Starfinder: The Jade Regent Pt. 02

Then the skeleton slammed its fist into Sam's gut, sending her staggering backwards!

Rakain tapped his choker and thrust his palm out again, drawing heat from the air around him. This Overheat was the last of his major spells before his power would be gone for a while, save for the mulligan spell in his spell cache. He let the heatwave loose, and it washed over the skeleton, bathing it in blistering heat and further warping it's damaged bones. The skeleton proved itself faster than Rakain expected - the blast of flames roared towards it and it rolled aside, evading most of the damage. It sprang back up, sword in its hands!

"..Gods damn it.." Hana said in annoyance, raising up her fingers to her temples, her eyes glowing bright blue as she focused, a blue glow erupting from inside the skeleton's skull as she focused on it. The skeleton looked back at Hana - sword in hand. It trembled...and then with a sound not unlike a gunshot going off, the skull imploded. The pieces flew outwards after collapsing inwards, rebounding off one another. The skeleton staggered, then fell forward - clattering to the ground with a crash. A blue ghost emerged...and a calm, quiet looking Tian man became visible in that blue haze.

He bowed his head, and whispered. "Arigato."

Then his spirit dissolved away.

Ami groaned, pushing herself up, shaking her head - a bruise growing on her forehead. "Okay, guys...I'm done with adventuring for today..." She grinned, weakly.

Hana sighed, then grumbled, "Great.. he had to be all grateful and respectful so I feel like a dick for trash talking him.." She sighed, shaking her head, moving over to check on Ami.

"Yeah, kinda feel a bit bad about this one," Rakain said, eyeing the skeleton as if waiting for it to pop back to life again.

Xata dropped to her knees, her face looking blank. "I thought I would understand him," she said almost to herself. Ami chuckled, shaking her head as she stood, wincing as she rubbed her bruise.

"I think that he might have been crazy while in the skeleton - but once the skeleton broke up, he was free, and thus, freed from his crazy. So, you were trash talking his crazy..." She paused, shaking her head. "Does that make sense?" As she spoke, the tiny drone on Nora's shoulder scrambled down and started to nose at the laser pistols that the other skeletons had dropped - clearly excited by them.

Hana sighed, "To be fair, at least you managed to give us the option." She smiled slightly. "Better than it could have gone." She nodded to Ami, "So, you're either the captain's daughter or something more. I don't think we can argue you're not important anymore, Ami..."

"Already on it," Nora commented with a snort as she moved to kneel by her drone. She pet the little thing before picking up the pistols to paw over their design.

"I don't regret it. I couldn't think of a worse fate than being trapped in a rotting corpse till the heat death of the universe, reliving the worst moment of your life." Sam stated simply. "Thank you Xata."

Ami shook her head. "Or he was confused and thought one Tian girl was a...different Tian girl..." She said, uncertainty. The room, once they had checked it over, contained three high quality military laser pistols, and that sleek monomolecular blade. The dead captain also had a small golden keycard in one of his pockets - and looking around, they found a small locker off the side of the bridge with a golden key-slot.

"How much do we wanna be that this locker's booby trapped?" Rakain muttered.

Xata started, rousing from where she had been kneeling. Smiled at Sam and said: "Thank you. All of you. I would not have survived coming here without you."

"Given our luck lately," Rakain said, grinning. "It's good we ran into you too."

"Ami is right, it might be a family resemblance. The captain in his insanity might not have been aware of the passage of time," Sam said.

Hana smiled to Xata, "No worries, that's how this stuff works. We keep saving each other's lives until we have no idea who saved who more." She snickered. "And I doubt it's trapped." She nodded. Xata gave her a shy thumbs up.

Ami picked up the key-card, grinning slightly as the tiny ferret drone opened up its back, allowing Nora to place the new laser pistol within. The ferret now glowed faintly with the red lights of the laser pistol, making it look more dangerous and deadly.

"Since we're agreed that it's likely not trapped..." Ami slotted her keycard into the locker - which opened with a whirr. Ami stood before the door, her voice soft as she whispered. "Whoa." Rakain craned his head, slotting one of the military pistols on his belt.

"What's in the locker?" he asked.

Ami stepped aside, revealing five light healing serums, two moderate healing serums, a sleek ring made of a grey-white metal, another monomolecular sword, a sleek collection of armor pieces, and a collection of sleek cred-sticks!

"So.. if nobody minds I was thinking of grabbing the ring?" Hana said hopefully as she looked over the credsticks.

Nora took her time making sure the pistol was mounted correctly to the drone and it's power supply, fiddling with adjustments before setting the little bot down. Petting it she toggled the console on her wrist and started up basic diagnostics with the new weapon. "Go for it!" she said, looking up at Hana.

"All yours," Rakain said, gesturing to the locker. Xata looked at the armor with interest.

Ami picked up the cred sticks, then whistled slowly. "These people were clearly getting ready to stay in the Pact Worlds for a while..." she said, looking up. "There's almost thirteen thousand fucking credits on all of these credits..." She sounded awed.

"Well, I guess I'll take the second sword. I'll pass on the armor though, not going to do me much more than what I am currently wearing." She said honestly.

"Oooooh, cool!" Hana said, smiling as she looked up from identifying the ring. "It'll let me go without food, drink, and lessened rest! After I get it calibrated." She giggled. She blinked, then turned to Ami, "Daaaamn!" She said, smiling. "So that's.. two thousand and change a piece!"

Ami blushed. "W-Well, I don't deserve any of the credits..." She sighed. "I didn't help that much..." She sounded bitter as she closed the locker door now that the belongings within had been removed.

"Wonder if I can afford a bike or something..." Nora mumbled to herself with a small smile.

"You joined us, you risked, you get a share. How you decide to spend it is up to you." Sam said simply.

Hana snickered and punched Ami's shoulder, "You were totally helpful! Don't be a wiener and take your money. You can pay us back when we find out you're an interdimensional space empress."

Ami blushed and grinned at Hana.

Xata looked at Ami with puzzlement but declined to add to her friend's comments. She was still taking it all in. She just asked, "So, you all... live here, yes?" She gestured around herself at the ship's bridge.

"Well, not here-" Sam said, tapping her foot on the floor plating to make her point. "But we do live in a dust-pit not far from here."

"Emphasis on pit," Rakain muttered, tail lashing from side to side.

Xata's voice was shy as she asked, barely audible: "I've never had a pit. Absalom Station is not my home. You're... the only people I know." She put a bit more into her voice as she added: "I could help decipher the data Nora pulled from the computer console." She nodded to the engineer.

Hana smiled, "So, what you're saying is we've got a new room mate?" She said playfully bouncing her hip against the other girl's. Xata beamed and nodded -- looking quite happy with the idea. The others all nodded.

Ami smiled. "That sounds like a plan, Xata." She grinned, then wiggled one of the cred sticks. "Now, we just need to get home and show this to Mom. No one could be mad at thirteen thousand credits. Right?" she asked, her voice cheery.

###

"What were you thinking!?" Bentha Woodwise raged as she stormed up and down before the five 'adventurers.' Somehow, despite being a mere three feet tall and not actually their mother, Bentha Woodwise in a fury was enough to root each of them in their seats.

"You all went off, alone, without any help, without telling me, to a freaking junkyard full of monsters, and you fought skeletons and you did this all with my daughter!?" She glared at them. "What were you thinking! What if some of you got killed? That happens when you go out and fight monsters! Did any of you consider that? Any of you?" She swept her gaze back and forth across the group - not seeming to care that Xata was a newcomer into town. Of course, Ami's adoptive mother hadn't given them much time to argue their case. Or even say anything. They had arrived at Rustpoint and found the halfling waiting for them in the middle of the street, arms crossed over her chest, her face a mask of fury. She had then said a single word.

Sit.

And so now, they were sitting on chairs in The Rusty Dragon and it seemed that Bentha's rage had abaited somewhat as she stood there, panting, waiting for them to...well. Explain themselves. Ami gulped, loudly.

"It was all my idea!" Rakain said, perfectly willing to take the brunt of the halfling's ire. "I've been wanting to get out of Rustpoint for a long time, and I convinced all the girls to help me on my crazy adventure." Xata simply looked at Bentha with fascination. She was so happy to be here that the tirade just washed over her. Bentha cocked a single eyebrow as she looked at Rakain.

She looked deeply unconvinced.

Sam, normally willing to just stay quiet and let someone else hang themselves on something like this, spoke up instead. "Yeah, you couldn't lead a horse to water, let alone get one to drink. I don't need you trying to convince her otherwise- wouldn't want to be dumping your body out of town." She teased Rakain in a light hearted tone as she tried to push down her own nervousness.

Hana, looking as calm as a stereotypical android, simply spoke up. "Actually it was a mutually reached decision based off of our collective abilities. We realized that without going forth to challenge ourselves, we would waste away, and being a loving mother, you wouldn't want that for Amieko. And so as her friends, we were obliged to go with her to make sure she didn't die. And on that path we found challenge, but nothing that seemed to be dangerous enough we needed to turn back. And also, we found evidence of Ami's connection to one of the junked ships, something we could not ignore without questioning our loyalty to your daughter, and so we were further forced to continue until our return now." Hana's tone was that of someone totally certain in their rightness. She crossed her arms over her chest and waited for Bentha's response.

Half distracted watching Bentha rage, Nora leaned half on her knees with her chin in her hands. "We also did find...a decent haul of credits?"

Rakain stared at Hana for a moment. "What they said," he said, jerking a thumb at the android and cyborg.

Bentha opened her mouth, then closed it. She looked thoughtful -- then asked: "How decent?"

"Well..." Nora started, rubbing her neck. "I think, between us all, we split it roughly two-thousand per? Along with everything that Hana said. A link to the coin that Ami wears and the whole ship."

Bentha's mouth opened. Then it closed. Then she blinked and shook her head. "W-Well..." She said, slowly. "Um...I see."

Ami, emboldened by her friend's successes, spoke up: "Yeah, we have the hard drives from the ship's computer a-and...and we can learn where I'm from..." She said, slowly.

Bentha nodded slowly. "Well then," she said, her voice slightly imperious. "Show us what's on the files, Miss Katts." She said, looking directly at Nora. Only Bentha used Nora's last name - even Sheriff Belor called her Nora.

Nora's face went red and she began the process of setting up the crystals. With her arm as her main system she had to fumble a little with keying buttons and holding the data crystals but she managed it after a few moments. The display grew larger so she could let everyone see as it was projected onto a wall. Sam just watched, and tried not to mention the radioactive power crystals still in that sealed bag.

The display shone on the wall. It showed an image of the bridge from a security camera...but this bridge had all of its consoles and a forward view screen. Explosions rocked around the ship, cuasing it to shudder and shake as the crew stood in their positions. The captain - the same figure they had seen on the captain's chair before, but now alive and hale and focused - spoke...and quietly, Hana started to work her fingers. Her magic wove through the display, and translated the words into Common for all of them.

"More shields to aft! Ready a spread of torpedoes!"

"Sir!" one of the men said. "They're Imperial ships!"

"We have no choice!" The captain said. "Fire!"

The ship shuddered - and the explosions flashing through the forward view screen lessened. Then the ship plunged into the Drift, the view turning a pale purple. The Captain leaned back, breathing out a slow sigh.

"She's safe?" he asked, looking at one of the crew.

"The cryostatic pod is still powered," an older woman said, her voice calm and nearly emotionless. "The anti-scrying spells are on. They won't be able to track her, even if they have Amaratsu blood to focus on."

"Good," the captain said. "Set a course for the farthest edge of known space."

"Yes Sir!"

The view turned to static - the first video file was finished. There were four more video feeds to watch.

Ami looked stunned, her eyes wide as she looked at the interface still being projected on the wall.

"That's..." Rakain trailed off. "Not what I was expecting."

"W-What were you expecting?" Ami whispered, quietly, looking at him. Then, looking at Nora. "P-Play the next one!" she said, desperately.

"I don't know! Just not that!" Rakain said. He ran a hand over his spiky features. Nora fumbled with the crystals and quickly changed over to the other data crystals as fast as she could. The gears in Sam's mind were spinning, focused on what she just saw. She didn't speak up that they were carrying a person that was wanted, would be tracked by means mundane and magical, and may be or have been in danger from those that pursued that ship. She didn't want to worry or shock Ami more for the moment. Xata's eyes were a dark violet. She watched the recordings with statue-still attention. Hana frowned slightly, ready to translate further for the others when Nora got the next crystal ready.

The view shone out. This time, it showed the bridge crew - and they were missing at least one crew member. One of the computers was being repaired by a man laying on his back. The captain looked out of the view screen - which was filled with a vast, thick nebula. Huge ice crystals - crystals the size of planets -tumbled through the murk.

"Steady..." The captain said, quietly. "Don't go chasing ghosts, Shinji..."

"I told you, I keep detecting something at the edge of the scanners," the man, presumably Shinji, on the conn said. Then his brow furrowed. "Wait...there it- GODS!"

The ship rocked to the side and a roaring sound - deep and rumbling and terrifying - filled the camera. Something huge and winged shot past the forward screen - and then the view was filled with static.

"W-What was that?" Ami asked. Bentha was watching grim faced - it seemed that that was all that was recorded on this crystal.

"Very dramatic, but not particularly informative.." Hana said with mild annoyance.

"Well, it means they went through an ice nebula," Bentha said, her voice quiet.

Hana blinked, looking to Bentha, "Bentha.. is there a reason to go through the rest of these, or do you perhaps know more than you might have been letting on?"

Nora fumbled again as she held the crystals, though she was watching Bentha a bit more now.

Bentha frowned. "The only thing I know is that I found my daughter in an escape pod," she said, shaking her head. "I...guessed that she was launched from a ship. That's all I know." She said, sighing quietly. Ami shook her head as the next crystal slotted on.

The captain's face filled this view.

"...tin's log...we've been sailing for weeks. The dragon killed nine of the crew - but we reached a station that we believe will keep us safe. BUt while in the market, finding supplies...I swore...I saw someone following me." He shook his head. "We're heading for a station that the locals here call Absalom Station - they say it is the largest station in this arm of the galaxy. Maybe there, we can find a place to be safe from the-"

The view filled with static again.

"Did he say dragon?" Rakain said, his voice tinged with a bit of nervousness. "I think I just heard him say dragon."

"D-Definitely," Ami said. It was a well known proverb that said: The best way to fight a dragon was from the bridge of a batlteship. And even that was still a risk. Nora stared at the last crystal in her hands and swallowed. She took a deep breath and carefully began uploading the information.

Hana nodded, "Yeah, apparently some kind of space dragon I'd assume.." She sighed, frowning. "How many of those do you have left?" She said curiously to Nora.

"Last one..." Nora said. Xata's eyes had changed color at the mention of Absalom Station, but she still said nothing. Sam nodded, just absorbing the whole narrative.

The view whirred on. Once more, it was the view of the bridge. The ship...looked as if it had been through a horrible fight. The crew lay dead across the bridge, lacerated and burned by exploding consoles and from fires, which filled the air with smoke. The only survivor was the Captain - and even he had a hideous burn across his face. He breathed heavily.

"...ambushed...in the...here..." He coughed. "The bastards may have destroy us, but we...shot them down. BUt not before they ripped the cargo...units away. Everything...the...the Seal, the Legacy, all of it..." He shook his head. "S-She won't have...anything..." He hung his head forward. "Emperor...I have failed...I have failed your daughter, forgive me..."

The ship shuddered.

"We're going down..." He coughed. "C-Computer...launch cryostatic pod to nearest plan...planet..."

He slumped forward. The view continued - smoke filling the screen as the ship started to tumble through an atmosphere with a loud groaning sound...then everything went to static.

Ami looked pale white, her eyes wide as saucers.

"That asteroid field? That's the Diaspora..." Nora said aloud, pointing with her true hand at the display. Her fingers tapped and she projected a view of the map of the solar system. The Diaspora was the ring that separated Akiton from the outer edges of the system.

"Yeah," Rakain said. "I recognize the pattern of the stars off a chart I saw a while back." He leaned forward, looking sideways at Ami. "Emperor's daughter?"

Hana nodded, frowning slightly, "Wonder who was attacking them?" She said, grumbling. "Don't suppose there's any non-video information on there? Like say, a DNA pattern of the emperor's daughter?"

Ami blinked. "I..." She looked down at the coin that she had as a necklace. Then she burst into tears, standing and running. She rushed up to the ladder, scrambling up it, and slamming the hatch to her room - leaving everyone, even her mother, stunned.

Rakain hurried over to the ladder and moved up the hatch, rapping on it with his knuckles. "Ami? Ami, come on!" He pushed at the hatch a moment later, but the latch remained closed.

"N-No...other data..." Nora mumbled, watching Ami go. She let out a breath slowly and slumped to the ground after a moment. Hana sighed, walking over to the hatch. She called up.