Port Newton, Northern Ridge, Askarian | 233d/3008AD | Von Hapsburg System
Askarian Shores
Snow (Low visibility. Actions toward distant objects incur a small penalty based on distance)
Freezing Wind (-1 to all actions when exposed)
"You have a mortar? Awesome, but use it!"
You hear a shudder through the plane's already-damaged hull. The mortar seems to have fired. You look through a window, wheezing in the low atmosphere.
[3] The boat is now missing its entire front half. Tilted slightly, it is falling into the water as fast as the low gravity pulls it in. You spot a little motion in the windows, suggesting that the lifeboats might be out soon. You may have a little explaining to do if the fisherman confronts you afterwards, but hopefully that assassin is dead.
[3] The plane veers to a rough landing over the water. The engineer used his suit lights to signal his position when he found that he wasn't being abandoned, so the plane is able to touch down fairly close. The engineer slowly swims toward the plane, while pilot flushes oxygen through the engines several times to dry out the engines.
You look back at the sinking ship through the windows as the engineer nears the plane. There is a lifeboat heading toward your plane, with three people aboard, one lying down on the floor of the dinghy. You wonder if you should let them approach, or tell the pilot to get the hell out of here. You could, if you're too suspicious, just shoot the boaters with one of the guns from the plane's storage closet.
...
Habitat Ship Gamma, Askarian Orbit | 233d/3008AD | Von Hapsburg System
Urban Station
City Manners (-1 to first impressions)
"Beep boop, I am nothing more than a cleaning bot, doing my business. Nothing to see here~"
Float over to the two humans standing in the corner.
"Greetings, my name is Slvia the 4th! I could not help but over here your conversation, which has filled me with wonder. Might I hear more about this strange signal? I could help you, we Zumbar have had contact with less than friendly, highly advanced race in the past and my race has been wondering the stars ever since. Maybe another of my race has stumbled upon this before and stored info on them in our Central Memory Bank."
"You have experience with hostile nations? Historians keep telling us the Zumbar archives are unreliable, but I have a bit of a soft spot for you guys. I've been to your system before on a trip once, analyzing the fragments of your former homeworld for clues as to what caused it. We found a lot of transmuted atoms inside S-class fragments, which suggests heavy use of high-energy weapons along a certain period. My colleagues hypothesized that the Zumbar fought each other a lot, but there's no historical case for that.""You know these people?""Of course. They're commonly used as an example of an unreliable class I source in xenohistory courses. I think it's a load of political BS to keep from acknowledging that there are serious dangers out there we might not know about.""I see you are convinced that there are high-tech aliens out there.""Well, yeah. We've only analyzed a miniscule fraction of the stars in the galaxy. There is no way we can be sure there's nothing out there lurking for us.""All the other scientists say they'd be easy to detect if they exist.""But think about it, a race that old with that level of experience is probably going to be aware of that. Who knows, maybe we don't see them because they've found a way to colonize the rift plane or something.""Rift plane?""Ugh, theoretical stuff. If you don't have a doctorate in hyperspace physics, you won't understand a word of what I'd tell you."The man remembers that you asked him a question.
"Oh, you want to know more about the signal? Well we've detected molecular excitations in the interstellar medium, all of which are characteristic of antimatter reactions. While our civilizations use antimatter to catalyze fusion for propulsion, the magnitude of these signals indicates that a ship--a very large one, in fact--was using a drive that ran on primarily matter-antimatter reactions. That, or maybe some kind of antimatter star plowed through the galaxy. Physicists aren't sure what to make of it. I propose we use a mobile hypergate to travel to the projected destination of the vessel, and see if there's anything left for us. Of course, I don't have the funds to make that happen, but I'm hoping that SpaceInc would be willing to fund it, while we're here."...
Yeah, time to go. Bail out and head back to base.
[6/5] You enter the airlock and start letting out air. With a broken lock, however, the door flies open and causes the extremely dense atmosphere to rush out of the airlock. Normally, airlock depressurization is fairly tame, and a person in a spacesuit won't so much as get launched as they would be gently pushed out. But this atmosphere is much denser, with a higher pressure. You get shot out of the cargo section, launched across the park, and fly for long enough to notice Coriolis effects from the station's rotation [4] before landing in a tree that absorbs most of the impact. Your suit absorbs the rest. Phew!
Sadly you weren't able to hold on to the mortar thing, although it got shot out with you. You saw it land somewhere on the roof of a building (it happened to fly further out and into the city). You descend from the tree and find yourself next to 3rd Avenue, between 8th and 12th street. The building the mortar landed on is somewhere on the intersection between 5th ave, and 20th street. You think, at least. The way you found the address as by overlaying the city navigation map onto your visor, and trying to remember the trajectory of the item.
You spot police heading back to the shuttle. Nobody seems to have spotted you flying, but the shuttle itself... is now on fire.
...
The Jolly Roger, Franz| 238d/3008AD | Von Hapsburg System
Burgundy Lobby
Heavy Chatter (-1 Intellect, +2 Stealth)
Just when I needed a bigger hole for the others, someone comes around with a hammer I can do it with.
"Poke" the crewman with my spear.
[6/6] You launch yourself through the gap in the hull. The poor crewman doesn't even see you coming before you make contact.
No initiative roll due to successfully entering the breach.[6] vs (2) Your spear goes right through the crewman's suit and torso. The suit depressurizes, spraying out little bits of crystallized fluid as it automatically tries to seal the gap. The crewman passes out, and you push him away (he settles against the wall) while taking the power hammer. It is battery-operated, but should last long enough not only to enlarge the gap, but to use it against another enemy as a brutally effective melee weapon. If you get into range, of course.
[4] You use the hammer to enlarge the breach, allowing Alice to squeeze through, Charlie to stumble in and start spinning forward, and Steve to wander inside curiously.
Steve: Why do I have an assault rifle in my inventory?
Alice starts moving into the hall, bashing open the next door with its elbow. Air rushes out, causing enemies in the next room to loose balance and fall toward the door. [Resist knockdown-2+3 (from weight)] You are slightly pushed back, but the retro thrusters on your suit allows you to stay in position.
The next room consists of a tall cylindrical chamber with ladders on the walls laid out in a grid pattern. There are three enemy combatants, one wearing a red powersuit with exposed thrusters and hydraulics (he hasn't been knocked down, and is the most immediate threat), while the other two have lost their grips and are flying toward the door you are looking through. All three are armed with shotguns.
In the center of the room is a transparent cylinder with a stream of plasma in the center, flashing brightly as the current through it fluctuates. A plasma conduit, used to supply power to the ship's energy weapons. 'downstairs' should be a maintenance passage leading to the weapon itself, while 'upstairs' should lead you to the weapon reactor eventually. Both are accessible through circular hatches about a meter across.