Private Afterlife

[Mykel Dawson]

Aubrey wasn't sure how to calm Daryl down at this point, as he had completely gone over the edge. His screaming made it hard to focus and she began to lose herself to fracturing thoughts again...

However, his agony was finally brought to an abrupt end as the female Jedi simply stunned Daryl into unconsciousness. Admittedly, such an action had crossed Aubrey's mind more than once when Daryl had his bad days, but then she would have been all alone. While that thing was still stuck on the ship with them.

"T-thank you," Aubrey replied, tapping her fingers to her helmet to help reel her mind back to the present. Like the impaired putting on their glasses, her vision sharpened and she could finally see the woman before her with clarity. However, when she finally did gaze upon the face behind the clear visor, her breath hitched. Aubrey recognized her - it was Valery Noble, the Grandmaster of the New Jedi Order! The BoSS Agent didn't even live in the Galactic Alliance, but even the most backwards Outer Rim bumpkin knew the woman's face.

Of all people, this was the one that had come to her aid? She had to be hallucinating.

"I'm sorry..." she whispered in advance as she stepped forward and tapped the woman on the shoulder a couple times. Solid. If she was experiencing a hallucination, then it was a damn good one.

Okay? What had Noble said before? That her partner was outside - the one with the glowing blue whip - and that they needed access to the door. How had the Jedi Master entered the ship in the first place? One moment, she had Noble in her targeting sights, and the next moment she had simply disappeared. No wonder why Daryl had flipped out.

"I'm sorry...I wish I could help you open the door for your partner, but I can't." she started to explain. "One of my other crewmates - Kieran - is responsible for magnetizing the seals. He thought the measures would save us, but...it still got in here...just like you. Oh god the screams...Daryl managed to trap it by employing the emergency field generators that we normally use to prevent air leaks during hull breaches...but now we're cut off from half the ship with the controls...we couldn't even power up the ship to fly off if we wanted...oh god I need to get away...I just need..."

She rapped her helmet with her knuckles to focus again and stop rambling.

"Apologizes...I can't unseal the doors. I don't have the technical skills for that," she shrugged. "I'm just the comm's officer. However, I managed to trigger the SoS broadcast by directly interfacing with the antenna in the engine section. I assume that's why you're here now. We need your help getting out of here...and helping us find the others...but first...the monster in the front...ah..."

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

​

Outfit: Combat Jumpsuit
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsabers

Valery listened in silence as Aubrey spoke, her face a careful mask of calm despite the unraveling in the woman's voice. It was the kind of panic that came not from fear alone, but from too long spent surviving — trapped, haunted, on edge. Every word spilled like steam from a pressure valve. When Aubrey started tapping her helmet again, Valery took one step forward and placed a steadying hand on the woman's shoulder.

"Breathe," she said gently, voice firm but grounding. "You've already done more than most would have. You're still standing, and you called for help. Now we'll handle the rest.."

Her gaze flicked toward the sealed door, then back to Aubrey. Valery gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze before stepping past her. The corridor's lighting flickered, casting long shadows across the sealed bulkhead. The magnetic lock still thrummed faintly, its power holding the metal tight like a clenched jaw.

She stopped before it, standing still for a long moment.

"We're going to get you and your crew out of here," she said without turning. "But first — let's open the door."

Valery raised one hand and pressed her palm flat against the cold surface.

The Force surged — not violently, not with a shout, but like water finding the hairline cracks in a dam. Her senses pushed deep into the metal, not with brute strength, but with precision. She wasn't just hitting the door. She was unraveling it. Tiny fissures spiderwebbed outward from the center of her hand. A low groan echoed down the corridor, followed by a sharp crack — then another, faster, louder. The magnetic seal flickered and died. With one final, thunderous snap, the entire door shattered like glass under pressure, shards of reinforced metal splintering outward and clattering harmlessly to the floor.

The way forward stood open. Valery exhaled through her nose and lowered her hand, eyes narrowing slightly as she looked into the darkness beyond, then at Mykel.

"Sorry, I had hoped I'd have been able to get this door opened."

Mykel Dawson ​

 

[Mykel Dawson]

Outside, Mykel was tensed, lightwhip still bared, though the turret had ceased all activity. He couldn't even feel the person behind the weapon targeting him anymore. Had Valery taken care of business?

"Mykel, are you two alright?" Kaldor called out over comms. "I just saw explosions, do you need me to come out there?"

"No, Master we're fine, it's--"

He was cut off by a sudden screeching and another explosion of Force energy welling out from Valery within. The door rattled, then bulged slightly outward before falling apart into pieces, the clattering metal bits causing a cacophony of echoes throughout the hangar.

For the second time, the Padawan was left slack jaw. The Grandmaster was so powerful! Once more, he was in awe of her presence. How fortunate he was to be serving with her on this rescue mission.

"Yeah, we're fine for sure."

---

Having long been caught in the barriers of the fleshwalkers, the Starweird had eventually become still as escape efforts proved futile. So there it floated in a seemingly catatonic state, its gnarled but lanky body resembling a floating mummy with the rags that clung from its spindly limbs. This was fine. The ghostly figure had all the time in the universe. Eventually, the barrier would decay and fail, just like all things around it did.

However, animation slowly returned to its gaunt form as it sensed the concentration of the Force nearby. Focus returned to its shrunken eyes while its skeletal maw twisted into a scowl.

Force Users. It hated Force Users with a passion, particularly the Lightbearers. Their Light stung, it made the Starweird hurt. This Lightbearer made it hurt especially, her aura burning.

It would make her hurt, in turn.

The Starweird may have been trapped, but it could still scream, and scream it did. An earsplitting psychic shriek that raked through both the air and Force. The viewport and panels at its back began to crack.

Ğ̵̼̩͎̀Ë̸̼̬̥̰̥̱́̏͝T̸̼͔̣̦̀̑̍̐͜͠ ̶͖̱͋͒͐Ó̵̦͕̫̭̘͝U̸̻͓͘Ṫ̵̖̫̺͒̄͝͝ ̶̮͎̾́̒G̷̳͉̓͂͜É̵͍͎̙͇̲͂͗̋Ṫ̶̨̛̬̮͔̈́̐͝͠ ̵̳̈́̃̄̏̕͝Ö̵͍̮̬́̅̋̐Ṷ̷̻̒T̸̡̩͚̲̻̀̂̚!̶̡̓̇͒͊̉͘​

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

​

Outfit: Combat Jumpsuit
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsabers

Valery stepped into the hangar as the last shards of the shattered door clattered to the floor behind her, boots crunching faintly against the debris. Her violet saber remained unlit for now, but her presence radiated with controlled strength — steady and calm like the eye of a storm.

She glanced toward Mykel, catching the awe still lingering in his expression. A flicker of amusement touched her lips, and she offered him a smirk, "Sorry it took so long," she said dryly, brushing some lingering dust off her gloved hand. But before she could say anything else, the temperature in the room seemed to drop.

Then came the scream.

It wasn't a sound in the traditional sense — not just a vibration through air, but a psychic assault that scraped against her mind like jagged glass. Valery blinked, her expression tightening, jaw clenching as she instinctively raised a mental shield to blunt the worst of it.

She exhaled slowly through her nose.

"Yeah," she murmured, more to herself than anyone else. "Definitely not just a rescue op." Her eyes swept the chamber. The surviving crew were huddled deeper inside — shocked, wounded, but alive. For now. That was her priority.

"Mykel!" she called, turning to face him fully. "We need to get those people out — now. Move them back the way we came. Keep your saber ready and stay close to Aubrey. I'll hold the line." There was no panic in her tone — only resolve. She turned back toward the source of the shriek, her hand dropping to her belt. The violet saber hissed to life once more, casting a sharp glow across the fractured hangar.

Mykel Dawson ​