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Pan activates his combat tracking subroutine from his exocortex and uses the bulls eyes appearing in his mindseye to zero in on his target and sends a burst of laser fire into it's shoulder
While D'Vost explodes into action and uses his first shot to get a taste of the recoil his gun has while his second shot manages to blast the small hole in his target's head into a full wide gaping hole as the droids head explodes from the inside out sending small pieces of metal flying all through the room and one of it's eyes sails through the air and lands on the floor to roll along before it comes to rest next to one of D'Vost feet
init
Yvaine, Rez, Baxter
Enemy
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Rez bounds from cover to cover, slinking behind the remaining drone and blasting it with his arc pistol. The droids processors are to slow to register what's happening in time and Rez delivers a viscous hit which sends sparks to leap all through it's frame.
Baxter drops his rifle and rushes in to smash with his doshko. But in his eagerness he miscalculates his swing and he ends up just goring the floor.
Leaning out of the way of Baxter's charge, Yvaine continues to fire from cover. But her leaning throws of her aim and she ends up leaving a scorch mark on the ceiling.
The drone raises a metal fist and tries to slam it down on top of Baxter
[
init
You guys
Droid..maybe?
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Yvaine holsters her laser pistol and quick draws her tactical pistol, squeezing off a shot but she finds out that it isn't her gun that was jinxed.
D'vost seeing how successful his last shooting barrage was he decides to repeat it with the new target. However this time D'vost is not that accurate and his shots hit the wall behind his target.
Pan switches his combat tracker to the next droid and fires, but the quick shift causes his display to glitch and he ends up missing.
Rez continues to blast the sentry bot and even though he fails to get the drop on the droid he does manage to fry it's internal systems with a blast of electricity which causes the drone to spasm and drop to the floor.
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D'vost waits a bit longer to make sure that the last droid will not move or attack. Then he checks his status seeing the coverall having few more holes than he would like.
He changes a battery in his laser cannon and hides the nearly depleted one into his backpack.
"If you don't mind I can pick the grenades. <click> Or at least one of them, and I would take a short rest<click> to catch my breath. Can someone check that console."
With that shirren takes 10-minute rest.
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D'Vost relaxes for the next 10 minutes undisturbed other then the scent of smoke drifting up into his nostrils causing him to sneeze involuntary every now and then
The console on the northern generator with a flashing red light,
It's displaying a malfunction in one of its coils.
If you spends 20 minutes and succeeds at an Engineering check you can repair the damaged coil, ending Arkeost’s current power fluctuations.
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Rez sees the drone drop, but keeps his arcaster to the hip, just in case. He walks over, and toes it with his boot, checking to make sure it's down. When he doesn't see any reaction, he tosses the safety on his sidearm and sets it to the mag-lock holster on his thigh, which snaps into place with the faint sound of metal on metal. "Huh... it listened. It stayed down."
"You want to take lead on this, Rez? I'll pitch in."
Rez saunters over to the generator's console, and looks at the readout. By the time the ysoki can make out what the diagram is trying to convey, Pan already has an access panel off and is diagnosing the problem. Rez looks over Pan's shoulder, and nods. "Uhh, yeah! That's totally what I'd have done. Yup."
Probably should have just left it to him...
Rez reconnects a few wires, and grabs a can of conductive sealant from his toolkit to fill a gap in the connection, hopefully bridging it. "Alright... I think that'll... do it? Well, guess we won't know until we toss the proverbial switch and see if that's enough. Mind hitting the override there?"
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Between Rez and his wonderful assistant Pan you manage to fix the power core and put an end to Arkeost’s power fluctuations.
All that's left now is the door to your east. A totally inconspicuous looking door...just at the end of this room. Nothing weird or abnormal about it at all. Just a plain,normal door waiting for someone to open it.
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Pan doesn't notice anything odd about the totally normal door.
before pushing it open.
To reveal;
The temperature of this narrow room is a few degrees warmer than the previous chambers. Racks of computers line the walls, with tiny lights blinking and hard drives audibly whirring. A single terminal stands opposite the only door to the west, an input prompt flashing serenely.
The language barrier shouldn’t be a problem when you want to access the computer since you all share the language at the moment. However, the interface is unfamiliar and requires some expertise in computers to figure out.
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Having no problems what so ever with the computer Nole manages to pull up several confessional vidclips recorded by the ghibranis who originally orchestrated the creation of Mother Touloo, photos of the planet as it was before the attack, and information on the orbital defense system. You can download all this information onto their personal datapads or other digital storage devices.
Summary of the data you found;
Just over 300 years ago on a planet in the Vast, a race of insectile humanoids called ghibranis engaged in a brief but deadly nuclear war between several of its now forgotten nation states. Prior to their cataclysmic conflict, ghibranis paid their respects to an aspect of Damoritosh—a god of war most commonly worshipped by the vesk in modern times. This worship shaped the race into a strong coalition of militarized states, with religious servants of Damoritosh in key advisory positions. The war that destroyed most of the ghibrani race occurred only decades after the Gap, as the addled state of the world’s leaders in the Gap’s aftermath only exacerbating existing tensions.
A small percentage of ghibranis survived the devastation. A powerful force field spared the metropolis of Arkeost the brunt of the nuclear war, but subsequent radiation carried by shifting wind currents wracked the city. Many died, but a sizable population endured. The ghibrani leaders knew the city didn’t have sufficient resources to support all the survivors, so after much discussion, they purposefully engineered several additional minor disasters to trouble the populace. The leaders then seeded rumors that an angry Damoritosh was responsible for this “divine” punishment and devised the creation of a false deity—Mother Touloo—who promised salvation to those ghibranis who gave up the comforts of civilization. Agents planted within the populace spread this false religion, leading a sizeable contingent of ghibranis into the wastelands. Meanwhile, the leaders of Arkeost and their closest family and friends remained behind.
Over the following centuries, very little contact occurred between the ghibranis who chose to live in the wastes and those who stayed in Arkeost, though both remained acutely aware of each other’s presences. The passing years, as well as healthy doses of lingering radiation, caused a physical division to occur between the two factions. The ghibranis in the badlands lost the use of their wings and developed hardier exoskeletons; they became known as “husks.” Those who lived within the surviving city kept their wings, but became thinner and more fragile; they are known to the husks as “membranes.”
Today, while the membranes have all but forgotten their true past, the husks continue to believe in the fictional Mother Touloo.
They remain focused on survival in the harsh desert wastelands surrounding Arkeost, battling against vicious fauna, and view the membranes as keepers of the vast “metal graveyards” of the old city. Meanwhile, the membranes lead a relatively privileged lifestyle. Some of the ancient ghibrani technology persists, but centuries of indolence have left the membranes unaware of the treacherous deeds perpetrated by their ancestors.
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As you arrive outside again you notice that there's more activity. There are more drones flying around and there are more lights blinking on and of on various machines.
Klarima is waiting for you outside and asks eagerly for any information about the area she is forbidden to enter
"How did it go? What did you encounter"
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"Hi Karima, we went downstairs and found out misbehavior<click> in one of the mechanisms that we were able to fix. Everything should work way better than it used to. <click> If you will excuse me I need to discuss something with my fellow aliens."
D'vost turns towards the Starfinders and scratches his face with his claw. Saying in Common:
"What do you think?<click> I don't like this story,<click> the husks were treated horribly<click> and I don't think it was right.<click> I vote to expose all the information. <click> However if we do that, we should do it outside of city shields.<click> I don't want to risk a situation where the flying beings decide to keep the secret to themselves and exterminate us. <click>"
After thinking for a moment
"There is a risk that by exposing it <click> it might bring more violence to members of this planet."
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By this point, Rez has folded his arms, trying to contain his nervous energy.
"That's a pretty heavy load to put on the half-dozen of us. Maybe we hold off, report back to Absalom, see what the First Seeker thinks? I don't know about you guys, but I'm not that comfortable signing off on being the catalyst of another planetary civil war."
Rez looks past the group to their membrane host, and continues. "Maybe we just leave the information with Klarima there to do with what they think best?"
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"Thank you for fixing the power"
Klarima geniunly seems interested in what you guys found. From what you've experienced so far from her she's a lot like you Starfinders - inquiring, exploring and curious.
If that's something that just applies to her or to her entire species.....you don't have enough information about that, but you guess it's mostly her.
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Yvaine's brow is furrowed, her aura all but faded out. "I agree with Pan and Baxter. They don't know what their ancestors did. They should get the chance to make it right."
Her expression turns darker. But if they do not, the "husks" also deserve to know they have been lied to, whether the "membranes" do it or not. Either way, this deception cannot stand..."
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Taking the decision to tell both party's you ask Klarima to take you to outside the shield dome which she does as he happily chats to you about all the new power surging through the city which causes the drone to function properly once more and prevents the lights from randomly going out.
As you arrive outside you tell her all you discovered and she's immediately saddens and asks you to repeat yourselves to the most elevated
Worried that you might be "silenced" you hurry to the husks and tell them your discovery as well
Returning to the husk enclave, Alomir and Koseemo are understandably upset to hear that their religion is fictional. While the husks are not upset with you - the bearers of this bad news, they ask to be left alone to process the information. Dystane is the most visibly angry at the disclosure, and she and her hunters begin taking stock of their weapons.
As you make your way back to the Pegasus Klamira meets you and tells you what happened at the Membranes side of things after she told them your discovery.
The council is thankful for you repairing the generator, and they are surprised to learn the actions of their ancestors. However, as they are quite comfortable, they see no reason to change the way they currently live and posit that the husks probably feel the same way. They vow to uphold the tradition of keeping the Mainframe area taboo.
While Klarima escorts you further to the Pegasus, she seems a bit distracted. “You have given me much to think about, new friends,” are her last words to you as she waves goodbye to you as the door closes and you take off in the Pegasus to report back on your findings.
Back on Absalom Station, Venture-Captain Arvin appreciates that you chose to do something with the information you discovered, but he doesn’t assure you that he thinks you made the right or wrong choice.
But he assure you that "The Starfinder Society will keep an eye on Elytrio for any future developments!" there's a sound of urgency in his voice as he assumes that there's a civil war eminent.