SotB LV: The Hammer of Si'darri

*As a meteor hurtles toward Ryloth the Agents have a chance to improve relations with the Zann Consortium…*

## Agents

### Session 1

* Aiden
* Rogesh Vai
* Jokan Benn
* Gristle
* Reo
* Nenna

### Session 2

* Rhuk
* R0C-K4 "Rocky"
* Tortie
* Erdogan Cael
* Hack

## Mission Report (Session 1)

*Summary by Ben*

While at the safehouse, the agents receive a message from Nahat, informing them that they’ve gotten an offer that might be too good to refuse. He forwards a message from Tyber Zann, who offers up an opportunity for both the Consortium and the Broker to increase their influence in the spice trade. The planet Ryloth, home of the twi’leks and a major center of operations for many illegal trades, is in the path of a massive meteor that threatens to nearly destroy the planet. If they were to thwart the crisis, the local crime lords would be indebted to them, giving them an in with the market there. Both his forces and the Empire have attempted to drive it off course, but have been experiencing difficulties.

After cutting the line, Rogesh and Gristle express some concern, wondering if Zann or someone else may have been responsible for pulling the asteroid into a collision course. They find that the asteroid itself is usually part of a rare cultural event during which the object flies close and passes by the planet. Gristle and Rogesh also recall that Tyber Zann’s base is rumored to be located somewhere on Ryloth. According to Nahat’s research, most conventional means of stopping the asteroid have failed spectacularly, and by the time the agents arrive on Ryloth, it’ll be about a day before impact. Nahat has also concluded that the Empire has been keeping the planet’s impending destruction under wraps, so as to not incite panic.

The agents discuss several ideas for diverting the meteor, but decide to head out sooner rather than later. They load up into the Sunflare and link Jokan’s X-wing to it before locking in a fast route and making the jump. Luckily, their route actually gives them more than a day before impact once they arrive. However, they do immediately see Imperial patrols around the asteroid. The agents decide to hail the Imperials, claiming that they are transporting food and interested in trading. The Empire answers back, requesting they shut off their engines and prepare to be boarded. Offering no resistance, the crew lets the inspection team aboard. Nenna tries to convince the officer to let them go, but he sticks to his duty and proceeds with the inspection. Rogesh does his best to interfere without making a show while Gristle tries to pass himself off as a geologist using the vessel as a charter. During the inspection, Rogesh lifts the officer’s datapad and hands it off to Reo. The jawa slices in, taking advantage of the officer’s lax security measures, and finds a number of different logs. He finds reports on their efforts against the meteor, as well as records of each ship that entered or was denied entry to the planet. He’s also able to find the meteor’s exact location, as well as a timer until its impact with the planet. Reo injects a virus onto the datapad, causing it to have to forward any new data to his own personal datapad, and hands it back to Rogesh to replace it. The inspection clears, and Gristle offers a bribe to the officer as he leaves, convincing him to give them a cover as they pull away back in the direction of the meteor.

After a short trip, they approach the meteor and detect a sort of disruption field surrounding it. Reo is able to identify it as an electromagnetic field, and concludes that it’s coming from the asteroid itself. He also detects a broken transmission coming over the comm station. Reo is able to cut away some of the distortion and hears a message from someone of the Zann Consortium, requesting help. He traces it and finds that it originated from inside the meteor.

“This is... of Zann... we are in... meteor... powered by... requesting assi... or... dead.”

As they draw closer and the asteroid turns, the agents see signs of a facility constructed in one of its large craters. Not sure exactly what the situation is, the crew has Jokan launch in his X-wing to cover them and potentially escape to call for help if needed. The two ships split, and as the Sunflare draws closer, the distortion grows much worse before fading completely. However, communication between the two ships is still scrambled, with the X-wing still possibly floating in the disruption field. He turns to trail the Sunflare lower, leaving the field a moment later.

As the Sunflare comes in, they receive a hail from the station itself, offering docking coordinates. The voice refers to the station as Hammer Station, and seems kind enough, despite the situation. At the docking bay, there’s an assortment of vehicles landed. The team unloads and begins looking around. Gristle spots a pair of Zann Consortium StarVipers landed nearby. Aiden sees a variety of freighters along with their crews loading and unloading cargo as usual. Rogesh flags down the nearest spacer and asks to know who’s in charge. The pilot calls back, saying he should talk to control again. Not long after, a woman approaches the ship.

The agents question her, asking the current year and whether she knows anything about the Empire’s attack on the asteroid. She doesn’t seem to know anything about the Empire’s efforts, and is even offended by the suggestion, but she also gives the correct year. Still noting the team’s confusion, she asks if they’d like to meet with control and turns to take them there. When she turns, Gristle notices a surgical scar on the back of her skull. On edge, the agents follow, prepared for an ambush.

Midway down the hall, the woman escorting them begins to show signs of pain. and then begins to shed tears. However, whenever questioned about it, she claims that she doesn’t feel anything. Worried, Gristle moves to inspect the scar on her head, claiming he’d seen an insect crawling on her. He feels what appears to be an implant attached to her skull, but the procedure seems to have been done hastily, and in the past day or two. The agents stop as their escort begins to have trouble walking due to the pain. They question her, particularly about the other figures walking around inside the station - robed individuals with no visible faces. She calls them the Si’darr, and claims that they will ‘bring enlightenment to the galaxy’. With the cultish vibes going strong, the agents go into full skepticism mode. Reo finds a terminal nearby and slices in, accessing a map of the station. Not wanting to subject their guide to more pain, the agents continue on their own, leaving her to go about her business. As she parts, she requests that they let her know if they see her friend, someone named Kristov.

Using Reo’s map, they navigate to a room labeled ‘Power’, wherein they see one of the si’darr, but also a few non-si’darr moving crates around. Reo loops the room’s security feed in order to give some cover. After a quick inspection, all of the non-si’darr appear to have similar scars on the back of their heads and necks. Rogesh approaches the si’darr and attempts to communicate, acting as one of the local thralls. He feels a rush of static in his head, and the creature begins to ‘speak’ into his mind. Feeling it in his head, Rogesh reacts by firing off a dart from his palm shooter, sinking a dose of raquor venom into the target. Stepping in, he pulls back the si’darr’s hood to reveal a seemingly normal human. Gristle steps in to strike, knocking the enraged figure out just as it begins to project a picture of violence into Rogesh’s mind. The so-called si’darr is knocked unconscious, and the agents have a chance to inspect him more closely. There’s a tattoo on his abdomen that appears to originate from the Sith Empire. Rogesh takes his cloak and executes the unconscious supposed sith.

Reo slices into the power controls and constructs a backdoor, allowing him to remotely shut the power down if needed. Proceeding on, they enter the central chamber, labeled ‘The Arena’. There are a few si’darr around sparring with swords and exercising, but none of them stop the crew as they continue forward. Rogesh leans over to look into one of the pits and sees more of the thralls lined up, thanking the si’darr before being executed. Not wanting to blow their cover yet, the agents proceed through the opposite door out of the arena, seeking a way to solve the crisis and shut down this operation. Jokan begins to feel a wave of involuntary happiness, and the strange feeling that comes along with it. He announces his concerns to the others, suggesting they be careful. After taking a few turns, they arrive at the door to the prison area, where two si’darr stand guard.

Rogesh raises a hand, as if in greeting, and fires off a dart, signalling an ambush as the other agents spring into action. Aiden and Jokan both open fire with their blasters, harrying the guards with an opening volley. Jokan lays into one with stun bolts, but Aiden’s shot opens the door, revealing the prison area. One of the guards pulls out a lightsaber and shrieks menacingly, projecting anger just as the one had earlier. It strikes at Jokan, but doesn’t connect. Rogesh reacts with his neuronic whip, wrapping it around the si’darr’s neck and laying on the voltage, sending his opponent into convulsions. Jokan turns to fire at another, and feels another blast of information into his mind, suggesting that these si’darr might just be toying with them. In the back of the prison, the cells open and the prisoners rush out, including one more hardy specimen. One of the guards strikes at Rogesh, but the spy is able to dodge out of the way. Aiden finishes the guard off, and feels laughter in his mind as the si’darr slips into unconsciousness. The strange feeling of happiness seeps into some of the agents’ minds, but they do their best to shrug it off. With the guards taken care of, the prisoners approach, one of them obviously a Consortium member. The agents request his help in sorting things out and escaping, and he quickly asks after a woman he’d come there with, describing the thrall that had escorted them earlier. The agents tell him they know where she is, but ask that he helps them solve the crisis before they leave. He reluctantly agrees, and they proceed toward the section labeled ‘Tower’, which is apparently the source of the strange feelings and mental projection.

Pausing outside, Jokan and Reo prepare a detonite charge before opening the door and tossing it in and cutting the station’s power. At the far end of the tower’s base level, a robed figure turns and begins to make a speech, claiming that he and his allies will return to the galaxy, with this being a first show of power. The agents, keen to not let that happen, stand firm and are assailed by the figure’s droids. The automatons pile up into the doorway, lashing out at Jokan and Rogesh but narrowly missing. Jokan and Aiden fire into the advancing droids, and the si’darr at the back of the room steps up to a glowing platform in the center and begins chanting some sort of incantation. A droid beside him raises its sword and fires a bolt at Rogesh, narrowly missing. The spy moves forward and activates his jump boots, making a rocket-assisted leap over the phalanx of droids and into whip-range of the chanting si’darr. Throwing out a strike with the neuronic whip, Rogesh manages to wrap it around the si’darr’s neck and, once again, begins coursing electricity through the cord. Gristle runs into the droid phalanx, but is held back momentarily. Nenna fires at one of the droids, opening up an opportunity for the doctor to slip through and charge into the center, leaping upon the entangled si’darr and knocking it out with a swift strike to the head. Jokan tries to break up the droid formation with a grenade,

The droids attending the si’darr move over to Gristle and strike at him in retaliation for incapacitating their master. The shistavanen dodges one sword, but catches the other and is knocked to the floor, bleeding badly. Aiden continues holding off the droids at the door with Nenna, and Rogesh leaps into action, using leverage from the whip still wrapped around the unconscious si’darr’s neck to leap over one of the droids, kicking it in the head before landing at Gristle’s side and jabbing a stimpack into his neck, bringing him back to consciousness. The other droid retaliates, hitting Rogesh but receiving a whipping in return. Nenna dives out of the way of a sword strike at the door, making room for Reo to disrupt the lunging droid while Kristov steps in to shove his borrowed holdout into its faceplate and fire repeatedly, destroying its processors.

Gristle inspects the dais and the pedestal in front of it while the others clean up the last of the guard droids. He also searches the body of the si’darri and finds that he is a human with no tattoo, but a scar on the back of his neck. With the dais still glowing and billowing green smoke, the agents rig another detonite charge and set it to destroy the dais as they drag the unconscious si’darri into the hallway. Going to the door leading to the room labeled ‘Control’, Gristle and Rogesh force the door open, since the station’s power is still off. Inside the control room, it looks similar to the bridge of a capital ship, but slightly smaller. Using their remote access, the agents restore power and search the room. Reo and Jokan are able to slice in and get the power redistributed correctly, and they also find that there are some flight controls connected to the seats, perhaps for the purpose of piloting the meteor itself. Jokan sits down at the pilot controls and Aiden finds another set to co-pilot.

With their skills combined, Jokan and Aiden are able to pull the meteor off of its collision course. After much discussion, the agents decide to use the asteroid’s rudimentary hyperdrive to jump it into rebel territory to be studied and then possibly destroyed.