Harukai comes over with his hands up in a peacemaking gesture and says, looking at the trio,“There is no need for conflict, here. The lady was simply being curious and asking a question.” Looking at Merrik, he adds, ”and there is certainly no need for violence—these visitors have every right to be here.”
Attempting to assess the disposition of these goblinoids, Harukai looks at them carefully now.
"Have it your way." Chiaiese walks away.
"We are on a mission for House Deneith, of Sharn," says the hobgoblin. "You don't need to know more than that."
Sense Motive: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (17) + 0 = 17
They are purposely driven. Why they are here is something you don't need to know.
"Understood," says Harukai, "Sorry to have disturbed you." The aesthetic nods briskly and returns to his companions.
"Well that was odd," Chiaiese says to Harukai. Then with a shrug, she boards the Sky Fire and inspects her quarters.
The hobgoblins leave the area, heading to their own hangar.
Harukai goes on board and checks out the whole ship, paying particular attention to the weapons controls.
After everyone spends some time familiarizing themselves with the ship, Harukai asks, ”So, are we agreed to buy this ship then? Does anyone have a lead on local work, or should we just head out to the black and try to find a job on a different planet?”
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Scowling as the hobgoblins depart, Merrik watches as the last one slips out of view then returns to a restful stance and straps his shield to his back.
He heads up the ramp on to the ship then slows his pace as he travels the deck. Reaching out, he slowly touches the bulk heads then retracts his hands and wraps them around a darkened and scarred rings around his wrists.
Taking a slow sigh of relief he proceeds to the bridge to find the party prepping systems. He observes them pushing buttons and tapping screens, not having the slightest idea what they are doing.
He goes to reach for a panel to get a snap from the group stating something to the effect of self destruct. He pulls back and resumes his silence against the wall while they continues their work.
Erlich watched the confrontation from afar, Well, that was unnecessarily tense. Going to need to watch Merrik, quite possibly he is defaulting to reactions he was trained to take from a previous master. Could spell trouble in testy situations...
When he sees the situation resolve and the others come back near the craft, he climbs aboard, falling in step towards the bridge. "Anyone else here trained as a pilot? If not, I possess a fair amount of skill at the job, but I'm perfectly willing to bow out and take engineer duties, just as skilled there, if someone else wants the helm."
He looks about for reactions. Heads to the pilots chair, logs on and starts preflight checklists. If satisfied with the results, he exits the chair and heads to the Engineering station, checking the systems there as well.
"All the systems check out. I vote let's pay for this lady. As far as jobs - I know nothing hereabouts, all my connections have... well, lets just say they do not advertise for merc's, or they have been severed. Orbiting stations are closer than the next world, and may provide opportunity."
"Good enough for me, Erlich," says Harukai. "Let's pay the credits and go to the cantina to celebrate, what do you say? We might even find people looking to pay for passage or transport if we pick the right place," he adds.
Harukai has a few ideas as he has been in town for a while, and he knows where the spacers hang out.
The spacers hang out at a tavern or cantina. There, they get drinks and trade stories of their adventures out in space.
After putting in his share for the starship, Harukai heads off to the nearest cantina to celebrate with whomever will join him. As usual, he reads the room on the way in to see if there are any threats likely to come his way...
Headed to the bar, he orders his favorite fizzy blue drink and goes to sit at a table large enough to accommodate anyone who has chosen to join them. Kicking back and raising his glass, he toasts, ”Here’s to getting off this flaming rock and exploring the ‘Verse together!”
He then pulls out his datapad and looks over the listings for “transportation wanted” and “passage wanted” to see if anything catches his attention.
There are three jobs available. One is a shipment of grain to the Spacer Colony of New Tyr, which is a refinery base. Another is a shipment of precious gems to the planet Nox in Athas' solar system. A third option is to hunt the criminal Dasan somewhere in the Athas solar system.
I vote to hunt Dasan.
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Merrik follows Harukai to the cantina and sticks out like a sore thumb. He starts to think that this was a bad idea as his honed warrior senses are sent a blaze with the sights and sounds, growling at a passerby who bumps into him. He makes it to the bar where he gets passed one of fizzy, blue drinks and take a large sniff of it with flared nostrils.
5 of them later and Merrik is the life of the party, grunting along with to some vesk deathmetal. Someone bumps into him again, this time sending the large man to the floor. He jumps up and knocks out the wrong person starting a bar fight of epic proportions of which the group has to execute a rescue mission to quickly skit away Merrik to sleep it off on the ship.
"Very interesting potential, here..." says Harukai, waiting for the others to make their desires known. "One thing I have learned, though, in this harsh world--if you want to catch a criminal, you're going to need bait," he finishes, pondering a bit.
"Let's look into this Dasan person. What is he wanted for? How does he execute his crimes? What is the reward for capturing him?" Harukai asks idly as he scrolls through the details on that job.
A sly smile spreads on his face, and he says, "Look at that...precious gem transport. That's bait for a thief if I've ever seen it. But I'm not sure we want to haul such pricey cargo our first time out. That grain for the Spacer Colony seems like a safer bet..."
Harukai leans forward and says to his friends, "I've got an idea that might let us score pretty big, but limit our losses. Do you want to hear it?"
Smiling and rubbing his hands together, Harukai shows his cunning side. Speaking quietly, he says, "So, let's find out about this Dasan person and the particulars about that job--we sign up to collect the bounty if we can find him and bring him in. Our primary job is the grain run. We get that loaded in to the Sky Fire's cargo hold securely and provide food for the spacers, right? But here's the fun part. Let's talk to the gem transport person in charge, secretly offer to be a decoy, and have the workers come in the middle of the grain loading and hide a few crates of *gems* in and amongst the grain. If that lures Dasan in and we capture him, great! If he manages to get away with the *gems*, they are fakes and have an implanted tracking device, so people with bigger guns can go take him down."
Roll culture checks on Dasan, giving you a +4 bonus for using the infosphere.
Culture: 1d20 + 10 + 4 ⇒ (12) + 10 + 4 = 26
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Erlich transfers his credits to the pot and joins the party at the tavern, staying mostly silent until the barfight breaks out...
Not much for the fizzy drinks, he sticks to distilled juice. Siding up to Haruki as he looks through the datapad, until it dawns on him he has his own, and gives the aesthetic his personal space back to mirror what Haruki is scrolling through.
"I would champion a milk run for our fist time out, test the lady and ensure all is well, but, you know... fortune favors the bold, and you know what, my friend, that is a bold plan with not a whole lot of risk, truth be told. You got my vote. One last thing we need to figure out before we go further," Erlich looks over his new mates seriously, "A ship needs a captain. Figuring out missions by committee and vote is just and appropriate, but before we are faced with a perilous unknown or combat, we need to agree ahead of time who is final arbiter for the good of the ship and crew."
"Well-said, Erlich," says Harukai, thinking. "Don't consider me for the position, though, I am not too familiar with technology, but I'd be better off on guns or missiles than trying to coordinate us all in a space combat."
"What about you?" he asks Chiaiese, turning towards her as she seems deeply engrossed in her infosphere search, "You've always been the smart one. Would you be a good captain?"
"I am well-versed in the protocols of the position," Chiaiese states evenly. Inwardly, she smiles. My father would expect no less.
From her datapad she opens a dossier and pulls up the Camerarius file on Dasan. "Our quarry is a raider with expensive tastes. His ship, the Choker is outfitted with two gamma ray lasers. A good first test."
"Sounds like the kind of criminal who would be attracted to a shipment of rare gems...This plan may work after all," says Harukai. He turns to Chiaese and asks, "What do you think, Captain?"
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"Make it so."
"Gamma-ray lasers? Sounds formidable. Does his M.O. indicate he tends to work small solo raids? Or there any data on a gang, crew, or past cooperation with known factions we should be aware of?
Erlich nods his head approvingly and issues no challenge to the elevation of Chaiaiese to her new position.
"No data exists regarding gamma-ray lasers. It must be unique. We must presume it is a formidable weapon. I recommend engaging them first at long range. We may out-class them with our missiles and coilgun."
Chiaiese jabs at the datapad, incensed at the paltry drip of intelligence re: Dasan, his ship, his crew, and his tactics. Is he a cold-blooded killer or does he do the smart thing and let his targets go, so that they might return with plunder on another day?
"Scanning the archives..." Every pirate has a home base on-planet, or at least a port they frequent to sell their stolen goods and stock up on supplies.
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"Heh, yeah, see, lasers lose their cohesion over distance, especially in a vacuum, so they're hard to do over long-distance," Anton conjectures, running a hand through his bushy hair.
His hover-bot flies over balancing another drink on its chassis, which he takes and sips from absentmindedly.
"Coil-guns get their name from their function. See, they're a lot like gauss-guns, except instead of a bunch of static magnets, the magnets run in a spiral down the barrel, so the bullet is launched while spinning. Kinda the same as mass driver, except at relativistic speeds.
And, yeah, I'm not very good at captiny-things. Or stuff. But I can do the Science! pretty good."
*boop*
"Well. I mean pretty well."
*beep*
Done.
Culture: 1d20 + 10 + 4 ⇒ (18) + 10 + 4 = 32
Chiaiese jabs at the datapad, incensed at the paltry drip of intelligence re: Dasan, his ship, his crew, and his tactics. Is he a cold-blooded killer or does he do the smart thing and let his targets go, so that they might return with plunder on another day?
"Scanning the archives..." Every pirate has a home base on-planet, or at least a port they frequent to sell their stolen goods and stock up on supplies.
You manage to get the police dossier up on your data pad. Dasan is the biggest pirate out in the asteroid belt. His asteroids have been raided before, but he always escapes. His ship is a light frieghter armed with two GRASERS (gamma ray lasers), a tractor beam, and a small crew of six. Apparently, though, he is not with them. His freighter always has the skull and crossbones painted on it. He is unforgiving, he attacks all ships that come into his territory. Trying to get the loot.
Dasan never kills his targets. They often sell their loot on Nox, although they always killed anyone who has tried to trace their loot.
"Right, if we stay out of short range he can't hurt us. Easier said than done,I suspect." She relays the rest of the data to the others.
Something dawns on Erlich, "Conceptually, the plan to engage farther out is a good one. But we have to take into account the limitations of the Sky Fire's sensors." He takes a sip of juice and continues, "I'm sorry, I gave them the once-over, and, well, not impressed. They are severely lacking for just this kind of hunt. Sub-par in both range and sensitivity. Dasan has been successful at what he does because most likely, he hits fast and hard, defeating detection until the Choker is right up in his targets face. My bet is that Dasan uses fairly advanced countermeasures, and more capable sensors than the Sky Fire's have been defeated."
Erlich drains his drink, "Unless... Well, Anton? You have any ideas on upgrading or enhancing the sensors? What would it take? Not saying the plan itself is not doable, just... let's not fall to hubris, if there is a chance to enhance the sensors, we need to do that."
"That's why we need you driving the ship, Erlich. He can probably outrun us, but if we're quicker we can still outmaneuver him."
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Merrik shuffles uncomfortably as he doesn't have much to contribute. He starts to think of the other dragon gladiators when they would fight in the sky and the reason he learned to jump as well as he does.
"I have some battle strategies that might be helpful. Plus, if there is any way we could board their ship, I would fight to my last breath."
Merrik then proceeds to lay his shield down on the floor and maneuvers items from the bridge around to give Erlich some dragon air battle insights.
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"Interesting information, Captain, especially the specifics on Dasan's tactics regarding traced loot--apparently someone has tried this before and been killed for it. Perhaps that is not our best strategy. Also an interesting description of the pirate starship tactically--I am no expert, but I've never heard of weapons that large on such a small vessel," contributes Harukai, "The information on their ship may be inaccurate."
Looking over the tactical information, Harukai turns pale. "Chiaiese, if Dasan truly has a graser weapon, we are completely outclassed here. While a smaller, more agile craft might have a chance, our larger craft with minimal armor will be an easy target, even at long range. Even a single hit would blow through our shields, likely cripple our ship, and subject us to radiation poisoning. Your research may have just saved our lives," he says seriously. "We should take the grain and be done with it, turning and running at top speed if we encounter the marauder."
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"Heh, well, sensors work on a, sort of a kinda 'fixed' principle. It's a rubindium application on the Altonian ascpect of subspace...not much that I can do.
Mind you, if I took one of the polarity sustainers and realigned the micro-optic phaser polarity with paraphoretic Trellium-D, I could boost the signal.
The shields wouldn't like it though."
"But, yeah, what say we do the grain run now to get all the kinks out, and then see if the gems are still available?
Me thinks that the gems will bring the space pirate whether we want or not, heh."
***beep boop boop bop*** Viv states, giving the odds of their survival against a tractor-beam lead graser to the ninth decimal place.
Sky Fire has some better sensors after Anton's work, but the shield output is down slightly.
"Take care with that Trellium-D, Anton," says Harukai, "I've heard it is quite unstable in its liquid form."
It began to get dark over Athas, with the sun dipping low. Even with a new ship, one can get clearance to launch out into space. The stars are coming out. Making one wonder, as they always do.
"Shall we set up the grain shipment loading for the morning, then? The Sky Fire has lots of cargo storage space," says Harukai.
"Terms and conditions are listed here..." Erlich furrows his brow as something odd catches his eye on the datasite. Well, look a that. Caveats and addendums... Hmmm, guess they've had incidents beyond the normal contracts necessitating those. Interesting. May not exactly be a milk run after all. Captain? Want to read this over? Look sound, some additional requirements, but nothing outside our capability. Key in and execute the contract? That will open up codes and contact details at the station..." He looks up expectantly...
Chiaiese purses her lips. Grain was so... dusty. Not to mention the crew quarters were completely inadequate - a tradeoff for the quality of armaments they could afford on a budget. Nevertheless, men being men, well, some situations couldn't be avoided.
She believed the ship was capable of taking on Dasan and his light freighter, but only if the crew followed the plan, and there was no telling how that was likely to play out. So, this was the least adventurous and safest prospect.
It might be easier to accept if she could glimpse at the greater design, but with the promise that such knowledge might be forthcoming, she accepts the contract from Erlich, chews on the legalese, and then signs off.
She opens a channel to Tower control. "Sky Fire prepared for departure, platform nine. Trans-orbital vectors coded and en route. Awaiting confirmation of departure window."
Harukai finishes up his dinner and goes to find his quarters on the ship to sleep for the night. He keys in a memo to the the temp agency who has been finding him jobs for the last few months, letting them know he is going to be gone for awhile. "You never know what you might need of a night, and it's better to figure out what I'm missing when I am still in port and can buy it," he thinks.
In the morning, he has a quick breakfast and gets his blood pumping by helping the loaders get the grain on board and locked down tight for the journey to the Spacer Colony. Seeing Anton over to the side, he stops for a moment and asks the mechanic, "So did the cap get us a good deal for this trip? I hope we'll at least pay for food and fuel..." It is obvious that Harukai is looking forward to getting off this rock, and it is with no small excitement that he listens to the captain's words as they prepare to leave the port.