Despite Chikasa's careful aim, he misses and instead shoots open a flourescent tube lighting the room. Sovyal's choice of a smaller target proves difficult to hit.
Sheets of broken metal fall from the guardian's body as Hawthorne and Hudathan plaster it with laser fire.
Now at range, the guardian focuses on a target that hit it - Hawthorne. It throws its axe.
.. And puts a gash into the mechanic's armor.
-- Bold is up --
Moxie Moon
Hawthorne (-10), Sovyal, Hudathan, Chikasa
Blue (-27)
Mnamae-6 & T771-M4 (-23)
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"Tch, might as well stick with the old reliable skills," Chikasa says with disappointment as he shot goes wide of its target. He instead casually brings up his magical interface once again, and this time slots his spell cache into the middle of it. The small pendant glows brilliantly, and Chikasa performs the subroutine to send three bolts of magical energy crashing into the construct.
While the tottering robot quickly jabs its long spear right into the midst of the security bot.
The party surrounds the construct. Moxie Moon kneels and targets the construct's head, blowing a hole through it. A triple threat blast of somewhat archaic force missiles sourced from Chikasa blast the construct's metal chest pads off. Tilly is redeemed, throwing his tactical pike through the construct's kneecap. Mnamae-6 blows two arms onto the nearby keyboard, and then Hudathan burns up the remaining lower half of the construct with pure laser fire.
The computer awaits, and it flashes a password prompt when the keyboard is touched.
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"This was the most obvious way to the core, so I expect that is what they were guarding. We bypassed them when we discovered the concealed corridor. Those are probably the arcane defenses that Lanzio mentioned, though," he says as the last of the guardians falls apart. "We should take samples for the Society to analyze."
While Hawthorne talks, Sophia links into the computer and tries to access the secured systems.
Sophia runs a password decipher routine, targeting an exploit in the OS it seems to be running. She's able to gain secured access, and the computer's functions are displayed. But when selected, none of these functions seem to do anything. It's then that Sophia notices this is a fake shell, and and Mnaemae-6 provides assistance with the hack, gaining the party root access.
The computer seems to have basic spreadsheet and word processing software, but it also has a thermostat function labeled 'Data Core Chamber'.
Even with root access, the party finds that more secured data modules are protected with three separate firewalls.
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While Hawthorne and the rest of the party work on the computer's security system, Sovyal searches the room to find any kind of valuable to serve as a personal memento of his victory over this shadowy organization. His eyes are particularly drawn to anything small and gaudy. "Hmmm..."
When the hacking team mentions the computer's functionality, he smiles "Ah, the climate control. Perhaps turn it down a few degrees in here if you will. No sense in it being warm, considering that we've already had our way with the main data core."
If the group looks like it needs his aid with the firewalls, he wanders over to see if he can provide any advice.
The party continues to work on the computer, overloading buffers and checking the dark Infosphere for zero day exploits. A beep sounds as the first firewall is bypassed, revealing that the data core chamber has four traps, where their locations are, and the location of their local keypad controls to administer them. There's also a scanned copy of the original building plan prepared by Hira Lanzio. It shows that the room with the plinth was intended to be the original data core chamber, but per a series of notes, "the board of directors found the space insufficient for the desired level of security." There's also access to an anonymous account containing 1,460 credits.
More tinkering and another beep as Moxie Moon causes a division by zero and crashes the second firewall. Behind the second firewall is a set of data files describing how the data guardians were adapted from ancient lore guardians. It shows that the guardians are able to automatically identify employees of the corporation responsible for their construction. The magical crafting process, if reverse engineered, could be another means to identify the organization behind all of this.
The third firewall proves most difficult, and the terminal screen flashes erratically between "Security breach detected" and raw code several times before Hudathan simply pulls the plug. The backup battery kicks in, causing a reset, and when the system comes back up, its security is entirely disabled. Behind the third firewall is a small data file with the disarm code for the EMP rods found in the data core chamber.
Sovyal looks through the professional suite for something he might take as a reminder of the party's victory. A small plant sits on the desk and a digital clock rests on the wall. Several pieces of wall art look quite valuable as well, but a small chunk of the construct the party had destroyed might be most suitable as a reminder of their victory.
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Hawthorne downloads the schematics for the data guardians and their unique, magical method of identifying allies into the data storage device disguised as his Starfinder insignia.
"We should salvage some of the components from these constructs before we go," he says, pausing to dismantle key components identified by the schematics.
Hawthorne collects some important-looking components of the constructs and downloads the data. And then the party exits the vault back the way they came. The shuttle that had brought you here still sits outside, and you board and depart Cuvacara, sailing across the skyline and watching the planet disappear behind your starship.
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When you arrive back on Absalom Station, Historia-7 isn't around to greet you at Lorespire Complex. The Archives' Cortex is sealed, but two others wearing technicians' clothing wait outside: a female shirren and a human male. Their uniforms are Dataphiles' faction standard wear, and you're sure you've seen them before in passing at the Complex, but if it's of any more assurance, with them is Venture-Captain Naiaj.
As you approach, the two excitedly greet you. "Oh! You're back, and safely!" The shirren bounces on her feet. "What did you find? Did you manage to obtain any data from the site? I'm Xarafo, by the way, and this is Kaizel," she points to the human.
Venture-Captain Naiaj smiles. "Dataphiles love their data, don't they? In any case, yes, we'd like to know if you were able to locate any information about the organization."
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Hudathan nods, stoic about the victory. "The mission was a success. We gained information, due to my partner's exceptional computing skills. We also found a way to identify this organization." He smiles at the others. "It should not be difficult to take them down, if their current defenses say anything about them."
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Sovyal sweeps a bow. "My dear Naiaj, we have located everything you ever dreamed of. And this organization that Historia was so very afraid of had security on par with a local Absalom Station 8-12 convenience store. Hawthorne and the rest of us had little trouble tearing it all down. Unless this was a decoy for a more impressive operation elsewhere, I'd say our data loving venture captain can breathe a sigh of relief."
He raises an eyebrow at the two Dataphiles. "Where is our frosty-eyed Historia, anyway?"
A look of surprise washes over the Naiaj's gnomish face. "Who would've thought their defenses would be so trivial! How odd that they'd leave things so unprotected."
The two Dataphiles shrug. "We’re not sure, but she asked us to meet you. She figured you’d be tired after the mission and the flight, and she
wants that data analyzed immediately."
Venture-Captain Naiaj looks at Sovyal knowingly. "I have a few more details that I'll soon fill you in on, but I'm reluctant to do so in front of these two," she leans in to whisper.
"You said you've gained the information needed. Do you have Historia-7's data pad? We should get to it quickly, as I'm sure it won't be easy to decipher whatever data you found." She looks at you expectantly.
A text message pings on Soyval's comm.
>>> :-P
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"It was not quite as simple as Soyval portrays it," Hawthorne says, reaching behind himself to the side pouch on his pack. "The physical deterrents were surprisingly light for the gravity of the data although not simple by any means."
He produces the high density data device. "This contains everything we were able to download from the core."
Sophia scans the Starfinder directory for Xarafo's comm address. Hawthorne then transmits a copy of the schematics of the data guardians to the shirren's unit. "That is the schematics for the more unique of the physical guardians."
Hawthorne recognizes a sense of worriedness to Naiaj's words, but nothing dishonest.
Xarafo palms through the schematics. "Whoa! These are just like lore guardians. And how are they able to recognize those who work for the corporation? We'll have to get to the bottom of this," the shirren excitedly adds. "You've really done well to aid the Dataphiles. This will go a long way in identifying future threats." The two Dataphiles walk off, and Naiaj's smile fades.
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A day later, the bleachling gnome returns to meet you. She takes a slow breath before she speaks. "Historia-7... She... she’s taking some personal time. I realize this is not how we do things. I’ve only just been assigned oversight of your mission and I’m still coming up to speed. I certainly appreciate your efforts.”
There is another pause, and then Naiaj continues. “In your place, I would want to know what you went to all the trouble for. We’re going through the data and are trying to ascertain who these people are and we’re not there yet. We do, however, know some of their recent activities, thanks to you. They’ve got financial data on almost every corporation within the Pact Worlds. We think they’ve been manipulating the markets, especially with regards to pharmaceuticals. Price fixing, if you follow. It’s disturbing because they appear to be trying to fix the price of medicine, system wide. I’ve got an uneasy feeling about this, but thanks to you… we have forewarning."
"That's all I know, unfortunately. As the Society learns more, we will keep you apprised."
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Sovyal twirls the end of his mustache. "Personal time? How curious. How very, very curious."
"As for this group manipulating the markets, they do that enough and they'll find some very angry and very violent people looking for them. I'm not saying it'll be a group of Starfinder Society agents. But our venture agents have a history of... let's say... audacious altruism." He adjusts his coat. "My dear Naiaj, it was as always a pleasure."
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"Price fixing! Abadar does not look kindly upon such manipulation of the free market. We've won an incredible victory this week...for capitalism!"
During the wait between briefings, Moxie contacts her agent to secure a small film crew, preferably one that is fast and discreet.
"I doubt we're going to be allowed to talk about this mission any time soon, but since we're all assembled together, I'm thinking we could shoot a quick promotional piece. It'll give us a cover story to explain our absence and give us something to remember this mission by. Its unlikely we'll all be assembled again together." She shrugs nonchalantly. "And it might be fun."