Disclaimer: Starbound belongs to Chucklefish
Also, I am from the Midwest, please forgive me for my attempt at a southern accent.
On a lush planet, a Novakid wearing a full suit of bandit armor walked towards a large encampment of penguins. His bright red bandana waved in the breeze as he moved. As he drew near he saw who he came to see. Waving his orange luminous hand high, Methane called out, "How'd you do, Beakeasy?"
The small Penguin in question turned to face the orange star child. Usually, Beakeasy tended to his bar at the Ark but today he was planetside of Nye Wick's only lush planet with a dozen or so volunteers working on a special project. He had invited the Protectorate to show him what he had accomplished over the last month. "Methane my favorite customer!" Beakeasy said, "Come, come, I've been waiting to show you this for some time." Walking up to the penguin, Methane kept his eyes on the large object that was covered in a blue tarp.
"I know, I know hold your horses. Now, what is it that you wanted to show me? Captan Noble said that he had a few bounties for me that I needed to deal with." Rubbing his flippers together Beakeasy chuckled.
"Trust me it will all be worth it soon…" Beakeasy then turned to the others who sat around the tarp. Letting out a loud bleat the other penguins jumped in fright and quickly waddled to different areas of the tarp.
"What'd you just tell them?" Despite being in Beakeasy's bar and hearing his native language Methane was never able to pick up the language.
"Huh? Oh, I just told them that I would be cutting off their booze supply if they didn't get to work." Methane glowed in amusement. Not that he could blame them… Hell, I would do the same thing if my liquor was on the line. "Now behold!" Beakeasy said spreading his flippers out in a grand display, "The Dreadwing!"
With a tug from several penguins, the tarp fell and Methane flinched at seeing the familiar UFO that he had battled against. However, something didn't fully make sense to him. Turning to Beakeasy he asked, "Wait, Dreadwing? I thought that was the name of the Pirate?"
Beakeasy waved him off with a flipper. "That dolt was a narcissist of the grandest order. Named the dang thing after himself!" With that out of the way, Methane walked up to the UFO and gave it a light touch. Looking into the metal hull he could see his brand-a lambda-reflect back at him.
"Mightly fine job you did here Beakeasy. Now hows about we take a peek inside?" The two made their way around the UFO and climbed up several small flights of stairs that the workers used to fix up the ship. Methane and Beakeasy found themselves standing on the top of the scaffolding adjacent to the round reinforced glass cockpit. Craning his neck Methane felt an appreciation for the craft that he hadn't felt before when he had the job of decommissioning it.
"Mighty fine job indeed." Methane breathed. "The cockpit is bigger than what it looked like when I last saw it. Can one of you even fly the thing?"
Beakeasy shook his head. "That's why you're here. I thought that you deserved something of a Perquisite for all the hard work you put in," And so I may call in a favor in the future.
"Perquisite?"
"Reward."
"Oh, well that's sure generous of you Beakeasy. But I already got a ship of my own." Methane told the penguin.
"What if I told you that this doesn't run on Erchius Crystals anymore?" Methane fell silent for a moment. Mining Erchius Crystals was a dangerous job with the ore only appearing on moons of planets. Twice the danger when you factor in the lack of oxygen-not that Novakid needed a vacuum to breath-and the guardians of the crystals, Erchius Ghosts. While Methane has gotten good at dodging the ghosts it was still a hassle to do so. The most crystals that he ever got on those trips were around one-fifty. And that took time…
"Alright you got my attention," Methane leaned down with his hands on his knees getting his eyes level with Beakeasy's black orbs. "What's this thing got?"
If Beakeasy had a mouth then he would have broken out a large winning smile. Slapping his flippers together he began to sell the ship like a salesman. "The old thing is as good as new! It can still swoop and slam like it did before and the Pule Cannon was saved from the crash as well. The cloaking device was upgraded by Pete on the ark so it can stay undetected for a lot longer."
"And fuel? You did say that it could run without Erchius Crystals, tell me about that why don't ya."
"Yes yes, the fuel, I was getting to that. The ship runs on well… you." Methane gave Beakeasy a searching look.
"The hell you mean 'you'?"
"Think about it for a moment. You and all the other Novakid in this universe are called 'Star Children' for a reason. You lived for a thousand years and reach adulthood in only five. When one of you dies, everything within thirty feet of you gets blown up! Vaporized if things are no farther than ten. Look I know Novakid have had some bad experiences with Apex scientist in the past but this is revolutionary!"
"Revolutionary my rear end! You want me as a battery!"
"Exactly it's ingenious! No one could steal it because it needs you to run and you never have to worry about fuel again!" A moment of silence passed between the two. Methane looked at the ship. While Beakeasy had a point it still made him uncomfortable. There was a reason why Novakid stayed isolated with few venturing off from villages. The ones who do like himself and Captain Noble tend to become explorers with the Protectorate. Those who didn't… their fates are better left unsaid.
"Fine. Fine. I think this is a bad idea and I'm against it but you have yet to steer me in the wrong direction so I'll trust you. But if things turn south you owe me, Big Time you hear?" Methane left the threat in the air. Beakeasy however took it in stride unphased by it.
"I hear you. Now let's get you strapped in. You have a ship to fly."
Methane sat in the cockpit of the Dreadwing. It was roomier than he had expected it to be. The console was also easy to understand if a little different from the layout of his ship. On the armrests of the lone pilots' seat, he could see what looked like a thermal vent of some kind. Is this the doodad that makes me power the ship? Methane wondered. All in all the Dreadwing wasn't a bad ship. He could see himself using it to go after the more dangerous criminals that Captain Noble tells him to hunt.
Leaning back in the seat he gave a moment to take everything in. "Hmmm… I'm just not feeling it. Chairs got nice lumbar support though, I think I'll ask Beakeasy where I can get one just like it." Knocking on the window to get the bartender's attention, Methane's elbow accidentally hit a switch. "Uh-oh. That's not good-!"
The UFO began to shake as it came online. Around the ship, Penguins ran away in a panic as the heat from the engines of the ship blew light objects away. Beakeasy who was still on the top of the scaffolding nearly fell off but caught himself with a metal railing. Shouting over the sound of the engines Beakeasy tried to help the Protectorate inside, "LIFT YOUR ARMS!" He yelled as he flapped his flippers. But it was all for naught. Methane couldn't hear him and the movements didn't exactly help either.
Before anything could be done the ship began to lift off the ground and shot up to space leaving the group of penguins behind.
Still looking up Beakeasy fixed his crooked bowtie, "I've seen to have made a mistake calling him in."
"What!? What did I do!? Stop! Go back! Why didn't Beakeasy tell me how this works before I entered it!?" Methane twisted and turned around the cockpit trying to find a way to make the ships stop or slow down at the very least. No dice! Grabbing the steering mechanism Methane instinctually began to turn the ship in hopes that the gravity of the planet would throw him into a controlled orbit. As he did he missed the dual red buttons on the backs of the joysticks.
Instead of turning the ship, he felt a sting in his arm. "Oh, what now-!"
The Dreadwing accelerated faster than anything he had ever experienced before. In less than a second, the ship was launched forward into the unknown.
I have always loved Starbound and have had many debates about the lore and story of the game with my friends. I hope you enjoyed this. I originally planned to use the actual NPC quotes to write this but I couldn't find them until I finally finished the story-funny how these things work huh? I was planning to use this as the start of a series of stories that connect to other universes like Halo, Star Wars, Star Trek, and others. The one I'm planning on doing first is Star Wars because one of the debates I've had with my friends is whether or not a Novakid could naturally block a lightsaber since they are more or less made up of plasma and the only 'physical' part of their body is the Branding that makes up their face. In all of these Novakids will be overpowered as this is just something I planned on doing for fun while I still focus on my Avatar story. Until then what are your thoughts; Are Novakids resistant to Lightsabers? Can they control the heat of their bodies? Can they regrow their limbs back over time? Is a Novakid a Gas, Solid, or Plasma?
