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Ceolor keeps the targeting systems open on his controls. "Nice encouragement there, Lieutenant Altorin... Wait am I using Lieutenant here correctly? Nevermind, jsut don't be afraid to demand things of people as well."
He then turns back to the console and reaims the missile launcher.
Acting Captain Altorin orders Hellih to get some power to the failing shields, and sure enough the android manages to get a little shimmer out in space.
Fexia focuses on targetting the engines of the enemy, while Oddman and Ceolor keep to their gunning stations.
As blinky makes a turn, the enemy ship attempts some sort of roll, but the flagging thruster spoil the maneuver, and instead it just unimpressively moves forward slightly.
The ship is a sitting duck, and oddman and ceolor easily hit their mark, stripping its starboard shields, then burning through the ship's armor.
The mysterious enemy returns fire, rocking the port shield until it collapses. Some minor damage comes through.
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Round 5 report
Damage report: 48 hull damage. shields fpsa 0/0/15/3
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Enemy report
Bogey (Speed 4; Maneuverability average (turn 2); AC 17; TL 17 HP Max 85; PSU 130)
Target 1: 69 damage, shields fpsa 0/15/0/20
weapons (coilgun), sensors, engines, power core glitching
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Round 5 outcome
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Turret: aeon caster (3d4,mystic),
Turret: high expl. missile (4d8)
Forward: Coilgun (4d4)
Forward: heavy laser (4d8)
Aft: Coilgun (4d4)
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Captain - Ceolor - Gunning
Magic officer - Altorin
Pilot - Blinky - Flyin by
Science officer - Hellik - Patch engines
Gunner (T - AC) - Oddman - Gunning
Gunner (F - HL) - Fexia - Patch engines
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Round 6Drake moves
Drone moves
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Everyone!
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Round 7 pilot roll: 25
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Hellih looks at the custom rig that constantly displays him stats of their ship. He looks at the stats 0/0/15/3 and taps his custom rig couple of times.
"That can't be right! Maybe the sensors got fried after last shot."
Hellih again attempts to divert more power to restore shields.
He again takes some of the power generated by the core of the ship to restore the shields.
"Just a tiny bit, so that no other systems are impacted."
"That should do it. Restoring more to front. Protect our starboard Blinky!"
Blinky slides the ship back into position, while the enemy makes one more attempt at flipping the ship over
The aggressive maneuvring of the ship bring the starfinder missile-launcher-to-missile-launcher. Fexia and Oddman do not hesitate, and pull the trigger on the exposed front of the alien ship. As missile scream their way to the dark hull, the alient ship lights up and targets the drake for a parting shot.
There's a bright flash, not clear if from the coilguns hitting the front shield, or the enemy's power core exploding. Screen flicker a moment, then go dark completely, leaving the drake adrift for a few long seconds. Slowly, the auxiliary system come back online: Boop, beep. Shields critical. Warning... containment breach on deck two....
The black screens slowly fade back to life, overlooking Icefront and a cloud of floating debris, once the enemy vessel. Threat neutralized, Dr. Monsylkis hails the ship. KRRRKKRRRKK. This is MonsKKRKKRKKSK. Proceed to laKKRKRKKRK. Will aid in KKRKpairs
With barely functional communication systems, Monsylkis manages to send over some coordinates to land - near the Icefront research station.
Then there's that atmosphere. The drake is already quite a beast to land properly, poorly as it turns, but with current damage, putting this bucket down in one piece is going to be a miracle. The turbulence doesn't help either - the drake rocks and shakes as heavy winds and snow laps the panel. Did the right armor panel just come off?
The churning gray clouds of Icefront’s outer atmosphere eventually give way to a wooded area blanketed with snow. Much of the planet’s surface appears untouched by civilization, save for a small complex of artificial structures: a landing pad, greenhouses, satellite towers, rows of irrigated crop fields, temporary humanoid shelters, external generators, and biodomes outfitted with all manner of measuring devices. A tall scaffold tower sprouts from a walled enclosure far from the other buildings, its length regularly pulsing with blue light.
The landing is... relatively soft. A team of three greets the starfinders upon landing: Dr. Monsylkis, who stands just shy of eight feet tall and whose pale skin is laced with cybernetic augmentations designed to insulate heat; a short winterborn ryphorian wearing a suit of armor that appears to be a technological masterpiece of its own; and a towering dragonkin, whose sharp features naturally form a perpetual scowl.
Welcome to Icefront, it is an honor to have you visit Monsylkis says graciously, This is Spinjack, our head of facilities and lead technician, pointing to the Ryphorian. Our head of security, Farvenzi, she says as she waves to the dragonkin.
Spinjack immediately assigns two technicians to help repair the starvessel, while Monsylkis says I'm sure you can't wait to get a tour of the station...
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Blinky mops up his tea and seems otherwise happy to be alive - "Whatever that was, it was pretty tough!"
***
Seeing the others are already quizzing about the space-assailant, Blinky talks about the facilities "I'd love to start with the greenhouse, lets take it from the top of your list eh? Looks like quite a set-up you have here"
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Ceolor grins broadly at meeting the tall woman. "My Doc, you are certainly much taller than I imagined! Ceolor Xusha! Here, have one of my business cards. Would you mind if I take notes on this place for possible future novel?" He hands over a card, but this one seems to lack the language about a free copy of one of his books.
He then turns to Spinjack and Farvenzi, handing both of them cards as well. "Here, ones for you two as well. Hrmm, this might be rude of me to ask, and if it is please forgive me, but are you two, uh, bonded? Would I be able to ask you a few questions about what it's like?"
Ceolor then looks through the list not seeing anything that screams out to him. "I don't really have any preferences in where to tour first, so Blinky's suggestion sounds just fine."
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End of starship combat
The last explosion throws Hellih in the air and he has to turn on his magnetic boots to be pulled to the ground without smashing into the wall.
As the explosion ends in the engine room beeping can be heard related to extensive damage that was done. Hellih walks towards the screen and sees that his connection to custom rig was ripped out. A number of sparks begin to fly, lights flicker, and occasional electric discharges can be seen.
Hellih turns of the whole section of the engine, which takes care of the discharges. He takes out a cigarette and lights it from the burning computer on the wall. Hellih grabs a fire extinguisher and puts the fire down calling through the comms.
"Engine is severely damaged, but we should be able to land it. I will do some quick repairs and join you in about 20..." a small explosion can be heard from the engine room
"Make it 40 minutes."
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On the ground
Hellih leaves the ship, his cloth is dirty and has holes in it. His artificial arm is a bit burned. He takes out another cigarette and brings it to life, he turns on the ear sucking mechanism that causes the cig to be gone in no time. He eyes the hosts and simply nods to them.
"Greenhouse sounds good. Where can I get some coffee?"
"Nice to meet all of you! Looks like the weather is going have me wishing I was born in the winter like you Spinjack." he says with a smile.
Spinjack nods at Altorin, yes, it's quite cold here
That seems a bit insincere, doesn't it?
"Definitely did not expect a battle before coming in, is that a common occurrence around here?" he asks about
Fexia snaps to attention and salutes. "Imperator Fexia, representative of the lost Queen Jadnura, on temporary assignment to queen Luwazi Elsebo. We appreciate the assistance with the damage to our vessel. Have you experience with vessels such as the one which assailed us?"
I must say Dr. Monsylkis says, that you were the first vessel to show up in a while. That other vessel was the second. I'm glad you showed up, we would have had only our drones to defend us.
"Do you employ natives?"
While Farvenzi makes a scoffing noise, Monsylkis answers The natives are simple people, mostly harmless. We do not employ them here.
He then turns to Spinjack and Farvenzi, handing both of them cards as well. "Here, ones for you two as well. Hrmm, this might be rude of me to ask, and if it is please forgive me, but are you two, uh, bonded? Would I be able to ask you a few questions about what it's like?"
Spinjack raises an eyebrow, while Farvenzi glares at the Akitonian.
Seeing the others are already quizzing about the space-assailant, Blinky talks about the facilities "I'd love to start with the greenhouse, lets take it from the top of your list eh? Looks like quite a set-up you have here"Ceolor grins broadly at meeting the tall woman. "My Doc, you are certainly much taller than I imagined! Ceolor Xusha! Here, have one of my business cards. Would you mind if I take notes on this place for possible future novel?" He hands over a card, but this one seems to lack the language about a free copy of one of his books.
(...)Ceolor then looks through the list not seeing anything that screams out to him. "I don't really have any preferences in where to tour first, so Blinky's suggestion sounds just fine."
On the ground
Hellih leaves the ship, his cloth is dirty and has holes in it. His artificial arm is a bit burned. He takes out another cigarette and brings it to life, he turns on the ear sucking mechanism that causes the cig to be gone in no time. He eyes the hosts and simply nods to them."Greenhouse sounds good. Where can I get some coffee?"
Ah, I knew I was dealing with people of shared interest! Monsylkis says enthousiastically. Coffee is on the stove, get yourself a cup. It gets quite cold out here.
While Spinjack and Farvenzi follow the group like body guards, Monsylkis talks about her background in genetics, her degree in genetic biology from Selkrist Institute of Science and Technology, her dissertation on genetic adaptations of invasive plants. After I graduated, I was approached by a recruiter from Winterharvest - that's a nonprofit looking to optimize seasonal agriculture on Triaxus — to direct a ten-year study to genetically enhance Triaxian plants using resources from a similar planet. And here we are: the Icefront greenhouse. This is where we try to genetically engineer new plants or isolate desired plant phenotypes in a controlled environment.
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"We both know it doesn't bother you especially when you are such a ray of sunshine." Altorin says with a smile as he starts to walk with the others, beginning to worry about the grumps of the group.
"I will admit that I don't know much about plants, Doctor, but most seem to share a love of sunlight with me. So I appreciate your work!" he says as he looks over the greenhouse.
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Sense motive
***
Life Science
(reduce the DC of Life Sciences checks by 5 when identifying creatures with the animal, plant, or vermin types)
Blinky is far more interested in plants and animals "Funny you mention that, I've had a few expeditions on Akiton looking at the various species of desert plants, they run very deep root systems to tap water at depth - there was some interest in understanding if they could be used on other dry planets as a way to farm water - or provide a food source - cheaply and easily"
"You growing a food crop that might be suited to other cold planets?"
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Ceolor gets a hint of the annoyance and askance glances from Spinjack and Farvenzi and shuts up about 'bonding'.
But he doesn't seem to pick up on any further subtexts. He instead looks over at Monsylkis, following along with her explanations as best he can. "Any particularly interesting leads so far? Also are the native plants genetically compatible with Triaxian plants? Seems like that would be a hard hurdle to overcome. Do you have a plan for that? Perhaps using a virus..." He takes a long slurp of the coffee before he continues to chatter on like this, keeping an eye out for the other two members of the research project.
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Fexia nods and grabs a cup of coffee, skipping the cream and sugar. "I have spent time as a laboratory technician assisting in research on the subject of how personal cybernetic upgrades can benefit a hive rather than just an individual soldier. Coffee was always of the utmost importance to any research project."
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Hellih takes a cup of coffee and follows others to see the greenhouse. For the thin android who went through space combat, it was the most boring experience. He listened to what is said and observed there host with a certain level of suspicion that is not uncommon among android.
As he sips the coffee he observes what is grown there.
He also notices an interesting piece of armor that Spinjack has
Altorin notices that Farvenzi is studying the group closely. She and Spinjack seem to be in close synch, communicating telepathically.
Blinky uses his botanical knowledge, but is more specialised on moving plants, while these are mostly staying put in their pots.
Monsylkis responds to the questions with a long lecture on genetic studies, conluding As you can see, we're on a ten-year projects. We expect the first results next year. Projects like these always take a bit of patience
Blinky recognizes something interesting: some of the “desired plant phenotypes” the scientists are trying to isolate amount to organic workarounds of common antibiotics patented by pharmaceutical companies, similar to one breakthrough development introduced by Frozen Trove Labs six years ago that allowed Frozen Trove to upset and subsequently monopolize a major niche in the prescription drug market.
Hellih comes to the same conclusion.
The tour takes the group past the residences. The ryphorian's shelters are modest but cozy, many decorated with personal treasures. The many plaques on the walls reveal the ryphorians have advanced degrees from elite universities, and both the ryphorians and the guards have expensive personal devices that suggest their employers have a lot of capital. Not very typical for a non=profit organisation.
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Altorin sighs as the tour proves to be confusing between being stared down and looking suspicious.
"At least there seem to be some comfortable beds here, might get in a nap before we head on? Dr. could we visit the large tower if only to get a nice view of the area? I will admit after that battle I was a little distracted as we came in."
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Blinky projects his thoughts to his friends telepathically "Those plants back there are being modified to pull another stunt and corner markets again I bet, there's a lot of credits going into this place for an out of the way little station minding its own business...I don't think the good Doctor and his friends have very altruistic motives - more like some shady business"
Blinky looks at the beds "Too small for me" he jests "Can we have a peek at the lab?"
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Hellih experienced a couple of time telepathic communication in the past but it never made him feel comfortable
"Money probably does not go from the doctor, you can't make such conclusions about doctor's motives. You may draw conclusions about Frozen Trove motives. " points out Hellih
"They seem capable and would probably do not invite us here if they would do something shady. In the Spike if you stumble at a drug lab you will very quickly be turned around and if you get in you will never get out." says taking a sip of coffee.
"I like the idea of visiting the tower."
The group moves on the the scaffold tower, which is a large installation with all kinds of weather equipment on it. This machine allows us to control the environment here to some extent Dr. Monsylkis explains. still under the glaring eye of the dragonkin.
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The imperator notices that the tower is being overworked, power outputs raised to maintain chill levels against the incoming spring. Hellih also wonders about the noisy machinery and the isolation of the tower at the perimeter of the scientific camp. Would it be a coincidence that this tower is strategically located at the one chokepoint to safely enter the station from the forest?
The dragonkin raises an eyebrow, before Monsylkis interrupts No, no! No sunshine, we keep the climate slightly colder to mimic Triaxis conditions.
Spinjack starts to mutter a bit, and bluntly asks Isn't it time for you to move on?
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"I'm keen to move on and get out into the great outdoors, but as we are here to check the flora and fauna, meet the natives and see the archaeological sites, I'd be keen to have a look at your database - no doubt you have already catalogued some of this stuff so it would save us a fair bit of time - and I'd be happy to share my findings on our return as well. Not looking for any commercial in confidence stuff, just the initial analysis you have clearly done - like on the plants"