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"We could ask them. If there are any life support components, they wouldn't be using them. And if they talk nicely to us, well I could help them out too. Get them moving again. It would be really interesting to see inside their ship. Do you think they grew the hull? What power source do they use? I once heard about these ships that were powered by magic. Somebody sat in a big chair and it drained the spells out of their minds to move the ship through crystal spheres and a river in space......" “Oh, I think that space river is in the Diaspora,” says Latheera, “but the bit about draining spells to power a ship sounds … pretty improbable. I mean, why would anyone spend all those years at wizard school or however they learnt magic in the olden days, just to become a big magic battery?”
“Patch my comm through to the open channel,” calls Latheera, not trusting herself to tap the right icon. Once she’s sure she’s on, she calls, “Attention gun crews of the Endless Threnody … man, you guys suck! I mean, seriously, big powerful ship like yours and you haven’t blown us out of the Drift yet? You really need to go back to basic and brush up on that precision aiming … though I guess sucking goes hand in hand with being dead …”
"Often enough that it's habit forming Wayf," answers Latheera with grim humour. "Does everyone's armour include environmental systems? I have confidence we won't need them but ... it doesn't hurt to be prepared. Korskal, do we still have that channel open to the enemy ship? Perhaps I can distract their gunners..."
Latheera seems somewhat out of her depth with all the tech speak – she definitely doesn’t seem to understand starship systems to any great degree. As the battle progresses she gazes somewhat helplessly at the display screen, her star mote brightening and dimming intermittently. Abruptly she shakes her head and sits up straight in the captain’s chair, shaking herself out of her fugue. “Right! Helm, evasive action! C’mon Tofana, you can do it!”
Korskal via telepathy:
If they are Corpse Fleet they’re unlikely to be open to negotiations … “Do the active sensors pick up any turrets on that thing? Magnus, I’ll leave attacking and choice of weapons in your capable hands, but I suggest we don’t fire until either they fire on us or we’re behind them.”
"Their rear weapon mounts are badly damaged," observes Latheera, looking at the sensor display. "And with some luck that battle damage may also impact their ability to turn. I want to try to fly around behind them - give them a wide berth, they've got plenty of guns front and sides! Wayf, divert power to the engines, give us a boost ... Tofana, get ready to fly around, not too close until we get behind them or see what they can do. Oh, and can someone open me a comms line to the ship? Maybe I'll dish up some verbal b@%~& slapping on those undead pricks ..."
"Well, it looks like more of nothing out there folks," says Latheera, looking at the ship's sensor display before glancing up and out of the forward view port. "But we know there should be a Corpse Fleet ship ... unless they somehow managed to repair their Drift engines without whatever nasty components the charming ghoul lady was collecting for them. So ... who's in charge of the sensors on this crate? Can we do a scan or something - short range and long range?"
Latheera seems a fairly egalitarian captain; during the journey through the Drift she doesn’t give any orders, ask for status updates or anything. She spends time with her fellow crew members, asking them questions about themselves, their interests, and their ships’ stations. Where possible she tries to also familiarise herself with these stations to some degree; it becomes apparent that she can work the ships controls but doesn’t have great skill as a pilot; she can target the ship’s weapons but doesn’t have the same aptitude for it as Magnus does; and she seems surprisingly inept when it comes to operating computers beyond basic interface and commands. For what it’s worth she seems to have a decent grasp of physics, acceleration, time dilation, Drift travel and the like.
Latheera wipes blood off her sword onto some nearby leaves, then rests the still naked blade on her shoulder and saunters over to stand to the left of Magnus. “I’d listen to the ysoki if I were you,” she says conversationally to the Eoxian. “He gets pretty mad when people try to kill him, and he really likes shooting fools. Now … you’re not going to be foolish are you? Come to think of it I don't much like people trying to kill me either ... Telling us where you got the insignias from seems like the real smart choice at this point.” Despite the seemingly pleasant tone there is a hard edge of threat in the solarian's voice.
“Thanks,” says Latheera, nodding to the downed mercenary as she steps over him. “You’re not much of a sweet-talker though are you?” The glow of Latheera’s solar armour has increased to an almost blinding intensity as she dashes around past her other attacker.
Suddenly a small star explodes, centred on Latheera’s location as a wave of superheated plasma sweeps out in a sphere around her, encompassing the mercenary and the Eoxian.
When the stellar fire fades, Latheera stands unharmed, her solar armour now reduced to a dull glow.
DM and Tofana: Latheera (as a Solarion) has a couple of abilities that affect all persons within 10 feet of her. There is a 'buildup' for her to activate those abilities, then 'BOOM!' The 'boom' is not actually automatic, I can suppress it if needs be.
I think Nevynxxx is questioning whether what a Solarian can do is general knowledge - and therefore her allies (and possibly enemies) would know to keep away from her as her glow increases. I have been assuming the other characters either are not aware of a typical Solarian's abilities and/or they don't know exactly what she's going to do and when, so have had Latheera warning people telepathically to stay away. So far Magnus has kind of ignored or not understood, and I have probably left my warning to Tofana too late - didn't have the foresight to post before you took your turn.
Latheera concentrates for a moment, and her solar mote flares into blue light and once again forms a transparent glowing suit of armour over her form as she begins to attune herself into photon mode . She holds her body and blade ready in a defensive stance as she sends a quick telepathic message to Magnus. Magnus: Cover me … but don’t come too close.
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