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Joe immediately starts to look over the instrument to fix it so she can do a quick analyzing of the samples. While she works she humms lightly to herself...this is stuff she misses back in her undergraduate days as a biologist....
Finally she looks over the samples.
Finally getting the instrument ready and going, she looks over at what Buddy has been doing....
"Buddy...." as she starts telling Buddy about the fruit, probably too late for anything, but at least she knows what to do if Buddy goes into anaphylactic shock....
Joe gets cracking on the samples after repairing the machine. She notes they contain the presence of trace amounts of horacalcum, a rare starmetal that, in large quantities, is capable of warping space-time.
She then identifies the fruit growing in the planter as sicklefruit, a shrub native to Triaxus that grows during the planet’s summer. An automatic watering system keeps the plants alive.
Szama finds no signs of any traps.
Ayoka gets three terminals operational.
The first one reveals that its last action was to be wiped.
The second belongs to Dr. Thrai and contains a meticulous catalog of each starship fragment the research team discovered.
Havar’s computer contains copies of periodic reports he made to the Xenowardens confirming the Starfinder Society didn’t harm the system’s natural ecosystem. The computer also contains the entire run of Infinite Stars, a classic Vercite soap opera.
***
Szama cracks the other door.
This spacious room contains tables and benches running along the eastern wall. A ball court divided by a net occupies the majority of the room, though the court is clearly no longer used for its intended purpose. A nest of old bedding is strewn over the painted floor. Planters in an alcove to the south contain more shrubs bearing the familiar green fruit.
On the far side you can see a computer terminal, a clearly marked latrine, and a store-room that looks like it has been ransacked.
Ayoka finds some interesting info about starships
Ayoka afinds the first computer desk just seems odd, even discounting the formated hard-drive, and locates a hidden compartment containing Dr. Ordez backup hardcopy of data - comprising of fairly detailed survey data of the Mentras system natural resources.
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Szama pulls back out of the rec room when the others call her back. "Okay, sorry, I just wanted to help, and I don't...really know much about computers. Hehheh! Oh, but I did see a big nest of bedding in there. I wonder if that's where whatever is in here sleeps?"
Turning to Buddy, Szama happily shuffles over and accepts one of the fruits. She gives it a cursory sniff before taking a big bite. "Hmm, needf sfalt," she says through a mouthful of the fruit.
The bite of fruit is exactly that, a largely forgettable experience of mostly bland fruit. It seems quite edible, but there's nothing particularly good about it and you wouldn't be buying it at the supermarket unless it was on special.
Indeed the computer is filled with vidgames and music - there is no password.
Joe notices that there are large rents in the floor.
Joe ALSO notices that the western door is buckled, as though something on the other side was at some point trying to bash its way through. The door is still firmly shut though.
Buddy is in the messed up bunk room but can't make heads or tails of the mess.
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Buddy leaves the bunk room
"There is a mess in there, but I don't know why. Maybe they got up late and did have time to clean it? Maybe... it happens to me sometimes..."
Buddy stops next to Joe and says
"Uhh, have you done those marks Joe? I told you, that with those syringes you can do some serious damages."
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Joe half throws her hands up in exasperation, and then gives a sidelong look at Buddy's comment. "No...I didn't make those...probably whatever buckled that door did. And may I suggest you watch that door so that nothing comes in from there? I can go look at the bunks...."
She walks into the bunk room....
Joe checks the bunk rooms - one room still contains a pair of
xenowarden’s boots and a cover seed. Another contains a datapad belonging to Sonder; the datapad contains several drafts of a romance novel in progress and a series of emails between Sonder and his superiors at Resurgent Technologies discussing whether the team’s study of the starship fragments revealed anything of interest to their R&D department.
Examining the final room she is satisfied there is nothing else to see until something carved in one of the bunks catches her eye - a single word that has been clearly cut in with a knife:
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Joe hums with herself as she looks through the bunk rooms....
Over comms, "Iteresting....some items that they left whenever what happened....somebody is a aspiring romance novelist..interesting.....hmm...what is this...........UMMMM GUYS!!!!! JINSULS!". Over the comms you hear a couple of deep breaths. " Well it was carved into the side of one of the bunks. Could that be what happened to our nufriends? I heard that Jinsuls were bad, badder and baddest of the bads. I never fought them, as I was working in the Veskarium fleet during those years, but I know they are not good news."
"If so...everybody get your combat face on....this might have become a rescue and possible recovery mission....one that we might have to fight our way out of to survive...."
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Buddy was looking at the doors when Joe began her transition
"Jinsuls? Who are Jinsuls? Are they that band with 2 sets of drums and a Morlamaw singer? Oh yeah they are bad, atrocious even. Some aliens should know when to shut up instead of punishing others with a constant flow of nonsense..." says Buddy clearly not away who Jinsuls are.
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"Don't you read any of the Starfinder Chronicles or Mission debriefs? At least the ones you don't need security clearance for? Even the semi-redacted ones has lots of good information about what happens. Apparently Jinsuls are some kind of insect like medium type creature with cyber leg blades and some can cast spells. They hate Starfinders for reasons that will take a while to explain. But they were mostly shattered when the Starfinders took the Master of Stars to their original home system. My guess is if there are Jinsuls here, they are either mercenaries, or are trying to hurt the Starfinders somehow...."
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Unlike Buddy, Ayoko had read previous Chronicles. After all, she wanted to be a good and helpful Starfinder - and it did help to know things that might be useful.
She squeaked a bit ... Erm .... what she said and more. Plus Jinsuls not want to be nufriends. Jinsuls mean and nasty. They kill skittermanders - worse than stridermanders. If Jinsuls here, then we're in trouble.
You push north - three doors split off this corridor. It appears to be the operations hub of the base.
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"Oh no! Jinsuls are bad news! Although I did hear a really amazing story about Radaszam where he and Historia-7 (when they were called Historia-7) blew up a whole jinsul satellite base! It was amaaaaaazzziiinnngg!!"
After she finishes fan-girling, Szama draws a pistol and a grenade to "get her combat face on" as Joe suggested and follows to the north. Seeing that the team has a choice, she suggests taking the first door on the left. "A really smart Starfinder agent suggested that to me once, and I think that sounds like a good idea! Let's try this one!" She moves to the first door on her left, then stops to look and listen for traps or jinsul ambushes.
The beds in this room are stripped of bedding, exposing bare, shredded mattresses. The blankets and stuffing are piled into a corner into a haphazard nest befouled by an unknown creature.
There are mysterious bones, bits of chitin, and a bunch of personal gear strewn about.
In the mess Joe Bones finds Dr. Ordez’s personal datapad partially buried under the pile of bedding. Accessing it she finds some information:
Hey!
Don’t worry. We haven’t all killed each other yet—though someone might have to hold me back from wringing Bhennie’s neck soon.She’s brilliant, she really is, but this time she took the backup starship apart for some completely unnecessary “upgrades.” Not that I’m complaining about upgrades, but with the state the engines are in, it will probably take her weeks to get the ship operable again, so if there’s an emergency we’ll be stuck here. I know I’m a worrywart. You don’t need to say it. Bhennie will have everything put back together in a few days and then I can stop pulling my hair out.
Love,
Lucial
Joe identifies fragments within the nest as jinsul chitin. The gnawed bones are humanoid.
The other equipment includes a tremor boomer rifle, a red star nova lance, and a suit of officer ceremonial plate.
You step across the hall and check the other room.
This office looks like it has been used for administrative tasks.
Someone has emptied the desk and knocked the computer onto the floor while ransacking the place.
You get the computer running again and find it holds records of the outpost’s day-to-day operations, as well as past reports Dr. Ordez sent to
Absalom Station. There is an unfinished draft of a report Dr. Ordez was working on when the base was attacked.
I hope this reaches you before you send the relief team. We recently discovered one of the most intact starship fragments to date,
and inside it was a creature held in stasis. The specimen demands further study back on Absalom Station; I’d like to bring it with us
when we return for station leave. I’m requesting you prepare the relief ship to transport a large, omnivorous animal of unknown origin.
You check the final room in this area.
Workstations and blinking monitors cover the walls in this room, indicating that the equipment is still functional.
Reviewing the comms logs and you determine that someone recently used this array to attempt several calls to a ship with identification data that doesn’t match any common Pact Worlds database.
These computers also track the locations of several drones the research team deployed to gather preliminary data further into the asteroid belt.
You also note a hidden file system - DC 19 Computers check to hack!
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Huh ... wonder who they were trying to communicate with ... comm logs report an unidentified ship. No known ID. They've also got several drones out ...... Hang on .... what's this?
More hacking at the computer later ....
.... and I have no idea what this hidden file is. Anyone else wanna have a go at it?