Characters: Joe, Arthur, Darrurz
NPC: Mazun, Thaedznou, Aerrak, Eddie
Location: Waterfront of ruined city
System: Akofitsidano
Dawn has come, bringing sunlight streaming in through the windows near the
ceiling of the warehouse. After a quick bite of rations and some water, Joe,
Arthur, and Thaedznou emerge from their hideaway. A quick scan of the warehouse
from ground level reveals that all is as they remember it from last night.
Joe says, "It's probable those two rocket screams last night were the two
cutters sent down to investigate returning to orbit. Seems odd to me. I'd
thought they'd do a more comprehensive search once they realized those two
drones were shot with advanced off-world tech.
Thaedznou counters, "Maybe they were reinforcements."
Joe continues, "I have three things we should try and accomplish today: 1)
Verify that the Vakh have left and that it is safe to wander around again, 2)
Find a better location to act as a temporary camp, 3) get the rest of the crew
out of the ships boat. I bet it was hell in there with the reactor offline."
Thaedznou nods. "Sounds good to me."
"After that, we need to all sit down and figure out what our long term plan for
getting off this rock is! Do we sit and wait for rescue? Do we attempt to defeat
this Vakh fleet and cobble a ship from the wreckage? Or hopefully we can find
something more sensible in-between?"
Arthur replies, "I'm all for gettin' off this rock." He turns to Thaedznou.
"How long before we're declared overdue?"
Thaedznou chomps at the air. "Too long. And there's no guarantee that a rescue
hunt will even happen. Too many wolves lacked the teeth to bite into this op.
Our absence will only strengthen their resolve. Others without the belly will
likely join them." He lets that sink in before continuing. "We shouldn't rely on
others to help us out."
Joe heads over to the stairs. "First, I'm going to look from the roof, anyone
want to join me?"
Both Arthur and Thaedznou join Joe and head up the stairs.
Up on the roof, the air is crisp and cool. Eyes and ears are used to scan the
area for signs of vakh activity. Nothing registers on either of those senses. It
would seem to be a good thing, but Joe frowns.
"They're still here. I can't make out what they're saying—it could just
be positional and status updates--but they're still here. Ships are still in
orbit, and there's vakh here in the city and out at the crash site."
"Are they close?" Thaedznou asks.
"I don't think so. No." Joe replies.
"I think we should notify the others," Thaedznou says. "There's room in the
warehouse for the boat. Or maybe Darrurz can set up the autopilot to return to
the bottom of the harbor. Either way, I think we all need to be present to plan
our next move."
Joe nods. "I agree we to be together to plan. Let's try and make the shift as
quick as possible. I'm not sure how Darrurz could rig the autopilot to shut
down the reactor. I just hope no one upstairs is looking when we make the move.
Hopefully we can time it to use some cloud cover. Not sure we can help the IR
of the reactor exhaust, but so long as we are quick, we may not have too much
heat that the baffles can't handle the load."
Arthur stays to keep lookout while Thaedznou and Joe head down to the warehouse
floor and slide open the dockside door. They then head outside to summon
Darrurz. Thaedznou picks up a brick and expertly tosses it down at the boat.
Darrurz sees it and takes it as a signal to come up. It takes about ten minutes,
but the boat emerges from the water. Thaedznou points to the warehouse, and
Darrurz nods in understanding. He expertly guides the boat in, deploys the
landing gear, and sets the boat down inside. He powers down the engines while
Aerrak and Mazun disembark.
Mazun is wrapped in a survival blanket. He sprints outside and opens the blanket
to the sun. This gets a chuckle out of Aerrak. Thaedznou nods with a smirk.
After Joe and Thaedznou update the ship's boat trio on what they observed last
night and the current situation--to the best of their knowledge—Arthur
comes down from the roof to join them, but keeps a lookout around the corner.
Joe says, "So we need to decide what to do next."
When no one offers to start the discussion, Joe decides to do it.
"Ok, we can hold and wait for rescue, but Thaedznou indicated that no one will
be by soon."
"That is correct."
"But even if someone came by, how would they know it was us? How would we know
that the rescuers were benign? Pirates. Vakh."
Thaedznou answers, "We could head over to the Orruengoerr wreckage and
activate the emergency beacon after the Vakh fleet is gone. We'd have to watch
the ship to see who responds to the beacon. If anyone is capable of a thorough
full spectrum scan, they'll likely pick up the signal."
Mazun answers, "I think that would be most ships. At least, anyone with half a
brain."
Thaedznou nods.
Joe says, "We could go native. Team up with the locals, pick a side in a
conflict, and use our knowledge and available hi-tech assets to build such a
group to be the pre-eminent faction in an area and clear out any vakh
infection."
Thaedznou sniffs the air and replies, "I'm not keen on staying here. I'd like to
complete the mission, if only to get what data we have back home."
Mazun agrees. "Me either. It wasn't the Imperium, but it's far better than
this."
Joe says, "We could go on the offensive against the vakh fleet. Draw them in
slowly, one ship at a time, and build our assets slowly until we're able to
capture an entire starship. We then strip it of vakh infection, liberate the
crew, and seek our freedom in that ship."
Aerrak nods his head. "I like that idea. Give it right back to those fukhers
that killed our mates."
Out of sight of Aerrak, Mazun just rolls his eyes.
Joe says, "My last thought is that we build a ship from whatever spare parts we
can find. After the vakh fleet leaves the system, we head to the starport and
other crash sites, and see what we can salvage."
"I'm up for that," Mazun says with some enthusiasm.
Thaedznou and Aerrak both nod in agreement. "We'll need more than the boat to
get around," Thaedznou says. "We don't want to risk losing it in tight areas or
calling unwanted attention to our pack."
Darrurz is quiet throughout the discussion. In a moment, when everyone else has
stopped talking he indicates the ship's boat. "This is a priceless asset. We
can't afford to use it because we can't afford to lose it, but it does give us
access to more than this rock we are on. It gives us access to the whole system.
I can park it under the freighter, turn off the reactor, set it to power down
completely automatically in 10 minutes and then swim to the surface. We'll need
to find a way of getting back in though. Even if I don't power it down the
batteries will only last so long.
"I can't see how we can go on the offensive against a vakh fleet. We'll have to
fight them at some point, but we'll need more than we have here, and we'll need
more than this rock can provide. We'll be fighting vakh elements all the way
anyway, but we need to be stealthy. The lone wolf doesn't bring down the prey by
itself. The pack working together, and in harmony, does."
Thaedznou and Aerrak nod emphatically.
Darrurz continues, "We need to finish the mission. We need to get the
information we have back to where it is needed. If we can get to the
Orruengoerr we should take a look. If we can team up with the locals,
then we do, and if there are indeed sides, because there might not be, we don't
have to pick one. We could work to bring them together, but what we need is a
ship. We find one, we salvage one, or we take one, and I'd put them in that
order. We look for one we can find, unlikely I know, but you never know what
might have been left. We salvage one if we can, but we only take one if there
is no other way."
Thaedznou and Aerrak both sniff the air, gauging the scent of the coalescing
pack. Thaedznou says, "I like what you're saying, and I believe the scent that
you've picked up is true." He places a paw on Darrurz's shoulder and squeezes
slightly as a vote of confidence." Aerrak barks in agreement.
Thaedznou releases Darrurz's shoulder and turns to face the humans in the group.
"Are your packmates in agreement, too?"
Mazun sighs and scrunches up his face. "Anything that doesn't involve a frontal
assault on a vakh fleet or spending the rest of my days here." He relaxes his
expression and adds, "I trust Darrurz not to go all Aslan on us."
Aerrak tilts his head to the side, his confusion apparent. Thaedznou whispers an
explanation in his ear. Aerrak's head returns upright, and he sets to panting,
his tongue hanging out to the side.
The group looks over at Arthur, and silently wait for him. Upon realizing that
the conversation has stopped, he turns away from keeping lookout. "What? Oh
yeah, I'm in on Darrurz's plan. Let's do it."
Thaedznou nods. "Good. First thing's first: the boat. Do we have to sink it
under the freighter? Can't we just leave it here in the warehouse? Maybe engage
the anti-hijack program to keep scavengers out."
"But what about the vakh," Mazun counters. "I don't think a simple anti-hijack
program will keep them out."
"What if we were to disconnect the computer from the ship's systems?"
"That would take took long," Mazun replies. "There are soooooo many connections.
Putting it back...without a manual, there could be a zillion mistakes."
"Can we take out any of the components? A computer without a processor won't
run, so it can't be infected, right?"
"Technically, you're right. But if the processor gets damaged, we won't be able
to use it either. Even when this planet wasn't bombed to hell, the tech level
still sucked. The only source of computer parts would be other spaceships."
Thaedznou frowns. "Then I guess we'll have to find diving gear unless you wolves
can think of an alternative."
Joe says, "I'm not sure we'll need to worry much about Vakh once this fleet
moves on. And after they go, we might be able to find a better hiding hole than
here. But that means holing up here until that fleet moves, and we have no idea
how long these Vakh plan on hanging around."
He pulls out a ration bar. "I'm more worried about our food supplies. These may
taste like sawdust, and the label says they're nutritious, but we only have a
few. Other than fishing off the dock, there doesn't appear to be much food
around. But we should start going through these warehouses to see if there are
any other stockpiles. The Vakh are still active, but don't appear to be close,
and if they didn’t notice us move the ship, they must be focused elsewhere. So
long as we don't do anything to attract their attention to these warehouses, we
should be good." Joe grins. "And we may find some diving gear."
Thaedznou chuckles.
Mazun asks, "So are we going to send someone out to check on the
Orruengoerr now? Or are we waiting for the vakh to leave first, spending
our time scavenging in these warehouses? Or are we doing both?"
Darrurz speaks up, "I suggest we scavenge the warehouses first, looking out for
anyone, be they Vakh or otherwise. Keeping as low a profile as possible and
watching out for any drones."
The others nod in agreement. As they turn around to search the two closest
warehouses, they catch sight of a pack of pups coming around the corner of the
next closest warehouse.
One of the pups points at the group and shouts in alarm, "Offworlders!" The pups
then turn and run back from whence they came.
Characters: Joe, Arthur, Darrurz
NPC: Thaedznou, Mazun, Aerrak
Location: Waterfront of ruined city
System: Akofitsidano
After they wrap up their discussion, the group turns around to search the two
closest warehouses. Before they can get started, they catch sight of a pack of
pups coming around the corner of the next closest warehouse.
One of the pups points at the group and says in alarm, "Offworlders!" The pups
then turn and run back from whence they came.
Aerrak barks, "Hey! Don't go! We need your help!" and runs off after them.
Thaedznou yells at him to wait, but he keeps going. He then sets off after him.
Joe is about to take off, but Darrurz puts a paw on his shoulder. "I've got it."
He turns on his inertial locator and sets off after Thaedznou and Aerrak,
relying on scent, sound, and vision to track them and the pups.
Rounding the corner at the second warehouse, he spots Thaedznou across the
street, entering an intact building. Darrurz follows him, looking up to see if
anyone in the building is watching them. Once inside the structure, apparently
an apartment building, his ears tell him to keep going straight. At the end of
the hallway on the ground floor, a door to the outside swings wildly. Darrurz
pauses before heading outside. There's a courtyard between all of the buildings.
It's overgrown with weeds. There's a narrow corridor between two other tall
apartment buildings. The trail leads that way.
Darrurz exits the corridor to find himself on the next street. Just to the right
of his position, on the far side of the street, is another corridor. To the
right are three intact tenements. To the left is some kind of office building.
After making sure the coast is clear, Darrurz charges ahead. As soon as he
reaches the corridor, he can hear barking coming from the other end. He
recognizes Thaedznou's voice mixed in with a slew of others.
Darrurz does a sense check to make sure there is nothing obviously bad in the
corridor and then goes in slightly low with his weapon up, digit off the
trigger. He monitors his path cautiously, looking out for anything.
"Let him go," Thaedznou is heard to say. His voice is tense but steady. "He
wasn't hunting your pups."
An unfamiliar male voice replies, "Then why was he chasing them?" There is
anger and suspicion in it.
"We're new here. He thought that they could help."
"So you admit to being Star People."
"I don't know what that means. We're explorers from another world. We were
investigating the wreck a few blocks from here when our ship came under attack
by the Vakh."
Another male voice joins in. "That is a lie! You've come to take our pups!" The
fear in his voice is unmistakable.
Darrurz reaches the edge of the corridor. He can see the backside of Thaedznou.
Judging by his posture, he has a weapon in his hands.
Darrurz lowers his weapon into normal patrol mode and walks around the corner,
calmly saying, "No, we have not come to take your pups. We've come
looking for friends."
Aerrak is kneeling on the ground. A pair of vargr have their spears touching his
neck. Six more were taking aim at Thaedznou, who stood three meters away, but
with the arrival of Darrurz, three of them peel off and make Darrurz their
target. Another vargr stands apart from the others, a pistol in his paws.
Darrurz continues, "All Aerrak, that's the wolf you are holding, wanted to do is
talk to them, and to you. That's what Thaedznou here wants to do as well. We
want to make sure that you won't harm Aerrak, but we primarily want to talk to
you. I'm Darrurz. Take a moment; take the scent and trust your own nose."
Darrurz takes a moment to use his senses to take everything in, even while he's
ready to act. He notes that the local pack is doing the same.
Finally, the leader gives a sign to the others to let Aerrak go and stand down.
Thaedznou turns to Darrurz and gives him a nod of thanks. Aerrak gets up and
walks over to Thaedznou.
The leader says, "You admit to coming from the stars, but aren't with the star
people. So who are you?"
Darrurz deliberately takes the question the wrong way. “Who am I? Well that's a
very long story best told around the fire of an evening, eating good food with
good company. But we—Aerrak, Thaedznou, myself, and there are more of us,
human even—come from a planet called Tsougak. It's in a systems that's
five parsecs coreward and slightly spinward of this system. We know this
system," Darrurz points to the ground, "and this planet as Akofotsidano. Tsougak
has just come out of a period of recovering from the devastation that the Vakh
caused. We have come searching for friends among the systems that are close to
Tsougak. We came in a ship that was destroyed. Probably by those you call 'the
Star People.'
"So...who are you?"
"I am Rongon, leader of my pack. This city was called Oegzuzerrghgurrgoksa. Our
ancestors tell us that it was one of Akofotsidano's best cities before our world
ran out of food. They also tell us that the Vakh took over the star ships that
used to bring us food and stopped coming here. With no food coming in, people
fought over what was left. Then they ate each other. Only the quiet survived.
"Several years ago, the Star People came to our world. They come to the cities,
promising to take people to other worlds where there is plenty of food. But
there are some who say that they come for slaves. Other packs have said that
their pups have been taken. Some blame the Star People; others say that the
khanaeghallvarrg have returned.
[...OOC: khanaeghallvarrg roughly translates to "vargr cannibals"...]
"You do not look like khanaeghallvarrg. You claim not to be Star People,"
he gestures at their gear, "but you are dressed like them. You have weapons
like them. The only thing that sets you apart is that you do not smell like
them."
Thaedznou taps his snout and says, "The nose knows."
This elicits chuckles among the pack, helping to break the tension. Even Rongon
manages a smile.
He asks, "Where is the rest of your pack?"
"At the docks," one of the pups eagerly volunteers.
"Yes, we took refuge in one of the warehouses last night," Thaedznou adds. "The
Star People were out hunting last night."
Rongon nods. "We saw them descend from the sky and took to our safe dens so they
wouldn't find us."
One of the pups rushes over to Rongon and pulls on his arm while nodding with
his head towards the side.
"Yes, yes. Gather your poles; we'll go." To the group, he says, "We'll escort
you back to the rest of your pack.The pups need to hunt. We'll talk while they
hunt."
With that, the pups gather up their fishing poles while their pack divides.
Rongon and three wolves escort Darrurz, Thaedznou, and Aerrak back to the docks.
Characters: Joe, Arthur, Darrurz
NPC: Thaedznou, Mazun, Aerrak, Rongon, and two vargr to be named later
Location: Waterfront of ruined city
System: Akofitsidano
Darrurz, Thaedznou, and Aerrak return to the docks safe and sound, but not
alone. There are three adult male vargr and the pack of pups they encountered
earlier. The pups find their way to the half sunk ship and commence to fishing
off of it. The adults remain on the dock with the group, emphatically sniff the
air upon encountering the humans in the group.
One of the new vargr whispers in awe, "Hairless."
Darrurz makes the introductions and then explains what happened, including
references to the Star People and cannibals.
Mazun asks, "Can you describe the 'Star People'? Did they say where they came
from?"
Rongon answers, "They dress as you do, but some of them have pieces of machines
attached to their bodies. The vargr too. Their fur has been shaved in the places
where the machine parts are attached. And when the big machines are around,
they always obey them. I don't see why. Machines don't lead. They're just
machines.
"They never say where they're from other than saying 'the stars'."
"Do you have any machines of your own?"
"Yes, from before. But these are the kind we used to build. They aren't alive;
they're just tools."
"Are any of them capable of making weapons?"
"Not like yours. We don't have the materials here anymore. Or the fuel to run
them. They were all used up in the hungry war. Now we just have spears, arrows,
knives, small swords."
Mazun keeps going. "Have you explored the wreck?" He points in the direction of
the ruined cruiser.
"No. Our elders warned us that it might have more machine monsters inside."
"Possibly. But it also has machines that you could use to make weapons, fight
back against invaders."
Rongon nods in consideration of Mazun's words.
Thaedznou says, "Our ship crashed last night in a battle with the Star People
and vakh. It went down over there." He points to the southwest. "Any chance you
can get us to a vantage point so we can scope out the crash site unseen? We
don't want to walk into a trap."
"Yes, follow me."
Rongon leads the group back into the city. Darrurz makes use of his inertial
locator as they travel. When they reach areas where monitoring drones might be
an issue, he makes use of the city's infrastructure and takes the group
underground. After sitting idle for several decades, the worst decay appears to
have subsided on its own accord. In safer neighborhoods, Rongon returns to the
surface, but prefers narrow alleys over wide open streets.
In the lobby of one building that appears to have been either a hotel or
apartment complex, Rongon announces, "This building offers excellent unimpeded
views. However, we have a long climb."
He leads the group to a stairwell. The lower floors are cluttered with garbage,
but five flights up, the stairwell clears. Finally, upon reaching the twentieth
floor, Rongon announces that they've arrived, though the stairs keep going.
Winded, the group takes a break.
Aerrak says between breaths, "The stairs continue..."
Rongon replies to the unasked question, "The roof. If we go there, we risk being
spotted from above. This floor will provide cover while you scout the area."
The group files into the foyer while Rongon instructs his two wolves to stay and
keep watch. Two elevator doors stand closed on the opposite side of the room.
To the left and the right are two sets of double doors. Rongon leads the group
through one of them.
Past the doors is a lightly messed up room. The scavengers who must've hit this
place were either too tired to trash the place or had more respect for
irreplaceable furnishings. An expansive living room offers a full view of the
region to the southwest. Mazun plops himself down on the couch. Aerrak joins
him.
Thaedznou, Darrurz, Joe, and Arthur make their way to the windows. Rongon stands
by. In the distance, probably two kilometers out, a thin plume of smoke rises
into the air. Through binoculars, one can make out the wreckage of a starship.
The air shimmers with the heat of midday. There are two small craft nearby, and
there are forms moving back and forth. Some hover, some move steady on the
ground, some could even be bipedal. It's hard to tell.
Thaedznou hands his binoculars to Rongon and asks, "Are those your Star People?"
It only takes Rongon a few seconds to say, "Yes." He hands the binos back to
Thaedznou.
A few minutes after observations have begun, one of the small ships, rises
slowly from the ground, and, after reaching a safe distance, rockets upward.
"Looks like they're clearing out. You wolves want to start heading over there?
Once they clear out, we move in."
While the group ponders that decision, Thaedznou asks Rongon, "How's the terrain
over there? Any hostiles?"
"We're close to another pack's territory. We're not at war with them, but they
might mistake you for Star People like we did. And at night, you have to worry
about packs of uerroksaefuekhskhuez."
"What's that?" Mazun asks.
Thaedznou replies, "Literally, a large, scaly predator that eats anything it can
sink its teeth into." To Rongon, he asks, "How big?"
"Bigger than us, but slow. We can outrun them, but they try to surround their
prey before attacking."
To the group, Thaedznou asks, "Do you wolves want to go there today and risk get
caught out after dark, or just start fresh tomorrow?"
Joe replies, "We should head over today. We don't want to risk losing any
salvage we might get."
Thaedznou nods in agreement.
Mazun says, "Anything we can salvage will be immensely helpful."
Joe continues, "I don't expect much will have survived, but there may be some of
the more durable items. Today we have enough firepower to keep any wildlife at
bay, so we have to take the risk, but we may have to take stock of ammo and be
careful of expenditure."
Mazun says, "The less shooting we have to do the better."
Joe says, "Then we need to look into repaying the kindness of these wolves
before we look into crossing to the starport."
Thaedznou and Aerrak yip in agreement.
Rongon bows his head in acknowledgement.
Mazun says, "Maybe something that'll give them a leg up on the competition."
Next: The Trek to the Orruengoerr