On the second day the crew was resting up in the bar when a man they knew simply as "The Quiet Man" approached them with a job offer. One of his suppliers had gone dark, and on behalf of the cargo team he asked them to go and check it out. He scribbled down the coordinates on a small piece of paper and took off.
Unfortunately they caught the attention of the ship drunk, Glom. He got his sweaty hands and beer breath all over it, smearing the writing. By the time they got it to the pilot, it was barely legible.
They took off and landed at the coordinates: Arbcop III. They team knew something was up. The halls were covered in soot, and only a few robots came out to great them, lead by the stations mysterious AI: VULCAN. He welcomed the ERT, noting that they were needed. He told them that much of the crew was dead after the stations Phoron drill exhaust systems exploded, killing hundreds and leaking super heated phoron and phoron fumes throughout the facility. He asked that the team helped rescue the remaining survivors, who were all sick. The crew was brought an array of weapons from the armory to gear up with before descending deeper.
There they found a strange man in a space suit died purple. Trapped behind glass he appeared to want out, though they could not make out what he was screaming about. They managed to free him after some trouble, and after releasing his helmet he was revealed to be a mutated Phoron Man! Men exposed to super heated phoron at such temperatures and pressure that they become fused with the substance! Their suits are the only things holding in the sludge and gas, their crystalline bones barely capable of movement at all. The team put it out of it's misery and continued.
But then two strangers burst in. A young member of the Wizard Federation named Gray, and a scrapper named Nicky.They decided to work together for the time being and descended to a robotics lab.
But Vulcan had other plans. You see the old AI had been screaming about intruders for quite some time, and about someone harming crew. Nicky had worried the intruders were a tribe of Unathi mercs hunting him. Perhaps so, but VULCAN was actually referring to the team!
The robotics fabricator whirred to life and spat out a repairborg and a battle-bot. The team managed to defeat them and switch off the fabricator mid creation, resulting in a half made robot shell and a pile of circuits. The teams technician repaired the shell and created the teams first robotic member Margaret!
Then the Unathi hunting Nicky burst in, pursued by two Phoron Men. Nicky and the Unathi bickered while the rest battled the monsters. They were being overwhelmed, so the Unathi teleported back to his ship to hunt Nicky another day, while the wizard teleported away.
Just in time too, as suddenly an old cowboy and wizard hunter entered; just a hair too late. Those remaining defeated the phoron men. Barely. The team argued with Nicky, over whether or not he should be allowed to loot NT property; abandoned or not. Before they could reach a conclusion the spilled and super heated phoron melted the floor and the team had to evacuate. Nicky ran to his ship, and the rest to the ERT shuttle.
VULCAN choked on the phoron now spilling into it's chamber and died, unable to stop them from escaping. The ERT took flight, but not before the dastardly Nicky could train the stations turrets on the team to prevent them from stopping him. The pilot was killed, but thanks to the teams technician they stayed in flight.
In the end they reported back to the quiet man only to discover... The coordinates were for Beisel! They drunkard had smudged the writing and gotten them lost. They told him where they ended up and the Quiet Man suddenly dropped the issue and promised to pay in full. He hung up before they could get an answer on what happened to Arbcop III.
Unfortunately they caught the attention of the ship drunk, Glom. He got his sweaty hands and beer breath all over it, smearing the writing. By the time they got it to the pilot, it was barely legible.
They took off and landed at the coordinates: Arbcop III. They team knew something was up. The halls were covered in soot, and only a few robots came out to great them, lead by the stations mysterious AI: VULCAN. He welcomed the ERT, noting that they were needed. He told them that much of the crew was dead after the stations Phoron drill exhaust systems exploded, killing hundreds and leaking super heated phoron and phoron fumes throughout the facility. He asked that the team helped rescue the remaining survivors, who were all sick. The crew was brought an array of weapons from the armory to gear up with before descending deeper.
There they found a strange man in a space suit died purple. Trapped behind glass he appeared to want out, though they could not make out what he was screaming about. They managed to free him after some trouble, and after releasing his helmet he was revealed to be a mutated Phoron Man! Men exposed to super heated phoron at such temperatures and pressure that they become fused with the substance! Their suits are the only things holding in the sludge and gas, their crystalline bones barely capable of movement at all. The team put it out of it's misery and continued.
But then two strangers burst in. A young member of the Wizard Federation named Gray, and a scrapper named Nicky.They decided to work together for the time being and descended to a robotics lab.
But Vulcan had other plans. You see the old AI had been screaming about intruders for quite some time, and about someone harming crew. Nicky had worried the intruders were a tribe of Unathi mercs hunting him. Perhaps so, but VULCAN was actually referring to the team!
The robotics fabricator whirred to life and spat out a repairborg and a battle-bot. The team managed to defeat them and switch off the fabricator mid creation, resulting in a half made robot shell and a pile of circuits. The teams technician repaired the shell and created the teams first robotic member Margaret!
Then the Unathi hunting Nicky burst in, pursued by two Phoron Men. Nicky and the Unathi bickered while the rest battled the monsters. They were being overwhelmed, so the Unathi teleported back to his ship to hunt Nicky another day, while the wizard teleported away.
Just in time too, as suddenly an old cowboy and wizard hunter entered; just a hair too late. Those remaining defeated the phoron men. Barely. The team argued with Nicky, over whether or not he should be allowed to loot NT property; abandoned or not. Before they could reach a conclusion the spilled and super heated phoron melted the floor and the team had to evacuate. Nicky ran to his ship, and the rest to the ERT shuttle.
VULCAN choked on the phoron now spilling into it's chamber and died, unable to stop them from escaping. The ERT took flight, but not before the dastardly Nicky could train the stations turrets on the team to prevent them from stopping him. The pilot was killed, but thanks to the teams technician they stayed in flight.
In the end they reported back to the quiet man only to discover... The coordinates were for Beisel! They drunkard had smudged the writing and gotten them lost. They told him where they ended up and the Quiet Man suddenly dropped the issue and promised to pay in full. He hung up before they could get an answer on what happened to Arbcop III.