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[centurion]

xince guide is down, I was asked about this mission. rather than answer the question, here is the mission log

"The Head of the Snake"
You find Tarron guarding the entrance to the Spawning Pit. But he seems to be swaying badly, as if struggling to maintain his balance.

He does not answer you, he simply collapses on the spot. Through his Battlesuit speaker you hear a familiar voice. 'Hello, this is the Accord Battle AI. The memory of Sgt Tarron has now filled to capacity. I was hoping he would last a little bit longer, but apparently not. The Combat Suits have the ability to store a fallen Soldiers consciousness and memories. But it has little processing capabilities and is not designed for long term use. I shall have to relocate the Sergeant back to HQ shortly.'

'The ex-rebel Soldiers seem eager to get even with the Golgesh. So they gave me the access codes to the Bunker Network. I do not know how long I can keep my connection though, as there are still some rebel forces active within the Bunker. They are battering my newly installed firewalls trying to regain control of their computer systems. But, I have scanned the Bunker and noted a number of areas that seem to have undergone some changes recently. I also detected a series of strange lifeforms within these areas. I assume that it is a Golgesh weapon of some kind, but I require direct data from them before I can extrapolate the threat level. I see you have possession of a Datapad. I shall transmit the relevant Blueprint to you now. Please be quick. There is a Bunker Terminal in the Warren, use this point to contact me when you have completed the Survey.'

There is a shrill whine, then a ball of light envelops Tarron. In a flash of light he vanishes from sight. Your Datapad gives a shrill bleep as it finishes printing out a Blueprint. You see a large spider beast crawl over the opposite wall. You instantly recognize a mini Mega Ganth. You had best not jump to conclusions though, Zella would just tell you off again if you did.

Complete the Beast Survey and transmit back to the Accord Battle AI using the Warren Computer Terminal

You receive 1 x Circle Beast Survey Blueprint
You search the Warren and eventually find the terminal the Accord AI mentioned.

You type “Hello” into the keyboard, a connection bar then pops up and when it has filled a built in speaker squawks 'I am the Accord Battle AI, glad to see you are still there. Please place your findings on the scanner.' You have to scrap some slime off the scanner pad, but you slip the blue film onto the pad. You see a light scanner line move from left to right across the survey.

The speaker squawks again, 'I do not recognize the base Entity, but from the DNA profile I see significant alteration and augmentation of the cellular structures. I suspect there are several alien DNA strings added as well. But the whole Entity has such a stable DNA helix I cannot distinguish clearly what is added and what is not. These Golgesh are extremely clever. But I can tell you that the aim of the manipulation is purely to increase the size of the Entity. My logic circuits project a theoretical size for the final Entity is well in excess of 200 ft in height. But that does not fully compute. Why on Sigma would they make an Entity of such monolithic proportions?'

You sigh deeply and describe the Mega Ganth you encountered on the Salt Run Plain. A gargantuan spiderlike troop carrier that was intent of obliterating Stormpost. You only destroyed it by turning it's immune system against its own troop cargo. The Speaker goes quiet for a long moment. You worry that your connection might have been severed when the Battle AI speaks again. 'I do not know what this Salt Run is you speak of, or Stormpost. My data states that our City is on the shores of Korlain Lake. It is one of the few salt water lakes on all of Sigma. Makes Tarrolan City's cuisine unique in the whole sector. I guess my records are somewhat out of date. There must be a reason how my systems are having trouble detecting differences between what is stored on my system and the world around me. I seem trapped in my data for some reason. Only when I receive external data do I seem to glimpse what is real. I cannot function knowing that I am a stuck in a loop of incorrect data. Can you please search deeper into the Bunker and return here when you have some clue as to what is going on. Whilst you are gone, I shall search my out incorrect records and see if I can find a massive space where the Golgesh can nurture a Mega Ganth.
The Bunker has nobody in it other than Droids. You are beginning to wonder if the Battle AI was correct when it said there was still a Rebellion presence here. You enter the Stores and are shocked that the air seems to feel as if it's on fire. You are about to step straight out when you hear mechanical singing.

Even through the uncomfortable feeling of the air, your curiosity drives you to find the singer. You quickly discover a Droid with his arms outstretched singing to the ceiling.

The Droid stops at once, 'Oh! You think so? Wow. Nobody has said that before. Though I don't recognize your voice pattern, so I guess you are not a member of the Rebellion. But a true music lover must be ok, I therefore welcome you to our cause. As a new member of the Rebellion I must warn you to watch where you are standing. Everyone who steps into those cloud-things gets torn apart. Which is just terrible, but on the good side it's quick so the screams don't last long.'

You look around and see a cloud shimmer nearby. You ask the Stores Droid what the cloud-things are? He leans in close, 'I have nooooooooo idea. Maybe someone should look into that. But everyone who comes in here never gets to chat due to the horrific dismemberment they endure. I have come to the conclusion that one should avoid having the extremities pulled off. Mind you, it's just a theory. You could try stepping into a cloud and see if you continue to live. But from my empirical data I have collated my suspicion is that you simply function better when you are in full possession of your body parts. But if you want to look into the unique nebulous phenomenon I can give you this handy Blueprint which will serve your precise needs. Also against all possible probability the Circle Wares will sell exactly what you require to complete the said Blueprint. So please compile this Quantum Reference Blueprint and continue in your own personal crusade across this war torn planet we call home.'

You receive 1 x Quantum Reference Blueprint

You carefully ignore the ridiculous words of the clearly insane Stores Droid. But maybe you should complete the Quantum Reference and upload to the Accord Battle AI at the Computer Terminal in the Warren.
You find it odd to actually be relieved to be in a Golgesh area. The air is cool and the lighting dimmed pleasantly. You return to the still functional Computer Terminal. You see the face of the Accord Battle AI smiling up at you. 'Hello again, have you discovered something that might explain what is effecting this Sector?'

As the scanner moves across the Quantum Reference the Battle AI grins at you, 'The Rebellion presence is not as intelligent as I remember. They keep trying to break through my firewalls using the the same thing over and over again. I simply cycle a random base code and it foils the hack. I have set up a secure link so I can now directly interface with certain terminals within the Bunker network. I have discovered the location of the surviving Rebellion resistance, they are in the Command and Control area just through the Deep Halls off the Mess...'

The AI cuts off mid sentience, then her eyes open wide in fear. 'By the third moon, they tried to open the gate! We told them not to do it. It was why Tarrolan was plunged into conflict in the first place, but they Rebelled against the Council Decree and tried to open the Gate anyway. The Gate theoretically opens into another dimension of existence, it looks like our fears were true. We said that Creation had walls between the dimensions for a reason, if we breach those walls they might weaken and the Dimensions might collapse in on themselves. It now looks like there is a tear within our dimensional barrier, and the other dimension is seeping slowly into ours. We must stem the flow, or we might be erased from existence. The Dilation you saw is only an echo of the true tear. Search the Deep Halls for true source of the dimensional fissure. We cannot let this continue, the other Dimension has different laws of existence. Its presence here will make our truths evaporate in a haze of improbabilities. Be quick, now. I shall set up a Trojan with the terminal in the Deep Halls. I will talk to you there.'
You feel the searing heat in the air burning you as you enter the Deep Halls. It is not long before you see boiling clouds of light shimmering in the air. Carefully avoiding the dimensional anomalies you search for the Computer Terminal the Battle AI mentioned. Due to avoidance of the seething clouds of light, it takes an achingly long time to find it.

The AI appears immediately, 'Good! You survived, how is it there?' You tell her it feels like the air is on fire. She nods, 'Yes, that it the certainty of your physical body being eroded as we speak. You should not stay there long, as over exposure to the toxic existence will damage your perception. In short your mind will be shredded. You will then be reduced to replaying the same memory over and over as that will be the only thing left in your burned out consciousness.'

'The Bunker scanners are simply not functioning properly, what do you see?' You tell her that there is a boiling cloud of light shimmering in the air. The cloud is folding in on itself, constantly moving, there are many of them hovering about 4 feet above the floor. The Battle AI frowns, 'I cannot extrapolate a theory on that amount of data. You will need to get a Spectral Analysis of the anomaly. I shall print out a Blueprint for you. Upload the Dimensional Partial Spectrum as soon as you can.'

You receive 1 x Dimensional Partial Spectrum Blueprint
You struggle through the burning air and caustic clouds of unreality and come back to the Network terminal. The Accord Battle AI looks up at you, concern etched on her digitized features. 'You look terrible, please tell me you have the Dimensional Partial Spectrum.'

The AI frowns as she looks at the results of the scan, 'We are in real trouble! The clouds you are seeing are actual Paradoxes forming. My extrapolations estimate that if enough of these form they will start to interact and gravitate together into a focused singularity. If that happens our presence will collapse into the singularity. Not to dissimilar to light falling into a black hole. We need to close the gate that the Rebellion have opened. The good news is that we can use the characteristics of the Paradox to do this.'

'We need to send an opposite vector of existence into the threshold of the Portal. A Spike directly at the heart of the portal to collapse it's operational field and shut it down. Luckily we can use the very characteristics of the Paradox to do this as it caused the problem, thus it has the solution. I shall print out the required Blueprint for you. Compile the Attuned Reality Spike and throw it into the Dimensional fissure. It must be somewhere within this area.'

You receive 1 x Attuned Reality Spike Blueprint
The Accord Battle AI told you to find the Dimensional fissure opened by the Rebel scientists. It is not long before you discover the Teleporter with a spinning vortex of shining light.

You hold the Reality Spike in your hands. You feel waves of energies slowly flowing over you from the fissure. You momentarily wonder where it could lead, then throw the spike into the swirling light. It's not worth destroying all of Sigma to find out.

The whirlpool of anti-reality begins to slow it's turn. Then you see the edges of the vortex begin to fade. As the stability of the portal energy matrix begins to be eroded, you see the fading of the scarlet vortex begin to increase. Then in a sudden flash of light it vanishes. All that it left is a soft hiss on the metallic Teleporter Pad.

You had best return to the Newtork Terminal and tell the Accord Battle AI of your success.
You return to the Network Terminal, the Accord Battle AI looks up at you.'Have you sealed the Dimensional fissure?'

You describe the twisted Teleporter pad and the AI laughs. 'I bet those fools jumped right in without even looking where they were going. From my calculations judging from the results of the Partial Spectrum you gave me, I suspect the Teleporter ends in a fireball of burning improbability. All who went though that Teleport would materialize in non-existence and be torn apart by it. But now the fissure has been sealed the paradoxes will eventually fade. We just have one more task to complete. Just give me a moment.'

The AI stares out into the middle distance for a second. Then she sighs, 'I have found the last of the Rebel forces. I was correct in my guess. They are hiding in the C and C. Can you get me the Authorization Number of their Tactical Officer, and I can shut down their Battlesuits remotely.'
The Accord Battle AI smiles up at you from the Viewscreen, 'Did you manage to get me the Tactical Officer’s Authorization Number?'

There is a shrill bleep from the scanner pad as it downloads the data. The Battle AI squints, then sighs. 'I have forced the Battlesuits of the Tactical Officer to be shut down and the datastores of each suit formatted. With the tactical Officer taken out, the Rebellion Battle Computer will not receive any further input. Although in theory the AI should sit there and wait for instruction, I am taking no changes. I have just cut all power that feeds the Rebellion AI. With the head of the Rebellion Forces crushed we can say that this is now victory for the Accord.'

'Thank you for your help, I don't really know what to do now. My forces are empty Battlesuits and since the fissure has been sealed I can now access my systems fully and can process the information. From my long range scanners I see that the shining city of Tarrolan is has been wiped off the face of Sigma. Even the mighty Surkain Lake is evaporated. We have won the battle, but lost our prize.'

You lean forward to the viewscreen and say, 'Your people are still alive in their Battlesuits. Where there is life, there is hope! In Sigma, life has to be fought for. Only the deserving are allowed to live. We need to find a way to sustain the life of your Soldiers. Battlesuits that fall over after a few days of functioning because of hardware issues is not good enough. We first need to fix that and together I think we can.'

The Accord AI blinks at you. 'I am pleased that I do not have to face this alone. Yes, we need to find a way for my forces to sustain their life. I am pleased I have found another battle to fight.'

You receive 1,901,795 Xp + 30 Skill Points

[EdTheHead]

they probably want this info.

Entities in 333 & 334 drop the Ganthling Heart
Ganthett (Champion) in 334 drops the Ganthett Venom Sac
Ganthara Leg, Circle Data Cell in 335 The Circle (Fighting Pit)