Author's Note: Everyone is eighteen!
Starring
Lucithana
as Hana Song
Kitty
as Nora
Nathan Ravenwood
as Rakain
Jason
as Sam
Cyrano Johnson
as Xata
Previously, on Starfinder: Our heroes explored an abandoned station and found the single greatest dragon in history, Brashivalampathorus (an adorable psuedodragon, abandoned by his cruel technomancer master.) Adopting the small dragon as their mascot, the party continued to the Brineice Asteroid itself - ready to find out who is behind the attempts on Ami's life.
The cold light of the distant sun cut across the surface of the Brineice Asteroid, shining along the craters that dotted the surface. It shone down, stark and white against the party as they approached the buried pirate fortification that they had detected while scanning the asteroid.
The actual door itself was pretty old and cruddy looking, made out of solid wrought iron that had been hammered into shape and fastened up against mechanical devices that allowed for entrance and egress.
Ami tapped her finger against her com unit, turning to face the rest of them. "So, uh..." she said, her voice nervous. "How do we get through this door?"
"That depends," Rakain muttered. "Do we want to make a lot of noise or as little as possible?" As he spoke, Hana walked over to the door, looking it over curiously for any sign of a lock or keypad or anything like that. Xata followed her lead, looking at the nearby terminal by the door and moved toward it.
Hana leaned forward, she saw an old, beat up looking keycard reader and computer terminal that had been attached to the side of the doorway.
Sam chuckled. "I'm all for blowing open the airlock and venting this place to space but really- being a bit more subtle would be advised."
"Someone could do hacking at this." Hana said, pointing to the keycard reader.
Rakain cracked his knuckles dramatically. "My time to shine."
"I'm against the venting idea," Ami said, quietly, turning to face Sam, her face severe in the helmet. "These are pirates, we don't know how many of them have taken prisoners." She nodded.
Xata's circuits glowed as she tapped away at the terminal and pushed a few buttons to activate the door's mechanism, giving Rakain an apologetic look.
"Hence, subtly." Sam said in response to Ami, speaking over Xata's head.
Rakain's head and tail drooped. "Awh."
The door silently opened, revealing an interior airlock door - the inside door still shut tight. Ami stepped inside, her pistol in hand as she looked around, then gestured them forward.
"I am confident that you will shine numerous times," Xata told the Vesk with a smile as she followed Ami. Hana walked in, looking around curiously for cameras or anything like that. Rakain followed the girls, hand pawing at his pistol, ready to fight anything that jumped them. Cannon in hand Sam lowered herself into the airlock. She stepped in, then looked through the window looking into the rest of the base. She turned back to the others.
"Beyond the door, two guards, bored and oblivious." Sam said.
Hana put her finger to her lips, pointing to a window, then focusing, touching everyone quickly one after the other, giving them a mental image of a pair of corbies playing holocards, pouting slightly as Sam voiced the thought before she could.
Xata put a hand to the hilt of her katana.
"Sorry." Sam snickered softly into their commlink.
"Fair warning, I am not stealthy," Rakain said. "So if that's the approach we're going for..."
"Clearly, Ami needs to seduce them." She said, nodding sagely.
Ami blinked, then stepped over and tried to kick Hana in the shins. The android stepped away quickly. Ami, giving that up, tapped the grenades hanging from Sam's belt as the door shut behind htem and the airlock pressurized. Ami whispered. "Since these are smoke grenades, I say we keep our helmets on." She paused, then coughed. "Why am I whispering, we're in a vacuum and we're using a com unit." She looked somewhat embarrassed.
"Agreed." Sam noted as she took one of the canisters off of her bandoleer. "So do you want cover, or choke them out?"
"...are we still talking about Ami seducing them?" Hana asked Sam curiously. Ami managed to actually get her in the shins. Xata, meanwhile, tried the door, and winced as it failed to open. She didn't think she had made too much noise... she held back and waited on her friends.
Ami stuck her tongue out at her. The door, meanwhile, refused to budge at Xata's poking and prodding.
Rakain craned his head, trying to get a look at the goons through the door. "I'm not sure they're her type, Hana."
"Ami's touch is also quite a bit light than choking. A feather light touch." Sam teased as she waited on her companions.
"I think I may be able to draw them away," whispered Xata.
Ami nodded slightly as Rakain tilted his head - seeing that the inside of the room showed two corbies - larger looking dire ravans with humanoid builds - playing a card game that projected holographic versions of the monsters they were using. They were clearly intent on the game as they played it.
Ami nodded. "If we can get the door open..."
Xata began to hum deep in her throat as she worked to conjure the ghostly sounds of arguing, echoing deep inside the asteroid's corridors. "So.. is one of you tech folks going to figure the door out?" The android said curiously, pointing at the terminal that Xata hadn't managed to open. Xata's voice rose a pitch inside her helmet, her brow furrowing as she finished casting. As she did so, Rakain tapped a few times at the door terminal and beamed as it turned green.
A ghostly sound started to come from down the rough hewn, icy corridors of the asteroid base. The two corbies looked up - standing and walking away from their post as the door quietly hissed open - the five of them stepping into the room.
The room itself was a quiet, roughly hewn looking place. The walls were ice, with the occasional piece of metal stuck to it to form a technological surface that could be used for terminals - though many of the terminals seemed to be aged and ill used.
The holographic card game that remained on the table was in mid fight - showing shimmering, inch high representations of the monsters that they had been using to fight one another.
Ami tugged her helmet back and let it collapse into the collar, grinning slightly. "Nice work, Xata, Rakain..." She whispered. "Should we get into position for when they come back?"
Hana scooped up the cards, looking around the room for any hiding spaces.
Xata was feeling the surge of excitement as her trick worked. "Perhaps we could Take the Fight to the Dastardly Villains while they are All Unawares?"
Rakain grinned and waggled his fingers. "I'm with Xata. I've got a few new tricks I want to try."
"We can likely get the jump on them from behind." Sam noted as she slipped the grenade back into it's pouch.
Hana smiled, "I'm a fan of picking them off in small groups so we don't get overwhelmed myself." She said, sneaking into a little hidey hole in the corner of the room, vanishing into the shadows.
As they spoke, each of them could hear the sound of the dire corbies speaking to one another as they started to return to the room. One of them was saying: "I told you it wasn't nothing..."
Xata pulled her katana free and stepped back into the shadows as best she could as events overtook their speculation. Sam took a hiding spot near their entrance, putting the firearm onto her back as she brandished her sword. Rakain moved to the opposite side of the doorway as Sam, touching his choker and causing a few sparks to jump to the tips of his claws.
As they crept into their hiding spots, Xata found the perfect place to hide. She shifted into it - and then found the floor was more slippery than she expected. Her feet skidded out from under her as the corbies came into the room. They both gaped - looking at Xata as she stood in the center of the room.
"What!?" The first corby asked.
"It's a beep boop!" The other corby said, sounding shocked - both unaware of Hana, Ami, Sam and Rakain.
Hana burst out of her hiding spot, "Or is it TWO?!" She fired off a small glass bead that cracked one of the corbies between the eyes.
The corby staggered. "Ow!" He said, sounding more confused than hurt. He rubbed his forehead. He rubbed his forehead as he shook his head. The other corby, though, blinked and saw the two standing behind him at the door.
"What the bloody hell is going on!?" he asked. In a scene much closer to something in one of the bad horror flicks that the group commonly watched together, after the birdbrain squawked out his confusion over seeing a pair of large suits of armor standing behind him, the smaller one moved as Sam stepped forward into a horizontal slice- lopping it's head clean off.
The corby hit the ground - and his head hit a moment later as the one who had been flicked between the eyes gaped in shock. Xata reached toward the second corby, humming deep in her chest as energy swirled around her. Every electrical device on the creature's body sparked and crackled as she hammered a fist into its face. A moment later it was on the ground, fried.
As the corby twitched on the ground, smoke rising from its body, Ami shook her head, grinning. "That's two pirates down, and quietly!" She said, gulping. "I'll get the bodies in the airlock?"
"Damn, didn't even get a chance to do my own zappy thing," Rakain grumbled.
"I am confident your zappy thing will be specatcular." Xata grinned at him.
Hana snickered, "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll get a chance later." She poked Rakain, "Hey muscles! You gonna let the princess do all the manual labor?" She smirked.
Ami blushed. "Not a princess..." She muttered, already leaning down to grab one of the ankles of the dead corby - hand closing around the yellow scaling. Rakain shook his hand to dismiss the sparks around his claws.
