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A soot-stained, dirty-blonde female dwarf wearing a "KOG"-emblazoned leather jacket clomp-clomps her way into the briefing. She sets a carbon polymer motorcycle helmet onto the table, pulls up her sleeves (partially revealing tattoos of tough-looking dwarves and flames), and plops down with an exhausted I've-been-working-double-shifts kind of look. She exudes an aura of vehicle exhaust, as though she had just taken a sonic shower from a tail pipe.
"'Sup? Name's Angrid."
She then proceeds to pop open a can of Angry Ale Dwarven IPA and sips it while waiting for the rest of the group to arrive.
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The Archive’s Cortex is unusually subdued. The typical ambient white noise of powerful computers and environmental systems is softer than usual. There is no panoply of holographic screens ringing Historia-7’s desk. The room is still, as is the leader of the Dataphiles. For a handful of heartbeats, her eyes remain fixed at some spot on the wall and unaware of any disturbance. Then her eyes turn to the door and stares for a few seconds before she reorients her swivel chair fully forward. Come in. Sit, she directs. Let’s begin. She waits until the room is situated.
Prior to the incident at the Scoured Stars, my predecessor... Historia-7 trails off momentarily before resuming her briefing. My predecessor, Historia-6, and other Society colleagues investigated several corporations as well as the system itself.
That research was deleted prior to the system-wide event that crippled us. We discovered the discrepancy accidentally when an ally reconstructed Historian-6’s data links, and we compared them to our own logs. Essentially, we were hacked, she says flatly. By parties unknown. I’ve been leading a series of ongoing investigations into this threat ever since.
The data trail led to private space station owned by a solar-energy corporation, Arch Energy Consortium. The company’s growth was curtailed while their station served as a clandestine meeting place for this group’s board of directors. While their identities remained obscured by a series of complex transactions and shell companies, we did identify a security consultant hired to facilitate some of their operations. Historia-7 gestures with a finger, and a holographic screen opens in midair to the side of her desk.
Meet Hira Lanzio, if you haven’t yet already, she gestures toward the screen, which depicts a human corporate executive, clean cut with short dark hair. We intercepted Lanzio on Songbird Station in the backdrop of a Strawberry Machine Cake concert. Lanzio believed he’d been contracted to release a magical computer virus aboard the station, not realizing that he was the primary target. The virus was intended to attack the station’s reactor. Let me underscore that for you. Whoever this group is, she stresses as her voice rises, they were willing to commit mass murder against thousands of innocent sentients, just to get rid of and obfuscate one man who might lead us back to them.
Historia-7 pauses and appears to collect herself. The Stewards have Mr. Lanzio detained here aboard Absalom Station. He has not been cooperative, but we’re not going to give him a choice. Not if... Not if I have anything to say about it. Approximately twelve hours ago, after a productive session with Mr. Lanzio, he let it slip that he’d set up a private data facility for the group on Verces. On the outskirts of the city of Cuvacara. There’s no listed owner, but we’ve identified the site. I need a team to go there immediately, before it gets scrubbed clean. I’ll be candid: I don’t have as much information to give you as I’d like. My own attempts to interrogate Lanzio... they have not been productive. I’ve arranged an opportunity for you to interview him directly. You might get something more useful out of him.
We are short on available agents at this moment so we are team up some of our more elite members with two of underlings. Show them the ropes and try to keep an eye on them. Just because so of you are less experienced does not make this any less of a real job, and could be one of the most important of your careers.
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A diminutive ysoki makes his way into the room. He's dressed in dark and motled clothing. His fur, what little can actually be seen, is a light tan.
His nose and whiskers twitch a bit as he glances about, taking everything in.
"Greetings fellow Starfinders." he says aloud as Historia-7 reveals the nature of the mission.
I personally wasn't hacked, the society as a whole was. We are missing records and it is impossible to tell what else was done. To if they know we are on to them, I would expect that they know we know they exists, but it is hard to say how much they think we know... and we know very little. Historia-7 sighs as she is getting frustrated with wording the amount of times she just said "know" in a single statement.
It is not a nightclub. I have a satellite recon photo. The facility must be underground because we’re seeing a small concrete bunker with the equivalent of a blast door. There’s a shuttle pad nearby. It’s constructed on the border of the industrial side of the city. Away from entertainment district. It’s an area of nondescript warehouses and buildings that all look the same. Other than that, the facility is a black box. We can shuttle you to it, however, and have an extraction ready for when you’re finished.
This scenario is of high importance to the Dataphiles faction, and PCs should be encouraged to slot this faction as one of their boons. Additionally, any who have the Tip of the Conspiracy boon from Star Sugar Heartlove!!! should be encouraged to slot this boon in their ally slot.
If none of the PCs are capable hackers or engineers, recommend one of the PCs acquire and slot the Basic Hireling Access boon from the Starfinder Society Roleplaying Guild Guide. The Computers and Engineering skills are key to the PCs’ success, and even a hireling’s basic bonuses are a major boon.
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A lithe android, large wings with white feathers sprouting from his back, and dressed comfortably in gaming fatigues, with a VR glove on his left hand, strides into the room.
"Sorry for being a bit late - I was participating in a charity tournament, that ran over a little bit. The name is Will. Will Riker."
When he is brought up to speed, he strokes his chin thoughtfully.
"Well. This is certainly disconcerting! We can't have others knowing more about our business than we do... Just as well that I am along for this particular sortie - I am quite the Hacker; some consider me to be quite the Data Jockey."
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A dashing human with slightly unkempt hair and stubble leans against the far wall, his crossed arms easily moving within his freebooter armor. "Ah, Lanzio. I remember him. He folded like a cheap suit when we shot him with static arc pistols. Looks like his will is stiffer than his guts. Don't worry, boss, we'll crack him. Anything in the city we should keep an eye out for?"
His sneer softens slightly to a genuine smile for a split moment when Historia-7 mentions the new recruits. Heh, glad to take some rookies under our wing.
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A Ysok in a long cloak and hood burst through the door. A limp robotic arm in one hand a some strange tool in his other. Sorry , Sorry, I am never late. Sorry ,Sorry, AK walks up to each person in the room introducing himself. Angrid Axeflail was the first hi Flail I am AK, good to meet you AK was off before Angrid could get a word in.
AK walked up to William Thomas Riker I am AK its good to meet you will Again leaving no time for a response AK headed up to Reynold Malkin Mal, i am AK good to meet you wasting no time AK moves on. stopping dead in his tracks when he sees the other cloaked figure is Mon Tavvi. Shaking the limp robotic arm at Mon. You, you are Goose, Wow it is a honer to meet you. my family spent many of hour around the fire on Akiton telling stories of your adventures. I cant beleave i get to go on a mission with Goose. It doesn't take long for the excitement to fall away and AK is once again fiddling with the robotic arm.
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"Ha did you say they named themselves arch enemy? No... oh I thought I heard you say that. I'm Chuck. Chuck the Truck apparently" he says introducing himself.
"Ah, Lanzio. I remember him. He folded like a cheap suit when we shot him with static arc pistols. Looks like his will is stiffer than his guts. Don't worry, boss, we'll crack him. Anything in the city we should keep an eye out for?"
"HAHAHAHAH ya... last time I saw him he was tied up naked with a thoroughly wounded pride." he says through his booming laughter,"Maybe if I bring that up he'll talk? When do we get to do this interrogation anyways? I learned a lot from those drow before I was "liberated" he says adding thick, green finger quotes at the end, you also notice that his Ceremonial Officers Plate seems to have taken a vicious slice at some point but has since been repaired, and that the plate seems to be of Drow make.
The Stewards have held Hira Lanzio in custody. Lanzio is detained at their headquarters, the Bastion, a relatively short journey from the Lorespire Complex.
When you arrive at the Bastion, you are welcomed inside. A female human is inside. Hello! Historia-7 has arranged your talk with the captive, Lanzio. We just have some security measures to go through then you will be allowed inside. Follow me! She leads you in past the entry way. The first security measure you are brought to is a metal detector. Please deposit any weapons or armor. We do not allow either of those past this point for any non Stewards. We will hold on to them till after the interview and they will be returned to you. We guarantee that your personal items will not be touched or searched. But you will be if we have any suspicions about you trying to hide anything from us.
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Reynold detaches his armaments and lays them beside the metal detector. "Please, like I need anything more than a smile to get what I need out of this joker. Besides, I've already shot him more times than is recommended by most health professionals, so I'm good." He gives a wry smirk to his teammates.
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Goose takes his turn in line and deposits his armament along with everyone else. This complement is quite light, considering - 2 pistols and a knife. He's undecided about the armor.
"Not that I'm overly modest, mind you, I'm not wearing much more than my armor. Traipsing around my my undies may turn a few heads, yah?" offers the ysoki as he peels off his light armor. He shrugs his tiny shoulders and proceeds through the screening checkpoint.
We will provide you will an outfit. The human shakes her head.
After what seems like an unnecessarily large amount of security measures, you are allowed past into the main part of the Bastion. What is most likely your first time in this area as it takes special privilege to be allowed in.
You are lead to the interrogation room. Before let inside, the human says This visit is a courtesy extended to the Starfinder Society and we will be recording the interview. Keep this clean and by the books. Okay?
The accused terrorist Hira Lanzio waits in a stark, bright-white interview room, at a white table and seated in a white chair. His once-styled, dark wavy hair is now slightly disheveled, and Lanzio is bereft of his signature sunglasses and all other trappings of privilege. The interview room is otherwise featureless except for a one-way mirror connected presumably to an adjacent room.
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Riker nods to Lanzio.
"Hey Lanzio, Will Riker here. You might have seen me on the VidGamer circuit! I am not going to insult your intelligence by suggesting that we aren't here because we don't want anything... The Stewards, as a favour to the Society, have given us permission to have a chat with you, to see if you might be more willing to talk to us, than them. I'm not asking for anything incriminating; but if you were to talk about hypotheticals, we would be most obliged... specifically, if someone were to set up a data facility on the outskirts of Cuvacara, what sort of defences do you think they would use, and how would one get in?"
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Lanzio!! How ya been, I see you got more clothes since our last encounter." he says as he pats Lanzio on the back while standing behind him, "Listen here bud I'm gonna give it to you as straight as can be," he says while reaching over and popping the top of the DPA can before handing it back to Lanzio,"Its not looking good for you man. The cells are overflowing with much more important thugs than yourself and the Stewards are looking to clean house. Now I know you have something, anything about this Cucavara system and its defenses. You give us what we need, and hells, I'll even recommend you for probationary leave. If I leave her empty handed... well I heard the word execution tossed about but hey its your funeral. Literally. And this time no amount of Historia-7's clout will save you." he says ending the smooth talking on a rather blunt note.
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Reynold pats Chuck on the back, circling the table to come up behind Lanzio. "Of course our pal Hira is gonna tell us what he knows! I mean, look at him! He might be unlucky, he might have a glass jaw, but he's not stupid! He knows we already have the details on bringing down this whole racket, otherwise we wouldn't have caught him with his pants around his ankles during his little rock-concert-mass-murder-oopsie. He knows we're just tying up loose ends before we bring the hammer down, and he's way too smart to be right on the anvil when it falls. And he knows that if he plays hard to get with us now, that once we topple this whole enterprise and he's in the hoosegow with all his murder buddies, we won't have any reason to offer him any kind of protection, and then he'll have to play hard to get—life or death edition—with his former murder buddies who will think they got caught because he ratted on them! I mean, come on, the right call here is obvious, am I right Hira?"
When he sees both Reynold and Chuck enter the room he says, You think just because your android leader figured out you got hacked, that you’re safe now? Think again. My best chance is they decide it’s not cost effective to bother trying to kill me again. That can happen only if they don’t think I’m helping you. Clearly, that concern washes away buy the end of this interview.
After hearing each of your speeches and threats, he opens up like a book.
I came up with the basic specs, but they customized it after I sold them on the proposal, bear that in mind. The facility is forty feet underground and shielded from an EMP pulse. There’s no network connection from the outside. So you can forget hacking from a hotel room or from across the street. You’ll have to physically go to this computer. The vault has an independent power supply and climate system, with limiters hardwired to prevent a software glitch, so I don’t think you can exploit those. That said, I think if you can somehow raise the temperature even a few degrees where the data core is housed, you can put a strain on the processor, which might make it easier to compromise. I hope you’ve got some talent with computers or at least electronics. If not, best of luck.
There’s not a lot of traffic through the facility. It’s devoid of personnel most the time except for maintenance or if they need some analysis they don’t want to risk on a networked machine. It’s not really an office as much as it is a vault. So the defenses are automated. I wouldn’t expect an AI, but the security software might be have some pre-programmed contingencies. The more mistakes you make, the more difficult it might become.
They’re also involved in magical R&D, so I wouldn’t be surprised if you ran into at least something... out of the ordinary. That might also be an opportunity. I get the impression their magical assets are not as disciplined as their technological holdings, and someone in the Starfinder Society might be able to trace their research or materials. I’m sure your Historia-7 told you to get digital files, but any example of their arcane projects could be valuable to you.
Look guys, that is all I got on this organization, okay? They are not to be messed with... Now put a good word in for me?
Cuvacara is known as the Dusk Jewel by the locals. Verces is tidally locked, and Cuvacara, like most major cities on the planet, is built in the shadowed band between the light and dark sides of the planet. Twilight bathes it in a perpetual night just a shade past sunset. Most Vercite cities are beautiful, but Cuvacara is particularly striking due to its diversity of architecture, gleaming triangular skyscrapers, iridescent glass towers, brightly lit floating neon displays, and ribbons of multilayered roadways and bullet trains festooned with lights.
The city’s many districts are referred to as facets, and where you are headed is a location between the South and Southwest Facets.
You touch down on a concrete shuttle pad. Although Cuvacara is densely populated, this area rests within one of the most sparsely trafficked areas. The adjoining city blocks and streets are predominantly warehouses, storage facilities, and city utilities.
There isn’t much to the facility site from the vantage of the small shuttle pad built adjacent to it. From the landing pad, a concrete walkway leads west behind a twenty-foot-high chain-link enclosure. The gate to the enclosure is padlocked to dissuade normal transient foot traffic, particularly from the Southwest Facet, Cuvacara’s industrial and lower-income district. East of the landing pad is a heavily fortified bunker entrance constructed of concrete and steel. The bunker is octagonal and thirty feet wide on all sides, with a heavy steel door on the south side.
Will notices a system of small cameras on the posts of each fence that have come to life as soon as they detected motion.
Chuck is able to effortlessly hop the fence.
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Will shakes his head in exasperation.
"Chuck, this was meant to be discrete..."
With a shrug (since there is apparently no point in being stealthy), Will fires-up his body-cam, so that he live-stream the event on his dedicated channel.
Chuck loudly whispers back,"If there are cameras, you can bet ones pointed at the lock your trying to pick, Will!" Chuck says from the other side with a smirk as he activates his solar weapon, A big Freaking sword of light.
Reynold follows Chuck over the fence without a problem.