Mira moves back towards the action and holds our her hand while saying, "Better back off techno-angel. I haven't had a chance to pat Krizen on his cute furry head yet!" She then sprays thick webbing at the creature.
Bravo makes a *SNRK!* at Mira's comment before opening fire again.
Satisfied with his location, Quitch takes another shot at their opponent.
Krizen jumps back from the avatar's charge.
Cute! Cute! He mutters to himself.. I'll give you "cute", you just wait and see!
Krizen’s shot hits the avatar in the head and it proves too much for the digital angel. It disperses into fragments of code and those, too, dissipate as well.
Mira smiling broadly and pats Krizen on the head, "You did it! I knew you could!"
"Well that was... something... I am Stacy by the way and what the hell is going on here?"
Krizen shifts uncomfortably from the head pat and takes a step back. I appreciate the enthusiasm, but please.. refrain. Shaking his head he re-focuses on the situation at hand. I'm not sure what that was. Or what's going on. Historia-7 did seem to have some knowledge of things
Mira frowns slightly dejected at Krizen’s rejection but quickly turns to Stacy, ”Hi! I’m Mira! The grumpy cat-person is Krizen, I think Bonar introduced himself already before this VR madness. And that fellow over there is Quitch. Nice to meet you! Probably should check back with Histora-7 before we chat too much.” She starts to go for her comm.
Krizen is able to discern a few things. The being was the avatar of an AI who had been transferred into the Starfinder database with the data drive. While it cannot be killed in the traditional sense, destroying the VR avatar removed it’s influence. The nature of how it dispersed suggests that some small part of it may have escaped the archives.
Bravo smirks as the sustained barrage takes down their enemy quick, but he frowns disappointedly when Mira decides to try and pet Krizen.
"Mira, he's a person, not a trained squox. Lay off a little," he says. Then he gives Stacy a polite nod.
"Nice pistolwork there."
He waits while Krizen and the others check things out for a few minutes before speaking up again.
"Mind if I unplug? Nausea."
Krizen speaks up. We should all unplug and return to Historia-7. This AI avatar was defeated in virtual space, but some of it's code may have escaped. Until we know how successful the isolation of the archives was, and know more about this, we should remain on guard. AI's do not affect only the virtual world, after all.
"I know! Krizen is clearly the smartest person in the room. I just can't help myself sometimes. Wow we're really getting off on the wrong foot here, I'm apologizing again. I agree we should head back to Historia-7, we can work this out later.." Mira starts heading that way now.
"Okay," Bravo replies as he leaves the virtual world to return to the real one.
The party is able to easily exit VR and make it back to Historia-7. She seems to have mostly regained her composure, though her hair is still in a state of disarray. When the party returns she says, ”Well, access is restored so it seems you succeeded. We were able to glean a few things from this process. First, the AI calls itself Unity. Secondly, it seems to have designs beyond our database, though our translations softwares couldn’t process much beyond a general desire for authority. Lastly, we managed to find an encrypted set of coordinates in the AI’s navigational system. It seems to have wanted something at the locations, though we aren’t sure what. Any case, you’ve all done an admirable job.”
Bravo frowns.
"This 'Unity' was talking like a Sixthday-morning trivid villain. If it's got some sort of galactic domination scheme, we can't just let it run around the Pact Worlds. How soon can we get the coordinates decrypted? We're the ones that found this thing and woke it up, I'd say it's our responsibility to go after it."
"Well, this coordinate format is completely different from what we're used to. It's centered on a completely unknown system, making our work all the harder. In any case, I'd imagine it'll take us a day or two. Besides, it'll give our engineering teams some time to sort out the weapons and armor you got from the ship."
Quitch’s ears and whiskers tremble for a moment as he grabs fistfuls of fur on the top of his head. ”Responsible?” he asks.”Are we legally responsible for any financial damages? Oh this bad! This is really bad.”
After some nervous laughter, he takes a deep breath then exhales slowly. ”Okay, okay, sorry for the brief panic. Hmm. Unity. In this context it sounds ominous. Engineers are working on the armor and weapons? Were they able to decipher the script we recovered in the spacecraft?”
Krizen motions for Historia-7's attention. I know you said access has been restored, but it's possible that some fragments of the personality escaped containment. I'm not sure there was enough to be a concern, but the destruction of the avatar was not complete.
"We're still working on the script. Our translation software is having some difficulties with it, and magic can only do so much." She pauses to think when Krizen speaks, "That is why we are trying to figure out the coordinates. We have no other leads on what this 'Unity' might be."
"What would you have us do in the meantime, ma'am?" Bravo asks.
Quitch nods in understanding and acceptance of Historia 7’s answer concerning the script.
”I’ll help prepare the starcraft,” Quitch says. ”We’re taking the same one, I hope.”
"When the time comes, you will be taking the same ship. For now, wait for any messages from me. That is all. Thank you, you've done well today." About a day passes before the party receives an urgent comm from Historia-7, "Starfinders. There's been an incident in Jatembe Park, a few gardener robots have gone rogue, blabbering about a 'Lord awakening.' I need you to stop them and find what's causing it if possible."
The party meets at Jatembe Park before heading to the coordinates where three AbadarCorp Municipal Multi-Purpose Units stand by a hedge, cutting shears and pesticide sprayers ready, tinny robotic voices repeating, "Our Lord awakens." They swivel to face the party and a voice interrupts the speakers, smooth and incredibly familiar, "Meddling children. You just do not know when to stay out of the way of destiny. Perhaps your physical forms are weaker than your digital ones." With that, the robots advance!
The closest one scuttles toward Bravo and tries to shoot a cloud of AbadarCorp InsectiKill at him. However, Bravo is able to dodge out of the way of the noxious solution. The others are fairly slow and only able to move toward the party, all the while chanting, "Our Lord awakens."
"Godsdammit," Bravo deadpans when they receive the news about Jatembe Park. "Gotta wonder why they're sending US to deal with this instead of Absalom Station security forces," he says to no one in particular.
When they arrive, Bravo frowns as it appears Unity seems to be taking over robots, when one shoots bug-spray at him.
"Skôr!" he cries. Then he takes a shot at the same robot.
"Focus fire. That'll take them down quickly before they can get in melee range with those hedge-clippers."
Agreed! Krizen shouts, and then suits action to words, targeting the same robot that Bravo had.
While Mira takes aim at the robot she says to Bravo, "You're the one that wanted to take responsibility for whatever this thing is!"
”Are we sure this is related to our incident? It most likely is, but we need evidence.”
Quitch pulls out his semi-automatic pistol and aims at the robot the others are targeting. Both hands on the grip, feet planted firmly, and whiskers spread wide.
While Mira takes aim at the robot she says to Bravo, "You're the one that wanted to take responsibility for whatever this thing is!"
"Fair point, but I don't want the Society to get sued or something because an armed gang of its members opened fire in a public park," Bravo replies.
Stacy steps forward and begins to draw the heat from nearby bodies and devices to her hands that now glow a slight red. As she finishes an incantation and stretches her arms forward releasing the energy in a glowing wave.
The party's bullets slam into the small, arthropoid robot and it falls to the ground. Evidently, robots made for gardening aren't the best at combat. Mira's spell fries the robot with thermal energy and that one, too falls. Unity's voice comes over the speaker of the robot and says, "May my power scourge you!" The party feels an incredible wave of force hit them.
Mira's spell fries the robot with thermal energy
Mira looks like she's about to reply to Bravo but then she's hit with the force energy and she lets out a yelp, "Ow! Hey that hurt!"
Bravo grits his teeth as he takes the hit. He takes another shot at the robot right next to Mira.
Yoouuwwch!!! Krizen hisses in pain as the force wave hits him. He focuses on the next robot, aiming more careful to avoid any chance of hitting Mira.
Bravo's bullet strikes the robot and Unity chuckles, "Ha, you really thought you could bes..." The AI's gloating is abruptly cut off by Krizen's bullet as the small robot falls to the ground, unmoving.
"Yeah, I think we can," Bravo quips as the robot falls. "Good work again, team. Let's wait for the Stewards to show up so they can get our testimony before returning to the Lorespire Complex."
Before too long, several Stewards arrive on hoverbikes, one human and one kasatha. The kasatha jumps off her bike and holds out a holobadge, "Officer Saejura, Abaslom Station Stewards, seems you've dealt with the most recent bot attack. Got any info on them? They've been cropping up around the station."
”Good work indeed,” Quitch says to the others as the Stewards appear. He lowers his pistol, but doesn’t holster it. ”But there must be thousands of robots on the station. This isn’t over.”
Mira smiles at the officers, "We were sent here by Historia-7 at the Starfinder Society. She might have more information but I think it's an ancient evil sentient worm, the computer kind, not the kind you find in the dirt on some worlds." She giggles inappropriately.
Krizen winces at the giggling, but nods his head. Mira is correct. Historia-7 most likely has more information. Unfortunately, all we can say with certainty is that the being is digital in nature, and holds great animosity for the living.
Animosity is probably an understatement, so where do we go from here?
Mira glances at the destroyed robots, "Maybe they could tell us something." Without waiting for permission from the officers or her teammates Mira takes out her computer and tries to hack into their systems. She's looking to see if Unity is copying itself into anything compatible or if it's controlling them from a distance.
The systems are only barely secured. Strangely, it seems as if Unity reshaped their code on a fundamental level, any commands they might once have had replaced with simple commands to spread their Lord’s message. Odd code fragments linger in the one Unity spoke through, though most of his presence is gone.
Mira shares the information
Mira smiles at the officers, "We were sent here by Historia-7 at the Starfinder Society. She might have more information but I think it's an ancient evil sentient worm, the computer kind, not the kind you find in the dirt on some worlds." She giggles inappropriately.
Krizen winces at the giggling, but nods his head. Mira is correct. Historia-7 most likely has more information. Unfortunately, all we can say with certainty is that the being is digital in nature, and holds great animosity for the living."
Bravo nods at the words of the others and when the officer turns to him, he adds his two creds.
"The AI appears to call itself Unity, and it's already attempted to attack the Starfinder Society's archival systems. Based on the interactions we've had with it, both there and here, we suspect Unity may be pre-Gap in origin."