Each of you get a message from the Starfinder Society:
You have been selected for a mission. Please report to mission room 512, the Starscape Chamber, for the briefing.
-VC Naiaj
You know the "Starscape Chamber hosts various important strategic meetings for the Society.
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A small orb of flaming plasma floats into the room. Although it looks for all purposes like a tiny star, it is merely warm in its vicinity. It floats to the head of the table, where dark spots in the shape of eyes and a mouth appear
"We are Kapteyn, to Whom all will be revealed, and We have been called to provide Our aid to you." When this pronouncement is met with blank stares, the sphere continues, "Our pansophistry is not yet complete, so We will hear this briefing with you."
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A muffled impact and the door swings rapidly open. A furrily-eyebrowed man with dark close-cropped hair catches the door before it hits the wall, and strides in. His burly frame is made hulking by his heavy ringwear armor. A reaction cannon is slung over his left shoulder, a sidearm hangs off his belt to the right, and a long sword on the left. Grenades festoon his belt.
"Is this the meeting for the thing? I was told to come to the Starscape Chamber."
Seeing Kapteyn, he frowns. "Are you going on the mission? I don't think I've ever worked with someone of your kind before. You'll need to tell me how best to protect you. Will my medkit work on you?"
The door opens and in walks the bleaching gnome venture captain, Naiaj. Her expression is, as usual, flat and business-like. She strolls to the head of the meeting room table, and places the datapad she walked in with screen first into the holster, linking her datapad to the table's system. She then begins tapping on the table panel.
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A tall nuar in business clothes and glasses sits down at the meeting table, placing a briefcase next to him. A small cloud of nanites emerges from the briefcase, settling on the table in front of him, forming into a smiling face.
"Oshari Soteria, Health and Safety Inspector. This is Ariadne."
The cloud of nanites waves cheerfully.
Venture-Captain Naiaj nods to Oshari as he takes a seat. "The last has arrived." She presses a button and a map is holographically projected onto the spherical wall of the dimly lit chamber.
The pale bleachling gnome stares at the stellar map for several moments. “Thank you for meeting with me on such short notice,” she says, as she finally turns away from the map. “As you should already know, the Starfinder Society lost not only many agents, but also a great deal of equipment in the Scoured Stars incident. Since then, we’ve been dealing with a shortage of guns, ammunition, armor, tools, and provisions. Over the past four months, the Society has recovered to the point that we are able to start replacing some of the equipment we lost. While we are explorers, right now, battle-ready firearms are sorely needed.”
Naiaj momentarily turns to face the map and makes a request: “Starscape, show me Nightarch.” The map on the wall zooms in on one of the outermost planets of the Pact Worlds, showing a gloomy, air-sealed settlement on the small gray planetoid identified as Apostae. “After calling in a lot of favors and holding lengthy negotiations, we managed to secure a deal with the drow of Apostae to obtain a shipment of weapons. House Zeizerer arranged a deal between the Starfinder Society and House Xicton, a lesser drow house with a solid track record on sales. I personally oversaw the negotiations, and only recently returned to Absalom Station to deposit the down payment owed to House Xicton.”
“My intention was to send you to Nightarch, the drow’s surface settlement on Apostae, to guard this delivery. However,” Naiaj pauses briefly, staring blankly at the map on the wall before continuing, “I just received word that the weapon shipment has been stolen. According to my contacts in Nightarch, the thief is a minor noble of House Zeizerer named Villyth, who went rogue and stole the weapons. We do not know her motives or the current whereabouts of the shipment, but I’m sending you to Nightarch to find the weapons and bring them to Absalom Station. As you may have heard, the inter-house politics of the drow are lethal and treacherous, and you will find only trouble if you start searching blindly. For this reason, I’ve arranged for you to meet with Ceobarn Zeizerer, who represents House Zeizerer in this specific matter. You are to discuss how the Society can get its shipment back without causing a diplomatic incident."
“Your shuttle is ready, so I expect you to get your things and get going as soon as possible. If you have any questions, now is the time to ask.”
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"Vomatian," the Novian exclaims, "your efforts on Our last mission were adequate!" They then listen to Naiaj's information.
Following the briefing, They state, "This treachery will not be tolerated. We will recover your armaments and rain fiery doom upon those who would steal from the Starfinders. And House Bitcoin shall regret their failure to protect our shipment."
Clearly Kapteyn missed the line about 'no diplomatic incidents'.
Naiaj looks to Kapteyn with a neutral expression. "Diplomacy in Drow culture does involve shows of power. However, it also involves precision and regard for those with more power. If you do not think that you can represent the Starfinder Society well in this situation, tell me now so that I can find a replacement in time," she delivers with no hostility or acid.
"Groveling and posturing are appropriate in different situations. That said, your safety is essentially in the hands of Ceobarn Zeizerer, who you will be meeting with. Zeizerer is the most powerful house on Apostae. In Nightarch armor and weapons are not only permissible, but everything short of mandatory while wandering the city streets. Be sure to keep your wits about you.”
"If that is all, your shuttle is ready," Naiaj says aa she grabs her datapad from the table and walks out of the meeting room. She leads the way down corridors and on an elevator to a private garage with a unique enercopter.
Once everyone is in, the enercopter takes off and flies to Absalom Station's docks. Upon arrival at the destination, there is a shuttle with an unusually obvious Starfinder Society symbol on it.
"Off you go," Naiaj says, pressing some buttons in the cockpit of the enercopter.
The shuttle has a route saved into the console, but is empty otherwise.
The trip takes about a week. What do you do during that week?
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First thing during the flight, Burn checks the plotted course. He doesn't alter it because the timing of their arrival might be optimized for Ceobarn Zeizerer's convenience. Early guests can be as annoying as late ones.
The next thing is to unpack.
This is followed by disassembly, cleaning and maintenance of his gear. During this process he's happy to talk about equipment and skill sets, but don't think that avoiding him during this process will spare you. He hunts down all the team members to discuss gear, abilities, and philosophical approaches to missions and combat.
He's quite transparent about his own gear, abilities and attitudes. Although he an enthusiastic devotee of the Exo-Guardian faction, he doesn't care for the faction motto, "The sword that seeks the darkness." His motto is "Everyone gets home alive." He assures you that as much as possible, should things come to a fight, he'll stand between you and the foe. But in line with his motto, he prefers diplomatic solutions. He's also a great one for teamwork, so he likes a flanking buddy if someone else in the group likes melee.
It is quite clear after spending any time in this shuttle, that is is certainly newer. In addition, it is also clear that it has been thoroughly cleaned and tidied.