As soon as the doors whoosh open, Jade dashes into the room, hoping she can catch Moreau by surprise, but as the ship hits the water, she's knocked off her feet, and goes careening into the wall.
Vonash would be moving back while talking telepathically to Kitty
"Please, please, please stand down. It is for your good as well as ours. Please"
As the ship lurches and judders, Vonash ALMOST keeps on her feet but slams into the wall and falls onto the floor.
followed by a telepathic scream
"No. Kitty!!!!"
Vonash senses Kitty's fury. Telepathically, she replies "He ... I ... Yarrgghgh!"
Ueda easily keeps his feet as the ship lurches with impact, shifting his balance to keep his gun trained on Moreau. Much like earlier, he fails to hesitate even as Kitty is placed in danger--the purpose and import of the team's mission is clear, and he is unyielding. His eyes burn orange as his finger squeezes the trigger.
[dice=Reflex Save]d20+5
Ueda easily keeps his feet as the ship lurches with impact, shifting his balance to keep his gun trained on Moreau. Much like earlier, he fails to hesitate even as Kitty is placed in danger--the purpose and import of the team's mission is clear, and he is unyielding. His eyes burn orange as his finger squeezes the trigger.
[dice=Ranged Attack]d20+4
[dice=Damage]d6
As the ship lurches and people go flying brass keeps his balance without much more Han a slight shift in his stance, staring down the scientist with his rifle with calm anger. As a round goes off next to him brass echoes with his own shot ringing out.
Brass wings Moreau with a bullet and Moreau drops the device he was holding and attempts to surrender. When he grabbed Kitty, he may have forgotten he gave her retractable claws. She extends her claws, turns on him, and slashes.
"You. Selfish. Bastard!" Kitty shouts. "You could have killed me!"
Moreau dodges her claws replying, "It was just a neural stimulator! You saw me using it"
"Well I didn't want my neurons stimulated!!" Kitty replies, slashing at Moreau again. She uses her tail to point at Ueda and Brass, "THEY didn't know it was 'just a neural stimulator'."
Vonash just leaps to her feet and rushes toward the bridge
"Hold on Kitty, we're coming"
Griffin managed to stay standing when the ship skipped over the water and rushes in to pull Kitty off of Moreau.
Milo fell on his ass, but he gets up and trains Ursus's gun on Moreau angrily.
Moreau stares at Milo and then looks to the rest of you and says, "Okay, now, call me crazy, but I don't think that's a real ape!"
"Give me one reason I shouldn't shoot this sociopath," growls orangutang-Milo.
"Yep. Totally missed that," chirps Moreau to the rest of you, his chipperness enraging Milo even more.
I can’t give a single one brass says as he removes his helmet setting it down next to the pilots chair and taking control of the ship to bring it back to the island.
When we get back we can sort everything else meanwhile, everyone please calm down and find a seat, that means the three convicts as well.
"I also can think of no reason not to shoot him. Although I would suggest a nonlethal target. Perhaps a knee or high in the shoulder." Ueda's eyes remain that burning orange, locked on Moreau. They aren't daring the man to move, exactly, but he clearly wouldn't mind the excuse. His hands work the slide on the gun, ejecting the misshapen cartridge that caused it to jam.
Brass easily pilots the Chariot back to the island. It only takes a minute and nobody tries anything, but Moreau, annoyed at Ueda's suggestion that Milo shoot him, starts referring to the Chariot crew as "continuity fascists" and "the temporally privileged," asking anyone who looks at him "So, why is your timeline the only timeline that matters?"
As brass touches the ship down he turns to Moreau, “You need to be quiet now, otherwise I will shoot you. as brass gets up he grabs his rifle and helmet. “Let’s check the rest of the wreckage and then we can decide what to do with him and sort out the crew.”
Vonash turns to Kitty and talks to her telepathically
"Not that he doesn't deserve it, but we might need information from him. Please stop shredding him TOO much."
She looks over Kitty. She is trying to decide what she is. Is she a cat given human intelligence, a human crossed with a cat, what?
Again, to Kitty
"I hope you don't mind me saying so, but you're one of the prettiest people I've ever met. I haven't seen one of your kind before. Would you mind telling me what exactly you are? And who?"
Kitty is delighted to introduce herself to Vonash. "Well, I used to be Jann Tarlene, but then I got arrested for stealing ... things ... like ships and stuff ... and then I was prisoner 19450716, and now I'm Kitty."
She sees that this doesn't answer all of Vonash's questions, so she continues talking. "I mean, like, I'm human. Dr. Moreau chose me from all the other prisoners for his enhancements and, then, he worked with me to choose what I wanted to be!"
Milo offers to stay and guard the prisoners while you check out the rest of the wreckage.
Brass nods to Milo, as he gets ready. He stares the other three people as he leaves to try and get a read on if they’ll try anything while they are gone.
Moreau looks suspicious to Brass. He's been caught but he's still plotting and planning.
To the other PCs (also private telepathic)
"What this Dr Moreau has done is amazing. Merging human and animal DNA and coming up with viable organisms. But experimenting on prisoners is almost the definition of inhumane medical experiments. I bet we're seeing the successes and the failures got buried in a pit somewhere."
To Kitty (again, telepathically)
"Kitty, I don't know if it is possible, but would you like to be human again? Or are you happy with who you now are? We're NOT going to change you back against your will which is why I'd like to know"
Brass as he leaves mutters to Ueda, "Please, tie up Moreau just in case."
"What's not to be happy about? I chose this. I didn't want to be boring Jann but I could never have afforded augmentations. Now, I'm different like everybody else," Kitty explains. "Griffin complains, but I don't think he means it. You know who doesn't seem happy with themselves? That Milo guy. I don't think he's really an orangutang on the inside."
Jade stands up, pleased that the situation has been resolved with minimal bloodshed. A few blows against Moreau fell within acceptable parameters. She nods to Brass, prepared to leave with him, and get a look at the other ship as well as a closer look at Moreau's equipment. Maybe she could still undo the damage that he'd done to these people.
"Let's also lock the ship's controls down before we go." She suggests, knowing that Moreau had already proven he could pull the wool over his companion's eyes, and that wouldn't hesitate to kill any of them. They couldn't risk another standoff, it may not go as smoothly.
Ueda nods at Brass's suggestion and quickly finds the handcuffs, grabbing two pairs. Moving to Moreau, he gestures for him to turn around, pistol still drawn. "If you do not comply, I will shoot you in the knee." His voice isn't threatening, just factual. One pair of handcuffs secures Moreau's wrists behind his back, and the other binds one wrist to a fixture in the room. Ueda makes sure they're tight, but not overly so.
That task finished, he reloads his pistol and follows Brass, heading to investigate the crash sites. "M'ilo, please do not hesitate to shoot him if he attempts to escape."
"M'ilo, please do not hesitate to shoot him if he attempts to escape."
"I'd be happy to. Why don't you loosen the cuffs a bit so he thinks he has a chance," growls Milo before turning back to Moreau. "Give me an excuse, any excuse."
Once everyone seems set brass is going to start off toward the crashed ship first to check out the temporal police, then Moreau’s ship.
On your way from the Chariot to the ship labelled 'Temporal Enforcer' you pass Carson's corpse. Not far from him you see the shiny silver egg-like beacon that you were to use if you ever lost the ship.
You pass the Deepwell vessel that Moreau's crew flew and begin to approach the smaller ship.
The enforcer would probably take a crew of just one or two but could carry more and have room for cargo. Unlike the Chariot and Moreau's ship, there wouldn't be room for crew quarters on the smaller ship.
Undergrowth pokes out from beneath the ship, which is surrounded by ferns, broken branches, and chirping tree frogs.
As Brass gets within 15' of the Temporal Enforcer one of the tree frogs hops forward and begins to trill a high-pitched trill. Then, it starts to glow red, then yellow.
"Wait, the tree frogs. They gave me a song of peace and harmony. I'm going to sing to them telepathically, could you also put it on ships speakers or something?"
With that, Vonash sings the song that she learned from the other tree frogs
"Wait, the tree frogs. They gave me a song of peace and harmony. I'm going to sing to them telepathically, could you also put it on ships speakers or something?"
With that, Vonash sings the song that she learned from the other tree frogs
Jade is pretty sure they aren't supposed to glow. The high-pitched trill it makes gets higher as the light inside it shifts from red to yellow and now to white. Then it explodes. Jade is positive it isn't supposed to do that.
When it explodes, Brass is standing far enough away that the bits of frog that spray him cause no damage, but the explosion is forceful enough to be concerning.
The explosion frightens all of the other tree frogs, who begin to trill. Tiny little red lights begin to shine from the undergrowth all around you.
"Intriguing." is all Jade says as the frog explodes. "At first I thought it may be used for camouflage, but..." She looks to Brass, covered in frog bits, "...well, obviously they would not evolve to do that."
"I wonder if..." Jade begins and then stops at Vonash's suggestion. "I am sorry, I cannot seem to parse that sentence. Did you say the frogs gave you a song of peace and harmony?"
"It is ok little friends. We are not here to hurt you"
At first it seems like it isn't working, but, after a few quick attempts at the melody, Vonash produces something the frogs recognize. They enjoy the ancient frog lullaby Vonash sings them and then they hop off to find shady places to rest unseen.
The path to the Temporal Enforcer is now clear.
As the frog explodes brass wipes off his helmet now covered with frog guts. “probably more of Moreau’s work.” as Vonash starts to sing he turns at first with a skeptical look then in complete as astonishment as the “singing” works.
As sees all the frogs hop off and he stands there for a second watching the frogs slowly turn off their lights, “there is something very unsettling about watching them leave but also very pleasing.”
He continues on to the ship after all the frogs stop glowing.
"Back at the college, I learned that song. I'm very happy that it worked and saved many lives."
"I can't believe that worked. YAYYYYYYY"
Even compared to ships in 2219, the Temporal Enforcer is advanced, with smooth contours and almost seamless doors and weapons ports. Anything this fine in your day would be a high class racer, but this is scratched and marred like a working vehicle--a Ferrari turned into a police chaser. Much of the damage is obviously from a collision with the Deepwell ship. Red metal fragments from the research vessel are embedded in the blue metal front of the Temporal Enforcer
There are two entrances, one at the front for crew and one at the back for loading the ship. With no windows it is challenging to see what is inside, but the doors open as you draw near enough. Apparently Moreau thought explosive frogs would be a sufficient deterrent to any visitors and did not lock this ship up.
The cockpit has been thoroughly and efficiently sabotaged and vandalized. All the electronic equipment looks scorched. The pilot and co-pilot seats are empty, but you can see a glow coming from the back.
Further inspection* reveals it comes from the cargo hold at the rear of the ship. Much smaller than the cargo hold on the Chariot, it barely has enough room to stand up in and has a 12 foot by 8 foot interior. In the center of the cargo hold is a long metallic tube. It looks like an escape pod from a ship, but, like the other tech, it is more advanced than what you are familiar with.
* Since there was no real danger, I assumed you would continue inspecting and stuff and have moved the story along to keep it flowing to this point.
Brass walks up to the pod, unsure of exactly what’s in it and wary of it. he starts to inspect it to see if he can get an idea of who might be in it or how they got in it.
Brass walks up to the pod, unsure of exactly what’s in it and wary of it. he starts to inspect it to see if he can get an idea of who might be in it or how they got in it.
Brass notices some alien symbols on the pod.
Anyone who knows Vesk recognizes them. A DC 15 Culture check recognizes them as being Vesk but does not allow you to read them.
Ueda eyes the frogs with wariness, and glances to Vonash as she sings to them. "It was a beautiful song," he says, finally holstering his pistol and tools. "Art with utility is always of the greatest value. Thank you for saving our lives, and theirs." The android's voice isn't any warmer than his usual plain tone, but it's clear he's actually appreciative.
At the ship, Ueda is fascinated by the technology, and examines the finer details while the others check for the larger-scale things like whether anyone is alive or if the ship can fly. When he notices the glowing, though, he quickly moves to investigate the strange pod, hoping to establish its functions.
Ueda is pretty sure that this ship would need major repairs before it could fly and those repairs would need to be done at a shipyard.
The pod is very tightly sealed with small guidance thrusters. It doesn't seem to have enough of an engine to be used as a ship. It would appear to be an escape pod that another ship would need to eject. Scorch marks show it has been kissed by some sort of flame but it is clearly made to withstand the heat of entering a planet's atmosphere.
The pod appears to be producing some kind of internal energy field.
"When we have time later," Jade says to Vonash as the frogs start hopping away, seemingly calmed down and back to exploding the normal amount for frogs, "I would very much like to hear more about what just happened."
Inside the ship, Jade follows behind Brass, letting him take point. She becomes curious at the pod and moves around him to get a closer look.
"The writing is Vesk," she says, "I am afraid that my programming predates contact with them, I cannot read it. Anyone else?"
“The only communicating with vesk I ever did was down the barrel of my rifle.”
"Vesk? What could possibly bring a Vesk here? Is there anybody inside the pod? Even a Vesk shouldn't be left in a pod indefinitely"
Well brass is going to look to ueda to spearhead this endeavor to open this pod, offering what little he knows on escape pods, having been in a few himself.
Ueda nods at Brass's suggestions and retrieves his tools once more, ready to force the pod if he can't find the activation from a more technical search. That is very helpful. Cross-reference this with any data we have on similar technology. And store the information in the short-term memory, I will be cataloging it in my datapad.
Ueda, with some help from Brass, finds the lock, but soon discovers that a stasis field operating inside of it needs to be shut off before the pod can be opened. He shuts off the stasis field and opens the pod.
Built as an escape pod for an armored vesk soldier, the pod has more than enough room for a human or for a lashunta. It contains one of each. A female lashunta is properly strapped into the lifepod. As the stasis field stops operating, a glowing crown of wires begin to flash and signal vital signs and, most likely cerebral activity.
A male human, who appears to have been dumped unceremoniously on top of the lashunta female, wears a black uniform. He also appears to be alive. A badge reads, "Wells."
"Not Vesk!! These two must have an interesting story"
When the man wakes and realizes he's lying in an escape pod atop another person, he scrambles out quickly, notices the group of people watching him, and stammers, "It's not ... I don't even know this woman ... I mean ... ."
The man doubles over suddenly and vomits, probably dizzy after coming out of stasis and standing up so quickly. He pull himself together, wipes his mouth with the back of his sleeve, and extends his hand, "Agent Wells, Temporal Enforcement."