Public Yavin: The Vine-Twined Skull

[Keratel Rekali]

Lifetimes ago, Yavin Four was the domain and headquarters of Clan Rekali. The clan withdrew the bulk of its holdings into the Hard Roil in advance of a major Sith incursion and, for decades, Yavin Four served the Sith as it once had. As seems inevitable.

Now the Sith are back in force. A grotesque battle has taken place. Keratel 'Kay' Rekali, a clan scout forged in the most brutal patch of deep space known to man, has a mission:

1. Set foot on Yavin Four, as no Rekali has done in half a century.
2. Take a sample of the Sith horde. Blackwing has a vaccine; this is not standard Blackwing.
3. Escape sharply contested territory with precious cargo and skin intact.

Kay's scout ship has used old Rekali navmaps to reach the surface, possibly undetected. He and a small team of Mandalorians, bearing quiet weapons and sample cases, and dosed to the gills with Blackwing vax in case it takes the edge off, move cautiously through the jungle.

In search of the living dead.

 

[Shev Skirata]

"Stuff makes my skin itch." He said as he rolled his shoulders to try and relieve the sensation, "I never had so many shots in my life 'til now."

He checked his kit and ensured all of his buckles, clips and harnesses were silenced just like he was taught. He made sure his weapons were silenced and his armor had a fine coating of matte paint to make sure he wasn't "that guy" who gave them away because some eagle eye saw a flash through the trees.

"You ever seen this stuff before?" He asked nervousness makmaking him chatty, "The blackbird virus or whatever they called it?"

 

[Keratel Rekali]

"Stuff makes my skin itch." He said as he rolled his shoulders to try and relieve the sensation, "I never had so many shots in my life 'til now."

Kay made a laugh that wasn't a laugh, a little heh sound, and flicked a snake away with the blunt edge of his machete's tip. Two quick hacks made room through a tangle of vines, and that was the next trailhead right there. "I take a lotta meds," he said. "Rad poisoning, Sith shit. Wind up feeling like they're all fighting each other instead of doing their job. Like acid and soda bubbling in my blood."

"You ever seen this stuff before?" He asked nervousness making him chatty, "The blackbird virus or whatever they called it?"

"Blackwing? Some cousins of mine did, sure. I saw a Korriban zombie once, a Sith thing, whole other kind of dead. Dry, real dry. Blackwing's supposedly...goopier."

He paused. A body, well scavenged, had fallen afoul of Yavin's ecosystem. It lay entwined in bits, vines growing - almost visibly fast - through the apertures of ribs and face. No telling whether it had been a defender, an attacker, or a zombie. Piranha beetles had turned the clothes to shreds.

 

[Shev Skirata]

"Blackwing? Some cousins of mine did, sure. I saw a Korriban zombie once, a Sith thing, whole other kind of dead. Dry, real dry. Blackwing's supposedly...goopier."

He mentally groaned. 'Goopier' was somehow the worst thing he could have pictured in this case. He moved aside some vines with the end of his silenced disruptor carbine and scanned the area as they went. The jungle was actually beautiful. He could see why so many people had come and made a home here. He may have preferred a cockpit but he could see how coming to port here would be nice.

...then a corpse covered with visibly growing vines and beetles that seemed able to clean meat from bones in no time made him question his ability to make life choices. But, it was interesting.

"Flora and insects unaffected?" He asked over the helmet comms to keep quiet.

 

[Keratel Rekali]

"Flora and insects unaffected?" He asked over the helmet comms to keep quiet.

Kay blinked. "Didn't even think about the bugs. The plants all look like standard Yavin. Not that I've been here myself, but this was my family's place before I was born, lotta files and footage to go through on the way here. The bugs...I guess they all look normal. I don't see the piranha beetles that did this and that's a good thing. Bite-resistant underlay only goes so far." And if the 'Blackwing+' had done anything special to the beetles...

He switched his helmet overlay to IR and took a moment to look around. What would undead or virus-warped beetles look like on IR, anyway? Would it bring them in warm, or bring them in cold?

 

[Shev Skirata]

Shev nodded once to confirm and switched his HUD display to have IR and motion tracking filters on a corner screen to his right where Keratel was. He was confident that if something came from that side he would be covered. He picked up a few things here an there but the IR range was limited and he would have to be within a closer range to pick up anything distinct.

The sounds of the jungle were far louder than he had expected here in the midst of where an enhanced murder virus that could reanimate an infected corpse had been spread. But maybe he had seen too many holos and had unrealistic expectations. Or maybe they weren't there yet. He resisted the urge to ask.

"Might be worth checking." He said as he knelt down and analyzed a patch of dark fluid on a large fern-like plant, "Blood, Approximately 2 hours old. Advozse. Can't tell if it's infected."

He closed his scanner. He never thought a tool for hunting bounties would help him track zombies but learn something new everyday.

Keratel Rekali

 

[Keratel Rekali]

"Blood type scanner? I didn't even know you could get those." Kay kept watch as Shev Skirata knelt to take a look. "Nice piece of kit, where'd you pick that up?"

Once Shev closed the scanner, Kay cracked a sample case, about the size of a grenade for an underslung launcher, and used the swab to get a generous dollop of the Advozse blood. He used a similar case and a small self-sterilizing energy knife to take a finger joint from the decrepit corpse. The knife was too visible for comfort; he shut it off right away and tucked the cases into one of the padded bags at his belt.

"Two hours...know what, Skirata, I've decided: I'm not one of the Mandos that's raring to go for a fight. I am not that."

He gestured up a ridge.

"Think we'll get decent view up there, or the trees too much?"

 

[Sula Skirata]

Sula was quiet, processing the conversation between her two comrades, her mind fixed on the piranha beetle aspect as she watched their six.

"What eats piranha beetles?" she asked. "They can't be at the top of the food chain otherwise we'd be swarming in them. So something eats them."

It seemed like an out of place conversation, like she was three steps behind them, which she was because formation was important. But her mind was on the blackwing. If the piranha beetles could become infected by eating infected flesh then so could what ever ate the piranha beetles and truth be told she'd rather take a sample of whatever ate the beetles than chancing her luck with overgrown flesh eating bugs.

Keratel Rekali Shev Skirata

 

[Shev Skirata]

"Think we'll get decent view up there, or the trees too much?"

"I think a flesh mutating zombie virus might possibly be best observed from a distance, preferably orbit but that ridge looks good." He said as he began angling toward the ridge. "And I got the sampler from a mandaltech storefront on Taris. It's pretty handy."

He cycled his HUD again back to rangefinder. The jungle was so full of motion and heat is was distracting him. Then is clan mate spoke up. She was the brains of the family but he was pretty sure all that thinking made her a touch on the weird side.

"What eats piranha beetles?" she asked. "They can't be at the top of the food chain otherwise we'd be swarming in them. So something eats them."

"You have a point." He said, and she did. She usually did have a point. She was mostly points, really. He was glad she was there though no doubt about that. "If you see something you want collected, say the word and I'll see what I can do. Preferably like 100 meter notice if you can."

 

[Keratel Rekali]

What did eat beetles? Kay ran back through the Yavin IV wildlife footage and files he'd reviewed in flight, and came up with-

"ZOMBIE MOLE!"

The ground shoved upward in a welter of bones and rotten vines. A gigantic mole oozed up from the earth. Its blunt teeth closed on Kay's left boot. The old red metal squealed. Kay found himself dragged into the churning earth up to his knees, then up to his hips. He fired his blasters in a panic; the dirt ablated the blasterfire. He was only upright at this stage because he was well and truly rooted.

Shev Skirata Sula Skirata

 

[Sula Skirata]

Sula blinked.

"That." she said flatly as Rekali was pulled into the earth. "I want that."

She moved forward. "Stop shooting dikut, or you'll draw more of them." she pulled a long knife from her belt, nodding to Shev as she shifted in front of Rekali. "Pull him up." She readied the blade, to skewer the top of the moles head as it reappeared.

Shev Skirata Keratel Rekali

 

[Shev Skirata]

"That." she said flatly as Rekali was pulled into the earth. "I want that."

"Yeah," He said as he let his carbine hang from its sling and moved forward, "I guessed that."

He caught a stray ricochet to the shin as he moved to grab his companion under the arms.

"Hang on, vod." He said before he began pulling the man up and backwards from the subterranean death rat thing.

"You need to lay off the nerf burgers, Rekali." He groaned as he strained to pull the man out of the vicious grip molie the zombie hutt.

The man began moving out of the hole slowly and then with a sudden change in weight they both fell backwards onto the ground. The memory of racing vines and potential death bugs as well as more moles encouraged his speedy recovery from the prone position as he saw the mole still holding tight and prepare to pull back into the ground.

Keratel Rekali Sula Skirata

 

[Keratel Rekali]

Gobbets of undead mole crisped under the punishment of Kay's blasters. Flash-rotten bone cracked and his leg came free. He scrambled onto a mossy rock without dignity. The rock's outline was more distinct now that further giant undead moles were heaving their way through the ground like Blenjeel sandworms.

"Get on the big rock!" he yelled - again, without dignity. "Stop trying to stab it and get-"

He lost his train of thought as a mole snapped at his good leg. The rock was maybe ten feet across above ground level, give or take a lot in any given moment. Not a lot of space to work with. He did, however, pick a hunk of mole from his freshly scarred greave and shove it in one of the sample cases. He had that much presence of mind.

Sula Skirata Shev Skirata

 

[Sula Skirata]

Sula swore as her armour was sprayed with rotting gore, Rekali's blasters ruining what could have been a good and whole specimen. His blasters and panicked shouting also did exactly what she said it would. More moles began to roll toward them, snapping at the noisy idiot.

Sula didn't move, watching the upturned earth roll towards her, blade at the ready. It was fast, but Sula was faster, slamming the blade into its head as it emerged and hooking it out of the dirt, she stood up, holding it aloft and activating the flamethrower on her free arm, singeing the ground around her as she moved towards the rock calmly.

"I wanted a whole one. More to study." she looked at him from behind the dark visor, shooting a spurt of fire at the mole chomping on his leg, it let out an odd squeal before it popped.

"Answers my question though...its climbing up the food chain. Problematic. Are you done squealing?"

Shev Skirata Keratel Rekali

 

[Shev Skirata]

"Get on the big rock!" he yelled - again, without dignity.

Shev pulled his carbine back up and began firing into the moles as he backed up onto the rock. Who would have thought that moles ate beetles that had contracted a terrible virus? Not him, that was for sure. In fact he didn't think about moles at all. The only part of his life that even came close to moles was holo ads about keeping them out of yards. He didn't have a yard. He didn't even have a flat. He slept on a ship. Moles didn't dig in ships and Shev didn't dig in yards. He and moles should never even have cause to interact, but nooooo. Sith once again had to interrupt a peaceful ignorance with fething zombie moles.

"Moving," He said simply as he fired and prepared for doing something terrible to creatures he had barely considered before.

"Sula back." He said as she waved around her skewered corpse like she had won a prize at the fair.

He pulled a roll magnesium phosphate tape from his belt with one hand and tossed it out to unroll. He flung the highly reactive tape toward the center of the bubbling mass of blind horror and shot the tape.

The white hot substance hissed and smoked as the moles felt the super heated magnesium begin burning. It was supposed to be for burning through bulkheads with minimal noise. Now he knew moles also didn't like it. When they left he would have to pitch that to an add company.

Keratel Rekali Sula Skirata

 

[Keratel Rekali]

"Answers my question though...its climbing up the food chain. Problematic. Are you done squealing?"

Kay shoved a sample case in his bag and picked up his befouled blasters. The undead moles were roiling.

Instinct suggested a course of action that might not be smart but would certainly contribute to the team's average level of experience with this threat and this environment.

As Shev Skirata did his magnesium trick, Kay lurched toward Sula Skirata , intending to accidentally-on-purpose body-check her into the mole-torn ground. Maybe a mole to the knee would smarten her up.

 

[Sula Skirata]

Sula was smirking down at Kay beneath her helmet, her eyes flicked up as Shev tossed the magnesium and Rekali moved.

Catching her completely off guard, becaue who expects a comrade to shunt you into a mass of undead zombie moles, Sula toppled off the rock, hitting the dirt.

The knife flicked and the undead mole skewered upon it went flying. "No, my sample!" She cried scrambling to grab it as a mole seized her leg and pulled.

There was a split second of nothing, as realisation dawned that she'd been grabbed.

"Kark."

She disappeared beneath the soil.

Shev Skirata Keratel Rekali

 

[Shev Skirata]

"No, my sample!"

He quickly pulled the flying subterranean zombie corpse off his shoulder.

"Get it off." He said as his carbine briefly went quiet. He recovered and grabbed the mole sample and looked up to see Sula disappear into the ground. They had made an actual hole...that a small armored nerd could fit in.

All of her.

In a hole.

In the ground.

On zombie moon.

The deep desire to push Keratel in after her and report them both KIA came out of nowhere. He liked them well enough. One was a clan mate, a weird one, her echani side most likely, but family. The other liked ships. Shev liked ships. They were two guys with armor that liked ships. That's basically related.

So, despite that odd urge he did something he had tried to avoid for nearly 20 years and took responsibility.

He grabbed Kay who had not lept to the rescue of their squad mate with one hand and pulled his beskar saber with the other. Then he pulled Kay behind him into basically a grave filled with rabid rodent monsters from beyond horror holos.

"Into the death hole, bud." He said as he chopped at moles while delving into the dirt. Which, life choice could he have made to not lead to this moment? And could he have a redo?

Sula Skirata Keratel Rekali

 

[Keratel Rekali]

Now on the one hand, Kay felt bad about this. On the other, he felt only somewhat bad. Considering how dour and then terrified his most recent experiences had been, mild guilt was a significantly improved state of mind. He shoved half a mole in a sample case with utterly filthy gauntlets - he was going to need to decontaminate everything twice.

After a moment, it dawned on him that he actually did have a reasonable way to help without risking his hide unnecessarily. His guilt ratcheted up from a 2/10 to a 3/10, spiked to a four, stabilized at two point five.

His gauntlet had a fibercord launcher. He aimed it into the dirt and was about to fire when Shev Skirata grabbed him and in they went.

Sula Skirata

 

[Sula Skirata]

It was quiet underground. Or at least it would have been if the sound of beskar catching on stray rocks and didn't fill her ears everytime her head bounced of the earth. She stuck her blade into the wall of the tunnel to slow herself, but the angle was wrong and she lost her grip on it.

"Feth." That was her mothers knife.

Now, she was annoyed.

She pulled the flamethrower arm down with difficulty considering the cramped space and the fact that she was moving at surprising speed. Sula managed to get it to her belly, the bozzle was pointing away from her face. That was good enough.

She turned the tunnel into an oven. Flames licked up and around her. She felt the pressure around her leg release as the mole popped.

Sula lay still for a moment before assessing her surroundings. The earth, was cold to the touch where the flame thrower hadn't touched it, the soil was claggy. She was a few metres down. She opened her comms, with a blink.

"Are you two dikuts still alive?"

Shev Skirata Keratel Rekali