Session 002

  • Emmett notes that there are four eyes on the chameleon manticore thing.
  • Emmett consoles Noelle about killing the thing running away. Noelle is still shaken, but she'll recover.
  • Annette inquires what just happened.
  • Ramiel notes that she will do whatever is necessary to protect herself and their body.
  • We return to the ship.
  • Isha is going to run some analyses on the thing.
    • Its fur is actually actually feather-like structures; interwoven with magical capabilities to change colors. More of it works in its eyes.
    • She was also able to see through its eyes with an x-ray vision sorta thing but it burnt out the eyes in the process.
  • Noelle runs scans on the area to investigate any other signs of movement and other data on the area.
    • One blip that remains stationary but swaying against the wind.
    • Another moving quickly, darting between different patches of foliage.
    • An anomaly; a very dense patch of what resembles stone or concrete. It's vaguely hexagonal and appears to protrude into the surface, only raising a few feet above the surface. At least 12-15 meters across.
    • A couple life signs that seem relatively stationary.
  • Noelle takes the ship over toward the anomaly.
  • It's very much walls of concrete; what made it tore through the foliage above. It's relatively recent, forming some kind of excavation site.
  • Some of the signs of life have moved 20-30 meters when Noelle gets a fix on them again.
  • Set the ship down above 100 meters away from the excavation.
  • The structure is dark grey stone bleached by time and sitting in the earth.
  • Deeply rusted metal within the structure.
  • Emmett discovers something that resembles a standing UV lamp.
  • Annette suddenly sends us falling to the ground just before a shot slams into the ground.
  • Noelle bounces comms off the ship and makes contact with them. They said something about us stealing their stuff when they didn't realize they left comms open.
  • Noelle convinces them to surrender.
  • Two humans emerge from the rise. One with a sniper rifle (Byron), another with an energy weapon. Both have survival supplies.
    • Both have active shield projectors.
    • The one with the energy weapon (Maximillian) is a dark-haired man. He whispers to the other to watch out for Isha if things go south, as lightning might overload their shields.
  • They inform us that there are ruins like this scattered across the LMC. Very few are in much better conditions than this place. 8-10k years old. Duraconcrete, so it's unsurprising that they lasted this long.
  • Few dozen stations scattered around the LMC. Populations vary; some only have a few hundred, at least one hub with over 10k. A lot of people have slipped through the skip in the past couple decades. Some eager algata, a few locals, lots of humans.
  • Let Byron and Maximillian go with a warning that they'll want to bail in 12 hours.
  • On our way off-planet, send a message to the other expedition forces on world about the Manticore.
  • Docking gets a complaint because the ship isn't registered to us. Deck 4, Forward Hangar, Starboard side.
  • Wheel the cooler from the ship toward the research bay.
  • We find a xenobiologist urodyla with one of their tails robotic.
  • He's stunned by the creature, and we formally name it a Manticore.
  • The xenobiologist gives us clearance to requisition the ship again.
  • Security directory is a human man named Godwin Karokara with significant combat experience; he's a former mercenary. Damoclean, affiliated with mercenary groups.
    • He's been a mercenary for nearly 100 years.
    • Earned his ranks in the Damoclean-Thebean Intervention about 70 years ago.
    • Primarily involved since in antipiracy and frontier defense.
    • Contacts all throughout the pirate and mercenary world.
  • He asks after if Noelle is volunteering Valkyrie forces for the effort. She informs him that he ought to take it up with the Valkyrie liaison, Captain Arianna Wynne of the Randalin
  • Our requests to head back out are denied, as are everyone else's.
  • When courier drones arrive a few days later, news spreads that the Byzantium-Lotus corvette Agave encountered combat with two Damoclean fighters.
  • Emmett gets a message from her mother.
  • Noelle gets an encrypted missive, informing her that reports indicate BLC forces intend to remain with fleet; continue to avoid attention. Avoid planet-side missions. No risks.
  • Lasani managed to get us assigned to go back to C28, despite the fact that very few people are allowed to leave at the moment.
  • Evidently, there's rumors that they're not allowing people to go because they're worried about colonizers.
  • Annette comes with when she hears that Noelle is going.
  • We're going to be escorted by Andy Lao, an Aresian fighter pilot, in his S4 Aggressor Eat My Apoapsis.
  • We race.
  • Noelle arrives in 5 hours, 27 minutes, 16 seconds.
  • Andy arrives in 5 hours, 27 minutes, 18.5 seconds.
  • Something organic strikes the side of our hull. It leaves behind some kind of residue.
  • Emmett EVAs to investigate it. It's a blueish-green color.
  • We bring it on board.
  • It resembles a chrysalis.
  • Isha runs some scans on it.
    • The outside is almost freeze-dried solid to a crunchy edge, but beneath that layer it's warm.
    • It's entirely plant matter.
  • Something moves inside of the matter when Isha touches it.
  • Emmett cuts it open and a humanoid hand launches out and grabs Emmett's arm. It leverages itself out.
  • The creature is a hualei named Anuei, wearing yellow linen clothing.
  • He seems panicked.
  • The shell was made by Shashiri, his bonded. A seya.
  • Andy opts to join us on our little adventure.
  • Noelle manages to find traces of oxygen on a spectrograph, signatory of a seya.
  • We manage to track down Shashiri.
  • There are a couple of scoring marks on the hull that look singed.
  • It seems as if she got caught about three days ago.
  • We warn Andy to keep an eye out while we try to board.
  • We EVA to what looks like a knot in the wood. It opens into an airlock of sorts.
  • In some of the vines, Emmett finds a Svargan energy pistol mostly consumed by organic matter. It's a small personal energy weapon, military-grade.
  • There is still a dull orange light in the heart of the ship.
  • She speaks. "You shouldn't have come back. I told you to go. I'm so glad you came back."
  • Evidently she's been asleep for ten years.
  • She was attacked by Nav'Svargan stealth fighters ten years ago.
  • We're going to tow Shashiri into C28's atmosphere to try and heal.
  • We also inform her that there's a seya among the Cartographer's Union named Oshua.
  • There's wreckage of other ships in the atmosphere that resemble the fighters Shashiri was talking about.
  • Emmett helps Shashiri by trimming away some of the dead plant-life.
  • Anuei shows Emmett how to talk to Shashiri.
  • Andy took scans of the wreckage but someone will need to do an EVA to get the black box later.
  • We return to the Argo.
  • Oshua and their hualei depart for C28 to assist.
  • We meet with Godwin once again and he asks us not to spread information about the Nav'Svarga fighters.
  • The news breaks about 14 hours later and there's obvious outcry about it.
  • The black box is recovered 25 hours after we return from C28.
  • Two days later Noelle and Nettle overhear a conversation between Godwin and some BLC representatives in the gardens.
  • A BLC rep named Ishmael Khartov is demanding access to the black box analytics.
    • Previous minor mercenary operations; anti-piracy, union-suppression ops. One indictment on smuggling charges, got off on a technicality.
    • His birthday and birth year indicate him being born on a planet before it was discovered and settled.
    • His employment history is incomplete.
  • Annette provokes him and we get into a bit of a verbal squabble.
  • The two Valkyrie corvettes and two of the Aresian corvettes head out with some Thebean fighters to intercept some pirates. They'll be out for a minimum of 16 hours.
  • We're gonna snoop on the black box decoding process.
  • Ishmael is in the core arguing with one of the computer techs.
  • He spoofs Godwin's comms to get permission to take the black box data.
  • Noelle hails Godwin.
  • Ramiel suggests getting Godwin mad. We tie, and we get a boost A Little Ticked.
  • He seems nonplussed.
  • Emmett pisses him off.
  • Isha pushes him the rest of the way.
  • Ramiel recognizes him. Ismael Khartov is an alias for the the Semystra site, location of the Seraphim project. Exiled here for his failure.
  • Ishmael draws on Isha. Noelle shoots the gun out of his hand and makes him disarmed (x1).
  • Emmett body slams (x2) the person at the terminal.
  • Ishmael recognizes her.
  • Noelle explains Ramiel to everyone.
  • Noelle has a bit of a guilty conscience.
  • Ramiel has a difficult conversation with everyone.
  • Noelle gets drunk with everyone and falls asleep in a pile of them.
  • The following morning, the Randalin returns. Thirty minutes later, Noelle is recalled.
  • Emmett pleads with Noelle to stay.
  • Noelle goes.
  • Ishmael had Claudia's Sunhawk pin. Captain Wynne returns it to Noelle.
  • Captain Wynne gives Noelle the ability to fly as long as she only docks at the Randalin.
  • The alarms go off later on, and only the Aresian defenders are dispatched. They return 12 hours later, not having found anything.
  • Coordinator Cassiopeia Mare and Ambassador Iason Lather are arguing in the garden.
  • The power is cut to the Argo
  • Someone sabotaged the generator.
  • Annette reveals that they learned from Ishmael that Claudia is still alive. They don't know where.
  • Some time later, everything goes to shit. Missiles come out of an asteroid belt and drones reveal themselves.
  • They start attacking the Argo.
  • The Argo is being boarded.
  • Noelle outmaneuvers the drones and draws them away from the drop ships, urging them to a Wild Goose Chase (x2).
  • Noelle is surrounded by the drones.
  • Ramiel agrees to care about people and together, her and Noelle outmaneuver Who's On Whose Six (x2)
  • Targets lock on... everything during a Wild Goose Chase when they don't know Who's On Whose Six.
  • We wipe out half of our pursuing drones.
  • Sensors fill up with attackers.
  • Captain Pezani orders abandon ship.
  • The Valkyries are going to stay to protect the Argo
  • Our fighter has a moderate consequence Scratches on the Paint.
  • Lasani is pinned down across the garden.
  • Isha manages to turn herself invisible to fly across the garden.
  • Emmett charges into the firefight to give Isha and Lasani an opening.
  • Katja lands down in the middle of the garden in a mech battlesuit.
  • She buys Emmett, Lasani, and Isha time to escape.
  • While they were getting out, Noelle was running defense against the drones while they still don't know who's on whose six.
  • Everyone gets on board S29.
  • A massive battlecruiser entered local space just as we got out of the Argo.
  • Just before entering shift space, the Argo vanished in a flash of light.
  • Current date: 2535, March 30.
  • Major Milestone

Date

October 25, 2021