Part 38: Deep Hurting

Part 38: Deep Hurting

Last time, we arrived at the Hrakert Station kolto mining facility to discover just about everyone was dead, brutally killed by the insane Selkath creeping around the dark corridors of the facility. The one survivor from the initial attack was so traumatized we didn't get much useful information out of him, although he did mention the Selkath were driven berserk by "the demon" and its scream.



Right now, our objective is to access the south part of the facility, and that means we have to slowly walk on the ocean floor for several minutes. Joy of joys.



We also have some firaxan sharks to deal with along the way. These sharks can and will kill you in one hit if they get too close, just like we saw with that merc we met last time.



Thankfully we're not entirely defenseless, because the sonic emitter we found in one of the storage rooms can instantly kill a firaxa. It has infinite uses as well, so all you need to worry about is using the device at the right moment.



So, how's your day been?



Mine's been pretty alright, I guess.



Apparently, if you use Burst of Speed before getting into the envirosuit, the speed boost will remain active until you remove the suit. I did not do this, so we're going to take roughly forever to get anywhere. This section isn't even all that long, it's just a few minutes, but you move so slowly that it feels like the whole thing takes forever.



We can walk up that mound of dirt to reach the door up ahead.



Just watch out for the firaxa lurking around.



Okay, now we can get in there. Yes, I could have cut some of these bits out, but then you wouldn't get the full experience. To be honest, this is still very much the highlight reel.





Naturally, all we can find here is an item we already have several of, and a door that has been welded shut, so that was a complete fucking waste of time.



Let's trudge back to the main path, then. I think we could also have gone right when we first reached the ocean floor proper, I definitely saw a path to the right but... well, fuck that noise, quite frankly. It's not like the path's going to lead anywhere useful anyway even if you can explore it.



That door to the left is where we're actually going.



Lots of firaxan sharks around here.



Approximately five hours later, we finally reach the airlock door.



Ah, it's so good to get out of that horrible thing, temporary as it may be. There are some insane Selkath up ahead, so we at least know we're in an unexplored area now.



I didn't kill this one quickly enough, so he was able to get a couple of hits in and inflict poison. Heal removes the poison immediately, so it's no big deal. Really, poison pretty much ceases to be a threat as soon as you get past the rakghoul-infested parts of Taris. By the time you unlock Heal, poison is basically a non-issue.



Only one way forward.



Hey, we found some survivors. Hopefully they can tell us exactly what happened at the station.



I think we're fairly safe from firaxa in here even if they do get in. They're fish, so unless they suddenly become capable of breathing air and moving on land we shouldn't have much to worry about. Selkath might be more troublesome, I'll give him that.





In any event, these two decide the best course of action would be to kill us. And here we are, just trying to help them.



Ah, shit. This may be a problem.



Or not, because we can simply destroy the force field. We could also slice the computer in the corner, or just talk to these fine folks again and persuade (or Force persuade, if you have the skill for that) them to let us in.





Right. Clearly, we need to calm them down first because otherwise we'll get nowhere.







When the Selkath went crazy I thought everyone else except me and Sami went mad. We had a few people outside the station when it happened...

The... firaxan sharks just tore them apart... It was like they were frenzied...

The firaxa did act very aggressively towards us. If we didn't have the sonic emitter, we'd be screwed.



Sami and me... I... I thought we were the only ones left. We heard the Selkath outside at the doors every once in a while... and those strange noises echoing through the base.



I must have been hysterical, I... I don't know what I can say... I truly apologize for the horrible mistake I was making.

I am Kono Nolan, and this is Sami. We were scientists working here on the Hrakert Rift project.



Kono Nolan was the head scientist Roland mentioned before. Maybe we'll finally learn what's actually going on here.



The work teams were outside in the Rift near the vent. Then there was this rumbling and my head felt like it was splitting open...

This... this monster rose up from the Rift...

It was a firaxa shark I think... bigger than any I'd ever seen before. Bigger than our submersibles.

It was like it was screaming inside my head...

The screaming again, just like the guy in the locker described to us. Apparently, this demon of his was "just" a giant firaxan shark, which is certainly dangerous enough but considering we're deep in the ocean it could be something much, much worse.







Again, how exactly did Revan and Malak get to these ruins five years ago? It seems the Star Map wasn't unearthed until recently, and I don't know if this installation has even been there for five years.







And also why it is so large. It must be feeding off the kolto. It would have to be ancient indeed for it to reach that size. But with kolto as a food source...

And all those other firaxan sharks! Those might be its offspring!



It's all starting to come together.





We were working on a soluble chemical compound that would drive them away. Something that smelled or tasted repulsive to them, but we never got it working right.

What's this compound, exactly?







The repellant we made was supposed to drive firaxan sharks away, but we never got very far in its development. The one we tested instead was violently toxic to them, rupturing their outer skin in seconds and preventing them from drawing oxygen from the water by clogging their intakes.

Is that how the shark-repellent bat-spray worked in the '66 Batman film?



But we don't know how else the chemical reacts! We only tried it in a controlled environment. In the open ocean, who knows what it could do... it could even affect the kolto.

We know exactly what it will do: it will kill the shark. That's what we designed it to do.

Kono really wants us to kill this giant shark, but maybe there's some other way to handle the situation withour releasing a chemical that does lord knows what to the ocean.





All you need to do is insert it into the main kolto harvester and have it vent it. Get away as soon as you can. We don't know how much worse it will affect the giant firaxan shark.

I don't know about that. Seems ill-advised.





I think if you could destroy the machinery we installed, the shark would calm down and retreat back into its lair inside the Rift.





The Hydrolium gas we use is a gas at 1 to 3 million sangen, a liquid at about 4 million sangen, and a solid above that. When it's a liquid it's VERY explosive. If you inject enough of the Hydrolium gas into the tank, the pressure will be so great that it will turn to liquid form and start a chain reaction inside the machine.





Sami's plan seems like the better option. The Republic will not be happy about losing the facility, but releasing poison into Manaan's ecosystem just seems like a monumentally terrible idea.



So, we will smash this machinery.



You'll have to break into the computer on the harvesting machine and fiddle with the fuel injectors to get the tank pressure up to the point where the Hydrolium will liquidize. Once the machinery is gone, the shark should leave.

What if it doesn't, though? What then?



You know what you have to do. I just hope you make the right choice.

We certainly know what to do, but I don't think Kono is going to like it very much.



There's nothing interesting in any of these other rooms.



So, back to the ocean floor we go. Wonderful.



That firaxa was a bit too close for comfort. The door we see up ahead just leads back to the other part of the facility, where we left Jolee and HK-47, and we'll use that to get out of here once we're finished with the harvester.



OH GOD



That was way, way too close. Fortunately, we don't have to aim directly at the firaxa to kill them with the sonic emitter.



There are the harvester controls so if we could just waddle our way over there sometime this century, that'd be great.



Any day now.



Ah, finally. You can't really see it in the screenshot, but the giant firaxa is right up ahead in the distance, blocking the way. I think it'll eat you if you get too close, but I've never tried because fuck walking all the way over there in this useless suit just to maybe see a non-standard game over.



Can you see it? It's the brown blob in the distance.



Well, whatever. Let's mess around with the harvester controls. We could feed Kono's toxin into the machine right here, but obviously we're not going to be doing any such thing.



Get the hydrolium to 4 million sangen, simple enough.





The pod on the left is the fuel injector pod holds 3 million sangen, while the container pod on the right holds 5.



We can fill the pods, and when one is filled we can also transfer from one pod to the other.



We will mess around with the controls for a while. It's not too hard to figure out. Once we have 3 million sangen in the injector pod and 1 million sangen in the container, we're nearly done.



Now, just transfer from injector to container once more. Another way to do this is to get the injector pod to 2 million sangen and the container to 5 million, and then transfer from container to injector. In either case, you end up with 4 million sangen in the container pod.







The harvester does not like that one bit.



Not one bit.



With the machinery gone, the giant firaxa immediately becomes docile and helpfully gets out of the way.





As luck would have it, the path the big fish was blocking happens to lead directly to the Star Map.



Our final Star Map.





Since this is the last Star Map, it doesn't just close back up like the others did.







Instead, it shows us the hyperspace coordinates to the Star Forge.



Now all that is left to do is finish our business on Manaan, visit the Yavin station one last time, and punch in those Star Forge coordinates.



Well, all in due time, of course. I think we should go visit Sami and Kono again and see what they have to say about our decision to blow up the machinery. Somehow, I doubt Kono's going to be pleased...



Destroying the machinery was the right thing to do, for everyone. That creature... the giant firaxan shark, the guardian of the kolto or whatever it was, seems to have calmed down a lot. It may even be safe to go outside now. But we'll still stay here and wait for the Republic rescue crews. Thank you for not making a huge mistake.

At least Sami appreciates what we did and believes it was the right thing to do.



How could you willfully destroy the kolto harvesting machinery?! That will set us back years! I will have you know that when we get back to the surface I'll have the Republic do a full inquiry into your actions! Now go back to the surface and get the Republic to send a REAL rescue team down for us.

Asshole.



Okay, I swear this is the last time we see the scuba suit. Good riddance.



Now let's just make our way back to the surface. This hallway, by the way, is where you would meet Calo Nord or Darth Bandon on Manaan. I am not even going to begin to guess how in the blue hell Calo or Bandon would know that we're down here in this secret facility. I guess they could've spied on our conversations and we just never noticed because they're just that good?



Well, it doesn't matter since both are long dead in our playthrough anyway. Let's return to Ahto City and get off this planet as soon as we possibly can.







Oh, and break the news about the harvester to Roland, I guess.





A gigantic firaxan shark that drove all the Selkath insane.

That's... horrible. The entire operation wasted by a disaster we could never in a thousand years have foreseen. What has happened to the facility itself? Were there any survivors?



I think we should lead with the good news. Well, I'm not so sure if Kono's survival counts as such, because that guy is dangerously irresponsible and incompetent.



The harvesting machine was destroyed.

Can't dance around it any longer.



While I am glad that you were able to solve our problems, the cost may have ended up being much too high.

Yeah? You wanna talk about cost, or potentially losing the war because of us blowing up your harvester? You wanna know what happens in the alternate universe where some fucking moron vents the toxin into the ocean like Kono Nolan suggested? Well, I'll tell you. The kolto in the ocean gets corrupted and turns black, losing all its restorative properties. There will be no more kolto production. Nothing. Zilch. That is it. You're fucked. The only way anyone will be able to obtain any kolto in this scenario is to buy whatever's still available on the black market at a huge premium. So, I don't want to hear a goddamn word about our decision to destroy the machinery costing the Republic the war.



Thankfully, Roland doesn't really give us a hard time... which is slightly odd, considering how he just said we might have cost the Republic the entire war.





As you can see, by helping us you helped yourself. Perhaps we can work together again in the future.

Why is he so friendly after telling us we might have fucked up the Republic's war effort?



Well, who cares. Let's return to the Ebon Hawk and get the hell out.



Now what?



This seems familiar...



I'll bet.



Anything else?



Well, here we go again.



Let's get this over with.





As we're escorted to the courtroom once more, we find our old buddies, Judges Kota and Naleshekan in the middle of a conversation that is apparently not for our ears.



Right.



Sure, Duula.



Well, Jhosa, if you guys would shut up for once we might actually get the opportunity to explain the whole thing.



Yes, yes.



I am so entirely done with these guys.



So completely done.



No point in lying now. We'll just come clean about the whole situation.



We know of this.

What?!

It will be discussed later.

This cannot be kept silent! The Council will...



But we cannot...





I love how Naleshekan is just completely dumbfounded.





Again, we'll keep telling the truth.





But she said she killed it... didn't she?

What? No! Is anyone even listening?



No! We just said there was one down there!





Be quiet! That is merely a myth, and not fit for outsiders to hear!

But if it was the life-bringer... the ancestor of our species... Think of what this could mean!

If it always Iaired there... then perhaps the kolto...

So, uh, apparently the big shark was the progenitor of the Selkath themselves, and Kono almost had us kill it.





Indeed. This casts your actions in a new light, human. This, I believe, will require more thought... both on your actions, and on what we must do in response. This court will adjourn while we deliberate.



We thank you for the destruction of the machinery and saving the giant firaxan which, we believe, is the source of our kolto... or at least its guardian. We will not detain you any longer. While we cannot show our gratitude overtly, know that you have earned our respect. This trial is now over.

If you kill the Progenitor and corrupt the kolto, your dumb ass is banned from Manaan forever. Even on a dark side playthrough you might want to consider destroying the machinery instead, especially if you haven't finished the Genoharadan assassination quests. Apparently there is an option to lie and blackmail your way out of the situation without getting banned, but I've never seen that.

Corrupting the kolto would be a bad idea anyway, because you'd fuck over the Sith war effort in the process. Maybe not as badly as the Republic war effort, but regardless. The Sith will still need kolto when Darth Revan is back in charge, and destroying the only source of it in the galaxy just for the sake of would be beyond idiotic and completely out of character for Darth Revan. Sure, you don't actually KNOW the kolto will get fucked up if you kill the Progenitor, but you are warned several times that using the toxin is really not a good idea and there's a good chance the kolto might get affected.



In our case, it wouldn't really make any difference because we're never coming back to Manaan.



Next time, we'll have a couple more chats with our party members, do some more business with Suvam at the Yavin station, and... well, maybe find the Star Forge.