Starfinder: The Jade Regent Pt. 03

"I'll record it just for you," Rakain said to Hana, winking at her. "Like you, maybe?" he said to Xata.

"I would be happy to test your genital-smacking technique as needed," Xata affirmed with glowing circuits and a grin.

"I'll bet," Rakain growled, turning his smoldering gaze on Xata as he rubbed his throbbing erection through his pants. Xata beamed. Her Social Subroutines informed her that she was Fitting In successfully. She was quite pleased with herself.

"Want me to put us on the ground? Or shall I find us a nice spot in orbit?" Sam asked, fingers on the piloting controls. Ami shook her head. "I...I don't know..." She said, quietly as Nora returned with the data crystal chunks. Before Sam could get them moving again, Nora had the chunks plugged in and had cut through any surviving encryption and security. Alfie's gorgeous form was replaced by the navicomp data...

The enemy had jumped straight from an asteroid in the Diaspora marked as the Brineice Asteroid. Xata's attention, divided between the display and Rakain's tantalizing hard-on, scattered. Rakain wandered over to the display, getting himself back under control, his tail flicking around in a bit of embarrassment. He'd had a raging libido awoken after plowing Ami, and he knew that he needed to be mindful of times and places. But Xata was so tempting...

He shook his head, studying the display. "Right. I know this asteroid. It's an ancient ocean that froze when the two planets that made up the Diaspora exploded into their asteroid chunks. The outer layer froze, and has been abandoned for centuries. Ships go missing near it from time to time." He looked at the others. "Maybe there's more to it than meets the eye."

Ami nodded. "Sounds like a pirate base to me..." She said, quietly.

"So.. we need to go and show them our cool new ship then?" Hana said, smirking slightly.

"Well, son of a bitch." Sam cursed. "Considering that pirates slash raiders slash really stupid bird men came directly from it- agreed." Sam said not sounding too pleased with the prospect. "We should do a little more than show them the ship. Maybe get a nice mirror to direct enough thermal radiation to vent their base."

"If it's an entire ocean, I don't think we can thaw it with any mirror we can get," Ami said, snickering quietly.

Xata's attention pulled into the focus at the word "pirates." Suddenly her flirtation was relegated to a sub-system as her attention refoucsed on Ami.

".. We won't, but like.. what if we got a thousand mirrors? Would that be able to melt it?" Hana asked curiously.

"Perhaps there's information about this place at Absalom Station?" she asked aloud. "And a way to deal with it? Perhaps allies?"

"Maybe?" Ami snickered. "And, well, um, do you guys want to visit AS?" She asked, shrugging as she looked to the others.

Rakain turned around and folded his arms. "Seems like the best course of action to me. I don't want to jump right into a pirate base without backup."

"Well, we do have a bunch of scrap we need to sell." Hana said, shrugging.

"Yes, and of course I would be mindful of Times and Places," Xata added a bit bashfully. "Perhaps I could use my music to advantage, and Hana could use her gift with words."

Ami nodded, then sighed. "Fine, uh, lets set course for Absalom Station!" She said, grinning and putting her hands on her hips. She paused. "I always wanted to say that..."

And with that, the Sunwolf banked and turned. Sam paused, her fingers hanging over the controls. She looked over at her friends and smiled.

"So, uh, want to use the Drift Drive?" she asked, her voice tinged with curosity. None of the group had ever entered into the Drift -- the mysterious dimension that was used to skip the pesky limiter on the speed of light without needing to beseech divine gods or expend immense amounts of arcane energy.

Ami grinned. "Engage, Miss Sam," she said -- then laughed, her earlier ill mood banished as Sam slammed her palm down on the button and took them...

Into the Drift.

TO BE CONTINUED