"The Centipede"

"The Centipede" is the seventh session of the first chapter of Convergence. The party try to proceed to the end of the sector, but are stopped by a blockade of SPEC OPS. They reveal to the party that a dangerous insect has made its home in the system and it must be dealt with before anyone can leave.
== Synopsis ==
=== Lockdown ===
After the incidents of the previous session, the party jump into a new sector. They discover that the sector has been locked down, with FTL jumps no longer working. They discover several SPEC OPS vessels nearby, that appear to be searching for something. Upon making contact with them, the nameless agent tells the party that they have the sector locked down due to the presence of a large insect known as a Solar Chrysalys, a centipede-like creature that is extremely dangerous and breeds rapidly. 
The nameless agent notes that the Solar Chrysalys normally live at the edges of the galaxy, and finding one here is extremely unusual. Dr Arbo reiterates this and gives further details on the Solar Chrysalys, he notes that it has a high internal temperature and confirms the agent's information about where it normally lives. The agent adds on that due to it's high internal temperature, it is best to attack it from a distance to avoid being burned. The agent then tells the party that he cannot allow even one creature to leave the sector, and invites the party to help find and kill it. Upon success, he will lift the lockdown and allow them to leave. 
Steele and the party agree and end communications. Dr Arbo heads over to his medical terminal and gives some further information about the creature. He notes that the creature operates on a hivemind, with all the offspring being linked with their mother in order to survive. He checks the records for previous encounters, he notes that there have been two instances of another Solar Chrysalys in the inner worlds but both incidents were due to creatures being taken from their homes and brought back by poachers. There are no records of these creatures naturally travelling this far into the galaxy. Dr Arbo also notes that the creature can be tracked via its internal heat, which is produced by the presence of magma within it's body, or by the unique structure of its exoskeleton. 
=== Hunting the creature ===
Calli performs a scan of the surrounding area, which is a small asteroid field, she finds large heat signatures coming from two nearby asteroids and a small moon. The party decide to investigate the nearest asteroid. Upon inspection, they note that there scans can only pick up vast winding cave systems going deep under the asteroid's ground. They decide to take a closer look. H0W-D33 comes up with the idea to send the Eastwood's shuttle in remotely to search for any signs of the creature. Petra hacks into the shuttle's systems and transfers control to H0W-D33, who promptly takes the shuttle in and begins searching the caverns. After some trouble with the hacking connection, H0W-D33 brings the shuttle back to the ship and pilots it himself. When H0W-D33 goes down to investigate the asteroid, he notes several openings that he can access. He pilots the shuttle into one H0W-D33 notes the presence of magma in several chambers but find no signs of the creature. 
After discovering very little on the Asteroid, the party consider the next location to investigate. H0W-D33 returns to the Eastwood in the meantime. They note that two SPEC OPS vessels have moved off to investigate the other asteroid with the high heat signature. The party therefore decide to investigate the third heat signature.
=== Finding the egg ===
Calli, now in the pilot's seat, takes the Eastwood to the small moon at the other end of the system. They promptly investigate the moon, H0W-D33 takes the shuttle down and searches the cave system. He now notes the presence of orange glowing "rocks" buried deep within the cavern, he uses the shuttle's tractor beam to lift one of the "rocks" out and bring it onboard. He takes the shuttle back to the Eastwood, and reveals it to the rest of the party. He tries to touch it and finds it to be very hot. Dr Arbo comes over and uses his nanites to lift the object and take it back to his lab. Upon scanning the object, he tells H0W-D33 that this is in-fact an egg, likely laid by the creature they are hunting.
H0W-D33, however, was overjoyed. He referred to the creature as his "son" and names him huckeleberry. Steele and Petra are adamant that the egg needs to be disposed of due to SPEC OPS' presence. H0W-D33 however is very against this idea. Dr Arbo notes that the creature can be safely stored on the cryo-freezer to delay the egg hatching until they can figure out the best course of action. Privately, Steele pulls Petra aside and tells him that when the time comes, he must kill the egg. Petra agrees to this course of action. The party then return to the bridge, there, Petra hacks into the cryo-freezer's temperature control and drops it to zero, likely killing the egg. 
Del Rio points out to Steele that due to the presence of eggs in the cavern H0W-D33 explored, it is likely that the creature is within this moon. Steele concurs. He decides to bombard the crater from orbit in an effort to at least disturb the creature and possibly lure it to the surface. He fires a torpedo and creates a large crater on the moon. As the torpedo explodes, Dr Arbo collapses from the mental strain of the creature telepathically screaming. The crater is notably large enough for the Eastwood to land and allow for them to disembark. However, the party notice that communications and sensors have gone down and are no longer functioning. They make the decision to disembark, leave the ship in Del Rio's hands, and go through the caverns as a group. 
=== Locating the creature ===
They venture deep into the caverns of the small moon. The party note a 'wall of heat' that hits them as they venture in, and note that the temperature continues to rise. They carry on further until reaching a series of ledges that they navigate down successfully. After dropping several feet, they finally reach the base of the cavern. They note the presence of a circular shaped hole at the end of the area, with an orange glow being emitted from it. They see a slime-like substance covering the floor of the cavern. As they move forward to investigate, they hear clicking and rumbling behind them. Two hatchlings come out of the walls and attack H0W-D33 and Dr Arbo. The first creature makes a lunge for H0W-D33, but likely due to their recently hatched state, completely miss H0W-D33. The party engage the creatures. The second makes a lunge for H0W-D33 and tries to pincer him, however its pincer muscles don't seem to work correctly as the pincers don't harm H0W-D33. The party make fairly quick work of the creatures, and then proceed into the circular hole. 
Inside, they enter a massive cavern full of glowing eggs. At the end of the cavern, inside a hot volcanic vent, sits a large Solar Chrysalys, standing at 15m tall. The party come up with a plan of action, move into position, and begin their attack. 
=== Pest control ===
The creature reacts to the party's presence. The combat begins with H0W-D33 and Dr Arbo utilising a flash attack on a stack of eggs in an attempt to distract or harm the creature. Dr Arbo unleashes a flash which causes the creature to scream, however, it also causes all the nearby eggs to hatch and attack. H0W-D33 charges and detonates their tech armour. The resulting explosion paralyses the hatchlings and throws H0W-D33 to the ground. 
Meanwhile, Calli and Steele get themselves into position and attempt to draw the creature's attention. Calli moves herself over towards the location of Dr Arbo and H0W-D33 and prepares to use the Ice Concoction she created previously, theorising that the creature may be vulnerable to ice. Steele shoots at the creature, and notices a build up of glowing orange energy along its "stomach". The creature turns itself towards Dr Arbo, H0W-D33 and Calli, and the orange energy that was building up releases from its mouth in the form of a large wave of fire. Dr Arbo and H0W-D33 manage to get out of the way, but Calli is caught in the fire. The three suffer damage but carry on with the fight. After this, Calli gets herself into position and throws the concoction into the creature's mouth. The creature winces in pain as the concoction detonates and causes large icicles to seal up its mouth. 
After a few more hits from the party, including from Steele's Drones, the creature sends a last resort telepathic message to Arbo. The creature again repeats that it must "flee" but it later adds that it also must slaughter those who attack it and its eggs. Not dissuaded, the party continue the assault. It all comes to an end when Calli launches a grenade into its mouth, causing a massive explosion which brings the creature down. However, upon its death, the creature releases a massive wave of magma from the inside of its body, which engulfs Steele and nearly catches Calli. Petra rescues Steele from the Magma with fairly minimal injuries. 
After the creature's death, the hatched Chysalys begin to become lucid as the hivemind that they were once part of falls apart and they lose awareness. 
=== Moving on ===
After the creature's death, the party regroup and head back to the Eastwood. Upon boarding the Eastwood, the party heads to the medical bay for Dr Arbo to treat the injuries that they have sustained. H0W-D33 immediately checks the cryo-storage to see if "Huckleberry", the egg H0W-D33 found, is okay, completely unaware of Petra's earlier actions. H0W-D33 opens the Cryo-storage and sees that the egg has lost its formerly glowing orange appearance and hot temperature, and is now a soft brown colour and is as cold as ice. H0W-D33, seemingly unaware of anything being wrong, talks to "Huckleberry" as normal, as the party watch saddened. H0W-D33 headed to the bridge afterwards, and the party debated who would be the one to tell H0W-D33 the truth. Petra, feeling responsbile, decided to be the one to do it. Petra headed off to the bridge and asked H0W-D33 if he was sure that the Egg was alright, and H0W-D33 confirms as much. Petra eventually tells H0W-D33 that the egg is cold and likely dead, which H0W-D33 refuses to hear. H0W-D33 rushes off to the Cryo-storage, and Dr Arbo confirms that the creature within has died. Dr Arbo assured H0W-D33 that the creature wouldn't have survived if it had've hatched, due to the death of the mother and the loss of the hivemind. Dr Arbo also notes that there are likely thousands of Chrysalys at the edge of the galaxy. 
H0W-D33, furious as to how this happened, demands to know who did it. Before Petra can come forward, Steele admits that he gave the order, fearing the response from SPEC OPS should they have an egg on board. H0W-D33 immediately draws his weapon and tries to shoot Steele, only for the weapon to jam. H0W-D33 collapses, distraught, and retreats to his cabin. As this is occuring, Del Rio rushes in and pulls Steele to the side. He tells Steele that they've still not got sensors or communications, and that without sensors, they will not be able to take off nor navigate the ship safely. Del Rio says that the interference was never coming from the creature to begin with, rather it is from the mysterious "Signal" that has seemingly gotten more intense. The party rush to the bridge and begin to devise a solution. 
Steele starts by heading to the engine room and attempts to rewire the systems. He notices that there is distinct interference along the power relays. He tries to clear this interference but he doesn't seem to be able to do so. He heads back to the bridge, where after some discussions with Del Rio, he performs a complete restart of the ship. Although this seems to clear some of the interference, it is not enough. Del Rio tells Steele that they could use the shuttle as a guidence system, by sending pings to the Eastwood that tell it how far to climb and where to go. Steele agrees and repurposes one of his drones and attaches it to the shuttle, to aid in the guidence. Del Rio pilots the shuttle while Calli pilots the Eastwood. After some time, they get the Eastwood into safe orbit. 
However, without communications and sensors, they will not be able to contact the SPEC OPS ships to get them to lift the lockdown. Petra offers to assimilate into the ship and try to free up the interference from the systems. He attaches himself to the sensors and gets them back online. The Eastwood travels to the SPEC OPS fleet, who are unresponsive. The party decide that they must transport over to one of their ships and talk in person. However, Del Rio warns that if any of them transport over to the SPEC OPS ships, they will likely be arrested or executed. Del Rio therefore offers to go himself, since he was in SPEC OPS and may be able to get away with being on their ships. Steele agrees and they transport Del Rio over to the nearest SPEC OPS ship. 
=== Neutral zone ===
After some time, Del Rio transports back, arriving looking quite distressed and beaten. He tells the crew that the ships will lift the lockdown, he tells them that they weren't too happy with his presence over there but they are free to go. Meanwhile, Steele hears a whistling in the corner of the bridge, he notices the Guide leaning against the wall. Sighing, Steele drags the Guide somewhere more private. The Guide congratulates him on his "exterminator job" and asks again for a map. Steele, annoyed, tells The Guide that he's tried to give him maps before and he doesn't seem to use them. The Guide tells him that "he was a different guy back then". Steele hands over an atlas to the Guide, who thanks him. The Guide, asks Steele if he can answer a question for him in return. Steele simply tells him to "fuck off", which the Guide does, with a smile. 
Thankful, Steele tells Calli to take the Eastwood to the final Beacon of the sector. Upon arrival, there is nothing there aside from a border station. Steele, worried about being stopped, asks the party if any of them are hiding any kind of criminal pasts. Most of them answer that they are not. Del Rio notes that technically, all of the party are considered "criminals" due to their prison sentences. Del Rio assures Steele that he has a code he can transmit to the border station that will tell them that they're on an important mission and not to ask questions. Steele reluctantly agrees to allow Del Rio to transmit it. After a couple of minutes, the border station allows the Eastwood to proceed on, and the party are able to travel to the Neutral Zone. 
== Featured characters ==
=== The Party ===
* Dr Arbo Star-Seeker 
* H0W-D33
* Bunka (GM Controlled) (inactive)
* Arthur Steele
* Petra
* Calliamarianna
=== Others ===
* The Guide
* Lt Cmdr Benjamin Del Rio
=== New ===
* Unnamed SPECOPS Agent
* Solar Chrysalys
* "Huckleberry"
== Story elements ==
=== Key story notes ===
* This session introduces a form of wildlife that lives far beyond the territory of the Galactic Union.
* The Solar Chrysalys, that prefer to life away from inhabited systems, has been driven to Union territory and notes that it is "fleeing". 
* Dr Arbo's telepathic abilities are used by the creature for communication.
* H0W-D33 becomes deeply attached to an egg that is promptly killed by members of the party. 
* Bunka hibernates during the events of the session. 
* "The Signal" becomes an issue, with it now interfering with systems on the Eastwood. 
=== Secrets ===
Nothing out of the ordinary here, chief.