The children seem to calm down as the Starfinders alk to them, especially once you have identified yourselves.
The girl said, "Wow, you're really Starfinders? That's really awesome. Thank you for coming to rescue us. My Da said most Starfinders are really just 'psycho drifters who kill sentient beings for money', but I'll tell him he's wrong cause you guys saved us!"
You get the feeling that the 'psycho drifters' phrase was something she picked up from her father, and that she didn't really undersyand what it meant.
"He's an engineer working on the Master of Stars' aft propulsion system. I'm Lieu Lan, and this is my brother Kieu Si."
The girls eyes grew wide when Kadef and Soryn shoved the door hard. With a grind of frozen gears being stressed, the door opened and you could see the scene. It was a room like many others, with scattered barrels and boxes stacked along the floor. The left wall of the room had a closed door, and was the only other exit from this room. The barrels and boxes appear to be in disarray.
Sittnym could feel the children's emotions, a combination of subsiding panic, rising fear, and a sense of guilt...she doesn't really need her powers to feel that. The kids are practically waving signs with their body language.
"Psycho drifters who kill sentient beings for money", Pangea thinks, mmmh....
She moves carefully into the room, behind the others, and glances around, looking to see why the barrels and boxes are in disarray: a fight?
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"I am pleased to meet you Lieu Lan and Kieu Si. I am Kadef Hins Socriat of Clan Parsem, House Zebulan, but you can call me Kadef. This is Soryn, Pangea, Seven of Eleven, Sittnym, and Nurn. Do your parents often let you roam alone? Parts of the ship are still open to vacuum." Kadef keeps his tone tender to comfort the children.
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"Hi there Lieu Lan, Kieu Si! I'm Sittnym. We're friends! We're here to help you get home. Where is that? Is your Dad there? We need to help you get back to him so that you can tell him us Starfinders are the good guys!" Sittnym keeps it light-hearted and friendly, trying to gain the children's trust.
Pangea is so moved by Sittnym perfect words, that she nods: Yes, we are the good guys! is all she can think about now.
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Soryn chuckles - psycho drifters, I like these kids, their da too. He winks at the children, "Let your da know some of us have lovely homes and we often work for free too." He then roots through his pack for a moment, and tosses Sittnym an R2E meal (the one the best dessert), then projects "Good job thrill seeker, why don't you see if the kids need a snack? Dessert first since there's no parents, right? See if that helps loosen them up."
Soryn turns his attention to the room, "Let's do a quick sweep of the room before we decide what our next steps are." He takes out his Arc Pistol (keeping out of view of the children), makes sure it's set to stun, and begins methodically searching the room.
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Sittnym catches the meal from Soryn "Hey guys, my friend Soryn brings along the best snacks on our missions. Want to try some of this? It'll help make sure you're full of energy before we go and find your Da." she takes some of the dessert to show the kids that it's delicious (and safe to eat, if they're still wary).
The kids really take to Sittryn, and are perfectly happy to eat her snacks and talk to her about what they had been up to.
"We always sneak away from the day care area. Ms. Fitch doesn't mind as long as we aren't too obvious about it and don't break anything or play where it isn't safe. We came up here a few days ago and found Blue. He was a lot of fun to play with, but he's always hungry and very curious. I'm sure he didn't mean to mess up the power cables. We were just playing around and all of a sudden the lights went out."
"When they came back on and we heard you coming, we locked Blue in the other room and set a trap. If you step on that plate byt he door you'll get hit with a fire extinguisher. We didn't know you'd be nivce and all. And we wanted to keep Blue safe. You won't hurt him, will you?"
Kieu Si looked suspiciously towards Soryn and his none-too-hidden arc pistol.
Both Soryn and Seven of Eleven cautiously looked towards the area where the kids had rigged their trap, a little embarrassed that they had missed such an inexpert addition to the room.
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Sittnym ackowledges Kadef's bow with a telepatchic message: "I'm no diplomat but I know how to make friends with kids"
Still kneeling as they enjoy the desert she speaks to the children "You guys are soooo nice looking out for your friend, and clever too setting up this trap. You could totally be Starfinders with actions like that! We don't want to hurt Blue, but we've got to get him somewhere more appropriate so that he doesn't do any more damage to the ship. What can you tell us about him?"
"Let us see Blue, or else we might see red... Does he, she, it bite? Big teeth that gnawed up the power cables?"
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Soryn looks at the children again, and the make-shift trap... I am REALLY starting to like these kids. After a quick grin, he says "No worries, no one wants to hurt Blue. We just need to make sure Blue doesn't hurt the ship, Blue doesn't get hurt, and keep Blue from getting too scared and biting someone. My pistol can help Blue sleep, it's called stun. That'll keep everyone safe."
"Why don't you tell Miss Sittnym all about Blue? Like when was the last time Blue ate, or do you know what Blue eats? I have lots of good snacks. Maybe Mister Seven can build a nice safe trap to catch ol' Blue. Otherwise.." Soryn motions with his thumb at the door to the next room..."for Plan B... Pangea, flip a cred to see who gets to pet Blue first? "
I dunno, he's just funny. He can crawl all over the place and get real flat and stuff. He's got lots of legs like a centipede, but they're all round and poofy like a balloon. That's why we called him Blue...like a balloon. We never saw any teeth, so I dunno about that."
Kadef has no clue about the creature. Meanwhile, Nurn is getting massive sideeye from the kids, who have no intention of trusting him.
The kids stopped talking, as their mouths were full of Soryn's snacks, that they only accepted when Sittnym handed it to them. It was clear that you weren't getting anything else out of them.
« Through the door? »
Pangea moves over to where the trap was, making sure it is removed.
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Soryn looks at the children munching away, and mentally communicates with the team. "Ok, let's try not to murder hobo these kids into comas... I think we can catch Blue with minimal violence. Seven make do with what we have, paper thin size of a small dog. See if we can cage it, or maybe find the cage it came in? I'm also thinking this creature is somewhat intelligent, it didn't hurt the kids so it can at least threat assess on some level." Soryn will give Seven a quick hand sorting through any useful items and planning.
Soryn glances over the team and stares in the next room, "This is good chance to shine. Save the kids, catch the creature, power- E-deck. Fitch is a happy Wayfinder." He takes a deep breath, smiles and opens an R2E pack with the biggest variety of food he can - food in one hand, Arc Pistol (on stun) in the other, he starts with a calm even voice "Here Blue, come get the nomnoms... Who's a good Blue?" He steps over the trap and into the room.
Entering the next room, Soryn sees a large area that consists of two adjoining chambers. The room he entered has four large containment capsules, three of which hold objects in stasis-locked storage. The fourth capsule is empty. A pool of stasis fluid on the floor directs Soryn's attention to a large crack in the fourth capsule, with a foot-wide hole in the vessel near the bottom. The farther room looks to contain several desks, each with a computer terminal on it.
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Sittnym heads to the door but goes no further, her focus is on the children and she intends to try and keep them safe and out of the way whilst the rest of the party capture Blue. From the door she gives the room a brief moment of her focus, scanning it with all of her senses to try and locate whatever Blue is.
Pangea looks around, wondering if Blue even exists, or if these two kids are just some brats that trashed the place and are trying to cover their butts.
Then she walks into the room, and goes over to check out the capsules.
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Kadef also heads for Blue's home room. Before passing trough the door, he exchanges a look with Sittnym, trying to divine her intent, and waiting for Pangea to disarm the trap. Eventually satisfied he moves on in Soryn's wake.
"This should be quite educational, a splendid opportunity to learn about a different life form."
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Soryn takes a last look around the room with the stasis chambers, and moves to the doorway connecting to room with the desks and computers. He surveys the room as thoroughly as he can, looking for Blue and to see if the computers have any power.
Soryn takes a handful of different food stuffs and toss them gentle into the room, near a desk but open to the doorways field of vision. He continues to call calmly and evenly, "Hey Blue, you hungry? Whose a happy, friendly unknown xenomorph? You are, yes you are..."
Soryn waits to see if Blue is coaxed out, while the team searches the stasis room and attempts repairs...
Seven of Eleven was fairly certain that the capsule could not be repaired. Not outside of a manufacturer's facility at any rate. While he was looking at the capsule, Pangea was looking around the room. She saw small footprints leading from the capsule spill towards the far wall, where a power panel hung in shreds from the wall. A light clicking sound drew her attention to the far room where a cobalt-blue creature looking like a 2-foot long centipede with bulbous pseudopods for legs hung on a wall near another control panel. The creature wedged itself under the panel, which popped off with a shower of sparks. Suddenly, you all felt heavier as the artificial gravity on the deck increased almost painfully.
Soryn gets a strong feeling that the creature is curious, rather than vicious. It also wonders where its small playthings went.
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Soryn fills the team in on the creatures thoughts. Soryn calls to the other room in a gentle tone, "Hey Sittnym, Blue wants to see the children. Can you bring them in? Maybe you can help me communicate with Blue too?" Maintaining his connection to Blue, Soryn will continue to adjust his posture and mannerisms trying to show curiosity and kindness. He'll also offer different food stuffs until something attracts Blue.
"Seven, Pangea. Any of the stasis modules empty? Or anything we can use to make Blue comfy and keep secured," Soryn continues in the same calm tone.
Basing his reactions on the mental like and his best guess as to how intelligent Blue really is, then offering food and having the children and any teammates able help, Soryn will try to guide Blue into a reasonable comfortable (and secure) containment vessel, or if nothing suits letting Blue ride on his back under his backpack.
"Once we get our new friend safe and sound, Seven can focus on getting this deck up and running normally again."
Feeling very heavy, Pangea looks at the insect: "Want me to squish it with my shield? This is getting heavy..."
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As she begins to stand Sittnym projects to Soryn "Sorry Soryn, I'm an empath. My abilities are only really useful against fellow humanoids..."
To the kids she speaks aloud "Sounds like your buddy Blue still wants to play, want to introduce us?"
As she and the children approach the door and are visible to the room's inhabitants she calls out "Hi Blue, who's a good little one? Want to make some new friends?"
Soryn is disappointed to find the other three pods already full of other artifacts. Still, if this creature is both curious and hungry, you should be ale to lure it into a normal crate or something. There were plenty in that first room with the kids.
Sttryn and Soryn think the kids could probably help, since the creature was apparently engaging with them in some way. However, before they could, Kadef reached in to touch the creature and it bolted. With a lightning-swift motion it scurried to a floor vent and smashed through, squashing its jelly-like body into the small space. In moments you could hear it skittering around in the ducts.
"Anybody have a flame-thrower? Or a grenade?"
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Soryn watches as Blue skitters down the vent. He looks at Pangea, "That could be effective. Extreme, but effective." He turns with a grin to Kadef, "Ah well, I guess we rushed our relationship. Blue wasn't ready for petting," and pats the Kasathan on the shoulder supportively.
"When we came in, everything was sealed... Makes sense that would include the vents, to control pressure or in case of hull breaches right?" Soryn looks to Seven for confirmation. "Maybe we can at least steer Blue back here, and then get it into a safe carrier." He walks next to one of the computer terminals, "Wanna give it a shot Seven? If we can't work the vents, we've got food and a box... Anyone know how to rig up something to trap Blue?"
Soryn managed to seal off the vents, and soon Blue was back in the room with you, looking curiously at you.
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"Sittnym and kids, can you play with Blue while we get its house ready?" Soryn will gather some odds and ends to make the crate as alluring and comfortable as possible. Once done, Soryn will work with the children to coax Blue into the crate and secure it tightly.
Once Blue is safely and sound, "Let's get the power and gravity back to normal. Did Fitch want anything else fixed up? Seven, let's spruce this place up."
To Kadef and Sittnym, "Why don't you use the comm system to get the children's dad. We should see where he wants these little heroes to go, make sure he knows how these new Starfinders helped capture Blue and fix E-deck." He winks to the children. Then to just the team mentally, "Pangea, Nurn. Maybe we should do one last search. Make sure Blue is the only new friend around here, and that it didn't leave any egg-pods or the like around..."
"By Besmara's flaming crossbones, if you don' get in to where we want you to go, we'll fry you with a pirate ship's rear thrusters, an' you'll end up part of the Holy Drift!"
"She's the Goddess of you Space Monsters too, y'a know! So, come on, be a good vermine, and crawl in here..."
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Sittnym will distract the children and talk loudly to them so that Pangea's threats aren't easily heard "That's a nice little crate for Blue to go take some rest in whilst we find them a home where they won't cause any damage. Isn't that great? So, how do we get in touch with your Da? We don't want him to think you're lost or anything. I bet he'll get a kick out of knowing you guys helped us fix up the lights and computers on E-deck!"
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Kadef starts when Blue bolts for the vent. Somewhat crestfallen, he apologizes to the crew wanly, "I only meant to see what he felt like, but he seems quite timid. And fast."
Soryn soon bucks him back up again.
"Hmm. Blue's coloring indicates a high concentration of cobalt or chromium in his pigmentation. Perhaps if we put some of those chromed bolts in a rattlely tin and toss it into the crate, Blue might be more enticed?"
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With a few shiny baubles, a jury-rigged box trap, and some amazingly enticing comments by Pangea and Sittnym, you manage to convince Blue to crawl into the box, which Seven of Eleven closes with a snap. There is a furious thudding on the side of the crate, and then you can hear two of the metallic baubles clinking together. You have successfully contained the alien creature!
Lan and Si look at you disapprovingly as you come out of the room with Blue in that crate, but they cheer up again as Settnym gets their father on the comms. He asks you to take them back down to the day care area, where he will meet you. There is also a stern remark for the kids that if they strayed again, he would leave them downside with their aunt again. Both kids looked vaguely upset at this fact.
You march the kids, and your captured alien back down to a converted cargo hold, where you see Fitch directing the repairs and children at the same time, holding at least 3 conversations simultaneously while trying to reassemble something that looked like a burnt out power converter.
"Hey, you caught the alien. Great job making first contact, and all that. I take it the area is secure now? I can send the engineers in to put things back aright? FENSIT, PUT DOWN THAT AUTOMATIC CABLE TIE GUN! IT IS NOT A TOY! WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU ALREADY USED IT ON YOUR SISTER'S TAIL?"
"Damn kids. Look, I've got to go. Leave the alien in the room over there and I'll have the exo-experts come and pick it up for study. Here's a bonus for a job well done. Now, get out of here. I've got a lot of work still to oversee. and have Guidance send up another kid herder. These monsters ran the last one off and I don't have time to ..."
The ysoki broke off as she handed you a credstick and headed back into her command center, holding at least two separate conversations on her comm unit, and yelling admonishments at the kids in the other room.
As you prepare to board the shuttle back to Absalom station, a harried-looking human man comes jogging into the departure area. He is breathing heavily, but says in between pants, "Name's Kieu Kein. You saved my kids, and I have something for you. Thank you." He handed you a ring on a chain, then waved and jogged off. Obviously the kids didn't tell him about a halfling pointing a gun at them. Must have been too traumatized. The therapy that will spawn later in life will cost far more than that ring did.
Pangea is quite amazed at Fitch's multitasking... and open to go wherever the group wishes.