The team spent several days working with shipwrights in the Starlance shipbuilding facilities high above the dangerous magnetosphere of Vesk-6. They upgraded their armor, defensive systems, sensors, and computers. Then they swapped out the chain cannon that was installed in the ship's gun turret for a rail launcher upgraded to have hybrid controls to make it more effective when the gunner was familiar with the mystic arts (i.e. Benny).
They put the missile launcher that had been installed on the fore weapon mount to the port, put a light buster cannon on the fore weapon mount, to try to wear down an enemy ship's shields. They added a flack thrower on the aft weapon mount to provide an extra layer of defense against missiles. This turned the relatively lightly armed transport into one much better able to defend itself from space pirates and perhaps an irate mega-corp or a pissed off organized crime boss.
The upgrades used up all the capital they had amassed from their severance packages plus their profits from the successful delivery of the black hearts to Vesk-2. The goblins were entranced by the relative luxury of the city of Starlance, which was a cosmopolitan hub on an otherwise rather technologically challenged planet. The goblins had a little money they had saved to use as starting capital on whatever crazy inventions or money making ventures they could stop squabbling long enough to agree on.
Once the upgrades were done, the crew took a short break and booked some gigs at some of the less prestigious night clubs, hoping to earn a little extra money and expand their musical repertoire. They radioed Tarika to let her know they were available for another job.
Once clear of the planet, Scherzo sent a transmission back to Tarika at Absalom Station notifying her of the successful completion of the delivery. She also instructed her to forward the evidence she had bundled into a data folder showing who plotted the sabotage of the Harlequin's Prayer and how they tried to cover up their crime. Scherzo never intended to let either Rygun or Rishae get away with such a horrible deed.
Then they traveled to Vesk-6, or Pulonis, Shasta's homeworld. Shasta paid visit to some of her family and friends while Scherzo oversaw some improvements to the ship, wanting to use up some of their investments to make the ship better and avoid unexpected issues with their savings should the Company or Sinjin decide to try to get back at them through their finances.
The Space Goblins got to see a second world, which was fun for them and they began to consider where they might like to settle.
As the Black Butterfly circled the planet, locating the position of the buyer for their cargo, they were challenged by the command center run by the Vesk who conquered the planet. Scherzo simply told the truth, that they had cargo to deliver. After describing the cargo, she was given clearance to land, after acknowledging receipt of a communication describing rules and regulations to abide by while on the planet.
The planet was mostly covered in shallow seas with many low islands. Its native inhabitants were a squidlike species called the ijtakri. Shasta, who grew up on a different planet in the system, explained that the planet was mostly a peaceful place, except for some ruins which the Vesk wanted to explore but the locals did not. It turned out, the region they were approaching was one such site.
The region was called the Ghost Mire, after the fear of the natives--the Vesk would say the superstition--that the region was haunted. Shasta flew low over the area of the ruins, clearly visible from above as flat paved areas dotted with foundation remnants. Scattered among these were excavation equipment with the Veskarium emblem on them. Most of these were damaged, apparently intentionally so. No one was seen in the area.
Nearby was a major city of the ijtakri. The region lay in the rain shadow of a line of mountains on the west side of the relatively large island. There was little in the way of large vegetation, so it was easy to spot zone that was nearest the ruins made mostly of tents. That was where the coordinates given the crew by Tarika directed them. Finding an open area away from the tents, Shasta set the ship down and put systems on stand-by, in case a quick exit was called for. After the problems in the past deliveries, Scherzo was worried.
She set out with Orion, Benny, and Zeph, Scherzo moved toward the tent city. Disturbing sights alarmed the visitors: ijtakri languishing and apparently suffering from strange symptoms, mass graves partly full of the local creatures, medical tents almost everywhere.
Scherzo radioed the ship and requested Emersohn, the crewmember with the most medical knowledge, to join them. They waited while he made his way to them. His preliminary opinion was that the locals were suffering from necrotic diseases and radiation exposure.
After asking some locals for directions to someone who would have the authority to order their cargo, they were directed to a surgical tent.
As they were making for this tent, they observed the Wintermourn circle and land. They did not wait for any communications but entered the tent. They were greeted by a skittermander with lime-green fur, wearing surgical scrubs, and smoking a cigar, while perusing a data tablet.
The skittermander introduced herself as Shazarad Quomp. She told the story of the Vesk trying to excavate the ruins but the vesk began to suffer strange afflictions and withdrew their team. This gave the locals the opportunity to damage their equipment to delay further attempts. She explained that the locals believe, based on ancient religious texts, that it is the site where the ancients imprisoned something terribly evil. Their concerns were perhaps being vindicated as they had begun to be afflicted with a variety of diseases and radiation burns. She hoped the black hearts would provide some protections so she was performing the grafts on all who volunteered for them.
I admire the ijtikris," Shazarad said, gazing out the tent at the protesters beyond. "Standing up for what they believe in! But this place is gonna kill ’em. So, I figured I’d help! Necrografts may be a little squishy, but they’re perfect for this situation. Why, with a black heart inside ’em, my friends outside won’t even notice the radiation. Or the poisonous air. And, uh, maybe they won’t notice the fact they’re dead inside. I don’t know! But, I’m helping, and that’s what matters."
She bought the cargo as promised for the promised price. They exited the tent and began the process of offloading the cargo. Niva and her crew were waiting sullenly outside and began negotiating to offload their cargo and perhaps make something from the deal, although knowing they had stolen the cargo in the first place meant they were not going to lose much if they could not make a sale. Scherzo ignored them until they were finished setting out the cargo for the locals to transport to Shazarad.
Negotiate Obstruction (Gunner, Science Officer)
Whether a force field or a civilian starship convoy, unexpected obstructions can be a bane or a blessing. A crew might blast or hack their way through a closing hangar bay door at the last minute or weave their way through the docking bays of a busy spaceport.
Success: The crew gains 1 success.
Failure by 5 or More: The starship takes 1 hit.
DC 14
Emersohn: Computers, 3 ranks:1d20 + 10 ⇒ (9) + 10 = 19
Ends chase with 5 successes, no damage.
Emersohn switched places with Zeph when he saw the obstacles ahead facing Shasta. "I have an idea. Let me work the computers."
Zeph acquiesced and kept an eye on what he was doing from the engineering console.
Emersohn linked the sensors to an program that he had written to track obstacles and project onto the helm controls an HUD that highlighted the mostly like clear path based on movement rates observed. He added a quick subroutine to factor in an uncertainty due to the propulsion of the creatures. He set the program running and within seconds Shasta could see the display.
"Green is good," Emersohn explained hastily, and then watched over Shasta's shoulder to make sure she was understanding the output.
The program did the trick and Shasta made her way out of the swarm well ahead of the Wintermourn.
"OK," Shasta sighed. "Hold on! This could get bumpy!"
She picked a spot that showed a very small gap in the mass of pyrozoa and steered toward it. Everyone held his or her collective breaths as the ship neared what could be a horrendous collision if she did not steer with precision. She reacted at the last moment to a shift in the pyrozoa and wove through the creatures to break through to the other side.
Outspeed (Chief Mate, Engineer, Magic Officer)
A motivated crew can give the engines all they’ve got, either by pouring in extra fuel or magically boosting them, and gain just enough distance to outpace—or close in on—their opponent.
Success: The crew gains 1 success.
Failure by 5 or More: This action can’t be selected again during
this chase.
DC 14
Benny: Mysticism:1d20 + 11 ⇒ (13) + 11 = 24
2 successes.
Scherzo charged Benny to try to boost the ship's speed with magic. Benny cheerfully complied, moving quickly to the engine room where he began to concentrate and utilize mystic energy fields to boost the power to the thrusters. The effect worked and Shasta was able to surge ahead of the competition. "Thruster fuel is enriched for a bi'. Give 'er all ya go', mate!"
After a few moments, the Wintermourn attempted to establish video comms with the Butterfly. Zeph accepted the hail, and a moment later, Niva, Dizzy, and Nemelith could be seen sitting aboard the bridge, with the starship’s pilot, Jinx at the controls. Jinx was a male verthani, who, as it happened, had a connection to Emersohn.
The Wintermourn's captain, Niva, addressed the crew of the Black Butterfly, "Can’t say I’m surprised to see y’all again. Had a feelin’ you were on the same job we are. I’m impressed you managed to beat us here, though. What say we settle it with a race? First one through this cluster of fire jellies and on planet is first in line to talk to the buyer. Deal?"
Without waiting for an answer, the Wintermourn ignited its thrusters and surged toward Vesk-2, weaving deftly between the pyrozoa.
As Shasta was engaging the Black Butterfly's thrusters, Niva radioed to taunt, "Ya might want ta take yer time. Yer not gonna beat Jinx, the only pilot ta make it through the Bleak Blockade! Hah!"
She referred to a necrotic minefield in the diaspora. If true, it would be an impressive item on any pilot's resume.
When the Black Butterfly emerged from the Drift it found itself amid a dense swarm of hundreds of immense creatures floating in space. The creatures had massive tentacles that radiated bright bioluminescent colors and translucent, gelatinous bodies that flashed with inner fire and electricity.
DC 10 Navigate the Drift
Shasta: Piloting, astrogator Tool kit:1d20 + 8 + 4 ⇒ (13) + 8 + 4 = 25 Hours:1d2 ⇒ 1 ground to orbit time
Days:3d6 ⇒ (3, 3, 4) = 10 days to planet in pact world
1= encounter:1d100 ⇒ 78
After working with the space goblins on the drift engines, the crew decided they would save their resources and accept Goog's offer to pay for the work by transporting the goblins to see new places and hope they would find a place to start fresh. She assigned Benny and Zeph the job of keeping an eye on them at all times, giving them some space in the cargo hold during the drift journey.
Tarika sent them the coordinates of the buyer, an island called Kilti on Vesk-2. They navigated away from the station and moved into the Drift. The journey took 5 days, the time cut significantly by the drift boosters. They took turns keeping the goblins busy, as they were constantly trying to get into trouble, wanting to tinker with systems, invent new gadgets, and generally bouncing around from one thing to another. They liked the music they heard when the musicians practiced and Benny got along will with them.
Shasta and Emersohn avoided them when they could, enjoying the VR recreation module. Finally, they prepared for the rentry into normal space near Vesk-2, wondering if they had beaten the merchants on the Wintermourn
Scherzo whispered some instructions to Emersohn and Shasta. They remained in the waiting room until Scherzo and the others had had time to get into the necroforge and presumably distract Rygun from what the two stragglers were up to. Emersohn took control of Zeph's computer, which was already into the system. He then hacked past the firewall and found he had access to the cameras, door controls, and more. He noted that there were some back rooms accessed from a loading dock behind the building.
He spent a few minutes recording what the cameras were capturing in the empty rooms, creating loops, and replacing the camera feeds with the loops so anyone looking at the cameras on a monitor would see the loops instead of what was really happening. Then he and Shasta left and circled back around to the loading dock and entered the door that Emersohn had unlocked.
Inside Scherzo was greeted with a creepy smile on the undead elebrian's grey lips. "Welcome to the necroforge. I shall show you what immortality looks like."
Scherzo kept him talking while the others looked at the equipment and the other occupants of the room. In the center was a control column that had monitors showing the cameras in the various side rooms of the building, now showing innocuous loops of inactivity. On the floor, a ring of red lines filled with mystic and arcane runes connected eight coffin-sized glass covered capsules, each containing a corpse. The ring sent negative energy into the capsules to infuse the dead tissue in preparation for being forged into the necrographs.
Three undead attendants drifted from capsule to capsule and over to counter with other equipment adjusting things in the background.
The waiting room was empty except for chairs, a pair of potted plants with blood-red leaves that looked like segmented human finger bones, and a table with a computer and two large monitors showing promotions for various necrografts. While Scherzo and others looked at the screens, pretending to be interested in what was on offer, Zeph connected her computer to the reception area computer and tried to work past the access code.
The monitor images went blank and words in common and Eoxian said, <Unauthorized access denied> as an alarm sound beeped.
A moment later the screens filled with a man's face looking cross at a computer in a large room with various large machines in the background. The man had grey skin, no hair, and a broad forehead backed up by an enlarged cranium. The general features marked the man as an elebrian, but his skin did not look healthy, suggesting he was undead.
"Leave a message if you want service!" he said, his voice wispy and rough. The monitor changed back to the promotional videos and the instruction to record a message.
After a rest and a little research, the crew located and traveled to the augmentation shop of Rygan Vuul. It was located below the main level of the station, in the Spike, a district called the Sparks. His shop was in a vacant engineering bay. While traveling to the shop, Zeph did some research and found some of his advertising. Vuul was an elebrian corpsefolk, intelligent undead who had become members of the Pact Worlds, in relatively good standing.
Zeph also found that Vuul espoused a philosophy he called “singularity,” by which he meant the pursuit of an infinite existence through undeath, and he preferred to sell his hand-crafted augmentations to fellow believers. As a result, many of his clients had become his followers, revering him as a living god.
His necroforge, as such crafting areas of undead augmentations were called, occupied a one story building that stood alone in the area, about 100 feet long and 70 feet wide. It had an entrance in the southwest corner with an empty waiting room. It was brightly lit and the exterior was well maintained.
While Scherzo was distracted, the goblins had taken to talking excitedly.
Fleagreeb said, "We will have enough credits to buy Doomcaller! We can force Stink Craters gang to bow to our superior ..."
"No, no, no," Rattlesnarp interrupted. "I can get what I need to build my comfy chair with portal to food synthesizer! At last I'll ..."
Goog clapped them both on the backs of their oversized heads, saying, "Stop it! Every wakin’ minute, you squabble and nitpick! What does it get us? Extra crispy and half dead! Well, it’s time for the head of the family to take charge, like Mom always wanted. And I say there’s no point in selling that engine, ‘cause you two will just waste the credits on terrible inventions that have no chance of ever getting us off this crummy station!"
Goog turned away from his brother and sister. "There’s nothing here for us anymore. We want to go with you, wherever you’re going. Just let us see the stars
aboard your ship a little while, hop to a planet or two, until we find the right place for a fresh start. Do that for us, and the Drift engine is yours."
While Goog cowered and nursed his wounds, his brother and sister retreated further before firing more shots at the elemental with their junklasers. Fleagreeb's shot was just as wild as before, but Rattlesnarp's came dangerously close to hitting the elemental's head. The intense clouds that wreath its head, however, dispersed the laser light harmlessly.
The lightning elemental retaliated against Benny by slugging him with a blow that crackled with electricity. Benny's armor absorbed the brunt, but the pain of the blow reverberated through his body.
Goog scampered out of the drift engine and hid between the exterior of the machine and a pile of debris.
Fleagreeb and Rattlesnarp retreated south toward the drift engine. They drew their infamously unstable junklasers and fired wild shots at the lightning elemental, but did come close to hitting it.
Something dark swooped down behind Emersohn and Benny. It had a vaguely humanoid shape, with white-blue skin. Dark clouds swirled like black hair from it's head and its lower torso appeared as a black skirt that dissolved into black clouds where feet should be. Sparks crackled all about it and the air smelled strongly of ozone. It sent a surge of electricity into Emersohn. He was taken by surprise and all the electrical energy surged through his body and into the heap below him.
Climbing the pile of junk was not easy, particularly for Orion, whose bulk made it harder for him to find stable hand and foot holds. Benny, Zeph, and Orion arrived at the top decidedly winded and a little weak from the exertion. The other three paced themselves better.
The top of the heap had an area where the junk had been cleared away. A drift engine was on the far side of the clearing. About fifteen feet from the clearing, half covered in other junk was a rusted gun safe, half covered in other junk, with the door closed. Goblin voices could be heard whispering from inside the safe. A squeaky, unsure voice spoke softly, "But shouldn’t… shouldn’t we go have a look? What if that thing zapped Goog?"
Someone with a raspier, gruff tone replied, "If you’re so worried, you go out there. You’re the reason we’re in this mess. I says, ‘Let’s replace the containment unit.’ But nooooo. ‘I can just repair the Drift leak,’ you says. ‘Let me laser weld the manifold,’ you says. Now look where we are! Hidin’ in a metal box prayin’ we don’t get electrocuted!"
The whispers stopped as the muffled sounds of a petty scuffle ensued.
Scherzo opened the door to the safe and two space goblins--one male, one female--tumbled out wrestling and throwing ineffectual punches at each other. They stopped fighting when they noticed a group of strangers staring at them.
The male gestured for the group to get as far away from the drift engine as the top of the heap would allow, then said, still talking in a whisper, "Thank Triune, you're here. We were repairing that drift engine, Goog, Fleagreb, and Rattlesnap," As he said the names, he pointed at the drift engine, the female, and himself. "To do that, we had to connect power to containment manifold. There was sparks, then a creature shooting lightning everywheres. Goog was wounded. We fled here. You has guns! Shoot lightning beast. Save goog!"
As Rattlesnap talked, he acted like a space ship captain, giving orders, pointing with his stubby arms, showing his teeth and spitting as he tried to be emphatic while keeping his voice down.
When Scherzo tried to question him further, he pointed toward the drift engine and said only, "Save brother Goog," crossing his arms
Since posting the previous entry, I came across a new Universal Monster ability called Attach which sounds like the ability that should replace grab when a creature uses the grab ability on a creature that is larger than itself.
When I leveled up the characters to third, I realized I should not have been using the cloaking field exploit with Shasta until she is 5th level. It did not play a significant role in any melee.
I also noticed that the Uplifted Bear race has a size of 10 feet but a reach of just 5 feet. I'm not sure why an enlarged human gets reach but an uplifted bear, who stands around 9 to 11 feet tall would not have the same reach as other humanoids. Anything is possible and perhaps the uplift process resulted in shorter than average arms. The reach of a human arm from one hand to the other when arms are outstretched horizontally is about the same distance and the person's height.
Anyway, I'll be playing Orion as having five foot reach and I gave him a reach melee weapon, a pike, so he has the option of a 10 foot reach.
The story is in book 2 now. The book assumes the characters use the same name for the ship, the Oliphaunt, that the research team used for it. That seems like asking for trouble, since I'm sure EJ Corp would search ship logs for the name, as would Sinjin. I also ruled that the transponder code had not yet been set so this allowed the crew to set it and fake some ownership credentials. Seems reasonable. The story assumes the PCs can return to Absalom Station without fear of immediately getting recognized as a stolen ship, so this seems like one way to accomplish that.
"That two-timing, double-dealing, swindling… ice-miner! She’s ripped me off! That whole time she and her witchwarper sidekick had me chatting upstairs, their pilot was stealing the black hearts from my own storage yard! And you. You!"
Rishae poked Scherzo with her index finger.
"You are going to help me get even. I don’t have your necrografts, but I know where you can get them. Rygan Vuul runs a necroforge in the Sparks with all the equipment to make what you need. His cult worships him as a living god or something. I stay away from him, but maybe you can persuade him to cut you a deal."
Scherzo looked at her comm unit, which still had the contract for the black hearts on the screen.
Rishae tapped her own comm unit and the contract was canceled. "Keep your credits. Just beat that rat to the sale and we're even!"
Dizzy completed introductions. "Crew of the Black Butterfly, meet the crew of the Wintermourn. Captain Rovo meet Captain Scherzo Vivaccismo. Orion, Benny, Zeph, Shasta, and Emersohn meet Jinx, and Nemolith Zyoan."
The two crews acknowledged Dizzy's introductions various ways, except Nemolith, who just glowered and looked bored.
Dizzy continued. "The The Black Butterfly is an EJ Corp Sledgehammer."
Jinx said, "That's a fast ship, but the cargo capacity sucks."
Scherzo and the others nodded as if in agreement but casting sly glances at each other when no one was looking.
Niva briefly looked over the other crew and commented as she departed, "We’re here to work, not sip necrotinis or whatever the hell they serve in this place."
Dizzy gave directions before hesh left with the others. "Top floor. Last confessional on the right."
"Same thing you are, I expect," Dizzy replied. "Trying to pick up some black hearts from Ms. Tulvauran. I'm with the Wintermourn, and our captain, Niva Rovo, is upstairs right now, haggling with Rishae, like I suspect you all intend to do. I’m sorry we got here first, but, you know, speed is everything in this business. No hard feelings.
Scherzo considered trying to interrupt the meeting to make a counter-offer, but thought better of it. She and her crew chatted with Dizzy about music, starship maintenance, and latest trends in robotics and computers.
Eventually, the captain of the Wintermourn returned to collect Dizzy. She was an ysoki female, with white fur streaked with grey stripes. Her face had several scars. She wore heavy armor, the type worn by miners working in hostile environments. Wither the captain was a tall, muscular human female who had colored her skin bright red. She sported a white mohawk, wore freebooter armor, and a bravado handcannon.
A fourth crew member joined the three from where he had been mingling with the club crowd. He was a verthani with blue and black skin patterns. He had a laser pistol augmented to his right hand. He greeted his crew mates with gestured that indicated they communicated with signs, although his body language said he was able to hear the music, as he was shifting his body in time to the throbbing beat.
The crew left the docks and headed to the Downlow section of Absalom Station, located below the main residential and business areas of the station, home to the lower classes, maintenance workers, and plenty of riff raff. The found the club and looked it over.
The Revenant Urge’s aesthetic combined the haunting and traditional with the ultra-modern and chic. The building resembled a macabre cathedral decorated with a towering spire at each corner and flying buttresses, pointed arches, and ornate columns of onyx and black marble. The entrance was an oversized door of coppery metal framed by pillars of bone and adamantine and the rib bones of a giant undead beast. Above the door, a circular rose window made of holographic crystal projected the silhouette of the goddess Urgathoa—depicted as a woman with a skeletal lower half dancing with a scythe. The acrid odor of burning plastic and chemical solvents lingered in the air, and the pulse of muffled bass throbbed behind the door.
Moving inside, the double door opened to a vaulted hall; seven floors with open balconies overlooked a crowded dance floor, along with one more floor at the building’s summit. Gigantic speakers blared hypertronic sludge house. Floating above the crowds of dancers, undead dancers whirled about in hovercages while brandishing bladed weapons or caressing dangerous animals. The patrons themselves—mostly undead—writhed and contorted to the music, illuminated by flashing strobes. A few clubbers jumped from bungee cords tethered to the upper floors, their silhouettes bouncing in and out of view. Each of the four spires that anchored the building contained a lavish elevator with walls made of holographic crystal.
A squax near where they entered sat up on its hind legs and stared at the group. Once eyes adjusted to the low light levels of the club, they saw it a robot made to resemble the small mammal common on Castrovel and a popular pet across the Pact Worlds. It proceeded to scamper across the entrance area and over to a bar where it jumped up next to a dragonkin. Hesh wore a white longsleeved pullover shirt with some graphic design on the front, brown cargo pants, with a belt full of tools. Hesh had violet scales, yellow eyes, and a pair of goggles resting on his horned head. Hirs tail tapped the head of the mechanical companion. Hesh waved at the crew of the Butterfly and invited them over to join him.
When they approached, hesh said, "Call me Dizzy. This is Digit." The dragonkin looked around at the gothic ambiance of the club and raised a drink to hirs muzzle. "First time in this place. All seems a little much, you know? Like, they’re trying too hard. I hear on the weekends people bungee down from the seventh floor while laser turrets open fire on them. That sounds… fun?"
Scherzo alerted the rest of the crew to get ready to visit the Eox docking area to learn of a new job. Shasta piloted the Black Butterfly through the armada toward the location indicated by Tarika. Scherzo watched for any sign the Company or one of Sinjin's agents to signal that they had spotted the stolen starship, but nothing happened.
Shasta navigated into a docking area and slowly settled into a vacant berth. Nearby were various ships typical of those with undead crews, with ash grey hulls resembling rib cages of giant beasts. An exception was a large luxury liner that appeared to have been badly damaged with blast marks typical of battle. The area where the power core and drift engines usually reside was broken open as if from an internal explosion.
While the repairs were being done, Zeph sent Tarika an encrypted message filling her in on their situation, saying only enough that Tarika could get the gist of their theft of the Oliphaunt, avoiding Sinjin, and disguising the rechristened starship.
Tarika sent a similarly guarded message instructing them to return to Absalom Station and she'd try to have a job lined up.
When the crew arrive near the station, they stayed in the armada and sent a message to Tarika. She replied with a docking bay location.
The summoning grafts section of Alien Archive, when they describe resistances under Traits, generally say, "resistance equal to creature’s CR to ..."
If the creature CR is 1/3 (which is the case for Summon Level 1 creatures), does this round down so that they don't get any resistances or is there an implied minimum of 1?
Emersohn and Zeph teamed up to disguise the ship. The identifier had not yet been programmed into the ship, so Emersohn suggested they visit Akiton and get it forged. It was not hard to find someone on Akiton who could do the forgery and while they were there, they had the exterior of the ship painted and then distressed to make it look old.
The discussed what to call the ship, since everyone agreed they should ditch the name associated with it at EJ Corp. The settled on Black Butterfly after the Goddess of distance, silence, and space.
With those tasks done, along with a little shopping to sells some of the gear they collected and purchase supplies, they flew to Abasalom Station, found a berth in the armada and took a space taxi to the station to look for Tarika.
The crew nodded but kept their immediate thoughts on the subject to themselves. They proceeded to explore the ship. The bridge was larger than their previous ship and each crew member would have a private room. On the front port side of the fuselage was an arcane laboratory already stocked with various materials used in magical research. On the front starboard side was a technological workshop.
According to development notes obtained from the computers at the factory, the plan was to put null-space cargo holds in these two side compartments, thus creating the cargo space of a much larger vessel. During construction, the two workshops were used for constructing elements that went right into the null-space containers. The plan was to test the ship before finalizing the design and they wanted to be able to create important parts while outside the factory.
The center of the ship had the power core and drift engines. Behind them were the six crew berths. Behind that was the cargo holds. From the outside, the back cargo area of the ship was a fifty foot cube, but inside, it was twice as wide. There were lots of indoor sports that could be held inside this space.
There was a washroom on the main ship on the port side of the engines. On the starboard side was an airlock and a hover lift. The lift took the crew up to the raised section above the ship, which contained a galley, a small washroom, and, much to everyone's surprise, a recreation suite, sometimes called a holographic amusement suite or HAC. The suite was ot used for recreation but as a way to test elements of the null-space containers in various simulated environments.
The lift continued up to the turret station, which sported a chain cannon. The forward gun was a high explosive missile launcher. The central works contained a Pulse Black power core and a basic no-frills computer system.
After checking out the ship, they chose their berths and some got some much needed rest. Benny and Zeph plugged in the culinary synthesizer in the galley and fed it UPBs to create some meals. Once everyone had rested and had a meal, some checked out the HAC.
On one wall scientists had left various notes, formulas, diagrams, and such.
Orion recognized some formulas relating to space time relations and surmised that the area had been where the null-space compartments were developed and built. The work seemed to have come to a successful conclusion.
The crew opened various crates and found some UPBs and four fist-sized cubes of inubrix. Scherzo ordered the computers in the area to be disconnected and carted off to get the information on the null-space containers for later analysis. Benny found a serum of enhancement for scientists hidden behind one of the computers.
The dustar rushed at Orion's feet and tried to slash them with rotating serrated blades that stuck out from slots in its side. But Orion stepped aside and the attack failed.
The monitor prepared to send out more arcs of lightning. Orion tried to take advantage of its momentary pause as its AI calculated trajectories for the next barrage, but he missed badly. One arc struck Shasta, doing no real damage. Three other arcs hit Orion, lighting him up like casino light show.
Zeph reached out and produced a twist in space time that shunted some of the electrons into an alternate universe, sparing Orion any real damage.
The dustar popped up its polishing laser, taking Shasta by surprise, even though she knew to expect it. When the laser fired, however, the shot went just wide.
Suddenly, 4 arcs of electricity emanated from a point near the door the room that contained the starship. They came from the mantis-like head of the monitor. It had activated its chameleon circuit to take on the appearance of the dull grey wall behind it. One of the rays hit Orion, two others struck the ground between Orion and Scherzo, and the fourth hit Scherzo, who was standing fifteen feet away. The charges caused pain but little damage.
After its attack, it came into focus and could be seen clearly, about ten feet across and five feet high along its back and ten feet high at its head.
The group, ranged weapons ready, moved into the factory area.
Sheet metal floors and gleaming white walls framed a massive space packed with equipment; tables were littered with technological parts and arcane components. To the east, a large assembly area included scaffolding and frames that surround an empty space. According to the construction log found in Eline Reisora's computer, this was where the null-space cargo holds were assembled before each was installed in the Oliphaunt. Vid boards lined the walls, filled with scribbled notations.
The group's caution was caused by two facts. When they first looked over the facility using the security cameras, they spotted at least one anacite dustar in the factory area. And when they kept watch as personnel left the facility, they did not see the large anacite monitor that Shasta had observed talking with Reisora leave.
Orion and Scherzo entered and remained near the door, keeping eyes on the main factory floor area and the door to where the ship was waiting. Emersohn and Shasta fanned left while Benny and Zeph went right working their way around the outer wall, checking for hidey holes and other hazards.
Once the group began to converge on the far side of the factory floor, Emersohn spotted the dustar behind some crates. He opened fire and the fight began.
With the guards taken care of, those who had been affected by the fight rested while Zeph kept an eye on what was going on in the areas they would go next. She also checked other cameras showing activity outside the doors they had all entered, but this too showed no one coming.
While some rested, the others combed through the offices for anything else of value. They found a magic ring but neither Zeph nor Benny could figure out what it did.
In the breakroom, Zeph and Scherzo found a couple of useful items small enough to carry off: a culinary synthesizer and a self-heating pot, plus a two ultra-capacity batteries and a pair of serums of healing.
Before going on, Emersohn and Zeph collaborated to doctor all the camera recordings so that nothing showed the group entering and fighting the guards. They wrote a few programs to keep recycling views of the factory recorded earlier, with the dustars and security guards wandering the halls periodically, so from the outside, no one tapping into the system could tell anything was off, at least not right away.
When everyone was ready, the group met back in the area where they had just fought, preparing to move onto the factory floor. Nothing was moving about, at least, nothing in view of a camera.
The guard who was not entangled in sticky goo stepped forward and slapped his hand on Shasta's shoulder, sending electricity through her, but not enough to do serious harm.
Emersohn retreated to the end of the hall while getting his laser rifle ready. He turned and fired at the nearest guard, but Shasta was in the way and he the red beam of the laser struck the wall.
The anicite dustar, whirred about for a moment after Zeph hit it with the witchwarper spell, but suddenly, a laser, normally used to polish metal, popped up from the top and fired at Orion, causing him a painful but superficial burn.
The group knew there were more security guards toward the back of the office area, but so far, they had not detected their presence, or at least they had not moved to interfere if they did. Emersohn checked the security cameras periodically to see if they were still stationed near the factory entrance. The group decided it was time to confront them before exploring the offices further.
Orion stayed at the intersection of halls, just 20 feet from the anacite dustar, that was cleaning the floor near the back. Scherzo and Zeph entered a break room that had an exit that connected to a hall to the east of where the guards were stationed. Shasta and Emersohn went down a hall at the west side of the area past a room with cubicles for programers, to where the hall ran east to connect to the room that had the door to the factory area.
When Scherzo heard about the dustar back by the guards, she remembered something she had read about anacites. She mentioned that she had heard sometimes anacites disguise such robots to hide lethal weaponry. Orion confirmed that they sometimes did this and so everyone was on alert that the dustar should be considered armed and dangerous.
The team moved from the guard station through a door and into a hall. From the map, it appeared to be administrative areas, a conference room, some computer stations, and storage areas. Shasta took the lead and peered around the first corner. A cleaning robot was moving along the hall. When it saw Shasta turned around and moved back in the other direction, apparently programmed to stay out of the way when people were in its area.
While Scherzo and Benny checked out the conference and presentation rooms, Zeph and Emersohn entered Eline Reisora's off ice. The smell of expensive perfume permeated this lavishly appointed office. A large wooden desk sat in front of the back wall, and a vibrant red rug adorned the floor in the center of the room. To the right, a leather couch and two matching chairs formed a cozy nook, and a fully stocked bar occupied the left corner. A decorative shelf along the back wall of the room bore a pale yellow model of a starship.
Emersohn picked the lock on the drawers and then started working on hacking into the computer. Zeph went through the drawers and found a key-card, which she clipped to her belt, a magical serum, and a laser pistol, with a cylindrical lens focusing system. She also noticed the model of the starship on the wall appeared to be made of gold and perhaps other valuable metals. So she lifted it from the wall to give to Orion to carry (as it was rather heavy).
On the computer, Emersohn located various files pertaining to the ship, such as schematics, the development and construction logs, and other descriptions of the ship. He downloaded all the files and then took the computer as well.
While the guard was taken by surprise, it was quick enough to turn toward Emersohn and slap him in the shoulder. The blow had little force behind it, but the static shock pad built into the android's hand made excellent contact for a surge of electricity than ran through him to ground, leaving him staggered.
Deminda said Sinjin's organization had received intel that the Oliphaunt was completed. They did not know what the Company planned to do with it next, so she urged the team to move quickly.
Each of the six former crew members booked passage on a passenger starship that made regular flights to the Orbital Plate around the planet Aballon. They did not sit together or give any other indication they were connected. It was a no-frills trip, but it took only two days in the Drift, so the discomfort of sleeping in tiny, coffin sized berths was a minor issue.
After emerging from the Drift, the view of the sun was spectacular. The starship had a special observation dome with tinted windows allowing passengers a view of the star and the dull grey planet of Aballon. The small plaent was covered with enormous high-tech metroplexes separated by mountain ranges and the occasional crater.
The approach to the Horse Eye Orbital Plate gave a good view of the giant starship construction facility. It orbited the planet, harvesting the prodigious energy of the sunlight with solar panels constantly oriented toward the sun. Starships in various states of construction—most of them barely visible among scaffolding, robotic cranes, and a swarm of workers—hung like bats from the shadowed bottom of the facility. Among these vessels was a colossal bulk cruiser plated in gold—one of the legendary commerce barges manufactured by followers of the Prophecies of Kalistrade. The passenger liner docked in the middle levels of the plate, where workers and guests were housed.
The six EJ shareholders filed out with their backpacks and gear. They had to pass through a security zone where an Anacite worker, one of the 'natives' of the planet, descended from constructs which were placed on the planet eons ago to mine the hostile environment, checked their credentials. Each was informed of the same instruction: "Shareholders are authorized to travel freely in the Horse Eye Orbital Plate, but some corporations maintain restricted areas. You must secure separate authorization for entry to each of these regions. The Horse Eye Orbital Plate is not responsible for injury or inconvenience resulting from failure to obtain this authorization. Do you understand?" Once each passenger agreed to these terms, they were allowed in and checked into a guest room.
Each evening, after working hard to secure favorable severance deals, Scherzo, Shasta, Benny, and Zeph took their musical instruments, voices, and dance skills to a night club called Sax and Violins. It had a stage where amateur bands would audition. After five bands played their audition number to the crowd, people used their comm units to vote for which band to hear play more music. As the preferred band played, listeners continuously gave feedback as to how they were enjoying the performance and whether they wanted to hear more. Once the ratings dropped below a threshold the current band was given the hook and the next band got their chance. Payment was given based on these crowd votes, giving a percentage of the food and beverage revenues proportionate to a band's popularity.
They were not the first picked band the first night, but they got their shot before the night was out. They went back several nights in a row and each night became more popular and got more credits. They got an invite to play a different club at the end of the week. Scherzo and Zeph were the most impressive, with Scherzo improvising on a melody while Zeph sang and danced, also improvising. Benny and Scherzo backed up these stars, with Benny entertaining the crowd with his jokes between numbers and Shasta singing and dancing as well. One of the highlights of each night was when Zeph activated her gravitational harness, an augmentation that allowed her to lower the gravity she experienced, enabling her to make remarkable leaps combined with acrobatic twists and flips. She also used another augmentation which allowed her to boost the volume of her voice. As a sylph, her level of breath control was superb. And she even backed up the others during instrumental segments playing her synth harmonica.
They made 66 credits for their week of performances. They put the money into an account that anyone in the group that was for things they might need during the upcoming job for Sinjin.
Once they had all obtained ownership of their stock options, they got a call from Sinjin's bodyguard, Deminda. "I'm sending you coordinates of an asteroid in the Diaspora. Once you have the package, bring it to this location where your payment will be waiting."
Thus began the process of quitting. It was an arduous process. Everyone spent many hours on their personal comms and the infosphere, negotiating with faceless Company personnel who shuffled them from department to department to department, conversing in monotone using jargon they never explained, contradicting each other, and leaving them on hold for hours until the call simply ended.
Scherzo utilized her considerable skill in negotiation and diplomacy to secure the best package for herself. Orion did surprisingly well, at least it was surprising until the others learned that he managed to do a lot of his negotiating in person, which apparently made everyone nervous that he'd fly into a rage and start trashing the office if he didn't get what he wanted. Others managed some benefits beyond the minimum required by their contracts, which was just a few stock options. Emersohn did not have the patience to put up with all the run-around, so he ended up with not much. But when they pooled all their resources together, they had what could serve as a nest egg for staring their own shipping business, provided they could buy a ship. And they had the stock shares they needed to participate in Lord Sinjin's plan.
After enjoying the amenities of the casinos and night clubs, the crew returned to their freighter and prepared to fly it to the EJ Corp docking facility. First, they started to transmit a message to Tarika. Before they could compose it, however, they got a message from the Company.
TO: EJ Corp personnel serving aboard Company Transport BD514
FROM: EJ Corp Sapient Resources Department
SUBJECT: Possible Contract Breach and Termination
Dear Employees,
Your recent activity on Vohxa has triggered an objective, AI-led investigation into potential violations of your employee contracts. This investigation may result in your termination. EJ Corp is under no obligation to share the results of this investigation with you. In addition, Company Transport BD514 has failed to meet expected profit goals. EJ Corp is conducting an internal review to determine the viability of this revenue stream going forward. In the event your company transport is reassigned, your contracts will be voided, effective immediately.
Thank you for your time.
After absorbing this not-unexpected message, they proceeded to contact Tarika.
Sinjin smiled a greasy smile and reached into his pocket and extracted a credstick. "This should cover your expenses. All you need to do is to quit your jobs before you are terminated. Your severance will include stock options. Make sure you secure at least some stock so you can gain access to the orbital plate facility. Deminda will be in touch with instructions once that has been done. I have contacts in the Company so I'll know when you have accomplished this. And please enjoy the facilities."
Lord Sinjin nodded. "I appreciate your candor. The Golden League has many interests and not all of them are as selfish as you think. And I hope you are not naive enough to think EJ Corp has your best interests at heart either. I expect you'll find out soon enough how they treat freighter crew who fail to make a profit. That said, it doesn't change the facts of this job. So take it or leave it."
"I am a businessman, with a variety of enterprises. I left Apostae a century ago to seek better fortunes elsewhere. Now I and my family are members of the Golden League."
