Sho Larn moves a few boxes that were floating freely to more advantageous locations. It takes impressive concentration and control to use the Force to set them in the air perfectly still so they don't move out of place in the lack of gravity. The eerie stillness and unsettling quiet are made only worse by the corpse further down the hall, surrounded in a floating mist of blood. The crimson spheres don't move, in perfect midair stasis. The man is wearing a normal crew uniform, not a suit to mitigate zero-gravity. The ship must have gone through an unexpected depowering or emergency shutoff.
The squad bounces from bulkhead to bulkhead, coming closer to the floating body. Their lights shine down the pitch-black hallway, piercing some of the darkness but tapering out before the end of the ship.
Coasting closer to the body Raal reaches coutiously for it, turning it around to the front of the uniform to see if he can identify name and rank.
Raal reaches through the blood droplets to turn the man around. His dead eyes are wide open in a terrible vision of abject horror, his face trapped in fearful terror. As he quietly examines the cadaver, Raal feels a danger in the Force. One of the Dark Side presences is coming closer, its hate and malice radiating from its presence. He holds up his light, dimly illuminating a four-legged large beast with a downward-facing horn coming out of the shadows. Like scales falling from their eyes, Raal and Sho Larn can feel its presence in the Force like a blaring alarm. As he shouts a warning to the others, it flexes as if to leap towards the Chiss Kensae.
Brandishing his lightsaber in a flurish Raal takes up a stance poised to strike as soon as the beast comes closer. "Comon boys! Time to do what we do!" he says with all the conviction born of past battles with the squad.
Call sees the Kensae go into battle mode, but cannot yet see the enemy. However, experience teaches that readiness is everything...
Ready an attack to fire when I see an enemy!
Attack:
Damage:
Call sees the Kensae go into battle mode, but cannot yet see the enemy. However, experience teaches that readiness is everything...
Ready an attack to fire when I see an enemy!
Attack: 1d20+3
Damage: 3d10+4
As the creature snarls and leaps towards them, floating through the gravity-free air, Krassus aims a perfect shot through the creature's chest. The blaster bolt nearly kills it on the spot, but its malicious hate provides just enough energy to keep going. As Raal slashes it with his lightsaber, it barrels into the Chiss Kensae with its downward-facing horn as it floats past through the air.
The horn gouges deep into Raal, slashing a large hole in his biohazard suit and cutting a hole in his side. The wound burns, far greater than simply the pain of the injury itself. As the creature ends in the midst of the rest of the squad, Raal's mind is flooded with powerful anger and fear. He worries to himself that his breached suit is going to provide no protection against the toxin, angrily thinks that it should have been Sho Larn in front, blames the foolish crewman whose body he was just examining, and snarls in frustration, fear, and pain.
Sho stands in horror as the beast rips into Raal. His senses are overloaded by the intense hatred of the dark side force surrounding the beast. He wishes he had been a fraction of a second quicker and he could have prevented this.
Urirawa sensing the cue from Sho steps forward to bury his Ryyk blade in the beast's brain.
Urirawa just barely clears the horn of the massive creature but by keeping control on the swing he lops it down with a sweeping snake strike to lop the front half of the creatures skull including the horn from its head like a matador delivering the killing blow in swift flourish.
Raal stumbles back from the blow, staring down in disbelief his hand hovering above the breach in his suit. 'Frak!' Why him? Where was his team? Where was Sho? 'Frak! FRAK!' The suit was breached. The Toxin! 'Frak! FRAK!
Looking up Raal wears an ugly snear on his face as tears streak down his cheeks. "I'm breached! The suits he screams at Sho Larn as Urirawa streaks past him. With his back turned to the creature Raal is oblivious to the anything but the burning pain in his side and a feeling of disgust directed at Sho Larn. "What the frak Sho!?! The Toxin Sho! The frakin toxin! I'm exposed!" he says to him accusingly as his past, present and his oh so bright future flash before his eyes. A noble born Chiss, exhaulted in the service of the Emperor himself. This was not how he imagined his end, there was no glory in this.
Falling to his knees Raal's angry sobs continue for a few seconds before slowing down as Raal seems to fall into a breathing exercise Sho recognizes. An image of DeWry causes Raal to pause, what would his old master do? What would he say? Raal realized he was emotional, his thoughts were clouded. Calming down Raal searches his feelings, centers and sorts his thoughts with the dicipline of kensae teqnique. Finaly Raal looks up at Sho. "I am infected. The blow tainted my blood. I can feel the dark side flowing through my blood, trying to get a hold on me. I apologize Sho. You did not deserve that." Raal closes his eyes and takes a final deep breath before standing up.
Call shoulders his rifle and darts forward, pulling out a medkit to treat Raal and a spare to attempt to seal the hazard suit.
Treat Injury: plus FP 1/6
Urirawa moves to guard the door in case the horror within tries to escape.
Raal rests his hand on the Chiss kensae. "I promise to help you purge this affliction my friend. I am also sorry I could not prevent this from happening."
Feeling his emotions churn Raal breathes heavily to remain calm. In through his nose, out through his mouth. In through his nose, out through his mouth. In through his nose, out through his mouth. Focusing on his breathing he still feels the dark side lurking in his blood, thrusting up his blood, clouding his thoughts, calling, beckoning. But through it all Raal focuses on his breathing. In through his nose, out through his mouth. In through his nose, out through his mouth.
"Mission status?" he asks through the haze. "Is the toxin in my blood enough? Can we exit and blow this ship out of the space lanes or do we need to find the source? Oh, and trooper Krassus. Take a blood sample from that creature please. We must know everything there is to know. We must find the ships computer as well. We must download it's contents. We must know everything. The mission must succeed..." Raal continues talking about mission importance while he is administered to by his fellow, talking through the haze to keep his mind focused on somthing besides his own status.
Call nods at Kensae Raal as he works. As soon as he's done, he'll use one of the medkits to retrieve a tissue sample and blood sample from the beast. This done, he'll shoulder his rifle and ready for action.
The squad moves forward steadily and cautiously, with Raal clutching his suit as if afraid that it will come open at any time. They have no more surprises as they pass through the ship, though they do find the open containers that the beasts came out of. There are several more beasts still in their containers, simply looking out of the viewport with malicious hate in their eyes.
As they reach the front of the ship, the crew of the ship floats lifelessly in the main deck. The wounds on the half-dozen corpses are not the slashes and cuts of sharp claws, but rather the burning cuts of an active lightsaber. Hands and heads float freely, creating a macabre sight of disjointed body parts in the room.
Call raises his rifles and turns around, away from the room of severed body parts. Damger never leaps out from the direction you expect. It always comes from the way you don't expect, so Call scans behind them, below them and above them, just to be sure.
Perception:
Sho connects the dots - dark side manifestations and lightsaber wounds.
"There is likely a hostile force user in the area. Cover me while I scan."
Sho then slips into a force trance as he actively searches for other Force users in the area.
Sweating profusely Raal jumps a little at Sho's warning turning from shadow to shadow with an invouloutary twitch in his eye.
Perception
Urirawa takes a good position near a doorway to guard against future incursions.
Sho Larn reaches out with his mind, finding nothing but quiet in the Force. Raal's aura is darker than usual, changing and swirling around him in a chaotic mess, but there is no sign of a true darksider. The beasts in their containers are agitated but contained. The vessel is quiet as a coffin for the poor souls killed on board by the unknown Force user.
With Urirawa holding point, the others begin to systematically search the area for clues. Sho Larn finds an open box floating on the port side, marked with biohazard signs on its sides. It could have housed the biotoxin, but it is now empty. Raal finds his shadow and barely keeps himself from using his lightsaber to attack it. Krassus discovers a thrown switch on the main computer area, possibly a master power switch that can turn the vessel's systems back online.
"Let's investigate what we can before we destroy the ship. Before restoring power, is there any way to check for danger such as an explosive device rigged to blow when power is restored?"
Raal has the stoic Sho on edge. This is a highly unusual event and must be treated as such.
"Well, uhm.." Raals eyes dart to the sides and he licks his lips before staring in Sho's genereal direction, not meeting his eyes he stares over the top of Sho's head or at his chest. "See, umm.. We need the power to eh.. get the copmputer up ok? If we don't get the computer up now, we won't be able to access it. Um.. Do you see the eh.. problem? Sho?"
"Well, uhm.." Raals eyes dart to the sides and he licks his lips before staring in Sho's genereal direction, not meeting his eyes he stares over the top of Sho's head or at his chest. "See, umm.. We need the power to eh.. get the copmputer up ok? If we don't get the computer up now, we won't be able to access it. Um.. Do you see the eh.. problem? Sho?"
"Very well. If you think we should investigate, then turn on the power. If not, let's just destroy the ship and be done with it."
'kk uuRu jjkyyy hry..'
'Um Call, won't turning the power on open the doors and let the beasties out? I can do it but is that wise? Would it not be better to go to the computer core and just haul that over to our ship?'
'If you order it, sirs, I'll turn the power on.'
'kk uuRu jjkyyy hry..'
** spoiler omitted **
"I'm with you trooper. This doesn't feel right. I don't know what will happen when the power is restored."
"What's he saying?" Raal asks, eyes darting from Urirawa and Sho as he tries to look at them both at once. "Comon. Throw the switch so we can get out of here already." he says, licking his lips again.
Call looks sideways at Raal. Something wasn't right with the officer. "Uri advises that turning on the power may release those things into the main bay here. He suggests, sir, that we pull the computer core and bring it back to our ship for analysis. He's the expert sir, I'd listen to him." Call nervously thumbs his rifle to stun, just in case.
Urirawa works to estimate the location of the computer core by comparing standard Imperial schematics on file for the type of ship. He patches a request back to their ship for the required directions.
Urirawa's search shows that the memory core is located in the center of the bridge's navigation/communications area under a secure, impact-resistant plate. It will take a little while, but his plasma torch can breach it without damaging the computer core. This allows them to retrieve the data without powering the ship on. Once the toxin's former presence on the ship is confirmed, they can order it destroyed.
Urirawa barks the affirmative that he has the location. He rotates his computer to show the destination to the others.
Urirawa directs his helmet com to feed a signal strictly to Call. In Shyriiwook, he uses one word, Madclaw.
Urirawa barks the affirmative that he has the location. He rotates his computer to show the destination to the others.
** spoiler omitted **
"Good work trooper." offers Sho to Urirawa. "Troopers, lead the way."
Sho walks with Raal, concerned for his well-being.
Raal furrows his brow and squints at the screen presented by Uri. "What? So you want to burn up the floor and retrieve it huh? Ok, ok. Fine. Hurry up please. This ship's feels wrong. I want off it, ok?" he says, weting his lips again he glances at his side making sure the breach is held tight shut.
The extraction of the computer core takes a few minutes as the plasma lance makes quick work of the protective plate. Urirawa reaches in and pulls it out, a difficult feat without gravity. It releases with a hydraulic hiss as Urirawa frees it. Fortunately, its weight is easy to carry without gravity, as Urirawa discovers when he pulls himself towards the exit. With a last look at the grisly collection of body parts, he leads the way back towards their own ship.
Keeping a close eye over Urirawas shoulder as he works on extracting the core Raal twitches a few times and looks ready to step in and take over on more than one accaunt. Sighing in relief as he finally gets the bloody thing out he looks about nervously and follows close as the wookie leads the way off the ship.
Urirawa with the core strapped to his back signals his readiness to move. He leaves the lead scout position to others with better situational awareness.
Urirawa has many skills and is good in a fight but, frankly, a Bantha could most days sneak up on him without him noticing.
Call moves forward, keeping his eyes open and his rifle at the ready, switched back to lethal.
Perception
The squad moves slowly out of the bridge back into the ship's main corridor. Launching through the gravity-free hallway from bulkhead to bulkhead, they make their way to the back of the ship where their own waits. The strange beasts begin to slam on the walls of their enclosures as the four Imperial agents pass, raising a loud cacaphony that echoes through the ship. Raal continually spins looking for the source of the noise, but Sho Larn manages to keep him focused on the mission. Urirawa pulls the computer core behind him, ready for analysis on their ship, while Krassus takes the lead with his deadly rifle pointed ahead.
As they approach the seal between the ships, the ship's gravity generators kick in. The squad hits the deck as they cross over, finding the sudden downward pull to be disorienting. Just as they make it through, the main ship hails them over their comlinks. "Glad to see your signals again. Requesting a status report. Can you advise? Is it the target vessel?"
Krassus stands by the breach, waiting for everyone to get on board before he goes aboard. As Sho Larn passes, he murmurs quietly to him, "Sir, I must advise we'll need to quarantine Kensae Raal before we remove our suits. We'll all need to be examined lest we contaiminate anyone further, sir."
Sho nods to Call and then uses the his comm to patch in directly to the bridge, ensuring that Raal does not hear his report.
"Lt. Sho Larn reporting. We believe this to be the ship, however, the crew has perished. There is no sign of the biotoxin we were looking for or the criminals from Falleen. Lt. Raal has been injured and possibly infected with an unknown biotoxin. We need a medical crew here stat to assist in quarantine. Please be aware that sedation is highly recommended as the officer is under extreme duress. In addition, we have removed the computer core. Further analysis should aid in determining if this is indeed the ship we sought and possibly where the biotoxin's destination is. Please send a slicer to assist, however, the device will have to be managed as possibly infected before it can be viewed."
Following his update to their host ship, Sho will stand by Raal and assist in calming him down.
"We will get through this comrade. I will not let you do this alone either. I can help you."
Urirawa will help with any slicing or analysis and suggest the computer core be kept in 'isolation' and have no access to any exterior components while its files are searched (no hooking up to the main ship and the ship's computers). Standard 'infected' system protocols to be followed for this sort of thing to avoid any further infection.
Urirawa will help with any slicing or analysis and suggest the computer core be kept in 'isolation' and have no access to any exterior components while its files are searched (no hooking up to the main ship and the ship's computers). Standard 'infected' system protocols to be followed for this sort of thing to avoid any further infection.
Sho turns to the troopers and relays the message he gave to the command center of their host ship, except for the part about Raal.
"There is a crew to inspect the computer core on their way. Assist in any way you can when they arrive."
Sho continues his vigilant watch on Raal.
A crew from the interdictor arrives a few minutes later, clad in the hazard suits of a cleanup crew. They take Raal and quarantine him, stripping the young Chiss down to scrub him with brushes while waving a number of sensors across him. A technician takes a blood sample from his arm, not taking the time to warn him. Meanwhile, members of the crew take the computer core, setting it up with an isolated closed-circuit display, allowing them to run a battery of diagnostics on it. Everywhere they look, there is a member of the support crew doing something.
A junior crewman runs up to the squad. "Sirs, the officers want to know if you recommend that the ship is quarantined for examination or destroyed as a threat?"
Sho listens to the junior crewman and begins barking orders.
"I want all entry on and off the ship fully sealed. Nothing comes off or nobody goes on that ship without my permission. Understood?"
Sho reserves the decision to destroy the ship until they view the computer core his team retrieved.
'Breath in, breath out. Breath in, breath out.'
Moving along in a daze Raal keeps close to Sho Larn. Feeling a relative safty in the precanse of his fellow kensae. Spinnig around as shadows seem to stretch around him his side constantly burns a reminder of his infection. His blood pumping he floats along with the party as they make theyr way out.
'Breath in, breath out. Breath in, breath out.'
As gravity kicks in and Raal's feet his the deck he grunts and grits his teath as his mind clouds over at the pressure to the wound. Nearly falling over Raal snarls as an arm grabs his shoulder to help steady him. The world was spinning. Movement. Talking. People touching him. Movement. Cold. A sting in his arm.
'Breath in, breath out. Breath in, breath out.'
Letting himself be man-handled Raal focuses on his breathing to stay as calm as he can. Nevertheless he snarls on more than one occation as the medical crew attend to him. Logically he knows this is done for his own good, but emotionally he burns at the indignation. Struggling with with the two emotions, the light and the dark, he hears Sho barking orders. "Destroy it Sho. Don't give it a chance to infect another. Destroy the ship Sho." Raal say through gritted teeth, feeling his blood rise as he adresses him.
'Breath in, breath out. Breath in, breath out.'
Raal finishes the biohazard sweep, a masked technician giving Sho Larn a thumbs up as he looks at a readout. Someone hands him a clean uniform, making sure that he gets pants on before beginning to patch his wounds with a first aid kit. Thoroughly scrubbed and bandaged, the medical technicians release Raal back to the other members of the squad.
It doesn't take remarkably long for the technicians to access the computer system and clear it of any infection. A Verpine technician softly taps at the controls, accessing its memory. In the strange insectoid voice, he (or she or it, being difficult to tell with Verpine) tells the squad, "There appears to be a recording of the ship's last moments." Immediately and without warning, the Verpine plays the recording.
One of the junior crewman, who was previously behind the others, takes a step forward. "I was afraid that you would say something like that." The young human male with short, dark hair appears familiar. With a start, the squad recognizes him as Darth Starkiller. He ignites his fearsome red lightsaber, causing the other crew members to take a step back. "Hand over the toxin and you will survive." A moment passes with no one moving, the captain staring incomprehensibly at the Sith Lord.
With a deadly hum, Starkiller severs the captain's head.
The crew erupts in the type of movement that only panic can cause. Starkiller is a tempest of lightsaber strikes, easily cutting most of them down in seconds. One of the surviving crew members runs out into the hallway, while another rushes to hit a few buttons on a nearby display. The crewman in the hallway screams in fear as the doorways are opened, probably seeing one of the monstrous creatures. Perhaps realizing his error, the crewman in the bridge slams on another button. The power and recording cut out just as Starkiller lunges for him with the lightsaber.