Cakes nods to everyone. "Seriously. Thank you all for the help, it was a pleasure working with you." A tech flags Waverly and T3dy to follow them and within a few minutes the infra-red sensors were added to their armor.
Now that the Wanderstar is completely ready the crew board without any further fanfare. The ship is a medium explorer class vessel and the interior reflects this. The halls are wide enough to accommodate two people side by side and the ceilings are high enough to prevent a feeling of claustrophobia. There are three cargo bays that are mostly empty storing only a few pallets of provisions for the journey. There is a well maintained physical sciences lab should any of the crew have need.
There are six crew cabins all fairly similar in size and furnishings. Each offers a simple bunk, some method of storage a simple desk and chair and computer terminal. The lighting and temperature control are voice activated.
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Bonkers familiarizes himself with whatever the ship has for a sick bay. He also, unless stopped, takes just a small portion of space in the lab for experiments. Various bottles, beakers and such take up the area very quickly, many with badly scribbled notes and some with clear "DO NOT TOUCH" or "DO NOT DRINK" on them.
It's not long before he moves everything out of the lab and into one of the mostly empty cargo areas and sets up a proper lab.
He then talks to everyone about attuning his custom microlab to them when they reach their destination. He goes over the benefits and the process.
He also helps out with any engineering tasks that need to be done.
After the first few days he gets into a routine. Waking, breakfast with plenty of coffee, seeing if assistance is needed with any task and then working on experiments in the lab space or sick bay for two or three hours. A snack follows, with some light exercise to help toughen up his skinny frame and then lunch. He will happily join the rest of the crew for meals if they get together as a group.
After lunch he usually takes a short nap and then goes back to his experiments. Before dinner he usually reads some. Sometimes for fun, sometimes as research. It's not long before someone catches him reading a trashy action/mystery novel called "The Rat who came to dinner." After dinner he bathes, relaxes with a book or a vid, maybe has a small drink and unless something important needs to be done hits his cabin early to sleep.
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Three weeks locked in a small ship and cramped up with half a dozen others-- Belta is home!
She will spend her time going to see the others, and hanging out with them.
Knocking on cabin doors in the morning, before you are out of bed:
"Hey d'ere, Mega Kodrog 2, youssa goin' to work out 'dis morning? Wanna grab some protein drink? You all good? You happy with dah Starfinder medical package? We mean: what happens if you goes and gets some physical harm while doin' your sports?"
Or spending time with Bonkers in his custom microlab:
"Dat be a good book you is reading, Bonkers? Oh, an' we hopes you got dah good safety measures here. Don't wanna go and set fire to dah ship, heh?"
Checking on people to see if they are content.
"Hey, Mister Sayre, you lookin' around the ship? All good? We wanted to asks you: what do you think of the Starfinder training program? Do you get enough paid classes to keep you up to date with newly discovered Alien machines and such?"
If they are happy with their work.
Spending time with T3DY on the bridge:
"Teddy, our man dat's not a man!
Be dah good job piloting for dah Starfinders? They license you on several ships? Any desires you might be havin'? Changes you want made with how dey run t'ings?"
And just chatting during the meals:
"So, Saratur, mon! Where do you sees yourself in 5 years?! Dah Starfinders offerin' you enough advancement prospects?"
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Saratur unpacks his belongings and spends the initial part of his journey trying to fix his suit from the magical mishap.
During the trip he wanders a bit around the ship, which does not last long, he tries to read about the inter-planetary situation,s and when he is extremely board which is around 11 AM he practices magic tricks. He pulls credits out of other ears, does card tricks, and plays with his survival knife.
He spends some time speaking with others or casting spells in always empty cargo bay.
"My plans rarely go that far Belta. I have a plan for the next 6 months: stay alive and earn some money. How about yourself?"
Sometimes you can find Saratur looking into Vast space and doing nothing.
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Or spending time with Bonkers in his custom microlab:
"Dat be a good book you is reading, Bonkers? Oh, an' we hopes you got dah good safety measures here. Don't wanna go and set fire to dah ship, heh?"
Bonkers quickly stuffs the book behind a technical manual for a RGX54 beaker.
"Uh, a guilty pleasure... But yes, of course I use all standard safety measures! I doubt anything here will set the ship on fire but some things should not be ingested, injected or otherwise placed in or on your body in their present configuration!"
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During the trip Waverly tries to make himself useful. He stands the odd watch at the con, cooks indifferently, and otherwise holes up in the engineering spaces.
If you visit him there, it seems he always has pieces of equipment disassembled, with probes and leads attached. "Kev-o-lari Venture. Looks like a little bit of an upgrade from the standard Society explorer. Nice industrial grade components here. Still haven't found anything likely to fail."
"Hey, Mister Sayre, you lookin' around the ship? All good? We wanted to asks you: what do you think of the Starfinder training program? Do you get enough paid classes to keep you up to date with newly discovered Alien machines and such?"
"What are you with Starfinder HR?!" Waverly's response is mock exaggeration. "Will I get a better posting if I extoll the glories of the Society?"
"And do you really want to know, or are you just making conversation?If Belta really wants to know, Waverly considers the question seriously, "The basic training is all right, but I don't see much going forward. It's not like there's a dedicated training program for continual improvement. Seems like they just want us to pick it up on the fly. That works for me, 'cause I'm always trying to figure out how things work. But other people might be less inquisitive. Whp do you see here cross-training outside their expertise? ... When we find that alien machine, I'll try to take it apart too. "
It's not long before he moves everything out of the lab and into one of the mostly empty cargo areas and sets up a proper lab.
He then talks to everyone about attuning his custom microlab to them when they reach their destination. He goes over the benefits and the process.
He also helps out with any engineering tasks that need to be done.
Waverly is interested in how Bonkers gear works and is willing to help improve equipment efficiency and controls. Finding out that the ysoki is willing to help with engineering, he drafts his new friend into helping remove some of the larger components for disassembly, analysis, and re-installation.
The close contact and direct observation of Bonker's work in the lab, makes Waverly a willing subject for attunement.
During the trip he wanders a bit around the ship, which does not last long, he tries to read about the inter-planetary situation,s and when he is extremely board which is around 11 AM he practices magic tricks. He pulls credits out of other ears, does card tricks, and plays with his survival knife.
He spends some time speaking with others or casting spells in always empty cargo bay. ... Sometimes you can find Saratur looking into Vast space and doing nothing.
Waverly is endlessly fascinated by the magic and will watch over and over again, trying to figure out how things are done, and failing that pestering Saratur to tell him how it's done. On a midnight watch, Waverly steps beside the ysoki staring into a view screen and says simply, "There's a lot of space out there."
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"Hey, mister Sayre, we not be human resources, though me might be a human resource, like you!
But, yah, of course, man, we wan't to know. We can't gives you some better posting, but we thinks that if dah people all voice there concerns, we might organize and make things heard.
Like you is sayin' now: maybe enough people get together to back your idea of training, and we get dem bosses to organize dis."
Belta notes this idea down.
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If you visit him there, it seems he always has pieces of equipment disassembled, with probes and leads attached. "Kev-o-lari Venture. Looks like a little bit of an upgrade from the standard Society explorer. Nice industrial grade components here. Still haven't found anything likely to fail."
Waverly is interested in how Bonkers gear works and is willing to help improve equipment efficiency and controls. Finding out that the ysoki is...It's not long before he moves everything out of the lab and into one of the mostly empty cargo areas and sets up a proper lab.
He then talks to everyone about attuning his custom microlab to them when they reach their destination. He goes over the benefits and the process.
He also helps out with any engineering tasks that need to be done.
Bonkers does indeed visit and is happy to discuss the upgrades on the ship and help out, being a part time engineer when needed himself.
Once Waverly makes his interest known Bonkers will regale him with too much information on everything from basic medicinal and mutagenic science down to boring safety procedures. He is happy to share the work.
"If we come up with something big, i'll share the credit with you!"
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T3Dy stows his equipment in one of the crew berths and immediately heads to the cockpit. Settling into the pilots sear, he runs through the startup checklist and performs a pre-flight inspection.
"An older model, but still serviceable. And quite adequate for this task, I should expect."
His shoulders drop a bit as he relaxes in the pilots position. Scanning the screens, he runs through the ships manifest and specs almost absent mindedly.
Once underway, T3Dy spends a solid 8 hours everyday at the helm, piloting when necessary and running simulations if not. His challenges proceed steadily in difficulty,always setting their vessel against abnormal threats and situations.
The remaining parts of the day, he performs a bit of exercise and stretching routines, then takes his off time reading and chatting with the others.
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Saratur turns to Waverly and smirks
"Yeah, a lot of space. It makes you think, the empty space, like a blank card that can be written again. Hundreds of worlds that can be inhabited, plenty of opportunities for everyone. And here we are flying on a ship, chasing signals..."
"You want to know how magic is done? I don't know, if you talk to Mystics they will speak of streams of magic flowing through the cosmos, mystical connections with gods that lend them their power. Technomancers are more aligned with your domain, being able to control nanobots and technology. Me, I can look into parallel universes, there are theoretical papers that explain that, it all started with multiple-world theory in ancient times when people were trying to figure out quantum physics."
He looks Waverly in the eyes then turns back to space
"But that theory always assumed that there is no way for one world to impact the other. But some of us can, you can 'steal' some of the energy, kinetics, vacuum from one world to the other. When you throw a grenade and it almost hurt no one and nothing it could be that someone like me took some of the energy. We don't understand it and know no impact of our choices. I can be borrowing a-bombs blast that would kill an innocent kid or a serial-killer a seconds before he takes another victim..." Saratur turn silent here and shivers
"It creeps me out whenever I think of it."
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Bonkers is able to sufficiently remodel the lab to suit his standards and adequately double as a medbay. The technology he keeps is pristine and well looked after. The Starfinder society seemed to spare no expense in that regard.
Belta kept busy moving from crewmember to crewmember keeping everyone sane with little social interactions which help build bridges with the other members of the society.
Waverly was naturally drawn to the engineering section. Here too the ship was in great condition. Since the engine was recalibrated it has been humming along perfectly, As long as it is supposed to hum that is.
T3dy hopped right into the pilot chair. The ship was big but nothing the android couldn’t handle. With expert skill and grace T3dy smoothly kept the ship running efficiently.
Several cycles passed uneventfully until one ship-day during an intense conversation among the crew Both Mega Kodrog and Saratur happened to look out separate viewports. They both saw a startling sight. In the distance an eerie orange glow broke the otherwise plain monotony of the drift. Like a beacon calling out in the darkness. From this distance it was impossible for either to tell what might be causing the mysterious glow.
AS T3dy nudges the Wanderstar in the direction of the anomaly, Mega Kodrog sends out a burst transmission of a greeting. Bonkers quickly fires up the long range scanners. From the current distance they don't offer any insight.
The Wanderstar gently glides toward the orange glow. It splits the void in a simple line breaking the monotony of the surrounding darkness. When the ship gets close enough Bonkers' sensors begin to extract data. Whatever it is, it's hot. they seem to say. The readings come back at well over a thousand degrees Celsius.
As the ship moved even closer it appeared to be a bar of pure fire. it measured thousands of kilometers long in either direction but only feet in height. and the sensors could not penetrate the fire enough to establish a relative depth. Like waves breaking in the ocean large gouts of pure fire roiled across the "surface" of the bar. Saratur's keen eyes even caught a glimpse of what appeared to be glowing-white fish like creatures "swimming" and "Jumping" much like dolphins.
Eventually the ships shields begin to glow and the internal temperature increases to uncomfortable levels as the life support system is finding it difficult to disperse the heat. The ships computer cries out an alarm in warning that getting any closer would be a mistake.
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Waverly arrives on the bridge in pajamas. "Sorry. I was a sleep and having a nightmare. Dreamed I was a cheap criminal trying to rob a small food shop and being soundly trounced by their janitor with a mop."
"Give me a few minutes with the sensors." Waverly moves to the science station, amkes a few adjustments and tries another scan.
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Bonkers just flicks hos whiskers after Waverly's recounting of his dream.
"Well, I am no psychoanalyst but if you need a session, just let me know. Now, as for whatever this phenomenon is... I do not think we are equipped to study it further. Perhaps a message back and then we head on to our destination?"
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Waverly shakes his head vigorously, " No need for therapy. It was just a nightmare."
He lifts his head from the sensor screen. "I'm not getting anything more than Bonkers did. I thought using a Kalman filter in the IR spectrum would help,but it didn't."
"I wonder. Is this some kind of gateway to an elemental plane, or a natural phenomenon? The Drift is strange. "
The shields begin to relax and the whining alarm ceased as T3dy moved the ship out of the Danger zone.
Bonkers and Waverly spend several hours pouring over the various sensor suites the ship is equipped with and manage to record a large amount of data. The analysts back at Absalom Station will surly have there hands full sorting through all of it but unfortunately the consensus aboard the ship is that none of the information is particularly relevant to the crews current mission on Khyyros.
The remainder of the voyage is uneventful. The drift offering no further mysteries for exploration. The remaining days grind by with monotonous rhythm until finally the ship's engine whine in deceleration and the Wanderstar materialized back in real space.
The ships sensors indicate that the crew has arrived at their desired destination. A small system composed of three planets orbiting a yellow star. From the edge of the system where the ship translated back to real space it requires only a few hours to arrive in orbit around Khyyros.
The Wanderstar's long range sensors quickly determine the general location of the mysterious signal that Guidance sought you to investigate. The planet supports a breathable atmosphere and is teaming with both plant and animal life although no signs of civilization are apparent.
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Belta is happy to have arrived, and gets her gear ready.
"So, where will we land?"
Belta looks over the shoulder of the person checking the sensors--
--and seems to spot some adequate places.
She is just about to say something, but, knowing she is has no computer skills, she imagines she is mistaken.
She just shrugs and says nothing.
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"Big tectonic shifts. Violent doesn't begin to describe it. Seems unlikely a surface-bound technological society could survive that kind of seismic event and they look recent enough that there'd be no chance to rebuild. Signal could be a last ditch call for help?"
"That's a good looking landing site. Before we head out, everyone make sure we've got our comms synched. "
Belta and Bonkers easily use the ships computers to locate the source of the signal. Using their telemetry, T3dy guides the Wanderstar into the atmosphere of Khyyros. The ship descends for several seconds, the shields easily dissipating the heat of the descent.
The ship eventually comes to rest on a solid ground in a field of tall wheat like grass. The temperature is mild and the systems sun is shinning.
It was a simple matter for Waverly to patch a small datapad into the the ships computer and create a portable "scanner" using the data that was collected previously. After collecting your belongings and leaving the ship, Waverly quickly locates the source of the signal and leads the group in the proper direction.
The party travels through the Plains at a comfortable pace and while there is no sign of civilization a herd local fauna can be seen in the distance kicking up large clouds of dust.
It is a matter of twenty minutes before you arrive at one of the planets large crevasses. The impromptu scanner indicates the signal is coming from the bottom.
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T3Dy gears up and armors up, believing the atmosphere to be breathable, but taking no chances with his helmet still up. Laser rifle shouldered and pack slung, he takes point to the drop off.
Looking for a spot to secure his rope, he scans the climb below, switching through his various spectra of vision.
"How are you all with climbing? I can assist the descent, at the least."
(low light, infrared)
Upon investigation, the crevasse has several natural pathways there are not without danger but make traversing somewhat easier. Waverly produces a large cable and with the help of T3dy the party is able to descend safely to the bottom.
You stand at the mouth of a large cavern and you see the first clear signs of sentient habitation. There are clear steps cut into the rock leading down into the cavern.
The cavern opens up at the bottom of a set of stone steps to reveal a metal structure situated within the stone. Gaping holes from age or catastrophe pierce the walls to the south and east, revealing constructed chambers within. The rubble covers, and broken stalactites hang from the ceiling.