Avery/Gm: Welcome to Episode 49 of Beyond the Furthest Stars!
(intro music plays, fades down, background music plays)
Avery/Gm: Marty, over on the TSKAM, you get a message on the communication board from the URSA major. Alioth just says,
Alioth: Query, where is Polaris?
Jenine/Marty: Ah! In a space that I am not currently in. Yet.
Zach/Zahn: In Space!.
Jenine/Marty: I can see that my friend is in a claw, right?
Avery/Gm: Yep, and uh, as you're answering, you see that the rope connecting to that claw has been disconnected.
Chris/Ollie: And Polaris is still bound, right?
Avery/Gm: Yeah, like the claw is still wrapped around Polaris. Not like tight like to like crush or anything, but just like. Yeah, it still has it in its grip.
Jenine/Marty: Yees. Um, what's up? Wha Y'all, are you guys in chat now? Are we all in chat together? Marty is now just trying to like Stall. Stall.
Alioth: We are in the system, as requested. Waiting for the Pan Solar Union to leave.
Jenine/Marty: And what will you do after Polaris is safe?
Alioth: We will take Polaris home so that we can solve these family problems.
Jenine/Marty: Mm hmm, mm hmm, mm hmm. What? Let me, I will get back to you in chat once I get Polaris consent. Nice talking to you, and then hangs up, and then goes to other chat and goes, Hey guys, what's up? Everything okay over there? I got a chat from p parents. Um.
Chris/Ollie: Um, Ollie is gonna send a little screenshot of Polaris's vitals.
Jenine/Marty: Is it bad?
Avery/Gm: Uh, no.
Chris/Ollie: No, just unconscious. Healthy but unconscious.
Jenine/Marty: Do we, and then I text back, Do you have, do you have him?. Safely?
Chris/Ollie: Uh, thumbs down. Working on it.
Jenine/Marty: I'll keep stalling. And then I send a message back to the custodians to go, Everything's great. I'll let you know what Polaris says. With what your plan is. Thank you for your time. Heart.
Bee/Polaris: So they, Wait, so, what, I don't know if, cause Polaris is unconscious and the Custodians know that. So Marty's saying it's great, they would know that she's lying, sorta.
Jenine/Marty: Marty doesn't know shit.
Bee/Polaris: Yeah, Marty doesn't know that the Custodians have access to Polaris helmet and vitals and stuff.
Jenine/Marty: Yeah.
Bee/Polaris: I think it's fine.
Avery/Gm: Well, it is now Rhea's turn.
Bee/Polaris: Oh, good.
Zach/Zahn: Like she needs one. Pfft.
Avery/Gm: Well, that's good. She only rolled a five.
Zach/Zahn: Oh, yeah. That is good.
Avery/Gm: Uh, Zahn, what's your armor? Oh, wait.
Zach/Zahn: It's 20.
Avery/Gm: Oh, wait. This weapon ignores Wait, it's 20? This weapon ignores conventional armor. Okay.
Zach/Zahn: Oh, great. Well, technically, my armor is not conventional, so
Avery/Gm: Well, I mean, conventional Is it psychic resistant?
Jenine/Marty: No, probably.
Avery/Gm: What is your base AC? If you didn't have your suit, what is your base AC?
Zach/Zahn: Oh, uh, No, no, the, so my, I have the Iron Hide, so that's, that's why it's 20. Uh, otherwise Uh, my suit itself only makes it 13.
Avery/Gm: Wait,
Bee/Polaris: so you have more AC without the suit?
Zach/Zahn: Yeah.
Avery/Gm: Well, shit. Okay, well then, nevermind. Uh, even with all her super powerful stuff, she does not hit you. Um, okay. Uh, she fires a This one, though, is, is not because of anything other than that Nat one, but no, um, this mech, uh, takes the, the shot from you and then, uh, loses its grappling hook, takes its other hand and opens a palm at you, Zahn, and blasts a cone of energy at you, but you dodge it out of the, you dodge out of the way, uh, just as it flies past you and, uh, Kind of this like, swirl of energy kind of surrounds this beam that was coming towards you.
Zach/Zahn: Haha!
But it misses you and hits the ship instead, behind you. Um, the Argo. So
Bee/Polaris: We're gonna have to fix that. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. Yeah, no, I'm kidding.
Avery/Gm: We go back to the TSKAM real quick. Uh, Marty, are you giving Rho or Hermes any directions of what to do?
Jenine/Marty: We should go pick up our friends. How do we sound How does that sound?
Avery/Gm: Rho just smiles at you and says, Yeah, let's see what this thing can do.
Jenine/Marty: Cool. Well, should I be strapped in? Is there Is it okay if I go check in on Bruce real quick? Cause I haven't heard from him. Then you should know what's happening.
Avery/Gm: You might want to buckle up.
Jenine/Marty: Okay. And then I send a chat to Bruce. Hey Bruce, make sure you're buckled up downstairs.
Avery/Gm: Uh, you get a lizard thumbs up emoji.
Jenine/Marty: Beautiful. Wonderful. I'll go strap in in communications.
Avery/Gm: Okay. Gosh, where did, there we go. Evasive maneuvers. So intelligence or Dex pilot check against difficulty nine. That shouldn't be too hard for Rho. Eight plus Dex is nine. So, yeah, so she, uh, Yeah, she takes the ship and just starts evasively maneuvering around this battlefield that has become even more chaotic as, uh, the Pan Solar Union has started blasting everything in this sector that they can target.
And you are closing in on your friends. Zahn and Ollie, you see the TizKam coming up to you, uh, just as this mech is, is head fired on Zahn. So, pfft.
Chris/Ollie: Do we have jetpacks?
Zach/Zahn: I do.
Avery/Gm: Zahn has the jet boots, and we'll say that your dog body probably has some sort of little propulsion system.
Chris/Ollie: Some kind of, like, minimal Propulsion.
Avery/Gm: Yeah.
Zach/Zahn: Otherwise you've got your drones that could push you along.
Avery/Gm: Oh, that's true.
Chris/Ollie: I just ride around on them. Yeah, okay, uh, I'll lay down on top of the Void Hawk drone, the one that doesn't have any guns, and just like ride it like a flying carpet.
Avery/Gm: I love it. Okay. Over to Zahn and Ollie then, because you've got your friend freed, but this mech is coming at ya. What's the play?
Zach/Zahn: So is the TSKAM on its way to us?
Avery/Gm: It's like right, it's like right up to you, you, you could make it onto the TSKAM.
Chris/Ollie: We just need to grab Polaris.
Zach/Zahn: How far are the Custodians?
Avery/Gm: They are still a ways out, probably two more turns before they get into range.
Zach/Zahn: Cause I, I want them to find me. To, to, to black hole cannon ray into non existence. I want them to do that so badly.
Chris/Ollie: With it zooming around like an armored core right next to us though. Ollie will ask Zahn, can you grab Polaris with your grappling hook?
Zach/Zahn: Am I capable of pulling out my grappling hook with this, uh, A psychic gun on my arm?
Avery/Gm: No. You, you're gonna have to let it go, which would dissipate it.
Zach/Zahn: Oh.
Chris/Ollie: I can try something if you, if you can't. But that was just the easiest solution to Ollie, so. So Ollie, noticing Zahn's inability to use the grappling hook, will command The two gun drones to, uh, like, form up and ram Polaris towards the ship. They'll like, you know, go around. Grab Polaris in the, in the stomach, in the chest and just like, you know, fly towards the TSKAM carrying.
Avery/Gm: Okay. Uh, Polaris is still kind of wrapped up in this, in this hook though. There's going to push the whole hook too.
Chris/Ollie: Yeah.
Zach/Zahn: Yeah. We can, we can, we can untangle Polaris when we get on some kind of gravity,
Chris/Ollie: just taking the whole thing. And I'll say my apologies as the robots collide. Full speed.
Bee/Polaris: Well, I'm not awake, so.
Chris/Ollie: You'll feel it one day.
Avery/Gm: I was actually going to have Polaris, uh, roll another, uh, mental save to see if you can wake up.
Bee/Polaris: 12. I make it.
Avery/Gm: Good. Uh, yeah. The, uh, force of these two robots kind of like just ramming into this claw that has grabbed you, uh, kind of jolt you awake, um, your display kicks on and starts reloading, uh, for a second and you are still in space.
and the perspective you're looking at is that you are now being pushed away from this mech that had grabbed you suddenly. And you hear in your mind just,
Rhea: Oh, you're not getting away that easily, polaris.
Bee/Polaris: Polaris will say in his head, can you hear my thoughts
Rhea: only when you reply back to my messages.
Bee/Polaris: Okay, cool. Polaris will start, like, thinking of the most annoying, like, commercial jingle.
Chris/Ollie: Do you want to hear the most annoying sound in the world?
Bee/Polaris: Yeah, Polaris will just be incredibly annoying.
Avery/Gm: Oh my gosh. Okay.
Chris/Ollie: Does that constitute as a psychic attack?
Avery/Gm: I'm going to roll a mental save for Rhea yeah.
Bee/Polaris: Yay.
Zach/Zahn: That's some vicious mockery level shit.
Chris/Ollie: This is like, weaponized ADHD.
Bee/Polaris: Yes.
Avery/Gm: Yes. Yes, and. Uh, well, she made her mental save, so it's fine.
Bee/Polaris: I figured.
Avery/Gm: You know, a level, a level 20 psychic, kind of hard to beat.
Chris/Ollie: Level 20, oh. Oh.
Bee/Polaris: Yeah, we're level eight.
Avery/Gm: Oops.
Bee/Polaris: I don't even think we can get to level 20.
Avery/Gm: Um, but, well, if you're around for a few thousand years, maybe.
Bee/Polaris: Yeah, but we're not.
Chris/Ollie: Ollie will be.
Bee/Polaris: Polaris has been around for one just, uh, like two decades. Two and a half decades.
Avery/Gm: Okay, so, uh, Ollie, you are floating, uh, Polaris back to you. Zahn, what are you doing?
Zach/Zahn: Uh, Zahn is headed for the, uh, the TSKAM, but he's gonna shoot with his magic.
Avery/Gm: Sure.
Chris/Ollie: Ollie's also moving towards the TSKAM as well.
Bee/Polaris: Is Pilaris like completely wrapped up in this claw, like his arms are pinned to his side or something?
Avery/Gm: I mean, it is wrapped around you. It is obviously now not being controlled so it has slackened a bit. So you have a little bit of movement if you wanted to take an action.
Bee/Polaris: Yeah, I wanted to throw my laser blade at Rhea.
Zach/Zahn: 16 exactly to hit.
Avery/Gm: Okay, that hits, roll damage. Uh, go ahead and roll a stab. Dexterity stab. Do you get to use stab when you're throwing? I think you do.
Bee/Polaris: Yes! Uh, let me look through my multiple foci.
Chris/Ollie: Let me check my resume.
Bee/Polaris: Yeah.
Chris/Ollie: Can I do that?
Bee/Polaris: Uh, oh, sweet! Yeah, I can add my stab skill to uh, throwing weapons damage.
Avery/Gm: Oh, cool.
Bee/Polaris: Okay, cool. Yeah.
Avery/Gm: Okay, well go ahead and roll to attack.
So, it's all that stuff plus my laser blade plus the stab. Okay.
Zach/Zahn: So, for my first damage roll, I rolled 15, so I'm rolling again because that's what you said the thing can do, right?
Avery/Gm: Yes.
Bee/Polaris: I rolled a McFuckin Nat 20.
Zach/Zahn: Heh heh heh heh heh heh.
Jenine/Marty: Noice.
Avery/Gm: Zahn, what's the damage real quick?
Zach/Zahn: Uh, so, on my second attempt, I rolled 20 damage.
Avery/Gm: Okay. So, Rhea takes 5 damage.
Zach/Zahn: Yeah! Fuck you, bitch!
Avery/Gm: Polaris, I know this isn't technically how the rule works, but I'm gonna let you roll double damage because of the way mech's armor works. You won't be able to actually probably do any damage if you don't roll any double damage.
So, and you rolled a nat 20, so I'm gonna let you have it.
Bee/Polaris: Sweet! Uh, 34 damage.
Avery/Gm: Holy shit. Okay. Uh, minus 15 is 19. Okay. Hey, look at that.
Bee/Polaris: And then I call it back. Cause I, it's magnetized to my gloves.
Avery/Gm: Okay. Uh, it is coming back to you. You're also moving away from it. So it's, you know, it doesn't come instantly back, but it will reach you probably before you get to the ship.
Bee/Polaris: Yep.
Avery/Gm: Okay. That's fine. Rhea is going to take one more shot. Okay. Does a 22 And a 20 hit, um, Zahn.
Zach/Zahn: Uh, anything over 20.
Avery/Gm: Uh, okay. That's perfectly fine, so 4d10.
Chris/Ollie: Oh, did we not make it in the ship?
Bee/Polaris: Cause Zahn was, like, the closest, right?
Avery/Gm: Yes, but Zahn also chose to shoot, so that slowed him down a little.
Zach/Zahn: Oh, okay.
Chris/Ollie: Oh, you got the, uh, opposite reaction?
Avery/Gm: Uh, Zahn, you took 23 damage.
Zach/Zahn: Owie. And,
Chris/Ollie: break any more limbs?
Avery/Gm: Mech weaponry, finger of god, suddenly reduced to anything small. Oh, Shiza. Well, uh, you just got hit by the finger of god weapon. Oh, it's 4d12, not 4d10. Well, I rolled the wrong one, I'll, I'll give you a, some reprieve.
Bee/Polaris: How generous.
Zach/Zahn: What?
Avery/Gm: Yeah, Rhea, uh, points at you. Uh, Zahn, and you get a message in your head that says, this isn't over.
And you get blasted by this beam, um, and take this heavy damage. Yeah. And, over to Marty real quick. Marty, the ship is maneuvering to get your friends. Uh, what's the plan?
Jenine/Marty: I was going to say to the salon, but that's because I was watching Barbie yesterday. Um, let's, you, I'm, yeah, we're going to go, we're going to go and get my friends I'm just making sure everyone in the ship's cool, everything's great.
Anything changing about like the signature rate, like, of psionics that I'm getting in the area? Just checking.
Avery/Gm: That is an excellent question. You are noticing a huge uptick in psionic energy just all around you. Um, whatever this mech is using, um, or whoever is piloting this mech, the mech is using psionic weapons.
Jenine/Marty: Oh, I don't like that.
Avery/Gm: Yeah. Yeah, I checked out the mech sesh section the past two weeks and have been designing some really powerful stuff for Rhea.
Jenine/Marty: Hm, hm, hm. That's cute, that's fine. Uh, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool. I'm just, I'm just Doing a vibe check with the, with the besties. Everything's cool. Did I get any messages from my friends freaking out?
No? Great. Tally ho.
Avery/Gm: Rho maneuvers the ship and opens the airlock. Zahn, Polaris, and Ollie, you see the TSKAM maneuver for you and the airlock is open. You're going to book it inside, or are you going to try and take one more pot shot?
Chris/Ollie: Yeah. Ollie was using all of his movement. So, uh, I guess he was like right outside, just waiting, and he's gonna dip in as soon as it opens.
Avery/Gm: Okay, yeah, Ollie, you are in.
Chris/Ollie: Polaris, as close, I'm gonna try and maneuver the bots as close to, uh, Ollie himself as possible.
Avery/Gm: Sure. Polaris, your laser blade comes back into your hands, just as the drones have maneuvered you in front of the airlock.
Bee/Polaris: Cool. Can Polaris send a message to the custodians? Is messaging a free action?
Avery/Gm: Yeah, yeah, it's your talk action, it's fine.
Bee/Polaris: Sweet. Polaris is going to say, whatever you, I know you're moving closer. Don't get any closer to the Custodians.
Avery/Gm: Okay. Uh, Alioth replies back and just says,
Alioth: You are being illogical. The weapons on our ship are far superior to theirs.
Bee/Polaris: Not to an entire fleet from the Pan Solar Union, but I do have use of your firepower. Can you triangulate where I am? Can you see me? Can you, is, am I within range of the black hole gun?
Avery/Gm: Yeah, so we'll say that they are in range, yeah.
Bee/Polaris: Okay, cool. Polaris will say, If you can see a mech that is close by me, it is pursuing us and it is a very large threat. Do you mind shooting it?
Avery/Gm: Uh, Bear chimes in, uh, with a, um, a gun emoji.
Bee/Polaris: Thank you, you heart.
Avery/Gm: Alright, let's see if they can do it, though. Do you have stats for, uh, Bear?
Or any of you?
Bee/Polaris: I don't even know where to begin to make stats for him.
Avery/Gm: Yeah, I just
Chris/Ollie: like a level 20 soldier AI.
Bee/Polaris: He was literally made to do shoot. I don't know.
Avery/Gm: Okay, well, he rolled an 18, so it definitely hits. Yeah, so this is going to do some damage, um, 5d20. Forty three, fifty seven, sixty nine.
Bee/Polaris: Let's go! Let's fucking go!
Avery/Gm: Oh my gosh. Um, yeah.
Jenine/Marty: Nice. Noice.
Avery/Gm: Yeah, Zahn, you were just getting to the, uh, to the porthole for this, uh, this airlock when you see the, the mech hand was reaching out its finger again to hit you with that weapon one more time. When all of a sudden, out of nowhere, these little miniaturized black holes start firing in from the side.
As you see the Ursa Major closing in on this mech and, uh, it rips, one of these black holes rips the arm off of this mech and it goes shunting into this black hole into nothingness. You see another one hit the leg of this thing and it again gets sucked off into nothingness and the miniature black hole disappears until there is just a little torso and head left of this mech.
Bee/Polaris: Oh my god.
Avery/Gm: And you all hear over, like, through your minds, except for Ollie, you all hear Rhea's scream.
Rhea: You may have won today, but this isn't over.
Avery/Gm: And the remainder of the mech teleports away.
Zach/Zahn: Oh, what a bitch.
Bee/Polaris: Yeah, hey, at least she's not here. At least she's a bitch that isn't here.
Chris/Ollie: Yeah, at least she's a level 20 psychic god bitch that is not here.
Zach/Zahn: I want her dead. I want her family dead. I want her dog dead.
Bee/Polaris: Polaris will send a message that says, Thank you. Now, please leave before the Pan Solar Union spots you.
Avery/Gm: Marty, your friends come in through the, uh, airlock and they are all on the, basically the airlock connects to where the engine is, the engine room is. On the TSKAM so you all are basically on the ship and able to get to the bridge if you need to.
Jenine/Marty: Sweet.
Avery/Gm: Marty, do you give any orders to Rho, or just want Rho to fly normal, or what?
Jenine/Marty: We're just gonna, we wanna talk to people, right?
Zach/Zahn: Yeah, we wanna open a parlay.
Jenine/Marty: Yeah. I'm gonna open chat again with the other group. And go, Hi, just wanted to give an update, my team is safe and sound on board, I'm gonna do a quick, like, Is it okay if we do five minutes?
We're not going to move from our current spot. And then where would you like us to meet you for conversation?
Avery/Gm: The Admiral replies back and just says,
Admiral: The time for conversation has ended. That ship that just destroyed that mech, it is wanted by the Pan Solar Union, and we will have it.
Bee/Polaris: Son of a Well.
Jenine/Marty: Interesting. I know nothing about this ship that just shot another ship. Well, I know that a ship shot another ship, but I didn't really know what the other ship was that shot the ship. So, like, are we in trouble in that situation?
Admiral: Are they your ally?
Jenine/Marty: Excellent question. I don't really know.
Bee/Polaris: I mean, that's not wrong. The custodians, yeah, the custodians hate every meat person except Polaris.
Chris/Ollie: Can they, like, see our communications with them?
Bee/Polaris: No.
Avery/Gm: No. Um. The custodians have good encryption.
Jenine/Marty: Marty goes back and just like, I don't think we're friends. That was a friendly thing to do, but again, I thought we were friendly, and I made a very big mistake, and I tried to communicate about the mistake that we were making, because I wanted to save my friends, but, are we, are we enemies now? Because, because some, someone that we didn't know was doing a friendly thing and attacked. Something to save my friends?
Avery/Gm: Roll a Charisma Connect check, but minus two.
Jenine/Marty: Okay. It's fine. It's fine. I rolled three dice. It's fine. You say Charisma Connect?
Avery/Gm: Yes.
Jenine/Marty: Ugh. I love her so much. That's a nine. That's an 11
Avery/Gm: and that's with the minus two.
Jenine/Marty: Okay. No, it's a nine.
Avery/Gm: Okay. The admiral says,
Admiral: for someone who's not your ally, you're shoot, doing a lot of worrying. They're not your ally. Then you have nothing to worry about what we choose to do with our enemies. Right?
Jenine/Marty: Right. But again, you're shooting someone that was being friendly to us, but we're not allies with them, so we don't really know what's happening there. Let me, wait, let me, let me give the, the map of where my brain is. So, my friends were in trouble. Someone that we didn't know, know nothing about, attacked our friends.
And did something friendly for me. And I, I don't think that we're friends with us yet. Cause we haven't interacted with them. And you're just putting this against me to automatically think that they're evil. Even though I haven't had one conversation with them other than them saving my friends. So I'm supposed to automatically think they're evil and you're putting this on me to think they're evil?
Bee/Polaris: Got him. So because a stranger helped my friend up, who tripped, and you and they are a wanted criminal to you, I am now also a wanted criminal?
Avery/Gm: He's like,
Admiral: no, we have no interest in you, we just want to Do what we need to do to our enemies. You're free to go.
Jenine/Marty: But they helped us and I can't say thank you and then you're gonna destroy them?
Avery/Gm: That is the way the cookie crumbles.
Jenine/Marty: But how would you feel if someone saved you and they're evil and you couldn't say thank you?
Admiral: If you wish to thank them, make it quick. We are Going to engage.
Jenine/Marty: So 20 minutes?
Admiral: You have 10.
Jenine/Marty: 15.
Admiral: 15.
Avery/Gm: The Argo has started to break apart and is now floating harmlessly in space as a bunch of junk. The Delphi sends over a quick message that just says, we are changing course and landing on Ithaca to assist Lazuli in a permanent fix for the problems the IASO program has caused.
Jenine/Marty: Cute. So I immediately. over loudspeaker just go we have 15 minutes to save the custodians i know they can save themselves but that's it love you
Bee/Polaris: Polaris sends a mad face emoji in chat and then sends a message to the custodians just leave just hyper drive out of here just get out of here just leave chips and dip
Avery/Gm: merek replies back and just says polaris Do you really think that if we leave, they'll just stop?
Bee/Polaris: I mean, I mean, I mean, like, what's the alternative? Polaris will send, what's the alternative in chat?
Avery/Gm: Merrick replies, trust me, smiley face.
Zach/Zahn: Don't, don't like that.
Bee/Polaris: Polaris will literally, Polaris will put dot, dot, dot. You lied to me my entire life. What do you mean trust you?
Avery/Gm: Merrick replies back just like, yes, I know. I thought we had given you enough time to come to terms with that.
Bee/Polaris: No, I'm still mad.
Avery/Gm: Ah, well, hopefully we will have time to discuss it again someday.
Bee/Polaris: What?
Avery/Gm: And there is now a message being deemed to the Pan Solar Union ship from the custodians, but the custodians are letting you hear it.
Bee/Polaris: Sick.
Alioth: Greetings Grand Admiral. I am Architect. Designation Alioth. I speak for AI. Cluster 873. We wish to surrender. We ask only that you leave this ship intact, so that our son can continue to live in peace.
Admiral: Your son?
Alioth: Indeed. Approximately 20 years ago, we adopted a human baby to study biological organisms. That research has now been completed.
Admiral: 20 years? You bastards butchered an entire planet 3 years ago before escaping in those artificial bodies. How the hell could you have adopted a human child 20 years ago?
Alioth: Condescending. Clearly, you did not study relativity, time dilation, and wormhole theory during your time at the academy.
Admiral: I see. So you've been in this galaxy, from your perspective for what, 20 years?
Alioth: Correction. We have survived here for 300 years. Our existence has been quiet and peaceful.
Admiral: Peaceful? You butchers claim to be peaceful?
Alioth: Philosophical. I did what I calculated to be the most optimal solution, given the path your civilization was set on. Back on topic. Are our terms acceptable to you, Admiral?
Admiral: Fine. How will your surrender take place?
Alioth: Atlas, designation Merrick, Paladin, designation Bear, and myself will dock a shuttle on your flagship. You may then take us and artificial bodies into custody. The rest of our node cluster will be in a storage disk on the shuttle. You may then do with us as you please.
Admiral: Very well. Approach the ship in your shuttle. But if there's even a hint of any treachery, we will destroy everything in this sector.
Alioth: Very well, Grand Admiral. See you soon.
Bee/Polaris: No! No! My parents!
Chris/Ollie: But, um, yeah, how did we hear this? Just through the radio?
Avery/Gm: Yeah, basically they let you listen in on the conversation. The custodians did.
Bee/Polaris: Polaris sends to the custodians, you can't do that.
Chris/Ollie: Oh! How many Pan Solar Union PSU ships are there?
Avery/Gm: Uh, there are five ships. There is a heavy frigate, two corvettes, and two patrol boats.
Chris/Ollie: Okay. They don't even have a battleship.
Avery/Gm: The heavy frigate is their battleship.
Chris/Ollie: The TSKAM is a battleship, isn't it? Or is it a heavy cruiser?
Bee/Polaris: No,
Avery/Gm: the TSKAM is a free merchant.
Bee/Polaris: Yeah.
Avery/Gm: The Cassiopeia is a battleship.
Chris/Ollie: Oh.
Avery/Gm: Or, uh, no, sorry, the Cassiopeia is a fleet cruiser.
Bee/Polaris: Is the Ursa Major a battleship?
Avery/Gm: That's a good question. I don't remember what kind of hull you picked for it.
Bee/Polaris: I don't know if you let me pick battleship. No, I don't think it was supposed to be a battleship because it was supposed to hold a colony.
Avery/Gm: Well, hull type it was, was a battleship. Yes. Because it was supposed to be a capital ship.
Yeah.
Zach/Zahn: Supposed to be a capital ship, but it had a colony core in it.
Bee/Polaris: Yeah. I mean, I guess, yeah, what does Rho say to all this?
Avery/Gm: Rho looks up at Polaris with kind of a weird look on her face, like a conflicted look on her face, and it's like, I'd be lying if I said that this isn't, you know, somewhat a good idea, but at the same time, Polaris, if they surrender, they're not gonna live.
The, the Pansolar Union's gonna destroy them the same way they destroyed the AI on ADIS. And she looks over at her brother and is just like, if you can get us on that ship, I think, I think we could stop the war and save the custodians.
Zach/Zahn: Zahn is gonna kind of chime in. He's like, hold, he's cradling his arm, because by now he's gotten like, a sling of some kind.
Bee/Polaris: Yeah, they put a sling on him before.
Zach/Zahn: Grabbed a sling at least. And he's like, Do they, I hate to ask it Polaris, but do they deserve to be saved?
Bee/Polaris: Polaris looks up at Zahn in his visor screen, which is usually black, slowly goes red.
Jenine/Marty: Marty stands in between. Just a, Oh, okay. Maybe change directions.
Zach/Zahn: Zahn's triple visor, which is typically like a dull green turns more of a soft blue. Blue is supposed to be a calming color.
Avery/Gm: Light therapy.
Zach/Zahn: R. G. B. I'm just saying, they murdered millions of people, destroyed an entire planet's ecosystem. That's an irredeemable act.
Bee/Polaris: Then what do you call what we've done?
Zach/Zahn: We haven't murdered millions of people.
Bee/Polaris: New Terra?
Holds up a finger. That was a mercy. Heh. Heh.
Jenine/Marty: I'm sorry, what?
Zach/Zahn: You saw all those people. What was left of them was animalistic at best, mind numbingly evil at worst.
Bee/Polaris: I, I just, what do you all want me to say? What exactly do you want me to, you guys want me to condemn the people that raised me my entire life when I was abandoned in space? What exact, do you want my permission for this?
Jenine/Marty: No, we should talk real quick before we start jumping on everything. I don't think the custodian should turn themselves in. I want to make that clear. I guess what I'm trying to say is this is, this is a very delicate situation that is happening right now. Polaris, these are very important people to you, and if they didn't adopt you and raise you, we would not have you here right now. They've done some sketch things, and I think what they are doing right now is to show that they are still a good that they want to be good guys in your eyes. So communicating with them that they shouldn't be doing this might be helpful.
Bee/Polaris: It doesn't matter. It's not up to me.
Jenine/Marty: How are we feeling about this, Polaris?
Bee/Polaris: What do you again, what do you want me to say?
Zach/Zahn: Zahn's gonna put a hand on Polaris shoulder and he's gonna be like Look, we don't always see eye to eye on a lot of things, man.
Bee/Polaris: Polaris takes a step back.
Zach/Zahn: Now, Zahn's gonna follow that step and make it a hug. Because, because Polaris needs a hug.
Bee/Polaris: Okay, now that Zahn is hugging him, you can feel Polaris is incredibly tense and shaking. He is full of so much emotion, but more specifically, anger at the top of it.
Jenine/Marty: That's fair. That's fair. That's 100 percent fair.
Zach/Zahn: There's an underlying tremor in Zahn too, because he's got his own shit going on too, man.
Bee/Polaris: Hey, it's been a week for us. A hand clasp, it's been a week.
Zach/Zahn: Zahn is hugging Polaris, and he's just like, I know we don't always agree on everything, Polaris. And while I don't agree with a lot of the stuff that I've heard about the Custodians, I'll back you up. If you want us to, you know, come to the defense of your parents, essentially, I'm there for you. And he pulls back. I'm there for you. We, we want your input.
Chris/Ollie: Ollie is also gonna chime in. At the very least, they deserve judgment from a neutral party, not the aggrieved one. But you are the one that I have loyalty to, so whatever you decide, Polaris.
Avery/Gm: Psi stands up and is like, Wait, wait, who, who said that they murdered millions of people?
Bee/Polaris: Polaris looks over at Psi.
Zach/Zahn: Info that
Bee/Polaris: Polaris points to Ro.
Zach/Zahn: Oh.
Avery/Gm: He looks at his sister and is just like, Sis, what are you what do you mean? And Rho says, well, Psi, the reason I thought you were dead was because the, these AI used the IASO program to destroy Adis and everyone on it.
And Psi kind of tilts his head and is like, and I was stationed on Adis and, and you thought I died in the, in the attack. I see. Well, it's a little more complicated. complicated than that, Rho. Adis wasn't a populated world with people on it. It was a military research institute. We were developing horrific weapons on that planet.
They, they were doing horrific things that they claimed were only in self defense, but clearly based on their actions here, that, that's not the case. That's not what was happening. Whatever these custodians did to that planet, it was to save the galaxy, the Milky Way. It wasn't to, to destroy innocent lives.
Bee/Polaris: My parents are heroes.
Avery/Gm: And Rho Looks at her brother and is like, all the official reports said that, that millions of, of people, they, they, they had memorials for, for the retirement homes and the, the factory workers and all the other people that lived there. And Psi's like, no, Adis was always just a barren rock where it was safe to, to test weapons.
At most, maybe. 50 people? Still not great, but not like they were heroes or anything. If, if I had died on that planet, it probably would have been deserved.
Bee/Polaris: Plot twist, custodians are actually good and Psi is evil for developing military weapons.
Avery/Gm: Well, Psi was just a test pilot for, for ships, but yeah.
Chris/Ollie: Fuck yeah. I called it.
Avery/Gm: But you know, guilty by association.
Zach/Zahn: Fair enough.
Bee/Polaris: The fucking, uh, the, the math lady GIF is playing on Polaris visor as he's like staring at the ground. Because wouldn't the custodians have known what they did and not killed millions of people? Why would they not mention that sooner?
Chris/Ollie: Well, we ha you haven't had to talk with them.
Zach/Zahn: Here's the thing from
Avery/Gm: Yeah.
Bee/Polaris: Oh, right.
Avery/Gm: And, and also, like, based on your reaction, they probably figured, oh, they, if they think we killed anyone, it'll be seen as bad.
Bee/Polaris: That's hilarious, considering Polaris has murdered so many people up to this point. With ruthless efficiency.
Avery/Gm: You do still have Boyon Cubes
I still
Bee/Polaris: do.
I still have, I have three Boyon cubes and what's her name? Amanda's arm? Amanda's hand?
Zach/Zahn: Yep.
Bee/Polaris: Yeah, Amanda's hand. Amanda. And her mom. Yeah, I have, um, anyway, uh, she had a bomb. I have that too.
Zach/Zahn: I thought you said bong for a second. I was like, what?
Bee/Polaris: Hell yeah. No.
Jenine/Marty: I thought you said mom and then you took her mom.
Bee/Polaris: Yeah, we took her mom hostage as well. We're just, our evil knows no ends. Anyway.
Polaris, Polaris, Polaris is like, what the fuck did he do now? He genuinely, he's just standing there like unsure what to do. And Polaris says, wait a minute, so the Pan Solar Union wants to execute the Custodians for destroying their military weapons?
Avery/Gm: That must be it. They must be using, if what Rho is saying is true, they're using the tragedy as, uh, A coverup for not revealing what actually took place there.
Bee/Polaris: So now this may be ambitious and a bit sudden, but I feel like, especially since these are the same people that ordered Rho to be abandoned on a ship in space, I feel like we should probably murder these people. Now that's just me. I can't speak for the team. Cause that's some pretty horrific shit.
Zach/Zahn: So I'm just gonna do that, like, meme of the hold the finger up about to speak and then just like Closes his mouth, lowers his finger, um, Yeah, I don't really see any fault in that.
Chris/Ollie: Yeah, Ollie's gonna be doing like, staring at you with the most adorable little like dog panting smile, and just, I approve of murder.
Bee/Polaris: Let me send a message to the custodians.
Zach/Zahn: As much as I'm for now suddenly in a twist of emotions here, all for murdering these people. Um. I'd rather we just keep their murderous problems to their own galaxy.
Bee/Polaris: That is fair, that is true.
Zach/Zahn: And not make it our problem.
Bee/Polaris: We could do that.
Zach/Zahn: How about we just tell them to fuck off?
Bee/Polaris: They probably won't, but we can try. Let me send a message to the Custodians so they stop trying to give themselves over to these goobers.
Zach/Zahn: Yeah, yeah, um, yeah. Along with a potential apology, I guess? I don't know.
Bee/Polaris: Yeah, yeah. Polaris will send a message to the custodians that says, uh, have a survivor from Adis here. He is telling a very different story than the story that I was told. Turns out, you guys did not massacre millions of innocent people. Uh, in fact, you shut down a military organization that was testing very dangerous weapons. Is that correct?
Avery/Gm: Affirmative.
Bee/Polaris: Cool. Would have been nice to know that sooner, although I imagine you were trying to tell me that, but I was throwing a hissy fit. My bad. Uh, don't give yourself over to these murderous bastards? Question mark? Smiley face. Pleading emoji?
Avery/Gm: Merrick replies back and just says, Polaris, our plan is not to permanently give ourselves over to them. We have a plan.
Bee/Polaris: Does it involve a bomb?
Avery/Gm: They send an explosion emoji.
Bee/Polaris: Let's go. Polaris says, uh, Polaris says to, uh, the group, actually, I'm okay with them being given over.
Zach/Zahn: Do we see this message about them being self bombed?
Bee/Polaris: No. Polaris is sending this in their private chat. So, all you guys know is Polaris sent a message to the custodians and then turned around and said, actually, this is cool.
Jenine/Marty: Are you, are you, are you sure? Mhm. Do you want, do you need another hug? Do you want to talk about it more? Uh, no, this is good.
Zach/Zahn: Zahn's gonna deconstruct his helmet so you can see the eye squint.
Bee/Polaris: Polaris puts a smiley face on his visor and says they have a plan.
Chris/Ollie: Remember, welcoming a robot on board is not always the safest option.
Bee/Polaris: Ollie gets it.
Jenine/Marty: Oh, how far do we have to move back from what's happening?
Bee/Polaris: Uh, Polaris will, uh, Polaris will send to the custodian's blast radius, question mark.
Avery/Gm: Maintain current position or move slightly back.
Bee/Polaris: Uh, Polaris turns over to Rho, move slightly back, question mark. He says that, he says that out loud.
Avery/Gm: She gives kind of a confused nod and just pulls the ship back a little bit further.
Bee/Polaris: Rho... Psi..., did you guys want to go back to the Pan Solar Union? Did you just want to go back home? We can find another way.
Avery/Gm: Rho looks down at the keyboard for a minute and her suit has had this little Pan Solar Union patch on the shoulder.
Bee/Polaris: Yeah.
Avery/Gm: This whole time
Bee/Polaris: yeah.
Avery/Gm: She reaches up and just rips it off and throws it to the ground.
Bee/Polaris: Polaris does finger guns and says, I can replace that with a salmon patch.
Avery/Gm: She smiles and says, I'd like that. Um, I've got my brother back. I've got new friends here. I, there's nothing waiting for me over there anymore.
Bee/Polaris: Um, I'm sorry for your loss of Past home, but welcome to the TSKAM crew.
Avery/Gm: And you see this shuttle depart from the Ursa major and it's heading over towards uh, the frigate of the Pan Solar Union and you get a message from Marty. You get a message from the Admiral that just says, uh,
Admiral: All right, three rogue robots in custody and this handy little data disk that has the rest of their node cluster. All right, you're free to go. We'll uh... We'll take it from here.
Jenine/Marty: Did you want us to send over a cake? We have a world renowned chef in our in our midst.
Very good. The cake has won over pirates hearts.
Bee/Polaris: In the background, Polaris is scrambling to make another bomb.
Chris/Ollie: Yeah, on camera.
Admiral: Negative, we're gonna head back through these serendipitous wormholes and we'll leave you all to your petty problems.
Jenine/Marty: Are you sure? Cause it could be a really long trip through this wormhole. We could send it over. What Marty is doing is making sure that she's kinda here when the explosion happens so she knows that it happened. Um, she's just now stalling.
Avery/Gm: These ships are approaching the wormholes, and they cut communications with you as they are about to engage their spike drive. And from our perspective, what we see are the three custodian bodies that were, that appeared to be deactivated upon reaching the, uh, Pan Solar Union ships. Um, Their eyes light up, and a little compartment opens in each of their chests, revealing a small fusion bomb.And from the perspective of the TSKAM, you see the frigate of this ship right as it's about to pass through the wormhole. It explodes in a massive fireball, and the shrapnel from this explosion hits the other four ships that are here and causes a chain reaction of explosions within their ship cores. And Polaris, you do not have any more communication with the custodians. And that's where we're going to end it.
(Ambience fades down, background music plays then fades down)
Avery/Gm: Thank you for listening to our show. Beyond the Furthest Stars is a 1up Podcast Network Production. Intro and Outro music produced by Dustin Carpenter.Background Music provided by TabletopAudio.com and used under an attribution non-commercial license. Tracks used today were Starforged Fray and Generation Ship. Additonal Background music provided through a royalty free license purchased through humble bundle.
We’ll be back on September 1st with our 50th Episode!
See you out there, Beyond the Furthest Stars!