's captain, awaiting direction as the drones move into flanking positions!
STILL TO ACT
CAPTAIN
ENGINEER
PILOT
SCIENCE OFFICER (+2 to scans)
GUNNERS
"You're right Jarix. Azlanti orbital drones. Unmanned fast attack craft. Keep your distance, they are disposable and self destruct when they take to much damage. I'm sending the data to your stations"
Jarix takes evasive maneuvers and tries to stay at least 5 hexes away from them.
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Jarix takes the helm and pushes the ship into evasive manoeuvres. One of the drones intercepts Jarix's escape trajectory, scattering the vacuum in front of the Brilliance with green laser fire. Jarix takes the ship well out of the targeting range of the other spacecraft.
STILL TO ACT
CAPTAIN
ENGINEER
PILOT
SCIENCE OFFICER (+2 to scans)
GUNNERS
The captain quickly taps the interface on her captain's seat, pulling up the weapons array. "I don't think they're going to give us an option, Jarix! We fight!" With a fluid swipe on the interface, Mallura targets the nearest ship with the light laser cannon.
With her opening volley away, Mallura brings up the shipboard comms channel and activates the All Hands alert on the system. The ship's comms react immediately, blaring out the warning throughout the ship.
"Red alert! All hands on deck! Red alert! All hands on deck."
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Errant laser shots scatter past the view screen as one of the drones strafes the starship, but no impact is felt.
The captain takes a careful shot with the turret missile launcher at the closest drone, but her first go at handling the complex rotational targeting scope sends a missile into the void on a lonely trajectory.
Mayhem races onto the bridge, his eyes alight with excitement at the firefight.
"I'll take over the turret gun!" the astrazoan says with ferocity.
CAPTAIN
ENGINEER
PILOT
SCIENCE OFFICER (+2 to scans)
GUNNERS
Mallura dismisses the weapon control screen as Mayhem reaches the bridge. "Yes, please do, Mayhem. And once he arrives on the bridge, we'll have Lih take over the forward guns. In the meantime," the captain pauses momentarily as she pulls up a holo-display of the nearby quadrant of space so she can have a better idea of the Brilliance's positioning relative to the Azlanti drones, then directs her attention to her pilot. "Jarix, I want all of our guns available to fire by the time the full crew has arrived on the bridge, so let's get one of these drones in our forward arc."
JD returns to the engineering readout and diverts power to the engines.
"Sending you extra power, Jarix"
"I'll not let drones out fly me." Jarix tries a maneuver like the drone performed against them.
"I need some information on those things. Can someone scan them or take the helm so I can do it?"
Lih enters the bridge and takes the station for the forward laser. When Jarix moves the ship and gets a drone in the forward arc he fires.
"Oops, wrong button! Is now a bad time to say I've never done this before?"
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"On it," Verne's unsteady voice sounds out from his previously unoccupied station. The faintly glowing android eases himself into his seat and slides his hands up into the controls.
"Azlanti Empire ships," Verne croaks in realization.
Why in the name of the Pact worlds are they attacking us?
"Scanning the drones."
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The android slumps into their station on the bridge, successfully targeting a system on the nearest drone as Jarix takes them into a flyby of that ship. Lih miscalculates attack vectors at the forward arc laser, but Mayhem punches in his with confidence, sending a missile from the turret careening directly into the far drone. The emerald-green explosion as the drone obliterates into space dust evaporates quickly.
"Wooo!" Mayhem exclaims at his successful attack. "Bring me round, Captain! I'll knock the other one out of the sky!"
Jarix accelerates his attack approach with skill. The Brilliance again moves faster than the remaining drone which begins using evasive manoeuvres to even the playing field.
CAPTAIN
ENGINEER
PILOT (+2 to checks)
SCIENCE OFFICER
GUNNER #1
GUNNER #2
"Jarix, you heard the man--er, sorry Mayhem--astrazoan! Bring us around and let's blow that second drone out of the sky!"
[ooc]Just made it! +2 to Jarix's Pilot maneuver checks.
Lih tries again with the forward laser, but isn't confident with his skills at the station yet.
"Nice shooting Mayhem! Still sending you that extra power, Jarix."
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As Lih again tries to get a handle on the forward laser gun, Mayhem hoots and whistles as he punches in the attack vectors for a second missile strike. The astrazoan's luck continues as his rocket zeroes in on the remaining drone, exploding an obviously-essential steering module. The crew watches as the drone spins out of control into space before exploding in a second cloud of emerald-green dust.
In the wake of the successful firefight, the crew feels a curious renewal of their collective energies, a confirmation of their growing abilities.
Mallura heaves a sigh of relief as Mayhem's missile slams into and destroys the remaining drone. "Another excellent shot, Mayhem," she says sincerely, "Now who wants to venture a guess as to why we heard a distress signal as we exited the Drift--probably from the colonists on Nakondis, though we don't have absolute proof of that yet--and then were immediately engaged by a pair of Azlanti fighter drones?" The captain leaves a beat of silence for the truth of the matter to sink in, then returns to business. "Alright, Verne, that was enough excitement for you for the moment. Back to your quarters to rest, please. Everyone else, stay on your stations, we're moving planetside now. Take us in as soon as you can, Jarix."
"Captain, we should try to make contact with the colony before rushing in, maybe see what any scans can tells us too."
Jarix tries to do both while piloting the craft. "Uhhh, Maybe you should have someone else try while I just pilot."
"That's a good point, Jarix, but I don't want to delay too long here. Let's begin an approach, but we'll take it a bit slower so we can get those scans going. JD, if you would be so kind?"
"Roger, Captain. I'll see if I can figure out where that distress call came from"
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Both Jarix and JD's efforts at scanning the planet are rebuffed by a blanket of modulated static designed to interfere with communications. A suppression signal - a 200 square mile suppression signal - seems to be present across the planet, and specifically across the coordinates where your automatic navigation controls are telling you to land.
Static blasts through the ship's PA as Jarix and then JD attempt to make contact with the planet. The ship sensors pick up the basic layout of the buildings at Madelon's Landing, the settlement on Nakonidis where you are to land. The scan also picks up around 100 humanoid life forms, mostly human. A large, incongruous structure squats in the middle of the settlement.
"Those are guns down there, Captain. We can't get close. Should we leave and report this to the Stewards?"
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The ship scans indicate a a clearing just large enough for the Brilliance to touch down a few miles east of Madelon’s Landing. Any communications sent from this far out in the Vast would take around two weeks to reach any Steward ears.
At Jarix's words, Mayhem looks up from his gunner station and blurts out: "We can't leave; we've got a mission from AbadarCorp that we have to complete." The astrazoan looks pointedly at the captain, his expression one of concern.
Jarix looks between them. "There's everything working against us here, Captain. We're not an army. We're barely a squad with our own sick to worry about. We don't know if there's anyone down there to save. We don't know how many of the enemy there are or even anything about them anyway. Even if those drones didn't send out a signal, someone might have been monitoring them, so we could even be bereft of the element of surprise. The smart thing to do would be to go get help." He looks at the Mal expectantly.
JD shifts uncomfortably in his seat. When he speaks his voice is grim.
"This far out, no one else is coming."
Mal sits quiety with her fingers steepled, staring at the readouts projected on screen. After hearing out her crew's suggestions, she pushes down on the arms of her seat to stand and address the bridge. "I understand your concern, Jarix, but Mayhem and JD are right. First and foremost, we have a job to do, and as your captain, it's my duty to make sure it gets done. But beyond that, there's no time to wait for reinforcements. We have to help in whatever way we can."
The captain's eyes scan across the map readout once again, and she finds the clearing. "Look, we can land here and make our approach from the east. If we play it right, we won't die before we land and may even be able to figure out what's going on. You know, beyond the obvious fact that the colony's under attack."
"JD, before we head down, let's send a signal back to Absalom Station so AbadarCorp is aware of the situation and can get things moving to send reinforcements. It's up to us to do what we can in the meantime."
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After sending out a short message into the void of space, the Brilliance banks on its original descent trajectories and enters a new path towards the surface of the planet Nakondis. The green-gray colour of the planet swiftly reveals itself to be densely green as the ship flies under the blanket of mist enshrouding the surface of Nakondis, triggering a brief electrical surge and a hiccup from Sh-Ux.
Indeed, a small and flat landing space visualises amongst the trees, and the Brilliance touches down with little difficulty. The ship's scanners indicate that Madelon's Landing sits approximately one hour to the east by foot.
Mayhem looks around at the others on the bridge for a moment, then gets up. "Time for a walk in the woods, right? What do we do about the strix?"
In a moment of realization, Mallura's gaze shifts to her various crew members and eventually lands on Jarix. Her antennae twitch slightly as she sends him a quick telepathic message.
---
After the [i]Brilliance sets down in the clearing, Mal pulls out her new laser pistol and checks the action on the trigger as she replies to Mayhem's question. "We may have to stay here for a night to give Nat and Verne a chance to get themselves together a bit more. A few of us should go scout things out, though. Jarix, JD, Shux, and I will go try to get a read on what's happening. We won't engage, but we can at least get some intel."
She turns to the astrazoan and speaks to him as clear and firm a tone as she can muster, "You and Lih will stay here with Verne and Nat while we scout. It is critical to the success of our mission that you help with this. Understood, Mayhem?"
"OK, Captain. Just as long as everyone understands the desperation of the situation." Jarix looks askance at Mayhem. He pilots the craft to the clearing indicated.
The decision made, Jarix's hesitation is gone. "She'll have to stay here. We can leave someone else as well to watch over her and maybe make a run for it if we fail."
Jarix takes another look at their stores to determine if there's any gear he thinks they could use. He changes into Lih's old Hidden Soldier Armor.
"I'll take point. The scan showed about 100 beings. If we're lucky that's as little as 20 enemy and we have surprise. Everyone ready?"
JD takes note of Sh-Ux's power hiccup. "Remember back when we talked about this place? Electrical storms can be nasty here. I'm reading electrical charges in the mist.
JD sets the power core to an idle while the ship is landed but still occupied. He returns to his quarters to don the armour and weapon he salvaged from the exile, as well as his trusty old sidearm. He looks a little bashful wearing the new equipment, knowing that the items were also coveted by other members of the crew. He avoids their gaze as he goes to join the assembled away crew. Just lucky at cards he reminds himself.
Mallura meets Jarix and JD at the egress ramp and nods. "Ready."
Turning her head to peer back over her shoulder, the captain calls out to Mayhem, Lih, and the others, "You kids behave, alright? And no parties!" She turns back with a slight grin on her lips as she tells JD, "Gods, I really am starting to sound like my gran," before hitting the button to lower the ramp.
Lih watches the 3 members of the away team descend the ramp.
"Be careful out there. Good luck"
Jarix tries to move the team quietly through the jungle.