Last chapter. The Heaven's Wing

Oh well... Corbin thinks.

Raising his Laser rifle, he fires a burst.

Hank fires away with his laser rifle!

Douklan fires at the creature again, hoping that it hasn't been able to raise its shield in the interim.

Corbin leveled his laser rifle, exhaling sharply before squeezing the trigger. A burst of searing energy lanced across the ruined room, slamming into the creature’s shimmering telekinetic barrier. The shield flickered under the impact, destabilizing.

Hank followed up immediately, his own rifle firing in quick succession. The shots struck the barrier but dissipated harmlessly, leaving no mark. The thing was still standing, its eerie green eyes glowing with unnatural intensity, its battered uniform hanging in tatters over its inhuman form.

Mercer didn’t wait. He surged forward, vibroblade humming as he slashed in a brutal arc. The blade bit deep, bypassing whatever force it had conjured for protection. Dark, viscous fluid sprayed from the wound, hissing as it hit the floor.

Douklan didn’t hesitate. He fired again, the plasma round burning through the failing shield and striking the creature dead center. The impact sent it staggering backward, its form convulsing violently.

With a final, gurgling sound, it collapsed onto the floor, twitching once before going still.

Douklan immediately moves through Door 1 and checks to see if there are other hostiles in the vicinity.

Mercer will keep a lookout.

Corbin moves with the others.

Hank asks Maya, "Was that thing human once?"

He will then check to see make sure the electronics are a complete loss.

Douklan pushed forward without hesitation, stepping through the door with his rifle raised, scanning for any other hostiles lurking in the dim corridors beyond. The passage was empty, devoid of movement or sound. Whatever that thing had been, it had acted alone—at least for now.

Back in the ruined life support room, Maya knelt beside what was left of RB, her hands hovering over the shattered remains of the repair bot. Its casing was torn open, circuits and delicate components scattered like broken bones. She swallowed hard, her fingers clenching into fists. "He didn’t deserve this," she murmured, barely above a whisper.

Meanwhile, Hank moved toward the shattered electronics, crouching down to assess the damage. The explosion had been thorough—displays flickered erratically, wires hung limply from the ceiling, and any functional terminals were reduced to burnt-out husks. The systems were a complete loss. Whatever they needed to learn about the station’s fate, they wouldn’t be finding it here. Moreover, as Hank surveyed the wreckage, a small but crucial realization struck him—the life support system in this room had been shut down before the explosion. He had turned it off just in time.

Now, with the destruction wrought by the creature’s telekinetic outburst, the system wouldn’t be coming back online without significant repairs. The consoles were fried, the wiring was shredded, and the emergency reboot function was likely useless. Fortunately? Maybe. It meant that whatever else was lurking on this station wouldn’t have fresh air cycling in from this section.
Maya wiped at her faceplate as if to clear away nonexistent tears, then pulled up her portable analyzer. The results appeared instantly, cold and undeniable. She exhaled, the weight of it settling over her.

"It was," she confirmed grimly. "In fact, since my scanner synced with data from your ship before we left, I know his DNA matches a former crew member of the Celestial Voyager. Ryan Carter." She looked at Hank."Did you know him?"

In reaction to Maya checking on RB, Hank says, "I am sorry about RB. No, he didn't deserve this. I was worried about just leaving him behind. I didn't mean for it to get him killed."

After given the information about the creature they just killed, Hank is momentarily stunned by the mention of the name Ryan Carter, then says, "Yes. I knew the bastard. He killed our first officer and almost took Corbin, Erin, Jil, and me with him. But, Erin and Peter killed him. She saw him dead with her own eyes. She can fill you in on the chase, if you want."

Hank narrows his eye a little and adds, "And he was a psychic, but he was able to teleport, not use telekinesis." He thinks for a little more, then continues, "An investigator we worked with, Slaine, said he saw a clone of this guy die. Didn't take it too seriously at the time, but, this ... this suddenly makes it very real. I guess this makes a third copy of him. Hopefully we don't run into more copies. Especially if he can have nearly any psychic ability. That is very concerning."

He will wait to see if she has any questions. He will finish by saying, "The Ryan Carter name was apparently an alias. He had another name Slaine told us: Alfredo Hernandez."

He also makes sure everyone knows that life support in this area is now off. Even more reason to keep our helmets on.

OOC:

Also, would a robot like RB have a "memory core" or anything like that? If so, Hank wants Corbin to preserve it. While the RB we knew is probably gone, maybe one like him can eventually be reborn.

Hank turns to Corbin and asks, "Would a robot like RB have some kind of 'memory core'? If such exists and we can get it, maybe RB won't be gone forever."

we have to find a grav-sled anyway we can put RB on it to get him fixed

Douklan nods, acknowledging Mercer's comment: the group will need to move the ship parts once they find them and the ship. They can use that sled to move the valuable robot parts, too. "Well, since we have no clues as to where to find any of the stuff we're looking for yet, let's keep looking." Douklan moves "north" across the hall to the door on the opposite side. He will check to see if there is a legend, sign, or label indicating the room's original purpose before trying to open the door.

"I can probably pull his memory core, but I think we're safer leaving him here until we find the Heaven's Wing and see how much work it'll take to get it running again. There maybe plenty of time to retrieve him and we don't need to be walking into more combat towing a grav sled."

Corbin crouched beside the shattered remains of RB. The explosion had done a number on the bot, but if they were lucky, the memory core had been shielded enough to survive.

With a careful twist of his multitool, Corbin disengaged the casing and pulled out a small, intact cylinder no larger than his palm. The surface was scratched, but the indicator light flickered faintly—a good sign.

He turned it over in his hand. "Got it," he said. "No telling if it’s fully intact, but if we can get to the Heaven’s Wing, we’ll see if we can bring RB back.".

He gave it to Maya, who exhaled and safely stored the rod, some of the tension in her posture easing. It wasn’t much, but it was something.