"Dual calling"

"Dual calling" is the third session of the first chapter of Convergence. The party are continuing on their journey to Malevolence, but are side-tracked by two distress calls from an unnamed desert planet. They investigate the calls and find the situation has become infinitely more dangerous than anticipated. 
== Synopsis ==
=== Detecting the distress calls ===
The Party jumped to the next beacon. They initially arrived at an asteroid field, which after some deliberation, the party decided to avoid. After jumping to the next beacon, they were met with a large planet and several moons. The party was met with two incoming transmissions, which after inspection was revealed to be distress calls. One is very weak and requires the ship to be taken in closer, the other is a priority OMEGA distress call (non-audio) with a Special Operations signature. After some deliberation, the party decide to move in to assist. Moving the ship in closer, the party pick up the second distress call, revealed to be from a “B-8” calling the ship saying that he needs help and that he recognises someone on board.
H0W-D33 manages to pilot the ship and land it on the surface. The party decide to investigate the Special Ops signal first. LT CMDR Del Rio stays behind on the ship to monitor the situation. Steele reprograms a drone recovered in the last ship battle to scout ahead to the B-8 signal. 
=== Investigating the "Omega" distress call ===
The party proceed to the omega signal, and Steele sees The Investigator gesture towards where they are heading. Upon approaching, the party sees a mountain in the distance and the signal appears to be coming from there. The party discovers two entrances to what looks like a cave system - the party decides to split up and search each one. Two members of the party, H0W-D33 and Bunka, take the right-hand entrance and go in. 
H0W-D33 and Bunka discover a vast open room that is very poorly lit. After some further investigation, they discover that they are what appears to be a hangar of some kind. There is a personal terminal within that appears to be emitting the distress call. H0W-D33 deactivates the distress call, and notices that the terminal is covered in “strawberry jam” which is, in reality, blood. 
Meanwhile, the remainder of the party take the left-hand entrance and enter what appears to be a residential complex, again, not very well lit. Kalli steps in fairly fresh blood and discovers that a long blood trail is leading down to a room at the end of the hallway. After some investigation of the other rooms, the party decide to unlock the door and the end and see what is awaiting them. They communicate with H0W-D33 and Bunka, who inform them of what they have discovered. 
Bunka and H0W-D33 read through the terminal and discover journal entries. Bunka reads the entry marked with a 2. The entry reveals that the individual is a scientist who has taken a powerful object and is hoping that he will not be discovered. After some more snooping around, the two discover a small shuttlecraft in the centre of the hangar bay, that H0W-D33 attempts to get working. Bunka decides to push H0W-D33 into the shuttle and close the door. H0W-D33 reacts by activating the shuttle and attempts to steer it out and destroy the cave entrance, sealing Bunka within. 
Hearing what appears to be commotion, the party in the other side do not seem too interested as they discover the horror scene within the room. The Special Operations scientist who sent out the distress call is dead in a room absolutely covered in blood, his corpse is flayed open like a venus fly trap, and all his organs are missing as if they were never there in the first place. In the room, the scientist appears to have written on the walls in blood, with one wall saying “cards”, another saying “riches will be mine” and the other saying “don’t tell them”. The only other thing in the room is a small metallic box close to the corpse. The party, immediately suspicious, aim their weapons at the box. Arthur slowly opens it and discovers a small deck of cards inside. He picks up the deck and feels a strange sensation radiate through his body. He pockets the cards, and the party decide to leave. H0W-D33 pilots the shuttle out of the hangar and aims the weapons at the entrance, however, due to the state of the shuttle, the weapons fail to fire and destabilize the shuttle, causing H0W-D33 to violently fly around. Bunka, unconcerned, leaves the cave and rejoins the rest of the party. Petra and Kalli attempt to save the shuttle, but Petra is unable to stabilize it. Arthur rushes into the hangar and finds it has a tractor beam, which he activates and uses to hold the shuttle and bring it safely to the ground. Arthur then repairs the shuttle and the party agree that having a shuttle would be useful. H0W-D33 takes the shuttlecraft back to the Eastwood. 
=== Investigating the next distress call ===
Meanwhile, the rest of the party begin the long trek along the deserted wasteland of the unnamed planet, to discover the source of the other distress call. The trip takes roughly half an hour, and after some discussions, the party arrives at what appears to be a deserted town. 
They check the first house, which appears to be lived in but the whereabouts of the current resident is currently unknown, they decide to go down the stairs inside the house to see if they can locate them. Kalli and Bunka investigate another house and inside they can see someone reading an old fashioned Earth newspaper. After entering the property, the individual lowers the newspaper and the two see that the individual is a unified with a large blue eye in the centre of his steel coloured head. The individual reveals his name to be B-9, which prompts the two to inquire if he knew B-8. B-9 informs them that he lives next door. Kalli leaves, but Bunka is confronted by B-9 who is very interested in the other individuals with her. B-9, now communicating in Bunka’s native language, asks Bunka about them. Bunka is reluctant to answer his questions while B-9 is being confrontational, and eventually she ends up attempting to assault him with her hammer. B-9, unphased by the attack, absorbs the hammer when it makes contact with him. Bunka, now wanting the hammer back, attempts to push B-9 over, which leads to Bunka falling through B-9’s body. B-9 then surrounds Bunka’s body and absorbs her into him. 
Meanwhile, Petra and Arthur are exploring the basement of the first house. After finding some accommodation, the two come across a room with a cage in the centre and what looks to be a person inside. Petra, now cloaked, investigates. The individual is a Unified with a large green eye, and a very child-like personality. The unified is seemingly scared and desires its “friends” to save it. Meanwhile, Kalli calls out to the others as B-9 begins to slowly approach her from his home, and they begin to converse in the first home. B-9 enquires why the individuals have broke into the house, with the party adamant that they have not. In the basement, Petra de-cloaks and as soon as he does, the Unified jumps up and begins talking to Petra. The individual, now believed to be B-8, keeps calling Petra B-4 and referring to things that Petra has no knowledge of. Despite his protests, B-8 continues to refer to him as such. Meanwhile, upstairs, the party appears to have calmed B-9 down. B-9 reveals that he has absorbed Bunka and is attempting to view her memories. He returns to his home. B-8 excitedly shoots past the other members of the party and asks that they come with him to see B-9. 
=== Something isn't quite right... ===
B-9, seeing Petra, is similarly excited. He too refers to Petra as B-4, and reveals that “B-4” has erased their memories, and that the master will be pleased to see him. Petra, now frustrated that they continue to insist he is someone he doesn’t know, wishes to leave. B-9 leaves the room and returns with a holo-communicator which he shows to Petra, the communicator activates and Malware begins to speak. Malware, revealing that the three of them were his finest, desires for Petra to return to him. He sends “Ghorz” to come and get them. B-9 tells them that they must wait for the master to arrive. Petra, still confused, does not want to remain. B-9 offers to restore Petra’s memories. After some hesitation and discussion within the party, Petra agrees. B-9 and Petra shake hands and their hands combine together. B-9 unlocks Petra’s sealed memories, and Petra’s original personality restores.
Petra tells the party that it is time to leave. Dr Arbo, outside, hails Del Rio and H0W-D33 on the Eastwood and asks for immediate evacuation. The Eastwood powers up and they head to their location. B-9 and B-8 become hostile as they attempt to keep the party there. Dr Arbo, with some quick thinking, gets the majority of the party out and communicates telepathically that help is on the way. Dr Arbo then rushes at B-9, who is now slamming his arm into the wall, and the Dr uses his medical foam to temporarily blind B-9. The Eastwood arrives and beams the party up. They then leave the planet and prepare to escape to the next Beacon. 
Kalli scans the next beacon and detects what appears to be a ship waiting for them there. Petra, now more animated, is adamant that they must leave. He activates the cloaking device, and the party jumps to the next beacon. 
=== Arrival at Astra station ===
Upon arrival, a red hand cruiser is waiting there for them, but with their cloak, they maneuver past the ship and head to the next beacon. Having arrived at their fifth beacon, the Eastwood enters a recharge cycle, with the engines shutting down. Luckily, there is a friendly space station at this beacon, that offers to give the party rest and shelter while the ship recharges. The station uses its tractor beam to guide the ship in and they dock. Arthur decides to look at this mysterious deck of cards he found, he pulls a card from the deck. The card, showing a picture of a Sun, suddenly disappears in a blinding light. In its place, is a powerful pistol, which is completely red with a white skull sprayed on the side. Arthur also notes that he feels a lot stronger. 
The party is introduced to an unnamed individual who offers them shelter aboard the station, he takes them to a room, and returns to the station’s bridge. While most of the party relax, H0W-D33, still unhappy about Bunka’s attempt on his life earlier, decides to get revenge. H0W-D33 disassembles and stealthily steals Bunka’s gaming set and SMG, takes them to the nearest airlock, and flushes them out into space. Unfortunately, H0W-D33 underestimated the force of suction and lost two fingers in the attempt. 
The opening of the airlock triggered a station-wide alarm which woke the party up, and Bunka quickly realised that she was missing items. Bunka immediately suspected H0W-D33 and went to find him. By this time, H0W-D33 had locked himself in the ship. Bunka convinced the station’s owner to check the security cameras to see what happened, the cameras showed Bunka’s items flying out of the station’s airlock. Bunka and Petra then went to the ship to find H0W-D33. Bunka and Petra unlocked the ship and got onboard. Bunka, now furious, picked H0W-D33 up and had him in a hold, causing H0W-D33 some pain. Petra used the newly acquired shuttlecraft to find the items and get them back. However, lacking any transporters or space suit, Petra hacked into the station, opened the airlock, and used the shuttle to push the items back into the station. 
Petra piloted the shuttle back into the Eastwood, causing some damage to the hull in the attempt. After tensions cooled, the two returned to the station, and the party went to sleep. 
Awakening 6 hours later, the party discovered that the station’s owner was nowhere to be found. Eventually, after some investigation, the party discovered his corpse near an airlock in the main room. Dr Arbo scanned his body to reveal that he has been dead for at least 6 hours, and that he had died due to asphyxiation. The party were unable to determine what caused him to asphyxiate. Steele looked through the station’s records to see if he could find out anything about the man. They discovered his name, Kaiber, and that he has a son on board. They used the internal cameras to discover his son, an infant, awake in his crib. The party, feeling obligated, took his son on board the Eastwood and quickly departed. 
The Eastwood travelled to the next beacon, hoping to find a friendly settlement or installation on the way to take Kaiber’s son before they reach the Zultan border.
==Featured characters ==
===The Party===
*Dr Arbo Star-Seeker
*H0W-D33
*Bunka
*Arthur Steele
*Petra
*Calliamarianna
===Other===
*The Investigator
*Lt Cmdr Benjamin Del Rio
===New===
*B-8
*B-9
*Unnamed Scientist
*Malware (First appearance)
*Kaiber
*"Kaiber Jr"
===Mentioned===
*Commander Maria Williams
*Ghorz
==Story elements ==
===Key story notes===
* Malware makes his first appearance to the party, albiet over a holo communicator, he was first heard in Session 1 when he communicated with the Eastwood
*Arthur draws his first card from "The Deck", which grants him a powerful weapon and makes him stronger.
*Benjamin calls the USS Odyssey for help against a possible appearance by Malware.
*Petra is revealed to have a background with Malware, B-8 and B-9. He had previously sealed away his memories, making his personality seem distant. His memories are awakened by B-9 and he seems to be much more animated and emotional than before.
*The Eastwood suffers its first hull damage of the campaign, although no one except Petra knows this yet.
* B-9 and B-8 reveal that Malware is going to bring order to their race, and change them in some way.
=== Secrets===
*Kaiber died due to Petra hacking the airlock of the station to push Bunka's objects back in. Kaiber was in the room at the time investigating the security cameras, and due to the sudden absense of oxygen and the force of the depressurisation of the room, Kaiber suffocated and his corpse was thrown towards the airlock.
*"The Deck" is the Deck of Many Things from D&D. Although many of its abilities have been changed.
*B-9 revealed part of Bunka's background, although no one could understand him as he was speaking Damaskan with Bunka at the time.
*Bunka has a deep attachment to her weapons, which is why she reacted to violently when H0W-D33 had them thrown out of an airlock.
==Quotations==
*Arbo: "Come in Eastwood, we need an evacuation", Del Rio: "Come again doctor?" [Cowboy music in the background], Del Rio: "H0W-D33 turn that shit off!"
*B-9 (to Bunka): "Why are you sweating, Lizards don't sweat?"
*H0W-D33: "Z Z Z Z Z", Petra (to H0W-D33): "Wake the fuck up, you lazy bitch!"