What Lies Beneath 6 - Facing the Past

*Droo get's out of a 10 foot pit with the help of Katira and Tek. Jawa Jimmy almost slices into Balancesheet but rethinks his life. Tek also almost slices into Balancesheet but rethinks his life. Rusty expertly sets up a vehicle explosive in Balancesheet. Bota peers through sassy doorways and down sassy hallways. There is one final test of pushing a button over and over and our lab-mice tendencies get the best of us. Ilya falls asleep and blanks out through the final battle and then reawakens in time to answer questions. A one handed Twi'lek from Cloud City escapes.*

## **Previously**

*With things looking grim in the battle with Balancesheet, the monster made the mistake of thinking he could handle Bota Zi. With a devastating shot into the beast - and a brutal drive by from Rusty - our heroes were successful in defeating the cyber-spider and bringing his reign of terror to an end before it could begin. All that remains is discover the secrets left behind by the spider and to take his mysterious Twi’Lek slicer into custody.*

## **Recap**

### **Scrounging Through Scrap**

The voice of Cantle Spiros rapping over Old Republic marching tunes begins to dominate the one raucous lair of Balancesheet as the team collapses in exhaustion. As the few remaining functional nodes flit mindlessly about the space, Jowkazza continues to tend to Bota’s wounds beneath the gargantuan form of Balancesheet, the beast showing no signs of reviving any time soon. Katira makes her way to the ground as the voice of Droo can finally be heard from the small pit that she fell into. Tossing down a rope, Katira and Droo slowly make progress in bringing the Jedi back out of the space, with Tek eventually coming to assist.

Coming to his feet, and coming to terms with the loss of his jetpack, Bota heads up the continued exploration of the ship. With Jowkazza providing support, he forces open a nearby door to pass deeper in search of the source of the K2 Virus. Before Bota can head further in, an inquisitive Jawa Jimmy approaches the unconscious form of Balancesheet with an intent to slice into the creature. Still straining to bring Droo up, Katira strongly opposes the idea and manages to dissuade Jimmy, who decides instead to slice into one of the nonfunctional nodes nearby.

> "*Let’s just put it this way, Jimmy. I almost shot Tek over this exact same thing.*"
> ― Katira
>
>

Easily accessing the node, Jimmy comments that it appears that the creatures are essentially empty vessels that simply require a pilot. The controls themselves appear tailored for Balancesheet himself, and would be clunky and difficult to control for anyone else. Scanning through the node, Jimmy is startled to realize that while connected to the node a user would also be vulnerable to access from Balancesheet as well. He quickly disconnects, dropping the spider and stepping away.

> "*I agree with Katira. I don’t want to be a sacrifice. **Unless** there’s a reward involved…*"
> ― Jawa Jimmy
>
>

Katira finally manages to bring Droo back up to the rest of the group, and an argument goes back and forth about the pros and cons of slicing into Balancesheet as Bota and Jowkazza continue deeper into the ship. Just ahead, they find a military land speeder and a turbolift in a room otherwise filled with junk. Giving the speeder a look over, Jimmy finds that it is mostly nonfunctional and of little value even for salvage, having been stripped for electrical and weapons grade parts. He states that the ship appears to be apart of the Arquitens-class compliment and bears the title “Athelstane”. With no other parts being of real use, the Jawa takes some time removing a seat from the vessel and strapping it to his speeder bike to carry Sparky.

Rushing in from Balancesheet’s lair, Tek makes a bee-line for a pile of debris, somehow knowing that there is one piece of valuable equipment amongst the scrap. Pushing over piles of junk, the slicer unveils a previously unseen light laser cannon for a tank, still containing its power cells and only needing to be mounted for use. Looking to take anything he can find, Tek straps the weapon to his speeder - obscuring his vision, but massively boosting his firepower. With the slicers well clear of Balancesheet, Rusty sets to work at Katira’s request and succeeds in planting his anti-vehicle inside Balancesheet’s wounded eye.

### **Operation: Revenge**

Content on the state of their newest enemy, mounted on one speeder with a tank cannon and another carrying an astromech, and carrying a mostly disabled node, the team heads to the turbolift in hopes of completing their mission and discovering the source of the K2 Virus.

The lift moves surprisingly smoothly through the ship, showing no signs of the degradation and damage that the rest of the ship exhibited. As the doors open, a pristine secondary control room is unveiled before the team, the only thing out of place being a cybernetic hand laying on the ground. Katira approaches the center of the room cautiously, and the moment she comes close to the hand, the appendage’s apparent owner is projected into the space.

> "*If you’re seeing this, you made it to the end, and this will be the last thing you’ll ever see. I was really hoping you would die here, and I guess I got my wish. I just wanted you to know who it was that killed you.*"
> ― Toln ne Yerres
>
>

The image flickers out, and the ship broadcasts that all doors are sealed and launch sequence will commence in 30 seconds. From the nearest screen, a timer begins to count down in conjunction with the audible timer. Tek approaches the timer, discovering that the panel is just an extension of controls that are not present in the room. The only function available on the panel appears to be a large button. When depressed, the countdown restarts from 30 seconds but does not halt. As Jowkazza takes over button pushing duty to buy time, the rest of the group fans out for some clue to an escape. Droo plunges her lightsaber blade into one of the doors out of the room, prompting an announcement that shields are online due to a possible hull breach. Jimmy moves to a nearby screen, discovering a transmission station but no other controls, Katira pockets the cybernetic hand, and Rusty teams up with Bota to attempt to force the remaining door open.

Droo manages to cut open an access through her door, and the blue glow of ray shielding can be seen illuminating the barrier between rooms. After testing the shields with the cybernetic hand to ensure they will not vaporize her, Katira passes into the adjacent chamber and beckons Jimmy to slice into the terminal therein. Inside the room, Katira finds a pile of Imperial uniforms and what can only be described as the remains of attempts to “fit” General Ledger into an Imperial body.

Droo, Bota, and Jowkazza move into the room as Jimmy gains access, leaving Tek behind to assume button pushing duties. Droo lets everybody know that she senses three life forms ahead - two clinging to life and the other moving away - and Jimmy states that there are two protocols currently running, with one labeled “Operation: Revenge” drawing the larger amount of power. Moving into the next room, the group finds a large vat with a grate situated on top. Katira ties her rope around the hand and tosses it onto the grate.

> "*Hey, can you lend me a hand?*"
> ― Bota
>
>

Droo bends down and draws on the force to accelerate healing on a survivor in the nearby cage while Jowkazza applies a medpack as well. Passing through the final door, Katira spots the one armed figure of Toln ne Yerres navigating away through a sewer passage on a speeder. She fires off a shot, but misses wide and the enemy manages to escape.

At the terminal, Jimmy shuts down the two operating protocols. The countdown ceases, the ray shields shut down, and the ship goes quiet. As Jowkazza and Droo succeed in saving the lives of the two caged humans, the small node that the group brought along with them begins to curl in upon itself in the apparent throes of death pointing to the death of Balancesheet. A quick search by Bota shows that one of the survivors is a New Republic Senator, and the other is a petty criminal with a small bounty on their head.

Further investigation around the vat reveals that this is the manufacturing location for the K2 Virus that the group was sent to locate. Also found are files pertaining to the creation of the original Krytos Virus, with modifications made to develop the K2 Virus at the location. With her rudimentary understanding of computer operation, Katira manages to find an image of Toln ne Yerres and Evezan operating on the form of Balancesheet. Jawa Jimmy takes over, pulling all the files pertaining to the groups missions, as Katira bundles up a high ranking Imperial uniform for later cleaning and use.

### **Wrap Up**

In the secondary control room, Bota manages to bring the communications console online and establish contact with Cal Omas. The Senator is surprised to learn of the existence of another capitol ship below the planet’s surface, the New Republic having believed that all such ships had successfully taken part in Operation Lusankya. Offering to send a team down to assist, Cal is even more astonished to learn that the virus was specifically manufactured to infect humans, having believed that it was created by the Imperial Remnant up to this point.

Bota completes a debrief to the Senator, covering the potential problem that General Ledger may pose and the worries about Balancesheet, who appears to have died but was resurrected from a similar state by Evezan and Toln ne Yerres already. Cal begins the process of dispatching New Republic personnel to clear and secure the area, and thanks the team for their efforts.

With things looking wrapped up, Katira borrows Jimmy’s speeder for a brief stint to look into the escape route that Toln took. She rides a short distance, not attempting to pursue the Twi’lek but trying to figure where he may have run off to. Discovering that this exit connects into more of the Coruscant sewer system, Katira heads back, and the group prepares to return to the planet’s surface.

## **Featured Characters**

### **Our Heroes**

* Bota Zi
* Droo Vos
* Jawa Jimmy
	+ Sparky
* Jowkazza
* Katira Eve
* Roostan Steele
* Tek Krodak

### **NPCs**

* Toln ne Yerres
* Cal Omas

### **Mentioned**

* General Ledger
* Balancesheet
* Cornelius Evezan

## **Inventory**

* -anti-vehicle mine (Rusty)
* +tank cannon (Tek)
* +high ranking Imperial uniform (Katira)
* +Toln ne Yerres’ cybernetic hand (Katira)

## **Notes**

* -2cp to plant mine on Balancesheet (Rusty)

## **Quotations**

> "*I’m just gonna back this speeder up.*"
> ― Rusty
>
>

> "*Into Bota?! He’s taken enough!*"
> ― Tek
>
>

> "*Sorry, Bota. Somebody had to knock you out!*"
> ― Rusty
>
>

> "*Finally, Bota dies by an accident with a land speeder.*"
> ― Bota
>
>

> "*Look, Jimmy… I like you. I like your enthusiasm, and - goodnesss gracious Droo, could you please get up here! - this is not the best idea that you’ve had in your entire life. That spider just said that it wanted to - come on Droo!*"
> ― Katira
>
>

> "*I’m tired.*"
> ― Droo
>
>

> "*That spider just said that it wanted to exhibit its control over some unknown number of people through cyborg implants. You just want to slice into it and think that you’re gonna win this battle of the minds?*"
> ― Katira
>
>

> "*He got an A+ in computer slicing and repair…*"
> ― Tek
>
>

> "*What happens when this spider transfers its consciousness into you? Suddenly you’re helping us out until you get to a place where you can kill us all. How are we going to know that you’re still Jimmy? Droo, if you could just… try!*"
> ― Katira
>
>

> "*Just carry me, I’m tired.*"
> ― Droo
>
>

> "*Just put in your Willpower cartridge. “You are a strong, confident Jawa. You can do this.”*"
> ― Tek
>
>

> "*Did you like… have a picnic… on the way up? That was a lot of work, Droo. I should have just used my rocket boots.*"
> ― Katira
>
>

> "*That would have been fun. I’ll go back in, you can try it.*"
> ― Droo
>
>

> "*No… I can’t… Goodness. I mean… you look light, but…*"
> ― Katira
>
>

> "*Don’t finish that sentence.*"
> ― Droo
>
>

> "*Is anyone hurt right now?*"
> ― Droo
>
>

> "*Just Katira’s biceps.*"
> ― Tek
>
>

> "*Oh, Droo, you’re alive.*"
> ― Katira
>
>

> "*Hey, what’s up?*"
> ― Droo
>
>

> "*You’re not that heavy. I just really need to do more, like… squats or something? Maybe it was the spider fight, but I was not feeling that. I’m tired.*"
> ― Katira
>
>

> "*Katira, it is not becoming of you to keep negging my body weight all day.*"
> ― Droo
>
>

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