CAPTAIN RONHAR TANE, TK-3301
OBJECTIVE I: STORM THE TOWER
As Ronhar and his men made their way inside the rail complex, there was a loud
THUD as a security gate came crashing down around the entrance, effectively blocking them inside the facility. Technically, Ronhar could probably blow the gate open with the amount of explosives that he had brought with him, but there was no need to at the moment. After all, while the gate kept them stuck inside, it also kept the zombies
out, and that was of particular importance to Ronhar.
"Keep it moving", Ronhar ordered as he cautiously explored the facility around him. Everything seemed fairly normal, until, appearing across his visor, was:
[. . . Quality of tissue . . . Normal . . .]
[. . . Mental cognition . . . Alert and oriented . . .]
[. . . Heart rate . . . Accelerated . . .]
[. . . You have been selected to partake in various tests . . .]
[. . .]
Ronhar immediately recoiled his head backwards as he raised his blaster, looking for something,
anything to shoot. So far, the only things that were inside besides himself and his men were those strange droids, though none of them seemed hostile at the present moment. Still, he had to be careful, as there was no telling if the droids, or something else, would attack.
As Ronhar and his men continued forward, they noticed that the air was becoming thicker and thicker with particles, something that Ronhar had yet to see. Even on the battlefield, conditions had been relatively clear: whatever this was, it probably wasn't good.
The group made their way into what appeared to be some sort of emergency clinic. It was a terrible, grisly sight: dozens of corpses littered the room, with some strapped down to hastily prepared patient beds and others seemingly collapsed in random places. Progress was slow going, as Ronhar had to check each body for any signs of life or unlife.
Then, he heard it.
A dreadful sort of wheezing, coming from the far corner of the room. There, still strapped to his bed, was a young child. They did not react to Ronhar's careful approach. As he inched closer, the first thing he noticed about the child was his eyes: milky white, and completely glazed over. Ronhar guessed at he had gone blind.
He continued forward, his blaster never leaving the child's position. He was mere feet away from them when the next round of messages popped up on his HUD:
[. . . Contamination levels rising . . .]
[. . . Vitals . . . Contaminated . . .]
[. . . Recommendation to locate nearest clinical station . . .]
And then, an audible message:
"Don't touch the child, keep moving."
Suddenly, his whole group was in an uproar.
"Contaminated? What do you mean, contaminated?"
"Impossible! What about the anti-virals?"
"I knew it! I knew it from the start! We're all gonna die! We're all gonna! We're all gonna-"
"SHUT UP!", Ronhar roared at the top of his lungs. The commotion stopped as quickly as it started, all eyes on the Captain.
"We don't know
anything for certain. What's wrong with all of you, acting like a bunch of scared
Porgs. As men of the Empire, you should be utterly ashamed of yourselves!'
Of course, Ronhar was just as scared as the rest of them, but he couldn't let it show. He had to be strong for his men, no matter what they were facing.
[. . . Nearest clinical station located . . .]
[. . . Recommended action, seek immediate injection at clinical station . . .]
[. . .]
More messages, great. When Ronhar found the one who had hacked into his systems, he was going to kill them himself. Nonetheless, he heeded the messages warning and headed over to where it led him. Mounted to the wall was some sort of injection system, located within a sturdy transparisteel box. It had been left open, a bloody handprint marking the glass.
Ronhar considered his options. Granted, the particles he had seen weren't the Blight, because otherwise he would have seen them on the battlefield. The clinic looked authentic enough, and clearly had been abandoned for a considerable period of time. Clearly, it had been set up in the earliest days of the outbreak, though it had obviously failed to stop it.
On the other hand, this was all obviously a trap. It was so obvious, even a Youngling could see it coming from a mile away. Whoever was here now wanted Ronhar and his men to inject themselves with this unknown substance.
Ronhar took a look at the anti-virals that had been provided to him by the Imperial Confederation. They seemed to work well enough, but...
Ronhar decided to take a calculated risk. His cybernetics and neural implants already offered him some resistance to the Blight, and he'd wager they would do the same toward whatever was in the injection station. After all, while he didn't know exactly what his doctors had implanted inside him, it was almost gaurenteed that he would have something to deal with sickness and disease.
He walked up to the station and activated it, once again jabbing the little bit of flesh that still remained on his body. He then turned to address his men:
"I can't tell you what to do, whether or not to take these injections. I leave that decision to each man here today. Trust you gut, and do what you think is right."
Some of the men decided to inject themselves, and some didn't. The split was roughly 50/50 in both directions: only time would tell who made the right decision.
As the last man finished up, Ronhar took one last look at the injection station. Then, he placed both hands on the outsides of the box, and with a mighty pull, tore it off the wall. He placed it on his person, intending to take it back with him should he survive the mission. Perhaps the boys back home to tell him what the hell this stuff was.
With that, Ronhar and his group pressed onwards...
TAGS:
Vakhari Lutris
Braith Achlys
Darth Virelia
