"I was using that as an example of how technomages use their abilities for something like this Le and how it could be helpful for what we're trying to do here. It is an ability unique to technomages. We're not going to be using batteries." She stated flatly. "We only need the same theory, mixed with the theories he'd be using, to fashion a device to connect to the cube to transfer energy from it to the ship."

"Hm... I thought I remembered a report stating the cube had no energy of itself. I thought the plan was to charge it... The orb being a psychic amplifier of sorts might make it possible if that is required, from batteries we can procure. It seemed not unlike the void shards I carry though apparently far more powerful for one who is attuned such as our extradimensional friend," he gestured to Alyn with a nod of his head.

He gave a resigned shrug, "It wouldn't be the first time I misread or misremembered something..."

"You are correct, I misspoke my words in trying to think about this. The theory however is still the exact same." She stated matter of factly. "I believe the reason I am attuned to the object is because I am psychic, magic, and technological aligned. Anyway, me and Ravonoss should be able to fashion something." She said with a confident nod.

Alyn considered.

"I unfortunately don't fully understand how I tapped into the purple thingy's power. It definitely resonated with my magic and worked with its flow, rather than against it." he said.

"But honestly there's just so much I don't know or understand yet."

Revonoss looks at the alien and with a smile says.

"I could vivisect you. Who knows what we learn that way."

He chuckles and turns to Phelar

"This new sonic screwdriver might be a great help there. Unlocking this powersource might be a great help to us all."

Alyn grinned.

"You can barely handle me now, as I am. Do you really wanna go poking around inside my head? I mean even the medical officer won't touch my head with a ten foot probe. Or mind probe for that matter." he replied with a mirthful chuckle.

"I guess in the meantime I'll try to fiddle with the purple thingy. I don't seem to resonate as closely with the other parts as I do with this one, oddly enough. Although I suppose I haven't given the other bits much of a chance to get to know me. Maybe I should coo and sing to them or something. Or try yoga with them."

"Attaching the items together might produce a result," Sol offered, "but I'm reluctant to try that in case we can't then separate them again."

"I THINK we can do that, and it makes sense, but there's clearly some sort of Divine power at work here."

"If these... relics... resonate with each other, how would we know? We can't seem to detect that."

"In any case, how would we apply it to our current situation?"

LeAuil didn't like to disagree but perhaps he could explain why he thought the way he did and others could help him attain clarity, "The orb magnified a psychic communication... If it can amplify other types of psychic abilities it might be able to create devastating weapons or significant Shields.

Even if it is limited to augmenting what we've seen, perhaps there are abilities that can be augmented by the other pieces to create those effects. If one of them can augment divining type abilities that may be our key to the next step of this puzzle.

There are too many angles- I can't get a fix on how I can't look at the situation to isolate how something might be able to be done to move forward... It's like being told that somewhere in an empty room is a dust mote that may or may not be hidden by one or multiple means, may or may not be moving and a puzzle of unknown numbers of pieces and unknown image is scattered throughout the room and that might help finding the mote.

To this end I suggest we put these together if we can, at least that might suggest if there are more or perhaps initialize their function. They certainly aren't doing anything for us for most of our journey so far in their independent states."

While the debate continues, the Starhawk reaches the entry point for The Drift, comes to a complete halt before engaging the Drift Engine, and transitions into The Drift.

There are no Drift beacons this far out into The Vast and the course set for Phelar's coordinates make it a 13 day journey.

Once into The Drift, normal drive engines kick in and you are once again mesmerized by the strange and exotic and dangerous view of The Drift through the portholes. Interrupting the gray formlessness of The Drift are the pieces and pockets of the Outer Planes... or whatever they are being called these days.

Swirls of dancing rocks, abrupt rivers of lava, erupting clouds of steam, sinuous areas of shadow and light... lightning bolts and windless-driven ice storms, towering dervishes of scouring sand... and then nothingness until the next piece is encountered.

It's on the second day that you come upon the battle scene. At least one ship was attacked and destroyed, littering the nearby space with dead bodies and debris.

Sensors indicate it was probably a 100-ton Hesper Hauler. It doesn't take a genius to see that the damage was inflicted by Veskarium super-lasers.

During that travel time Revonoss locks himself in the workshop with the first cube trying to figure out how to draw power from the device. He will even use the sonic screwdriver to see if it allows him to draw conduits onto the device.

When coming upon the battle scene he mans the scanners to get solid readings. Like how old is this site and might the enemy be still nearby. If it seems safe he suggest they go and take a look. For survivors if it was recent. For useful salvage when its long ago.

While the sonic screwdriver doesn't let him create new electron pathways, it does illuminate ones that are already there!

He soon realizes that there are layers upon layers of such pathways,  though there's no way to tell how deep down into the cube they go. They are built upon some sort of fractal pattern that is clearly intended to keep the power locked up inside until the proper key is used.

At first, it seems as if the energy source might be a zero-point module at the very core, but then he doesn't think even that would be enough energy to do what they think it can do.


The sensor alert to the battle redirects Revonoss's attention. Sensors show that there are only wreckage from a single Hesper Hauler--apparently the Veskarium ship just opened fire on it for no reason--it never stood a chance. Maybe the Vesk were just having target practice.

The attack was fairly recent, about 2 days ago.

Relaying the scan results to the captain he speaks up.

"There might be people that have survived in there. And the enemy might still be close. Scanning for life signs now. Should we try to lay low or approach and see whats left?"

He starts the scan for life signs in the area hoping there where at least some survivors but he had little hope.

"Of course we look for survivors," Captain Zenith replies, "but we'll be prepared to run as fast as we can if the Vesk are still here."

"Somehow, though, I don't think we'll find them. We've speculated that they are using a Starfinder to track us, but having arrived here ahead of us almost screams precognition. And, of course, we weren't here yet anyway. I think it more likely that their captain got impatient and tried to anticipate where we were going and how we'd get there. Almost worked."

"And there's no way they could have mistaken the Hesper Hauler for us."

"How about it, Phelar? This prompt any ideas in your head?"

The sensors do not register any life signs amid the wreckage. Most of the wreckage is also in smaller pieces than one would expect, though it was clearly a lopsided battle.

Sabin spent the last few days in morose silence. Not having been able to help the Azuron had left her feeling like she had failed somehow. 'You can't help everyone,' she reminded herself, though it still nagged at her that they had to leave them behind without any real solution.

Until they had reached the debris, she had thus far said very little. The others seemed to have puzzled out certain aspects of the cubes, so she let them be. It was nice to see them making progress, even if it saddened her to see the destruction that the Vesk had left behind. She left a long exasperated sigh when the sensors came up with no life signs across the wreckage, and then veered towards the galley.

"And that is why the Vesk are considered the Scourge of the Galaxy," Sol says with a shake of his head. "Such a waste."

"You may have nailed it, Captain. Our course has been very irregular... hard to predict, especially since we don't know where we're going."

He casts a glance at Phelar speculatively.

"We often call for guidance from our divinities but we don't always acknowledge it when we get it. If Triune is providing that guidance for Phelar, it does not seem unreasonable to me that these coordinate trails are intentionally taking us on a circuitous route in order to avoid the Vesk."

"However, the Vesk have free will, too, and thus this near encounter. We may have an edge but it is not an absolute protection. Just something to keep in mind."

Alyn considered.

"I'd like to think that my appearance into your guys' epic quest, or whatever this is we're doing, also has something to do with us avoiding this danger." he said.

"They may have free will, but YOU guys have the one thing they don't: The Alyn Factor!" he added with a grin.

One can suddenly hear Sabin's merry laugh echoing out of the galley; perhaps it was because she had reach for an ale, or ailing dejectedly; a factor that was certainly interesting, but perhaps not that funny -- at least to Alyn -- though Sabin seemed rather amused.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:26, Sun 26 Feb 2023.

"I'll get the shuttle ready for a quick run then. I think the ship could hold near the biggest mass while the away team seeks.  Any of you psychics can sense life? The scanners show no survivors."

With the captains permission Revonoss will ready the shuttle and send his drone out of the airlock to hunt for points of interest.

LeAuil nodded, "I can passively track minds if I am close enough. Maybe we can interface these artifacts and some of our skills to make a team effort of expanding the range to something useful to a search of this scale and even include computer data storage in our search."

He recognized the signs of feeling like you let people down from his own life and knew one needed time to process, but sometimes you needed to hear the words or mind of someone else to remind you of closure, "Sabin, we are not the specialists the Azuron need. We got help from them coming down the line. They are safe.

We might be in a different way though... do you have enough data on the Vesk to suggest how long they might wait around to ambush support or rescue operations in this area? Their patrons may well aid them in a hunt and this is a good way to get SOMEONE from the allied races to stop."

Looking over the battle wreckage for several moments, Phelar walks up to the viewscreen and just stairs out of it. Looking out it, almost blankly this is something the original crew had scene in her before when she had her vision of the Vesk. Then she suddenly says a single word in a voice that's distant, eerie, her's and yet not. "...water..." And she cocks her head to one side.

Sabin had returned from the galley with a bottle of water in hand. She looked at Phelar askance, her eyebrows knit at her request for water, but she offered her bottle to her. She turned to consider Le’Auil’s words, as she waited for Phelar to take the bottle. “Good question,” she said as she considered the information she had read and the briefings she had had.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:48, Sat 04 Mar 2023.

This doesn't strike Sabin as any normal ambush tactic that the Vesk use, but then this Veskarium ship isn't acting as any part of a larger group. That's not too unusual, but it means tactics are at the whim of the captain. You have no idea which ship this is or who the captain is.

She can't see any scenario in the current circumstances that would have the Vesk ship lurking around somewhere to pick off scavengers. The ploy failed--move on.

It does seem as if the Vesk had accidentally found a ship that WASN'T the Starhawk and just took their disappointment and frustration out on the Hesper.


Revonoss takes the shuttle out for a sweep. Over the next hour, he manages to pick up only thee energy signatures which all turn out to just be equipment: a Decimator Disintegration Pistol, Hoverskates, and a Proximity helmet.

However, as you approach each one, anyone on the shuttle sees the Ghost. It's a ghostly image of a person in some sort of white uniform, including cowl, mask and cape. It appears larger than life at first but as you get closer, it shrinks to normal size.

Whatever it is, it does not show up on any sensors, not even cameras... yet you all see it clearly. It apparently tries to say something but there is no sound. Attempting to read its lips seems to indicate it's saying just one word: water.

Revonoss wastes little time once they discover what the apperation is telling and sends the drone out with a water ration and sees if it guides them to someone they can save.

Phelar doesn't seem to take the water just yet. She seems a bit distant still.