Tiktik squeaked with joy as he watched Jax land a hit on their enemy.
<Greatjobindeed! Andtheywhiffedbigtimewiththeirshot, sotheboardsareallgreen. Icansparepowerforthesensorsagain. Get'em!>
|
Tiktik diverts the power to the sensors to aid Talek and Volter.
The fighter banks around, attempting to get behind the Hippocampus. B-Bop anticipates the move, and comes around, face to face with the already shattered shields of the fighters front arc.
Volter scans the ship while Talek attempts to lock on to the fighters engine systems.
They learn that the ship is TL 2, has an AC of 17, and has 22 hull points remaining.
Bepo fires the laser cannon, and Jax fires the coilgun. Both shots miss the tiny fighter, sadly.
The fighter fires back.
However, the shot goes wide.
Next round!
Hippocampus (5F/5P/5S/5R), 0 Damage
??? (0F/?/?/?), 22/? Hull Points, Engines Glitched.
|
|
B-Bop pulls the Hippocampus around, keeping the light laser cannon trained on the shieldless front of the Necroglider.
Talek gets a lock on the ships already wounded engines, and Volter continues to Scan the craft.
Jax and Bepo open up on the craft at close range, badly damaging it--its engines going from Glitched to completely Wrecked.
It fires in return.
But the shot again fails to connect.
As the coilgun and light laser cannons rake across the rear of the Necroglider, an explosion of blue fire flares out. One of the thrusters on the ship seems to fail entirely, but the other bursts uncontrollably, sending the little craft in a wild spiral, spinning away from the [i]Hippocampus and towards the Acreon and the Drift Rock. You watch as it eventually slams into the Drift Rock.
Your ship is unharmed, and you have defeated your mysterious aggressor. The Acreon and the Drift Rock lie ahead, with no obstructions between.
<Waytogoteam! Let'sgoseewhatawaitsusontheAcreon.>
|
|
The Acreon is a boxy and ungainly-looking mining ship that's seen hard days. Its surface is scored by repeated micrometeor impacts, and has been patched and repatched in many places. The entire ship is faded from constant exposure to radiation.
The Drift Rock hangs behind it on long tow-cables--an unremarkable looking asteroid only a few thousand feet in length.
|
|
As you approach, your sensors detect a hail being broadcast.
...quarantine-zone is in effect! By order of Absalom Station Security, all ships to maintain a distance of no less than 3 kilometers from this ship. Access to the ship Acreon is prohibited. A Black-Level quarantine-zone is in effect! By order of Absalom Station..."
”Well done everyone. First order of business, B-bop, can you bring us in closer to the Acreon? Volter, see what you can pick up on scans please.”
Hearing the warning broadcast.
”Alright. Well, that’s to be expected I suppose. Listen in and see if the message repeats, but otherwise, well, we’ve got a job to do.”
|
|
A black-level quarantine is the strongest level of quarantine issued by Pact Worlds authorities. Unlike less severe degrees of isolation, Black-level allows no breaching, even by officials or military forces, without express permission from the commanding officer of whatever body is imposing the quarantine.
Penalties for violating such a quarantine include life-imprisonment and execution, depending on the nature of the quarantine.
You were granted explicit permission to cross the quarantine and will suffer no penalties for doing so.
|
|
The Hippocampus's sensors scan across the Acreon as you approach within range.
The Acreon is a medium-sized transport ship, with a standard crew of six. Scanning for signs of life is inconclusive. The ship is armed, but none of the ships weapons are currently powered, and the ship's power core is putting out only minimal power--enough for artificial gravity, life support, and basic functions, but nothing else.
The aft airlock is open wide, exposing at least some of the interior of the ship to the hard vacuum.
B-Bop, If you can get us close enough to the airlock Tiktik and i may be able to repair or restore functionality to it to allow is to safely dock. Assuming Tiktik us up for a space walk. Vacuum presents no particular challenge to me fortunately
At the suggestion of a space walk, the comm system on the ship was flooded with a high-pitched squeal of utter joy from the party ysoki.
|
|
The Hippocampus glides silently toward the Acreon.
Tiktik and Talek step out into the black. There appears to be no damage to the aft airlock apparatus, and it looks like the Hippocampus can safely dock.
Flickering emergency lights do little to dispel the darkness inside the derelict ship, and the sense of abandonment is only heightened by the apparent lack of any movement or life inside its airless corridors. Artificial gravity is still functional, however, so there’s likely still power to run essential systems and possibly restore life support and atmosphere to the ship. Unfortunately, there are still no obvious clues as to the fate of the Acreon’s vanished crew.
Through the open doors of the airlock you can see what appears to be a workshop.
After staring in wide-eyed amazement of the beauty of space, first hand, Tiktik eventually remembered why he was out there, and radioed to Talek, <Wow,thisisglorious! Butwebettergettowork. Weneedtogetthe airlocktomakeagoodseal, oreveryonecouldfreezetodeath!> he said in an alarmingly chipper tone.
<Indeed,let us see if we can make things a bit more hospitable for our compatriots>
Assisting Tiktik
Talek moves further into the airlock with laser rifle at the ready, and searching for traps left along the way.
Casting Life Bubble before leaving the ship
”Stay alert. Who knows what we may find here. Tiktik and Talek, getting the power fully restored would be helpful. Let’s all try to sweep some of these rooms to make sure the path is clear. Getting to the cargo hold might get us the Ambassadors package, but the bridge may hold logs to show what happened here.”
Bepo steps up right behind Talek and takes out his Doshko, waiting for the word to move forward.
Telepathically to Talek.
<Did you want to go first or do you want me to?>
Volter is quiet. They are visibly upset from the fight as they step out onto the dock.
Catching on to Volters trepidation
<Something troubling you? Concerns over the crew of the Acreon? It seems unfortunate, but we will likely not find the crew here in a good state. Are you prepared for such a thing?>
|
|
Talek and Bepo step forward into what must be the engineering room for the ship. A full machine shop, as well as various terminals to control the ships engineering functions, can be found here.
Three strange creatures can be seen here. Quadrapedal, with several long tentacles trailing behind a head full of sharp teeth, with smooth blue-black skin and long, curved talons at the ends of its feet.
The creatures snarl, and prepare to leap.
Initiative!
Overclock
Volter
Talek
Beppo
Jax
B-Bop
L
Blue
red
green
Bold can act!
Tiktik
GREEN
B-Bop
Talek
Bepo
BLUE
RED
L
Volter
Jax
Titktik excitedly boards the ship, riding in the basket atop his drone. Seeing the melancholy expression on Volter's face, he steers Elliot over to them and looks up at them with his large saucer-like eyes. He looks at them with a strange intensity, like he is concentrating very hard on something.
--ou hear me? Areyouhearingmythoughts? I'm just gonna assume my telepathy is working and you are getting this. Why are you upset? You should be excited! We are exploring a derelict spaceship--in space! Do you want to take a ride on Elliot? It is super fun!
Meanwhile Elliot scans the area for any danger.
Tiktik is snapped out of his attempts at telepathic projection by an alarm broadcast to the cybernetic rig installed in his head
ALERT! HOSTILES APPROACHING! Elliot warned him.
Tiktik smiles with excitement as he replies to Elliot to carry them forward and protect his new best friends. His drone weaves through his allies, where both man and machine fire their weapons at the approaching creatures.
|
|
These are Akata, space-based predatory creatures. They are neutral medium aberrations. Tiktik knows that they are vulnerable to sonic damage and have no need to breath. Bepo knows that they are immune to cold and carry thousands of parasitic young in their mouths, and that their bites can implant their young into their victims, turning the hosts into mindless undead until the fully gestated young burst forth, destroying whats left of the host.
Both Tiktik and Elliot's shot hit red.
Green responds by rushing forward and attempting to bite Talek.
.
Bold can act!
Tiktik
GREEN
B-Bop
Talek (-5 SP)
Bepo
BLUE
RED (-10)
L
Volter
Jax
Bepo clutches his Doshko and strikes at Green.
Yep flat footed hits me and firing on green with +1 from bepo
Azimuth laser rifle
Tiktik's eyes went wide with fright as he recognized these creatures.
<Ohgods! ThoseareAkata! Whateveryoudo, don'tletthembite-- he stopped talking as he saw one latch its fangs onto Talek.
...it'sprobablyfine. Totallyfine. Androidsdon'thaveorganicmattertofeedtheyoung, right? RIGHT?>
Moving forward and pulling his arc pistol, L fires at Green
Tiktik winced at the sound of another bite sinking into one of his allies, and the hundreds of tiny, slithering parasites taking hold.
He knew he needed to remove one of the threats from the field. He reached down and flicked the switch he'd installed on Elliot's pistol, with a sizzling pop, the the laser aperture fired a bright red beam of energy at their target.
Tiktik gritted his teeth as the terrifying creature stood in defiance of its injuries. He pointed his own weapon (which was already warm to the touch from the last high-powered blast) at his target and fired again.
Tiktik breathed a sigh of relief, then pointed his own weapon (which was already warm to the touch from the last high-powered blast) at the other wounded Akata and fired.
Volter, horrified by these parasitic creatures that seem fully intent on killing while doing massive amounts of damage, thinks of the time when their mind lashed out at the scientist who kept provoking them into anger and lets out a mind thrust.
|
|
The creature seems momentarily affected by the spell, but seems to largely shrug off any effect from it.
Jax draws his sub-zero pistol and takes a shot at green.
But he misses the difficult shot.
Green attempts to bite Talek again.
Bold can act!
Tiktik
GREEN (-13)
B-Bop (-8 SP)
Talek (-12 SP)
Bepo
BLUE
L
Volter
Jax
Bepo takes another swing at Green to hopefully take him down.
If Bepo downed Green he will take a guarded step which would be on top of Greens body.