Dead Suns, Session 36

Watch the game session on YouTube at https://youtu.be/kTASmAJtoyM.

Corpse Fleet forces stormed the chokepoint through which the PCs had forced them to attack. Ryder, Drez, and Switch (accompanied by the two cyber-zombies) waited with tense anticipation to do everything they could to hold the line. The first wave consisted of a pair of bone trooper commandoes driving four baykok forward into the fray. The undead warriors wielded weapons crafted from the bones of their fallen foes and wasted no time against the PCs. The battle begins at the 2-minute mark in the video.

Ryder ordered one of the cyber-zombies to rush the baykoks along the southern platform. The skeletal baykok grew long, bony claws and slashed the cyber-zombie as it passed but the cyber-zombie was merely a distraction. Ryder jumped out and zeroed in on the baykok and blasted it into smithereens. Bones and necromantic ichor clattered down into the abyss below. Drez charged at the second baykok on the southern platform and tried to bullrush it over the edge. The baykok parried the attack, spun Drez around, and pushed the vesk soldier back. Switch moved forward along the southern platform and met the first bone trooper commando in melee combat as it zoomed across the gap with jumps jets. They traded vicious blows, Switch’s blade versus the commando’s charged gauntlet. The second bone trooper commando backed up from Drez (and avoided his attacks) and fired his rifle at the soldier.

On the northern platform, the third baykok charged the second cyber-zombie controlled by the PCs and slashed through it with his skeletal claws. Chunks of gore and necrograft components were torn free. The cyber-zombie survived the attack but only just barely. The battle continued unabated until finally, the stalwart PCs destroyed the attackers. They tended to their wounds and waited for the next wave.

Meanwhile… Nuil, Cypher, and Wesley successfully acquired control of the Stellar Degenerator. As the ship’s sensors came online they quickly realized the Gate of Twelve Sun’s defense systems had finally failed and the remainder of the Corpse Fleet vessels were closing on the Stellar Degenerator.

The various Corpse Fleet ships took evasive action and Cypher began maneuvering the ship so Nuil could make the most of the single, devastating weapon possessed by the Stellar Degenerator (represented by the Raza in the pic). She unleashed the full firepower of the ship and it tore through the side of the Blackwind Annihilator. The Corpse Fleet flagship immediately began to list while the rest of the enemy vessels opened fire. The smaller fighters charged in while the gunships opened fire. Their weapons store into the shields of the Stellar Degenerator but the ship’s defenses held true.

Back inside the Stellar Degenerator, the PCs holding the line found their rest had come to an end. A second wave of baykok attacked, this time led by a bone trooper commando, a corpsefolk marine and accompanied by a Denizen of Leng. The weary combatants threw themselves at the Corpse Fleet soldiers and wondered if they could hold out long enough for their allies to complete their task.

Cypher rammed two of the gunships (dropping the Stellar Degenerator’s shields to 40%). Wesley screamed, “I can fix this!” He then pulled the mighty ship around and lined up with the Blackwind Annihilator. Nuil fired the main gun again and the beam tore through the enemy vessel. It exploded and wreckage scattered across the system. The Blackwind Annihilator was gone!

Drez and Switch formed a living defensive wall along the southern platform. Their foes momentarily were distracted from their goal and they threw themselves at the Starfinders. The Denizen of Leng reached into Drez’s mind and unlocked the vesk’s deepest and darkest fears. Drez fought off the mental attack but was shaken by the experience. Ryder had been watching the attackers closely and he identified a weakness in the corpsefolk marine’s armor. He carefully aimed, fired, and hit the weak spot in the marine’s armor. The corpsefolk collapsed in agony and fell off the balcony. The soldiers turned

Wesley worked furiously to restore the heavily damaged shields. Nuil realized the remaining Corpse Fleet vessels were going to ram them again to bring down the Stellar Degenerator so she abandoned the ship’s weapon system and rushed to further bolster the shields alongside Wesley. Cypher performed a flip and burn with the Stellar Degenerator and brought the ship around to face the remaining enemy ships.

The pair of soldiers were proving too much of a barrier to forward progress. The remaining baykok opened fire on Drez and Switch. They missed Drez but their aim was true on Switch. The android soldier spun his bone blade around and deflected the incoming projectiles. Drez used the opening to charge the Denizen of Leng and wailed on him with his kishaxe. Switch followed his ally and slashed through his target with his ultrathin longsword necroblade. Startled, the Denizen of Leng tried to back away and both warriors cut him down. Although two baykoks remained, the battle was won by the Starfinders and they fled.

The Corpse Fleet technicians managed to reclaim their comm channels and Admiral Serovox came across the open line.

“Starfinders, I am sure you can hear me now. You’ve done… well. I commend your efforts in taking over the Stellar Degenerator and I lament the loss of the Blackwind Annihilator. I am in need of a new flagship and I think this one will serve quite well.” Then he commented to someone the Starfinders could not see, “Complete the ritual. Take control of the Stellar Degenerator.”

A strange humming and chanting filled the starship. Shadows begin to lengthen and darken. Spectral hands appear and disappeared like souls reached out from the walls around them. The ship shook as necromantic energy surged through the craft. Through Admiral Serovox, the Corpse Fleet stole control of the Stellar Degenerator from the Starfinders.

END OF SESSION