LostKnightsRPG.org

"So the flash is there to illuminate the picture, Joss, so that when it comes out, it'll look great. Do you understand, Son?"

Joss was 12, and learning about cameras for the first time. His world was quite backwards, or at least considered so by many, and the use of film and 2d photographs was all part of that. He gazed up at his father, a tall, simple, proud man, who gazed back with some doubt.

"Now Joss, we have to talk about your clothes, I'm afraid."

"What's the matter, Dad? I made these myself. It was very difficult to learn how, and I had to start over many times."

Joss looked down at his violet suit. It had been extremely difficult and it took him many tries to get it right.

"Well, it's the color. It's not...manly."

"But dad, I LOVE violet! It looks so good all the time!"

"But can't you wear violet...sometimes? Or less? Or also other colors?"

His father sighed in resignation. The family portrait would just have to feature his violet clad son. The only other alternative would be to strip him out of those ridiculous clothes and have a naked screaming 12 year old in the picture. The other members of their pirate clan would not understand his...effeminate son, but if offered the choice, they would rather avoid all the screaming.

Joss was all smiles in the portrait of his space pirate family, while his father, mother-wench, and other siblings scowled and wore all leather, Joss was dapper and in a hand made purple suit.

***********

The business end of the rainbow beam stared at Joss for just long enough for him to say something. Ancient instincts kicked in, and he looked Challx in the eyes in the moment before the bright purple light snuffed his life out.

"Cheese!"

The beam penetrated the substantial armor of the battlesuit, and Joss vanished into the respiratory systems in a cloud of fine white powder.

"We can't really navigate without power - we're dead in space, but if you can sense another ship out there, I want you on the bridge."

"On my way."

So the slab had a purpose...depressing...perhaps she could still visit it...

Jezial wandered into the halls, most of her attention still focused on the other ship, the rest on her path as she dodged debris. She moved down a less used corridor as,were those crew? They felt fairly aggressive, and desperate, so Jezial avoided there location completely, and eventually made her way to the main command area of the ship. Things still seemed to be in chaos on all decks. Various humanoids were being let away by various other humanoids...which seemed like a waste of energy. She paused for several minutes, nearly being trampled, as she stopped to observe a particularly large piece of space flotsam simultaneously collapse in on itself and possibly phase in and out of another dimension.

She was spun around as someone accidentally elbowed her shoulder at a quick jogging pace.

"Oh yes, the bridge" she said to no one in particular.

She glided into the bridge, and noticed that it was full of people. Most felt irritated or nervous, but stable and filled with purpose as they had tasks on which they could focus. There was a great deal of activity, so Jezial leaned on the wall near the entry way, trying to get a better feel for the ship outside.

With the announcements overhead of apparent victory, a tangible relief swept through the medical bay. Nurse Voyin gave a buoyant cheer. Doctor Darr allowed himself a dramatic sigh. Those patients who were ambulatory and conscious gave a hearty cheer.

A group of three wounded escapees burst through the emergency entrance, happening upon Voracity as it finished up work on the last critical patient. In a state of panic, they brandished their rainbow beams wildly.

"Nano-meds, now."

The largest of the three, seemingly the boss, a Duus named Borlkus, pointed his rainbow beam at Voracity.

"You. Your stupid suit says you're a doctor. Give me nano-meds now. We have wounds and no time. Give me a portable autodoc as well."

A brief medically minded glance at Borlkus and his henchmen Fiir and Appoloshintomax, revealed that most of their injuries were superficial, a few were serious, and they appeared to be caused by blunt force trauma of some kind.

***********

The bridge was cleared of bound and battered escapees quite rapidly, as a full company of marines flooded the room to clear it of barricades and prisoners. Major Levay assigned several of the bridge rated marines to fill in until the proper bridge crew arrived. She herself was rated to push the helm, so she assumed this position. Those bridge members who were ready began to sound off one at a time as they took their positions. Screens flicked on, reports started streaming in, and some semblance of order began to reveal itself. Jezial stumbled into the bridge in time to hear the flurry of information.

"Sir, the escape chute is secure, we've over-ridden the controls to only function on your orders. Your command chair is available to you."

"Helm station is active sir, I have...minor maneuvering thrusters only. No impulse, no warp."

"Sensors coming online. I have large clouds of debris of...no I don't...yes I do. I have sensor anomalies resembling large clouds of debris at 22 L, or 2 L, the anomalies are in several ranges and are inconsistent. SIR! I have Ranger 2 accelerating through Impulse speeds rapidly at bearing 165, range 145 km. I detect shields are up, and the craft has weapons...armed. I have the Superwarp stage still intact at bearing 220, range 3 km. No activity there. Sir, I don't have any signals indicating a large ship. If it's out there it's either stealthed somehow, hidden by debris, or beyond our sensor range."

"Weapons here. I have...nothing. Correction, I have flak cannon and anti-infantry countermeasures."

"Science here. Nope, not science. What am I looking at. Cargo. Ok then, I've got reports that we have...sheesh...we have a lot of supplies sir. Man, where are they putting all of it? We have literally thousands and thousands of tons of supplies. Whoa. No, sir, we have tens of thousands of tons of supplies. Possibly more. OH this looks important. For whatever reason, the ship's main computer, Sign, was the last item loaded into the main cargo hold. It has not been connected to the central computer core yet. There's a note here...it says...it says...that bridge crew must authorize...integration...loyalty...SIR! I have a confusing message about Sign. I do not understand it."

"Comms here. I have massive amounts of static and interference on a broad range of spectra. I have...interference coming from what sound like antiquated transmissions. I have reports coming in that are thousands of years old. I have a channel available to Ranger 2, though I have no activity on that channel."

"I have...I have the conning tower here. There is an information security breach in the recent history here, but that seems to be resolved. I have a status report from Commander Faarhi Bri, she reports the loss of Ranger 2 to escapees. She further reports Ranger 3 is being loaded with weapons and being made ready, but due to...something unclear...it is damaged and delayed substantially. Several fighters are also damaged, and a transport. I have no other activity."

"Observation here, I...don't really understand my station. These words are...huge...and these numbers...wow....I think I'm better off guarding something. Please excuse me."

"Engineering liaison. I've got some damage reports coming in...we have no shields sir, shields are offline. Though hull breaches are sealed there are still gaps in the physical armor. Main power is offline. Auxiliary power is at 1% and falling. I can try to stretch what power we have a little by redirecting local systems to use local power...that means the lights will dim a bit in most of the ship...but doors and things will draw less power from auxiliary. It might buy us a few hours. The main reactor has reaction mass...SIR! THE MAIN REACTOR HAS NEVER BEEN POWERED UP. WE MADE THE ENTIRE SUPERWARP JOURNEY ON AUXILIARY!!!"

"Sir, I think I can bring up the forward view screen."

Without actually waiting for permission, the last bridge member to speak flipped a few switches and the forward view screen lit up.

The expanse before the endeavor was not the empty nothingness that the scientists of the universe had promised them. Far from it. Perhaps at the dawn of time, this had been the case, but the forces of opposing polarities of gravity, the weapons that curved and tore space, and those that opened gateways to hyperspace and ripped their targets into them, had all filled the empty void of nothingness with fragments of non-things. Before the ship were objects that appeared both distant and close, clouds of matter in states of quantum instability that flashed in and out of existence, great nebulae of matter and anti-matter paired in bent geometries thundered with explosive connections, distantly giving the appearance of enormous thunderclouds filled with occasional flashes of lightning. Hundreds of planets now only forming self repelling clouds of dust responded to gravities distant in both time and space, racing to and fro, approaching and retreating, and then swirling out of control. The view from the bridge of the Endeavor was one mortal eyes had likely never seen, and was maddening and awe inspiring in it's complexity and grandeur.

Additional screens flickered on, and displayed information that was far less encouraging, though was still awe inspiring in its own way. The damage reports and schematics of the ship came to life. The ship was enormous. It was titanic. It was stupendous. It was over twenty kilometers long, yet had warp, impulse, and maneuvering thrusters capable of moving it as nimbly as any battleship. It was armed adequately, even for its size, and once fully powered and shielded, it would be an adequately performing battle platform. Until then, it was an enormous vessel without shields, without power for the most part, and filled with civilians and cargo.

As the view expanded into the depths of nowhere and nothingness, in periodic glimpses between impossible clouds of nega-debris, the reports finished coming in. All heads turned to Stirling, awaiting their orders.


*********

Scar and Exemplar circled one another on the overhead lit dais. Perhaps a command chair was meant to emerge from the hatch in the middle, it was centrally located in the utilitarian and highly reinforced bridge. Screens flickered on throughout the "hard bridge", displaying similar information to that which greeted the captain on the main bridge. Scar, testing Exemplar, gingerly slapped one of his chains against her shield. The overhead PA clicked on, and the two could hear the reports being made on the bridge. Red lighting came up beyond the dais, and the large security doors snapped closed without ceremony.

"Ahh yes, you thought I would shoot you. It occurred to me. But I would much rather rip your flesh from your body!"

Scar lashed out with both chains suddenly, attempting to score a hit on Exemplar's glistening abs.

[8d10 → [1,8,3,5,5,9,3,6] = (40) 2 successes to hit] http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4098527/

As the chains came toward her all of Exemplar's lingering insecurity and confusion faded away. This was what she spent so many cycles training for.

Exemplar did not dodge the bladed chains, but instead caught them on her forearms. She winced as they dug into her flesh, but after far more grievous wounds she was used to the pain and her wounds began to seal around the blades almost immediately. A smile was all the warning she gave Scar before she pulled him in using his own chains and slammed her forehead into the bridge of his nose.



<2 sux to let them hit me where i want them to. http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4098728/

5 to hit... 1's do not subtract. Or we could just call it a grapple and I get 5 auto sux + my roll of 5. Either way, I get an extra (5)5B on top of any sux added to the dmg roll. http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4098733/

Oh, and I heal all the dmg, except maybe 1 for the chains still technically being lodged in my flesh. Regeneration, spend X quantum to heal whatever. My lethal soak was 6 without armor.>

"Go ahead and make the power switch. We need to buy as much time as we can while we try to get main power online. Can you flip the switch on the main reactor from here? If not, let engineering know that its never been activated. They should be working toward getting it up already," he said, stepping past the rapidly dismantling barricades toward the command chair. "Transmit the situation to Ranger 2, let them know that if they return and surrender, they can expect the same treatment as the others."

He sat in the chair for the first time, rubbing his hands along the armrests. He pulled up some of its displays to show him some of the things the bridge crew were talking about as they spoke. "Sensors, we'll have to figure out what all that is once we've got more leisure. Keep an eye on Ranger 2 and stay on the lookout for any other ships. We've got a psychic that says she feels one, but it sounds more than a little crazy out there," he looked out at the main screen once it was activated and just stared for several seconds as he saw the visual representation of the crazy things sensors was reporting.

"Cargo," he said, tearing himself away from the view screen, "Let engineering know where to find Sign. Could you repeat the message you've got about authorizing its integration?"

Jezial was content to simply take in the flowing cosmos until she heard the choppy, incomplete sensor read out, and the inability of the ship's equipment to take in even a small percentage of the roiling nebula that she could so clearly see. When she moved over to the crude read out and saw the staggering lack of information, she was annoyed. She had paid only cursory attention to how sensors were used during her time at the academy, but had they always been so...rudimentary?

She placed a hand on the shoulder of the crewman at sensors. "This just won't do. Here let me show you." She deftly nudged him with her hip to make room. "This," she pointed to the screen, "is there." She pointed to the wall, just back and to the left of the entry doors. "As you can see, the huge threatening ship," It really didn't show up on sensors at all, how did they survive out here? "Is right there." She pointed through the back wall of the bridge, near the ceiling.

"This...this read out isn't particularly helpful." She didn't want to say useless, as that would probably be considered rude. "Here, just let me show you where everything is."

Scar, caught completely off guard by Exemplar's maneuver, was interrupted in mid banter.

"You have no idea the threat you behold! I am SCAR! The Scarred One! I...gack...*cough*"

The rapid smash broke Scar's monologue, his nose, and his resolve.

[Soak 3d10 → [9,1,4] = (14) 1 sux]
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4098778/

[Scar takes 9 Bashing, which is beyond his Unconsciousness threshhold, a potential status effect awarded by Exemplar's successful headshot.]

"Mother? Why you have no kittens?"

And with that, Scar fell backwards, yanking his bladed chains out of Exemplar's forearms, collapsing in an unconscious pile.

************

Jezial described at length the presence of the various objects on the readout, but suddenly realized that the mysterious ship she had observed while in contact with Sign was now beyond her reach. Which meant that it was at least as far out as the maximum sensor range. Why this ship was shadowing them, where it could be from, her perceptions gave no enlightenment in these regards, merely the bearing and range of the...gothic....bladed...vessel at least as large as the Endeavor? What a strange vision. While in contact with Sign, at least this time, her senses were pushed into such a scope as to see light years in short perspective.

It occurred to Jezial that the sensor's operator was not following her statements anymore. She turned to him to see a bold blush, and realized that her position sitting basically in his lap and forcing him around had perhaps given him the wrong, and intensely unprofessional, impression.

*********

Chief Engineer Ignak wiped the fire retardant foam out of his unblinking eyes. The engineering section was clearly plagiarized from the one he had designed, but was not, in fact, the one he had designed. The whispers from his senior crew, surprisingly also from his homeworld, whispers of "deviant" and "outcast" were precisely the sort of thing he had left his world far behind to escape from.

"Graklor, engage the main power!!!!!!" Ignak demanded.

Graklor, reluctant to take orders from one such as Ignak, did so nonetheless. The lights flickered down, and fire broke out again. This time in the adjacent engineering mess hall. Ignak allowed others to fight the fire while he checked his consoles. The problem ran deep. The attempts to turn over the main power plant were causing electrical shorts in other, unrelated areas.

"Ignak! A fire has broken out in the engineering mess hall!"

"Then extinguish it Graklor, I, Ignak, am busy."

Ignak shook his head, an awkward maneuver that involved twisting his entire upper body back and forth, as his species' necks did not rotate. He tapped into the comms to the bridge.

"Captain, IGNAK here. The Main drive is still problematic. I can't get it to turn over. I am investigating the problem and will let you know when I can solve it, or what has can be done. Or what can be done about it."

Ignak clicked off the comms and cursed in his native tongue, which sounded like a cough and a shout at the same time. This would challenge his abilities greatly.

*********

"Sir, I've changed over the local power distribution, I assume you heard Ignak's report. Also, Ranger 2 has a response to your message. They said they have hostages, and not to try anything funny."

The marine viewing the cargo screen finished a comms transmission and made a quick report to the captain.

"Engineering knows where Sign is now, and they said they can spare two men to try to transport it to the right area. I can copy the comment on the cargo entry to your console."

Momentarily the following statement was made available to Stirling. The Marine's confusion seemed to make more sense as the message unfolded. It wasn't a comment, it was a letter.

"Greetings Captain Stirling, we are pleased to inform you that at great effort a unique resource has been placed at the disposal you and your bridge crew. As I am sure you have plenty of time before launch, please take your senior bridge crew and ambassadors to meet Sign. You and your fellow ambassadors must authorize Sign as an ambassador in his own right, and before integration can be completed, mutual loyalty must be established, in person. I am sure these minor inconveniences will prove more than worthwhile once the full power of your ship's computer is at your disposal. Good day, and Good Luck. Signed, Admiral Bill Blarty, Federal Navy."

Exemplar was prepared to go into the Kata-of-Clawed-Death, apply the Iron Knee technique, or even just give the man another headbutt. His untimely collapse was thus quite the surprise. She had expected... more.

Dragging Scar by an arm (never let the villain out of your sight unless you wanted them to get away), Exemplar sat in the captain's chair. She gave herself a moment to get comfortable, and another moment to imagine that SHE was the captain of the ship, giving commands and demanding respect as easily as Captain Sterling. It was a pleasant fantasy, and one she hated to leave behind, but duty ever called. Flipping the comms on, Exemplar's voice rang out "Second Bridge secured Captain Stirling. Jaxx went further into the ship though. Do I pursue or hold position?"

Voracity, in its methodical manner, turned to directly confront the noisy creatures barking at it. Its instincts, thousands of generations in the making, kicked in and the Queen inside was indignant that these lesser beings would dared to give it orders. They were less than impressive if their intent was to intimidate. The only thing menacing about them were the terrible weapons they clutched to like a life line.

The bay had gone mostly quiet. Several of the injured, but mobile marines still in the room looked like they wanted to pounce. Voracity decided this was, in fact, a worthy fate for the intruders. Unlike many doctors, who followed certain outdated moral codes toward the sick and wounded. Voracity had never been able to understand the weakness inherent in allowing a creature that meant you harm to live. Many teachers had tried to instill the virtues of something they called a ‘Hypocratic Oath’ into the Matriarch, but ultimately their attempts had failed. It was an outdated, and heretical dogma for a creature evolved to rule the natural order.

They had only allowed Voracity to continue, and earn a license if it would make certain promises to govern its behavior in what they called ‘civilized society’. It had not spoken to any oath that would allow another creature to harm it or its kind, or those under its care, but had simply promised to do what it could to help those that truly needed it to the best of its not insignificant ability as far as the crew of this vessel was concerned.

So with this in mind, ignoring its internal agony it activated the special glands along its ‘true’ body. These glands were responsible for mixing and dispersing trace elements of the airborne chemicals Matriarch Queens used to aid in controlling their brood. The special encounter suit the young Queen wore had vents specially suited to facilitate this ability. With its pheromones invading the area around it, and the assailants, the Matriarch’s mind crept out to the three wretches. Their leader, Borikus, receiving the bulk of attention from the stifling presence they had unwittingly stumbled upon.

Through their fragile minds the oppressive intent of a keystone organism spoke, “It is folly to ignore your wounds further. Perhaps you have more time than you think. It would behoove you to relax, and let us examine you further.”

With that, its ominous mental presence upon them, Voracity gave the leader of the brigands a mental ‘push’ to have him obey its wishes. “You and your companions must be tired, settle down and let us take care of you. Wouldn’t that be nice, to have us help you? Aren’t you tired of running? Are you not in pain? We can fix that… all of it, everything. Just let us take it from here.”

[I use the speech to buy me the ten seconds the power requires for activation. Manipulation+Subterfuge): I got 4 successes on the speech roll.
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/search/1259957

Hypnosis (Int+Power, spending Willpower as well): I got 2 successes to have the alien relax, and have him calm his ‘boys’ down]
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/search/1259942

Borlkus stared unwavering at Voracity.

"Yes. We should relax here. Fiir, Appoiloshintomax, do as the doctor says."

And with that, he lowered his weapon and awaited further instructions.

Voracity approached the three with the tool it had used to sedate its last patient. "This will help you with the pain." It jabbed each with the injector holding a fast acting sedative, which had been reset to deliver a higher dose than was strictly necessary. Just to be safe.

As the three bodies hit the floor, Voracity turned to several of the marines that were starting to move. "Would you kindly procure the weapons lying on the floor, and guard our doors so no more of these... distractions, occur? Feel free to take this ilk into custody should they survive the treatment."

The room stood still, in quiet shock at what had transpired. In a matter of seconds the silent doctor had simply turned to face the intruders who had then simply stopped, and lowered their weapons. Without missing a beat their Doctor had then calmly injected the brigands and resolved the volatile situation with ominous finality.

Not one of them really understood what was happening. The marines of course didn't care so much about the details, and were the first to get over it. They had hesitated at the sight of the rainbow beams, and the panicked eyes of the intruders, but once arms were down, and the bodies were on the floor, they were the first in motion.

Voracity turned to the assembled medical staff, and patients. "For what purpose are you standing around? The situation has passed, and we have worked to do." With that, amidst whispering glances, the activity of the med bay slowly resumed.

"Doctor?", it was a timid Voyin that asked in a hushed tone from behind the matriarch. Voracity turned to the blue skinned orderly. "Doctor... I'm confused. What just happened? Those men were ready to hurt someone. I'm sure you spoke to them with your mind, like you seem to with the rest of us, but... what did you say?"

"We showed them inevitability nurse Voyin. We spoke to them our heritage, and forced capitulation. Life-forms such as they are not meant to rule over others. We showed them one that was. That is all."

The shade of the azure nurse turned to that of a clear sky. She was visibly shaken, though Voracity couldn't understand why.

"Doctor, can I ask you something personal?"

'You may ask it."

"What... what are you exactly?"

"We cannot answer that question now, nurse Voyin. It is both classified, and for your own safety that you do not know. Understand simply that the Federation approved my position here, and the Captain has been fully briefed. Perhaps someday, you might find out. Let us keep it at that for now."

"I..." the nurse started to say more, but just nodded. Not really comprehending everything, and unable to process everything she was feeling. She let training take over. Before she moved away she reached out to pat the doctor on its arm, paused, smiled a resigned smile, and gently touched the host forms extremity. She then moved away to do her job.

Voracity took a few moments to watch the odd creature move about the bay supervising, and administering. Curiosity tickled the Matriarchs mind. It observed that the nurse was subdued only for a short time more, before resuming her normally cheerful demeanor. Within minutes she was smiling a full smile, and winking playfully from across the room again. This wasn't the first time the young Matriarch had wondered at what kept nurse Voyin going. Perhaps, in time, she would be one of the few that would learn Voracity's secret, and actually accept the alien Queen for what it was.

The realization dawned over the crew that they had triumphed over their first struggle, and that Captain Stirling had led them through it with stoic calm and professionalism. Rumors circulated throughout the ship about how Stirling had faced off with the enormous and superpowerful pirate captain, the legendary Jaxon Mars, and commanded him to get out of his chair.

Mars and most of his fellow escapees, nominally Martians, had seemingly vanished. As the sheer scope of the Endeavor became clear, it also became clear that if Mars had already arranged a hideout, it would be difficult to find. Stirling and his crew had the slowly creeping suspicion that Mars knew the ship better than anyone else, and this was a most unsettling idea to all who had it.

For a few hours at least, the crisis was over.

To Be Continued...

[GM Note: This begins the conclusion of this episode. If you want your character to add something dramatic to the contained narrative here, that is fine. Particularly Stirling may want to make a rousing speech over the PA or something. If you have small business to conclude do so, otherwise, the narrative continues in the next episode.]

[5xp]