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Finding Adventures in the Dark

Yet more Stars Without Number: Faster Than Light

12/6/2024

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  It's been a while, but every single week we're still playing, let's look at some more.
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Previously on “The Flight of the Fox”:
  The crew are down to the tomb world of Frost at the behest of their new patron Mr. Budike. Within the ruined Preceptor Archive university, a hidden facility was opened by thieves…one of whom died in the depths. The path to the hidden pretech was horrific enough, with a vast pile of centuries-old bodies in center of the doomed campus, now absent three thumbs, with Medic Jenny wisely grabbing dead university personnel’s ID chips for access. The nearly pristine facility below is almost out of power and marked with blood, with the crew diverted from a life support signal by a trail of blood…leading to a cybernetic revenant looming out of the dark!
Previously on the “The Flight of the Fox”:
  
Terror in Tomb World! A tense battle with the horrific remnants of a university security guard ends in victory but when the crew goes to the jury-rigged stasis chambers they find not one but three empty, with only one still active, holding a mysterious occupant labeled “Charlie Edwards”. Stumbling upon vast capacitor banks usable in their own ship, it is only due to the keen alertness of Security Chief Bulkhead that an improvised claymore mine didn’t turn the front salvagers into a fine slurry! A stairway going deeper similarly mined has the crew moving instead to a ruined elevator shaft…which has another cybernetic revenant coming up! Only the precognitive powers of Percy Crichton alerted the crew to this threat, and after dispatching the dead guardian they now delve even deeper…stumbling upon an autonomous forklift which even now menaces them in the dark!
Previously on the “The Flight of the Fox”:
  Danger deeper in the dead world! After being menaced by a rogue forklift, the crew find themselves in danger from a revenant security guard and more terrible mines…but it is in the grim heart of the ancient complex that they meet their most dangerous foe, the security chief who would not even let death stop him from protecting the sleeping charges under his protection. Now with training modules perfect for Mr. Budike’s purposes and pretech capacitors for Engineer Reynolds’, the crew carefully begin the process of waking the mysterious final living survivor from the Time Before…
Previously on the “The Flight of the Fox”:
  Poised on the precipice of unknown wonders! After meeting Captain Shin-Ji of the Budike Xenosurvey ship Yang, the crew secretively make their way to med bay where Jenny carefully begins to bring the frozen time-lost refugee back. An agonizing resuscitation leaves the elderly victim alive and sane…an ancient custodian named Charlie Edwards, dashing Percy’s hopes despite the man proudly declaring himself forklift certified. Now the crew look not into the past but into the future, embarking on a strange voyage of discovery for a mysterious benefactor…
Previously on the “The Flight of the Fox”:
  A leap into the Great Unknown! Le Renard and the science ship Yang hurtle into the outer darkness, desperately hoping they find something in the ancient trail of a vanished species’ strange map. But the harsh metaspace tear has already nearly produced a casualty, as tech Sarah Chen manifests telekinetic powers. Only the quick thinking of Security Officer Bob Johnson and the calming effects of Jenny and Percy manage to sedate the tech before she torches herself into madness. What more strange and bizarre dangers will they face as the emerge near a rogue planet in the night…
Previously on the “Flight of the Fox”:
  A dark world…but not dead! The lonely sub-Jovan rogue planet in the night sky has a companion, a cloudy moon kept just above freezing by radiation and gravity that has activity, and a menacing station in low orbit. After mysterious communications from the moon seemed to promise safe passage down, the crew in their shuttle find a bizarre biosphere in the murky slush made of foxfire and sonar, landing at another strange structure powered by three bioforms made of energy. Percy makes telepathic contact with the alien beings and after barely surviving mind intact hears a plea for freedom…while seismic shakes warn of 100ft-tall entities travelling to the lander.
Previously on the “Flight of the Fox”:
  Freedom for the Zoltan, and death to the lankies! A frantic effort to free the three trapped energy beings led to a nick-of-time escape from the towering blind monster, later identified as one of the uplifted “lankies” by the grateful natives, known as the “Zoltan”. The three individuals, Pitkä, Lyhyt, and Keski, are now aboard ship as Le Renard and the Yang try to figure out the strange system’s puzzle, ruled by a mindless AI guardian and powered by the very species it was designed to serve and protect.
Previously on the “Flight of the Fox”:
  Demons deep aboard the Zoltans’ hell! A daring raid on the mysterious station by the captain and crew has them freeing the enslaved energy beings more than a mile from home! Steady work by Jenny, Joel, and Alan has freed eleven of the forty-three Zoltan being used as batteries by an unbraked monster of their own creation, but now the sleek shape of an energetic guardian hunter blocks the crew from their next path, with a roar that takes them back to the frantic fubar on Glomar!
Previously on the “Flight of the Fox”:
  Trapped within the bowels of hell, the walls closing in! In a pulse-pounding race against the nightmarish machine intelligence False Mind, the crew of Le Renard have freed the majority of the captive Zoltan but are now faced with the largest collection of the captive energy beings…surrounded by FOUR of the terrifying guardians. Now as time ticks down the captain and crew frantically try to come up with a way out, for their helpless new friends…and for themselves! 
Previously on the “Flight of the Fox”:
  Free but not yet clear! In a pulse-pounding explosive exit, the crew of Le Renard go kinetic in their jailbreak of the captive Zoltan, trading blows with guardians while dodging the looming Lanky wardens in main corridors. A quick-thinking bit of sabotage leaves the station’s thrusters locked in a bad position and the hellish nightmare prison is now on battery power as the Slate Bulkhead, barely alive from a single Lanky punch, staggers into the main hangar bay and the airlocks slam shut. Now, in the lambent glow 42 freed Zoltan, the captain and crew make plans to make good their escape!
Previously on the “Flight of the Fox”:
  Free and clear from P’frx’leen! Loose from the nightmare hell-station, Le Renard fires up the engines and send the dark nexus of the False Mind’s communication hurtling deep within the rogue planet’s gravity well. Days of healing and rest are accompanied by Engineer Reynold’s workshop working all shifts churning out improvised railguns for their newfound Zoltan friends; their masters have been set back, but the war for their moon has only just begun. Zoltan former prisoner Pitkä, alienated from his own world and curious about the wider universe, now joins the crew to explore with them, as they ready themselves for another jump into the unknown
  (This whole system was a player favorite, and their new crewmate is going to be very powerful going forward)
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​​Previously on the “Flight of the Fox”:
  Down to the sweltering surface of Arcturus IV! Arriving in the tightly-packed binary system of Arcturus, Le Renard proceeds to refuel within the heavily-industrialized system gas giant while the command crew sets course for their contact’s planet in the shuttle. Facilitator Priven Lal greets the command crew convivially and gives a fair price for their alien relics, but to transship the valuable pharmaceutical Crimson subtle work is required, either braving rival smuggling gangs at night or the brutal melting heat of the day. But that’s not all, deep within the city Percy also searches for psychic aid for the newborn telekinetic Sarah Chen, lost and scared back aboard ship.
Previously on the “Flight of the Fox”:
  Back in the smuggling saddle! Le Renard hovers above the burning nightside of Arcturus IV, awaiting the final and most crucial portion of their cargo, the rare drug Crimson, to be snuck past the rival gangs and semi-legal corporations along with a metapsion Percy has sought for the suffering newborn telekinetic Sarah Chen.
Previously on the “Flight of the Fox”:
  A sweaty drug deal does sideways! The command crew, along with elderly but forklift-certified custodian Charlie, manage the Crimson pick-up without a hitch but emerging from the warehouse leads to an ambush…but not a surprise one, thanks to the precognitive powers of Percy! All to the good, but the second attack by jury-rigged drones devolves to a scary situation, defused this time by Joel and his sniper rifle along with Slate and the Captain’s pistols. Now the crew is loaded and ready to go, but one final passenger remains to be freed, the nervous captive metapsion Teve Pezal...
Previously on the “Flight of the Fox”:
  A breakout that leaves crumbs! Percy Crighton, passionate about safeguarding the newborn psychic Sarah Chen while also helping nervous captive metapsion Teve Pezal, led the crew down to the gangland of Arcturus IV with a case of Glomar Whiskey and the ghost of a plan. Claiming to be working for the new Controller-affiliated boss in the system named “Carl Theseus”, they successfully bluff their way out of the gang’s jam and fled while angry Controller-affiliates demand all ships lock in place. Now in the glowing system of Al-Dua with a hot cargo of Crimson and a low bunker of fuel, Le Renard approaches with caution as inspectors ask her to heave-to!
Previously on the “Flight of the Fox”:
  The drug smugglers become arms dealers! After a shockingly smooth transfers of the contraband Crimson in the radioactive husk of Al-Dua, the captain and crew decide to go to Haiomed 24, where primitive cyborgs pay top dollar for used parts! A simple salvage mission to the ancient space wreck of Schipareli 8 forms a new wrinkle, as the crew are welcomed aboard the nuked station with open robotic hands!
Previously on the “Flight of the Fox”:
  Friends and nofriends in the ruins of Schiaprelli 8! On the hunt for cyborg parts the crew of Le Renard finds more than they expected with friendly if dimwitted robots who welcome them but are also in need to help, with their automated repair factory disabled. Descending with the help of Zoltan energy, the crew meet malfunctioning and mad loader bots on the hunt for power and parts themselves! Now the crew approach a massive factory area filled to the brim with parts, ominous in the silent darkness!
Previously on the “Flight of the Fox”:
  The crew have a staunch refusal to be fixed! Deep with-in the radioactive bowels of Scapareli 8, Jenny and her companions explore the powered-down lair of the FIXU-system, desperately needed by their new robot friends! FIXU insists that to properly fix the robots a full brain replacement is required, and after the crew objects strongly, half a dozen headless friend-bots violently object! After a thrilling fight, now the station itself is reprogrammed and Le Renard leaves with happy friends and a hold full of cy-bernetic parts…now they’re off to Haiomed 24 and new adventures ahead!
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