The VT beeps happily as it heads out in front of Kebiin, recalibrating its scanner to search for life signs. As they approach the bridge, it announces that there were no contacts, within range, it stresses. The door to the bridge slides open readily and Kebiin looks around the room. Even without extensive knowledge of Separatist ships, she instantly notices that it has been changed from its original configuration. The pilot station and the two co-pilot stations had been ripped out, replaced with some equipment Kebiin couldn't identify on sight, and the remaining consoles had been modified extensively. The captain's chair was still there, but had been modified with a thin, transparent screen that slid in front and could be retracted. giving the occupant a versatile control surface allowing them to keep track of a multitude of functions at once, though Kebiin isn't totally sure just what those functions might be without the screen activated.

As Tam reaches the top of the tunnels curve, she discovers that it double-backs creating another tunnel above her. She jumps, crabs the edge and scrambles over. As she gets up, she sees the tunnel is straighter but there was a small gap in the tunnels floor, beyond that were a group of Vynocks and one of the VT's. Tam screamed a stream of obscenities that them as she opens fire. The blaster bolts bore into two of the Vynocks, killing them instantly.

The remaining creatures shriek and grab the VT, which whistles loudly now that it sees Tam, "Buir! Gatayl!" The vynocks shriek and struggle under the load as they fly further down the tunnel.

Tam adjusts her aim as the VT behind her cries out for its vod, Tam sends a stream of both blaster fire and curses at the remaining Vynocks, You hutuune come back with my ad'ika! The blaster bolts burn through their targets dropping them, sending the poor VT to the ground, still clutched in their dead grip. A pained cry from the VT echoed slightly in the tunnel. Hang on ad'ika, buir is on her way!

Kebiin looks over the cobbled together equipment, following cables, getting a vague idea to it's purpose. What a mess.. she mutters, interesting, creative..impressive even. But a shabla mess. She looks at the droid hovering around the equipment, trying it's best to help.. Kebiin points out a readout and signs of dust, corrosion from burned out components, This all pretty new, based of some of these components and some serial numbers.. less than five years for a couple of these... but the system has been down for at least a year.. Let's see if we can get this repaired, make ba'buir proud, eh? The VT perks up and gives a little cheer as they begin to work.

Tam jumped across the gap, and caught the droid as it speed into her arms. Ni kar'taylir gar Ru'kel olaror, Buir! it cried.

Tam patted its head, There, there ad'ika, I couldn't leave you or your vod with this nasty vermin! she assured it, kicking the Vynock bodies. Come on you two, let's find your missing vod. Tam lead the way further into the tunnel, following it as it twists and turns, and as it cut back above her she sees it's a bit higher than the last one. Tam scanned the walls of the tunnel, looking for foot and hand holds, both of which were scarce. Ad'ika, help buir up.. she instructed, pointing to two locations along the tunnel. elek buir! they chimed, grasping the rocky surface.

Tam started climbing using the holds she could reach, her droids bridging the gaps of the holds she couldn't, becoming hand holds themselves. After they safely reached the next entrance, Tam pulled herself up and carefully continued on, drawing her blaster again as the reached another curve in the tunnel. As they turned the corner, they could see a cluster of Vynocks staring at them.

Tam tilted her head slightly. T sikala at ash'amur, dikute?

Tam eyes up the Vynocks, noticing one was slightly bigger that the others, she decides to take a chance that it's some sort of leader and shoot it and hope the others scatter. She opens fire and hits the vynock in what she would guess is it's neck, dropping it to the ground, crying out with a screech. The others scatter down the tunnel network as the large vynock flops around for a moment before dying. Alright then.. Tam nods to herself as she heads to the VT. as she makes her way there, she notices a section of the tunnles floor seems to be lower than the surrounding rock, she jumped diagonally forward towards where the floor met the wall and immediately kicked back off to land on the far side of the weak spot. Are you alright ad'ika? Tam asked, as she knelt next to the VT.

The droid chirped slowly, "Loww Powwerr, Buuir. Vorre par gaaa'tayliir nii." It slowly picks itself up and greets its vode before trying to turn on its repulsors, which struggle to levitate the droid. It whistles mournfully and sets back down. Tam examines her ad'ika in the light of the glow rods, noticing that most of the damage was merely superficial, but power cells were reading as dangerously low.

Tam motions for the other VT's Help your vod'ika back to the wreck and see if you can find a power terminal and get your powercells back to full. We still have the rest of this ship to go through. The VT's rushed over to help their vod, as Tam lead the way back through the winding tunnel network.

As Tam and the VT's made their way out of the tunnels, the VT's continued to talk to each other, Tam was curious but let them have their coded conversation. Most seemed to be encouragement for their drained vod as they assisted it along. Some of the code sounded familiar, Tam guessed it was about her, as the VT's made quick glances in her direction. It sounded positive from their tone.. appreciation for her coming after them, perhaps?

The rest seemed to be individual VT relating their encounters.

By the time they reached the lift, the coded messages tappered off. Alright ad'ika, up we go. I might need a had to get this locked down so it'll seal, dont want to have those Vynocks getting inside the wreck. she reached down to pat the head of the drained VT, Then we'll get you to a power terminal.

The VT flickered its optics in response, tugging at Tam's hart. Poor ad'ika.

The two other VT's assisted securing the lift, then Tam picked up the third and carried it the rest of the way to the terminal, checking the the power output was correct, and plugged it in.

After a couple minutes, the VT chirps happily and Tam unplugs it from the terminal. It powers up its repulsors and does a little spin in the air to test it out, then whistles "Vor'e Buir!" The other droids chirp encouragement, but the other one Tam just retrieved looks up to Tam, "Buir? Where's ori'vod?" The VT that the vynocks hadn't taken beeps sadly, realizing it had forgotten to inform its vode about VT-1.

Solus vod is back on the ship, ad'ika, he got banged up pretty good by the 'nocks. .. don't you worry though, buir will make it all better! I just needed to get all my ad'ika back first.

The VTs respond with sadness and approval, then follow Tam as she leads them up to the habitable decks and to Kebiin and the other VT. They soon reach the lighted decks, the VTs following Tam like ducklings follow their mother, and find the turbolift Kebiin marked. They enter the brightly lit hallways of the Recusant's organic officers' quarters and the VTs beep and whistle excitedly as they catch their vod's signal, instantly rushing towards the bridge. They hear a couple shouts from Kebiin as the VT who had been helping her has the same idea and rushes back towards the others. The VTs mingle and begin rapidly communicating in their beeps and whistles as they greet each other.

Tam taps the entryway of the bridge as she walks in, and notices the cables and equipment. Su cuy'gar, vod.. Find something interesting?

Kebiin nods. Oh, yes. she points to the cables and the area she was currently working on, It seems that not long ago, someone put in a listening post, I'm currently repairing it. She held up a hand to silence Tam's questioning look. Yes, I've disabled the transmitter, so no one will know we're here.. But these sensors go a long distance, if we can set up a relay to the ship, we can get an early warning if anything enters the system.

Kebiin leans over to look at the entrance as the VT's made their way on the bridge and started to help in the repairs. I see you collected all the lost children.

Tam shrugged, This is the way.

Kebiin laughed. Get over here and help mir'sheb.

As Tam knelt down next to Kebiin, she handed her something, Here, found this in one of the cabins on our way up.. It looks Mandalorian, but I can't remember from where...

Kebiin gave her sister a side look and opened her hand to find a ring with a signet. Tam was right, it was familiar.. She felt it was some sort of bad luck that she couldn't remember where she saw this before.. You're right, it is familiar.. I think it was a famous Mando'ade that fought for the CIS...

Death Watch? Tam asked, looking at the ring curiously.

No.. Kebiin murmured, Not them.. they didn't actually fight for the CIS in an official capacity, this one did. she said, holding up the ring.

After finishing the repairs, Kebiin booted up the system and ran some diagnostics, as the system ran through its startup procedure and began the diagnostic Tam and Kebiin watched the status screen with great interest.

Tam jab a finger at one of the item lines, Look, there's a relay out there..

Kebiin nodded, watching the status checks of the relay, No transmissions.. data or confirmation from the system inquiry.. But the system is sure it's still operational.. odd.

Maybe it's out of alignment? Tam asked..she looked at the other displays, Where is it?

Kebiin typed out the request in the system's interface. hmm.. says here it's last position was 700 yards off the starboard bow...

Tam went to the view ports along that side of the bridge, Can't see anything from here.. we could take the tug and check it out..

Better than walking, Kebiin replied, Come on, let's check it out.

They made their way back to the tug and undocked from the wreck. As Kebiin piloted, Tam talked with the VT's about possible upgrades. The VT's agreed that defensive capabilities would be very nice, considering their encounter with the Vynocks. The VT's seemed to prefer not to be armed with blasters, they didn't want to hurt anything... just not being eaten . Tam swelled with pride at her ad'ika, Tam herself wasn't against violence, or the occasional deadly force. But she never really could build a droid for the express purpose of causing harm... well there was that one time.. but it only hurt a couple of Imperials, so that didn't count.

Tam, Kebiin called, we're clearing the crater's edge...

As they cross the edge, Kebiin tilted her head, looking at the depression. This isn't an impact crater.. this is a subsidence. Kebiin said looking at Tam, then sighing at the blank look. A sinkhole, dikut.

Tam glared at Kebiin, Oh yeah? Now you're a geologist now? How can you tell?

Kebiin pointed at the concave feature, the edge and surrounding area. Impact craters, even old worn ones show signs of the explosive force of the creation of the crater, debris and rock thrown outward and fall along the edges.. This one is all smooth, no signs of debris... well, except for the collections of rocks that rolled to the center there.

Tam looked at the points as Kebiin listed them. Huh.. .. you're right.. wow, you really studied all that stuff?

Kebiin shrugged, I like watching those science shows on the holonet... that and that rock formation over there is sitting two meters above the surface ontop of what looks like a durasteel shaft...

Tam looked at the rock formation and swore.

Kebiin set the tug down next to the hidden access hatch, and they began working on opening it. Tam and the VT's spent a couple of minutes working with the VT's cutting tools trying to first clear the rocky camouflage, then the seam of the hatch.. But as they tried to pry it open, found the hatch cowling badly warped and unable to open.. Now what? Tam asked through suits comm system.

Kebiin sighed, as she consulted the suits holo projector as the image sprang out of her open palm. This looks like a possible way in, she said, pointing with her free hand. It's not too far away, hopefully the path back will be clear.

Tam looked from the shimmering blue image to the rocky landscape. That'll probably depend on our luck..

Yeah.. Kebiin agreed, as she shut off the holomap. C'mon, let's get back to the tug and check it out.

They land the tug near the location selected by Kebiin and step out to investigate. At first glance, it doesn't look like anything special, but they quickly realize that this analysis is incorrect: Because of their prior experience with the hatch by the comms array, they take a closer look around. The VTs spread out to sweep the area and find out that they aren't looking for a single hatch. In fact, there are four hatches, each about 5 meters in diameter, spread around the area. These have no clear way to gain access, but Kebiin notices a small, humanoid-sized hatch in a fairly central position relative to the four large hatches that it is in pretty good condition and easy to open. Under the hatch is a ladder in a tight shaft that reaches to the floor about 8 feet below the surface. From her vantage point and with the glow rods on her spacesuit's helmet, she can see that the floor is stone, but the walls of the shaft have been reinforced with a metal mesh of sorts.

Interesting.. Kebiin said thoughtfully, looking back along the surface. What is this place?

Tam leaned over Kebiin's shoulder to look into the access. Smuggler's base? Maybe a hidden Separatist base?

Kebiin shrugged, One way to find out I suppose.. she said as she made her way down the ladder.

As she reached the bottom and turned, she found herself in a rough room, clearly carved out of the planetoid. The low roof, just barely above Kebiin's head, was reinforced with metal beams and the floor was lined with metal plating to provide a stable walkway. The room was circular with five doorways leading off into hallways; four that go out in the direction of the hatches they previously discovered, and one that goes back in the direction of the wreck. The doorways didn't have any doors in them as installing actual doors would be expensive and unnecessary, but each had a cluster of wires running out of them, connecting at a junction box on the wall of the room. A few of the brackets had fallen out of the stone in which they were anchored, so the lengths of wires that had been looped through them and across the ceiling were hanging down. There were some lights on the ceiling, also connected to the junction box, but they were not lit and the switches on the junction box didn't affect them, or anything else.

Hmm... Kebiin looked at each doorway in turn, shrugged and pointed to the closest one that seemed to lead to where ever the larger surface doors went. Let's try that one. she said as she lead the way.

Tam looked at the VT's, Keep recording so we get detailed maps, ok ad'ike?

"Elek, Buir! Mhi narir cuun jate." they saluted with their manipulators and kept scanning, filling out the map as they went.

The tunnel went on for perhaps 20 meters or so, terminating in a doorway opening up into a circular room, nearly entirely filled by a large piece of machinery that backed up to the door with very little space to spare. However, as Kebiin enters the room and turns her lights onto the machinery, she realized it was a complete laser cannon turret from the Recusant, presumably relocated from the wreck. They also notice that the wires strung through the hall split, some of them diving into the ground before presumably connecting under the turret, and some tacked along the room, connecting to a box on the wall with a pair of buttons, green and red.

Kebiin whistled, Well now.. that's interesting.

And there is three more.. Tam said, You think there more cannons?

Kebiin sighed, Yeah, most likely.. But let's go make sure.

They turned and went back down the passage to the main room and proceeded to visit each of the other three passages. Sure enough, each had a salvaged cannon.

Kebiin shook her head slowly as they once again arrived at the main room, and found themselves facing the last passage way, the one that seemed to lead back to the wreck. Ok, it's becoming clear that someone established a base here..

Tam nodded, They had suits and heavy equipment, they wouldn't have been able to build this and transport the cannons otherwise.

Kebiin looked at the VT's patiently hovering around the room, poking at whatever they found interesting. Or they had droids..

Tam half shrugged, True. She pointed down the last passage. Shall we?

Yeah, might as well... Kebiin said, pulling out her data pad, she typed out a message and sent the file. There , I sent the information we have so far, maybe Naz can check the cannons out at some point. She said as they walked down the last unexplored passage.

After going down the tunnel for a couple hundred meters, following the collection of wires, they come to a cave-in blocking the way. According to the map, a few dozen meters away is another seemingly man-made tunnel running from the direction of the sensor cluster encountered earlier, moving in an almost parallel path until it also stops. However, there was another route that cut off sharply to the side about 60 meters back, but since the wires kept down this way they had kept on, hoping to find a power source or something.