Exploring a planet with Lilly and The Drifter

You and Athena spent plenty of time with each other, often interrupted by her ghost or Failsafe. Right as Athena started to get ready to sleep her ghost notified her that Lilly was trying to get in touch with her.

"Yes?" Athena rolls her eyes.

"You've got John with you, right?"

"I do, why?"

"Commander Zavala asked me to see him. I'm outside the hangar to meet up with him. He said that you are not to be included."

"Alright. I'll let him know."

The feed goes dead, as Athena's ghost shakes. "That's odd. Why is Commander Zavala requesting meetings so late?" It flies over to Athena's shoulder. "And why John?"

Athena flicks him. "That's none of our business." She sighs. "You'd better get out there." She reaches her hand out and her ghost drops into her hand, then dematerializes. "That's a shame."

You chuckle at Athena as the door opens.

"Do not worry Athena! I am sure that John will be back shortly to assist you!" Failsafe teases.

Athena rolls her eyes. "I'm going to bed, be quiet when you come back."

You nod as you leave, the door closing behind you.

"Hey there, brother!" The Drifter's voice strikes your ears. He stands next to Lilly who gives a subtle wave to you as you walk into view.

You look at Lilly. "I thought you said-"

"Like Athena would let you go if she knew Drifter was involved." Lilly interrupts.

The Drifter turns to her and puts his hands up. "Always ol' Drifter's fault."

"Pretty much." She chuckles as she steps forward. She hands you a small device.

"What's this?" You ask.

"Some Fallen tech I bought from The Spider." Drifter starts. "I figured it would be easy to figure out, like the rest of their junk." He spits on the ground. "Shit's either broke, or it is something way better than I thought originally."

"We want you to figure out what it is." Lilly states, her eyes rolling.

You take the device from her and almost instantly you begin to feel a rush of knowledge flood into you. The text on the device that you previously had no hope of decoding, you could now read like it was your native language.

"It is a communication device." You hand it back to Lilly. "It looks like the Fallen have been mapping the system and are sending coordinates to each other."

The Drifter looks at you with a confused expression. "I know you didn't just figure that out in seconds!" He snatches the device from Lilly and looks at it for a few seconds. "You can read this shit?"

You nod and ask if that was all they needed you for.

The Drifter laughs. "Originally, yes." He hands you the device. "How about now we check out these coordinates?"

Lilly reaches up to her jaw with her hand. Suddenly, the green light you see coming from her mouth region is replaced by metal plating. Her full lips, where metal plating was originally, are now exposed. "That sounds great. But why don't we get something to eat first?"

The Drifter laughs. "You don't need to eat."

"Yeah, but I can still get hungry." Lilly pouts.

"Fine, fine. We'll eat first." The Drifter turns and begins walking. He turns his head back to you. "You comin'?"

You nod and put the device in your pocket as you begin following Lilly and The Drifter.

-

You board Lilly's ship. It is much smaller than Athena's ship, only containing three seats and a storage room. Lilly sits at the controls and The Drifter at your side.

Lilly's ghost materializes, a small round ghost with a flowery pink shell.

"Where are we going this time?" The female voice of her ghost asks.

You read a set of coordinates off of the device.

"Hey Lilly." The ghost floats to you and seems to scan you. "Did you finally get a boyfriend?" She floats to Lilly. "He's cute."

The Drifter laughs as Lilly sighs.

"No, this is Athena's boyfriend." She rotates her chair to look at you and The Drifter. "He's just a navigator on this one."

"Watch it sister." The Drifter sticks his hand out. "This guy here's more than a navigator." He taps your chest with his hand, a smile on his face. "This guy's a scavenger, just like me. A damn smart one too. He functions like one of us."

Lilly holds her hands up defensively. "Calm down, man."

She turns back towards the controls and reclines her chair. She looks up to see the two of you as she is leaning back. "Looks like this will take a while." She folds her arms. "I'm taking a nap on the way."

"Exos sleep?" Drifter asks.

"Shut up."

Drifter laughs.

The room was silent for a while, save for the sound of the ship's internal functions.

The Drifter leans in close to you. "I have a lot of bad shit to tell you. Backstory stuff, y'know." His eyes drift to the floor, he sighs, then his eyes go back to yours. "If you still follow through after all of that..." He pauses and taps his foot. "I'm building something for the next inevitable extinction level event." He leans back. "I'm savin' a few seats." He gestures to Lilly. "One's for her, and one is for you. If you want it."

You try to think of a good response, but are stopped when the ship lands.

Lilly stands and gestures for you two to do the same. "We're here."

You exit the ship. The planet is empty. A foggy wasteland. The ground makes a squishing sound when you walk. The swampish environment and large, spiny plants surround you.

You look at the device as Lilly and The Drifter walk around nearby. You could tell something was up with the way this planet's coordinates took priority over the rest of the information on the device. It was a communication device, a map linked between an unknown number of Fallen all working on filling it out, yet this one planet had a pulsing signal that was above everything. It wasn't right.

The Drifter waves his hand between you and the device. "You with us? Something catch your eye?"

You take one more glance at the device before informing them you felt something was off.

"I'm sure it's fine." Lilly stretches her hands behind her head. "Hell, worst thing is the Fallen are setting up shop here."

The Drifter laughs. "Then we smack them and take some stuff."

"That's right."

You follow closely behind The Drifter and Lilly. Something about the ominous environment, the silence and the device are all still sending a gnawing uneasiness into your heart.

You continue to examine the device as you follow them.

"Watch your step, bud!" The Drifter shouts as he sticks an arm out in front of you.

Startled, you look away from the device and look in front of you, a large chasm is a step away.

"This way is safe." Lilly points and begins moving.

"Careful man." The Drifter begins following her.

You navigate a few more interfaces on the device and finally start to put together some more information.

A roster of all of the participating Ketches, each color coded, some the same, but with a stripe.

"You guys." You crack after coming to a realisation. "These coordinates were sent as a distress signal." You point to a Ketch name on the device.

"Uh, brother... We can't read that."

"Ketch Stargate. These coordinates were sent by Ketch Stargate as a distress signal."

"Stargate?" The Drifter brings a hand fo his jaw. "Why's that special?"

Lilly shrugs. "Alright, some Fallen are sending signals for help. Let's put them out of their misery and get some loot."

You shake your head. "Why hasn't anyone come to help yet?" You point to smaller text. "The communicator on the Stargate hasn't been touched for weeks."

The Drifter stops walking. "He's right Lilly." He sighs. "The Fallen are the best at bangin' their heads against walls. Just take Earth and the Traveller for example." He claps his hands once. "If even the Fallen are ignoring a distress signal, there must be some bad shit on this planet."

Lilly looks around. "Alright, let's go." She sighs.

The three of you begin to walk back towards Lilly's ship.

You trip over something as you walk. As you hit the ground you begin to get dragged off away from the group.

"Oh shit!" The Drifter shouts as he pulls out a sidearm.

Lilly turns and reaches for her gun.

Eventually they are out of sight, the fog is too thick. You struggle to stop yourself from moving, but can't. You look at your legs to find that a plant like entity has hold of you. You reach for The Deal Breaker and fire two shots. Each bullet ripping through the entity, a purple splatter coming from your bindings as they go limp.

You stand and look around. You see a large silouette in the fog. As you approach it and the fog clears, you notice it to be a Fallen Ketch.

Several large plant like creatures surround the Ketch. The bodies of countless Fallen are around.

You enter the Ketch to find that it is mostly undamaged. You walk around, stepping over the bodies of more Fallen and find nothing of interest. As you walk your ear begins to ring with static. Eventually a deep voice begins speaking to you in a language you've never hear, yet you understand every word.

"(To the signal who just entered, and anyone with them. This the Stargate. I am in the control room with the remaining survivors, please be caution as you make your way here. I don't know how many of them are still here.)" The transmission goes silent.

You begin to jog, guessing your way to the cockpit. Eventually you enter a room and see a few Fallen sitting around.

A Vandal reaches for his gun, but you raise your hands. "(I am the signal.)" You put your hands down and observe the room. As much as you know The Drifter and Lilly want you to blast these guys and take their tech, you just couldn't do it. "(I'm here to help...What happened?")

The Vandal lets go of his weapon. He speaks with the voice from the transmission. "(We landed here to explore the planet. If it was empty, or if we found any Ether, we would have colonized it.)" He grips his stomach tightly with one of his four arms. "(A group if shadow-like beings, only four of them. They tore through us like we were nothing, broke our navigation system, then left... We've been here a while. Those things outside have been growing closer and closer to us each day.)" He gestures to a dead servitor in the corner. "(That there is the only reason we are still alive. It died recently, we don't know how. I guess we drained it of all of it's energy, and now we won't last more than a day or two.)"

You begin to examine the panels. You easily manage to identify and nullify the damages. The machine hums to life. "(We should be operational. Give me some coordinates and I'll take you there.)"

You follow their coordinates and after a while land. You don't know where, or even what it looked like outside, you never left that room.

"(How could we ever repay you? Stranger.)" The Vandal asks.

You press your hand on one of the panels. "(Can I keep the ship?)"

"(Yes, yes, the Stargate is yours.)" He folds his bottom two arms and brings one to his helmet, the other clutches his stomach. "(Stay here, I will bring you something else.)" He leaves.

Soon the Vandal returns with another Fallen. This Fallen doesn't wear any armor, instead it wears very human-like clothes. You almost didn't believe what you were seeing. A Fallen with a voluptuous hourglass figure, a pair of large breasts and a plump ass. Her four glowing blue eyes pierce into yours, two of her four arms drop from the Vandal's back. The part you were most surprised about was how human the faces of the Fallen were, though you didn't know if it was just this girl or if all Fallen under their helmets looked like this. The mandibles that you thought would be larger were actually quite small and sat beside very human-like lips.

"(This is my daughter... As much as I feel I will regret it, I am doing both you and her a favor. She always wanted to travel the stars, and you need a crewmate. She knows how to access everything in the Stargate.)" He hugs his daughter will all four of his arms. "(A long time ago I met a female lightbearer, she wasn't like the light thief guardians we war with. She actually fought along side us, she saved my life many times.)" The Vandal sighs. "(Then one day, she vanished.)" He nudges his daughter to step forward. "(I named my daughter after her. Flora is her name. Take good care of her, and please, visit sometime.)" He begins to walk to the exit. "(Call this Ketch whatever you two want, it is no longer the Stargate, it no longer belongs to me. It belongs to you, and Flora.)"