Avery/GM: Welcome to Episode 48 of Beyond the Furthest Stars! Sorry for the late upload this week. Life has been getting super hectic and getting in the way of the production schedule. Hopefully we will get back on track with regular postings soon! Enjoy!

(into music plays, ambience fades in)

Avery/GM: So we are in the action. Um, before that though, we'll have a little scene, a couple of minutes before Rowe teleports, uh, Hermes away. Rhea is pacing around the command deck, humming to herself, you know, just sort of enjoying the chaos of the battle going on and Hermes speaks up and says,

Avery/GM: Mother, there is still time. You can call off this whole attack. There is no reason for bloodshed. And Rhea turns to Hermes, or turns to the container that Hermes crystal is in and sort of drags one long claw along the glass case and just says, Hermes, you would think that 500 years and that little crystal of yours would have brought you around to see things my way.

Avery/GM: But I guess there just is no saving you, no bringing you back into the fold. And she turns to one of her underlings on the command deck and she says, You may upload the virus when ready. And as she says that, the crystal disappears from the container and into Ro's hand.

Bee/Polaris: Oh my gosh. Oh no, that was so close.

Avery/GM: And we flash back to the present. We'll start with Marty, Bruce, Psi, and Rho. You are all at the hangar bay. The TSKAM is there just as you left it. Marty. You're kind of leading, leading the pack here. Uh, what's the plan?

Jenine/Marty: I know how to start a ship, question mark.

Avery/GM: You know how to start this ship.

Bee/Polaris: You could reinstall Hermes, but also Marty knows the three buttons.

Avery/GM: Yeah, and Hermes has not been installed yet because you're not.

Bee/Polaris: You guys didn't mess anything up? Nothing changed? Oh, they're not

Jenine/Marty: labeled buttons. They're not labeled. I know how to start a ship. I will go unconfidently. Start the ship.

Avery/GM: Okay.

Chris/Ollie: It's a two buttons meme, but none of the buttons are labeled.

Bee/Polaris: I believe we established that, literally, Marty, I think the button that Marty was pressing, no, the button she was pressing was to get into the hyperspace. So she doesn't know which button is the start ship button.

Jenine/Marty: Marty knows nothing about this ship except how to get communications and that's it.

Bee/Polaris: You can just put Hermes, you can just slap Hermes into the TSKAM

Jenine/Marty: yeah, we'll do, we'll, I'm gonna, we're gonna, Hermes! Field trip! Woo, I know how to do this. Yeah, the entire time Marty's walking up the ship, just goes, I know what I'm doing. And I should, I could have just double checked and then, and then sends a picture in chat in the port that she thinks is right to put her amuse and goes, is this right?

Question mark, send.

Avery/GM: Polaris, you see that pop up in your feed right after the message from Bear. And, uh, it's, uh, is a picture of the crystal holder on the TSKAM.

Bee/Polaris: Uh, Polaris will send a thumbs up to Marty and a, uh, A gif that's just like, get out of here, to Bear..

Avery/GM: Yeah, so, Marty, you, you get the thumbs up in chat that you are good to go to install Hermes.

Jenine/Marty: I give the thumbs up to everyone else on board, go, I got this, and then, bee boop boop.

Avery/GM: Yeah. Uh, you slap it in and the, the ship powers up and you hear that familiar voice of your friend that just says, almost as if he was like stopped mid sentence, just like, mother, you cannot do this. You cannot destroy an entire world just, just to further your own.

Oh. Oh, hello, Marty.

Jenine/Marty: Hi.

Avery/GM: How are you doing? I am happy to be back on the ship. Shall I start shooting?

Jenine/Marty: Well, well, let's, let's back up. Let's, let's take like five steps back. Hi. What, you were finishing a conversation. Are you, who's, and I like look, is that someone here you're talking to or, um, who are you talking to there?

Avery/GM: Oh, my apologies. Last I remember, I was on the deck of a different ship talking to another person.

Jenine/Marty: Their name is

Avery/GM: Oh, Rhea, my mother.

Jenine/Marty: Rhea is your mother?

Avery/GM: In a manner of speaking, yes.

Jenine/Marty: Uh, uh huh. And just sent in chat.

Avery/GM: Rho, Rho actually just speaks up and is just like, Marty, it's kind of a long story. Um, we should probably save it for when we're not getting shot at.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah, that's cool, that's cool. Um, we're gonna yep.

Avery/GM: Put a pin in this.

Jenine/Marty: We're gonna put a quick pin in this conversation. And then you do see, like, Marty go sit in her little communications chair, and like, text in chat, Why no one tell me about Hermie's mother? Angry face. And then sits.

Avery/GM: Bruce speaks up and is just like, Yeah, sorry, I, I kind of forgot, you know. It's been a pretty hectic, uh, few days.

Jenine/Marty: I'm not mad. I'm not mad. I'm not mad. Just, let's go. Pin it in the conversation.

Avery/GM: I'm gonna step down into the cargo hold and, uh, check on the contractors and see if they need any food while we, uh, try to escape. And Bruce makes his way down into the cargo hold. And we flash back over to Polaris.

You're kinda getting these floods of messages. Just as the hole you're cutting breaks free and falls down the shaft and you hear a loud clang As it hits the bottom and you send a message to bear. It says get out of here with a gif

Bee/Polaris: Well, I assume he also caught up in reading Polaris' message.

Avery/GM: Yeah bear says Oh just got your last message Alioth says that we're not Retreating until you're back on the Ursa.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris sends an eye roll emoji and then says, Can you at least leave this particular system? Because the Pan Solar Union is here. And last I checked, you guys are being hunted by them. And we're trying to stop a war, not start another one.

Avery/GM: Right before you send that message, Bear sent a picture of a black hole.

Like a little emoji of a black hole. And it's just like, oh, that is a good point. Speaking from a security standpoint, yeah, starting a war would not be a good idea. Yeah, we'll, we'll lay low for now.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris sends the sigh emoji. He just looks to the other two to jump into the hole first.

Avery/GM: Okay. Real quick, Marty, are you wanting to get the ship out of the cargo or out of the landing bay first and have, uh, Polaris and the rest of your team, like basically just cold shirt jump out of the cargo bay?

Or are you waiting for them to load before you gun it out of the ship?

Jenine/Marty: I'mma wait.

Avery/GM: Okay.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah, I'mma wait.

Avery/GM: Wanted to make sure that was still a plan. Okay, Zahn and Ollie uh, who's going first?

Bee/Polaris: Ollie, I think it's best if you go first, and then Zahn.

Chris/Ollie: So yeah, Ollie will say certainly. And with his drones gathered up, he's going to, as I recall I still have the two robots active in, like, the info core.

Avery/GM: Yes, you do.

Chris/Ollie: I'm assuming I've got the download from them.

Avery/GM: Yes, the one that was hacking the information core does have the download package and is currently beaming it to you. In fact, go ahead and roll a percentage dice.

Chris/Ollie: 72.

Avery/GM: Okay. Uh, so far it's 72 percent downloaded. So you, you estimate that it will, it'll probably be finished by the time the, the TIS cam is pulling out of the, the docking bay. If you make it.

Chris/Ollie: And I've got enough range to download it from there.

Avery/GM: Yeah. Yeah. Cause it's just, yeah, it'll be a few decks difference. So.

Chris/Ollie: And exactly how much system access do I have with these robots in there?

Avery/GM: The way the information core works is that it's constantly beaming information to the To Tartarus. So you just have whatever local information is available at the moment that you started downloading.

Chris/Ollie: So just info.

Avery/GM: Yeah, it's just information. And, um, kind of looking at like the preliminary, like functions of this robot, you see that it's only purpose is download and upload.

Chris/Ollie: So I can't like initiate a self destruct sequence.

Avery/GM: Not with these robots. No.

Chris/Ollie: Okay. Yeah.

Avery/GM: Ollie will, uh, hop on out. And then Zahn, and then Polaris. Uh, go ahead, all three of you roll a Dexterity Survive check.

Chris/Ollie: Dexterity Survive? I don't have any of that.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, I don't have Survive either.

Zach/Zahn: I guess we're all dying today! Let's go!

Avery/GM: Well, Survive is to navigate difficult terrain, and that's really the only thing I could think of as far as like, how would you navigate difficult terrain?

Uh, well, uh, a ship's, you know, lift system.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, are we like free falling down it?

Avery/GM: Uh, I think you all have, yeah, you all have jet propulsion or spider legs, so you're not free falling but just, you know, seeing how well you dodge out of the way of random, you know, things.

Bee/Polaris: I got an eight.

Avery/GM: Okay.

Zach/Zahn: I got a four.

Chris/Ollie: I got a five.

Zach/Zahn: So I got a four.

Chris/Ollie: Can I have my drones shoot debris on the way down?

Avery/GM: Yeah, so it's not like, it's not like there's debris. It's more of just the fact that like,

Chris/Ollie: It's winding.

Avery/GM: Well, so, the way you think of it is that it's an up and down lift, but really it's a sort of maze like lift. It, so it, it, it can shift up, sideways, left, right, et cetera, to get places.

Bee/Polaris: Why is it called a lift if it's going so many different directions? It's a Wonkavator.

Avery/GM: Yeah. It is a Wonkavator, that is right.

Bee/Polaris: Should we have an alternate name for that? It's a Wackyvator.

Avery/GM: A Wackyvator, sure. You guys are moving, but it's kind of a slow pace Just because there are some kind of weird turns going on.

Zach/Zahn: I also have to be extra cautious because I don't have use of one arm.

Avery/GM: And actually that's a good point. Zahn, Go ahead and roll percentage dice, please.

Chris/Ollie: You break your other arm. It's merely a flesh wound.

Zach/Zahn: 16%.

Avery/GM: Okay. Cool.

Zach/Zahn: Oh no. I don't like that, that choked off. Okay.

Bee/Polaris: It wasn't my fault.

Avery/GM: Zahn, you're leading up the middle, right? Or you're, you're in the middle.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah. 

Avery/GM: Okay. So you three are moving down this shaft when you start feeling the area around you is starting to take a lot of fire for some reason, just a lot of heavy fire going on and you hear a crack.In the shaft and you hear the sound of air escaping.

Zach/Zahn: That doesn't matter. Cause we all have sealed suits.

Avery/GM: This is true. Back over to Marty real quick, Marty, you are starting up the ship or the ship has started up and, uh, Hermes is sort of sitting there awkwardly. I mean, sitting, you know, in the ship awkwardly and it's just like, Oh, I am picking up a message from A ship outside. Would you like me to answer it?

Jenine/Marty: Yeah, sure. What's the worst that can happen?

Avery/GM: That is a good question. So, this message gets piped in to you, Marty, and, uh, this person just says, uh, This is Grand Admiral of the fleet, Cormac Ransom. You will hold position. We received a transmission from these wormholes that the EOSO program was being deployed.

We are on the hunt for some rogue AI who used this program to destroy our planets and send our galaxy into a civil war. You will surrender or you will be destroyed.

Jenine/Marty: Hi! So, nice to meet you. I'm really sorry about what's happened, what happened. I'm normally the spokesperson for my team, but currently my team is returning to the ship.

So can you give me like a couple more moments before they get here so I can talk with them about what you're doing? That's why I'm about to have a stall in our conversation. I just wanted to communicate that with you. Is that okay?

Avery/GM: Uh, roll a Charisma Connect check.

Jenine/Marty: Happily. It's a 6 and a 5 plus. Charisma is a plus one, it's twelve, and then another plus one for connect, that's thirteen!

Avery/GM: Holy cow, yeah! You suddenly feel the ship stop taking fire, and the Admiral comes back and just says, Hmm, my ship's psychic says that there's more going on here than I'm aware of. You have ten minutes, and then we will resume our course of action.

Jenine/Marty: Can we do twenty? My group is really, uh, we're, when I say that I'm the best form of communication between the two, it's because we're not really good at coming up with a plan in less than like five, 10 and like what we're going to say to, to others.

Is that okay? Can we do a 20?

Avery/GM: You hear a chuckle and it's just like, fine, 20 minutes. Yeah. You have bought yourself a little bit of time and may have staved off the disaster that your friends are about to face. Back over to Polaris and the rest of, uh, the escape party. Go ahead and roll one more survival, Dexterity Survive check.

Bee/Polaris: Now question, do we not have a map of this ship via Ollie and his various robots?

Avery/GM: You do.

Bee/Polaris: Can, can that help us in any sort of way?

Avery/GM: How about this, I'll give, since you've thought of it, this, this roll, I will give you an extra plus one.

Zach/Zahn: Yay! Well, I rolled a ten.

Bee/Polaris: I rolled. A ten as well.

Chris/Ollie: Oh, I got a seven this time. 

Avery/GM: A ten, a ten, and a seven? Okay, that works. You get further down the tunnel, and you're just about to get to the floor with the docking bay on it, when you hear The crack become louder and suddenly the firing that was happening that was damaging that section stops and the air is escaping faster. So, uh, you do have the door here.

The door is shut.

Zach/Zahn: Is there like a seal system, like a segmented bulkhead kind of situation where we can potentially cut ourselves off from where the, the tear is.

Avery/GM: So normally in this kind of situation, the ship would deploy force fields or whatever to, you know, stave off a catastrophic collapse, but because there is no power, those are not deploying.

Chris/Ollie:Non physical bulkheads? Fools!

Bee/Polaris: Um, where, where's the crack?

Avery/GM: The crack is probably by now, probably about. 200 feet back.

Bee/Polaris: Oh. I was Cause I have a tarp. 

Zach/Zahn: I have a tarp!

Bee/Polaris: It has Okay,

Avery/GM: Okay Ocean Gate.

Bee/Polaris: I mean, it has It has the, uh, the hole that Zod, like, momentarily cut into.

Zach/Zahn: Oh, yeah.

Bee/Polaris: But But, I do still have a tarp.

Chris/Ollie: How big is this crack?

Avery/GM: So now it's starting to spread, so now it's probably So width? It's not very wide. It's, it's kind of a hairline, you know, fracture. But it's, it's cracking up about ten feet up the, the wall of, of this, uh, shaft. So what's the plan? Cut open the door, or try and seal off this crack so you don't get vacced?

Bee/Polaris: Uh, well if we get vacced, does it matter?

Avery/GM: It could!

Chris/Ollie: I think getting vac'd is kind of the idea, isn't it?

Bee/Polaris: Oh.

Chris/Ollie: Although, getting vac'd through a narrow crack is not ideal.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Chris/Ollie: That

Zach/Zahn: does not sound ideal.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, can we just like, weld that shit shut so we don't get vac'd?

Zach/Zahn: So if we cut open this door, and let the door fly, it would Hypothetically fall into the crack, right?

Chris/Ollie: No, no, no, hold on. I've got eight grenades on me. We could just get out into space and they could just pick us up. Once they take off. We've all got vac suits. I don't need oxygen. Zahn, actually, no, we've all got like straight up. 

Zach/Zahn: Oh yeah, That's why we all opted to not teleport.

Bee/Polaris: That's exactly why I said that we should go because we're the helmet crew and we have enough tech to keep us like floating

Chris/Ollie: Exactly, so let's just send some grenades to the

Bee/Polaris: Okay, Polaris throws a grenade. Yeah.

Chris/Ollie: Uh, Ollie will also throw a grenade 

Bee/Polaris: Why?! Oh god.

Chris/Ollie: Because we want to blow we want to make sure the hole is big enough so we can get out without getting our organs sucked out.

Bee/Polaris: Give give Zod a grenade too so we So we can all three throw a grenade in friendship.

Zach/Zahn: In friendship!

Avery/GM: Friendship grenade.

Chris/Ollie: Okay. Yeah, Ollie will hand Zahn a friendship grenade.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris will say, okay, on the count of three.

Zach/Zahn: I hope it's not a pin pull grenade.

Avery/GM: No

Bee/Polaris: Uh, please let me pull your pin for you.

Zach/Zahn: I was gonna say, it's probably like a push button grenade. 

Avery/GM: Commit, commit to the bit.

Bee/Polaris: Okay, uh, what if, uh, Ollie hands you

Zach/Zahn: Zahn deconstructs his helmet just long enough to pull the pin with his teeth.

Bee/Polaris: Or, or Ollie just hands you a pin less grenade. 

Chris/Ollie: Here you go friend, I've taken care of that for you. 

Bee/Polaris: Jesus Christ!

Chris/Ollie: You have point 2 seconds.

Bee/Polaris: Okay. Anyway. Uh, yeah. Okay. So we throw three friendship grenades.

Zach/Zahn: Yep. In unison. 

Avery/GM: Yeah. Go ahead and roll a d20 each of you.

: 

Zach/Zahn: Oh man. This would be a really awkward time to get a nat one. 

Bee/Polaris: Don't say that before rolling.

Chris/Ollie: I mean, you're throwing with a I got a…

Zach/Zahn: I got a nat 20 instead! Booyah!

Chris/Ollie: with the vacuuming, pretty much all we gotta do is just let go. Uhh, I got a three.

Zach/Zahn: Well, you wanna, you wanna give it some velocity, you know.

Chris/Ollie: I mean, I did the best dog throw I could.

Do we get any modifiers on this, or?

Avery/GM: No, cause it's just a straight roll.

Chris/Ollie: Okay, three. 

Avery/GM: Oh wait, grenades, oh, I'm sorry, wait. Grenades can be thrown with the exert skill instead of the shoot skill. So you would still add your shoot or exert.

Chris/Ollie: Oh, does that also include dex? 

Avery/GM: Yeah, and it's a dex, yeah. So, sorry, d20, dex, shoot.

Chris/Ollie: Okay, I don't have any,

Zach/Zahn: uh Well, technically I rolled a 22 then.

Bee/Polaris: And then technically I rolled a… Can Zahn's grenade nudge Ollie

Zach/Zahn: 23.

Avery/GM: Wait, what did you roll, Chris? 

Chris/Ollie: Uh, well, with that, it brings it down to 2.

Bee/Polaris: What?!

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, cause I have a minus one shoot. 

Avery/GM: No. Do you have exert? 

Chris/Ollie: Uh, no.

Avery/GM: Oh. Well, shit. Okay. So, Polaris and Zahn, you throw these grenades and they land pretty much right on where this crack was forming.

Ollie, unfortunately, with a 2. You kind of just like drop the grenade like you you don't you don't get it far enough away Like it lands like maybe like five feet from you and all three of these explode

Bee/Polaris: wait now. This is gonna be incredibly risky Can Polaris seeing Ollie drop the grenade? Can he kick the grenade? Before it goes off

Chris/Ollie: Wait would my grenade set off the other grenades?

Avery/GM: No. Because the other two did, did hit their target. So I'm not gonna do that. 

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, I just want the grenade not to be 5 feet from us.

Avery/GM: Okay, if you want to kick this, I want you to understand the risk.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, I'm aware of the risk.

Avery/GM: Polaris will lose his leg if this goes badly. But go ahead, Chris. 

Chris/Ollie: Can Ollie jump onto the grenade?

Bee/Polaris: Why? That's what Polaris is specifically trying to prevent because you dropped it five feet from you.

Zach/Zahn: From us.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. 

Chris/Ollie: Because Ollie's got a lot of HP and AC. 

Avery/GM: Well, your AC won't matter if you're on top of a grenade, but,

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Avery/GM: it does, it only does 2d6 damage, so it'll be fine.

Chris/Ollie: Oh yeah, then Ollie will just jump on the grenade. 

Avery/GM: Okay, Ollie, you're choosing to take the hit? 

Chris/Ollie: Yes.

Bee/Polaris: Okay. Thank you, I like my leg, but it would've, it would've been fine.

Chris/Ollie: I mean, Zahn, I'm sure, would've felt vindicated having his arm broken. Like, Ha! That's what you get! But, uh, that's a bit much.

Bee/Polaris: Uh, Polaris will be fine. He can heal it, at least.

Avery/GM: Yeah, you take 11 damage. And you ruin all this nice synthetic fur that was on your belly.

Bee/Polaris: Wait, stop! Oh my god! You're carrying a pack of, like, eight more grenades.

Chris/Ollie: No, it hit my belly, though. Those grenades are under my chin. Okay.

Avery/GM: No, yeah, well, the shrapnel did not pierce through the metal frame of this dog body, but it did ruin the tummy fur that was on it, so no more tummy scratches.

No more tummy scratches for Ollie, unfortunately. 

Chris/Ollie: Uh, you know, I'll get some time on the workbench 

Avery/GM: Go to the spa.

Bee/Polaris: For a split second, I thought that was the end of us.

Avery/GM: Well, you still have these two grenades that are exploding further down the tube.

Bee/Polaris: That's fine.

Avery/GM: This hole punctures, and the air gets sucked out even faster. And you all are flying through.

Bee/Polaris: Whee!

Avery/GM: Did you communicate that this was your plan to your friends? Because they are still waiting in the hangar bay.

Bee/Polaris: Oh yeah, Polaris will send a text message. Well, Polaris will send a video of all of them throwing the grenade at the same time.

Chris/Ollie: A little gif.

Bee/Polaris: And then he'll, and then he'll say, uh, under it, he'll say, wait, we'll be waiting outside, smiley face.

Jenine/Marty: I'm going to immediately, when I see that message, immediately send back a message to the other group. Hi, just a quick heads up, I pro… we are not escaping, this, this is not the plan. My friends did an alternate, uh, exit from the ship, so I'm gonna Pick them up from where they are, and then move a little bit. That was my friends, so sorry, what they're doing.

Hi! Apologies. I'm gonna go pick them up, I promise we're not gonna go anywhere, I promise. Prom prom like, pinky swear.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, pinky swear's pretty ro you can't break a pinky swear.

Avery/GM: Marty, would you like me to engage the sensor mask? 

Jenine/Marty: What’s that?

Bee/Polaris: That's the stealth thingy, that's the stealth thingy that makes us stealthy so we can leave.

Jenine/Marty: When did we get this, when did we get that?

Avery/GM: That was uh, one of the things you set up in the, in the ship when we did the ship building.

Jenine/Marty: Oh, I think we just never used it. That's cute. We're probably going to want to sneak away from this situation. Did I get a message back? Before, are they mad?

Avery/GM: The admiral sends back a message and says.

 Is this how you work in this galaxy? Breaking the terms of an agreement right after making it?

Jenine/Marty: I'm gonna disappear.

Bee/Polaris: What? Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. How did we break the terms of agreement? 

Jenine/Marty: I said I was gonna stay put for all of you. 

Avery/GM:  Yep. 

Bee/Polaris: Oh, well I mean, you asked them politely if you could move to go grab us. You didn't break the terms yet.

Jenine/Marty: I did ask them politely if that was okay.

Avery/GM: Yeah, and that's their response back is like, Oh, you're gonna break the terms of the agreement already by moving. Okay, I see how it is. 

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, and our response is, Oh, if you're gonna be a bitch, then bye!

Jenine/Marty: Okay, well, okay. I guess we're just gonna go and get my friends now and we're gonna run.

Bee/Polaris: Is that what you say to them? 

Jenine/Marty: No, that's what Marty is thinking now. Marty's not petty. Janine's petty, but Marty isn't.

Avery/GM: Marty, you see Ro sit down in the, uh, in the pilot seat and Psy takes the captain's chair and is just like, don't worry, Marty. We'll take care of this and, uh, Sai nods, uh, to his sister and Roe looks over at you and smiles and says, 

Polaris taught me how to fly.

And she starts taking off from the hangar bay. The Admiral has stopped communicating with you, but they have not fired on you as you exit the hangar bay.

Jenine/Marty: Yay.

Bee/Polaris: Question. When we get sucked out of space, can they see us being sucked in out into space? Not, not the TSKAM crew, but the Pan Solar Union.

Avery/GM: No, you're too small for their sensors.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, can we see them?

Avery/GM: Oh, yeah, you can see them. Uh, in fact, I was, sorry, I was actually gonna have y'all roll a, yes, physical saving throw from all three of you.

Bee/Polaris: Uh, um, is this, is this one of those things that I can re roll every scene as an expert?

Avery/GM: Oh, that's a good question. I think it's just skill checks, but let's find out.

Jenine/Marty: Did you roll a wrong number? Did you mess up?

Avery/GM: I was just about to say, you can re roll, once per scene, you can re roll a failed skill check.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, I rolled a nat one.

Chris/Ollie: Five.

Avery/GM: Five? 

Chris/Ollie: Yep.

Bee/Polaris: So you fail?

Avery/GM: Zahn, what did you roll?

Chris/Ollie: I got some super bad rolls. I gotta use some actual dice.

Zach/Zahn: I got a nat 20 again! 

Bee/Polaris:What the fuuuuck?

Chris/Ollie:He's a god. 

Zach/Zahn: Can I, can I save Ollie from his shit roll all the way out?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, I'm a lost cause.

Avery/GM: With a nat 20, you can save Ollie, but you are not saving Polaris from this.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, I got a nat 1.

Zach/Zahn: I'm sorry.

Bee/Polaris: It’s fine.

Zach/Zahn: Oh, I'm sorry.

Bee/Polaris: It's, yeah, it's okay.

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Bee/Polaris:  I  deserve this.

Avery/GM: It'll be fine. Everyone will be fine. It'll be totally fine. This is not going to end horribly.

Bee/Polaris: I don't believe you. Give me my punishment, please.

Avery/GM: We flash back to the command deck just after they lost power.

Bee/Polaris: Oh no.

Avery/GM: And one of the command crew turns to Rhea and says, 

Rhea, we, we've lost all power! I, I can't control the ship, I can't get shields, I can't get anything!

She smiles and says, Oh that's okay, remain at your post, I'll return shortly. And leaves the command deck and goes into her private quarters, where she presses a button on her wrist and is teleported into a different room. Elsewhere on this ship. Uh, this room is very small. It really just has a seat and two controls in front of it.

She sits down, straps in, and presses the eject button. And, what our camera would see on the outside, is this section of the Argo that looked like just any other normal part of the ship, detaches from the ship and forms a mech suit. And it starts kind of jetting around, trying to find a good escape route.

And Rhea is looking for this escape route when she sees this explosion from the elevator shaft of the ship. Not really knowing that it's the elevator shaft, obviously. And out come tumbling these three humans. 

Zach/Zahn: Two humans and a robot. Robot dog

Chris/Ollie: Robot dog

Avery/GM: Well, two humans and a robot. No, you're right. Robot dog. Sorry. She sees these three individuals pop out of the explosion, and deploys one of her tools on this mech, which is a grappling hook.

Bee/Polaris: Yikes! 

Avery/GM: And attaches to Polaris, who unfortunately tumbles straight into the grasp of this grappling hook and is now being pulled in and it does knock you unconscious.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, perfect. Okay. I'm okay. Well, it was nice playing guys.

Avery/GM: the whip, the whiplash of, of sort of being jerked in one direction from getting sucked out and then jerked in the other direction.

Chris/Ollie: It snaps your neck. You die instantly.

Avery/GM: No, but there's just a lot of blood rushing to places. And so it just. Yeah. You just pass out for a little bit.

Bee/Polaris: Okay. Question. Uh, does that, does my helmet turn off when Polaris is unconscious?

Avery/GM: I would assume so. It probably has like a sleep mode.

Bee/Polaris: Okay. Would the custodians know about that?

Avery/GM: Immediately. Yes.

Bee/Polaris: So they would see the explosion and then Polaris helmet turn off?

Avery/GM: Yes. 

Chris/Ollie: They probably have the visual feed as well.

Bee/Polaris: Oh yeah, cause live streams.

Chris/Ollie: Thank god it was you. Because if it was anyone, anyone other than you, the custodians would be like, okay, what? Who cares?

Bee/Polaris: Except Polaris wanted the custodians to lay low.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, so now it's not good. Cause they're not gonna lay low.

Avery/GM: Marty, you and the TSKAM, uh, come out of the hangar bay just as Polaris is getting pulled into Rhea's mech. Can't really see Polaris here, but you sense your friend. You can sense your friend lose consciousness as you're approaching where the explosion occurred, and this mech starts firing on your ship.

Jenine/Marty: Uh, that's cute. That's great. We're gonna This is a new scene?

Avery/GM: Yep.

Jenine/Marty: Amazing. I have now confused myself with the numbers that I'm at here, because I don't remember what things I've done. I'm going to now commit to telepathic stuff. How far away are they? You know, that little ship that took my friend?

Avery/GM: They are probably like, 30 meters?

Jenine/Marty: Is that close enough for me to, to throw some chaos over there? Could I? What did I, what, where is my little thing? I should have, can I transmit thought over? To, I know what I'm doing. I know what I'm doing. Can I just scare whoever is taking my friend and let them think that they had snagged a rock instead of my friend?

Zach/Zahn: I mean it is Rhea. 

Chris/Ollie: It is Rhea.

Jenine/Marty: But Marty don't know that. I know nothing. Yeah, let's go fight this. I know nothing. 

Bee/Polaris: wouldn’t Marty not be able to psychically sense Rhea? 

Jenine/Marty: Would I? 

Bee/Polaris: Because she was able to with Ro.

Avery/GM: Oh no, that's true. Uh, no, you know that the, okay, you might not know that it's Rhea, but you do know that there is a powerful psychic piloting that mech.

Jenine/Marty: Nevermind, nevermind that, nevermind. Um.

Avery/GM: No, that's a fair call. Thank you. Thank you for pointing that out, uh, Bea.

Bee/Polaris: I got you. 

Jenine/Marty: Could I instead do telek telekinesis and do I can do a thing.

Chris/Ollie: I mean, we're weightless in space, so you could just move us around easy with telekinesis.

Jenine/Marty: I know. Does it have to be my weapon for telekinetic armor? Can I make a Do I have to hold it, or can I give someone else control of it?

Avery/GM: I let I'm pretty sure I let Ro give someone a weapon or armor, so I'm pretty sure that's fine.

Bee/Polaris: Ro gave Polaris armor, but I don't think that's a thing anymore, is it?

Avery/GM: No, not at this point.

Jenine/Marty: Could I make a left handed Gun for Zaun with telekinetic armor? Question mark.

Avery/GM: Sure. Zaun, you're floating. You see Polaris get snatched out of the air. Your jet boots kick on and, and a weapon starts to form in your left hand. Marty, what's this weapon? What are you, what are you giving your friend?

Jenine/Marty: I just pick whatever the little. You know, I see the pistols that they have, and I just made it bigger.

Chris/Ollie: I would like the same, uh, laser cutter that Zahn has, but just extra sized.

Jenine/Marty: No, whatever, whatever weapon Zahn normally has. Someone has a pistol. Whatever pistol that I've seen, I've just made it bigger to make it more intimidating.

Avery/GM: Sure. Okay, Zahn, we will say that this telekinetic pistol has the same properties as an anti vehicle laser.

Zach/Zahn: Hell yeah!

Avery/GM: So, 3D10 damage.

Chris/Ollie: Well, it's also perfect because it's designed it's a cutting tool. That shoots a big laser blade and, uh, we're trying to cut a grappling hook. So…

Bee/Polaris: Just don't hit  Polaris.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah.

Jenine/Marty: Marty is smart. Marty knows weapons. Woo.

Avery/GM: And the Pan Solar Union ships have started opening fire once again on the Argo.

Zach/Zahn: Has it already been 20 minutes?

Avery/GM: No. Uh, Marty moved..

Zach/Zahn: Uh oh.

Avery/GM: Ro moved, technically. 

Chris/Ollie: Yeah the Pan Solar Admiral is a super literalist. So. Uh, so can we target and take shots at this grappling line that's grabbing Polaris? 

Avery/GM: Yeah. 

Chris/Ollie: So Ollie will call out fire on the line and, uh, go all out.

Zach/Zahn: I was gonna aim for the arm. That way, if I, like, I'm not gonna be anywhere nearChris/Ollie: Well, the mech?

Zach/Zahn: I'm not gonna be anywhere near

Chris/Ollie: Well, okay, how big is this mech?

Zach/Zahn:  Is it, like, Hulkbuster sized?

Avery/GM: Yeah, it's more Hulkbuster sized. So, just a little bit bigger than an average person.

Zach/Zahn: See, my mind went somewhere between Hulkbuster and the Robo forklift thing that Ripley uses in Aliens.

Avery/GM: Yeah, it's a good mix of those two. That's, that's a good way to look at it. Except it moves a lot faster than, 

Zach/Zahn: Yeah.

Chris/Ollie: it's got Gundam speed.

Zach/Zahn: It's got that Gundam agility. 

Chris/Ollie: All right. Well, Ollie will shoot at the, uh, the line. 

Avery/GM: Dexterity shoot attack, please. 

Chris/Ollie: And he's gonna shoot with his bots as well. Apparently, I've been sleeping on the bots, and, uh, they should have an insane to hit roll.

Bee/Polaris: Well, it would only be your, um, drones.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, the drones. Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: Cause, yeah, your bots got vaped.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, that's what I meant by bots. I meant the drones. A little drone y, guys. Um Oh, that's right, the third one doesn't actually have a weapon, though. 

Zach/Zahn: Am I shooting too?

Avery/GM: Yeah. Are you shooting the, the, the cable or are you

Zach/Zahn: shooting the arm? I'm aiming for the arm. But like, in a way to where like the, the beam that I'm shooting would be intersect, would intersect the line also.

Avery/GM: Okay.

Zach/Zahn: But like, this is still, do we know it's Rhea? Or do we also just, it's just a big mech that's stealing Polaris. 

Avery/GM: It's a big mech that grabbed Polaris, yeah.

Zach/Zahn: Got it

Chris/Ollie: So. Um, so for my personal shot, it's uh, 7. And then 15 and 21 for my others.

Avery/GM: Okay. Uh, the 15 and 21 hit. 

Zach/Zahn: Uh, 16? From my big gun. 

Avery/GM: Oh, 16 just hits the AC of this mech.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah, boy!

Avery/GM: I didn't want to make it too overpowered, but, uh, 

Zach/Zahn: 16's a solid AC for a big mech.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, uh, if Rhea kills Polaris, would she be known as the Star Destroyer?

Avery/GM: Wait, what?

Bee/Polaris: Polaris is a star.

Avery/GM: Oh, the name of the Oh, gotcha. Okay, yes. Uh, yeah. Yeah. I'm sorry. No, I just, I didn't get it at first.

Chris/Ollie: I would be happy to call you that, Polaris. 

Jenine/Marty: I laughed. Know that I laughed, but I was muted. I was laughing.

Avery/GM: No, I'm sorry. I just, it took me a minute. It took me a minute. That's all. I'm just slow.

Zach/Zahn: Um, but does that, well, does that mean that since you, you've killed, Polaris has killed people, right?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, of course.

Zach/Zahn: So you're a death star. 

Bee/Polaris: High five. 

Chris/Ollie: So I got, uh, 28 damage. 

Avery/GM: 28 damage. Okay. 

Zach/Zahn: Oh, right. I gotta roll my 3d10. 

Avery/GM: Yup. 

Zach/Zahn: 16 on the dice. Do I add anything?

Avery/GM: No. It's just whatever it is. Okay. Um, well, uh, it has 15 armor. So it takes one damage.

Zach/Zahn: Oh, fuck.

Avery/GM: You're doing great. You're doing great.

Zach/Zahn: It has 15 armor. So you, uh, do, uh, one damage. That's great.

Avery/GM: Unless, hold on, let me make sure it doesn't have armor piercing, uh, anti vehicle laser, it does not have I feel like an anti vehicle 

Chris/Ollie: Wait, anti-vehicle laser? Sounds like it would have armor piercing.

Zach/Zahn: Sounds like, doesn't mean it does.

Avery/GM: Oh no! Damage against vehicles and other hard skinned targets, damage is rolled twice and the better result is used.

Zach/Zahn:Ooh! Yay!

 Avery/GM: So, roll damage one more time. See if you get anything better.

Zach/Zahn: Well, I rolled two sevens and a two, so that might be hard to beat. Yeah, the other one was better.

Avery/GM: The one damage did not. The 28 damage that Chris's weapons did, uh, did do it. And Polaris's Wait,

Zach/Zahn: what? How did he deal 28 damage?

Avery/GM: With all his frickin uh, drones.

Chris/Ollie: I have a huge

Zach/Zahn: Holy crap!

Bee/Polaris:  He shot the cable, not the mech.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, they've got a huge to hit bonus and, uh, some pretty good guns.

Avery/GM: Yeah, that, that, that too, Zach, uh, he was targeting a cable. 

Zach/Zahn: The line! Yeah, yeah, yeah. I missed, or like, I knew that part, but I also simultaneously missed that part.

Avery/GM: Yeah, no, you're fine. So the line comes loose and Polaris is now free floating in space and Polaris, could you make a mental saving throw this time?

Bee/Polaris: 7, Oh, so it meets. No wait, no it doesn't. No, no, no, no, it's one under.

Avery/GM: Oh shit.

Bee/Polaris: Okay.

Avery/GM: You do not wake up yet. So.

Bee/Polaris: Sick.

Avery/GM: Marty, over on the TSKAM, you get a message on the communication board from the Ursa Major, and it is Alioth. And Alioth just says, Query, where is Polaris?

(Ambience fades out, outro plays, then fades down)

Avery/GM: Thank you for listening to our show. Beyond the Furthest Stars is a 1up Podcast Network Production. If you like our show, leave us a rating and review on iTunes or Spotify, it really helps us out.

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