Chip will step back & fire if the street tough does not surrender.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Now 4 against 1, there's nothing the xun can do but die a warrior's death.
Hafrigek Xun are known for being extremely well-equipped, and these three prove no exception. One of them wears a d-suit I armor (the other two wear graphite carbon skin), and each has a credstick holding an advance payment of 1,300 credits for dealing with the FireStorm’s crew. One of the Xun also has a full punch card for a local augmentation shop that offers the bearer 25% off the next augmentation installed
"This D-Suit looks pretty useful to me, especially if they keep thinking that I'm your healing mystic."
"Anybody who wants a new augmentation should take this card. This looks like quite a discount. You can get 25% off your next purchase!"
Aldo takes the credstick and puts it in the group stash.
"This D-Suit looks pretty useful to me, especially if they keep thinking that I'm your healing mystic."
"Anybody who wants a new augmentation should take this card. This looks like quite a discount. You can get 25% off your next purchase!"
Aldo takes the credstick and puts it in the group stash.
Kaz gives the D-suit a quick look over making sure its in good repair. Then he hands it back to Aldo. Light armor. It is not for me. Kaz is also sure to grab the two other credsticks and hands them over for the group coffers.
We need to get to Tarika.
I have claimed items but not bought anything new since then.
Angel will happily take the augment discount card. She is into that for sure.
The party checks their gear and their bank accounts, before heading off to meet their only real friend.
It's not far to the Spike
A small one-story building with a single narrow doorway occupies the space between a red-tea stand and a used holovid shop. A handwritten note hanging from the building’s door reads, “Church of Hylax Meet-and-Greet Downstairs, Every Thirday!” Underneath, a hasty scrawl in a different color adds: “(DO NOT use upstairs restroom.)”
You step inside, and are immediately greeted by a very friendly shirren.
He hands each of you a tag that reads “Hello, Friend, My Name Is” with a space to write in a name. the shirren introduces himself as 'Tikchas' and immediately asks an endless stream of questions: "Where do the you each originally hail from? What brings ypu to the gathering? Why are you here as a group? What was your first experience with Hylax’s power? What other friends have you made this week?"
"Hylax? Isn't that a suppository or something?
all Angel's got is that it's the goddess of diplomacy and individuality. Not much else.
Tarika is waiting for you in the basement. Your guide drops you off, disappointed that you weren't more talkative.
“Well, the idea was we’d blend in with all the weirdos. I guess I didn’t think about them blendin’ in with us...”
Slight Retcon for the chatty Shirren. Well met Tikchass. The vesk fills out a name tag and slaps it on his torso and he points to a messily scrawled name “Guy Hemipenes”. I first felt Hylax when I was in the Vest military. I felt like a faceless robot in uniform. I left after feeling her touch. He points at the others with him. We only met while walking over here together. The vesk pauses a moment. Too be honest, its a little stressful for me to meet new people and make friends. I think Im at capacity for today. Id appreciate if you could give us some space. Perhaps another time we can talk more. At this Kaz gives a slight bow and abruptly turns away from the insect alien and back to his “new friends”
Kaz gives a nod to Tarika. Ill try to keep any others from mixing in with us.
Tikchass is surprised at Kaz's ability to articulate capacity, and nods before leaving you to it.
"Hey, thanks Kaz..."
“A couple things, and thank you for coming. First, I recovered some data when you—” she lowers her voice even more, “—acquired the Oliphaunt, now FireStorm. I’m still workin’ on decryptin’ it, and I think I found the right angle to hack in.” Tarika sighs. “But I’ll need more time. I’ve been a li’l distracted. That... that brings me to the second thing: I need your help.”
The vesk nods and is waiting for her request. Speak and it will be done.
Tarika takes a deep breath, looks around, and briefly fidgets with her wrench before continuing. You can clearly see that her gestures seem at odds with her usual boisterous confidence. “It’s my daughter, Shan. She’s missin’. She’s been workin’ for the Company on some terraformin’ project way out in the Vast. Turns out the planet’s full of life—life that’s gonna be wiped out by the project. And, surprise surprise, the Company’s goin’ ahead with their plans anyway.” Tarika chuckles, then seems to realize the strangeness of it. She quickly explains, “Oh, it’s just that the Company picked the wrong employee if they wanted someone to stay quiet. Shan told me she’d rather leave the Company for good than carry on with that. Thing is, that’s the last I heard of her. And that’s not like her. I need you to go out there and make sure she’s okay. Bring her back to me safe—if she’ll let you.”
The vesk gives a nod. He starts remembering several of the terraforming projects he worked on after his time in the military.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
She is leaving her Company on moral grounds? I believe we may be able to convince her to join us.
His voice drops to a lower, gravelly register.
She looks down, rubbing a paw thoughtfully across the fur on the back of her head. “I can’t afford to pay you for this one. I’m askin’ as a... a professional courtesy.”
”Of course we will do this. We’re talking your family! When you say the company, are we talking EJ? This sounds exactly like something they would do.”
Angel nods assent, but wonders how we are going to make credits out of this one.
"Yeah, we're talking EJ. Thank you."
The relief on her face is obvious and intense.
“You're headed to Entha. Entha’s a water world. Right now, it’s nothin’ but a Company town while they work to terraform the planet into some kinda highfalutin’ resort. There’s no reason for folks to show up there unannounced. Fortunately, I have your way in. The Company’s pushin’ all their equipment to its absolute limit, which means they need a regular influx of replacement machine parts.” She hands Angel a folded piece of paper with an address in the Spike and a shipping manifest. “This is a warehouse here on the station, where the Company’s next delivery is waitin’ for pickup. Of course—like always—there’s a catch.”
“This delivery job technically goes to the lowest bidder, but it might end up bein’ first-come, first-served. A lotta crews want to get in good with EJ Corp, thinkin’ a free delivery shows moxie or somethin’. So you’ll have to hustle—maybe even convince the warehouse workers that they should load your ship instead o’ someone else’s.”
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
The vesk mimes holding a massive canon and pretends to point it at Tarika. This kind of convincing? Kaz then drops his arms and nods over to Aldo. Or HIS kind of convincing?
"Start with his.... then use yours if you have to. And thank you Kazador. Seriously."
She turns her head in though for a moment before, turning back, "Make sure you've got the supplies you need.
She then gives you directions to Warehouse 47-c. Tarika’s directions lead the crew to a cavernous warehouse filled with hundreds of workers, some using cargo lifters, while tons of crated goods pass in and out of the warehouse on racks that hang from automated tracks built into the 30-foot high ceiling.
There's a ysoki running around barking orders to people. He's wearing a nametag that says "Skix."
”Hello, Are you Skix, the efficient? Your reputation precedes you! This is Aldo here. I was told that you are the ysoki to help us. We’re looking to get our shipment of goods loaded onto the Firestorm in record time. Are you the one that can make this happen?
“What are you, new? Go find it yourself! Then bring us the shipping ticket and your auths.” He doesn't wait to see if you follow him, "Your auth-or-i-za-tion code. And your ship’s dock number. Then, we’ll have it loaded by—” Skix pauses to look at a large digital clock on the wall that shows the status of a mind-boggling number of shipments. “—tomorrow morning.”
But then he looks at Aldo and sighs, "Okay, fine, by tonight."
Inside the warehouse, large cargo containers move in and out above and around you. Dashed lines denote the automated cargo tracks. The two outer lines move cargo containers south into the warehouse, and the double line in the center moves cargo north out of the building.
Because nothing ever seems to go right, as soon as you find the cargo it's guarded byhugbots. They're more nuissance than threat, but you'll have to figure something out if you want to retrieve the containers.
[code]"Stop. No one may touch this cargo."[/code] They extend integrated voltaic anchor pistols. This won't be as easy as you'd have hoped.
INITIATIVE:
Round 1:
Kaz: Go
Angel: Go
Hugbots: TBD
Chip: TBD
Aldo: TBD
******************************************
Location: Absalom Station
Red: 13
Angel moves closer and uses her remote hacking to overload the weapon of the closest huggy-bot.
Reflex Save DC 17 or weapon is disabled for 1 round.
the hugbot's digital face smiles at its success!
Round 1
The vesk is springing forward even as Angel is firing. He pulls his new advanced doshko for its first taste of blood. Or circuits?
Melee attack
advanced doshko slashing/analog
Kaz strikes the hugbot, and finds it to be squishy! It's almost pillow like. He slashes a massive amount of marshmallow-like stuffing out of the thing. He's pretty sure that he could cut it in have with another go!
The hugbot standing next to Kaz tries to, well, hug him.
, but misses.
So the other one closes and tries too
, and fails even harder!
Round 1:
Kaz: Fail
Angel: Hit
Hugbots: Hugs
Chip: Go
Aldo: Go
******************************************
Location: Absalom Station
Blue: 19
Aldo pulls out his laser rifle and fires it at Blue.
"Kaz, can you take these obstacles down? We've got cargo to get loaded!"
Aldo, shockingly, HITS the hugbot!
Round 1:
Kaz: Fail
Angel: Hit
Hugbots: Hugs
Chip: Go
Aldo: Hit!
******************************************
Location: Absalom Station
Blue: 25
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Seeing how easily Aldo's wild shot made contact, Chip decides to open fire.
<--CRIT
Crit effect:
Chip, seeing how awkward these things are, opens fire! While a couple shots miss, one shatters the screen and drops the Hugbot into a mushy heap of ...stuff.
Round 2:
Kaz: Go
Angel: Go
Hugbots: TBD
Chip: TBD
Aldo: TBD
******************************************
Location: Absalom Station
White:
Round 2
The vesk takes another massive swing with his doshko.
melee attack
advanced doshko
Kaz rips a massive amount of stuffing out of the remaining hugbot!
Round 2:
Kaz: Hit!
Angel: Go
Hugbots: TBD
Chip: TBD
Aldo: TBD
******************************************
Location: Absalom Station
White: 24
"I am NOT a hugger!"
Angel takes aim at the remaining hugbot and fires.
Angel asserts his right to say no, and drops the other hugbot!
Flustered by the day’s events, Skix rushes over, “Hey, um.... soooo maybe we don't report this to the Workers Safety Authority? Yeah? Hey, you know what? Here's a little something out of the lost and found...". He gives you a crate containing a cache of highly polished ceremonial equipment meant for a powerful dignitary and member of the Grand Assembly on Verces; this includes a silver AbadarCorp travel suit, commander ceremonial plate, a red star plasma pistol, and a staff of mystic healing. "...but only if you promise."
"Agreed. We don't need to say anything about this to anyone. I just want to get our cargo loaded and get out of here. We also appreciate the lost and found!"
”Alright team, we are just about ready to head for Entha, which is a water world. Let’s stop and see what we can pick up that will help us. We want to be ready for what’s coming our way.”
The party sets in a course to Entha and enters the drift. for 11 days
Eleven days is a long time. After lounging around for a couple days, talk about underwater action takes an interesting turn. You've become confident that you can actually prep your existing gear with some creativity, work, and UPB.
Entha’s orbit teems with starship traffic supporting EJ Corp’s terraforming project, especially above Elysia, a large domed installation floating on the water planet’s surface.
As the FireStorm approaches the planet, a small space station and EJ Corp Negotiator bristling with firepower monitor the queue of starships waiting to land. An AI traffic control program regularly broadcasts queuing information. Eventually, the ship at the front of the line receives clearance for landing, then the Negotiator escorts it to the surface. Both ships shrink into dots as they approach the vast water world’s surface.
While the FireStorm waits in the queue, an open emergency broadcast from the surface reaches the ship:
“Attention: An RC-HPR-class ship in unauthorized possession of Company property has left Entha without clearance from the Evgeniya-Jaimisson Corporation. Parties able to detain these criminals will be well-compensated for their assistance.”
Once the message ends, the FireStorm’s scanners pick up a ship moving rapidly toward the queue—an Ulrikka RC-HPR called the Surnoch’s Tooth.
The crew of the FireStorm can engage the Surnoch’s Tooth and help detain it, or you can do nothing and let it escape into the unpopulated system.
As the Surnoch’s Tooth nears the FireStorm, the captain of the vessel, hails all nearby ships with a desperate message.
“This is Captain Siovan of the Surnoch’s Tooth . The Company isn’t telling you everything. My crew and I are independent contractors. Our ship was ferried to Entha weeks ago for a mining operation, but the Company neglected to tell us Entha is a water world! The Tooth’s not rated for underwater operations, so I figured no harm done, we’d be on our way. But the Company called us in breach of contract and tried to seize my ship! Well, they can go to Hell!”
“Attention: An RC-HPR-class ship in unauthorized possession of Company property has left Entha without clearance from the Evgeniya-Jaimisson Corporation. Parties able to detain these criminals will be well-compensated for their assistance.”
"I do want to make a lot of money for all of you, but we are not going to do it by helping out the EJ! Let's let them go. I hope they made out with something valuable."
Knowing the pursuing ship won't catch the Surnoch's Tooth without help, Chip makes a good show of punching some buttons. I am unable to engage in an effective pursuit at this time. Controls appear to be sporadic.
Angel hacks into the ships systems with Rhonda's help, and causes the lights to flicker on and off and maybe lurch a bit to the side.
Over the external comms:
"Dealing with a situation with our ship's computer. We won't be able to pursue."