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Given the opportunity, Rally took what she could of the files, intending to present them as the findings of her first ever adventure as a member of the Starfinder Society. Being no religious scholar, she left the grand statue to the others by and large, making sure to keep an eye on their (surprisingly cooperative) captive. And in the end, she is true to her word, doing her best to make sure the ysoki is fairly treated in the coming days. Before parting ways with the rest of the group at the Lorespire Complex, though, Rally takes a moment to speak to them. "Um... I'm not very good at this sort of thing, but..." The elvish girl smiles, more genuine and more lonely than the cocky smirk she wears for the cameras. "Thanks for having my back out there. And for keeping me going. You've been a great crew, and a great set of—" Another word rises to Rally's lips, but is left unsaid. "—allies." "It's a great big galaxy out there, and a great big Society in here, but... hopefully we'll cross paths again." And with that, Rally Rose is off to her next adventure.
Rally's gaze scans the filing cabinets. "This is an awful way to store information, at least from a practical standpoint. It seems like it has a more... symbolic, even religious, value. A grand vault of secrets..." The elvish girl looks from Starfinder to Starfinder. "You think we've got time enough to take a closer look? Not a full scouring, but at least more than a random grab. Otherwise... something's better than nothing, right?"
Rally Rose stops outside the doorway, warily inspecting the other elf as she draws her rifle. "The little one's got my promise of safety, Sovyrian scum." The rancor in her voice—suddenly an octave or two deeper, and thick with emotion—is apparent. "So I guess the only one who's not leaving alive is your void-dripping a—" Some sort of autofilter in Rally's comm system covers her final word, but the general gist is quite clear.
Rally looks at the now-unsealed door for a few moments, calculating its path. "...you know, we never did see what was past that other secret door back there. I'm still dying to know what's back there." The elvish girl briefly considers her choice of words, her ears twitching. "Uh... not literally. I hope."
Rally Rose takes a deep breath, drawing on reserves she didn't know she had. She beams at the other Starfinders. "Wow. I feel... pretty great, actually." Taking a quick scan of the computer stations to make sure there isn't any data there—and grabbing what she can if there is—Rally then looks to the others. "All right, what are we waiting for!?" The elvish girl pauses a little sheepishly. "Uh... besides me, I guess. Never mind that! Come on, guys, let's blow this place before it blows on us!" Whatever else one might say of Rally Rose, at least she's irrepressible.
The problem with robots, Rally reflects with some embarrassment, is that they refuse to just sit there and let themselves be hacked. Looking over at Quentin and Pamatea, she quietly says, "Keep an eye on our guest, please." Then the elvish girl is off, darting into the room as quickly as she can given her heavy armor. As she skids to a halt, Rally levels her sniper rifle at the robot.
Rally's enthusiasm is somewhat muted by the dire circumstances; instead of her usual whoop of exultation, she simply nods in satisfaction.
Rally is pleased by the reaction, though she tries to keep her "professional Starfinder" face on. She lets the others take the lead, since they seem to have a better idea of how to handle these sorts of escapes. The elvish girl does pull out her rifle, though, ready for danger. As the group enters the narrow corridor, Rally moves to investigate the various doors, looking for any sort of system she can override or hijack to gain entry.
Rally hesitates, her stomach growling loudly enough that she's pretty sure the whole room can hear. For a moment she eyes the apple; then the voice of her adoptive mother echoes through her mind, asking if she's really going to eat trash left by a rat. Rally flinches, already starting towards the south door and trying not to look at said apple or said rat. Then an idea crosses her mind. "Hey, what if... what if we split up? Charlie and Quentin take one path, Pam and I take the other. It'll make sure we cover as much ground as possible." Rally fidgets slightly before turning to Datch. "Um... I hate to just leave you to die like this. I promise if you come with us and don't cause any more trouble along the way, I'll make sure you're treated fairly..." The elvish girl smiles uncertainly.
Rally quickly downloads the files she finds to her custom rig. At least my computer skills are fine under pressure. Stepping around the desk, the elvish girl nods awkwardly at Datch with an apologetic shrug and an anxious smile. "Um. Sorry about all this. It's my first mission, so, um... I don't have anything personal against you, really." Eager for anything to distract from her awkwardness, Rally looks to Pamatea. "Have you got that figured out?"
Rally Rose is about to start quipping with the ysoki when the alert hits. "Oh, that's not good," the elvish girl murmurs, looking around and trying not to get too frantic.
Uncertain about what to do next, Rally quickly scans the desk, the screen, the statue, looking for a computer interface she might be able to slice into.
"All right, let's see if we can't finish this one off. Ready, gunners?" Rally knows better than to wait for a response; she's already pushing the Pegasus into a tight turn to catch the damaged drone.
Unfortunately, Rally is so focused on taking the offensive that her evasive maneuvers are slipping. Pamatea's a better engineer than I am if she can keep this thing's shields up. I'll have to buy her a drink.
Rally winces as the shields flash in and out, keeping her eyes on the sensor arrays. "We okay back there? I'm the only one here with joystick experience, or I'd come back and help." Shifting focus, Rally executes a quick turn, trying to put some distance between the drones and the Pegasus while attempting to evade.
"Ohhhh, that's not good. Pam, front shields!" Rally's voice shakes almost as badly as her hands on the control stick. Gritting her teeth, the elvish girl hits the throttle and brings the Pegasus around in another wide arc.
Rally forces herself to take a deep breath. It's gonna be okay. The team's got this. Stop being such a noob, for sting's sake. Releasing the breath she's held, Rally cues the comm. "All right, guys. Let's finish this. Quent, Charlie, give them all we've got!"
Rally Rose has had the helm since Aballon, but as the drones approach she starts to sweat. Okay, it's just like Swarmfighter 4000. Except you might literally die. But she's not going down without a fight. Rally kicks the Pegasus into gear, executing evasive maneuvers.
Unfortunately Rally's still a little too twitchy for combat piloting. "Taking us closer! Get ready to take them out, Charlie!" she cries into the comm.
"All right, let's see..." Rally's custom rig feeds her instructions, overlaying aug-real directions over the control board. The elvish girl's fingers dance nimbly over the controls.
Rally calls out, "Okay, you should be able to ride the belts to the other side." Setting her custom rig to keep an eye on the system to ensure that the hidden overseer doesn't counter her commands, Rally lifts her sniper rifle to her shoulder and snaps off a shot at the drone Quentin indicated.
Rally Rose is so overconfident that the grenade takes her completely by surprise, splattering her with sticky goo. "Noijitan goo grena— you better not have gotten any of this stuff in my hair!" the elvish girl cries furiously in the direction of the intercoms. Rally flicks an anxious glance at the others, distressingly aware of the blush starting to cross her cheeks. "Uh... open to advice on that score, guys. It's my, uh, first time." Slogging furiously in spite of the sticky mess, Rally hauls herself up into the control seat, though not without a great deal of effort. She skims the controls, her custom rig analyzing the system in preparation for its use. The elvish girl keeps her sniper rifle in hand, though, ready to start sniping the noijitan drones and their noijitan grenades from her new sniper's nest. "All right, boys, girls, and fans," Rally Rose shouts, firing up her recsuite and turning her cameras on the action, "let's cause some trouble!"
Rally drops to the ground on the other side, trying to keep her breathing level as she jogs over to the circuit box and flips it open. "Come on, this can't be too hard..." the elvish girl murmurs to herself as she scans the wires and pulls out a couple of specialized tools.
Feeling confident in her results, Rally boots up her custom rig and pings the others' comms. "Piece of cake. Take your time, this isn't coming online anytime soon."
Rally's reflexes are well-honed and hair-trigger, thankfully, but she still lets out a surprisingly deep sound of pain as she jerks back. Rally catches her breath for a moment before looking back at the others. "Uh... I can try again, maybe. Just got a bit singed. Otherwise..." The elvish girl inclines her head at Pamatea. "You said somethin' about the front door?"
Rally takes a deep breath, trying not to get too nervous. "Alright, well, if we need to get in, it should be me who tries. I'm the one most likely to be able to shut down the system from in there." The elvish girl flicks a glance at Pamatea, trying to look brave and sure of herself. "Be ready to shoot me up with healing juice... I might be hitting the ground pretty hard on the far side. And if you've got anything that'll help me climb, shoot me up right now."
"Yo Charlie, how 'bout a boost? I'll try to make sure it doesn't ground out through you." Rally clears her throat awkwardly. "And, uh... sorry for giving you a hard time in the jungle the other day, man." Rally looks at the fence for a long moment, judging its difficulty as she shuts down nonessential computer systems in her equipment. Oh, this is gonna SUCK. Then, with or without the ferran's helpRally takes a deep breath and grabs the fence, forcing herself to climb as fast as she can.
"Maybe, yeah. I'd love to try the game for myself. First, though..." Rally Rose strolls casually around the table and leans down to murmur into Denanne's ear in Elven, speaking quietly enough to keep it secretive and relying on the woman's sharp hearing to get it across. "I know you're cheating. Not only did I see your telekinetic trick, I got it on camera. And I can put you on media blast with a thought." Rally smiles, as if sharing some private elvish joke. "So we've got a couple conditions for you." "First, you return the Minnow to that poor verthani gentleman you swindled earlier, along with any other big-ticket items you've cheated your way into today. Second, you knock it off with the cheating, now and forever. And third... you oppose the vote of no-confidence in the AbadarCorp CEO." A reassuring note enters Rally's voice. "I'd rather be your friend than your enemy, and see you change your ways without a fuss... but that part's up to you." Rally strolls back around the table and takes her seat, giving the other elf woman a playful smile. "So. I'm ready to play the game if you are." Rally's message is clear enough: Do we have a deal?
Rally keeps her eyes on the game, brushing aside distractions—it's all too easy to get hypnotized by the shuffle of cards and the rapid moves, but she's used to flashy colors and rapid sounds, and stays focused with an intensity more used to competitive gaming—and maintaining focus. Perceptiveness is a common trait of elves, and Rally Rose is no exception; as she watches, she lets the sounds around her in, filtering for anything out of the ordinary.
Following Quentin's lead, Rally steps back to speak to the verthani man. "Indeed. You stand to gain, and gain significantly, if you help us out. And by comparison to both your existing losses and the potential gains, this is a drop in the bucket." Rally smiles her most crowd-pleasing smile. "Please, sir?"
Rally blushes again as the executive's gaze lands on her. The elvish girl tries to focus on her indignation. Remember, this woman could be running a con for the highest stakes. Don't let her get to you, Rose. Putting on her best cocky grin—an expression at which she is, as previously demonstrated, quite adept—Rally Rose nods, following Quentin's lead. "You're on." As Rally approaches and takes a seat, she kicks her custom rig into high gear, carefully analyzing Karrsi's clothing... potential augmentations... presence of invisible entities... anything that might hold the key to the other elf's mysterious 'luck'.
Rally Rose almost chokes on her cherry concoction. "A cheater? And her a servant of Abadar, too!" She sweeps her gaze across the others, a fire in her eyes, and brings her fist down on the table. "All right, if it's true what this gentleman says, we have to catch her at her game and make her change her ways." The elvish girl thinks for a moment. "Plus, if we can prove it... it might give us some leverage for the other thing." Rally sets about checking her recsuite for ways to record the potential sharper.
Rally follows the others' lead, particularly that of Quentin. Ever since his rebuff of her interview, she's been deeply curious about the man's past... but Rally Rose knows better than many how painful the past can be, how many secrets it can shroud, and so she does not pry. "Wow..." the elvish girl breathes as she enters the private booth. "I've gotta get my own suite like this sometime, you guys." Rally enters a quick note into her custom rig as she peeks into the minibar, analyzing the beverages and selecting a lethal-looking cherry concoction. Rally Rose glances around at the others, including the verthani man. "You guys want anything while I'm in here? You, Mr...?"
LORESPIRE COMPLEX "No questions, sir!" Rally Rose grins. "And sordid doesn't bother me too much... you should see what it's like in voice chat." Her attitude fades a little at the mention of underhanded means, though. "You mean, like... cheating? I'd rather not—it's against the Gamer's Code—but if it's for a good cause..." The elvish girl brightens up a little. "Still, I'm a pretty good gamer in other fields, so maybe I'll be ahead of the game here!" IN TRANSIT
Rally Rose spends her time en route getting in some streaming and gaming, managing her social media presence, and editing footage from the jungle battle into a prepared video for her fans to watch and share. In addition, if one or more of her fellow Starfinders are amicable, she does a couple of live interviews with them, giving her fans a chance to ask questions and learn more about the Society's members. Rally might even sleep sometime during all that. LUXX Something about the way the lashunta concierge ends her speech makes Rally blush as red as her namesake. The elvish girl nods quickly, taking her 'free sample' with a murmured "'nk you miss..." and hurrying on to the Nova Room.
Rally Rose hustles over to help the archdirector up, grinning. "Told you you could count on us, sir!" Her grin fades a little as she thinks about what comes next. The elvish girl hesitates for a moment, bringing up her mission notes in her custom rig and scanning the text overlaid on her vision. Oh, right. Vote of no-confidence. "Well, Archdirector... if you want to do us a real favor, um." Rally rubs the back of her neck, smiling a little nervously. She glances around at the others, especially Quentin. Back me up here, please, Rally thinks nervously. "We've all been really worried about the rumors of a shift in company leadership. The current executive archdirector's leadership has meant a great deal to us, and this sudden change has been worrying us a lot. I'm sure we'd all really appreciate it if you could put your support behind Iseki-Okaibo, against whoever's trying to unseat him." Rally Rose smiles her most winning smile, hoping she doesn't sound as awkward as she feels.
Rally hesitates, observing the way Suzi sways and the slowness creeping into her gait. "Hey, Pam? Be ready to provide emergency aid. I don't wanna kill someone on my very first day without a good reason." The elvish girl's voice is still confident, but a shaky note has crept in. As Rally edges forward, she reaches down to her belt, patting the two healing serums she'd gotten from guests at the Lorespire Complex. Worst case, she can run up and try to resuscitate the accountant... or Charlie. Taking a deep breath of the steaming jungle air, Rally raises her rifle and fires again.
Unfortunately, the muddy terrain shifts under Rally's weight just as she fires, and the laser cuts a thin line through the foliage a couple feet in front of her. "Noijit!" Rally curses. "...really glad I didn't start streaming for this little safari," the elvish girl adds with a sigh as she checks her rifle's remaining charge.
Rally pumps a fist in exultation. Finally! Freshly energized, she levels the rifle again and snaps off another shot.
Rally Rose grins. "See? What did I tell you guys? Army of One." Then, all too cognizant of the dangers of (somewhat literally) poking the bear, Rally has her custom rig analyze the accountant's attack patterns and the angle of her swings, using that data to fortify the most vulnerable points of her armor. (Rally Rose gains a +1 to AC against Suzi's next attack before the end of her next turn.)
Rally winces again as the hammer comes crashing down. At least her target finally came out to play. Using the added vigor from Pamatea's bioboost, the elvish girl surges forward, taking a stance along the side of the muddy path with one foot high in the greenery and leveling her sniper rifle at the immense accountant.
Rally huffs in annoyance as she twitches her gun aside to avoid hitting Charlie. "Charlie! Clear line of fire, please!" she barks at the sturdy ferran. On a whim, Rally then boots up her custom rig and posts a brief lament on 'the lost art of tanking' to her social media accounts.
Seeing the ursine accountant toss the goo grenade and catch Charlie, Rally winces. "Glad we're back here, huh?" she calls to Quentin and Pamatea before aiming and lining up another shot.
Rally peers across the landscape at the bear, trying to determine if she scored a hit. "Well, at least I'm out getting fresh air and exercise. Probably good for me, eh, Doctor?" she says to Pamatea. The elvish girl then glances over at Quentin and shrugs apologetically. "I'd find a better spot, but it'd take me forever in this terrain."
Rally is rather shocked by the whole BEAR thing, hesitating for a couple of moments before snapping the stock of her Diasporan tactical rifle to her shoulder. She sights carefully through the scope before firing off a single shot.
Unfortunately, Rally didn't account for the heat haze when aiming, and the laser harmlessly hits the wall above the ursine accountant. The elvish girl pushes the hair out of her eyes and huffs in annoyance, muttering to herself. "Noijitan jungle. This is why I left."
"Um... sure, you can have some DNA for your research. I can also give you a full medication list, since some of them are likely to affect your results." Rally does look rather anxious at the mention of medical release forms, though. "Uh. I don't have to put my legal name on these... do I?" Eventually, though, she does work things out with Pamatea.
"Archdirector Yalus? Ralliadlara Rose, from IT. Rally is fine." Rally grins, hefting her sniper rifle to her shoulder (and surreptitiously flicking the stun setting, if one exists). "And you've got nothing to worry about with me here. In my league, they call me the Army of One—one shot, one kill." Rally does not mention that her "league" is for the online shooter Call of Damoritosh. "We're going to send Accounting crying back to their books."
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