Joganer’s head pounded, all memories of last night’s party washed away. He knew he should’ve gotten the Sopeth liver scrubber to go with his ultimate cardio mod system. Maybe after this paycheck, he could hit the clinic for another upgrade.
His comm chirped.
“Manticore One, I want her alive and talking.” His handler’s garbled, grating voice didn’t soothe his throbbing head. “You copy?”
Joganer grunted. “Solid. We’re loaded up with stunners.”
He scanned the darkened, twisting pipes around him, sensors rendering their outlines clear as day cycle into his HUD. The refinery’s heat exchange was a labyrinth: low ceilings, exposed ducts, lots of places an intruder could hide.
“Her signal is coming from the control box, next junction.”
Joganer’s HUD highlighted a spill of dim light through the pipes beyond. He checked the ammo readout on his weapon and switched off the safety. “Manticore Team, stack up on my position.”
Shadows slipped from every corner of the room, power armored, elite mercenaries slinking in his direction—all Sopeth grafted for maximum lethality. They silently formed a line behind him, the nearest member placing a hand on his back to signal readiness.
Joganer raised his weapon. “Move in on three… two… one…”
The team burst into the clearing to find a damaya lashunta crouched over an open panel, the luminous blue tips of her antennae waving gently. She didn’t look like much of a threat, but she fit the description they’d been given: short, a fetish for green with a fashion sense like a huffed-out raver. The target wore armor, though nothing anyone might take seriously. The stuffed green plush makiri in her hand matched the accents of the pistol at her hip.
“Woooooow…” She looked them up and down. “It’s like Operation Ultra Force over here!”
Joganer knew the infosphere show well. He hated it.
He engaged his helmet intercom. “Raia Danviri, interlace your fingers behind your head and—”
“No.” She fastened her makiri’s hands behind her neck like a kid about to take her favorite stuffie to school and whispered something to it. Then she met Joganer’s gaze. “Why don’t you tell me who sent you?”
“You’re not in a position to make demands.”
She shrugged. “Just trying to do what’s best for all of us.”
With a flick of her fingers, a spell gem appeared in her hand. A word from her lips, and thick grease bubbled up beneath the fireteam’s boots. Manticore Three and Four slipped to the ground instantly. Joganer stumbled out of the puddle as Raia snapped the spent crystal into her pistol, grinning wide.
“Alaka-blam, boys!”
The shockwave of pure force sent Joganer’s prone colleagues skidding away on snail trails. Laughing, Raia threw a flare into the grease, turning the path between them into a bonfire. The rest of Manticore Team scrambled backward, terrified to be caught in the flames.
Joganer took a shot at Raia as she fled into the shadows, but his stunner rounds only dented the nearby pipes. Fire suppressors popped out of every surface, spraying everyone down with fluorescent blue retardant. The powder clung to Raia’s grease, leaving Manticore Team caked up and pissed off.
“Get up! She’s getting away! Let’s go, let’s go!” Joganer pulled his struggling team to their feet and wiped his visor. “Two, Three, take left. Four and Five, take right. I’m headed up the center. Do not shoot me.”
“If you let her get away,” came the handler’s voice in Joganer’s ear, “the consequences will be swift.”
He sneered as he pressed into the darkness. “She won’t. We’ve got the whole place locked down.”
Manticore Team moved into the jungle of pipes, rifles at the ready. Their friendly transponders pinged in the distance, flanking alongside Joganer. They were ready this time; she didn’t stand a chance.
You could just tell me who sent you. Raia’s voice spilled into his mind like a whisper. No need to get hurt.
Joganer shook off her distraction. It was nothing more than an old lashunta trick: get him to give away his position without revealing her own.
Two pops rang out in the darkness followed by screams from his left flank. Joganer barged through the tangled walkways to find a pair of comrades writhing on the ground, powered joints seizing and visors strobing. Their armor had stopped the shots, but it hadn’t mattered. Joganer knelt and tried to free them from their helmets, but the security systems on their gear were totally fried—some kind of virus.
Two more shots echoed from the stoneward side of the complex. Four and Five screamed before their comms succumbed to static.
“Manticore, sound off!” Joganer stayed frosty, moving away from his fallen friends. “Who’s still up?”
Just us now, came Raia’s cheery mental voice. Why not shout out the name of whoever sent you, and I can be their problem instead?
A signal pinged his acoustic scanner, and Joganer swept his muzzle toward it. Then came another ping and another, resolving into the pattern of a cartoonish, smiling face. She must’ve hacked his HUD somehow, turning it into a liability.
Snarling, Joganer shut down his suit. His limbs dragged like high-grav, but his employer’s grafts were more than strong enough to finish the mission. That little pistol of hers couldn’t do anything against his composite plating, so the advantage was still his.
It’d been so long since he’d hunted another person without the cheats of trackers and scanners, trusting only the purity of his augmented senses. Without stealth compensators, his footfalls hit harder, his gear rustled. Joganer’s heart thundered, electrified to finally have a chance to test his newest implants.
He laid eyes on Raia, crouched near a junction and mostly obscured by a breaker assembly. She didn’t spot him, and he only needed to get closer for a clear shot at the dead center of her back. Joganer advanced, restraining a smile.
Last chance, she spoke into his mind. Disarm and hand over your boss.
Cocky little thing. Finally in range, he imitated her spoiled tone with a sneer. “No.”
Raia turned, bemused, and gave him a finger wave—
—then disappeared into the console with a digital whoosh.
“Damn it!” He dashed to her position, frantic, and stopped dead when he heard a second whoosh in his wake.
Raia’s pistol hammer clicked into place behind him as a barrel thunked against the back of his head.
“Want the inside of your helmet cleaned out?” He could hear the smile in her voice against the rising whine of her gun.
Fine. Let her shoot. It wouldn’t penetrate. She couldn’t hack his gear without power, and Joganer could probably take her in hand-to-hand.
He was about to spin and put her down, but the charging whine grew ever louder. Orange sunlight washed the immediate area, and the back of his neck seared beneath the shielded plates of his armor. Something inside his helmet stank of baking composite.
What in the name of the gods was she pointing at him?
“Overclocked. Enough to turn your face into nothing more than a bad memory and a worse smell,” she said. “Now tell me who sent you before I have to ask your next of kin.”
“Sorry, Manticore Team,” came the voice of the handler. “Can’t have that.”
“What?” Joganer grit his teeth.
“You’re terminated, immediately. No payout. Thank you for your service.”
If they weren’t going to pay, then he might as well give them up.
“Well?” Raia asked.
Joganer tried to answer, but his breath wouldn’t come. It was like his diaphragm had simply stopped, and the air was stuck inside his lungs. He could only form the S sound, opening and closing his mouth. Terror seized his chest as all of his grafts slackened simultaneously—arms, eyes, lungs.
Raia bonked the back of Joganer’s helmet with the pistol as he swooned from the lack of air. “Hey. Say something.”
He slowly turned to her, blurry red shapes forming at the edge of his vision. Judging from the way she recoiled, he didn’t look good.
“Ss… ss…” He dropped his rifle and groped at his throat before reaching for her.
Raia grabbed him and shook him. “Hey! What? No dying!”
Joganer’s armor grew heavier. Dizziness overtook him. Parched lips and failing tongue curled into formation as he concentrated with all his might. He sank to his knees, desperate to utter one sound before the jaws of death closed about his mind.
Raia eased him to the ground, rolling him onto his back. “Look, if you want revenge, you’re gonna have to spit it out!”
His eyes failed him, and a rattle pushed one final word from his mouth:
“Sssopethh…”
He listened intently for her response. It was the last thing he could do. In the intimate moment of his passing, Joganer found himself wishing Raia would say something, offer any kindness or justice to rest his soul.
Her response was short. “Sorry, I… I didn’t understand that.”
Joganer gave up.
Illustration by Kevin Sardinha
About the Author
Alex White (they/them) is one of Disney’s go-to Alien writers, having penned the VR action-horror game Alien: Rogue Incursion and two Alien novels (THE COLD FORGE, INTO CHARYBDIS). They also wrote a Star Trek DS9 novel (REVENANT) and the critically acclaimed Starmetal Symphony and Salvagers trilogies for Orbit Books. Alex is a well-regarded moderator and performer, entertaining ballrooms from DragonCon to San Diego Comic Con, and has been interviewed by Variety, Digital Trends, IGN, and more. For fun, they write music on synthesizers and make knives on an anvil. Never at the same time, but maybe with some practice…
Check out their website at AlexRWhite.com.About the Iconic
Raia (she/her) is a female damaya lashunta technomancer who’s got the smarts, spells, and style for any problem. The technomancer class blends magic and technology. Learn more at starfinderplaytest.com!About Iconic Encounters
Iconic Encounters is a series of web-based flash fiction set in the worlds of Pathfinder and Starfinder. Each short story provides a glimpse into the life and personality of one of the games’ iconic characters, showing the myriad stories of adventure and excitement players can tell with the Pathfinder and Starfinder roleplaying games.
The technomancer class is still a work in progress, but you can learn more about lashuntas in Starfinder Player Core, releasing at Gen Con 2025, paizo.com, and at your friendly local game store! Be the first to play Starfinder Second Edition by subscribing to the Starfinder RPG or Starfinder RPG (Special Edition) lines and receive a free PDF when your book ships!
Read more at this site