Al and Zwei continue their assault on the feather stalker. While Al's shot goes wide of its mark, Zwei's attack is pinpoint accurate and strikes the target right where it has the greatest effect.
A missed opportunity of traditional dwarven tactics leads to a series of missed attacks on the feather stalker. Thankfully, the rest of the Starfinder crew is standing by to bring the fight to the creature.
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As Al thinks of a boss fight she has been stuck on in Loot Shooter: The Post-prequel, she realizes that she is effectively in a real life boss fight at the moment, and her engagement in the battle immediately rockets back up. She grins as she fires off a well-aimed blast. "Zap bap nap! Time to go sleep sleep!"
Zwei barks and hops a bit in place at her devastating shot. She immediately queues up another.
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Despite being surrounded by capable fledgling agents of the Starfinder Society, only Al and Zwei prove able to hit their target!
The feather stalker continues its flailing attacks, however, first directing its fury against Guli, then turning once again to Diralynn. Guli is able to deflect the blow with his doshko, but Diralynn, weakened by the onslaught she has suffered already and perhaps believing that the creature would focus fully on Guli, leaves herself open to an attack and takes a crushing blow, leaving her barely clinging to consciousness!
As Diralynn's pick sinks into the feather stalker, it screams weakly. It seems that the creature is as close to defeat as the doctor herself!
Even as the feather stalker squeals, Korl steps up and delivers a final, decisive blow to the creature, silencing its cries!
With the feather stalker defeated, a contingent of station security moves into the warehouse to start removing cargo and freeing up the space for the Exo-Guardians. As this occurs, Zigvigix emerges from behind the cordon line to congratulate you on a successful extermination.
"I see that some of you did not fare too well against our guest here," he says, "But if you could, please remember the...other assignment I gave you." He turns his head to look over his soldier to make sure no one is listening in as he reminds you of the other task he had for you: to go pick up a copy of Strawberry Machine Cake's new album!
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Xeeter cannot bear to see such a unique creature die. He quickly stabilizes the feather stalker with a spell, and then goes out to see the station security guards that cordoned off this warehouse. "Nufriends, we knocked the creature out, but it's injured. Could you contact the Xenowardens and see if they can arrange a transfer of this creature to somewhere more suitable? The park rangers in Jatembe Park could likely get hold of them. The feather stalker was likely attacking because it was disoriented and scared."
Then he comes back to the group. "Is anyone here an entertainer? I was thinking of putting on a show for the folks waiting in line for the album. I could do sleight of hand card tricks! Maybe we could keep moving up the line, entertaining different parts of the crowd... and then have someone big muscle us in to the front when we get there!" From the way Xeeter looks at the others in the party, it's clear that 'someone big' refers to anyone larger than him.
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Zapp looks sullenly to the wound in his shoulder. "Do that if you like, but I still don't think much of the beast." He wraps his bandage turban around the injury, revealing equally impressive bruises to the head.
"I'm not sure the crowd will have eyes for anything but that album. But if they did, I would turn them! It could be seen as beneath my rank or dignity, however - we'll see how the situation unfolds. Were there to be an impromptu celebration of our first victory today, for example. That could influence the possibilities."
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Al does her part to help the party recover from the near-deadly encounter, though she first attends to her dear Zwei.
Any worry disappears as the conversation turns to the album. She jumps up and down waving her arms, which is quite a spectacle considering her height.
"Al would still like to smack whack hack the pre-order list! Can she can she can she please please please?"
After getting some much needed rest, you begin making your way toward the Free Markets to purchase an album for Historia-7 on Ziggy's behalf. Before you arrive, Al suddenly veers into a infosphere terminal where she plugs in her Custom Rig to access the infosphere and attempts to hack into the pre-order list for the new SMC album.
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"I guess that last when hit harder than I thought..." Korl looks down at his solar weapon, shrugs, and dismisses it. "I'm not really good at making things unhurt though. Sorry."
When Xeeter and Zapp start talking about the showmanship he only adds "Not really good at that either, I'll run security for your show though."
With remarkable speed, Al penetrates the fan store's P.O. system, locates the order quantity field, and makes the necessary adjustments for the system to show that each of you has at least one copy pre-ordered. Adjusting the order does require payment to be rendered, though, to leave as little evidence as possible that the system has been tampered with.
After Al secures copies of the album for the group, you make your way to the Free Markets and get in the extensive lines to pick up the albums you have ordered. Against general wisdom, you arrived on the actual release date for the album, so you find yourself in a line with an expected wait time of 6 hours!
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Zapp shows remarkable self-control in not screaming at the agony and humiliation. Fifteen minutes in, he realizes he can't take it any longer as it stands. He taps the shoulder of the next person in line, hoping they aren't hostile...or Neutral.
"Pardon me! You've likely heard my name in your travels. Zapp Brannigan? Interplanetary man of mystery, Scoured Stars survivor, lover of many and hero to all? Oh, well. Perhaps you'd be so kind as to let me commandeer your spot in line. I'd be quite grateful. This appreciation could take the form of a discount on my heroic services, or a shout-out for...whatever it is you do."
On the off chance he's successful, Zapp repeats the process as many times as he is able and ushers the team forward.
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"Try alternating your weight on your feet, like this" Korl lightly shifts his weight back and forth, trying to demonstrate his method to the group.
After standing in line for a seeming eternity and getting extremely worn out despite trying to follow his own advice, the vesk copies Zapp's example and starts trying to get the group further in.
Korl finds a member of the security team and tries to talk shop, hoping for a friendly or compassionate fellow merc to allow them to cut.
"So...this line huh? Reminds me of this job on Vesk-3, lines and lines of these bugs things trying to filter into one of the comm relays we were hired to protect. Fortunately for us, after a few hours the air support came in and cleaned up a path for us. Long day, but reinforcements are always welcome, am I right?"
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She talks the entire time that the group is standing in line.
"Now the secret to a line like this is that you want to keep your knees bent. Just like that, yes! Oh wait, you're a shirren, they're always bent. Anyway, they taught us that in the army. They taught us lots of things in the army! MY CO made sure we knew how to remove a bullet with a pocketknife and you never think you'll need to know how to do a thing like that, but sure enough...oh say, do you think we should get a copy of this album for Ziggy?"
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It's not long--less than a minute, in fact--before Al dramatically hunches over, her face drooping in despondency. "AL IS BORED. Lines get fines. Wait isn't great. BORING AND SNORING."
She pulls her goggles down again and begins hacking whatever easy targets she finds in the line to keep herself entertained, all while avoiding doing anything actually malicious. Mostly just having her little gremlin smiley faced programs run around rearranging peoples' files into whimsical patterns and leaving messages begging other people with preorders to come back later.
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Xeeter will purchase copies for himself, Ziggy and also loan Al the funds to purchase the scenario for herself. "I'm helping!"
The line SUCKS. Skittermanders hate queuing, and Xeeter finds himself getting fatigued and distracted easily. He practices doing a number of things to keep himself from yawning and being bored. He tries Diralynn's knee trick. He stands on one foot. Then he stands on the other. He waves his hands in order to keep his heart rate moving and reinvigorate himself, and he shares all of his new found tricks with his friends.
But finally, the line is too much for him! "Hey everyone, want to see card tricks? This line is boring, but we don't have to be!"
The cards fly amongst his six hands and Xeeter turns, bobs and weaves, always somehow managing to move forward to show off his tricks to the next group that is waiting ahead of him.
While the others are working the crowds to either keep entertained or help bump the group forward in line, Guli makes sure everyone has a place in line to come back to. He swaps stories with anyone who will listen of all his exploits with the Starfinders so far as he wait.
Sustained by the antics of the rest of the crew, Guli manages to weather the line just fine!
Unfortunately, despite their best efforts, Zapp, Korl, and Xeeter find themselves worn out by the time they reach the pick-up counter and retrieve their albums. Zapp finds many new admirers, but he forgets to drink water as he smooth talks his way forward in line, and soon finds himself hoarse. Korl puts his military experience to work, but realizes he shouldn't have skipped PT over the last few weeks as he quickly tires out. Xeeter's hands fly as cards flit and shuffle from one to the other, but his focus remains so intently on his manual dexterity that he forgets to keep his knees bent like Diralynn said.
After everyone picks up their pre-ordered copies of the new SMC album, including the copy Ziggy asked you to retrieve for Historia-7 and one for the Exo-guardians leader himself, you begin making for the door. After several hours of waiting, though, you are not the only ones in line who have gotten tired...and frustrated...and maybe a little hangry! The crowd begins pressing forward just as you are heading out, jostling you and bumping you. If you're not quick on your feet, there's a chance you could even get hurt!
Most of the team is able to move through the crowd without any major issues. It comes down to the dwarves in the end, though, as both Diralynn and Guli are bustled and battered as they try to force their way out of the store.
With a couple members slightly battered, the team makes its way back to the warehouse where Zigvigix is coordinating the Exo-guardians as members of the faction work with station security to clear out the warehouse and convert it into their new headquarters.
"Excellent work, Starfinders," the shirren exclaims, "And I see you all bought copies for yourselves--an excellent decision. I do hope I can get a copy for myself soon. I have been streaming the new songs all day, but would love to add the physical album to my collection!" When you present Zigvigix with the extra copy of the album you bought for them, they squeal in delight and offers a single charge cloak as a reward.
"That reminds me," they say, tapping a command into a datapad after handing over the cloak. "I owe you all some compensation for a successful mission!"
An aid brings over a storage trunk on a hovering platform, and Ziggy opens the container. They present you with a set of basic iridishell armor, a pair of incendiary grenades I, and 400 credits. They apologize for the lack of credits they can offer but excitedly warn you, “Have fun with the grenades, but don’t blow yourselves up—I like you!”
"Oh yes! Please take the album to her right away! I think she will really enjoy it," Zigvigix says excitedly. "If you have a minute later, I would love to know how she reacted when you gave her the album!"
Hearing that you are unsure of where to find Historia-7, Zigvigix directs you back to the Lorespire Complex where you had begun your day. "I am sure she is probably going over some bit of data or another. She really does work too hard sometimes, you know," they tell you with a chuckle.
You hail and auto-cab and are shuttled back to the Lorespire Complex to meet with another of the Society's faction leaders.
The Lorespire Complex, home and heart of the Starfinder Society, is a striking campus dedicated to knowledge. Communal labs and historical departments study the Archives’ massive collection of artifacts and texts, gathered by generations of agents from across the galaxy. You proceed through the large open doors into the Archives building and locate a directory kiosk. A quick search of the directory indicates Historia-7 frequents the Archives’ Cortex, a computerized matrix containing digital records of the Starfinder Society’s most prominent discoveries.
When you arrive at the Cortex and the doors open, you see an android reclining on a raised chair and plugged into the local infosphere. The neural cables detach themselves from her neck as she swivels in her seat to address the new arrivals. “Greetings, Starfinders,” she says calmly. “I am Historia-7. If you are seeking a mission from me, please be aware that my request requires both discretion and speed. Do not accept it if you feel incapable of working within these parameters." She pauses for a beat to ensure there are no immediate objections, then continues.
“I discovered someone recently hacked into Bluerise Tower’s computer systems and stole a large amount of sensitive data from the resident corporations. I wish to be privy to this information. I managed to trace the hacker’s location through many proxies and erased the trail so that station and corporate security should be delayed in their pursuit. This deception will not fool them for long, so you must move quickly to retrieve the data before they can recover it. I will leave you to decide what to do with the hacker afterward, but should it be feasible, I believe that person would be an asset to the Society.”
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"Worry not, I have personally vetted this team. They have shown both of those qualities." Zapp unintentionally doesn't include himself in this analysis, proving himself right as he continues, "Why do you want to know this knowledge?
"Although actually, it isn't of much concern to me. We'll uncover the culprit or die trying! With my charm, they'll likely turn their talents to good."
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Al’s already big eyes grow even bigger at the mission briefing.
”A super A-plus hacker! Al also loves to hack.” She makes chopping motions with her hands, seamlessly switching to wiggling her fingers in anticipation of typing on an invisible keyboard.
Al suddenly pulls herself into a well-behaved child’s upright posture and raises her hand as if in a classroom, waiting patiently to be called upon by Historia-7. ”Could Al also back up rack up hack up to help cover the trail? Al could also point the trail towards Al.” She puts on the voice of a retro commercial announcer briefly, as if quoting an ad tagline. ”The possibilities are endless!”