Objectives: Subdue or destroy the ur-firaxa
Walk a short ways to the east to access the Kolto Control Panel, where you'll face your dilemma alone. As you may surmise, simply by the fact that it was mentioned at all, using the viper's approach will have a fairly adverse effect, and by "adverse" we mean it destroys all of the kolto, as well as precipitates an environmental disaster across all of Manaan. But hey, it's not like you're going to have to stick around here much longer anyway.
Perhaps you would prefer to avoid being called "Oceankiller" by the Selkath for the rest of your life, however. (The poison solution will also get you booted off the planet, so you might want to make sure that you've completed all the side quests that you intend to pursue.) If so, you can choose to destroy the illicit kolto harvester, and most of the surrounding facility, by destabilizing the fuel and causing an explosion. Another mini-game ensues, following the time-honored RPG tradition of attempting to balance the contents of two glasses. In this case, you need to ensure that the container pod is filled to exactly four million sangen, whatever a sangen is. A little reasoning is all that is required to solve this, but for the mathematically disinclined among us, the steps are:
| 1. | Fill the injector pod. (3/0) |
| 2. | Transfer from injector to container. (0/3) |
| 3. | Fill the injector pod. (3/3) |
| 4. | Transfer from injector to container. (1/5) |
| 5. | Dump container pod. (1/0) |
| 6. | Transfer from injector to container. (0/1) |
| 7. | Fill the injector pod. (3/1) |
| 8. | Transfer from injector to container. (0/4) |
In any case, once you've dealt with the firaxan threat, you can now access the Star Map, to the east of the kolto control panel. Return to the surface (being sure to use the northern pressure door in this map; it's a shortcut back to Hrakert station) for dressing-down from Roland, and your reward.
It wouldn't be Manaan without some more litigation, so you won't be able to leave just yet; you'll be apprehended again after you leave the Embassy and brought to trial, under the assumption that you caused the explosions at the Hrakert Rift. They've got you there, and there's no avoiding justice in this situation. Assuming you destroyed the harvester, feel free to be truthful; they'll actually commend you for your environmental awareness, which should make all you Final Fantasy players feel right at home. On the other hand, if you managed to poison the entire planet, then the Selkath will somehow restrain themselves from using you as firaxa chum and banish you from the planet. Either way, you've got what you came for.