After the comms cut off, Jaraduk mutters Partners?! More like parasites... we've got to start watching what friends we make. He snorts in derision before moving on.
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In the alleyway...
Why are so many gadgets needed to keep it safe? Safe from what? And... how do we know those gadgets aren't about to fail as soon as we get the payload into our spare hold!
The nuar remains dubious of this alleyway deal.
"Nuthin' wrong with a lil' radiation." *SIP*
Akh lowers his head to communicate quietly with his team "Did you know that its illegal to move pharmaceuticals through the Veskarium without a medical license we don't have? So unless we want to visit that vesk jail that we've managed to dodge so far against all odds, it might be sensible to skip this job."
"Padding and technogadgets sounds quite good though. Maybe that Roent-something-or-other is a type of exotic pillow."
After the comms cut off, Jaraduk mutters Partners?! More like parasites... we've got to start watching what friends we make. He snorts in derision before moving on.
"I don't really blame 'em for what they did. I'd do the same if I were them... ...and if my crewmates let me... ...so no hard feelings on my part. But don't get me wrong - if there is enough of a payday involved, I'd be glad to sell 'em out!"
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Guess? walks into the store and says, "My good reptilian humanoid! I couldn't help but overhear your predicament as I was passing by! I might have a solution for you. If I were to take some or all of the stay-awakes off your hands, how much would you charge for them? And let's be honest, you and I both know that you're desperate to offload these items, which means you're pretty much gunna have to quote me at cost or I walk!"
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"Transporting roentgenium is perfectly legal. Its level of radiation is pretty dangerous but nevertheless it is legal. But what's the issue with Vesk-7? Why exactly won't people go there?"
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The older vesk shop owner looks down at Guess?, sizing him up, before breaking into a broad cheesey smile. "Fate smiles upon us today! Sure thing, I'd give them to you at cost. Just 3 BP for the lot, and I can even deliver them to your ship for you!" He looks down at the skittermander angrily. "I know someone with six strong arms who would be happy to work late into the night unloading them."
The shopkeeper is squeezing you a bit. The actual cost should be closer to 2 BP than 3.
Guess? knows that these meds are highly sought after and are often out of stock. Their price will vary from world to world, dependent on your crew's ability to find the right buyer , luck, and the region you're selling them in. But they're guaranteed to garner a profit anywhere outside the veskarium.
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The vesk in the alleyway points to Strek. "The protections are important, unless you want to look like this guy. No offense, mate." He coughs awkwardly. "They're solid though, I checked them myself. I didn't want a radiation spill contaminating my whole warehouse." He waves away Guess?'s question dismissively. "It's an iceball on the edge of the system. It's an important military base, I guess, but not pleasant. Sort of viewed as a punishment detail, us lizards prefer the sun." He shrugs. "So folks look down on those who live and work there. Just prejudice, that's all. Nothing wrong with it." Guess? doesn't know much about the system, but the explanation makes sense with the little he's heard. "I've got a landing pad, so you can pull your ship around to my warehouse and pick up the product - if you're in."
In the alleyway...
If we take your roentgenium, it will be contingent on an inspection of the safety devices...
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Though they question Melissa's reason for the paranoia, the shopkeeper shows the receipt that shows his "empty headed good-for-nothing nufriend" purchased the Stay-Awakes a few weeks ago, arriving yesterday. The man in the alley similarly shows his contract with the actual owner of the radioactive metals to find transport to Vesk-7. It seems he's been looking for a courier for several days.
The vesk nods and assures Jaraduk. "Course, of course. I didn't welcome the product into my office without inspecting it, I can't blame you for checking it out before bringing it into your home!"
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Talking to the merchant, "Well friend, I admire and respect your attempt at turning a profit despite your nufriend's mistake. But.... no. The cost of this lot is actually 2 BP. But dontcha worry! I'm sure the next merchant you come across won't realize the true value of these meds and you can definitely turn a profit there!"
"However, our presence presents to you both a saving grace AND an opportunity!! I'm in a position to acquire only half of your inventory here. So we'll take 25 tons off your hands for 1 BP. That IMMEDIATELY halves your risk of a loss and IMMEDIATELY provides you an opportunity to pawn off the remaining inventory at an inflated price way above cost - which will be easier to do with a smaller amount of inventory to move. Afterall, you said it yourself!
"You stated 'I'm never going to be able to offload these before their expiration date.' if I recall correctly. You now have 50% less to offload!!!
"So is it a deal?"
"DEAL!!!"
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To the skechy alleyway vesk, "Sounds good. We can certainly deliver the roentgenium for you and nope, we have no qualms about Vesk-7. BUUUUUT there are a few additional charges involved here. Y'see, we've got some additional surcharges for:
"These charges amount to an additional 3 Naval Block Prints. BUT you're in luck! We have a special going on today only where instead of the 3 BPs, we're accepting a discount of only 6000 credits! NICE, amirite?!?
"So in total, we can do the job for either 8 BPs or 5 BPS plus 6000 credits. Whaddaya say? Deal?"
Given that no one seems to be paying any attention to his well-meaning warnings, Akh weaves his way back onto the ship and tries to get some beauty sleep ahead of the inevitable nightmare.
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The shopkeeper gladly takes Guess?'s offer and sells you the whole batch of StayAwakes for 2 BP. You give the skittermander your ship's address and a meeting time later that evening.
"Did you know that its illegal to move pharmaceuticals through the Veskarium without a medical license we don't have?"
Akh's words echo through the back of your mind. Now that you've taken on illegal cargo, despite Del and Akh's protests to the contrary, you need to get it out of the Veskarium safely.
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The vesk in the alley stammers... "Uh... well.. I just... Well, I can't meet your demands." He puts his hands in his pockets. "You're not the first group to ask for more, but I've already raised the bid as high as I can afford. At this point I may need to rent a ship and take it across the system myself." He shrugs, defeated. "If you're not able to do it at this price, I'll just have to keep looking."
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Before departing, Guess will get the vesk's details, "Please provide us with your full legal name, contact details, shop business registration and a copy of your medicine distribution license. Afterall, we wouldn't want to purchase from an illegal medicine distributor - which you're clearly not. But it's all standard procedure.
"And in case we find any defects with the goods at the time of delivery, we'll need your contact information to discuss mitigating measures as I'm sure you're guaranteeing these medicines are all of adequate quality."
After departing, Guess? will be sure to use the information provided to gather all other publicly searchable information available about the vesk.
Guess? watches Akh move out and says, "Oh.. uh... hey, we're all good with the stay-awake job... right? Compared to other jobs, this one is a piece of cake, right? A lil bit of markers to re-label goods as insta-slurm (just add the mix to 12 oounces of water!). A lil bit of opaque tarp to cover the goods. A lil bit 'o medical license forgery. A lil bit of impersonation. A lil bit of transponder modification to broadcast our ship registry as the Wintermourn. A lil bit of Del flying under the radar outta Veskarium space. Eezy peezy! Amirite?!?!? uhhh... guys?"
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Referring to the roentgenium job, Guess? says, "Whadaya guys think? I'm inclined to go for it. I mean every little bit helps to make up for the lost Agavana bounty, amirite? But if we want to just jet outta here rather than head on another side trip within Veskarium space, I can dig it!"
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"Just because I have a problem with immoral doesn't mean I mind illegal. These things are way closer to the sell by date of most of the meds I took growing up and I'm fine. You know except for the night blindness. An twitching and all the voices "
"If someone better at chemistry wants to give them the once over with the chem analyzer though, we should. Aunt Mica got some bad ones once, puked up every color of the rainbow and a few extra we had to name on the spot. "
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Akh peeks through his claws at Guess? and comments "I suppose we could do both. Our track record of getting terrible deals and troublesome jobs is quite impeccable - it would be a shame to break our combo with an easy, relaxed, legal and uncomplicated job." He fixes Guess with a dry stare and then rolls over to rest his head on his claws. "I will be there to intercept whatever decides to assault us as a result."
Jaraduk shrugs at both jobs. His arms hang lazily over his grenade launch, which rests on his shoulders.
Sure! Load 'em up. We get quality inspections though.
He nods at Akh's mention of track record.
Right, we almost have to take them both. These days I expect something to fall through or head South in some way.
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The vesk shopkeeper is swayed by Guess?'s persuasion, giving you a copy of his information. You meet the skittermander at the ship later, and debate how to best get the medicine out of the system.
-re-label goods
-cover the goods
-medical license forgery
-impersonation
-transponder modification
-flying under the radar
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After picking up the StayAwakes, you head over to the warehouse to pick up the Roentgenium. The vesk meets you outside, pulling aside the large doors to reveal an enormous metal contraption. It has wires and tubes flowing all around it, connecting several smaller power sources and crates to a large container at the center. It is almost entirely made of stainless steel, though a small window lets you peer inside. Cradled within a pad of foam in the middle is a 1 meter cube of a yellow-greenish shiny metal. "Gotta keep it super-frozen, to keep it solid. A bunch of this supporting equipment is working towards that. The rest is to keep the Rad's inside. Crazy unique stuff, they must be doing some funky research on the snowball planet." The vesk points to a pair of hover-lifts. "Y'all look forklift certified. Two of you jump into the seats up there and grab it together to move it. Thing's enormous, you gotta do it together."
You walk around the large contraption, looking it over. Most of you don't see any flaws, but Guess? sees that several of the tubes haven't been fastened per industry standards. If the equipment is jostled at all, those will come loose and start releasing radiation into the area! After he shares the information, some of you want to abandon the job entirely - which would be allowed since you haven't signed any papers yet. However, Melissa and Strek think that the tubes could be fixed with a little bit of duct tape. The risk being... if they jostle the machine during patching, they could release the radiation themselves.
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That impersonation check was made for Guess,
Dels the pilot
Jaraduks the muscle
Streks slightly better at the engineering
"You know, if we claim its a slurm energy drink that would explain the background radiation...."
Melissa will try to re label the goods as slurm energy drink rather than stay awakes. its not like anyone can complain they taste worse...
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"I have full confidence in the both of you!" says Guess? to Melissa and Strek as Guess? sprints full tilt out of the room and out of the area.
For all intents and purposes, Guess? has disappeared and is nowhere to be found during the application of duct tape to prevent lethal doses of radiation from killing everyone.
A message from Guess? beeps on everyone's comms: Full confidence!
Akh eyes the stay awakes like they're venomous stridermanders, pondering if it would be all that bad to just vent them into space before they can get the group into more trouble. He worries much less about the leaky containment for the deadly radiation device. After all, a little extra radiation would probably be healthy for his teammates.
Still, if Strek expresses any trepidation, Akh suggests "Shouldn't the original seller make sure that their cargo is safe? Maybe we can get the seller to fix the containment first?"
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Still, if Strek expresses any trepidation, Akh suggests "Shouldn't the original seller make sure that their cargo is safe? Maybe we can get the seller to fix the containment first?"
"Considering how he wired it in the first place we can get him to TRY I don't think anything will get him to succeed......."
Guess? will utilize his morphic skin, holoskin and disguise kit to make himself appear as close as possible to the vesk merchant. He'll then use all the information he gathered on the merchant and his business to lie as convincingly as possible if questioned by the authorities.
When asked why he's in a cargo hauler rather than his usual place of business, Guess? says replies feigning the unbridled exasperation we all witnessed when we first met him, "That fur-brained fluffball skittermander assistant of mine purchased fifty tons of these meds! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?!?! FIFTY TONS!!! UGH!!! There was NO WAY my little shop has enough customer demand to sell this much before the meds expire! So I've luckily, I found this crew if fine, experienced haulers to help me locate a buyer. We're on our way to complete the deal. Unfortunately, once commissions and expenses are deducted, I'll have pretty much broken even on this deal. But it's better than going bankrupt! If it weren't for that hare-brained furball's family having worked for my family for several generations now, I'd fire him!!"
Guess? sighs loudly.
"But my destiny remains inextricably tied to his... You understand what I mean, right? Veskarium tale as old as time..."
I'll cover up the goods...
In the alley Jaraduk gets a case of the i-told-you-sos.
I told you his Roentgenium was going to have safety issues!
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Strek and Melissa successfully duct tape the tube cooling off the Roentgenium back together. A tiny bit of radiation begins to leak just as they finish the job, but they barely manage to avoid any serious damages. A pair of you get on the forklifts and shift the crate into the Last Chance. It's a bumpy ride, with the pair of equipment working together, so good thing you fixed up that connection! You tie down the package, all set for delivery to Vesk-7.
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Melissa takes the StayAwakes and forges a new label for packages. The brown boxes now proudly proclaim that they are the new flavor of Slurm, Midnight Rush - Radiated at the source!.
Jaraduk and Akh work to cover up the goods, but just aren't able to stretch the EVGENIYA-JAIMISSON CORPORATION ONE-SIZE-FITS-ALL TARP over the entire load.
Eager to get out of the system, you forgo a forged medical license and decide to rely on your other skills.
Guess? has a tough time disguising himself in the rush to get off planet, but his equipment sees him through. When he comes out of the ship bathroom, he's barely recognizable as anyone other than a grumpy vesk shopkeeper.
Strek is able to update your transponder and Del flies low and slow.
Guess? is able to talk his way around the customs agent at the port, in part due to Melissa's updated labels. The agent never makes it to the boxes, which weren't entirely covered up. Once in the air, Strek and Del get you out of orbit safely. You celebrate, enjoying have a full hold of goods for sale outside of the Veskarium.
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"Just like mom used to make after we worked on the big drills"
She runs a Geiger counter over herself , then over strek, pausing as it clicks when she reaches his stomach "Could you leave off the slurm for ONE minute... "
Definitely spending 100 credits on a radiation badge. Same deal as the Murderbats cuddlewings , a datapad with the camera on watching each cargo and listening for the BEEP of the radiation badger defrex shaped badge.
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As you decide where to go to first, Vesk-7 or a new system, a message comes in. Tarika appears on the screen with a wide smile. “Alright, y'all! You might not be esteemed bounty hunters, but you're still the best cargo haulers in all of Near Space! Listen, while y’all were flyin’ ‘round on the Veskarium dime, an old friend of mine called up, looking for a hand. Her name’s Yatraxo Rezzmin, an’ she’s a stormrunner, flyin’ her ship Wild Magic through the gas of Vesk-5 to catch starmetals that get ejected outta the planet’s core. Now, stormrunnin’ is illegal, but we don’t let a little thing like the law get between us and a paycheck now, do we?" She waves away the issue, and due to the taped nature of Drift communication, it's not like you can offer an immediate objection anyway.
“Ol’ Trax used to work for the Edge, she's good people. She needs a ship to transport her haul from Vesk-5 to a bazaar in the Marixah Republic, far beyond the reach of the Veskarium. She could do the hauling herself, but she specialized in obtaining the cargo these days. Her ship isn't outfitted for moving product. So... I told her you’d be perfect! I’m sending you the coordinates to Quariskt, the formian colony on Vesk-5 that Trax works out of. She’ll meet ya there.” Those of you curious about stormrunning or Vesk-5 can learn more about both topics on any infosphere.
Vesk-5 is a purple gas giant surrounded by many moons and a ring of space debris collected over millions of years. Vesk-5.1 is the largest moon and primary settlement, but Quariskt is just one of the many formian colonies located in the ring.
Stormrunning is a dangerous, and illegal, practice that requires knowledge of weather patterns, ability to make split second decisions, and near-instantaneous reaction time. Stormrunners fly their ships through vortex storms — a massive lightning storms that spiral up from the planet’s core like a tornado up into the atmosphere - looking to attract, catch, and contain valuable minerals thrown up from the planet's core. It requires specialized equipment and only the best pilots can pull it off. The practice is illegal in the Veskarium, for whom the danger and "shortcuts" that stormrunning offers make it unacceptable. It requires precise teamwork among the crew of a ship, who must fly and work the energy nets in tandem to catch the valuable projectiles.
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A visitors guide to trax
"Vesk-5 is a purple gas giant surrounded by many moons and a ring of space debris collected over millions of years. Vesk-5.1 is the largest moon and primary settlement, but Quariskt is just one of the many formian colonies located in the ring." So should be pretty light on the lizards.
Googles explain like Im2 "Why is Stormrunning illegal"
Melissa gets off track watching Vesk 5's funniest electrocutions while storm running videos.
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Great! And it's on the way to Vesk-7? Then why the heck not? Storm... running...
Jaraduke types the phrase into an InfoSphere search...
He accidentally clicks on a promoted add that he thinks looks like a fun game. "Maze of Nuars." Damn tracking cookies. They always know what he likes.
Akh, puzzled but a little excited by the term "stormrunning", sighs as Tarika identifies it as yet another illegal activity. He's starting to wonder if Tarika is really working for the group's best interests, or if she has some ulterior motive to always directing the team to some dangerous and illegal jobs. Once the stormrunning is set aside though, the job sounds relatively straightforward "Transporting some starmetals? If they're one of the radioactive ones, we can really double up on everyone's exposure levels. Maybe get some helpful mutations. Maybe some horrifying ones." He coils, coughing "But if we're properly lucky for once they'll just be nice, safe, ordinary metals instead. And the Marixah Republic might be a good place to deliver some medical supplies too." He sounds cautiously optimistic. For once, the cargo doesn't seem like it has the potential to kill the team.
"Let's go talk to Yatraxo."
Definitely spending 100 credits on a radiation badge. Same deal as theMurderbatscuddlewings , a datapad with the camera on watching each cargo and listening for the BEEP of the radiationbadgerdefrex shaped badge.
Guess? figures he can save himself a hundred creds and whenever the crew goes anywhere remotely close to the cargo hold, Guess? stands awkwardly close and shoulder to shoulder with Melissa.
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“Now, stormrunnin’ is illegal, but we don’t let a little thing like the law get between us and a paycheck now, do we?" She waves away the issue, and due to the taped nature of Drift communication, it's not like you can offer an immediate objection anyway.
Despite knowing that Tarika won't actually hear, Guess? responds, "No of course not! Because after all, legality is just a subjective set or arbitrary rules set by the whim of whomever has the biggest guns overseeing a particular set of star systems. It's all fluid, timey-wimey and subject to interpretation anyways! Amirite!?!"
"Oh yah! Storm running!" says Guess? as he turns to the rest of the crew. "Just a bit of flying through massive lightning storms that spiral up from the planet’s core like a tornado up into the atmosphere, trying to avoid getting electrocuted and / or torn to pieces! Piece of cake, really. With so-called 'heroes' around every corner persecuting us, for goblins, 'storm running' is basically just another day of getting outta bed!"
Guess? then goes on to describe the actual details that he knows about storm running .
After Guess? passes on what he knows, he says, "Let's go meet Yatraxo. It never hurts to at least meet and talk about the job - doesn't obligate us to take it!"
Despite storm running itself being illegal, Guess? will then try to determine if transporting minerals obtained via storm running is illegal. Perhaps Yatraxo's method of obtaining goods is illegal but transporting her goods isn't?
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Guess? knows that transporting minerals obtained via storm running is technically illegal but nearly unenforceable in Veskarium law. Unless the prosecutors can prove that the cargo came from a storm runner, and that the crew were aware of this, cargo haulers are rarely found guilty.
It's less than a day's Drift travel to get to the Vesk 5 moon. You abruptly pop out of the purple and pink skies of the Drift to another purple sight. A ringed purple and pink gas planet floats in front of you, enormous. Several dozen moons orbit the planet, which sparkles from the mineral motes thrown up from it's core. You travel towards it on normal engine power, for the provided coordinates. As the Last Chance nears Quariskt, the ship’s scanners detect a massive lightning vortex nearby, which swirls with rare minerals, just a few hundred miles from the coordinates. The scan also detects a ship within the storm!
Melissa, at the science officer station at the time, easily identifies the ship as Wild Magic, a Kevolari Venture; the ship remains stationary, however. The ysoki can determine that Wild Magic has sustained damage and has a living crew complement of four people.
Produced by the Kevolari Collective on Castrovel, the Venture is thoroughly industrial. From the outside, it is a ship designed to keep its crew alive in unfriendly systems — everything else is secondary. Inside, however, the Venture is surprisingly comfortable, making it perfect for exploration, permanent residency, and long-haul shipping. The lack of frills is a convenient way to avoid pirates as the vessel works.
With the storm and proximity to your meeting coordinates, you decide to hail the ship. A female feychild gnome answers you, purple hair vibrant against her purple skin. There’s too much interference for a video signal, and it quickly shorts out - leaving the audio signal which sounds choppy. “Who’s there? This is Captain Yatraxo Rezzmin reporting. Can’t scan a damn thing in this vortex. I’d stay away if I was you; turns out this storm is home to a lot more than flying rocks. A pod of shard divers jumped us in the middle of our run — can you believe it? Get out of here before they do the same to you!”
A shard diver is a starship-scale creature that hunts in the swirling chaos of vortex storms with its maw open, feeding upon minerals ejected from the planet’s core. This spacefaring magical beast is extremely territorial, they attack competition on sight. The jagged biometal protrusions on their heads and necks serve as their primary methods of defense, and they propel themselves via bulbous storm sacs that radiate electromagnetic pulses along their elongated bodies. Shard drivers typically weigh 30 tons and measure 120 feet long. Though frightening to behold, they are no threat to a starship of your power.
Ah, a Venture produced by the Kevolari Collective on Castrovel. Those things are built to take a beating, and for little else. I hear they're quite comfy on the inside though! I guess it keeps you from losing your mind on long hauls and when stuck in unfriendly systems. I guess its simple functionality also makes it less attractive to pirates.
Then the mention of "shark divers."
The what now?! How are you going to get out of there? We were coming to meet you about the job, but for now... are they hidden in the vortex?
He gestures to Melissa to scan for more ships.
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"Hey don't give me that. I binge watch...erm listened to Shard Divers, Gentle Giants of the storm for 12 hours on my last shift at the helm. And unless we need to add a "Objects in sensors are closer than they appear" warning back to the scanners here, we're both way too big for them to be a problem. Our ysoki with a swim speed acquaintance said you needed some help down here.
She will try to scan for Jarduck though, maybe its wet enough for an old fashioned sonic PING? Has the radio fire up some Abysshead
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Turning to Jaraduk, Melissa and Strek, Guess? asks, "If those shards don't pose a threat to our ship, is it a problem for them because their ship is much smaller?"
Disguised as an average, non-descript skittermander, Guess? says on comms to the Wild Magic, "Yatraxo! My name is Laurie and we're the crew of the Last Chance from Bullseye Shipping. Tarika sent us to talk about a job hauling some cargo. But at the moment, it seems like you might want to purchase one of our other copyright-pending products 'Last Chance at Life Rescue Services'!
"The shards shouldn't pose a problem for our ship but the storm itself might. Given the hazardous circumstances of the environment and the unique nature of the legality of your activities, there will be additional surcharges to our standard Last Chance at Life Rescue Service rates. The total will come out to about 30,000 credits, which is negotiable. But given your imminent risk of loss, I suggest we don't negotiate for too long as such a result would be detrimental to your health. So whaddaya say?
"And assuming you accept our services, can you tell us more about your current status, situation and any suggestions on how we can potentially extract you or any information regarding how to circumnavigate the storm to reach your position? We're, admittedly, not professional storm runners - although some of us live life like a goblin, so it's pretty similar!"
Guess? looks at the rest of the crew and seeing the looks on their faces, says, "What did I say? Is it because I lied? Okay fine!"
He taps a couple buttons on his console then looks up and says, "Okay, I just submitted the application form. 'Last Chance at Life Rescue Services' is now indeed copyright-pending!"
And then under his breath, Guess? says, "Hmmm... The moment we move in to rescue that ship, some Veskarium patrol is gonna pop up outta nowhere and charge us with illegal storm runnin, amirite?!?"
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"I doubt it's a trap. Or I'm not going to risk killing people over it. Vesk don't like not being rescued when stranded any more than most species. I think they're just trying to scare people off the mine, like when you hit a really good vein and put up a sign "rock monster mating season come back in 2 weeks" so you can mine it after hours and make quota. "
Pharasma don't you call me, cause I can't go. I sold my soul to the company store..
Del eyes the storm warily, not really keen on flying into it. "Think we can lure the shard divers away from them? Or scare them off? It won't get them out of the storm, but it will buy them some breathing room."
Shard divers typically weigh 30 tons and measure 120 feet long.
"Fish stories are a favored Brakim pastime, but even I can't beat that one."
"If these Shard Divers jump outta tha atmosphere like the Great Blue Sharks back on Entha, I'ma preemptively shift some of our shields to face the planet."
Akh ponders "Can a few flying rocks do much to our new and enhanced shields? We spent a lot of Bulkified Productivity vouchers on them, right? And if the shard divers aren't dangerous to us, maybe the rocks and lightning aren't either. That way we can just quickly dip in, grab whatever is left of the Wild Magic - I'm putting my credits on the message being a Vesk government sting operation - and then get right out. Maybe we have a long hauling cable we can toss out to them."
"Can we tell where exactly they are in there?"
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Jaraduk knows that the Venture ship is barely more competent than your old EJ cargo hauler at combat. While your recently suped-up ship will have no problem with the shard diver, the storm runners were more evenly matched. If the diver got the jump on them, or their crew wasn't adept at ship-to-monster combat, the crew would have a tough time. This is confirmed when the radio crackles back to life. "The diver disabled our systems, we're stuck in space here. It seems to have left, but the storm just popped our shields. We're holding it together for now, but I'm not sure how much longer we have. Another couple minutes, maybe."
You take a few seconds to debate, before the gnome voice comes back. "Apologies, the sig - CRZZZZZ -ad. Did y - CRZZZZZZ - thirty credits to - CRZZZZZ - s? I mean, sure, b - CRZZZZZZ - you in starmetals. No mat - CRZZZZZ - n't last long in here!" The signal continues to get worse, crackling in and out. You see on the scanner that the Wild Magic has been pulled into the direct center of the storm.
Del pulls you closer to the vortex, and you can visually see three large silhouettes within. It's unclear why the beasts aren't showing up on your sensors, Melissa mentions that their skin interacts with the storm in unique ways. You can see the Wild Magic’s energy nets have come loose from the ship and are floating in space a few hundred miles away.
"Cap'n I think we gotta add 'Tractor Beam' to your wishlist. Lemme see what I can do in the meantime.."
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"Get em on board now, work out payment plans later. cheffy III, give us some coffee and hot cocoa, hot. "
If upgraded crew quarters doesn't come with a cheffy III i want my build points back.
Melissa is going to open a window, instantly getting her face drenched. Since the space mineral baleen whales aren't showing up on sensors, she's going to try to listen to see if they're saying anything like "the one on the left looks tasty"
Survival
Dr Doolottle Diplomacy if needed
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Strek knows that the shields won't be able to envelop the other ship, as your ship isn't large enough to sustain shields of that size. When the brakim brings up nudging the other ship, Del acknowledges that it could be theoretically possible - a feat only seen by professional stunt pilots - but that even the Pact Worlds Piloting Olympics wouldn't operate in these conditions. "Docking with their ship would be impossible in this storm, however." Strek does realize that he could engineer a hook to grab hold of the lost energy net, if Del got the ship close enough.
Melissa can't hear much on the audio scanners since audio doesn't travel well in space but the debris from the vortex storm allows a bit of the shard divers tones to carry through. "mmmm.... delicious... safe..."