Star Wars - DRK-1X and its Mistress

[shadowbloodmoon]

As far as X can tell, the fluctuation and inflection in Four's voice gives a sense of frustration with a hint of conviction in her words. For all intents and purposes, she's telling the truth as far as X is aware. Derek silently communicates the same thing to X.

She leans up against the bulkhead and waits for X to start its interrogation.

[sblock=OOC]Heh, yeah, it is kind of odd now that you are having a 'conversation' with somebody... Computers are so much more efficient....

Not that X (or Derek) would know this, but Four's orders to shoot down any ship that attempts to leave with her on board without her consent are standing orders she gave when she arrived. She knew that either you or her tails would be coming soon. She will explain this as you speak with her.

You could theoretically leave and jump to hyperspace, as the asteroid doesn't have the significant gravity that would hold a ship back. However, there are two things standing in your way. One, you'll have to reopen the landing bay doors (you could have Derek blast them open, the crew won't fire inside the base) and two, you'll have to have Derek program the coordinates to wherever you want to go with her and engage the hyperdrive, a full round action at minimum. They'll get one free shot off before you go.

That doesn't account for what Four was worried about though.... [/sblock]

 

[Ambrus]

[Sblock=OOC]You didn't mention the landing bay doors closing after we landed; it's a rather important detail. The last mention you made of them was of them opening to admit the Ari's Sorrow during post 31. I'd been waiting to see if they would close and have been executing my plan under the understanding that they're still open. Also, during post 30 I mentioned that 1X had programmed a hyperspace jump away from the coordinates prior to the Sorrow exiting hyperspace. I'd also been waiting to see if the gun turrets would re-deploy once we took Four aboard and haven't yet seen them do so.[/sblock]

 

[shadowbloodmoon]

[sblock=OOC]You didn't ask... Seriously though, you're right. I neglected to mention that they closed after your ship was brought in. Key data, I know.

I had thought you had preprogrammed something in the navi-computer, but for the life of me I couldn't see it when I reread the posts. Now that I know where to look...

The gun turrets actually haven't been deployed yet. As Four said, they won't deploy unless you actually attempt to leave. Otherwise, they would be able to get a fullround autofire shot at you instead of a single blast. [/sblock]

 

[Ambrus]

[sblock=OOC]So can the Ari's Sorrow depart then or are the doors suddenly closed? 1X's plan is rather dependant on its ability to flee. If they are then how long would it take to shoot through them? How many turrets are there, what kind of damage potential do they have and how many shots can the Sorrow's shields take before we're all blown to bits?

Did it occur to you to wonder why I was talking about escaping post after post if you thought I was aware the doors were closed? Are the people controlling the gun turrets even aware that Four is being abducted? It's only been a few rounds, none of us have made a commotion and none of the three delegates have had the chance to signal anyone. If the Sorrow exits the doors and enters hyperspace on its turn how would the guns get to take a shot if their action occurs after the Sorrow's?[/sblock]

 

[shadowbloodmoon]

[sblock=OOC]I'll allow for the doors to have remained open because it was my goof-up, but as far as the guns go, there have been people watching the entire interaction in the docking bay from the control station. Seeing Four led aboard your ship by two battle droids was enough to let them know something is up. During the time that Derek is taking off and exiting the docking bay, they will be deploying the guns. In the next round, as Derek is punching the JUMP button, they'll get that one shot. Not that it's going to do them any good, Derek will have already raised the shields as he lifted off and the guns are meant for smaller fighters. If anything, the ship will get bumped around, but nothing the shields can't handle. Especially with the new aft shield generator in working order now. And that's assuming they even hit in the first place. Other than that, I'm just going to continue, since this seems to be bogging us down a bit.[/sblock]

Before the ground crew can react, Derek fires up the repulsor engines and lifts off, quickly flicking the shield switch on as he does so. A reassuring hum tells all aboard that they are protected.

Derek reorients the ship towards the exit. The base is attempting to close the doors, and both X and Derek can see the small defense guns coming online. Paying no attention to them and in spite of Four's incessant protesting, Derek pushes the hyperspace throttle forward. Lancets of plasma attempt to trip up the escaping vessel, but to no avail. It is long gone by the time they reach where it was.

Four, after regaining her balance, is furious. "I do hope you're happy, DRK-1X. You've probably ruined years of intelligence work with that stunt. Now the Empire definately knows we're there."

 

[Ambrus]

"Report: My emotive node's happiness index is currently at less than 8% of my total emotional makeup. Order: A-B1 and B-B1, please restrain the prisoner while I conduct a search of her body." Once she has been readied DRK-1X reorients its primary sensor array towards Four and begins a systematic scan of the woman's person, beginning at her feet and slowly working its way back up to her head while searching for any equipment she may be carrying. The probot will also be monitoring her for any electronic signals she may be emitting as well as scanning her sub-dermally for any cybernetic implants she may be sporting (Search +10, taking 20).

While conducting its scan, DRK-1X will continue to respond to the captive woman's last statement. "Report: Unfortunately the meaning of your last statement remains unclear to me. Supposition: Perhaps if you'd taken the time to answer my previous question concerning the station's purpose and allegiance we could have avoided any inconvenience to your intelligence gathering activities. In fact, we may have been able to avoid this altercation if you would have been upfront about your goals and intentions with my Mistress and myself from the beggining. Suggestion: I strongly recommend you learn from this mistake to avoid creating any further problems for yourself. Request: Please tell me what you know about the monitoring station, its purpose and political affiliations. Also, please tell me what you know about Dofina's abduction from Dantooine by imperial forces, the Victory class star-destroyer Repulse and the purpose of its journey to this region."

OOC: Both DRK-1X and Derek will continue to attempt Sense Motive Checks on Four while she speaks (Sense Motive +2 x 2).

 

[shadowbloodmoon]

Did you want me to use Aid Another or roll separately for the Sense Motive checks? I've been rolling separately, but I wanted to double check.

The two battle droids move to restrain Four, she doesn't struggle much, and they hold her up for your inspection. Preliminary scans show that she isn't carrying any weaponry, but she does have a pair of code cylinders in one of her pockets. She doesn't seem to be emitting any communications signals, but X does find a low-power emanation coming from her torso. Switching to thermal vision, large amounts of cool spots appear on her person. These, X knows, would indicate cybernetic enhancement. However X has never seen so much done on one person. According to its readouts, Four's entire skeletal structure is made of a metal alloy and the power source it detected seems to power a series of microwires that lead to where muscles and tendons connect. Some of her internal organs have been replaced as well. The rest of her is organic however, or at least it seems.

"I was going to get to that, had you given me a chance. The asteroid is used as a monitoring station. I'm sure you are aware of the cluster of fallen stars on the other side of the nebula? Well, it's no coincidence that the Repulse went there. We're not sure of what they are building there, but whatever it is, it's huge. We caught wind of it within the last year of the war and ever since Sidious betrayed the Separatists, we've been keeping an eye on it. This base was originally put here to monitor random communications signals that came through the area, but now it may have a more practical use. Or had.

"The asteroid was the perfect size to allow ships to jump directly in it as long as the pilot had the proper coordinates. There was an acceptable margin of error, but it worked for us. That way, the Empire's scout ships wouldn't detect a ship jumping in and the risk that they could find us would be minimalized. As far as who we're with, it's not that simple. You could say that we don't necessarily agree with the formation of an Empire, but we're not exactly keen on the Republic's politics either.

"As for Dofina, I only have one guess, and it's probably right. For a time, your mistress was involved in the research of genetically enhanced war beasts. She hasn't been in the project for some time, but her knowledge is invaluable and the research center would ask for her input from time to time. Torrba had a huge investment in this research, though his purposes were more for arena combat than anything substantial. My guess is that Kellon leaked this little bit of information to the Empire when he made his bid for power. Why would they want Dofina? Look at their current army. Clones, the lot of them. Anyone with a basic genetic knowledge knows that clones can not survive long and will need to be 'updated'. If our intelligence is correct, they will be wanting not only to better their original template, but also to make new and better ones, for alternate and extreme environments. Dofina's knowledge on the matter would be priceless."

Four pauses for a moment. She isn't sure what you'll do with the information, but she is keen on keeping herself alive for the time being, that much is evident. She appears to be telling the truth.

 

[Ambrus]

OOC: Rolling separately is fine. 1X and Derek will confer via comlink about their impressions of Four and her story as the interrogation continues. Can 1X make an educated guess as to what manner of enhancements Four's cybernetics offer the woman? (Knowledge (technology) +8) Derek and 1X need to know what Four is capable of in case she resists. For instance, can the two battle droids physically overpower her or is she just allowing them to restrain her?

The diminutive probot comes to float motionless before Four's face. Reorienting its external sensor pods to focus on the woman, DRK-1X begins to silently record the woman as she explains herself. Meanwhile, the masked human replica droid remains seated in the pilot's chair with his back to the woman, listening intently as she divulges her secrets.

"Order: B-B1, please remove the contents of the prisoner's right front pocket. "Report: Your body contains an excessive amount of cybernetic enhancements. Inquiry: How did you come to acquire them and what function do they serve? What evidence have you accumulated that would indicate the old republic's military and now the new imperial military is building something big in this region? Who is Sidious and by what actions did he betray the Separatists? By what means do you believe the imperials would be able to detect hyperspace activity several lighthours away and through a nebula? How is it considered safe and practical for vessels to jump inside an asteroid who's position shifts by over 77 meters per hour? What are the goals of your independent organization and how are you, Dofina, Torbaa and Kellon tied to it? What occurred on Nar Shaada after our departure from there? What became of Torrba and Kellon? Under what circumstances and for what reason did you reveal Dofina's presence on Dantooine to the imperial forces? Are you aware of what Dofina's current position and condition is?"

 

[shadowbloodmoon]

Four's enhancements seem to be replacements. All except for the microwires, which would seem to be some sort of stimulation array. In theory, it would enable her to move faster than most normal humans. Without a surgical study, the capabilities of her organ replacements would be difficult to discern. It is possible she might be able to overcome the two battle droids, but only a test would discover the truth of that.

Four looks bewildered at the blank faceplate of X, the barrage of questions jarring her. "One thing at a time, DRK-1X. I may be made of metal, but I'm no droid." She scowls at the battle droid that takes her code cylinders. "Journals. Mostly."

When you ask about her enhancements, she frowns. "They weren't intentional. Not originally. I was sick, and they had to remove my lungs. To live, they needed replacing. Turns out, the same thing that killed my lungs was eating at the rest of my body, so as time went on, more and more had to be replaced. It's stabilised for now, but I don't know how long it will last." She pauses for a moment. It appears as if she is holding back tears.

Sighing and regaining her resolve, she looks directly at you. "Sidious was supposedly a Sith Lord that was helping the Separatists. We somehow think he is tied to this new Empire, but we have no proof, except this. He told the Separatists about his pet project, a terrible weapon to ensure victory. Then, once he had all the pieces in place, he killed off everyone that knew about it. Very few that work outside the cluster know about it and those that do carry a heavy burden. All we know is that it is going to be built as a powerful tool to ensure that all the galaxy will fall into line during this Empire's reign. Exactly what its capabilities will be or even what it looks like, we don't know. We've been trying to figure that out.

"You'll have to ask the station control personnel how they figured out that it would be safe to jump inside an asteroid. Even I haven't figured that one out, nor do I care, as long as it works. However, I do know that the Empire sends scout ships out to scour the entire nebula for anything that might be watching them. We've had more than a few close calls. Your little jump may have sealed the fate of the station though. I somehow doubt it will be there when we return.

"Our organization, such as it is, is made up of people who were once a part of the Separatist movement, but didn't want to actually fight the Republic. Now that the Empire has formed, we have a new task, to prevent it from subjugating our worlds by force, which it seems the Empire is quite keen on doing, if the reports on Muunilinst and Ryloth are to be believed.

"Torrba knows little about us and serves more as medium for information that anything else. Dofina, as you know, was definitely a Separatist supporter and her services of transportation through Torrba helped us get information when we needed it. She doesn't know much about us, as far as I know, but I'm certain she will when you find her. Kellon is bantha scum. I knew that pod oil slick would pull something like this, but I didn't know when. I've been preparing for it as long as I could, but with the Empire backing him, things got much more difficult.

"After I sent Torrba to Tatooine to be with his cousin, I lost track of him. That was intentional. If anyone knew that I had sent him there, Kellon would eventually find out and send his goons to finish what he started. So as far as I'm concerned, Torrba is still on Tatooine.

"After that, I made sure to do what I could to ensure Dofina had a safe refuge. Turns out, Kellon was already on top of that. Apparently I wasn't paying my people enough to keep quiet about stuff I was doing behind Kellon's back. So I came to Dantooine to see if I could do anything about it. That's when that Jedi and his forces showed up and ruined everything.

"Determined to figure out what was going on, I infiltrated the Empire's little show and found some intelligence that the people back on the station are still working out. That and the module I found and put in your hull. To get it out, I needed to hide it somewhere. Trusting your programming, I hid module with you, hoping that once you found Dofina again, she would come to us with it.

"After that, I found out that she had been taken captive in a raid that occured when the Empire found out about the genetic research complex below ground. I escaped the bombing and hid inside a garage until it was over, then I found a working speeder and went to the nearest starport I knew of. The freighter I found is still in the hangar on the asteroid if you want to check.

"Knowing that the Repulse was in orbit and knowing how fast it arrived after that Imperial Jedi did, we could only guess its destination when it jumped out. Our only concern now is how to get in the cluster.

"When you came aboard, I had intended on setting up a plan to get Dofina and as much intelligence out as we could. But now, we're here."

 

[Ambrus]

OOC: I think you may be confusing recording rods with code cylinders. Code cylinders allow an individual to unlock something; recording rods store data.

While listening to Four, DRK-1X deploys a tiny arm from within its chassis with a soft whir and click. Taking the cylinders from B-B1 the probot turns, floats back to Derek and asks: "Request: Could you please review the contents of these?" B-B1 resumes its grip on Four's left arm. Knowing the the value of discretion, Derek turns his head slightly to regard 1X through his visor, takes the cylinders and offers a curt nod in exchange. As the diminutive probot floats back towards Four, the humanoid droid unclips the datapad he carries at his waist, flips it open, slips one of the cylinders into a free port on the device and attempts to access the data within (Computer Use +14, taking 10).

"Apology: I'm sorry for my curtness, but we have much data to process in a short amount of time. Inquiry: What do you mean when you say you put the module in my hull? Statement of fact: It was installed by a male technician with a significantly different appearance than yours. Inquiry: What do you know of the module and its purpose? How exactly did you infiltrate the Imperial forces on Dantooine? What intelligence did you uncover? Did you speak with Dofina before her capture? Where on Dantooine did you go to find a transport to take you offworld? How long did it take you to travel there on a speeder-bike? When did you arrive on the asteroid?" DRK-1X pauses briefly between questions, offering the woman a moment to answer while conferring with Derek via comlink about the veracity of her statements as well as to learn the contents of Four's data storage devices.

"Inquiry: What people of yours did you entrust with Dofina's whereabouts? Who betrayed her location to the empire? Why did you task three repair droids with passing along your encoded message to Dofina? How did you know we'd encounter them? What had happened to the reactor that necessitated their efforts to maintain it?

Statement of Fact: Sith continue to figure prominently in my dealings with you. Inquiry: How was Ventress tied to either Anakin Skywalker or this Sidious you mentioned? What was the nature of Ventress' relationship with yourself, Torrba and Dofina? Why did he refer to her as his apprentice?

Conjecture: If the asteroid was shielding vessels from detection then it is unlikely that our departure alerted any imperial scout ships in the area since we entered hyperspace from within the confines of the asteroid as well. Report: I see no reason that our actions would doom the station. Inquiry: If the region is being so thoroughly patrolled by imperial scout ships, how did you manage to have such a sizable station built originally? Why is it designated as station 27b? How many other such stations does your organization manage?"

Finally the probot arrive at the most important question of all, though it's passionless vocabulator fails to convey any particular urgency or interest in the matter; "What is your plan to enter the cluster and rescue Dofina?"