Dead Suns Unlimited, Session 4

Klaatu barada nikto
– Klaatu (The Day the Earth Stood Still)

As we began our session, the crew decided the best course of action would be to scan the Acreon and the Drift Rock. They detected low levels of radiation on the Acreon and could detect no life signs. Scans of the Drift Rock were inconclusive so the crew decided to investigate the ship first. Switch deftly maneuvered the Hippocampus to dock with the aft airlock of the Acreon and the crew boarded the larger ship.

They entered the Acreon’s engineering bay (C4) but before they could begin their investigation they spotted movement in the shadows. Two bluish and tentacled beasts climbed down out of the mechanicals running along the walls and attacked.

As the crew moved to defend themselves, their Geiger Counters reported low radiation levels in the port and starboard sections of the room. Fortunately, the radiation levels were low enough the crew were protected by their armor. Nuil identified the creatures as akata, aberrations which lived in the void of space and procreated by biting victims to infect them with a disease called Void Death. She also noted their one weakness, salt water.

Switch and TIM-X formed the front line as the rest of the crew rained blaster fire down on the akata. They made quick work of the creatures but not before one of the beats bit Switch and infected him with Void Death.

GM’s Note: I missed the note indicating Void Death did not have a latent stage on the Affliction track. The players got to enjoy the rest of the session without their characters being sickened and fatigued.

Once the akata were killed, the crew investigated the radiation while Cypher worked to see if he could restore power the Acreon’s power and life support. They learned the radiation was coming from rocks which were the akata’s cocoons. The cocoons were made of noqual, a valuable mineral, and they collected all they found in radiation sealed crates (also found in the engineering bay). Cypher realized he could not restore the ship’s systems until the power core was realigned and brought back online. The crew moved to the reactor room and realigned the system and brought it back online. Great teamwork! Cypher brought the systems back online and established a wireless connection to the ship’s controls. Through the link, Cypher brought online a diagram of the ship so they could explore it systematically.

In the main hallway (C2), the crew found the body of a dead goblin. The corpse was infected with Void Death so they bound it (in case it decided to get up and attack them). A single akata tried to sneak up on them but they noticed it and quickly killed it.

Continuing the search, they also found Gevalarsk Nor’s cargo in the port cargo bay (C5). His cargo was a large crate marked with the logo of the Eoxian Embassy. Unable to resist, they opened the crate to see what was inside. In the crate was a glass coffin with a female elebrian inside, wearing a military uniform. She opened her eyes as the coffin opened, introduced herself as Hebiza Eskolar, and began to question where she was.

The crew explained she was on the Acreon and about the circumstances of the quarantine. Hebiza was somewhat confused by the situation but when the crew assured her they would deliver her to the embassy, she was appeased. She climbed back into the crate and settled in for the remainder of her journey. The crew moved the crate to the Hippocampus for safe keeping.

Continuing their search, they found two more akata in the starboard cargo bay (C3) and used the doorway to bring the creatures in where they could focus fire and protect their flanks and rear. The akata were quickly dealt with. In the cargo bay, the crew found additional cocoon remains. These were collected and added to the collection in the engineering bay.

They quickly searched the crew quarters and when they found the galley, they stopped to give Starcrusher some time to build a high-powered water gun and mix salt water from the supplies in the galley. Starcrusher crit the role to create the weapon, so I increased the damage he would inflict to the akata with it by 1 die type (d8, instead of d6).

In one of the crew quarters (C7a), they found a pair of space goblins who freaked out when the crew broke down their door. Ryder quickly calmed the goblins down and learned they were scavengers who came to the Acreon when they learned about the quarantine. Onboard, the space goblins ran into the akata and were chased into the crew quarters where they barricaded themselves in. They were part of a larger team and when the space goblins learned their ship was not present, they felt abandoned. The crew advised them to stay in the crew quarters while they continued securing the ship.

Checking out the crew storage (C8), Switch stumbled into a jury-rigged laser blast trap and was almost killed. It seemed the crew had left the trap behind for the akata but none had entered the room. Once the trap was secured, they scoured the room for supplies finding some med-patches and a disruption fusion seal (5th). Right about this time, they heard the sound of the Hippocampus disengaging from the Acreon and speeding away. Cypher established comms with the Hippocampus and found someone else was in control. He quickly radioed Absalom Station Air Traffic Control and learned they were the ones who had recalled the shuttle. The crew was aggravated by this turn of events but the air traffic controller insisted this was standard protocol in a quarantine situation. Cypher found this highly dubious.

When the crew breached the bridge, they found themselves surrounded by three akata. The radiation fields from their cocoons overlapped in the center of the room created an area of medium radiation which penetrated Switch and Ryder’s armor. Switch was able to resist the radiation but Ryder succumbed to radiation sickness. The crew made short work of the akata and collected their cocoons, making the bridge safe.

Cypher hacked the ship’s control systems and then bypassed a firewall keeping him away from the secure ship’s logs. Within the logs, they found a message from the captain recounting how they found the Drift Rock during their scouting. On the rock, they found 7 chunks of noqual and brought them onboard. They didn’t realize the rocks were actually cocooned akata and the Acreon’s crew was attacked. They tried to vent the ship but the akata were not affected by the lack of atmosphere so the captain set the Acreon to Drift jump back to Absalom Station while he and the crew retreated to the Drift Rock. He hoped the Stewards would send someone to investigate, someone better equipped to handle the akata.

This concluded our sessions. We had a lot of fun and we are growing more comfortable with the mechanics of a Starfinder game. Next session, the crew plans to space walk to the Drift Rock to hopefully find the lost crew of the Acreon and bring this mission to an end.