B20. The Purge

Characters Present

• Sabbath Rune (Jack L.)
• Tia O'Mandalorio (Laurie M.)
• Theta Omicron (Tony N.)
• Sola Ardelion (Robert R.)
• FR3-ND0 (Chris H.)

The team at the Ranger HQ were covering for earlier groups that went out to respond to reports that saboteurs were setting fires throughout the city. With Comms off-line, much of the hub was a coordination nightmare, with only line-of-sight laser comms functional. Tia was delivered a message via courier, an intercept of an encrypted message in response to her plea for help from JK & The Vigil.

The message contained multiple encrypted attachments. Using BX-917 as a cipher, a holo message relayed that JK was acting on the information, but may be days behind. She would attempt to get back to the fleet to get as much aid to Nigita as she could. As a potential help, she enclosed a gift from Doc Mathison, the signal processing code for decoding Vyjand control signals.

Following this message, an unexpected holo was found, addressed to Sola. This one was from Agent Lee Rambaud, Intelligence director of the facility formerly on Nigita. She shared that they were taking steps to overcome the compromised communications, and that LIBRA (the Vigil networked sentience) was offline due to "incidents." She relays that she has enclosed ciphers for all known Pentastar and Imperial facilities that the Vigil had collected while on world. She then triggered a protocol in the BX Squad to lead them to a place to work from.

At the Vigil hidden bunker (a base predating the Imperial occupation of the planet) they re-establish communication through the Vigil's secured network, which, unexpectedly is fully connected in system. Tracing the connections, they see that it is the Vigil containment fleet that is isolating the Nigita System. The presence of the same fleet that almost destroyed Veragi ( B6. Grim Calculus ) is a sobering sight, interdictors, fleet tenders, and the massive Super Star Destroyer - The Requiem, mean that if the contagion is not contained, Vigil will vaporize the planet rather than risk another breach.

They reach out to the fleet to determine what can be done. Agent Lee intercepts the communications and unlocks the data archive of blueprints from the Vigil. In it are the plans for the BLX Droid Brain, used to anaylze the Vyjand signal in the first place. If the team can find enough processing power, they can sample the new signal and come up with a response. Otherwise, in 24 hours, the Admiral will give the order to incinerate the planet.

Additionally, the Agent reveals that the facility was designed to spy on activities on planet. It is capable of listening in on the secured communications the local jamming by Pentastar might be using.

The team takes inventory and heads off to Persistent Memory, leaving X5 (Sola's Co-Pilot) to sort through the comms of the saboteurs on world. They head through the city to discover more fires and craft being shot out of the sky by Pentastar forces. Hoping their friends have this in hand, they arrive at the Starport and get in touch with JACT0.

When presented with the options, and the risk, JACT0 initially refuses. The potential to lose so many droids (the ad-hoc network witll require over a hundred of his best operatives) seems insurmountable. His people would die no matter what, only for the Organics to be thankful if they somehow survived. When one-by-one they see the Tiers of the city blink out in a rolling blackout as saboteurs blow power relays, JACT0 changes his tune.

In return for a seat at the table, guaranteed advocates with the Governor's ear, and a promise to develop a repository for Droid memories and personalities, he agrees. Sabbath suggests cannibalizing the navigation computers from all the ships locked down at the starport. They agree. Additionally, the team calls in Rael Shala to help the droids set up their parallel network.

X5 relays that he has identified a possible location for Pentastar command and control via triangulation. Making a low flight pass over the location, it is revealed to be at the bottom of a deep and narrow canyon, with little approach for fighter attack. The team boards the BX Platoon's K79-S80 Tank and heads to the base.

Over the course of the next two hours, the team and droids fight a pitched siege, overwhelming the exterior, then interior defenses. Securing block by block and deck by deck, the old Imperial base Pentastar was using. When the dust settles, they are in control of the facility and start combing through the systems to get as much info as to what is going on.

They cut the local jamming signals, restoring planetary comms. They find that a massive attack is planned against the Tree and warn the other teams in the hub about it. They also lure any remaining saboteurs into a kill zone manned by Rangers and other defenders. Lastly they find that Pentastar anticipated the destruction of the planet. Their teams were compiling information about the plague's progress on all fronts, funneling them into the data archive in the base. The base had a probe designed to survive the pending destruction. It and their comms prior to the system jamming by the Vigil were being sent to an unknown system. Indicating that this was being sent to "The Faceless Ones."

Going over the data streams, they also found that the base was tracking the active Vyjand control signals, which appeared to be massing against the Starport and Persistent Memory. The team rushes to the droid's defense.

Setting up defensive perimeters inside the Starport, the BX Team and their tank are stationed at one causeway while the rest of the team, including FR3-ND0 in his Vulture Droid chassis, set up at the other after mining the gate.

The battle takes a horrifying turn as the initial waves of enemies are not Vyjand, but rather fellow Nigitans, converted by the contagion into puppets for the aliens to use as cannon fodder.

The team blows the causeway to limit the amount of enemies that need to be subjected to lethal force. Several waves attempt the climb and many make it to the tarmac, inflicting damage on the defenders and blowing one of the Persistent Memory droids. Theta volunteers to substitute in and gets wired up by Rael.

As the rest continue to hit the enemy, BX-917 reports hearing the high-frequency signal of an Abbatar at threshold, indicating that one of the other Vanguard in the city is nearing Frenzy.

The team finally pushes back enough of the enemy for the Droids to complete their sampling and calculations. They transmit the new jamming solution to the Vigil in orbit and as if at the flick of a switch, the converted citizens stop. The remaining Vyjand flee, with the ones already in the starport being cut down.

Within an hour the fighting has stopped city-wide. The first calls start coming in from Orbit telling tales of mystery ships disabling all other orbital assets and refusing to let them leave. However, the ships vanished as soon as the new signal began broadcasting, withdrawing.

Shortly after, the Vigil Carrier, Alzeera Resurgent, arrives in system. The Commander and her counterpart land at Ranger HQ with the Agent. Commander Assyria reveals that because of JK's involvement, she had sufficient time to ensure that Veloth, Admiral of the containment fleet, gavbe the world sufficient time to come up with alternatives once the original countersignal failed.

She offers aid and to speak with the Governor about better protections for the planet now that the Vyjand have targeted it once.

Adventure Capsule

Game Date: 20.Grek.35 ABY
Date: 8/27/2020
XP Earned: 10xp
Credits Earned: 1250cr
Gamemaster: Bill M.

Duty Rewards (Choose)

• Harmonium: --
• Independents: 20
• Republic Remnant: --
• Scum & Villainy: --

Casualties & Injuries

• None Reported.

Notes

• Mavros Contagion Ends.
• Bunker 153 revealed.

Episode B20

THE PURGE

The MAVROS CONTAGION rages across Nigita, affecting people and creatures in terrifying and often unexpected ways.

But when Nigita itself experiences a communications blackout, is it a sign that PENTASTAR is making its final moves?

Can the heroes outsmart the enemy before their plans succeed?