Chapter 6.2: Daring Rescue

Mercer will pull his blade out, falling behind Peter, and go forward without saying anything.

Douklan refrains from comment on that outburst and keeps in position, sighting on the open doors of the other shuttle, preparing to fire if anything else makes a hostile move out of the vehicle as Peter and Mercer approach it on foot.

With the threat vanquished, Peter and Mercer cautiously advanced towards the fallen monster, their weapons still at the ready. Their footsteps echoed softly in the cavernous chamber as they moved closer, their senses on high alert for any sign of further danger.

Meanwhile, Douklan remained in position, his plasma projector trained on the open doors of the other shuttle. His finger hovered over the trigger, ready to unleash a torrent of plasma at the slightest hint of hostility from within.

As Peter and Mercer reached the fallen creature, they exchanged a brief glance before carefully circling around it. Its massive form lay still, the glow of its cybernetic components dimming as its life force faded away.They could also peek inside the shuttle now, as its open doors where just 10 ft ahead. Seeing the main chamber, you're met with a scene of chaos. Consoles lay shattered, wires dangled like entrails, and the metallic walls bore scars of violent bumps. In the corner, a droid is broken, its mechanical limbs twitching sporadically as if caught in a restless slumber.

Corbin rolls his eyes at Mercer's outburst and follows Peter and Mercer up toward the creature. Hanging about 3 meters back he circles wide covering the creature to confirm it's inert. Once Peter or Mercer confirm it seems down, Corbin will go to examine the shuttle. He's curious if any of the consoles are functionable and if there are any signs of the former crew.

Peter holds his hand to the side stopping Corbin.

"Wait, let’s go in carefully, who knows what else could be there"

He advances slowly leading the group weapon raised and looking for any movement from the door, also making sure they approach from an angle so that Douglas still has a shot without having to go through them.

When he gets to the entrance he will start clearing the shuttle and making sure that isn’t anyone there before letting Corbin look at any consoles.

Yes, Hank made sure at least two bioscanners have been brought along. If Mercer doesn't have one with him, he will get one quickly.

"Let's scan the creature to make sure it is dead, then let's check the shuttle to see if there are signs of the crew still there."

Hank also has a survey scanner with him, if that can help them get a better lay of where they are.

Trade Era 1235, Day 163. 10:16 UTC

Underworld, Near the Forbidden Regions, Zyronis
Mercer's fingers traced the sleek surface of the bioscanner, his gaze fixed intently on the screen as he activated the basic mode. The device hummed softly to life, emitting a faint glow as it began to analyze the remains of the fallen monster before him.

With steady hands, Mercer carefully positioned the scanner over the creature's inert form, the sensors whirring as they scanned its biological composition. The data began to populate the screen, revealing vital information about the creature's condition.

As the results appeared, Mercer's eyes narrowed in concentration. The bioscanner confirmed what they already knew—the creature was indeed deceased. However, there were anomalies present in its blood that piqued his interest.

The concentration of rare metals and alloys detected within the creature's bloodstream was unusually high, far beyond what would be considered normal for any natural organism. Mercer's brow furrowed in confusion as he studied the readings, his mind racing to make sense of the implications.

But despite his keen intellect and scientific curiosity, Mercer found himself at a loss. The intricacies of the bioscanner's advanced functions were still beyond his current level of training, leaving him unable to fully interpret the significance of the findings before him.

With a frustrated sigh, Mercer glanced around at his fellow crew members, silently wishing for someone with more expertise to provide insight into the mysterious anomalies they had uncovered.

Trade Era 1235, Day 163. 10:16 UTC

Abandoned Shuttle, Underworld, Zyronis
The air hummed with a sense of impending danger as Peter stepped cautiously into the dark interior of the abandoned shuttle. His footsteps echo against the metal floor, a stark contrast to the eerie silence that enveloped the outside tunnels after the battle was over. He looks around, looking for other creatures or threats. There is none to be found.

"Clear!" - he declared, the word cutting through the silence like a blade.

Corbin, gazing around the main chamber, sees a scene of chaos. Consoles lay shattered, wires dangled like entrails, and the metallic walls bore scars of violent encounters. In the corner, a droid is broken, its mechanical limbs twitching sporadically as if caught in a restless slumber.

"I see no blood, no bodies," murmured Peter, eyes sweeping the wreckage for clues from the salvage team.

His first answer comes in the form of a blinking distress beacon, its faint light casting eerie shadows across the room. This was what probably started this mission and led you here, a beacon of hope amidst the wreckage, a sign that the salvage team had encountered trouble but hadn't given up entirely. Further information can probably be found in the ship's computers. There are a couple of terminals that can be easily fixed and reconnected.In the shuttle's common room, an active holographic map illuminated the walls, revealing the intricate network of tunnels and pathways that snaked through the lower levels of the ecumenopolis. Numbered markers indicated their current position (1) and the expected location of the crashed frigate (2), nestled on the outskirts of the forbidden territory. Flooded areas were marked in blue, in red are the Forbidden Regions, while green delineated large passages, big enough for the Solaris, and white indicated narrow walkways. Yellow highlighted blocks overrun with wildlife, reclaimed by nature.

"This appears to be the direction they have chosen," James observed, delicately tracing a metallic finger along the white pathways with the shortest route. "However, one must ponder the rationale behind their foray into such hazardous precincts. It's too close to the gates of the Forbidden Regions. Furthermore, the salvage crew's cartographic records hints about recent habitation of these levels. This is not public information. There are even wildlife and plants marked here. A remarkable and unexpected revelation, indeed, worthy of further scrutiny."

Corbin moves some of the debris off of one of the more functioning looking consoles. Pulling the metatool out of his pack he moves ahead to restoring what function he can. Once that's complete, he'll see what information he can retrieve.

After clearing the ship and looking around for clues Peter stops and takes a picture of the holographic map in the middle of the room, not wanting to take up space from the people messing with the terminals he starts making his way outside when something takes his attention

"Corbin, do you think we can take any info from this?"

He says pointing at the broken droid

"I don't know how the memory in these things work but he surely saw what happened"

If Corbin response is positive he will drag the bot outside and dump him leaving it ready to be taken back to their ship, he will set up a security perimeter outside looking out for contacts while people finish working inside.

Trade Era 1235, Day 163. 10:22 UTC

Abandoned Shuttle, Underworld, Zyronis

Corbin quickly fixes one of the terminals and looks for more information.

The playback of the internal surveillance footage unveiled a chilling sequence of events. As Corbin watched, the recording depicted the moment when the ship landed. The salvage team, unaware of the impending danger, had ventured outside, hours before the attack, moving towards the crash site using multiple pathways and leaving the vessel unlocked and unattended save for their faithful droid companion.

The recording then vividly captures the arrival of the cybernetic ape a couple of hours later and the ship's ordeal as it comes under siege by the monstrous assailant. The metallic fists of the creature pound mercilessly against the hull, causing visible damage to exposed equipment. The droid notices it, opens the door and tries to fight back. Despite the courageous defense mounted by the lone droid, the relentless assault proves overwhelming, with the monster entering the ship and plunging the whole vessel into chaos.

In a final act of desperation, the valiant droid activates the emergency beacon, sounding the alarm and alerting its owners of the impending danger. Even as it succumbs to the monster's onslaught, the droid's selfless act serves to trap the rampaging beast within the shuttle's metallic confines, buying precious time for its masters to react and escape the imminent threat.

---

Moreover, amidst his search through the ship's data banks, Corbin finds more information about the nearby buildings and places. Your map now includes:

3. An old electrical substation that may have rare pretech components, useful for modding starships.
4. A large force field, part of the Forbidden Regions defensive measures and the closest entrance to that area.
5. An abandoned hospital. Whispers tell of recently arrived inhabitants that would like to keep their privacy.

---

Corbin also found a fragment of information that sent a shiver down his spine. Buried deep within the salvage crew's preparations was evidence suggesting that there may have been creatures in Zyronis infected with what's supposed to be Elder's nanites, microscopic machines that could alter its hosts physiology and behavior.

The implications of this revelation are staggering. Nanites were a highly advanced technology, capable of rewriting the very fabric of life itself. If the cybernetic ape that attacked them was indeed infected, it meant that its capabilities and intentions could be far more sinister than they had initially suspected.

Ah, Of course I go exploring and then I need a crazy medical investigator
Mercer mutthers to himself looking over the I fo from the bioscanner that certainly looked useful.. to someone who could use it. Well it's dead, but there's some weird stuff going on with it... Even still.
I'm going to sound crazy, but do we have something to restrain it, like chain?
He pauses and thinks of the tech he is looking at. And begins to wonder if the ITC may be thankful .. financially thankful .. for something of this medical insight. .... Maybe "package" it and sell it...

Peter raises his eyebrown hearing that the thing might still be a problem, he silently looks at Mercer, raises his rifle as to imply he could shoot it more to make sure and shrugs his shoulder as to say: "maybe....."

To Corbin: "Please send a copy of that information to my dataslab. That way we have a duplicate of all of that info.

"Also, can this shuttle be repaired enough to fly? Salvage is salvage, and if everything goes bad, this is still one thing we can bring back. If it can fly. Also, can the droid be repaired? At least enough to get its brain back on line?"

To Mercer: "Honestly, I don't want to restrain it. I want to burn it to the ground."

To Douklan: "Can you shoot it a few more times to make sure even nanites can't put it back together?""Mercer, scan both of us. I want to make sure those weird metal reading aren't now showing up in us!"

Corbin packs up the files he's recovered and instigates the transfer to Hank's dataslab. "We'll there's fix and then there's fix." Corbin moves over to where Peter has the droid. "Depending on the damage, I might get it talking. Walking might take some fabrication of parts. But we can take a quick look while they're handling the monkey."

Trade Era 1235, Day 163. 10:26 UTC

Abandoned Shuttle, Underworld, Zyronis
Corbin, the droid is a level-2 Watanabe Repair Bot. You quickly boot it up and let it talk. Moreover, if you spend some Spare Parts that you brought with you, you can fully repair it with a Fix check DC8 in 20 minutes.


"INTRUDER ALERT! LEAVE IMMEDIATELY!" - says the droid as soon as you boot it up. It then pauses and notices something more urgent. - "WHERE ARE MY LEGS?!?"

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Mercer, neither you nor Hank have anomalous levels of metal in your blood. You're not sure if it takes time to build up those concentrations. You also don't know if you have or not Nanites in you. This is unexpected and really not your expertise. The basic mode is not that useful for such an specialized analysis and the advanced mode is just too complicated. You're clearly out of your depth here.