Starfinder: The Jade Regent Pt. 06

Rakain was taken aback at how pretty Zai's voice was. "Well...hello there," he said to her.

"Good job, Rak! You broke the god phone!" Hana snickered slightly, standing up. "So, off to put to rest a tortured child?" She snickered.

Zai blushed, coughing quietly. "H-Hi..." She said, again, shyly, her wings mantling with nerves.

"Your voice is lovely, Zai." Xata's eyes shone a bright blue. Zai flipped her wings forward, covering her chest and cheeks slightly as she ducked her head forward.

"Agreed," Nora said with a small laugh. She shifted a little with the toy, fiddling with it in her fingers. "But I somewhat agree with Hana. Lets deal with that ghost then free the Kami?"

"Well look who just suddenly turned on the charm." Sam teased Rakain. "But yes, quite lovely and very suitable for a gift from a goddess." She said casually.

"Also, bitch that I might seem, I'm actually figuring if we hurry we can still ride the high of Zai's voice coming back into making fighting a ghost kid less depressing..." Hana said, biting her lip slightly.

Zai nodded, quietly, then started to lead them towards the other storage room.

"There must be something we ca do to help the Ghost Child," Xata said as they walked along the corridors, frowning as she did so.

"And yeah, we should finish up with the danger of this situation and complete objectives before this devolves into a flirting session and more." Sam agreed.

"Yeah..." Rakain muttered, casting a glance back at the remnants of the shrine as they left the room. "And more..."

As they walked along, Zai looked back over her shoulder, leading them towards the chamber with the attick whisperer, speaking softly. "I came after the corbies did, drawn by the dreams...and...Yoshi..." She paused. "He was not always cruel. Which made the many times he was worse..." She bit her lip. "A-And I was very lonely, so-"

Before she could finish, a rumbling sound caused all to stop - and then the huge bat they had seem before, emerging from the darkness with shocking speed and suddenness rushed forward, making a noise only once it leaped at them with a screech - fury burning in its eyes, a wild hatred for the intruders!

The mobat, having the advantage of surprise, leaped on Sam first, trying to bite the huge woman, clawing at her with its wings, but her armor held it off. For the most part. Armor didn't do as well with the matter that it was a massive man sized bat flying through the air that effectively slammed against her and battered her with her wings. She quickly drew her blade in response, taking a quick slice at the assailant but she was still off balance from the assault, the metal only finding empty air as it swung.

Seeing Sam threatened, Xata's circuits glowed with anger and a menacing hum rose from within her, resonating with the strings of the violin in its case on her back to produce a threatening chorus. The blade of her katana crackled with bright blue energy as she swung it at the creature which snarled and dodged successfully for now. But the android's blade continued to crackle and thrum with energy.

Hana frowned, putting her fingers to her temples, her eyes glowing blue as the bat's eyes glowed as well as she set it's neurons alight. The mobat shook itself, screeched, then and batted at Sam's face with one wing, sending her staggering backwards slightly.

Nora, with one arm still holding the dildo, raised her other and focused her eyes. As her drone took aim and fired on the bat (and managing to leave a nasty burn) a few ports on Nora's false arm opened and suddenly began to emit a loud, high pitched noise that quickly cycled to ranges above Nora's own hearing.

Rakain, now completely out of magic save for a few basic non-offensive spells, opted to take a shot with his corona pistol. The shot went spectacularly wide. Rakain glowered, kicking himself for looking the fool in front of Zai.

"God DAMMIT you're annoying!" Sam growled in frustration as she continued to be baffled by those wings, having them act in a manner that just kept him outside of the reach of her blade. Until the movement and rhythm seemed to just click. As the mobat tried to correct himself, Sam judged the distance and took a pair of quick vertical chops in rapid succession, finding success as the edge met flesh and bone.

The mobat hit the ground with a thump. Ami kicked it as she holstered her pistol, shaking her head. "I think it's dead..." She said, looking at Xata- whose sword continued to crackle and spark with electricity before the energy faded. "Man, both of you are having a bad time with your spells today..." She said, looking rueful.

"We are all alive, that is what matters." Xata was looking at Sam with shining admiration again.

Nora flicked her fake arm, quickly disabling the sound generation.. She winced as a spark flared out from the metal limb, followed by a billow of fowl smelling smoke. "Ooh, Pushed that that a little too far."

Zai knelt down. "This was the priestess pet," she said, seriously as she looked at the corpse. "Maybe it knew?" she suggested.

"Knew what?" Rakain asked, still trying to keep his eyes from wandering over her naked body. It was remarkably hard.

"That or the goddess sent it after us. Probably a salty grumpy thing now," Nora said.

"There is extensive cultural lore about pet-master connections." Xata's eyes turned purple with a certain sadness as she looked at the dead beast, notwithstanding she had been ready to fry it a moment ago.

"When you phrase it like that, I begin to question your sources." Sam noted as she cleaned her blade and leaned back against the wall.

"Or it could be she has a special spell or ability she had to alert it. Some sort of final fuck you if she's killed..." Hana sighed, "So.. shall we continue on?"

Ami nodded her head. "Yeah, we should Hana. Still..." She said, grinning. "One less monster to deal with on the way out." As she spoke, each of them could hear a faint sound - it was a sound of sniffling and crying, unearthly and hollow sounding, echoing from down the corridor. It was...deeply sad, but also more than a bit creepy. Ami bit her lip, then whistled softly - and each of them could take faint heart from the sound, easing the sense of fear the crying produced.

Nora shivered and let a breath out, smiling over to Ami. "Thank you for that."

Hana frowned, cocking her head as she thought. Then, looking away from the sound and back at the others. "So.. anyone mind giving me a minute to try something stupid?" She said, biting her lip.

"Be my guest," Rakain said.

Ami nodded, squeezing Hana's shoulder.

"And sure Hana. Would my drone help a little? Uh...If...the ghost wants to play or something," Nora said, starting to look down at the floor. "...I think it was looking around for the little guy and it's sad now."

Hana nodded to Nora, smiling slightly and took a deep breath, heading for the room with the child ghost, calling out softly, "Hey.. do you want to talk? Or maybe play around a little?" She said hopefully. The mechanic keyed a few buttons so that her drone would go join Hana. Sam took a rest around the corner from her. Close enough to provide assistance if needed.

As Hana stepped into the room, the drone on her shoulder to provide the rest of them a camera view, the room seemed utterly black and nearly empty...but then a skull floated from behind some crates, with the tiny cape around it. It moved forward, eyes glowing with a pale yellow light - the sniffling and crying sound becoming less pronounced. Hana felt cold fear trickle along her spine - but she gritted her teeth and ignored it.

The small attic whisperer looked up at her, cocking its head, then lifted a single bony arm, brushing aside the cape, revealing it actually had a spindly bony body underneath the cape. It waved one hand with a faint creak of bone, then made grasping motions at her shoulder, hopping up and down - it was only two feet tall, after all.

Hana bent down, pulling the drone off her shoulder, handing it to the 'child.' "Hey there kiddo. You feeling kind of bad, hun? Anything I can do to help you out?" She said, reaching out very slowly to try and pet it's head.

The drone made a quiet chirrup. The small whisperer ducked its head forward, then turned and ran off, rushing around the corner with a faint series of clicks as it rushed away. Soon, it was hidden behind the crates - unaware that the rest of the party could see the attic whisperer had put it down and was starting to pet the small ferret-like drone on the head, making soft clicking noises, bones creaking softly.

Hana moved to the door, "So.. good news is as long as you're willing to lend the drone to it for a couple hours, it can pass on without us needing to.. you know, kick it's ass.."

Ami looked at Nora. "It's your drone..." she said, her voice soft.

Xata's eyes were just dark with sadness as she watched the little spirit through the camera feed.

Nora blinked and glanced to Ami, "You say that like I'd say no," She mumbled lightly, giving her friend a light nudge. Nora nodded, "I'm more than happy too Hana. I know the little bot isn't shy about fun."

She shifted and keyed a few buttons so the little animal ferret brain she had programmed would take over more fully on the drone's end.

"How long do you suppose he was alone?" Xata asked aloud.

Ami sighed. "Well..." She smiled. "That's much nicer than shooting it a bunch..." She said, quietly, grinning wryly. "Shall we head down to the third level?" She asked, then looked at Xata. "I...dunno..." she admitted.

Zai blushed. "It was here when I arrived..." she said, quietly.

"Far too long. And.. that's ideally. Assuming that the corbies and the Tengu weren't taunting it.." Hana said as she walked out of the room, her hands sliding into her pocket. She breathed in, then set a small, fixed smile on her face and nodded to Ami, "Yeah, let's go."

"I need a shower," Rakain muttered under his breath.

Xata's eyes were dark still. "If you all hadn't found me," she said quietly. "I would have been like that." She shook herself and then banished the mood as if it had never been. "Yes. Adventure Time!"

###

As they started down the stairs into the next level, Zaiobe said: "This area is the dungeon and the kami power source..." she said. "I think you've cleared out most of the corbies, so, there won't be much down here to be a-"

"MOTHERLESS SONS OF FUCKING BITCHES!" A echoing female voice rang down the corridor as they came into the lowest level of the asteroidal base. The air was cold enough that all of them were shivering, and it was clear that this part of the base was the oldest and worst maintained. They had to use flashlights to see at all...

But that voice wasn't the only sound here. There was also a series of womps and whumps and thumps, ringing out again and again, as if something was smashing into a set of bars.

"If you don't LET me out of this FUCKING CAGE, I will..." The woman who was shouting from downt he corridor trailed off. "Fuck. I don't know..."

"So.. hoping that's the kami?" Hana said, looking at the others hopefully, raising an eyebrow.

Ami started. "Oh!" She said, sounding startled. "I think it might actually be Brash's old owners! Remember them?" She asked - and Brash had mentioned his old master and fellow adventurers had gone to the Brinceice Asteroid to explore it and...never came back.

"Huh," Nora said. "So they got captured. Still sounded like jerkasses."

"Oh right..." Hana grumbled slightly. "Well.. guess we should probably free them.."

"Yeah, the owners who ditched the little guy," Rakain grunted. "Swell people."

Xata felt cold at that prospect, remembering what BRash had revealed about them.

"Well, they should be glad they weren't eaten." Sam said in a neutral tone.

Ami shrugged and walked forward. As they came to the cells, they found three rather miserable looking people. The first was a half-orc, who was lounging against the far wall of the cell, his eyes closed, his head resting against the ice wall. The second was a slender, waifish looking human woman who was trying to distract herself by reading a large, paper tome.

The third, though, was a woman with fierce blond hair, pale skin and bright blue eyes, a look that was extremely rare in the Pact Worlds. She held a glowing blade made of crackling energy, which hummed and crackled as she swung it against the metal bars with a grunt. The bars shuddered, but did not give. "FUCKING DAMN IT!" She snarled - and the party realized that the three prisoners couldn't see them, due to the darkness of the corridor combined with the brightness of the cell they were lounged in.

Sam just gave an expectant look to Hana.

Hana sighed, walking over to the cage, "So.. looks like things went well for you guys." She smiled, "We came here from that abandoned station. Anything you want to ask about?"

"Or anyone?" Xata added, walking up behind her. She looked Quite Fierce.

Each of the prisoners froze as Hana and Xata stepped forward. The blond woman blinked, then dropped her blade - it shrank into a sphere of golden light that flew up to circle around her wrist, like a glowing firefly. "Oh thank the Linorn!" she said, grinning. "Rescue! You said no one would come, Thursk!"

The orc opened one eye, then grinned. Then he frowned slightly. "The only thing I want to ask about is how we get out - do you have the key?"

"The better question is... do we have the motivation?" Xata asked. She was fairly sure she was being quiet cutting. She narrowed her eyes as she looked at the prisoners, clearly trying to match them against Brash's description. That description, though, had been quite vague: he ha described his master, the 'nice girl' and 'beardy'.

And, well, the half-orc DID have a beard. A big, bushy black one.

"So.. literally NOTHING else comes to ANY of your minds you want to know about?" Hana said, frowning, her hand on her hip.

The blond girl grabbed the bars, blinking. "What!?" She asked. "You're just going to leave us here?"

The girl with the book hunched forward, looking guilty, but she didn't respond.

The bearded half-orc blinked. "Wait..." he said. "You...didn't..." he paused, looking confused.

Hana sighed, "We'll see what we can do." She grumbled slightly, "Any idea who has the key?" She looked to the others in her group, "Did we find a key on Yoshi's body?"

Nora carefully stuffed the dildo away into her bags once she realized it was still in her arms.

"Wait." Xata's face was cold with anger, lifting her hand up as Ami held out the key she had picked up. She moved to put it back into her pocket at Xata's word. Xata stepped toward the bars. Her eyes were red and her eyes glowed with rage. "I want an answer to my friend's question. I want to know if you can think of anyone you might have left behind. I want to know if you can motivate us to assist you."

The bearded half-orc frowned. "What did you find? Did that stupid defective little retard survive on that station?" He asked, rolling his eyes. "Listen, do you know how many credits we spent feeding that thing, only to learn it didn't need to eat?" He shook his head. "It didn't carry any spells, didn't have any special powers, fuck, it's breath weapon just caused mild irritation." He spread his arms wide. "And it was so...annoying!"

"That's what I thought," Xata said, her eyes narrowing.

"Welp, I've heard enough," Rakain said turning around to go back down the hallway.

"So, you abused someone with the mind of a child because he wasn't of use to you?" Hana held her hand out to Ami, "Key, please."

Nora snorted aloud and turned to join Rakain and paused, "Wait, you're going to let them out?"

"You fucking asshole!" The blond girl kicked the half-orc in the shin, clearly furious, while Ami frowned, then held out the key to Hana. Sam chuckled as she watched. Xata nodded agreement.

"If we release them, I say they find their own way home. And if that means they're stranded out here like Brash was... so much the better!"

"We free them, we make sure they can get someplace safe, then we leave them. If we do otherwise, we might as well kill them. And if you're going to do that, do it now. If we're killing them, I don't see the point in giving them a fair fight." Hana said, looking at Xata.

Ami smirked. "There...are some fighters in the shuttle bay," she said. "With an ettercap."

"I can kill an ettercap," the girl said, scowling. "After I kill this fucking dickhead!" She kicked the half-orc in the shins. "You said he wanted to stay behind, you asshole!"

"Hey!" The half-orc snapped. "If I knew you were soft in the head too, I'd have left you too, right Glendier?"

The girl with the book was just hanging her head between her thighs - clearly overcome by shame.

"Well now, I wasn't expecting that." Sam said honestly. "I agree with Hana. I'm sadistic, not cruel. And no, I'm not going to let you murder someone else here. No matter how much you feel he desires it."

"It is more than they deserve." Xata's coldness retreated only gradually. "I hope they're thankful for it."

Nora blew out a breath after a few moments. She walked back to Hana and Xata, nodding. "At least two of them care. Only lied too."

Thurcuk snorted. "Glen didn't ask many questions..." he said, sneering slightly. "She might not admit it, but she didn't want a retard for a familiar."

Xata put a hand on her sword hilt, her eyes flashing. Rakain did a half-turn, hand on his gun. Ami put her hand on Xata's shoulder, stopping her from drawing, then reached back and put her palm against Rakain's chest - the lizardmen tensing slightly. "I'm simply saying that if we leave him here we no ship, we're murdering him slowly. I'd prefer to do it quick." Hana looked to the half-orc, "But the vote is we help you get somewhere safe. HOWEVER, don't talk again or we take you unconscious, fight and you WILL die. Are we clear?"

Sam just shrugged, not rising to the comments, and stepped closer to the cage. "Mind if I set the terms if they don't take that?"

"Alternate plan. Let the half-orc challenge one of us for right of passage on the Sunwolf," Xata muttered under her breath. "I am more than willing to volunteer, and I suspect I am not alone."

Nora blew out a breath, "I don't like the guy, but we have to be better than the green hairy dullard. Take a higher road Xata."

The half orc, though, drew his fingers across his mouth, mining zipping it shut - clearly, he was willing to shut up. Hana moved over to unlock the door, pulling it open and turning around, "Our ship has an AI, so don't think you can steal it. We have some more to do, so do whatever you want while we handle it, then we'll see if your ship is still intact. If any of you want to apologize to Brash, you will do so with at least two of us as an escort."

"'Higher road'?" Xata's circuits blazed with fury... but the energy banked as her eyes gradually lightened. "Yes... you're right. I suppose you're right."

Smiling a little the mechanic moved to give Xata a hug. "I understand the rage though. It's alright to be pissed."

Xata hugged her back. "Thank you for keeping me from making a mistake."

Rakain maintained his silence, though his displeasure was clear on his face. Ami looked at him - and only when he met her eyes did his expression soften slightly.

Glend nodded. The blond girl stood tall. "I am Kelda of Rangacorp," she said, seriously. "Street Samurai, third license, Ravenspace Station." She bowed her head. "I owe you my life. I'm valued at fifteen thousand nuyen for an average run, and...so...um..." She coughed. "I'll repay you, through a run or if I can scrape the nuyen together." She turned and followed her friends.