Starfinder: The Jade Regent Pt. 04

Ami nodded as the drone whirred into the room in question. As it skittered silently forward, it saw another trip wire. It made a quiet chirrup on the group chat. Nora frowned and keyed a few buttons on her wrist. "...Debating it. Should he tug it? Little weaselaser should work."

Hana nodded, giving her a thumbs up. Nora took a breath and nodded, keying a few quick commands. Get on a wall, aim and trigger it with your laser. Then trigger your optic systems. Xata backed off a bit, just in case.

The little ferret drone crawled onto the wall, the view the others watched through twisting dizzyingly. THe laser fired out with a pop and snapped the cable. A moment later, a box hidden in the other room - it looked like a bedroom opened up and a collection of plushy animals made of false fabric and fur came rolling out. A note came with them.

ALL OF THESE CUTE ANIMALS ARE JUDGING YOU, YOU MEANIE.

"Okay..." Rakain deadpanned. "We're obviously dealing with some kind of comedian here."

"Alright, I think it really does have the mind of a child." Sam noted in a whisper.

Hana blinked, "I'm.. really thinking it's a kid.. somehow.." She said, biting her lip.

Xata agreed: "Or it was."

"Well, if it's a kid, where is it?" Ami asked, frowning slightly. "And why is it setting up traps?" She asked, rubbing the back of her neck. "Well, if this station was in trouble, it'd have emergency areas to go and hide, if you were running low on O2."

Hana winced, "Not.. saying you're wrong, just.. trying to envision this not involving a dead kid..."

"Well either way the place looks safe, just really...ick," Nora said, tapping buttons and bringing her ferret drone back to her shoulder. "Do you all want to explore while I get about unwelding bits and getting the Sunwolf unlodged?

"I'm also not saying they are still here." Sam noted. "These could have been places ages ago."

Xata stepped into the room, kneeling down and picking up one of the plush toys. She held it to her chest with a solemn expression.

Hana nodded, "I'd like to at least confirm there is no one here rather than leave and find out later we left people behind.." She said, biting her lip.

"I agree," said Xata sadly as she looked at the toy.

"Same, we should stick close together and clear it systematically," Nora said.

Ami nodded. "So, we search while Nora does her thang..." she said, quietly. "And we be ready to find something...unpleasant..." She said, biting her lip as they started out of the house. The group started to poke around as Nora clambered up alongside the ship - her laser welder and her ferret working in coordination - buzzing as they cut at chunks of twisted metal, to free up the gyro lasers.

The first few houses were all fairly usual seeming - but the third had been ransacked. It was clear it had been explored and studied by a group of people...maybe the adventurers from before?

Ami frowned. "Anyone see anything?"

"Negative." Sam replied over the comms.

Nora did make sure Ami had her little drone perched on her shoulder so that she wasn't really 'far' from the group.

"Nada," Rakain siad.

Hana pointed to a house across the way, "Over there, something in the second story!" She called out to the others, pointing up to the second story window. Ami spun around - and as they watched, they heard a voice - somehow reaching them despite the lack of oxygen.

"No! I'm not here! This...is an innocent, quiet building, with noooo one inside!" The voice stopped.

Xata started at the window. Hana called back, "We're not pirates! We're nice people and we want to help you!"

Rakain's head swiveled around in every direction, searching for the source of the voice. When he saw the house in question, he put his hand on his pistol. Xata advanced toward the structure, summoning up her Dancing Lights again and still clutching the plush toy.

"Okay-" Sam whispered mostly to herself and started walking towards the building.

There was a long pause as Xata walked forward, then a pair of bright golden eyes peeked out of the upper window. "Prove it!" the voice said. "By doing something NO pirate would ever ever do!"

"Make out hard with out each," Nora snorted as she paused on her end long enough to broadcast to the group.

Hana bit her lip, trying to think, then leaped up, flipping in the air, spinning in circles, calling out, "Wheeeee!" Sam stopped with Xata, and watched Hana as she floated about. Xata watched Hana spin, focused on the eyes and telepathy hummed the song "I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major General" as close as she could get to being in time with Hana's whirling. Rakain, meanwhile, took his hand from his pistol and started dancing an awkward jig, making sure to seat his mag boot each time he picked up a leg to wiggle it.

The golden eyes narrowed and watched their little show. "That's...pretty convincing..." The voice said. "But if you were really not pirates, then you'd be able to resist the most awesome thing in the world!" The window opened and a a figure - unbound by the requirements of microgravity and atmosphere - leaped onto it.

Wings spread. Scales glittered. Tail lashed as a dragon surged onto the sill of the window. His voice boomed dramatically: "Behold! The fearsome and powerful dragon Brashivalampathorus, protector of all that is good in the universe and also sometimes bad things if they say they're sorry!"

He was about a foot long from tail to snout. And maybe three feet wide, with his wings spread as far as possible. His voice didn't actually boom - it was more of a high pitched squeak, but it was clear that he thought it was quite impressive. But most of them recognized the small shape. Brashivalampathorus was a pseudo-dragon. They had once been summoned by magical persons to be their 'familiars', but familiars had become less and less popular as centuries wore on.

Hana blinked, reaching out to stop her spinning, "I didn't know that pseudo-dragons could survive in this kind of environment." She said, trying to slowly float towards him. "Why are you protecting this place oh powerful dragon?"

"And who are you protecting it from?" Rakain added.

Xata switched her telepathic soundtrack to an imposing fanfare worthy of a great dragon's majesty.

"A what now?" Sam asked as she split her attention between Hana and the 'dragon.' She, being more focused on weaponry than wizardy, hadn't recognized the creature. The psuedo-dragon scoffed.

"You're mistaken! I'm a fullllllllll dragon!" He nodded. "In fact, I'm better than most of all full dragons in the universe! I'm portable! I can fit in a suitcase! And I have way better fire breath!" He said, turning and breathing out a cloud of glittering pink dust. "See! Much better!"

Xata nodded, quite taken. "I think that is much better, actually."

"Exactly! My fire breath just causes people to sneeze, instead of being burned. That's much nicer!" Brash nodded sagely, folding his wings behind his back as Hana floated up and stopped herself on his window sill.

"Seems logical to me!" She smiled cheerfully, "So.. could we perhaps talk you into traveling with us and protecting your ship?"

Brashivlamapathorus narrowed his eyes. "I don't know..." He paused, then spread one wing, tucking his head behind it, before peeking out again. "I was asked to stay here and protect this whole station by the nicest, most powerful and prettiest wizard in the whole universe!"

"That is a solemn task," Xata agreed, still holding the plush animal.

"Where is this wizard now? Perhaps they can come with us as well!" Hana said cheerfully, reaching down to gently pet Brash's head. Brash rubbed his small nose against her palm.

"Um...I totally know that, because I'm a dragon, and thus, infinitely wise and intelligent!" Brash nodded. "But I'm not telling you right now because...it's...a test..." Even the most oblivious of the group could tell he didn't know and was embarrassed and more than a bit scared. He licked and nipped gently at Hana's fingertips.

Sam just sighed and shook her head.

"Well, perhaps she only meant for you to protect the station until the people left it?" She said, smiling. "It seems kind of abandoned.." She sent a group text to the group with her com: How does this fit into the whole no life signs thing?

"The scanners pick up human to halfling in terms of size. Pseudo-dragons, alone, give off a smaller signature. Plus, he's cuuuute. C'mon," Nora said, finding a place to rest on her repair work so she could broadcast.

"Perhaps he was also magically concealing himself. Xata asked him: "Oh mighty Brash... one... perhaps we can reach an accommodation that would benefit your mission and ours?"

"Even I have to admit the little bugger is adorable," Rakain muttered.

"Same." Sam admitted, both quietly enough that the tiny dragon didn't hear them. Brash leaned his head forward, peering at the group as Xata spoke.

"I...it has been a long long time..." He admitted, shyly, his wings flaring out slightly.

"How long has it been?" Hana asked, smiling at him as she petted him gently.

"Plus, pretty sure he'd go gaga if you mention Ami's specialness," Nora added, making sure that was over their personal com. Brash slowly rolled around onto his back as Hana petted him. Meanwhile, Ami had been remaining quiet - blushing furiously as she looked away from the dragon.

Brash seemed to come to a decision. He rolled onto onto his front, then leaped away from HAna. He landed on the ground before the group, lifting his head as he spoke. "We came here from the big place. Then they checked it out, and then Beardy said that he thought they should check out the Brice, and I said, that sounds dumb, but they said, no, Brash, shut up, Brash, stop talking Brash, you're dumb, Brash!" He said, his voice becoming angry as he repeated the words. Blushing, he forced himself to calm down and continued.

"And then my mistress was super nice and said that I was special!" He beamed and puffed up his chest. "I was so special, she said that she'd never get another one like me and she told me to stay here until they came back! I was sad, cause I wanted to come with, even if Beardy and the others were mean, except for my mistress and also, the pilot girl!" He nodded excitedly. "Pilot girl sometimes gave me copper pieces, since they didn't have gold. Anyway, they all left, and I protected this place ever since. I got hungry and had to eat six times since then!" He nodded.

Since he was so small, he could likely go quite a while without eating...so...maybe a week?

"You came here on the Dartrake." Xata nodded with sudden understanding.

"Oh gods I wanna hug him..." Nora mumbled, watching over the feed sent from her drone.

"Me first," Rakain muttered back. He felt a kinship with the little dragon, however slight.

Brash nodded. "Yeah! Yeah!" He said, bouncing excitedly. For a moment, Xata was confident he was agreeing with her idea he came on the Dartrake. Then Brash made it clear that wasn't what he was focusing on as he added. "I want hugs! Hugs are awesome!" Xata type on her com unit another text. We cannot possibly leave him here.

Hana took a deep breath, then smiled at the little psuedo-dragon as she pushed herself away from the window, "Well, how about this? We're pretty sure we're looking for your mistress. You can come with us, and if we find her, we can apologize for taking you away, but we needed you to help and make sure we were all safe!"

Ami snorted, whispering softly. "O-Of course we can't leave him here...I was starting to work up the courage to tell him his friends are...probably dead..." she admitted. "But now I kinda hope they're not so I can kill them myself." She growled.

Brash paused. He looked at his feet, then nuzzled at his wing. Then he noticed his tail behind himself. He gasped - then relaxed when he saw it was his tail. He still followed it with his nose for a moment, before finally turning back to face Hana. Then he nodded. "Okay!"

It's not their fault, Xata typed. They may not even have known anyone was on the asteroid. She smiled in delight to see Brash's response.

"Didn't you hear what he said they said to him?" Ami asked, her voice an angry growl on their private coms as Brash watched them curiously.

Yes, well, Beardy needs some Social Subroutine refreshers, clearly, Xata responded, her thumbs tapping away with blinding speed.

Hana smiled down at the small dragon, "Thanks! So, we're going to look around just a bit more, then we'll get on our way to find your mistress! So, um, was your ship named the Dartrake?" She asked, glancing at Xata, trying to get the dragon on task. Hana also texted to Ami: We can beat the shit out of Beardy if he's alive when we meet him. Right now we need to focus on helping the cute little dragon.

Ami nodded, while Brash beamed and bounced around. "Nope!" He said. "It was called the Don't Touch That Button Brash!" He said. "That's what they said a lot when I asked what things were, so I figured that was what all the ship was called! Oh! Also, if you are going to search around, there are some weird monstery things that I lured into an airlock," he said, nodding. "So, don't open the airlock door!"

Even Sam was chuckling at Brash's comments by this point. Xata smiled. She also perked up at the mention of 'weird monstery things.'

"Well, we should at least check out what is in the airlock," Sam said.

"Can you lead us to the airlock? We can maybe find a way to keep them from hurting anyone." Hana asked cheerfully.

"Perhaps it will be something that knows about the pirates," Xata added.

"We got your back, little buddy," Rakain said.

Brash nodded. "Okay! But only if you promise to be brave!" He said, turning and then started forward.

"We're going to need to work out a petting schedule, aren't we?" Ami asked, grinning slightly as she followed after the small pseudo-dragon.

Hana snickered, "Nah, we can all just pet him at once." She said, following after the little dragon.

"I predict he will name our ship I Get To Pet Brash Next," Xata said, proudly.

"Oh, good point," Ami said as Brash led them along with a happy hummy noise - apparently magical enough to just not care about a lack of an atmosphere. He led them to the airlock in question - and once there, they found that the interior of the airlock was visible thanks to a small window. Looking within, they saw a pair of nasty looking lobster-like creatures with fluttering gill flutes along the sides of their bodies. The inside of the airlock was covered with bash marks from where they had tried to smash their way out...

"...Can you cook those?" Nora asked over their coms after a moment.

All of them - save for Xata, who was too young to have learned much about aliens, and Nora, who was more of an engineer - recognized them as Roidclaws...asteroid based life forms that lived by burrowing into asteroids and consuming volatiles within - oxygen, carbon and such. They found humans delicious. If they had burrowed into the station, no wonder it had been abandoned.

"Are they Dastardly Pirates?" Xata asked hopefully. "I cannot identify them."

"No, they are a dangerous space vermin." Sam noted.

Braash gasped. "I didn't know they were pirates!" He said. "Oh...are you sure, Sam?" He asked, frowning slightly. "Are you suuuuuuuuuper sure? Mega sure?"

"They're Roidclaws," Hana said to Brash. "Nasty little bastards. And unfortunately spacing them won't do a thing. If we want to make sure they're dead, we'll need to engage them ourselves." She sighed slightly.

"We're preeeeeeetty sure, Brash," Rakain said.

Brash pouted. But then he brightened up eagerly. "Well, then I can help! I will push the button to open the airlock door!"

"Well, we can setup an ambush and pick them off as they come out of the airlock," Sam said.

Xata was crestfallen. She shared a sympathetic look with the pseudo-dragon. "There seems no point in killing them if they're just vermin," she said. "Much as I would love to watch you ambush something."

Hana looked around curiously to see if there was anything they could set up like a large weight to drop on them. Then she scowled, remembering they were in micro-gravity. Damn it. "Problem is, they eat humanoids. If we don't kill them, they'll either starve or eat people. I don't particularly like either option."

"Fair point," Xata said.

Ami nodded. "Okay, everyone - take up positions..." She said, grinning as she drew her laser pistol. "I've been wondering how well these military class laser pistols work."

"If a salvage ship docks with the airlock they might be in for an unpleasant surprise. It's irresponsible to just leave them like this." Sam stated.

Xata nodded. "I'm sold." She unlimbered her katana, the monomolecular blade shining brightly in the light of their space suits. Rakain drew his own pistol.

"It's easy, Ami. Just point at the fleshy bits and pull the trigger," he said. Hana moved off, trying to find a good place to hide, readying to fire off her beads. The drone perched on Ami's shoulder clicked and powered up it's little laser with a small charge up noise. Sam picked a spot not too far from the door and readied the light reaction cannon. She would swap to the sword if they managed to get closer. Xata moved back from the airlock and begin to Sing, bringing a spell to the ready.

Brash saw they were set up, then excitedly slapped down his scaled tail on the button. The airlock hissed open and the Roidclaws surged out!

Xata's song focused into three pale purple darts which slammed into one of the Roidclaws - while Rakain stepped forward and loosed out a blast of flames, which scorched into the airlock. One of the monsters remained within, slain by the magical attack.The other surged out, flaming and silently screeching - the fires winking out as the magic that sustained them vanished. Nora's drone perched on Ami's shoulder and powered up it's little pistol. The drone open it's mouth and a little bright beam shot out, striking the last Roidclaw square in the head for a clean, quick shot that would kill it painlessly.

As the roidclaw floated forward into the air - the two beasts utterly slain - Brash cheerd. "Yay! You're heroes!" he said, dancing. "Heroes! Heroes! Heroes!"

Ami snorted. "Most of us didn't even get a chance to fire," she said, shaking her head.

"Only with your assistance, Brash." Xata smiled at him and tried to feel more Heroic as she looked at the creatures' smoking corpses. Well, they did eat humanoids. So that was something.

Hana snorted slightly, "Well, some of us are anyway." She smiled, nodding to Nora and Xata, "Nice job you two."

"Though, just saying, Mr. Not Dragon but also Tall?" Brash said, springing up to Rakina's shoulder as he spoke to the Vesk. "I'll teach you how to breathe nicer fire, when you're fighting pretty ladies who you need to not hurt!" He nodded sagely.

"Thank you, fellow beep-boop," Xata said, bowing to Hana.

"That will be a neat trick to see." Sam teased Brash.

Hana snickered slightly, "I think Rak spent all his fire on getting taller and muscular."

Rakain said nothing, just flexed dramatically, his tail swishing around behind him.

"So Brash, where there anymore monsters about?" Sam inquired.

"Thicker," Nora mentioned over their comms too before busting up into snickering. Brash's eyes shone with admiraltion and he started to flex slightly, thrashing his tail back and forth, trying to match Rakain's tail gestures. Then he looked at Sam.

"Nooo," he said. "That's it! I killed all the other monsters! ...there were no other monsters." He admitted, blushing. "So, I set traps! The traps cunningly were designed to not hurt anything but feelings! I..." He paused. "I hope I didn't hurt any of your feelings..." He sounded guilty.