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As the Loreseeker flies by the River Rat, the Ysoki gunner manages to fire a barrage of slugs into your aft, chipping away at the shields back there.
The quick smuggler ship manages to swing around the asteroid and head back towards you.
You get the impression that the River Rat's engineering crew did a good job repairing and rebalancing their shields, because Vindler's damage isn't quite as impactful as it should have been. Still, the forwards shields are down again and another scorch mark has been added to the hull.
Vindler lines up another shot and fires with a dwarven growl.
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Vindler and Pangea-Alpha both deliver a flurry of heavy laser fire on the port side of the River Rat; completely removing the recently restored shields and causing a small fire to start on the outside of the ship. Istovir has been feeding the gunners targeting data and it looks like it finally paid off, as he detects power flucations coming from their reaction, indicating that it has sustained critical damage.
The enemy gunner smacks the Loreseeker with a lucky shot across their forward section, further weakening the shields.
Vindler returns Alpha's high five, then turns his attention back to his target and pulls the trigger to fire off another particle beam.
"And you as well, Alpha! Now let's keep it up and drown this rat!"
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There is a flurry of blasts and explosions as the two ships engage in a flurry of close of firing at each other. Unfortunately for the River Rat, they are only able to bring one their coil gun into the fight and they don't have quite enough fire power to punch through the Loreseeker's forward shields. The heavy laser fire quickly strips away the meager shielding that their engineer had been able to restore and heavily scorches the starboard side of their ship.
A fire breaks out in the power core. The River Rat's turret is also looking pretty scarred; it is likely that the laser fire damaged its sensors.
The River Rat appears to be having trouble getting enough power to its systems and that whatever their ship engineer was doing to fix the problem wasn't effective.
Despite their ongoing *technical problems*, their pilot still happens to outmaneuver the Loreseeker this round.
"Yes! Alpha, their power core is on the fritz! Now let's take it out entirely!"
"Perfect, JJ! Keep her right there!"
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The battle between the Loreseeker and the River Rat goes on for awhile longer, but eventually superior fire power and piloting wins out and the Ysoki's ship is left disabled and drifting in space.
A communication from the River Rat comes through to you. A rough looking Ysoki with some nasty looking burn scars on his muzzle offers their unconditional surrender.
"I'm da one dey call Breach. Look, most a us didn't wanna fight ya' all. We ain't pirates, we always been smugglers and scavengers but Smiles thought we could make more money dis way. Damned fool. Thing is, we're gonna be unda goin' a little...ehem...change in management on board. We don't wanna act dis way no more."
"Ya ain't got no reason to let us go, but I'm hopin' what I hear 'bout Starfinders be true and that ya' ain't gonna blow our ship up while we be dead in the water. We don't got nothin' on board as ya' can probably see on ya' scans. We sold the two chunks a' the tablet we had but I think the Silverbrew dwarves still got one."
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The River Rat is clearly disabled at this point. The power core has been pulverized and they only have enough backup power to maintain basic life support functions. Their shields are completely disabled and their thrusters are only capable of moving them at a slow crawl, making them effectively immobile in combat. The main turret gun is badly damaged but even if it could fire their sensors are damaged to the point that you don't think they could reliably aim it. You know all this because they no longer can activate countermeasures against your scanning.
Your sensors can pick up that the Silverbrew mining station is just a cluster of asteroids in the distance. They are sending you a signal indicating that you are clear to dock in their station whenever you are ready.
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Ezra Silverbrew, a tough looking but cheerful dwarf woman greets you as you disembark from the Loreseeker. She shakes each of your hands and claps JJ Oaklie on the back with a strong hand.
"That was some nice flying out there, Starfinders. That ought to teach those skulking thieves to keep away from what isn’t theirs! Now then, as promised, you can take the piece of the tablet that they didn't get from us.
'I bet you all worked up an appetite out there. We don't have much to offer you on our little space station but we're not going to give our clan a bad name by not showing you a bit of good old fashioned dwarven hospitality. Torfen," she barks at one of the miners. "Go get a keg from cold storage for our guests here. Yeah, one of the good ones. How about the Lightspeeder Nitro-stout? And boil up some potatoes! These are guests!"
The Silverbrew Clan treats you with a meal that is surprisingly good for what you'd expect from a space station. Sure, the sausages are freeze dried but the beer is strong and dark and they let you have as much of it as you'd like. After a long night of singing and feasting, the Silverbrew clan sends you on your way with a fist sized slab of sandstone and a silver keg of dwarf brewed stout.
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Freedom locked ‘neath neon lights
Bad chameleon”
From this, I believe that the “one world, two sides apart” tells us to inspect the Pact World of Verces. The second portion of this
dreamspun tale, plus the information gathered from the previous clues, points us to the verthani club owner, Karelite Bogdin. He
owns a nightclub called Kozmos in the city-state of Vanos. I believe we’ll find the tablet hidden among his famed art collection in
the personal safe in his office.
Arvin congratulates you on a job well done and lets you know that your next mission is taking you to Verces. You can use or to get a little bit of information beforehand.
facing the Pact Worlds’ single sun. The largest civilization is a
sprawling metropolis spanning the circumference of the planet
called the Ring of Nations, a temperate refuge lying between
the scorching heat of Fullbright and numbing cold of Darkside.
The most technologically advanced of the native species are the
Verthani, eight-foot tall humanoids whose chameleon-like skin
allows them to blend their pigments to hide in plain sight.
its elevated level of technological advancement. Because of this,
most Verthani use various cybernetic instruments to some degree
to augment their senses and defenses.
with varying degrees of self-governance, with some being known
for their rather lax rules on bodily autonomy. The city-state of
Vanos is known as they place to do business if you’re looking to
avoid scrutiny from the authorities. Casinos, clubs, and open black
markets where the rich can buy and sell sentient androids abound.
Laws, which are few and far between, are rarely enforced where
they do exist.
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It takes a few days to travel to Absalom Station to drop off the stone tablet pieces and then another few days to reach Verces. VC Arvin is away on business but he calls you to get a mission briefing from the group regarding your current progress.
"Well, the next place you're going is to Verces. Its a bit different than where you've been before. The people where you're going are wealthy and you'll stick out if you don't try to disguise yourselves. You might want to consider working on a cover story for yourselves on the trip over. And looking the part wouldn't hurt either."
The city state of Vanos lies in perpetual twilight, which has actually increased its popularity as it has become a city known for its unceasing nightlife. The streets are lit up with neon signs from all the night clubs and restaurants and the sounds of thrumming electronic music mix with the excited cries and shouts of the party goers. Most of the people are very fashionably dressed and appear to be quite wealthy. Verthani are the most common species that you see on the street and with their eight foot tall frames, scanty designer clothing, and glittering cyberwear they are quite a sight. Among these wealthy party goers, you also notice a number of androids. Some are dressed in tightly revealing party clothing while others are wearing utilitarian coveralls or restaurant uniforms but almost every android you see has a smooth polished metal collar around their neck.
There is a long line of club goers stretching out from the door of Kozmos, the night club where you have been sent to look for the last piece of the sandstone tablet. A massive vesk in a smart looking sport coat is checking everyone's IDs and tickets. Luckily, VC Arvin provided you with tickets, so you should have no problem getting in.
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Pangea disguises itself by placing a junk-racer pit-crew badge on its chest: Laboni Pit Crew
"I am a junk-racer here to find sponsors."
Pangea is at first quite turned on by a couple androids in their hot party clothing, but its mood is rapidly dampened when it sees metal collars.
"Abolitionists indeed..."
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The line moves quickly as the vesk bouncer is quickly scanning tickets and firmly pushing people out of the line who don't have the tickets or the cash to get in. Many of the patrons are armed and this doesn't seem to be a problem for them. The bouncer even lets in a verthani couple who have an android bodyguard armed with a laser cannon through. As Pangea-Alpha and Saryn approach, the vesk looks both of them up and down. She lowers her sunglasses and looks down at them skeptically, a look of disgust passing over her face as she looks at their clothing. As you get closer you can see that she has a long knife hanging from her belt and the handle of an energy pistol can be seen underneath her jacket.
"You two got tickets?" she grumbles sarcastically, holding a scanner in one hand and her other hand open and outstretched for your tickets.