Session 30: The Infinity Path, Part VIII

General Summary

Day 11, Evening
Just as the hostages, Rin, Lem, and Private Kenth make it out of the hotel and start sprinting for the north coast of the island, the building explodes, knocking all of them forward. Thankfully, they were all far enough away that they are unharmed. As they get up, the see a raging battle overhead with ISP security forces in Z-95 Headhunters taking out the remaining assault droids on the island and conducting strafing runs on the two The True and Loyal cruisers that are attempting to take off with the remnants of their invasion force. Looking toward the landing platform, Lem sees one cruiser starting to take off, as well as a certain Twi'lek boarding the other cruiser as its walkway closes. With no means of transport off the island, Rin comms Tomla and asks for some assistance with evac while Lem directs Kenth to take care of the rescued hostages. Before they leave the The Resort, Lem and Rin split up to try to find a memory core from one of the assault droids so that they can try to figure out why the T&L would pull such a brazen stunt. Back at the hospital on Northwest Coromons 3, Tomla ensures that Lyshea and the others are stable and being treated. After the comm from Rin, she reaches out to Major Jacob Jason, but it's clear that he is currently piloting one of the Z-95's currently engaged with the T&L cruisers, so she decides not to disturb him further. With few other options available, especially during the holiday, Tomla haggles with four speeder taxi drivers, offering them 1,000cr each to fly into the battle area at The Resort and pick up the 10 former hostages, Kenth, Rin, and Lem. Despite the danger, the price is too good to pass up, so the taxis head toward the northern coast of The Resort. Rin finds a couple droid memory cores, but without hands he isn't able to remove them. He calls Lem over, who uses his lightsaber to cut around the core at Rin's direction. By the time the speeders have picked up everyone else and are headed back to Northwest Coromons 3, Kenth spots the two padawans near the southern beach and directs the taxi to pick them up. Finally safe and sound and the hospital that has practically become their temporary base of operations on Fresia, the former hostages either receive treatment or head home to their families. Without any urgent matters to attend to, Rin finally has the opportunity to get his cybernetic hands installed. Kritia Haccor's design team really pulled out all the stops with these, including some pretty unique (and expensive) features. Meanwhile, Lem goes to check on Kyp Durron, but he is nowhere to be found. When he inquires with the hospital staff, he is told that Kyp just "disappeared", no one even saw him leave the building. Realizing that he must have taken a portal back to Selvaris, he informs Tomla of the situation. Based on this, the Ithorian padawan closes her eyes and attempts to reach Luke Skywalker again through the Force. She sends him an image of the three padawans battling a Coromon Headhunter, indicating their location. However, Luke misinterprets and asks if they need aid. Frustrated by the inefficiency of their communication, she and Lem head to a holocafe so that they can contact Luke through the holonet, but unfortunately Luke is in hyperspace and does not have a hyperspace transceiver on his ship. When they head back to the hospital, Major Jason and Kritia Haccor are there waiting for them, with a full retinue. They thank Tomla and Lem profusely for their actions, saving not only the hostages, but the city of Coromon from whatever the T&L were planning. Tomla explains to them that Lyshea is actually the reason they were in a position to help, and Kritia responds that she will award the Zeltron with the Medal of Valiance, the highest civilian honor they can bestow, once she is recovered. Major Jason asks if they can tell him anything about the T&L invasion, but other than making him aware of Kenth's bravery, there's nothing of importance that they discovered. Once Kritia and Major Jason leave and Rin's surgery is complete, The Initiates are back together once again. Tomla takes the opportunity to inform Lem and Rin about her communication with Luke, including that she made him aware of Dal, Kyp, and Dorsk 82's discovery and use of the Star Temple on Selvaris, as well as the telepathic block that she experienced there. Rin and Lem are both concerned as they aren't as opposed to KDD's plans as Tomla is. This leads to a discussion about where they should support KDD or the Jedi Order, with each of them openly discussing their feelings on the matter. They decide to return to Selvaris since that is likely where Luke is headed. At this point, Dal Konur sends them all a telepathic message asking if they are ready to return via the portal. The three padawans pause, realizing that KDD must have overheard their entire discussion since they have been monitoring them through the portal using their Farsight ability. Unnerved by this realization, they decide to go check on Tomla, who Dal has informed them is awake. Lyshea runs up to Tomla and hugs her, and Tomla and the others are happy to see their friend fully recovered. Tomla informs Lyshea about her upcoming award, and Lyshea explains that she wants to stay on Fresia for a few days to reconnect with her friends. Seeing an opportunity to split KDD's focus since they can only observe one person at a time through the Infinity Gate, Rin asks Lem to come help him with some "boring paperwork". Once they are separated, Lem and Rin publicly discuss what they should do next, and they agree that they should stay on Coromon and investigate Cidcreper's involvement with the T&L and the reason for the invasion. However, they secretly communicate that they want to delay their reunion with KDD for now.