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atonalginger · 7 months

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Here is something that so far has been a one shot. It's set up in such a way I could go back and forward and flesh it out more but for now it's just this. Starfield AU which changes to canon story beats because with Unity anything is possible!

Warnings: explicit language, light sexual suggestions (like the slightest this isn't spiced), kidnapping mention, missing child, mentions of past violence. Pretty mellow considering its centered around the Key/pirates OC(non-Starfarer) x Delgado Word Count: 3,095

Work-Life Balance

Bella and Delgado struggle to keep work and private life separate as things begin to boil over at the Key.

Just what had she gotten herself into, Bella thought as she walked down the corridor past Jazz’s office window. Jazz looked up from her terminal and waved, a bright smile flashing before going back to her work. Bella waved back and pushed on for the Cherry bomb with little Sophie waiting.

All she had wanted was to make enough creds to ensure Sophie was comfortable. It’s why she took that Argos job. Lin said there’d be desk work for Bella and soon they’d have a base she could bring Sophie along to. Lies. Then Constellation said Sophie would be safe at the Lodge while she worked and while not a flat out lie she didn’t like how they treated her over the situation. Ryujin was promising and the pay as a senior operative was nice but wasn’t the whole point of finding legit work to get away from the jobs that could land her in prison?

So then what was she doing now? What was this? She gave up on the idea of running with the Fleet when she got pregnant with Sophie and yet now she’d docked at the Key at least once a week trading loot and intel for creds. Even bringing her baby girl to the belly of the beast. And for what? Certainly wasn’t for that bastard Ikande. Filthy shark talking out both sides of his mouth, acting like she’s not expendable while forcing her to go undercover with the Fleet. As if threatening to disappear her daughter in the UC foster system wasn’t violent coercion. She thought about going to Fox and Jay but would MAST believe them over Ikande? Would they believe her?

She hugged her self as she waited for a crew to finish unloading their overstuffed crates of goodies. They each smiled and waved at her as well, most calling her Rook but their captain winked and greeted her as Cap Cherise. Not everyone was like this but she noticed those most loyal to Delgado were warm and welcoming to her and Bella couldn’t complain. It was jarring but a nice change compared to her time with the Syndicate.

Delgado. Her mind wandered back to the first real job on Suverov. How Mathis turned on her in the control room as Del opened the hanger bay. The way he threatened Mathis over the intercom before dashing for the surface. She had wondered if it was bravado as she clawed her way into the shuttle and closed the loading bay before Mathis could shoot his way onto ship, leaving the traitor as a peace offering to the creepy crawlies. But no, Delgado was waiting at the docking port when she got back to the Key, personally patched her up as she told him what she found.

She loved the way he looked at her. There was a hunger in his eyes, one that came through in his touch, his kisses, the way he fucked her. Good news or bad, he was always happy to see her. He talked her up to others around the Key. Demanded respect for her when Neava once again popped off at the mouth. She felt safest when in the arms of a man most called a monster. What was she doing? He was dangerous and if it was ever discovered she was docking at the Vigilance? She’d heard the talk about what Delgado did to rats.

Maybe ol’ Benny was right. Maybe she really did have a death wish and was just in denial.

---

Bella’s heart stopped when she reached the Cherry Bomb. The door was open wide and she could see the ransacked infirmary inside. How? The door was locked, only people who have the code are Jazz’s team and Bella. She climbed inside and hurried up the ladder. More mess. Every berth looked upside down. Clothes destroyed. And Mister Azure mutilated, hanging from the hatch into the cockpit. She did another pass of the ship, where was Sophie?

“Cherise?” a man’s voice called from the infirmary. Juan Wrecker, one of Del’s personal crew, “You in here? Sammy said you were heading this way.”

“Juan, how did this happen,” she looked down the ladder at him, fighting back tears, “I had it locked and…”

“Del has Jazz looking into that.” Juan motioned for her to climb down, “Me and Seumas are supposed to look for clues here while you head back to command. Del would have come down personally but he’s entertaining a little guest at the moment.”

Bella hopped down to the infirmary, “how’d she get…”

“Del had Mollie looking at the security footage. She said everyone acted like she wasn’t there. Little one also told us that mean men were wrecking your ship and she slipped away while they were busy.” Wrecker gave Bella a pat on her shoulder, “she was shaken up but she’s safe now.”

“I…Thank you…I need to go,” Bella wiped her eyes and hurried off the Cherrybomb.

Seumas called after her as she hustled past and started to sprint, “don’t worry, we’ll find who did this. They’ll pay.”

---

The Command station was quiet when Bella hurried in. Mollie was standing over a series of screens and Thrasher was working away at his usual console. Ever since Bella and Jay figured out the Legacy was lost in Bannoc IV and there’d be no retrieval Command had gone quiet. Mollie looked up and batted at chunk of hot pink hair out of her face, “they’re upstairs. Hope its okay, I fed Sophie some Chunks. A cheesesteak chunk and two cosmic red apples. Figured the apples would balance the scale.”

“She ate for you?” Bella’s jaw dropped slightly.

“Well not for me but I grabbed them for her. I saw her eating them while sitting with Del. He took her upstairs, said Thrasher and I were too much.” Mollie laughed, “oh and I already messaged Del and Wrecker, I saw who broke into your ship and Wrecker and the boys should be rounding them up quick.”

“That was fast.” Bella looked up the stairs and saw Sophie and Delgado in the window. He was holding her seated in one arm while they both waved at her. She blinked, shocked. Sophie didn’t like strangers and especially wouldn’t let one pick her up. Hell she barely tolerated her Aunt Jay some days. But there she was, smiling and half hugging Delgado, waving from the conference room. Bella waved back and turned back to Mollie, “who did it?”

“I don’t know him or his crew well, Captain Rusted Nail and some rooks he found. Only thing I know is that name is the most interesting thing about him. Don’t know why but Wrecker will find out. Go on, go hug your baby. I know you must have been scared.”

“Thank you,” Bella said in a quiet voice before hurrying for the stairs.

As soon as she opened the door Sophie ambushed her, hugging her leg tight, “Mama!”

“Sophie!” she leaned down and rubbed her daughter’s back and then slowly knelt down to hug her daughter close, “baby, how’d you get here?”

Sophie talked fast while tugging at her shirt hem and rocking back and forth, tripping over her words, “I ‘member you always saying you gotta go to command so when the mean men started throwing things and banging stuff I slipped away and asked a wobbly guy in red where Command was and he laughed and told me to go to the elevator and slap the top button and then go through the big orange doors and walk straight,” the little girl’s arm suddenly shot out to make a straight line, “until I saw the scrawny man with the red jacket with no sleeves and then go this way, “she swiped her arm away to one side, “and then ride another elevator up and then look for the big glowing table.”

“Wobbly man was one of Jazz’s techs off duty. Jazz is talking to him about maybe next time just walking the kid to Command instead of setting them loose in the Key but he still gave better directions than most.” Delgado joined them kneeling next to Sophie, “Sophie here walked in like she was Gran Jeffe looking for you. Said bad men ruined her nap.”

“They did,” Sophie nodded.

“That was very brave of you,” Bella said as she smoothed her daughter’s hair, “I’m sorry you were alone, baby.”

“S’okay, Mama. You did want me to stay with Auntie Jay.” Sophie hugged her mom. Bella held her close.

“That doesn’t excuse it.” Bella wondered just how badly she was fucking up her kid in this moment. That her five year old was rationalizing this already. Sophie was supposed to be playing at the playground with kids her age, not having to talk to drunken pirates while assholes ransacked her ship.

“Our ships are our safe havens,” Delgado took Bella’s upper arm in his hand and rubbed it with his thumb, “Plenty of the Fleet have their kids aboard to keep them safe. You did nothing wrong; I will see this is dealt with.” There was a fire in his eyes as he finished speaking.

“Mama?” Sophie tugged on Bella’s coat sleeve, “when you were on the Bomb did you see Zur? I forgot to grab him and I’m worried those mean men might have hurt him.”

The sight of Mister Azure, Sophie bright blue trilobite plush her aunt got her, hanging in mutilated pieces from the cockpit hatch hit Bella like a slap to the head. She stared at the big blue eyes staring up at her, struggling to find words.

“They hurt Zur, didn’t they?” Sophie’s voice broke, tears breaking instantly.

“I’m sorry baby.”

“Why?” She wailed, “he’s just a friend!”

“Because they are bad men,” Delgado spoke softly. He leaned in closer and placed a hand on Sophie back, “bad, bad men who are in a lot of trouble with me. I’ll have my guys get your friend and we’ll make sure he gets better, okay?”

“Del…” Bella started.

“I’ll handle it,” he looked up at her then back to her daughter. He wiped tears from Sophie’s cheek and pulled his red scarf from around his neck, “here. You wear this for now. It’ll keep you safe while I go talk to the bad men.”

Sophie’s cries had gone quiet as quick as they’d started and she now held one end of the silk scarf, running her fingers over the swirling patterns painted on it.

Delgado stood up and motioned for Bella to join him at the door. Once they were a few steps from Sophie he took her hand and leaned in, “I don’t know what those concha de su madres think they were doing but they will regret it. I promise you.”

“You’re doing a lot for a Rook who failed you,” Bella looked away to her shoes.

“Fleet comes first. You’re fleet, you come first,” Delgado chuckled and touched her chin with his other hand, lifted her head back up softly, “plus it’s not like you sank the Legacy into Bannoc IV yourself.”

“This is still a lot for a rook, Del. I told you I didn’t want you playing favorites. We’re suppose to be separating work with pleasure, remember?”

“One, you are not a Rook anymore and haven’t been since you successfully brought the Comspike back. No I don’t care what Neava said, I’m the boss not her. Two, those fuckers broke into one of my captain’s ships while docked on the Key and did who knows what to it. I want to know why, I want to know how, and I want to make them pay.”

They stared at one another. The fire in his eyes was intense. She hadn’t seen him this intense since he patched her up months ago. His gaze flickered to her lips and back to her pale green eyes.

Little Sophie voice broke the silence, “Bad men said Neav said look for Evan Dense. I don’t know who that is or why they thought he’d be on the Bomb but they were looking for Dense.”

They both slowly turned to look at the five year old standing near the table. She was looking up at them with a smile.

“Repeat that again, baby?” Bella turned to face her daughter.

“One of the bad men, the one in charge, kept scolding the others and saying Neav said to look for Evan Dense.”

“Evidence?” Bella asked, trying hard to not sound like she was correcting her.

“Yup, do you know who that is?” Sophie asked.

“I do,” Delgado said first, “don’t know why Neava thought he’d be on your Mama’s ship.”

Bella snapped her look back to Delgado and watched as he grinned so proudly. He leaned in and kissed Bella’s cheek and then looked back to Sophie, “I’m going to ask the bad men why they’re looking for Mr. Dense. Thanks for telling us that, sweetheart. You stay here with your mama. I’ll be back soon.”

---

Bella paced little circles in the back of Delgado’s private quarters on his ship as he talked. In the next berth Juan, Seumas, and Sophie were playing board games. Bella was spiraling. She wasn’t sure what was going to happen, just that the wind had finally blown and the house of cards was going down around her.

Sophie had been in the conference room with Delgado for nearly forty minutes when Bella finally got back to the Cherry Bomb. In that time Sophie had inadvertently outted her mother as a sysdef mole. Sophie had told Delgado the bad men who trashed the Cherry Bomb reminded her of the mean men who kidnapped her and her Mama in New Atlantis so long ago. She told him how a bully named Ikande made her cry when he wouldn’t let her see her Mama and how he made her Mama do work she didn’t want to do. Bella also learned that apparently Jillian Toft had been checking in on Sophie whenever she was staying with Jay and Sam and tried to get Sophie to talk when she was on the playground. Toft had told Sophie that Ikande and her cared about Sophie very much and they just wanted to help her.

“But Sophie’s a smart girl and knew Jillian was lying through her teeth and refused to talk.” Delgado was watching her pace, “Bella, come on, sit down, you’re going to wear a hole through the hull like that.”

“And somehow Neava figured this out too. And she’s trying to find anything to pass around the Key to rally people to kill me. I’m her latest mistake, it burns her ass that she fucked up and she’s going too…”

“Bella,” He was behind her, his arms now wrapped around her holding her still, “She won’t touch you.”

“I’m a rat.” Bella didn’t move.

“You’re not a rat. Sophie said you were always talking shit about those sharks, not her words, and saying you wouldn’t give them anything useful. And I believe it. You’re loyal.” He kissed her neck.

“Del, do you realize how crazy you sound, trusting a five year old’s word completely. She swore she met a pink miniature giant space frog last week in the park in the Embassy district. Her best friend is a neon green invisible ashta named Roxie.”

“Hey Roxie is cool, I got to meet her earlier when Sophie was eating one of her apples.” Delgado kissed her neck again, “I don’t think Sophie is lying about this. She’s not old enough know to lie about this.”

Bella turned around and looked at him. “What now then? Even without edgelord Rusted Nail finding “Mr. Dense” the rumors are already swirling. Why else are we here and not still on the Key? And how does that make you look, hiding a sysdef mole on your ship?”

He took her face in his hands and kissed her hard. She let out a surprised squeak and stumbled as he walked her back to the wall and pressed her against it. His hands ran down to her hips, one grabbing firm and the other quickly returning to her head, sliding behind and holding her still. “It will be dealt with.”

“You can’t deny everything has been falling to shit since I showed up. I won’t be the only one to notice.”

“Everything had been falling to shit for a while, Bella. Anything you did it a spit in the ocean.” He paused and kissed her again, lingering for a moment and then nibbling on her neck, “It’s why I was so focused on finding Kryx’s Legacy. I thought if I could bring it back to the Key then I could bring back the ideas, the values Kryx set in place when he founded the Fleet. I realized today, when Sophia said Neava gave the order, that those were gone, been gone for a long time. I’m a fool for not seeing the plots before and I’ll figure out what to do next tomorrow. Tonight,” he kissed her lips again, “tonight I just want to rest.”

A cheer in the other room drew their attention. Sophie had won the game and the guys were cheering her on. Bella stared off toward the commotion, “I should have told you sooner.”

“I understand why you didn’t,” Delgado brushed her hair out of her face and kissed her cheek, “forced to walk a tight rope, probably fed all sorts of bullshit from sysdef.”

“I mean yes,” she looked back at him, “I just didn’t know how you’d take it. I don’t know where we stand and I didn’t want to make you feel pressured or…”

“We stand right here,” he tugged at her hip and rested his forehead on hers, “With you at my side we can take on the universe.”

“Didn’t think you the hopeless romantic type, Del,” Bella mused.

He threw back his head and laughed as he stepped away, “I’m the guy who sank millions of credits into finding crumbs about the Legacy hoping it would save a sinking ship.”

“Fair,” Bella looked once more toward the door. Sophie was singing her latest favorite song and Juan was trying to be backup but two off-key singers weren’t making a tune, “What if the ship really sinks?”

“It’s in bad shape but it won’t sink,” Delgado led her back to the couch and pulled her onto his lap as he sat down, “but those are all concerns for tomorrow.”

#starfield #starfield fanfiction #starfield Delgado #oc x delgado #Sorry if the formatting is rough I'm not used to making such big posts #funny thing I don't have an ao3 account so it'll be a bit before I can share anything in a more convenient format #dare I introduce the idea of domestic Delgado?#like the idea of dangerous deadly villain type who just clicks with kids #That cat that won't let anyone fucking touch them or pick them up except that one person

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toxiclizardwrites · 6 months

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WIP Wednesday

A bit early but here's a sneak peak at my First fanfic ever! I hope you all like it!

Some notes:

- This is a Starfield fanfic featuring my OC and Delgado, Mathis, and some random pirates

- Takes place during the "Echoes of the Past" quest

- Pretty PG at this point but the spicier parts are coming

- Feel free to give feedback/leave general comments as you wish, I'm fine with criticism. I honestly haven't done any creative writing in years but this has been a lot of fun to write so far.

- no title yet

------------------

"I paid a small fortune for this, so it better work" Delgado voiced as he inserted the keycard into the door of The Lock. Toxic's spacesuit provided some protection against the bitter cold of Suvorov, but the freezing wind was so intense that jagged edges of cold would scratch her lungs with every breath.

When the door of the Lock screeched open, it was almost welcoming to step into an area free from the wind. Almost.

Toxic's eyes immediately surveyed the large, open area that made up The Lock's foyer. It was a blocky, industrial building where every remaining rotten piece of furniture and room had a strict purpose: there was no room for luxuries here. There was a frozen credstick on a nearby desk, but when Toxic went to grab it, a hand appeared seemingly out of nowhere and snatched it up quickly.

The look of bewilderment on her face caused Mathis to laugh. "Finders keepers, losers weepers" he taunted in a sing-songy voice. Toxic grinned in response, firing back at Mathis with a moment's notice "You've got to stop getting so jealous at the size of the credstick, Mathis. After all, it'snot the size of the tool, it's the skill of the user," she said with a slight chuckle.

Mathis' mouth curled into a snarl, and he shoved Toxic in response. Hard enough that she almost lost her balance, the frosty floor not helping. "See?" She quipped, "sometimes the truth hurts."

You two better shut the fuck up before I put a bullet in both of your heads," gruffed Delgado, who clearly had enough of their banter. "Remember why we're here, and focus on what's in front of you. These walls haven't been breached in at least a hundred years."

Toxic moved her gaze away from Mathis, who took one last opportunity to flash her the finger before walking ahead. Her eyes landed on Delgado instead, who immediately noticed her look at fixed his eyes on her. The annoyance in his eyes Suddenly turned to curiousity, but there was no time to explore the moment further. Afaint chittering followed by the sound of nails on metal interrupted their connection.

"We've got Gryllobas!" Delgado shouted, pulling out the Keelhauler. The gun made short work of the skittering crab-like bugs, and eery quiet returned to The Lock. "Be on guard" Delgado warned as the party pressed deeper into the frozen prison.

They quickly reached the other side of the foyer, which had multiple doors that split the prison into different sections. At this point, it was clear the party needed to split up to cover more ground.

Delgado looked at the green lot of space pirate recruits in front of him, his eyes scanning each new member carefully.

"Mathis, you take these two Rooks with you." He commanded.

Then Delgado's amber eyes rested on Toxic, and she swore she saw his lips curl into a small grin. But when she blinked, his face expression was stoic and serious.

"You. Rook. You're coming with me."

Toxic couldn't hide the surprise on her face, and Delgado noticed. "Just do as I say," he said simply "and you might just make it off this rock alive."

Toxic swallowed but tried to keep her expression fearless. It was essential the Leader of the Crimson Fleet didn't see her fear, even if he could feel it.

Mathis and his team entered a set of doors to the left, while Delgado and Toxic took a single door to the right. There were also a set of doors directly ahead of them, but they were locked. The doors that Delgado and Toxic took led to a long hallway with several doors leading to small rooms decorating the right and left walls. As they explored each room, Delgado was silent and focused. He threw open drawers and scattered folders and notebooks, looking for any sign that could possibly point to more information about Kryx's Legacy. Toxic wanted to break the silence, but didn't dare try to make a sound. But when they reached the end of the hallway, a rumbling sound broke the silence for them.

A ton of icy rocks and snow-covered debris suddenly fell from the ceiling above. It blocked the path back down the hallway, forcing Toxic and Delgado to continue forward. "Shit!" Delgado shouted, turning to look at Toxic. "Keep your wits about you, Rook, and let's keep going," he said with irritation in his voice.

Toxic sighed in relief that she wasn't sent to an early icy grave and pressed on, following carefully behind Delgado and he moved forward. It wasn't long before they came to a room with a terminal and comms system, which Delgado went or immediately. "Let's hope this fucking thing works," he muttered under his breath as he pressed the keyboard. The screen flashed to life and he quickly activated the comms system.

"Mathis? Mathis?! If you can hear me you better respond!" He yelled into the comms device.

"Satan, is that you?" The voice on the other end quipped.

Delgado rolled his eyes, he didn't have time for Mathis' games.

"Our path back has been cut off. I'm going to use this terminal to open the doors on the ground floor for you."

"Thanks, boss," Mathis said with a sarcastic tone.

Delgado's face tightened. "Don't fuck around; look for clues about Kryx's Legacy, and a way for us to get the fuck out of here! He demanded.

"I'll see what I can do," Mathis said flatly, and the comms went off.

"I hate that fucking guy," Delgado muttered before shifting his gaze to Toxic, who was standing busy picking a lock to a safe on the other side of the room.

"Leave it, and let's go" he commanded.

"I almost have it," Toxic responded, focused on the digipick.

Perhaps it was irritation, or Delgado felt it was time to show these Rooks who is boss, but he suddenly lunged at Toxic, his amber eyes piercing into her own. Before she knew it, he had her by the collar and had lifted her effortlessly from her crouched position. "When I say something to you, you fucking listen the first time, Rook," he seethed. Otherwise, you'll get a one way ticket outside this shit hole without your spacesuit. Do I make myself clear?"

For a moment, Toxic wanted to protest and tell him to not talk to her like that, but his intimidating eyes shut her mouth before any sound could come out.

Instead, Toxic nodded in agreement.

"Say yes, Captain," Delgado commanded.

"Yes, Captain."

"Good. Let's go."

Delgado pushed open the door to his right, which he opened earlier with the terminal. As Toxic and Delgado headed through the door, he turned to face Toxic once again, and like he hadn't just threatened her life, he said, "the terminal in that room said Kryx was in in the D-Block, the cells reserved for high-risk criminals." His steps quickened, and toxic jogged a bit to catch up. "Cell D-118. Maybe there's clues there," he said with an uncharacteristic enthusiasm in his voice. As they walked, Dels demenaour seemed to relax. They finally had a shred of something that could lead them to more clues about Kryx's Legacy, and all they had to do in this moment was to get there.

They went through a door that opened up to a massive atrium filled with suspended walkways. Toxic shivered It's even fucking colder in here," she whined. Delgado laughed. "Imagine being locked in this frozen hellhole for the rest of your life. No wonder Kryx escaped," he said, getting ahead of himself.

After what seemed like hours wandering the maze of metal platforms and stairs, Delgado and Toxic finally reached the D-Block. Cell 03-118 was easy enough to find, but it took a few terminal hacks and digipicks to unlock.

Delgado scoured the inside of the cell, but it wasn't clear there was anything there. "Fuck!" He yelled I n frustration, but just when the lead seemed to be a dead end, Toxic noticed a flaw in a desk lamp that was left behind in the cell. After fiddling with the bottom of it, an Audio slate started to play. Delgado and Toxic listened intently to Jasper Kryx's voice detailing knowledge about a downed Galbank ship loaded with credits, and Kryx's ploy to escape via a crooked guard named Carter, who used the prison's showers as a drop point. Delgado turned to face Toxic and laughed. "We're almost there," he said with excitement, and started through the cell door to double back to the prison showers.

The sound of their boots hammering against the frozen metal of the narrow platform was suddenly defeaned by a unusual sound that caused them both to stop in their tracks. "More Gryllobas?" Toxic asked out loud, to which Delgado looked up at the vast cavern above them. "Just keep going," he commanded, but after only a single step, a noticeable crack in the icewall on their left formed.

"What the fuck?" Toxic said, confused.

Her eyes got closer to the crack, and she noticed something moving behind it. A subtle and eerie sound emitted from behind it.

Scritch.

"What is it, Rook?" Delgado asked curiously.

"I don't know, it—"

SREeeeEeeeEeeeeeeEee

The crack shattered, and behind it towered a creature with massive praying-mantis apendeges for legs, and a inflated, bulbous head.

SREeeeEeeeEeeeeeeEee!

Toxic readied her gun, but was immediately knocked down onto the cold steel of the platform. Delgado came up behind her and shot the creature in the face with the Keelhauler, knocking it back slightly and stunning it.

"RUN!" He screamed as Toxic scrambled to get up and follow. To their surprise, the creature retreated back into the wall instead of giving chase.

"Fuck me," Toxic said, stopping to catch her breath. Delgado slapped her on the back. "Just another day in paradise, Rook," he joked.

Looking ahead, Toxic could see the dingy prison showers fainty through a window covered in grime and mould. "There," she said, pointing.

But Delgado wasnt listening. He put his finger to his lips and his eyes looked last her, behind her at the wall.

"Oh fuck, not again," Toxic sighed.

But The Creature was back, and looking for vengeance. Another crack in the wall formed, but exploded into shards of ice-glass just as quickly. One of the shards flew into Toxic's helmet with the force of a bullet, and cracked the glass so badly that she had to remove it and throw it to the floor to be able to see. Delgado readied his gun again as the creature lifted one of its knife-life talons, ready to strike.

Delgado fired a few bullets into its chest, but the Keelhauler didn't knock The Creature back this time. Instead, it did damage, but not enough. The two braced for impact from the towering talon, but instead of bringing it down on them, The Creature opened its beak-like mouth to reveal a set of jagged teeth and released a scream.

The sound was deafening, and the combination of what Toxic could only assume was saliva and hot air caused her to instinctively raise her arms to protect her face and head.

A sticky, tacky substance pale and slightly translucent, like thick mucous coated her spacesuit. Delgado amanged to reload and fire a few more shots into The Creature, pacifying it enough so they could start running.

"Get to the showers!" Delgado yelled, and they both sprinted the rest of the way without stopping.

But the entrance to the showers was locked with a. Expert level lock. Toxic immediately pulled out a digipick and went to work. But after a moment, Delgado's gruff voice interrupted her concentration.

"What the fuck is that smell?" He asked, looking at Toxic.

"Rook, your spacesuit."

Toxic stopped picking the lock and looked at the arms of her suit, which were now smouldering and smoking from chemical burns.

"Oh fuck!" She yelled, and immediately started peeling off the layers.

Delgado made a motion to wipe the sticky mucous from the glass of his helmet, but it caved in where he wiped like the glass was suddenly made of Jello.

"Fuck!" He yelled, and immediately threw off his helmet, which landed on the floor and continued to smoulder and burn.

"Del, your suit!" Toxic yelled.

Looking at himself, Delgado saw large burn holes forming on his suit, pretty much everywhere. Just like Toxic, he had no choice but to remove the suit or be subject to chemical burns.

As Toxic peeled off the last layer of her suit, she noticed that the mucous had already gotten on her clothes underneath, as well as any exposed areas of skin.

Delgado was the same. Since he took the brunt of The Creature's wet scream, his spacesuit and clothes were quickly turning to useless mush.

"Get that shower room open!" He screamed. It was their only chance of survival. It would be slightly warmer in there, and if they were lucky, maybe the water worked. Toxic grabbed another digipick, throwing off her decaying T-shirt and pants in the process. After a minute, the door to the prison showers finally flew open.

#starfield fanfiction #bethesda #delgado starfield #starfield #space pirates

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bradenthompson · 8 months

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The Starfield Experience II: The Freestar Rangers

While it's still fresh on my mind, it's time for episode 2 of my Starfield maiden voyage. Last time, I joined with the Crimson Fleet and got my sneaky fingies on a cool 200,000 credits. On this excursion, however, me and my first crewmate Mathis were honest men with no bounty. And we were gonna perform our community service by way of frontier justice.

"But captain," you say, a puzzled look fixed tight on your brow, "I thought you were playing an evil character." Don't you worry. I'm every bit as unhinged as I was in my pirating days. Because dialogue always gives me some completely bloodthirsty options, which I promise to choose every time. Crooked cop time babyyyyyy

De-escalation Tactics

We arrived in the town of Akila City (game is very loose with the distinction between Cities and Towns) just in time for a classic scripted Bethesda moment. We all remember walking into Solitude for the first time and seeing that guy on the chopping block. We all tried to save him, and all our level seven characters were lacerated on the spot. A storytelling crutch? Probably, but there's no reason it can't be effective. Plenty immersive to walk into a new settlement and already see some shit going down.

Just that type of shit was going down in Akila, as soon as me and Mathis got boots on the ground. Local bandits were holding up the bank, had taken hostages, and the rangers were outside trying in vain to negotiate. A tense situation indeed. Maybe two ruthless pirates who had just shot down a civilian ship on the way here can help.

I'd been pumping some skill points in speech, by now. Failed persuasion checks were getting on my nerves, but successful checks were making me feel cool. That and, on my brief trip to Neon, I had picked up a very goofy looking future suit that gave a passive 10% persuasion success. This is all to say I talked the bank robbers out the building, not a hostage lost.

While I was in town (Akila has some great music) I tried repainting my ship, thinking the Crimson Fleet colors would cause Mathis and I some problems out in space. How stupid of me to think the game would account for that sort of thing. You can land on Planet Police State with a ship painted the way only pirate ships are painted and nobody cares. Clue #1 that I could get away with a lot, within this faction system.

And speaking of factions, my success with the GalBank situation got me on the path to getting deputized.

I See You, Space Cowboy

First I had to talk to ranger Emma Wilcox, in the very cool space saloon. She wanted me to complete just one job before they considered letting me join up. Overachiever that I decided to be, sporadically, I took all four jobs the ranger kiosk had at the time, thinking I'd really impress by clearing the board. Rescued a hostage, took out a gang of spacers--real basic rng quests. The one where I had to kill a Crimson Fleet captain was funny. Mathis didn't like me doing that very much, despite us both quitting at the end of that questline. But as long as he stayed on the ship while I went out and split some wigs, he didn't mind. What he doesn't know won't hurt him, I suppose, but this begs another question: why can't I take criminals alive? Spoiler alert, but the rangers are gonna urge me to resolve problems without violence later. This peaceful justice creed does not extend to the rng quests. Okay.

But after completing all four and hitting myself bc no shit that doesn't make a difference, Wilcox saw potential in me and took me up to the marshal. Or who I have to assume is the marshal. That's Daniel Blake, pictured above, who gave me a dorky vest and a very cool pistol.

In hindsight, there's very little warmup to the questline's main problem. I was immediately sent off with ranger Wilcox to a farm that would prove to be the first victim of the overarching villain. There's this gang out in the canyon trying to 'wrassle away their farmland, say no more, we march down and make confetti outta 'em. The ship they flew in on was recently stolen from a company called HopeTech, which became our next destination.

Look Guys, Bezos did make it to space

We land at Hopetown, which I wanna imagine has a larger quest associated with it, but then again maybe that's what I'm doing right now. Seems to be one of the more intensely designed settlements in the game. We're essentially in a company town. Everyone here works for Hopetech, lives on a planet where the only thing around is their job, and carries an eerie devotion to the company and its founder. This is Ron Hope. He talks like an Oblivion NPC, which is to say too slow, and I earmarked him for death real early.

So I tell him about one of his stolen ships, he already knows, he wants me to keep it on the DL since it'd tarnish his brand if people knew ships could be stolen off the assembly line, yada yada. The conversation I was having with him here and now wasn't super important. What was important was introducing Hope as a character so him maybe/maybe not being evil later doesn't feel like it's outta nowhere. Well fuck me for knowing how these stories work, but of course he did it. I don't even know what 'it' is, as of right now, but I know it was him. Why else would we be meeting him so early? The butler did it.

We're off to Neon next, where I understand most stolen ships wind up. A player may deduce this on their own through normal gameplay; if you're one to plunder ships and sell them off, Neon is one of the places to do this. Either that or critically thinking. Neon's the only city that abjectly sucks, according to context clues. In case I wouldn't know, I'm told explicitly to head to Neon.

I head to Neon. With quickness, because now I know how fast travel works (tip: you can select objective markers while you're out in space and, should it be a system you've already been to, you'll fast travel without opening the map). Meeting up with a fellow ranger whose name I forget but--spoiler alert--it doesn't matter, I'm led to mechanic Billy Clayton, whose name I remember for some reason. He wants to help us but is currently having a Bethesda Moment (we need to do something for him first). That thing we have to do is clear up an outstanding debt with a loan shark. Alone, I march to the warehouse said loan shark operates from, don't even open up a dialogue, immediately spray the office with bullets, and return to Billy. Good news, Billy! Debt problem's been fixed!

Thankful, he points us in the direction of a noted ship thief named Grace. She's a brick wall. Won't give up nothing bc she ain't scared of the fuzz. That is until I pass a persuasion check and she immediately buckles under the pressure. Persuasion skill continues to be totally absurd. But for our efforts, she hands us an encrypted slate that, should we be able to crack the encryption, will lead us to her contractors.

The* Plot* Thickens*

It's not that I didn't know what was going on. Rather, by this point, I was certain the game would never trust me to figure things out on my own. I double-checked: there's in-universe museums that spells out a lot of the lore. Some of which being pertinent to reveals later in this questline. Odds are slim most players would be brushing up on Starfield history of their own volition, and look, I get it. Really, I prefer getting this sort of shit through questlines. But by this point I was feeling a sort of... monotony? I'm gonna be told what to do and where to go regardless of whether or not I intuit these things myself. There's little incentive to do anything but precisely what the quest givers tell me. Speaking of...

That ranger on Neon whose name I forget tells me there's someone on Akila who may be able to crack the slate. His name is Alex Shadid and, dude, I liked him a lot. On sight. He's socially awkward, dreams of being the type of person who goes clubbing on Neon which is cute, and he's good with computers. Alex was my first and really my only pick for a second crewmate, when this questline finished up.

I pass the slate off to Alex and report back to Daniel Blake. Based on clues in my previous field work, Daniel is running with the theory that the crew responsible for this ship theft (stealing one ship and harassing one farmer is still the impetus of the entire story) is one called the First. A company of veterans from the Colony War now doing mercenary work out in the stars. Daniel used to serve with them, and knows of two supposed members: Maya Cruz and Marco. Maya's our first target, as someone matching her description just booked an emergency surgery and extended stay on a space station hospital called The Clinic. Off to the clinic, then!

Two quick things before I divulge this super exciting Maya Cruz quest:

>Whenever I speak to Daniel Blake, while there's no outwardly "evil" dialogue choices to make, there's good cop/bad cop options. Do you want clean justice or do you wanna repaint the walls of your ship in the blood of outlaws? I always picked the most violent things to say to Daniel. Always some version of "I'm going down there and making orphans of all their children!" and at no point does the Sheriff think I may be a problem. He, nor anyone in the rangers, ever thinks less of me for being completely unhinged and hostile.

>I've been dabbling in the ship builder and, hey, Todd: why can't my ship have wings? Been all over looking for wing parts and there's not a one. I consulted reddit, damn you. Don't try none of that "uh but but but atmosphere" bullshit. This is not a realistic space sim, we ain't Kerbals here (that game DID have wings!!!!). Before launch, I was dreaming of what my ship would look like, and it always had wings. Let me add wings. If you do DLC that adds more ship parts, deliver me my wings plz thx.

Oh, and the Maya Cruz quest is pretty boring. There's one interesting moment where you gain access to her private hospital room and find the surgeon dead on the ground, but after that it's flying off to a derelict planet and trouncing about in a cave up to a very lame encounter with Maya, who says something or other about whatever bullshit idk. I shot her.

Polo.

Thankfully, the hunt for Marco has some teeth. There's a ranger at a remote club called the Red Mile. It's a real rough place (everywhere in Starfield is a real rough place, Red Mile, can I get ya to try harder).

The ranger in question is Autumn Macmillan. She's a Starfield NPC, so she's immediately callous and rude. I'm mean right back, so ig it evens out. She doesn't know where Marco is, but suspects the club's owner, Mei Devine, does. To get to her, we have to provide the club with some entertainment. The titular Red Mile is a dangerous gauntlet that wasn't all that dangerous bc I'm doing this at an above average level. So I run the Red Mile no sweat, Mei is pleased, tells me where Marco's ship is currently parked.

Before I leave, Autumn runs up to be and actually apologizes for being an ass earlier. I was also an ass but don't have the option of apologizing. Game unconditionally sides with me. Okay, I'll take it. Me and Autumn are cool from then on out, and I zip off to meet up with Marco.

It's now, at the top of the questline's last third, that things get interesting. I was ready for a dogfight, hearing that Marco is hiding out on his spaceship, but no. He's parked on some obscure planet and willing to have a chat. Sounds like he wants me to know something important?

That important thing is rangers are dweebs and being a mercenary is awesome. He's even ready to give me the location of de capo di tutti i capi on the condition we let him go. Since I'm ready for the story to keep chugging along regardless of my actions, I massacre his entire ship and get the final location anyway. Hardly knew ye.

With the combined slates of Grace, Maya Cruz, and now Marco, Alex Shadid has the information necessary to triangulate the location of the First. Daniel Blake orders me to head down there and raise hell. Well, not in those exact words, but it's a Bethesda game. Of course it's gonna be a fight.

The Black Rifle Coffee Company

Well ain't my predictions all fucky.

Thought for sure, with all these ranger characters I was meeting and the precedent set by the Crimson Fleet story, that all the rangers were gonna back me up in this final raid. Nope! Going it alone. Not even a ranger. Still just a deputy. But whatever, I still got my main man Mathis.

We buy some more guns and touch down on Arcturus II. Mathis and I step out, enter the large doors of an abandoned mech factory, and are greeted by the intercom voice of First boss Paxton Hull. He lays out his motivation, and I'm curious whether this was intended as a serious morality check.

In essence, the First are, as stated earlier, veterans of the Colony War. Their main point of anger is an event in the final moments of the war they were about to secure total victory for the Freestar Collective before both sides declared a truce. They're still mad about this. I'm supposed to be sympathetic to their position (maybe) as forgotten "heroes" of the war, despite their primary motivation being "well one time we killed a thousand civilians but we wanted to kill a million."

I wasn't so hot on these guys. Even as an evil character. They reminded me too much of Operative Culture. Yk, those guys who did (or maybe pretend to have done) military service and, perhaps as a means of coping with a lot of abject atrocities the US army commits, circle the wagons and perceive all violence as justifiable. Y'know who I'm talking about. Their pro-gun beliefs are based in a nonsense John Wick fantasy, or adjacently related "wolves, sheep, and sheep dogs" bullshit. Am I wrong to project this on the First, here? I don't think so. They get no sympathy from me, the guy who shoots people if it progresses the quest slightly faster. Their grudge is based in not "winning" the war by their own fucked up definition.

My character sure is one to talk but, in fairness, Mathis and I were gonna light this place up regardless of any sympathy for the First. Which we did! It's quite the gunfight. Lotta NPCs. I haven't spent a credit on ammo since.

We shoot out way to Paxton who, in a funny bit of characterization, can't help but be impressed by our ability to mow down his whole organization. He knows he's toast but wants to die fighting. Before doing so, however, he passes off a slate. The contract for stealing the ship from HopeTech (yeah, one stolen ship is still the main thing here) was ordered by none other than--

Oh, no kidding

It was Ron Hope all along! I have Mathis kill Paxton (just want him to feel involved) before throwing the bitch (spaceship) in reverse back to Hopetown. Marching right inside, we catch Ron Hope in the middle of praising a low-level mechanic for something or other. Uh-uh-uh, not gonna work on me. I KNOW you did... hold on, lemme remember. You... oh yeah. You SWITCH THE SAMPLES orchestrated your own ship theft in order to...

I'll be honest, I kinda needed Hope to explain why he's the baddie. Yes the ship theft was an inside job, but to what end I wasn't sure. If I have it correct, Ron let the First steal the ship so he would also look like a victim, which would throw us off the scent of him, and please follow along, selling farmers bad fertilizer that would demolish their farmland but leave behind soil that had a lot of otherwise useful minerals. He would then chase these farmers off their land and develop it into HopeTech... something or other. I'm not saying it's badly written. I'm sure it lines up with the lore and everything. But man, I was waiting for that [attack] prompt to pop in somethin' brutal.

But I am given a choice: take twenty-thousand credits worth of hush money, arrest him without violence, or kill him on the spot. How the other two options shake out, I can't say, because obviously I chose killing his ass dead. And his security escort! That employee he was praising earlier had mixed feelings about this. Our ensuing conversation when something like this:

mechanic: Ron Hope is dead!

me: he sucks and deserved to die

mechanic: I guess?

me: yeah

mechanic: okay bye

Now to go explain this all to Daniel Blake. Hoping he takes the whole "I killed Rom Hope" thing well, since Hope was a sitting member of the Freestar Collective's top brass. A ranger killing him would be very, very bad.

It matters very little

Sure, Daniel was pretty annoyed that Hope is dead, but I did have the slate Hope made ordering the First to steal the ship, among other things, so I killed him without consequence. I'm even promoted.

Deputy in a stupid vest no more! I'm now a Freestar Ranger in full, ready and able to take exactly zero ranger missions from this point onward. I'm given a cool spacesuit, a rifle I'm not gonna use bc I don't have any skill points in rifles, and a badge I cannot equip. Only look at in my inventory. But I am a ranger! I am a ranger! I am a ranger!

I'm shocked to find Alex Shadid cannot join my crew. Not that he isn't allowed. He's just not available to be recruited. Excuse me, I thought his introduction of "hi my name is Alex Shadid and I've never been to space in my life but oh I would just love to see the stars" was setting me up the ball. But no. And no other rangers at Akila are recruitable either. But that doesn't mean no rangers are...

Turns out, back at the Red Mile, Autumn is more than happy to hop on my ship. Yup, my second crew member is a ranger who thinks I'm dirt. Except now all her canned dialogue is eerily polite. But I say fuck it. Hop on my ship, Autumn, and let's never go back to the Red Mile again. Everyone is very mean there.

It's now me, Mathis, and Autumn, on my--oh yeah, I nearly forgot. My other reward for becoming a ranger was a brand new, probably overpowered for this point in the game, spaceship. Capacity for five crewmates. Best of all?

ITS GOT WINGS.

In Conclusion

While I can't say I was ever grabbed by the narrative, the moment to moment gameplay of the Freestar Rangers questline proved very fun. Lots of dudes to shoot, if that's your thing. It's got some engaging setpieces, takes you to a satisfying number of locations in the name of feeling big, but that's not without plenty of disappointments. The "villain" of it all feels unsubstantial, and really the whole story feels disconnected from the larger world of the game. It's got plenty to do with the Lore and all that, but at no point did it ever feel bigger than running errands. Crimson Fleet managed a far better climax in comparison, awful space battle notwithstanding. But the idea of Autumn being on my crew is funny enough to consider this a satisfying use of my Starfield time.

Next up, corporate espionage or: my god the stealth in this game kinda sucks.

#starfield #freestar rangers #viddy games #had a double bourbon while cowboying around #but i like cognac more #or rum #like a dark rum #mmm

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