Reroll

“What HAPPENED?” Joe is hyperventilating.

I shrug, the truth is easiest to keep straight… “We made some more major changes than usual when our Event said it was time to shuffle things. So yes, we look different… for the moment, that's easy to fix.  But we are the same three to whom you described getting the White Russian Mickey.” Yes, I'm dropping in a detail that strangers wouldn't know.

Joe holds his breath for a moment, “Okay.  Sure.  It makes as much sense as the ship vanishing out of existence, leaving me in the void of outer space for a VERY scary moment.  Ah… can I go back to Earth? Please?”

I suppose sudden vacuum exposure would be very frightening… “Sure.  I need to fill out the ship's crew, but I can shuttle you down after that.”

Ed chuckles, “Eh, I'll take you right now.  Come on….”

Ed leads Joe out as I get to work, starting by creating some mage archetype companions first.  I then use Spell Proxy on them, and in turn use their boosts from Circle Casting to get a caster level (with my implement) of twenty.  Sadly, this doesn't give me high level companions, it just gives them a fat ten point circumstance bonus on attack rolls and skill checks… which makes them very skilled crew members indeed, despite only having eight hit dice.  I gather essentially all of the Pilot sphere talents that apply to starship combat, using the Martial Companion archetype to give them a decent number of talents.  Not all of them get all talents, of course: There's too many of them for that.  So they're somewhat specialized: They all take Skill Focus(Piloting) and Incredible Piloting for the skill bonus.  Everyone takes Pilot's Savvy (so they can do any role in Starship combat with Piloting). Pilot builds get One with the Machine (to replace the Countermeasures bonus with their dexterity bonus, saves a lot of BP), Moving Target (for pilots: extra defense for the ship while moving at least six hexes… which will pretty much always be the case in a fight), Speedster (it makes the ship go faster), Sturdy Pilot (for a few extra shield points), and Thruster Burn (a little damage to anyone that tries to get too close). Engineers get Assured Repair (so they can take 20 for free when repairing the ship outside of combat), Emergency Repair (one action-free hold it together action per starship combat), Quick Patching (faster patch jobs on systems), and Rapid Repurposing (if we want to refot the ship's with different load outs, this let's us do it faster).  Other types of specialists just get the engineer loadout: Nothing in there hurts, and the other items do fine for the skill checks that make up almost all of starship combat. For the base form, I go with the Orb for the sixteen Dexterity and give them the Quick companion form talent for even more Dexterity.  They all end up with a Piloting modifier of +35, which means they can do basically ANY of the Starship combat tasks on a roll of 1… except targeting: That uses ranks and dexterity, not total bonuses, so that's just at +15… which is still good enough, not that this ship has weapons.

With the help of the Mage archetype shadow companions, I also use Permanent Transformation on each, giving them an Anthropomorphic Transformation (for arms and legs) plus Starflight (from Star-spawn body, it let's them travel the stars on their own), a hundred foot fly speed (from elemental purity: Air), Breathless and Pressure Immunity (both from Extreme Adaptation, they do what they say in the tin), Fast Healing 3 (from the Vitality talent) and a Force Field for some extra durability (from Mechanical Customization, it gives them twenty four hit points that restore themselves quickly… which is more than these things' total health, so… nice to have).  I do NOT give them Regeneration - it wouldn't help anyway, as they're unsummoned at zero health.

The ship needs at least twenty crew to operate, and can take a hundred working in battle.  I build fifty to cover things.  The three shadow point expenditure each means I'm spending five rounds on each (one creating them, three recharging the shadow points, and one for the shapeshift).  That would be just under half an hour… but I need to renew the Spell Proxy effect on all fifteen of my mage minions periodically, as well as renewing the usages of Miraculous Lore, so it ends up taking almost an hour to make the fifty crew members…

…and that still leaves the ship with some nine hundred fifty spare luxury cabins: The colony ship framework is great for moving people.

I also take some time to make a proxy healer.  An “Unwilling” archetype shadow companion (which I test with a long skill challenge to trip that: It did NOT pass the will save).  I use a biped for the base form, give it the “magical vessel” form talent so I can feed it spell points, and give it casting via having it take Basic Magic Training, Advanced Magic Training, and three copies of Extra Magic Talent… to give the creature the Life Sphere, Diagnose, Restore Health, and Restore Spirit.  I then, of course, use the Alteration sphere with Anthropomorphic Transformation and Permanent Transformation to turn the creature into a clone of ‘Alice’ with some low-profile bonuses (damage reduction, fast healing, a force field, et cetera) plus functional wings and such… because getting shot HURTS, and I'd rather the bullet hit a completely disposable magical minion than me. Also, with Selective Illusions, I can have the shadow creature simply not exist for the Guardians: That should make her really hard to target.

Of course, the minions all come with some skill points separate from the Pilot skills that come from the Pilot sphere, so I set them up with Profession(UPB production) so they can work in the Industry aboard the mothership and Perception so they'll have a chance of spotting anything sneaky going on (Bluff for my fake Alice).

So at any give moment, I'll have twenty running the ship and thirty making UPBs.  This might be pointless (I'm unclear if the UPBs and products derived therefrom will be part of our wealth or not), but it should at least be good for repairing the ships when needed.

Of course, I don't neglect myself.  Anthropomorphic Transformation with nearly all the talents and Permanent Transformation, at caster level 15?  I squeeze in eight different items for myself: Evasion, Uncanny Dodge, and an Initiative bonus from ‘Agile’; Ferocity from Bestial Spirit (it lets me keep operating below zeron hit points), damage reduction (overcome by silver - that goes well with the damage reduction overcome by cold iron from my base race: One can't overcome both with simple materials, you see…) from Protean Mastery; Starflight from Star-spawn body; Acid resistance from Elemental Body… which becomes Immunity thanks to Energy Manipulation as the last trait I can squeeze in. And of course, Regeneration stopped by Acid (to which I'm immune…) from the Nature sphere by way of Eternal Steel.  So I won't die - or even go unconscious - due to simple damage, am immune to most non-damage effects thanks to being an incorporeal undead, and have a lot of defensive buffs.  It'll be BETTER with buffs from Ed and Betty… but I'll be fine until then. Theoretically. Let's NOT test that, though.

About the time I'm done getting everything set up, Ed contacts me via the comm built into my armor (we haven't taken the time for mutual buffs yet, so no Telepathy): “Hey, good news: We got a bite from Rosie O'Brian; she wants to interview ‘Alice’ on the air.”

“Cool,” I send back over the voice channel, “When does she want to do it?”

“As soon as she can,” Ed pauses, “Let’s just hope it's not a trap, eh?”

I shrug, not that we have a video channel open, “It doesn't matter if it is. We seem to be properly immortal, and I can use an illusion as a proxy to take the actual risks.  So… please book me for anything other than Sunday.  It wouldn't do to be seen in two places at once.”

The line goes silent a moment, and Ed goes, “Wait, what?”

I chuckle, “I built a fake Alice with the appropriate healing talents that I can feed Spell points remotely. She can handle the healing while I watch… or am busy elsewhere.  It also lets me not need to actually have the talents on me.”

Ed considers, “Makes sense, I guess. What are you going to do when one out of twenty people see through the illusion?”

“Nothing,” I shrug, “There's no need. Saving against the shadow illusion only reduces the damage she deals, it doesn't affect healing. And if different people see different things… oh well, it just adds to the mystery. What she IS is less important than what she DOES, which is the point, isn't it?”

There's a pause on the other end of the line, “I suppose so; supernatural and super nice, either way.”

I chuckle, “Right.  So please book it and send me the details. In the meantime, our collective ship is now crewed,” by creatures loyal to me, first and foremost, but eh, I did try and get everyone in on this build, “with PLENTY of room left over for refugees. I'll be down myself shortly.”

“So that's the big reason for the colony ship, eh?” The line pauses, I'm guessing Ed is shaking his head, “New adventures with the supers on another planet if this one doesn't work out.”

“That too, but it's not the first or even second choice. First choice is convincing humanity that the good ones are worth treating right, especially as this can happen to anyone. Second choice… well, currently, supers are scattered in small clumps at best. What do you think a thousand in one spot, well away from where the Inquisition can strike at them, can accomplish?”

Ed pauses, “Oh… probably at least UN membership. Beyond that, I can only imagine. But it's fully compatible with approach one, so let's find out together, eh?”

“Let's. See you soon.  I'll head on down.”

“Later gator.”

We disconnect, I climb into my ship, summon my Eidolon, and we head down.