The Grimshaw easily slips the notice of the hungry pair of voraijas! The prototype ship appears all alone as it approaches the nearest moon of Liavara.
However, as the Grimshaw arrives at a portion of Liavara’s upper atmosphere, ship's scanners immediately pick up a lone, sizeable contact arising from the planet's thick, gaseous atmosphere.
Emerging from the atmosphere, the contact, though somewhat organic-lookign, is not a voraija, but another vessel. It hails you.
"Attention! This is the Xenowarden vessel, Tide Swell," declares the message broadcast from the contact, which is accompanied by a ship verification code confirming the vessel's identity. "We request your assistance. We are searching for a pair of juvenile voraijas believed to last be detected on a course that would take them near to this location. Have you, by chance, come across one or both of these creatures?"
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"Let me see if I can recover the coordinates."
"I thought they were behind us, but I must have gotten disoriented during some of the maneuvers we did to outrun them. Let me check with our pilot first."
Pockets sends the travel log from an earlier test flight to Top Down and the rest of the crew to review.
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"Attention! This is the Xenowarden vessel, Tide Swell," declares the message broadcast from the contact, which is accompanied by a ship verification code confirming the vessel's identity.
Top Down here, permission to fly by.
"We request your assistance. We are searching for a pair of juvenile voraijas believed to last be detected on a course that would take them near to this location. Have you, by chance, come across one or both of these creatures?"
Check our six! Top Down responds, They were right behind us when we tried to shake them, they gave us this real 'we wanna eat you' vibe that Top isn't Down with. Bring some space whale fodder if you're headed in that direction.
Yes, I think we lost them, they are unharmed, hopefully we didn't make them mad.
"We are pleased to hear they are unharmed," replies the captain of the Tide Swell. "Their species is under our protection and monitoring. There is a concern that your presence could disturb the creatures and disrupt their natural activities."
"I thought they were behind us, but I must have gotten disoriented during some of the maneuvers we did to outrun them. Let me check with our pilot first."
"You were able to outrun them? Most impressive," congratulates the captain. "The voraijas can be rather quick creatures. If they were to have caught you, they could have posed a serious danger to you as your ship--particularly with its unusual design, which could be mistaken by the voraija as a prey item."
Top Down here, permission to fly by.
"Granted," chimes the Xenowarden vessel.
Check our six! Top Down responds, They were right behind us when we tried to shake them, they gave us this real 'we wanna eat you' vibe that Top isn't Down with. Bring some space whale fodder if you're headed in that direction.
"Please stand by as we conduct a sensor sweep along that flight path," directs the Xenowarden captain. "Our sensors reveal only a series of expanding and unusual clouds---wait."
"Thar be voraijas!" cries the captain over the transmission as two contacts appear on your sensors as well. "Well done! You have honored the spirit of the Pact Worlds conservation laws protecting voraijas. Now, the lost pair will be able to rejoin and frolic with their pod."
The captain's word is good. Within moments, a formation of new contacts appear on the sensors. It does not take long to confirm that these are a pod of voraijas, welcoming the pair of juveniles back into their company.
The sensors also register that they have continued gathering valuable performance data during the rescue, providing more useful information for your employer to review.
Your return to Absalom Station with this data collection in tow, is uneventful.
J’scib is delighted as they meet you ack in the hangar. The host shirren sends a limited-edition holographic screen-saver of the Grimshaw to each of your personal comm units as a memento, and informs you that someone from accounts payable will be in touch once all the flight data has been compiled. He notes that you will be paid 200 credits each for your.
{{The flight-test was a resounding success!}} cheers J'scib. {{The amount of data obtained by the four you would be impressive even for the efforts of a larger crew!}}
{{You have made my job so much easier, that I'd like to offer you each a personal gift of gratitude from me.}} says the shirren, handing you each a sizeable box, each of which contains a mk 1 mindlink circlet along with a grappler. {{Unfortunately, neither will help you much should you ever again encounter a pair of voraijas, but then, you've already proved that you are more than capable of handling that sort of situation!}}
{{Thank you all again,}} bows J'scib as they turn to depart. {{I look forward to seeing you again out among the stars!}}
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Before returning the ship, Pockets switches his vest back to the safety inspector look. Pockets reviews his datapad as he gives J'scib the safety report.
"Looking at my list here, the Grimshaw passed with flying colors. It's a well-built ship. My only recommendation is to check the level of the sanitation solution. It seems a bit low, not sure why."
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Top Down here, permission to fly by."Granted," chimes the Xenowarden vessel.
Top Down makes a point to fly by as close as technically possible. Fortunately, this is space, and no hairdo's are undone by the stormy wake of the vessel...
Yeah, flies. Top Down offers his assessment Goes forward when you want it, and sideways when you need it. You might have painted it in a less tasty-looking color, but that's about it!