The Jedi barely managed to run away as the gate closed behind her. Surik saw a hallway in front of her as well as two rooms on either side, and she could see the body of a young man in one of them, with orange hair, safety goggles on his forehead, and a dark green and dark blue miner's uniform. She could see multiple wounds on different parts of his body, as well as loose pieces of metal on the floor as well as a metal table.
Meetra checked for a pulse by touching his neck with her fingers, but she felt nothing. He was dead, and she mourned a little for the loss of that boy. Suddenly, a light green humanoid droid with a pair of yellow visual sensors appeared, and the Jedi paid attention to it as it approached her.
"Hello, it is a pleasure to see you alive, mistress, unless my receptors are out of focus. How can I be of service?" The droid greeted her in a friendly tone as he waved his mechanical hand in greeting.
"Where do you know me from? I am not your owner." She asked doubtfully, trying to figure out why the automaton was calling her that.
"I am a survivor of the Herald, like you, mistress. With the unexpected disappearance of my former owner, you are the only organic being I can now serve. I am an Hk series protocol droid, an expert in organic relations and communications. This model has been responsible for facilitating communication and ending hostilities throughout the galaxy. I know more than six thousand forms of communication, and I am also capable of expressing myself with nuances ranging from irony to veiled threats. The Hk droid concludes by explaining the reasons why she was his owner.
"What is a droid of your kind doing here in a mining station?" the amnesiac girl asks the automaton in bewilderment.
"That question is repeated too often in my inquiry module, and I have not been able to come up with a satisfactory answer. Therefore, I chose to devote my efforts to finding a way to escape this disaster as soon as possible," Hk replied simply, not knowing how to resolve his owner's doubt.
"Who was your previous owner?" Indigo asked the Jedi, intrigued, wanting to know who his predecessor was.
"He was the captain of the Herald, mistress. He was on his way to Telos to facilitate communication and end hostilities, but we did not reach our intended destination," the automaton clarified, providing context about his owner and what he was doing.
"Tell me everything that happened between the Herald and the present moment," Surik asked kindly, wanting to know the events and how they unfolded.
"Oh, owner, it's a long and boring story, and it doesn't have much to do with our current situation," the droid dismissed the events that led them both to where they were now.
"Why don't you tell me anyway? I have time and I need to know how to get here," Meetra asked, wanting to know exactly what had happened.
"That has been the subject of considerable discussion since our arrival here, dear owner. Many have tried to claim you and this unit as ransom," the automaton explained. I was roughly interrogated about our brief history together aboard the Herald before its communications, weapons, and engines suffered the chain failures that incapacitated it. He explained, hinting at some of the events.
"Why don't I remember any of that?" Surik wondered, her mind filled with doubts.
"It's possible that you were incapacitated and locked in the hold while the Herald was systematically disabled, dear owner," theorized the droid, processing what might have happened and considering that possibility.
"But how did I get here from the Herald?" wondered the Jedi, thinking about what had happened to end up in that state.
- Following the unusual set of circumstances that led to the chain failure of the Herald's systems, we were approached by a small transport with unknown identification codes. It appeared that the freighter had been attacked, and the captain wanted to investigate it. Apparently, the freighter was capable of space travel. Its cargo compartment was broken, and you took it aboard the transport shortly before the Herald's systems reached critical point. You managed to board the transport before the Herald was destroyed. We were lucky to survive, dear owner. The automaton reports, hinting at more of the events that happened earlier.
"And how did it end up incapacitated?" Surik wondered, with that question in her mind, wanting to know how it ended up that way.
"Yes, dear owner. No doubt the frenzy of destruction aboard the Herald drugged it in some way, and it was not possible to wake it from its stupor. Quite curious." The robot explained to its owner how it had come to be in that state.
- Could you explain the "stupor" better? The doubtful chestnut kindly asked him to specify what he meant.
"The stupor, the word I used, is nothing more than an expression, my owner. The implication that his state was due to the ingestion of large amounts of juma juice was not intentional. I just wanted to communicate that you were somehow incapacitated before being locked away safely in the hold." The automaton clarified the possible reason why the Jedi ended up unconscious.
"Would you mind explaining how I ended up locked in the hold?" Meetra asked curiously, as she had that question in her head.
"By locked, I mean 'sealed,' that's what I meant, my owner. My vocalizer seems to be having problems. I'll clarify what I meant, the automaton to the chestnut.
"Any idea what attacked the small freighter?" I inquired to find out more about the problems the ship was involved in.
"Master, I don't know. Judging by the damage, it had been attacked by a much larger ship. And when I tried to flee from the Herald with you on board, it was fired upon again." It's strange that such a small ship would attract the attention of much larger ships. That's certainly not a desirable trait for a freighter. The automaton concludes by explaining what happened, as far as he knows.
- What was the Herald carrying? Meetra inquires curiously, wanting to know the reason for the conflict against the transport.
"I believe it was a smuggler ship named 'Ebony Falcon.' As for its function, I do not know. Perhaps it wanted to play dead, then kidnap you from the Herald and deprive me of my reward." The droid continued explaining, revealing the name of the freighter and its possible motivations.
"The Ebony Falcon arrived here. I suppose that if the holographic records show that it arrived here with me on board and mention a protocol droid, it was probably you, as well as the corpse of an old woman who wasn't really dead, and that was Kreia, Revan's master. But I don't know how that transport got here." The brown-haired woman asked curiously, wanting to know the answer from her metal acquaintance.
"That's right, I was the droid they mentioned. My database doesn't know why the freighter arrived here," said the droid HK, confirming that he was the automaton who arrived with his owner.
"And what do you mean by 'deprived of your reward'?" asked the brown-haired woman, wanting to know what HK meant by that.
"By that I mean your life. It would pain me to see you hurt. That is why the arrival of this Ebony Falcon causes me concern," said the automaton to his owner with a certain tone of caution.
"What happened when the ship arrived?" Meetra inquired, curious to know what consequences the transport's arrival had.
"Despite my market value, the miners were more interested in you, my owner. It wasn't hard for me to figure out why. Although an HK protocol droid is a valuable asset, Jedi are worth much more in certain exclusive markets in the galaxy. I must confess my feeling of inferiority at the presumed difference between my value and the price of your capture. I had to remind myself that it was not due to a failure or my functions, but because you were a Jedi. The robot explains, hinting at more than what happened after their arrival and the attention they attracted.
"I know that, but I have gaps in my mind, I don't remember much, I remember that I was on Malachor V, that I was an ally of Revan, as well as other things, I was present in past wars, I have lost part of my memory, you confirmed what I already heard, some of the miners wanted to sell me to the exchange and others refused, They know I'm a Jedi because of the genetic sample they took from me, but I heard from the records that many strange and tragic things happened here. The brown-haired woman was confused by her past and the situation the miners were in because of her.
- Correct, ma'am, and then three hours after the division among the miners became evident, accidents began throughout the facility. The result of poor maintenance, I believe. Those accidents coincided with the degradation of the mining droids' behavioral core. The crude models are prone to failures that end in massacres. The mortality rate of organics skyrocketed. Report Hk on more of the events that transpired after the transport's arrival.
- But what happened to the surviving miners? The chestnut asks, somewhat concerned about the people who might still be alive.
- Many of them gathered in the infirmary after a cascade of perfectly coordinated detonations, in isolated gas pockets on the lower levels of the facility. The explosions drove the miners to emergency sections of the station, quickly and effectively cutting them off from communications and control of the facility. But, unfortunately, not from the ventilation systems. The automaton indicated as it continued to report on the dangerous situation that had occurred.
- What do you mean? Meetra inquired about what her droid had said and what the perhaps fateful fate of those who remained alive was.
"Well, the explosions damaged specific sections of the ventilation system, causing a slow buildup of lethal gases at the dormitory level," Hk clarified, hinting at the terrible, surely fatal fate of the miners.
"Is anyone still alive?" Surik asked, somewhat discouraged by the possible death of all the survivors.
"I don't know, master, but ironically, anyone who fled to the dormitories to protect themselves from the droids and explosions found themselves in a deadly gas trap," the robot concluded about the almost inevitable fate of all the miners.
"I have to get there to rescue them," the former Jedi said in a tone of determination and courage, ready to save anyone who was still alive.
"It's unlikely that anyone is still alive. As I said, the dormitory was isolated from the rest of the facility, just like the hangar. There's no escape," reasoned the automaton, trying to stop his mistress from going to try to save someone in vain.
"Can we try to contact them via a communicator?" suggested the amnesiac, to see if she could talk to them that way.
"Unfortunately, communication with the dormitory section has been cut off. Perhaps that was for the best, especially if there had been other accidents in that section. If that had happened, the cut-off communicator would have spared us the satisfaction of hearing the miners' screams as they spent their last moments overcome with fear and terror," the robot affirmed, explaining with a tone of enjoyment in his voice.
This made Surik suspicious or distrustful of the droid, and she got goose bumps when she heard his words.
"What do you mean by satisfaction?" Meetra asked, somewhat distrustful of Hk's words and suspicious of him.
"Eh, yes, satisfaction at knowing their fate, master. It would be a misfortune if they had been exterminated, but we would have the serene and beneficial certainty that there is nothing we can do. To escape until a ship arrives, if it does. The droid clarified his point of view and concluded that he should just wait, there was no other option.
"We don't know what happened to them, so we have to find out." The brown-haired girl asked to carry out the rescue.
"I could travel across the surface of the asteroid to the bedroom airlock, but that route would be extremely dangerous, and I don't want you to come to any harm." The automaton warned her, assuring her that it wasn't worth the risk for his owner.
"All the same, I'll go and see if anyone is still alive. Even if they're not alive, I'll get the codes." Surik agreed to take on the risky situation to get out of there and rescue anyone who might still be alive.
"Prolonged exploration of this facility may expose you to unnecessary danger. I recommend that you return to the infirmary and wait for the rescue ship, which is undoubtedly already on its way as we have this pointless conversation," suggested the automaton, somewhat tired of his owner's insistence.
"I'll try even if you don't want me to, HK," Surik said, somewhat angry at his lack of cooperation in rescuing possible survivors.
"Very well. But there is little I can do, since the airlock is locked with a code."
"How do I get the exclusion code?" asked the brown-haired woman, seeking the key to opening the way to her goal.
"Well, I already have the code. But I'm afraid it won't be of much use to you." The droid doubted the usefulness of what he had in his memory.
"What do you mean?" asked Meetra, puzzled as to why Hk's information didn't work.
- The console that controls the droid maintenance area and airlock has voice recognition. The corpse shown here is all that remains of the maintenance officer. In his final days, he was very careful with voice protocols, bordering on paranoid obsession. I suspect that once he realized something was wrong with the facility, he locked the droid platform functions with his voice. A prudent measure, although it had the same end as the other organics. In the end, the pain made him incoherent, and attempts to facilitate communication with him were unsuccessful. I heard his agonizing screams when the droids he was tending turned on him, riddling him with holes and tearing him apart like a piece of asteroid. The droid explained in detail the situation of the unfortunate deceased and his last actions before dying.
"Voiceprint?" I asked the ex-Jedi and her robotic companion, seeing that this was the key to opening the lock.
"Many consoles have voice recognition sensors in their systems, so that only certain people can unlock them." The automaton informed her, implying that they needed that requirement to access where its owner wanted to go.
"You said you already had the code, it seems we need the officer's voice, right?" She hesitated, able to deduce what was missing to gain access.
- Correct, but we need the maintenance officer's voice. Without it, we can't access it. If it helps, the code is "Maintenance control: voiceprint: R1-B5," but the officer is dead, so it's useless. The robot concluded, implying that it was useless to try what its owner wanted.
"And how can I bypass the voiceprint?" Meetra asked about that possibility in order to open the airlock.
"You can't do it. You're trapped here, just like me. There's nothing to do but wait patiently for whatever the future has in store for us," Hk declared emphatically to his owner, implying that there was nothing he could do about it.
"Thank you for answering my questions, and now I'll ask you something else," Meetra said, ending the subject of exclusion for now.
"I understand, and what else would my mistress like to ask me?" the green droid said, waiting for his owner's response.
"Have you seen a T3 unit?" asked the chestnut-haired woman, concerned for the well-being of the little droid.
"Ah, a T3 utility droid would be a common sight in this facility. It's very curious that I haven't seen any since my arrival. However, I must inform you that T3 models display excessive individualism when their memory is not routinely erased. This individualism can be quite annoying, so much so that even a droid like me is tempted to reduce them to their basic components, not to mention turning them into scrap metal. But enough of seemingly irrelevant tangents. Where did I leave the droid? That would be the logical place to start looking. HK explains his perspective on utility droids, as well as theorizing where the missing automatons might be.
"The unit was last seen near the hangar," Surik says, indicating where the little droid might be.
"That would explain why that T3 unit isn't here. I think my photoreceptors work well enough to verify that," Hk reasons, concluding why it isn't here.
"Moving on to another topic. How could I access the hangar?" Meetra asks, hoping for an answer that would help her get where she needed to go.
"You need to open the airlock and use the asteroid's exterior scaffolding to reach the dormitory section. But to do that, you must unlock the console, which, as I said, requires the voice of the deceased officer present here, which is impossible." The robot concludes that it is impossible for its owner to get where she wants to go.
"Supposedly, you couldn't, but one thing: do you have the recording of the dead officer's last moments? He said something when he died, right?" The ex-Jedi asked, seeing if she could use that to achieve what she wanted to do.
"Oh, yes, master. His last words were..." Hk obeyed as he played back the victim's last vocalizations.
-... Five droids... crossing the outer door... They're making their way to the bay... Please, whoever you are, they... Oh, no, they're in! The droid played back the officer's desperate words as he found himself in such a dangerous situation, while the sounds of blasters firing could be heard.
- Aighhh! My leg! THEY'VE SHOT MY LEG! AAAAAAAH He played back the deceased's pain-filled dialogue from his final moments.
- His other attempts at communication are variations in decibel level, ranging from frantic, disjointed howls to inarticulate pleas for mercy. He exposed automatons, revealing that the other words spoken by the deceased were incomprehensible.
- Can't you turn those words into the key to open the lock with the officer's voice? The amnesiac suggested this possibility in order to gain access.
- Doing so would be a violation of the ethical programming that most droids supposedly have. I'm afraid there's nothing we can do. The droid concluded by shaking its head, implying its unwillingness to perform this task.
"Do you have protocols for that?" The former Jedi doubted the limitations of the protocol droid.
"Of course, most droids have ethics programs that prevent them from using my talents to decipher a voiceprint code, which is part of privacy and integrity," Hk explained, implying why he couldn't do what she wanted him to do.
"I suppose your limited functionality prevents you from adequately imitating the officer's voice," Surik replied mockingly and contemptuously to the droid to see if she could incite him to do what she wanted.
"My communication functionality works perfectly, and I'll prove it." The droid said, somewhat annoyed by its owner's complaint and mockery.
"Maintenance control: voiceprint: R1-B5," the droid said in a perfect imitation of the deceased officer's voice.
"There you go. Is that enough?" The droid asked its owner to see if she was satisfied.
"Can you follow me and repeat that same code?" The brown-haired woman suggested to her droid to see if it could do what she required.
"I won't do it. I already told you that my ethics program prevents me from doing so, so no." Hk concluded, following his programming and refusing to use his voice to access the console.
"All right, I'll leave." Meetra said goodbye as she went to find a way for the droid to do what she needed.
She checked the officer's nearby body and saw that it had adrenaline resistance, an energy shield, components, a medpac, and a repair kit. Then she went to the other room where she found three droids, two spider miners and a broken humanoid miner releasing steam. She took several components from them and saw a equipment creation table, a cylinder, and loose parts. She opened the cylinder and found a sonic footprint sensor as well as a data module: sonic footprint.
She checked the module, which read:
With the help of the protocol droid, I have finished working on the sonic footprint sensors.
I have installed them in the mining droids, but I am going to keep the original here to prevent the other miners from using it to record and reproduce voices and thus override the droid's vocal protocols.
He returned to the droid and asked it to say the password, underestimating its limited programming so that it would respond by telling him the code in the officer's voice.
"Goodbye, Hk." The former Jedi said goodbye as she walked down the corridor and noticed the hatch in front of her, which she opened and saw that there was a corridor perpendicular to the one she was in. She looked firsthand and saw a spider droid and a maintenance sphere droid.
He unleashes his power to stun droids on the spherical droid and slashes it, causing it to explode. He dodges the shots and deflects another with his weapon from the droid, then jumps on top of it with his sword in a downward motion, eliminating it, but he spots an automaton. He saw a spider on the right, as well as a door behind him and two doors on the right. He went towards it using the speed of the Force, slashing diagonally downwards across its torso, destroying it. He turned around and noticed two spider miners at the other end of the corridor, where he saw purple energy fields on the right. He moved quickly and used his electric judgment on them, destroying one and then the other with the same power. He checked the remains, but only found two sonic detonators and anti-impact armor for droids.
Surik approached the gate that had not yet opened, which opened on its own, and she could see two mining droids, but humanoids with blasters. She dodged their attacks from side to side and then slashed one and then the other, destroying them.
She opened one of the doors with her locksmith skills and saw a humanoid mining droid. She slashed its torso several times, destroying it. She left that room and, standing in the hallway, entered the room where the pair of robots had come from. In front of her, she saw a hatch. To her right, she saw another room where she saw a spider droid and another humanoid. She approached the pair of droids, but they threw a droid sphere at her, and she destroyed it with her electric judgment. She dodged the spider's flamethrower and, while dodging the humanoid's shots, Meetra gave it a diagonal thrust forward to the torso, dismantling the spider and throwing several thunderbolts at the other, killing it.
He noticed that behind his fallen enemies there was an elevator with buttons marked "management level." He decided to go for the console first. He noticed a door on his left, opened it, and saw a piece of furniture with shelves and boxes. Then he looked to his right and saw a console and a container cylinder, which he opened. He saw various things that would be useful later, as well as a reflex implant package. Then he went to the console and accessed where he saw it said
Emergency Closure Operational
Enter the voiceprint password to access the console
Meetra entered the password with the sonic fingerprint sensor, and it reproduced the code with the officer's voice, and the console unlocked, displaying the following on the first screen.
Voice recognition confirmed
Maintenance authorization active
Access granted to entire system
The second screen below shows the functions that could be performed.
Open the airlock leading to the outside of the station. Access maintenance logs. Access emergency subroutines. Access a communications system. Access cameras. Access the fuel tank diagram (but it took some computer expertise).
Surik accessed the exclusion option and opened it.
She then accessed the maintenance logs, where she saw the following:
Access log
Access log 253-10: Sound footprint sensor
Access log 253-11: Ebony Falcon droids
Access log 253-12: Jedi
Access log 253-13: Exchange reward
Access log 253-14: Sonic Imprint Sensor update
Access log 253-15: Vocal Imprint
Access log 253-16: Security issues
- Accessed log 253-10: Soundprint Sensor
Showed the same dead young man he found next to the protocol droid
- Log 253-10 from Ower Honall, maintenance officer, subject: Soundprint Sensor, [Interference detected] I finished the soundprint sensor protocol for the mining droids. Everyone knows they need an update. The sensors should allow me to give them verbal commands instead of manually adjusting their routine every time the drilling specifications change. For now, I've had the sensor in the maintenance workshop. First, I wanted to test it by recording and playing back some simple verbal commands. I explain simply the orange hair reporting on the device and its application in droids.
Access log 253-11: Droids from the Ebony Falcon
The same young man was shown, who said the following
- Log 253-11 from Ower Honall, maintenance officer, subject of the Ebony Falcon droids [Interference detected] I finished examining the droids on the freighter Ebony Falcon. The T3 unit appeared to have shut down voluntarily. But the protocol droid compensated for it. He talked nonstop for an hour, asking all kinds of questions about the facility, the staff, etc. But I wanted to be helpful, so I put him to work until his owner leaves the infirmary. He seems to have a knack for talking to droid behavior cores, so some problems with several mining droids, so I'll cut it short. Report simply to the officer about the freighter's automatons.
He accessed log 253-12: Jedi
The same young man was shown dead, who said the following
- Log 253-12 from Ower Honall, the maintenance officer, Jedi matter, talking to the protocol droid about the Jedi in the infirmary. He believed that they had all disappeared or died during the Jedi civil war. The automaton told me that its owner is the only Jedi he knows in the entire galaxy, and that she served in the Mandalorian Wars almost ten years ago. Thanks to genetic testing, we were able to determine that she is Meetra Surik, Revan's comrade for some time. She may know what happened to Revan after the end of the Jedi Civil War. Honall explained simply who the Jedi was.
You accessed log 253-13: the exchange reward
The same dead young man was shown, who said the following
- Log 253-13 from Ower Honall, maintenance officer, subject of the exchange reward, too busy to record logs. Since the Jedi arrived, there have been more and more accidents, and the miners are starting to get restless, especially Coorta. Coorta says that the Exchange is offering a hefty reward for the Jedi Knights, and that we could make a fortune by selling them to Nar Shaddaa. Security will reject the idea instantly, but I don't think Coorta and his people will give up easily. I mentioned the problem to the Jedi's protocol droid, and he seemed concerned for his master's safety. I told him not to worry, that Coorta wasn't [There was interference and the recording ended] Honall reported with concern about his partner's attitude,
He accessed log 253-14: Sonic Imprint Sensor Update
The same dead young man was shown, who said the following
- Log 253-14 from Ower Honall, maintenance officer, regarding the Sonic Imprint Sensor update. With the help of the protocol droid, he managed to implement a few improvements to the sonic imprint sensor using various subroutines from the droid's vocalizer. In addition to its ability to store and record voices, it now speaks all alien languages fluently, including Basic. It could serve as a portable translator. He tried to get the protocol unit to take credit for collaborating on the creation, but the droid has refused. It has said that the work is reward enough. I was thinking of installing the prototype in one of the mining droids as a test, to see what happens. Ower assured me that he would report on improvements to the sensor.
Accessed log 253-15: Vocal Imprint
The same young man was shown dead, who said the following
- Log 253-15 from Ower Honall, maintenance officer, regarding the sonic fingerprint sensor upgrade. When the docking officer reported the droids repairing the Falcon, I installed a voiceprint in the droid console system. Someone ordered the repair of that freighter, but there is no trace of the order. If anyone tries again, they will not be able to do so from this terminal unless I allow it. The voiceprint should prevent access to central functions unless I enter the code. The officer reports, somewhat frustrated by what happened with the robots.
Accessed log 253-16: Security issues
The same young man was shown dead, who said the following
Record 253-16 from Ower Honall, maintenance officer, regarding security issues: checking the maintenance of the droids has not been very helpful. If anything, there are more accidents. Security asked me about the droids, and they didn't like my answers. But I don't understand. They are not combat models; they shouldn't even know how to attack. Now that I think about it, what if someone caused the initial problems with the mining droids so they would go in for maintenance? What if they did something to them there? I think security was right: someone is trying to sabotage the facility, and they're using the droids to do it. But why? The officer wondered, puzzled by what was happening.
"Something makes me suspicious of the protocol droid and its relationship with the officer. Maybe it has something to do with what happened here. Better not ask the droid about it, or it might reveal its true intentions. I must get the codes and get out of here." The former Jedi concluded, concerned that the droid might be more dangerous than it appeared.
Meetra returned to the main console functions and looked for the next option, which was to access emergency subroutines.
The top screen read:
Emergency Routines
Operational Emergency Shutdown
The bottom screen read:
Check fuel tank outlets. Check emergency shutdown status. Check ventilation systems. Return to main console functions
Surik pressed the first option and the top screen displayed:
Containment field: Active
Administration turbo-lift: Active
Emergency turbo-lift: Off
Air lock: Active
The bottom screen read:
Check containment field. Check turbo-lift at administration level. Check turbo-lift to tunnels. Check airlock. Return to main console functions.
He pressed check containment field, and the screen above displayed:
Containment field active.
Break detected in fuel pipes.
Access to hangar denied
The screen below read:
Trace source of rupture
I selected trace, and the screen above displayed: An explosion has been recorded in one of the main fuel turbines. The containment field has been activated to isolate it within the hangar and fuel pipes.
- That would imply that the fuel turbines are connected to the hangar. If you access the pipes, you could bypass the containment field. I theorized about the brown-haired woman as I thought about that possibility.
Then I saw the option on the screen below that said: Check fuel pipes, and I clicked on that option, which showed where it said
Although the fuel pipes are sealed because there are no ships at the facility, they would open immediately if a ship arrived.
That means you would have to climb aboard the docked ship and travel through the fuel pipe to reach the hangar, which would be a risky method of gaining access. Meetra assured herself as she considered that possibility.
She then returned to the previous menu on the console where she pressed the option: Check the turbo-lift to the administration level. When she pressed that option, the following appeared on the screen above:
Turbo-lift to administration
Access to fuel tank denied
Access to administration allowed
And then the following appeared on the screen above:
The turbo-lift at the administration level is programmed to open automatically only when entering administration from the fuel tank.
He then returned to the previous console menu where he pressed the option: Check the turbo-lift to the tunnels. When he accessed that option, the screen above read:
Turbo-elevator to the tunnels, detonations detected, ventilation systems activated: access denied
He returned to the previous menu where he accessed the option: check airlock where he could see the airlock security camera, as well as several spherical droids floating in front of it
He returned to the console's main menu and accessed the communications system, where the screen above read:
Communications system damaged
Inoperative
The screen below displayed the following options:
Run diagnostics on damaged systems
The screen above read:
Running diagnostics
Then the following appeared on the upper screen:
Signal unit destroyed
Communications system from the fuel tank: Inoperative
They returned to the main menu and accessed the cameras, where he saw several options such as:
Containment field camera Maintenance level camera Fuel pipe sensors Airlock camera
He looked at the containment field camera and saw the same place near where he passed the energy fields, then he looked at the maintenance level camera, which was a view from above the corridors where he passed near where he saw fuel ducts, he looked at the pipe sensor camera and saw inside it the utility unit he was looking for, but it seemed damaged as it was smoking, and he also saw a metal box.
"There are these T3s. When I can, I'll come for you." She declared the search over, looking at her little comrade, who did not look in very good condition.
Surik left the console, seeing that she had already seen everything she needed to see. She went to the protocol droid to tell him that she had found her droid comrade.
"HK, I found my T3 in a fuel pipe, but unfortunately it seems damaged or stunned," the former Jedi informed her protocol droid, clarifying the whereabouts of her droid.
"How is it possible that a T3 utility unit ended up in a place like this? It could have been him or someone else who caused the damage. Perhaps he confronted the other droids in the center and was attacked. Unfortunately, there is no way to reach those automatons from here. I would very much like to know how he ended up like this." He expressed doubt and was full of questions about how the little droid got to that place and how he was disabled.
Meetra left and went to the elevator near the console, arriving once again at the administration level where she went to the main controls and saw Rand asking her
- Did you find anything? The dark brown-haired woman asked her comrade curiously.
"I found a chatty protocol device in the fuel tank," the woman reported somewhat mockingly about the presence of the automaton.
"Really? And did you blow it up just like that?" the flirtatious boy asked his comrade with a touch of humor.
"No, but it crossed my mind," said the brown-haired woman with a hint of irony.
"Well, be careful. Droids can't be trusted." Atton cautiously warned her about his distrust of automatons.
"And you can be trusted?" Surik teased her comrade a little, hinting at his possible lack of loyalty.
"Look. I could have left you to rot in those tunnels and received nothing but insults. You know what? I don't trust you either. For all I know, you caused all this commotion. In fact, you did, just because you're a Jedi! So, before you accuse me of anything, Jedi, maybe you should take a look at what you've done." Rand questioned her partner's mocking response, furious at her distrust of him.
"It was just a joke, no need to get so upset. Moving on, there may be miners alive and trapped in the dormitories." He notified Meetra of the delicate situation she had to deal with.
"So they may be alive, but the dormitory communicator isn't saying anything. Can you get to them?" The flirtatious boy wondered if the people the ex-Jedi was looking for were really alive and if she could actually get to them.
"Yes, I found an airlock connected to a console with a code. Luckily, I managed to find the mouthprint as the code using a sonic sensor. It worked and opened." Surik explains to her comrade, implying that she found a way to open the airlock that led to where she wanted to go.
"How clever you are," Atton praised the brown-haired girl for solving the problem.
"Shouldn't you leave them? They wanted to sell you to the exchange. You should forget about them and try to find a route to the hangar," the flirtatious boy questioned, seeing the miners' attitude toward his partner.
"Not all of them were like that with me, besides, not all of them were to blame, and they healed my wounds." Meetra objected, determined to save those who were still alive on this station.
"Good luck, Surik." The flirtatious boy said goodbye as he returned to the level's control consoles.
The girl went straight to the elevator and returned to the door behind which was the hatch. When she opened the door, she saw a small room and several floating spherical droids. One of them approached her, and the automaton exploded like a sound bomb. It was deafening, but the girl managed to jump back just in time, threw an ion grenade, deactivating the droids, and with her weapon, she destroyed each one. She opened the airlock in front of her and could see another airlock in front of her. On the left side, she saw a locker from which she took a space suit so she could go out into space.
The amnesiac went out into space with the suit and could see scaffolding. She looked in several directions and could see several asteroids and several white structures, including connecting bridges from the station to dock with ships. She could see a curve to the right on the scaffolding She could see a nearby curve as the scaffolding went up near an exterior ventilation pipe that was exhaling flaming fuel in its path. She stopped for a moment to make a pause device that could kill her, and then she continued on her way as her path rose. Then she saw a U-shaped climb on the right, as well as several moving asteroids. As he climbed up it, he could see a window overlooking the control room where he saw Atton using the console. He could also see arches attached to cables that reinforced the scaffolding to prevent instability.
"It's about time. I lost your signal when you left the tunnels, but now I'm receiving you fine. Only I'm locating you outside the facility, on the surface of the asteroid. It's not possible for you to be outside. The dark-haired boy assured her, somewhat complaining about the lack of clarity in his partner's signal and incredulously seeing his comrade's signal from outside the station.
"Your signals are correct. Anything to report?" she asked simply as she looked toward the window of the administrative office.
"Huh? What are you doing out there?" Atton asked, surprised and impressed that his partner was outside on the scaffolding wearing a space suit.
"I have to reach the miners in the dormitories, and this is the only way," the brown-haired woman said with determination, ready to go save the survivors.
"You're crazy, even for a Jedi. Look, you have to come back here, fast." He demanded, annoyed by his partner's dangerous behavior, seeing that she was risking her life in a very extreme way.
"What do you mean?" The ex-Jedi asked, wanting to know what the flirtatious boy meant.
"What little remains of the ventilation systems has been activated, probably by the explosions in the tunnels. They're expelling fuel from Peragus into space through the exterior vents right in your path," Rand concluded, explaining what was happening with the ducts.
"Why are the outlets so close to the exterior scaffolding?" Surik asks, puzzled as to why something so dangerous was so close to where she was walking.
"They shouldn't be activated with the exclusion open. Not without activating the safety mechanisms. It looks like the outlets have been purposely reoriented to expel gas to the outside, just in the last few minutes. Almost as if..." The flirtatious boy couldn't finish his reasoning because he saw something on the screen that alerted him.
"Now what?! I can't believe it, it's approaching a ship, sending us a tracking code. I have a bad feeling about this." Atton concluded worriedly, watching as a Hammerhead-class cruiser emerged from hyperspace and broke its trajectory until it was parallel to the mining station.
Meetra could see the name of the ship written on the side: Herald.
"So that Hk droid lied to me. The ship he said was damaged is functional and here." The Jedi reflected inwardly, realizing the robot's deception in that part of the narrative he had previously told her about recent events.
Meanwhile, on the bridge of the Herald, Sion could be seen meditating calmly, surrounded by the corpses of Republic soldiers, waiting for the moment to act.
The Republic ship docked with the personnel corridor at the bow and with a fuel duct near the stern. The exile felt a chill and suspected that the Republic ship in front of her was not going to help them get out of there. She could sense something, the presence on board that ship. She knew that what was on board was not natural or normal, Just as they were in great danger by not leaving, she felt a chill giving her an adrenaline rush, and something surprised her so much that she almost had a heart attack: it was Kreia's voice in her mind.
"It has arrived," warned the old Jedi, implying that her student's concern was real, that something or someone dangerous was inside that ship.
"The end."