Source Starfinder #16: The Blind City pg. 47
Level 6; Price 4,450
Capacity 40; Usage 1/day
Hands —; Bulk LDescriptionThis small, rectangular box is approximately the size of a
handheld computer, with a nondescript carbon-fiber housing
attached to an external chip interface that can be plugged into
the computers of most starships. A blabbersponder’s case is
filled with a compact array of microsensors (often composed of
inubrix) connected to a miniaturized computer (treat as a tier 0
computer equipped with a control module) that, bolstered by
a signal booster, analyzes and actively transmits a starship’s
vital data to another source. While no astute starship captain
would ever install a blabbersponder on their own ship, such
devices are often sold in gray markets to saboteurs serving
the whims of corporations, or bounty hunters who wish to
gain vital information about a specific starship’s defenses.
Some clever pirates of the Diaspora are also rumored to sell
blabbersponders to gullible spacefarers by offering them as
upgrades to starship communication systems. They then use
the data they collect from the device to determine if the cargo,
defenses, weapons, and crew aboard the ship warrant the
effort of intercepting and ambushing it later.
To install a blabbersponder on a starship computer, you
must succeed at an Engineering check (DC = 15 + 1-1/2
× the starship’s tier). Once installed and activated, the
blabbersponder’s internal computer uses its control module
to automatically hack into the computer it’s attached to.
The control module reads and broadcasts all data related to
the starship’s systems, allowing any science officer aboard
another starship within passive sensor range of the blabbersponder’s ship to use the scan
action on that vessel, even if the two ships aren’t engaged in
starship combat. Because of the detailed information provided
by the blabbersponder, the science officer performing this
scan action gains a +5 circumstance bonus to the associated
Computers check, and the broadcasting ship doesn’t add the
bonus from its defensive countermeasures to the DC.
Detecting that a blabbersponder is in fact an instrument
of sabotage and not a benign technological device before it
is installed requires a successful DC 25 Engineering or DC 30
Perception check. Discovering an installed blabbersponder
aboard a starship requires a successful DC 28 Computers
check. When an installed blabbersponder’s battery is
depleted, it recharges itself using the starship’s power core in
a process that takes about 5 minutes; on the day this occurs,
you receive a +2 circumstance bonus to the Computers check
to notice the sudden, short surge in power use and discover
the blabbersponder on your vessel. Once discovered, a
blabbersponder can be easily unplugged.
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