Starfinder: The Jade Regent Pt. 02

"..huh.. I wonder why someone looted the cargo hold, but didn't grab anything up here.." Hana said, frowning slightly as she looked around.

"Rest in peace..." Nora mumbled as she looked over the bridge. She let her drone remain with Ami as she began to carefully move about the room, inching around to look over the consoles.

"If these things come to life I'll eat my spell cache," Rakain said, eyeing the skeletons warily.

"Remember what the goblins said..." Nora said, looking backwards to Rakain as she stepped through the doorway. But as her foot crossed the line of the doorway, three of the skeletons nearest her sat up, with a soft creaking and clattering noise. Their bones were nearly silent as they stood, and eerily turned to face the party...before advancing as the other skeletons started to rise as well!

"Dammit Rakain." Sam snarled.

"You have GOT to be fucking with me!" Rakain yelled.

"..to be fair, if they didn't do it themselves, I was gonna," Hana admitted. Fucking skeletons, ruining her planned practical jokes.

There were six skeletons - three of them five feet away from Nora, advancing with swords drawn. The other three were slowly picking themselves up - it'd be a few seconds before they stood and made themselves a threat. The skeleton on the throne remained seated - not moving despite his fellows rising.

Xata watched the skeletons approaching and standing and nodded, as if in revelation. "This is why."

She began to Sing again even as she was speaking.

Once more Sam rushed forward at the one in the middle of the trio that were advancing, foregoing the cannon she regularly carried in favor of her fists. She put her momentum to work to the power the swing, focusing on putting the armored fist through the skull in front of her. The skeleton shattered into a thousand pieces, the bones flying outwards and filling the air with dust. As the skeleton fell to the ground in a pile of tattered cloth and chunks of bone, a blue-white spirit emerged from it, shooting off into space - the soul, freed to move on to the next life!

Rakain drew his laser pistol and took aim. "Hang tight, Nora!" he yelled. He lined up his sights at a skeleton's head and pulled the trigger. The same moment he did, the skeleton lurched and ducked down mid-step, the laser shot zipping right over it's head. Energy wreathed one of Xata's hands as her Song built. In an entirely different voice from any she'd used before, she said: "Rest, warrior." And leaped forward to lash her hand out at the skeleton that had just evaded Rakain's attack... but it shied away from the touch, successfully evading it. Clearly it wasn't ready to rest just yet.

Nora drew her pistol while the little bot perched on Ami's shoulder carefully opened it's mouth. "Ami, ears." Nora quickly said with an internal count before her little bot fired it's shot in time with Nora's own gunpull. Her little drone was the only that managed to hit! Ami did dutifully cover her ears - but where a fist could crush and pulverize with ease, bullets without flesh to tear and organs to rend had...issues. The bullet chipped a rib, but left the skeleton still standing! Then the two skeletons surrounding Sam both tried to strike her dead with their swords. She lifted her arm, knocking one blade aside with a shower of sparks. The other skeleton managed to slam his sword into her shoulder, causing her to stagger slightly - then stand proudly.

The other three skeltons smoothly pulled out laser pistols of strange designs - and opened fire. The beams of orange-red light filled the air, and smashed into the wall. Ami dove for cover, and the others in the party ducked down. But none of the blasts hit, save for one that reflected off the side of Sam's armor - the immense armored woman being the bulwark of the party.

"And the skeletons have lasers, wonderful!" Rakain snarled, ducking behind one of the computer consoles -- a spray of sparks flying from the laser fire. Hana lifted her hand, another stone flying to her hand, shooting towards one of the skeletons, but it was hard to tell which one as it whizzed harmlessly past them all. But as she was also diving for cover as she fired, it was hard to blame her for not exactly aiming well. The skeletons remained standing in the open -- more focused on putting out streams of laser fire than taking cover.

"I'm going to have a bone to pick with you after this." Sam half grumbled. Sam used the matter that she was a heavily armored target to her advantage. Using the same arm that parried the blade she tried to hammer the undead opponent on that side, though undeath wasn't proving to be slow as it lurched backwards from her swing. For the other she had managed to grab hold of the guard of the blade that solidly stuck her armor, holding the skeleton in place as she reverse her fist and put it through it's center of mass. Once more a skeleton exploded with a haze of blue white light - another spirit flying away!

Xata watched Sam fight with shining admiration.

"Oh, we're doing puns now?" Rakain said. He sighted on another skeleton near Nora and pulled the trigger. The thin laser shot zipped right through two of the skeleton's exposed ribs, missing it completely and doing nothing. "Well I'm going to need a stiff drink after this! Or a good lay!"

Xata engaged Plan Beta, seizing the dueling sword at her hip and leaping at the nearest skeleton. As she struck it she decided to get in her own witticism: "I hope your bones fall apart and clatter to the ground very loudly!"

"You tell 'em Xata!" Rakain yelled.

The sword hummed and she slashed through the skeleton weakneed by Nora's gunshot earlier - and cleaved the skull off the torso, filling the air with blue smoke. As the spirit soared away, they only had three skeletons left - each with their laser pistol. With only a single choice Nora was resigned to take another careful moment aiming and once more fired her pistol. Her little drone barked again and fired as it clung to Ami, managing to land it's shot while Nora missed.

As the bullet sparked off the wall behind the skeletons, the undead creatures remained standing perfectly still, their weapons blazing as they fired back - their lasers sparking as they struck the wall. Nora had to duck, and her little drone scurried under a chair to avoid some of the laser blasts - but the skeletons remained unable to pin down a shot! Being dead did take a toll on one's tactical acumen. Hana focused, pulling out another stone, her hand glowing with blue energy as it flew at the skeleton, managing to fly into it's eye socket and zooming around the inside of it's skull, flying out again, utterly failing to make contact.

"We are only doing puns if you can dust them off." Sam teased as she rushed across the room, vaulting over the obstacles on the bridge to bodycheck one of the living dead, picking the one in the middle once more.

"Oh I think I can rattle them off with the best of them," Rakain said. He lined up a third shot right at a skeleton's head and pulled the trigger. The laser shot struck true, knocking the skeleton's head clean off it's bare spine. It's body crumbled to dust, the skull hitting the side of the room before it too burst into nothing. Another soul released. There was now but a single skeleton left - save for the skeleton in the seat that hadn't twitched, moved, or changed position since the combat had begun!

Xata gauged the distance to the remaining skeleton, did a lightning-quick analysis and started into another Song. This one had intelligible words, and she laid a hand on Nora's drone as she sang it: "I do not understand these puns and they are becoming physically painful. Bring an end to them in a blaze of fire!"

The drone glowed to life and Nora held perfectly still as it opened its mouth...and fired.

And missed.

As the drone's bullets slammed into the wall behind the skeleton, leaving a hole the size of the skeleton's head in the metal, the skeleton lifted its pistol and fired back at Nora's drone - which Nora ducked down to evade!

"Clearly the drone's a fan of puns, Xata." Hana said, snickering as she flung one of her stones, frowning as it landed in the hold behind the skeleton. "Weird, it's almost like I'm not a combat mage." She said, cupping her chin thoughtfully. Then she darted back down as the skeleton returned fire with another blast of laser fire -- burning a smoking hole in the back of the chair Hana was crouched behind.

"You are doing wonderfully, fellow beep-boop," Xata encouraged her helpfully, hoping to cheer her up. Hana gave Xata a thumbs up from behind her chair.

"Alright, my word play is so bad it's messing up the targeting sensors. I'll stop." Sam chuckled out as she shifted over to the remaining undead and put it into an uppercut- scattering it's bones into that corner of the room. As the bones hit the ground and the soul whisked into the afterlife and the care of Pharasma -- the goddess of the dead -- Sam turned to face the rest of the group, her helmet's faceplate whirring back so she could speak more clearly. "So, was their leader spared having their souls trapped or is he playing dead?"

Ami peeked out of from behind cover. "I...don't...know, Sam..." she said, slowly. "Everyone else okay?" she asked, nervously as she rubbed her ears. The number of gunshots and laser blasts had left them ringing. The skeleton on the throne...continued to sit there, head ducked forward.

Rakain leveled his pistol at the skeleton on the throne. "Okay, Bone Daddy, I know you can hear me!"

Xata stepped over to Hana and patted her shoulder -- her skin lightening from chocolate brown to milky coffee. "You did very good, my good...boop!"

Hana smiled at Xata, "No, I sucked ass, but thanks for the words of encouragement." She said cheerfully. The frowned, looking at the skeleton on the throne, reaching her hand out towards it but then paused, clearly hesitant. Then she murmured a soft spell under her breath, magic flowing around her fingertips. Xata smiled back at her. Her circuits glowed in satisfaction.

"They're at rest. That's what matters. And I think he went to rest a long time ago, Rakain." She indicated the captain, whom she nevertheless looked at with fascination. Sam nodded and started looking around at the consoles, checking to see if one was still functional. Nora slowly relaxed and let out a breath after a moment. She slid past Sam after a moment, patting her shoulder in passing before bending to scoop up one of the pistols to look over. She blinked, then checked the pistol again, her eyebrows shooting up under the dark fringe of her bangs.

"Welp, guess I need to learn to appreciate the taste of metal then," Rakain grumbled, tapping his spell cache choker.

Xara looked over at Sam and said: "These spirits owe you a debt of gratitude, Sam. You were magnificent." There was more than just professional admiration in her tone, but she looked away quickly. She too was looking for a working computer.

The glow Hana had created flowed from her fingertips and surrounded the skeletons' head. Its head jerked up as if it was suddenly roused. It sprang to its feet, hand on the hilt of its sword. It spoke and none of them recognized the language. It was something fast and flowing, and yet the voice that spoke was deeply masculine and very angry. It stormed forward to one of the consoles. It slammed its fist down onto the wrecked metal, then pointed at a chair that was now vacant. The skeleton - his voice echoing as if he was calling up a deep well, boomed out a command...

A command to someone not there.

The skeleton threw out his hand towards the bride and shouted something in that language that they didn't know.

Then he threw himself to the side, as if the whole bridge had canted. He skidded along the floor, then grabbed onto the console, dragging himself to his feet. He ranted at the empty windscreen - then flung himself backwards into the throne with a clatter of bones.

There...he settled back into his position of repose.

Rakain glowered at the skeleton, his pistol still trained on the pile of bones. "Ladies, come on, can I shoot it now?"

"He acts out the attack that killed them." Xata's voice was sad. "Perhaps he's trapped here after all."

Hana blinked, "So.. anyone actually get any of that?" She said in confusion. "Seems like it was some kind of reenactment of it's death..."

Ami nodded. "Looked kinda like that dwarf guy, who played that spaceship captain, when they just shake the camera instead of actually shake the set?" she asked.

Sam, who had been about to thank Xata for her words, was mostly speechless at what she has just witnessed, though she had instinctively slammed her helmet shut at the sudden movement of the skeleton. "I- uh, don't do languages." She asked, then thought to check her mini-tablet. It might have something on a translator.

"Terrible film technique," Rakain grumbled, moving next to Ami. His tail caressed her back -- something that Ami seemed to find calming. Xata accessed her database's memory of the show Princess Ami mentioned and shuddered.

"Let us not speak of that." She mused: "If there is any mind left in him... I think I have a Song that could reach beyond language."

Hana, though, seemed to have realized something. She frowned, "Hey.. Ami, did you understand what he said?" She asked, looking at Ami. Ami stepped away from Rakain, blinking a few times. Behind her, Nora seemed caught up in looking around the bridge to see how it functioned after the display of bones being thrown about. Ami shook her head.

"No, I didn't recognize what he said. They...seemed kind of familiar..." She looked at Xata. "Are you sure that's safe? Connecting your brain to an undead space captain?"

Hana frowned, "Well, I'm pretty sure from all the hentai I've seen, he was speaking Tian.."

"No," Xata shrugged in reply to Ami. But her former uncertainties were nowhere to be seen. "I think I need to try nevertheless."

Ami put her fingers to her temples, her eyes closing as she circled her fingers around and around and around and around. "How is it that the Tian Empire, an empire that we've only heard rumors of...managed to get its porn in your hard drive?" She asked.

"You really need to ask?" Rakain said, arching a spiky eyebrow at Ami.

The faceless slotted plate on the front of Sam's helmet turned to Hana and just stared. "And why I am not surprised it would be porn that you recognized a mythical language from?"

"Let's be real, porn is universal," Hana said, looking quite smug. "If one thing is going to be exporter out of an empire, porn is the most logical thing. It requires no context, language doesn't matter, and is of interest to every single race we've run into so far."

Ami opened her mouth, then closed it. "That's...almost too logical..." She said, snickering.

Xata ignored the discussion of porn. She was seized with the notion of making contact. She began to Sing again as the friends chatted around her, and reached out to touch the dead captain's skull. But then she paused and glanced at the others -- just to check.

"Well, try the song. If he raises up and starts trouble, I'll put him down in his place," Sam said.

"Seconded," Rakain said, leveling his pistol at the skeleton.

"Music is the only other genre nearly as universal and that still often requires similar language and often cultural understanding to fully appreciate. Of course, to be fair, so does good porn.." She grinned.

Xata started to sing once more, her eyes flickering. Then, after a few moments of singing, her song died in her throat. Her eyes glowed a bright blue and then she spun over, glaring at the rest of the group.

"Why...have you...disturbed...my sleep..." she hissed, her voice echoing deep in her throat, her body standing with an almost aggressive, broad shouldered stance.

Hana frowned, tensing slightly, "Clearly your rest is uneasy. We have come to discover a connection between you and this girl," She pointed to Ami, "And now to fully put you to rest."

Nora jerked up from the console she was working at with a crystal -- a slightly scorched data-crystal to be specific - in hand. It flew up and she fumbled to catch it before gaping in surprise at Xata.

Xata tensed, looking at Ami - who stood nervously. "Kidnappers!" The skeleton roared through her. "You give her back!"

And with that Xata staggered backwards, her eyes no longer glowing as the skeleton surged to his feet, sword in hand. He was not moving as if he lived anymore. Rather, he lived like a dead thing - jerking and unnatural. And straight towards Hana and Ami!

Coming back to herself, Xata clutched her head and cried out hoarsely: "We cannot reason with him, his consciousness is too far gone!" And she grabbed at her sword.

"Works for me!" Rakain roared, swinging his pistol around -- trying to draw a bead on the skeleton as it thundered forward. "Bring it!"

The creature charged forward and slashed - but before the blade slammed at Hana, Ami sprang forward, spreading her arms wide. The blade stopped - and the monster grabbed Ami and threw her aside. SHe staggered and fell over the throne, crashing to the ground. It seemed his desire to protect his ward didn't exactly cover 'bruises.' He lifted his sword again! But as he did so, Nora's drone turned from it's spot on the ground and took aim in time with Nora herself. Both of them took only a few seconds to aim before firing in sync once more. The drone's bullet hit the armor and bounced away with a loud spark - the skeleton's supernatural resilience to gunfire telling. But the other bullet hit its temple and caused its head to jerk to the side. It staggered, the blade missing Hana by an inch, leaving a single clump of her hair on the ground!

Rakain saw red at the sight of the blade so close to his friend's skull. He lined up a shot with his laser pistol, aiming right for the thing's head. "Get away from her! he roared, firing the shot. The laser bolt struck true right in the center of the skeleton's ribcage, sending a spiderweb of cracks through the bones and make it stagger backwards. Hana put her hand on the patch of hair that was now a bit shorter than the rest. "HEY! That shit takes forever to grow back!" Hana said irritably, stepping back, one of the stones flying from her pouch and slamming into the skeleton's head as she stuck out her tongue, "Attack somebody else, you jerk!"

The skeleton staggered backwards under the combined assault - but he was tougher, his armor keeping him intact far more than the other skeletons! As the fighting raged on, and particularly as she saw Hana's near-miss, Xata was setting her sword aside and digging out something from a case slung across her back. It proved to be a violin, on which she now screeched out a swift, discordant cadence of fury. The violin bow surged with power as she leaped and swung it at the skeleton... but her blow was wild, her aim still affected by the hangover of her failed telepathic connection. The blow whistled past him and the energy dissipated.

Sam pushed herself into the space created by Hana when the android backed away, ducking under the wild swing of his blade as she effectively blocked the path between the two. Shifting her weight and regaining her footing from the dodge she threw a hard left into the body of the skeleton.

Her fist slammed into the armor and she felt it give way a bit under the blow but it wasn't enough to break whatever was holding this thing together. The skeleton staggered backwards as Hana found Sam between her and it. The skeleton growled - slashing at Sam. Sam ducked low and a loud shing sounded as the blade cut throught the wall as if it were air. A chunk of wall paneling crashed to the ground with a resounding CLANG.