Where There Is Smoke...

[Nina]

Rhona smirked "What? i'm supposed to pay you without....!"

 

At that moment the screens which flickered a moment ago went to nothing but white noise interference, the security veil collapsed and there was the sound of a muffled explosion from outside the office.

 

"What in the seven Hells of Ambar?"

 

"The entire security network just crashed, we are wide open!"

 

Weapons which had been missing suddenly coalesced in the hands of the body guards, all of them pointed at our heroes, fingers tightening on firing studs.

 

"Wait!" Rhona raised her hands and gestured at her people to stop. She had seen the confused look on the faces of her guests. "You guys weren't expecting that, you didn't know and I just let you walk right in. I thought any trouble would come from you but you're just patsies."

 

Outside the sounds of weapons fire and screams could be heard now, mixed in with the throbbing beat of the club music which still played.

 

In one fluid motion as she spoke Rhona turned and opened a secret compartment in the wall behind her desk and took out a data chip. "You're mercenaries? I want to hire you for a very deadly job. What do you say?"

 

 

"We don't have a lot of time."

[Shameless]

Seiya let out a sigh as the weapons came out, his eyes narrowing slightly.  "Of course it's never just a simple job."

He looked at Rhona, with what passed for resignation in his eyes.  "What's the job you want us to do then?"

The larger than normal Valna wsn't overly happy with this turn of events, but they were in too deep, and not likely to escape with their lives without yet another deal.  He spared a moments' glance to the others he'd come here with, and nodded.  If they didn't want to do it, they'd best speak up.  He had his own mission, and wasn't planning to die here.

 

Rhona holds up the data tab she had just picked up, "I want you to help me steal a ship."

[Asarasa]

Ivy cocked her head, listening the shouts and the zip and zap of bullets and blasts, a frown gracing her lips. Her grey eyes narrowed and darkened in fury. Fodder and distractions, and I didn't see it coming. I have been here too long! 

Her hands rested lightly on the hilt of her saber and the butt of her pistol, but she didn't draw them, tension radiating in the lines of her shoulders.  "If it'll get me off Pel Tavaria, I'm in," Ivy said in a tight voice. She scowled as she looked around for a likely escape route. "Is Tarko even part of TavSec? Your DNA is supposed to unlock the paytab, but I'm guessing it not only doesn't have two thousand cubils on it, it's probably not even safe to open it or the data tab on any machine you care about."

Ivy traveled light, and she was ready to leave the Station right now, anything she left behind she could survive without. Feeling sweat begin to prickle at the roots of her ivory hair, she could do with a drink. She glanced over at her new companions. She barely knew them, but there was Muscle, a Medic, a Pilot, and someone too clever by half with computers. She herself was a versatile crewman, able to fulfill most roles on a ship, and she was hardly adverse to some larceny, especially if it saved her life. Thrown into an unexpected situation, they were more suited to stealing a ship than she could have wished.

"Hope everything you care about is on you guys, 'cause I doubt we'll have time to swing back to Riftides."

[Nina]

Rhona held Ivy's gaze for a few seconds then nodded. "Marko buy us time you know what's at stake," she turned to the rest of our heroes, "If your coming follow me I will explain as we go."

 

With that she gestured at Ivy and turned back to the wall of screens and walked right through them!

 

Marko and the other bodyguards drew deep breaths and unlimbered weapons and with the push of a button opened the door and rushed out into the frey beyond.

 

Spoiler

either follow Rhona or prepare for battle.

 

[Shameless]

Seiya let out an annoyed growl.  Dying here was not on his agenda.  It would end his hunt permanently, before he'd set things to right.   Thus he was forced into another choice.   Follow a stranger, help her take a ship and leave this world, or stand and fight, and likely die.  "I have what is mine, yes."  Seiya said quietly.   "I do not plan to die here."  He looked to Amari, and nodded.  "None of us should.  Let's follow her, and take our leave."

[Asarasa]

Ivy could hear the Black whispering, writhing inside. She pushed it back down with a silent snarl. The only way to finally lose was to die. And she wasn't ready to lose yet. She drew her auto-blaster, but held it tight to her thigh as she flowed in the Eldori's wake with swift, silent steps. There was a tingle as she passed through the holographic display. She blinked slate eyes that had darkened to hematite as she adjusted to the different level of ambient light, gaze shifting in precise arcs as she searched for threats.

"Explain," Ivy drawled towards the taller woman as she stepped towards Rhona's right to clear her of her line of fire.

[Nina]

The heroes follow Rhona through the false wall into a narrow hallway which leads to a deadend and a sealed hatch on the floor.

 

On 4/27/2024 at 7:51 PM, Asarasa said:

"Explain," Ivy drawled towards the taller woman as she stepped towards Rhona's right to clear her of her line of fire.

 

While Rhone opens the hatch she explains.   “There is an experimental cruiser docked here at the station called the Hyperlance. It has an experimental  7^th generation navigation system and an advanced FTL drive which allows it to stay in FTL longer than a normal drive, thus making it technically faster.” 

 

She pauses as the hatch opens revealing a tunnel going down and a ladder.  She steps onto the ladder and starts climbing down and continues.

 

“All that is nice but the reason we need to steal it is that the navigation system has a data packet buried in the software. The Hyperlance is on a galactic tour showing off its capabilities and at every port of call it makes, data from the packet is inserted into the systems network during the automatic nav update.  When the ship reaches its final port of call at Silrayn Prime, the full data package will be uploaded into the SIM Master Hub. That cannot be allowed to happen.”

 

She finishes just as she reaches the bottom of the ladder and a small room with a single armored door. Above them through the tunnel they hear a loud boom followed by more blaster fire.

[Shameless]

Seiya grunted as he heard the explanation, and nodded "Do you know what the data packet is, and who set this in motion?"  He had a feeling he already knew at least one potential answer, and it was something that would certainly be possible for them, given what he'd already seen.

"A ship like that is going to have far more security than normal, even if it isn't obvious.  Do you have a plan for getting past that?"  He figured the answer was yes, he was however hoping that it wasn't followed by "All of you."

 

[Asarasa]

On 5/1/2024 at 9:32 AM, Nina said:

That cannot be allowed to happen.”

 

On 5/1/2024 at 5:29 PM, Shameless said:

"Do you know what the data packet is, and who set this in motion?"

Ivy quickly slid down the ladder and stepped to the side to give others space. She glanced up with a frown at the sounds of concussive explosions, then turned to face the Eldori. She'd been to Silryn Prime before. Biggest hub in the galaxy, a crossroads for four major Hyperlanes, and home of the Grand Conclave. Her frown deepened.

"What happens when the packet uploads?" she asked, grey eyes narrowing.

She absently nodded agreement with the big Valna when mentioned security and plans, but withheld judgment for now. If Rhona really was working with Taarko, then she was guessing the data tab they had would give them info on infiltrating the Hyperlance. If the attack was made by Taarko, then Rhona already had that info. Absconding with the ship was only part of the problem.

If they managed to acquire a highly advanced, experimental ship, Ivy didn't intend they just scuttle it.

"And what's the plan after we acquire the ship?" Ivy added with flat confidence. "Hard to hide such a unique ship, 'less we decide to live out in the Outer Zones."

She had ideas on that. She knew about some less than savory stations where they might take the Hyperlance to give it a makeover. But it would take cubils. And sharp eyes on their part.

[Nina]

Rhona stops and and takes a large somewhat exasperated breath. "We don't have a lot of time. The project is called "Zephyr" and has been in the works for a long time, at least a decade. Its managed by the Zephyr Corp." She glances at Amari, "Which in turn is a front for a Galactic wide criminal conspiracy.  Once loaded at the central Matrix Hub and activated it will give Zephyr Corp the ability to instantly reprogram and take control of anything connected to the Matrix. In other words complete and utter control of the galaxy."

 

She looks at Ivy, "All we do is get the ship free and deliver it to My contacts. The Data packet will be extracted and destroyed as for the ship I don't know and don't care. They will either give it back to the owners or find some use for it. But don't worry you all will be handsomely rewarded. Unlike Tarko, who is a bad cop in league with the gangs on Pel Tavaria, I am a legitimate agent."

 

At that moment a loud and much closer explosion shook the area. "They broke through we have to go!"

 

She opens the hatch and reveals a alleyway beside the club, lined up along the opposite wall are ten grav bikes. She move toward the nearest and pulls a fob from her belt her thumb flashes and several  of the bikes activate with low powerful growls of their motors.

 

She doesn't wait or say anything else just guns her bike and jets down the alleyway!

 

Spoiler

its in your ball park now

 

 

[Asarasa]

They only had Rhona's word she was a more legitimate agent than Taarko was, but on the other hand, she was here where they were, being under attack. That gave her an edge in who they could trust. A bigger edge was the grav bikes. Ivy didn't waste any time running towards the next grav bike and hopping onto the seat.

"Go! Go!" she exhorted her companions as she sloughed around them then zipped after Rhona.

Some of Ivy's tattoos prickled as she gunned the propulsion systems, then had to jerk to side to avoid a bystander as she strove to catch up to Rhona on her left. She was more familiar with starships than planetary vehicles, but she had excellent reflexes and an even stronger drive to survive. The Black was inside her, but it wouldn't drag her down...

... though she wouldn't have minded a slug of something with a kick.

[Shameless]

Seiya followed as well, climbing on a bike and waiting for Amari before setting off after Rhona and Ivy.   "If nothing else, it's certainly not been a boring trip."  He said as he scanned for threats, wondering if this was even related to his own Hunt.   He had a feeling it might be, given they'd already been attacked, but this was far bigger than what he'd already done..

[Exile_Jeane]

"You all owe me an Ondi guitar for this," Amari called with more than an edge of annoyance as she took Seiya's pause as an invitation to mount up behind the large cat man, hugging him from behind. She was not dressed for this, she was not geared up for this, and she suffered a short sharp of preemptive mourning at the loss of all the weapons her mentor had trained her on in those alleys in the Rack, only the very nice clothes on her back hat on her head remaining from Ondus.

 

The latter she secured to her head by lacing a few tendrils through specially-added loops on the inside. The rest of her serpentine appendages fanned out around her, scanning in all directions for threats pertaining to this heist. On the run in the grip of a rumored Promethan conspiracy. Fine. Perfect. She'd adapt.

 

"Try not to get shot too many times, Seiya," She offered into the hunter's armored back, "I only have so nanites in my forge."  

[SalmonMax]

Standing by one of the sleek vehicles, Emi had been quiet as she just leaned on it listening to Rhona and the others. But her brain had been very loud and busy indeed. Directing wireless signals from her implant, to the bike's control and diagnostic systems and doing massive data dumps of their contents. Allowing her implant's computer to assemble a sort of 'model' of its basic functions in her mind. (saying she's cast Analyze Device during Rhona's monologue; it only takes a minute to do )

 

"Save some of those nanites for me," Emi laughed as she got onto one of the 'bikes' and swayed for a moment as she got accustomed to how her center of gravity worked on it. "I have never ridden one of these before, and there's a non-zero percent chance I'm going to go skidding over the pavement one or more times before we get where we're going. Fun times!"

 

Then she slipped her feet into the control stirrups and braced her knees as she applied force. The grav cycle whirred and shot off, following Rhona as closely as its pilot could manage. But not in a creepy way.

 

 

[Nina]

The Party clambered onto bikes and revved up while ahead of them Rhona burst out of the alley making a hard right.  Ivy was the next out only a couple of bike lengths behind Rhona, on instinct she glanced left as she barreled after the Eldori, what she saw did not make her feel any better.

 

The alley was only about ten meters from the clubs entrance and she saw, amid the still fleeing populace which had managed to escape past the gangers, several of those gangers but more importantly the had heard the roar of the bikes and were watching as the party flew from the alley!

 

The heroes screamed into the street after Rhona, back at the club only a few meters away several of the gangers opened fire on the fleeing bikes while more ran to awaiting cars and revved up to pursue.

 

Suddenly the driver of each bike sees a holo screen bloom on the front of the  chassi. A 3d map of the local area, all of the bikes are depicted and suddenly a blinking red dot appears... back at the club!

 

Ahead of them Rhona make a sharp left then another sharp left into an ally and then another until she is back on the main road heading back toward the club!

 

Rhona's voice come from the 3d image, "That red dot is something we need, We have to get it at all costs!"

 

[Shameless]

Seiya growled as the map led them back to the club, and the goons who were attacking with prejudice.   "Should have grabbed it before we left then." he grumbled even as he turned to follow Rhona back to her club.   "Amari, we're heading back, can you use a pistol?"  Seiya had gone in armed, so he had his various weapons, but of them, he had a feeling the pistol was the best to loan to Amari, and he wasn't going to leave an ally unarmed in a hostile situation if he could help it.

[Exile_Jeane]

"Probably," Amari responded flatly, taking the weapon and maintaining her grip on the felionid with the other. She concentrated a moment, working her lips as she issued a quick mental order to her Forge and had it fire up a newly constructed module. The Forge tightened its grip on her arm, puncturing her skin with a few quick needles that themselves dissolved into more nanites that rapidly dispersed into her bloodstream. Her exposed flesh darkened as the clever machines thickened and hardened her skin, rudimentary segmentation mirroring that of their recent xenomorph adversaries forming at her joints to preserve her flexibility. She grunted as the change finished its work.

 

Her irritation mirrored Seiya's as she asked the ten-thousand credit question, "What are we looking for now?" 

 

Spoiler

Biomorph transmography feature: Calcify. AC 14 for the next hour, lol.

 

 

[Nina]

The hover bikes burst back onto the road the club stands on surprising the gangers who hesitate. Rhona raises a machine pistol and sned a hail of bullets at the closest pair who jerk and dance as the rounds pass through their bodies. Rhona's voice comes over the holo map on the bikes.

 

"Tarko has my FTL Key, that ss the blinking dot. We don't need it to steal the ship but if he gets their first he can lock us out of the drive. we have to get that Key!"

 

Bullets and beams begin flying toward the weaving bikes, Tark jumps into a car and with tires spinning takes off away from the charging bikes, two other cars follow him and then several gangers leap onto bikes and fire them up coming toward the party! 

Spoiler

Distance is 125' from the party to the front of the club 4 gang bikes are coming at you each with a driver and passenger.

 

[Asarasa]

Thighs clenched about the hoverbike, Ivy quickly glanced around as the blasts and bullets started zipping around. Sori seemed the most comfortable of her companions on the hoverbike, though all of them appeared to have good reflexes. And Sori did have that big sword during the scuffle at the docks.

"Sori! Cut off Tarko if you can!" Ivy shouted over the roar of grav propulsion as she pulled free her Force Blaster. Leaning forward and crouching on the stirrups of her hoverbike, Ivy glanced over her shoulder and reached back to fire at one of the gangers driving one of the hoverbikes coming after them, but Ivy had to jerk to the side to avoid a collusion, and her aim went wild.

 

Spoiler

Action: Shoot at one of the driver gangers.

Asarasa Request: [1d20+ 6] Roll: [5] Result: 11 probably a miss

Damage: [1d6+4] Roll: [3] Result: 7 Force damage if it miraculously hits

 

[Shameless]

Seiya didn't want to risk anything while driving by taking his own shots, so he let Amari handle that for him, as he focused on getting them to the club.   While not the most skilled driver, he had a natural dexterity that few matched, and it wasn't like he was totally ignorant of how to drive, handling the controls ably, closing the distance to the club.

 

Spoiler

gain ground

Shameless Request: [1d20+5] Roll: [19] Result: 24 success

 

[SalmonMax]

Emi scowled as she guided her hoverbike after the fleeing ganger. She had a feeling that, given the opportunity, he would probably be able to out-drive her. This wasn't a race though so there weren't any rules so...she could just shoot 'em. It was fine.

 

She pulled up her interface screen; a holographic grid appearing briefly in the air over her arm. Her implant was more than capable of delivering a surge of energy at this distance. A scintillating, prismatic beam of light that briefly lanced from her hand (or the air just ahead of her hand). While it connected with Tarko's car, the constant movement of the vehicless meant that contact was minimal. Just a second or two before he swerved, allowing the beam to slide across the skin of the car rather than burrow deep.

 

Still, there was a smoldering line across the fender now.

 

With a grimace and a muttered curse, Emi leaned forward and kept pace.

 

Spoiler

Sprite beam, hits for 2 force damage.

 

[Nina]

The hover-bike carrying our heroes with Rhona in the lead plowed through the gangsters in front of the club amid a hail of gun and blaster fire. Gangster's lept aside and took cover as the bike took of after Tarko. 

 

Tarko was in  the lead car and two other small cars sped after him runnin cover for the lead bandit. The street, even though on a space station was still a street such as  you would find in a city groundside on a thousand planets. It was wide enough for two cars to pass each other but not much wider, and the buildings were built right up to the edge with only narrow walking spaces separating the shop, restaurant, or apartment from the road.

 

This part of the station was huge, multileveled and crowded. The entrance to the docking facilities were all the way on the other side of the complex.

 

The three cars sped down the road followed about a two hundred feet behind by the hoverbikes. The two smaller cars weaved back and forth making it very hard to get a shot at Tarko. Suddenly Tarko's car took a ram leading to a higher level road . One of the small cars stayed with him while the other skidded sideways to a stop blocking the ramp!

 

Spoiler

Everyone except emi makes their drive roll. thos ewho succeeded can describe their moves and continue after tarko up the ramp. Emi can either bypass the ramp and continue straight or she can  head onto the ramp striking the  stopped car taking 8 points of damage before getting around the car. either way describe the action please.... and GO!

 

 

[Shameless]

"Hang on Amari!"  Seiya called out over the roar of traffic, even as he held fast behind Tarko and followed his car up the ramp.  He weaved the bike past the impromptu roadblock expertly and kept going, trying to close in, and called out again.  "Aim for the engine if you can."  He growled softly.  He hated being lied to, and for that, Tarko would pay, especially if he was the first to reach him when the vehicle stopped.

[SalmonMax]

Emi was a lot of things, but an ace stunt driver was not one of them. She saw the turnoff coming, but sadly misjudged her ability to corner on this insane vehicle. Too late, too late she realized that she was going way too fast to make the turn, and there was only one way to get her speed down enough in time to follow the target and stay in the chase. She gritted her teeth, braced herself, and slammed on the brakes as she careened forward and turned in time to scrape along a parked car. Despite Emi's precautions she was thrown forward and banged her head on the little console between the handlebars.

 

Physics could be a real BITCH sometimes.

 

But the maneuver succeeded. The speed she'd bled off in that, uh, 'fender bender' let her make the turnoff, and now she was mad. It'd been kind of fun before, but the fun stopped when the forehead met the control panel as far as she was concerned.

 

It was time to make physics someone else's problem.

 

Her sorium implant's HUD elements flew in from either side of her field of view, crowded with data about all kinds of things she didn't really need to know about. And one thing she did need. Local gravitational constant. With teeth gritting in concentration, Emi held the bike straight while she reached over with her left hand to her right arm, to manipulate controls floating over her forearm that only she could see. Being an Esper meant that the laws of nature were more like guidelines, really.

 

Data scrolled across her eyes as the implant calculated her request, and a slow manic grin grew across her lips as it produced a result, flashing green.

 

SOLUTION READY.

 

Emi grabbed the controls again, and extended her right hand out. A packet of modulated radiation, created and compacted by the implant, would alter the local conditions according to these precisely calculated specifications, in just the right way.

 

What left her hand was a sort of...shadow that shimmered with an eerie green light. About the size of a football, it sailed serenely past the fleeing vehicle to the road about twenty feet ahead...and then imploded. Streams of that unearthly viridian light, interspersed with inky tendrils of ebony, stabbed out momentarily, then collapsed inward. The view of the road and landscape beyond bent...warped...as if seen through a concave lens.

 

The poor would-be escaping sod had no chance to divert, avoid the sudden spatial distortion. They plowed straight into it and suddenly the space they were traversing stretched as thin as a ribbon. Time skittered, skipped, taut like the strings of a guitar. Even though it seemed like the vehicle was still moving forward at full speed, a glance at the funhouse-mirror dreamland that was the world outside the distortion...as seen from inside...revealed that they'd stopped. Dead in their tracks.

 

Everyone outside saw much the same thing. Caught just after bouncing up off a little rise, tires just off the ground, frozen in a snarl of space.

 

"Yer all gonna want to stop before you fall into that," advises Emi laconically over the team chat commchannel.

 

Spoiler

Using Gravity Sphere. It's a 20' radius (40' diameter) area in which anything that enters must make a DC 14 Dex save or be Restrained. If not restrained, the entire area is difficult terrain. Any time you end your turn in it, but not restrained, you repeat the save. If you ARE restrained you can attempt to escape with a Str check at DC 14 as an action. Success means you take 2d4 force damage, and are no longer restrained. It's Web, basically. Sci Fi Web.

 

Edited June 12 by SalmonMax

[Asarasa]

Ivy bit her lip to stifle a scream as she swerved wildly around the car skidding to a stop lengthwise across the ramp. Hardly slowing, the gravity field of the hoverbike pressed against the guardrail of the ramp as Ivy sped up the slope after Tarko. She took a shot at the rear wheel of the car screen Tarko but didn't even come close as she was still trying to get control of her hoverbike...

... then Emi's warning came through the commchannel.

"Stellar slag!" Ivy swore, shivering as she noticed the imploding threads of emerald and ebony light as she slammed on the breaks and twisted the controls to avoid sliding into the distortion field, trying to maneuver her way around it and in front of Tarko's vehicle.

"Get out, Tarko, you know what we want!" she shouted, bringing her pistol back up, other hand white knuckled on the controls of the hoverbike.

 

Spoiler

Attack Roll, trying to hit a wheel on the trailing car.

Asarasa Request: [1d20+6] Roll: [2] Result: 8 - not even close

Vehicle (Planetary) Roll, to avoid driving into the Gravity Sphere.

Asarasa Request: [1d20+4] Roll: [14] Result: 18 - going off the DC 14, will assume she avoids it.