Catching Death {Dirk Ellerden}

[Akodya Mune]

As soon as Akodya stepped off the shuttle and onto Iridonian soil, she was overcome with a wave of emotion that wasn't her own. Stumbling a little she had to balance herself on the near by wall, causing a few zabraks to stare, but then brush it off. She could sense the suffering a hundreds of lifeforms, each one crying out silently through the force. The young padawan had never felt so much pain. Her head was spinning like she was suffering from hibernation sickness...

Things here were worse then she originally thought.

After a moment to recollect her thoughts and reestablish herself, Akodya was ready for the task at hand. It was not odd for her to be sent along on this mission. She had been used to dealing with things solo, but she couldn't help but wish she had the guidance of her master right now. It was less than a day ago when the Jedi temple received a message from the senate requesting a Jedi healer to help investigate a suspious virus outbreak on the Zabrak home world, and her Master had quickly volunteered her. Being a padawan, she doubted that anyone would actually take her seriously...but they did.

She was intending to assist a sector ranger in the investigation and help where he saw fit, Akodya had thought that was going to be an easy task. But after feeling what she did as soon as she arrived on the planet, she wasn't so sure anymore.

 

[Dirk Ellerden]

Dirk stepped off the shuttle, looking around for any potential threat, but started when he saw Akodya stumble. He reached out in case she fell, checking to see if someone might have caused it. But, she was a Jedi, so who knows? Could have been anything.

"Something wrong, then?" He turned back to the ship, and patted it affectionately before closing the hatch and gesturing for some neary droids to take care of it. "Or are there Sith in the area?" His hand crept down towards his blaster, just in case. Not that he could do much. Although, he might be able to pop in the ship and wheel it around to use its laser cannons. The thought of the collateral damage it'd cause made suppress a shiver. That sure wasn't what they needed.

 

[Akodya Mune]

"No, not a Sith, at least I don't think so..." Akodya mumbled, waving off his attempt to assist her. "I just...I don't usually sense so much distress." She admitted honestly, turning to face the ranger, Dirk Ellerden. Annoyed she had let the feeling effect her so much, she stood up straight and pretended it never happened. With her lightsaber firmly hooked to the belt around her waist and her traditional tan robes, her appearance attracted a bit of attention. On this planet, she was representing the Order, and she would not be the one to make a fool out it by fainting in the spaceport.

She saw the ranger's hand inch towards the blaster he hand strapped to his side, a force of habit or a reaction to her little episode, she didn't know.

"So, Mr. Ellerden, how much do we know about this disease? symptoms? were we able to pin point the place of origin?" She asked, slipping back into formalities. She had not received as much information on the sickness as she would have liked, either because the Senate was trying to keep it under thumb and nail or they really just didn't know anything yet.

@Dirk Ellerden

 

[Dirk Ellerden]

Dirk nodded, relieved, and lower his hand from the holster. "Excellent, then. Never cared for Sith." He let out a quiet breath, calming the sudden anxiety that sparked and rippled along his limbs. Focus on the job, Ranger. He shook his head. "I am afraid not. We are to meet some experts already here for a debrief. A speeder should be arriving shortly." He checked the spaceport, and inclined his head towards an approaching landspeeder. "Looks like it's just arriving." He paused, tapping his boot gently. "And you can call me Dirk if you want. Or Officer Ellerden in formal occassions." He slipped the datapad out, inspecting it.
"Once we're away from prying ears, I can share what little we know." It was little too. Just a surprisingly large amount of deaths from unknown causes. Blisters broke out, and their heart appeared to increase to a very high speed before stopping to fatal results after about a day. Very odd, and highly suspicious. Which was why they were there.

@[member="Akodya Mune"]

 

[Akodya Mune]

"Alright then, officer Ellerden, I'm Akodya Mune. Padawan Mune if you want to keep this as professional as possible." She said, her eyes locking on the landspeeder. Nodding at Dirk's comment, Akodya made her way onto the speeder, moving her robes so she wouldn't trip. Once she had herself seated her eyes flickered over to the man she would be working with for Revan knows how long. Dirk's hair was much darker then her own, and his skin had darkened from working out in sunny places for a long time. He had a friendly expression on his face, which Akodya was grateful for, as she didn't think she could handle working with someone who was constantly frowning. That was her job.

Turning away and staring down at her lap, Akodya's mind wondered to the details of this outbreak, whatever it was. Judging by the awful feeling she got when she arrived, the death toll must be something horrifying. Why hadn't the senate started working on shutting down the spaceports if the illness was that bad. Why not set up quarantine areas?

@Dirk Ellerden

 

[Dirk Ellerden]

"Very well then," Dirk said with a small nod, surveying the dusty town around them,"Which would you prefer?" He leaned forward in the seat, getting familiar with the territory. No Coruscant by any means, but more developed than many places he'd worked in. He turned back to the inside of the speeder, watching the driver, who appeared to have little interest in conversation at the moment. Probably for the better. He looked back over to Akodya. She seemed rather young to be a solo Jedi on a mission, but Jedi acted quite differently than most beings. ALmost like they grew up faster than most. Not that he was much different in that respect. He pulled out his datapad, and reread the information.
"You are a healer, correct?" He didn't look up at this question, but stared perplexedly at an update to the information. They were being taken directly to the quarantine zone where the researchers were due to the urgency. He gave a slight shrug, and held it out to her. "Seems like the plans have been changed." It must be spreading quicker than they expected. Terrorists, perhaps? Or some other militants with biochem weapons? Fear snaked through him. That'd be a bit much for them to handle on their own.

@[member="Akodya Mune"]

 

[Akodya Mune]

"Professional." She replied.

Akodya found her eyes lingering on the landscape outside her window. She had never been to Iridonia before, and she hadn't been sure what to expect. Lessons and textbooks only show so much. Turning back to her partner for this particular mission, she wondered if Dirk had ever worked with Jedi before, and what he thought of them. Some people she had encountered throughout her years hold a very negative opinion on them, were as others seem to be baffled by the cloak of mystery that surrounds it. At his next question, Akodya nodded, although he didn't look up at her. He seemed to be absorbed in the information that was displayed on his datapad.

After a few moments Dirk held out the datapad for her to inspect. "It seems they have...I wonder how bad it is." She said quietly, her thoughts running wild. She still didn't know the severity of this sickness, nor what the virus behaves. Biting her lower lip, worry crept into her. Akodya could only hope that they could manage by themselves.

Within a couple of minutes the pair arrived at the quarantine site, and her heart stopped.

"Stang." She mumbled under her breath.

@[member="Dirk Ellerden "]

 

[Dirk Ellerden]

Dirk nodded slowly as the speeder came in for a landing in a quarantine building, and paused for decontamination in a sealed room. He leaned back in his seat. "Well then, Padawan Mune, what would your first impression be?" He stood and gazed out the windows as the decon process continued. "We should have quarantine suits given on our arrival." He gave a wry smile. "Hopefully they'll fit."
Moments later, the process ended and the speeder pilot took them all the way to the ground, landing in a bubble of sealed material and purification units. Three Zabraks hurried over, carrying what was clearly two sets of quarantine suits, as well as individual datapads. He leaned over to the door and slipped it open with a blank face, "After you." The real question would be who should speak first. He, as the Sector Ranger and leader of the investigation, or her, the Jedi and healer? Hopefully there'd be a protocol droid around to sort through that issue. Now granted, epidemic ground zeroes weren't typically so stringent on protocol. Businesslike would probably be best.

@[member="Akodya Mune"]

 

[Akodya Mune]

Akodya could not find the words to describe the structure that the pair had arrived at. As the speeder touched ground, all the padawan could see was haunting white plastic. There was a sharp hiss and puff from the purification machinery and droids rushed out and checked for forign materials that could effect the health of the large number of patients that were undoubtedly inside. The girl grimaced as the same feeling she felt once she stepped into the spaceport reared it's ugly head and took her by surprise. It was as though her body was being pelted with blaster fire over and over again. She quickly grabbed Dirk's shoulder to keep herself standing as the feeling dulled and slowly faded away once again. By the time the trio of Zabrak's bearing quarantine suits. Thrusting the suits into their hands they hurried Akodya and Dirk to throw them over their clothes quickly before giving them both a data pad. The padawan muttered a quick thank you before submerging herself in the information they had at this point.

Akodya looked up briefly at the ranger and nodded in thanks before hesitantly moving through the doorway. She was silently hoping the Ranger would take care of the addressing and discussion, and she could just do the healing and assist the investigation. Another Zabrak emerged from the lifeless white hallway and gestured for them to follow. A chill ran down Akodya's spine. Death was present here.

Looking over at Dirk she gave him a worried look, maybe the ranger had experience with these kind of situations?

@Dirk Ellerden

 

[Dirk Ellerden]

Dirk stilled himself when she grabbed his shoulder. He didn't want to think about how it must feel to be Force sensitive in a place like this, surrounded by so much death. He'd worked with Jedi before, and death hit them hard, it had seemed. This though would have been worse. He glanced over, "All right, Padawan Mune?" He took the suit in his other hand, and slipped the datapad in the hand with it. He begin slipping into as much as he could while still supporting her. He inclined his head to the Zabrak. "Any leads, yet?" The Zabrak shook his head.
"Not yet, I'm afraid, officer." That was to be expected, unfortunately. This was completely bizarre. He began considering possibilities. Artificial, most likely, give its sudden strike without any cause for it to happen.

He noticed the look of course. He had no response though. It was another mass murder. Not unlike one or two other cases he'd worked on. Granted those other two had been conventional bombings. This was different. No. The details were different. The core was the same. Procedure the same.
@[member="Akodya Mune"]

 

[Akodya Mune]

Akodya gave Dirk a stiff nod before the pair pressed on through the faculty. "I don't like how this is looking. No leads? I mean their has to be something...it's to strange." She said, flicking through the number of registered people in the quarantine to all had been confirmed to have the same illness. "The number of beings infected in such a small amount of time indicates that a chemical attack would have taken place in the form of a bomb, but we would know about a chemical bomb wouldn't w-" Akodya's words were caught in her throat.

through a glass window that broke up the never ending white walls, Lines upon lines of bodies of zabraks were being lined up to be burnt. Mangled corpses of woman, men and children were being lifted into furnace chambers. With a press of a button what was once a person was turned into a pile of steaming ash. The padawan flinched and turned away, never had she seen so much death. She knew it was necessary for the quarantine but it seemed so...inhumane. Like the being that was slowly being engulfed in flames life didn't matter. They were just another death, another number to add to a datapad.

"Wouldn't...wouldn't we know about it?" She continued, pretending the scene she had witnessed hadn't bothered her.

@Dirk Ellerden

 

[Dirk Ellerden]

Dirk shrugged at the comment, quelling the nausea that roiled in his gut by forcing emotion out and thinking objectively. "We might. If it killed enough, we wouldn't though, with intelligence being tied up as much as it is. Even Ranger intel's being assigned counter-espionage work." He gave a sour face. Like the Rangers didn't already have enough to deal with without being hijacked by arrogant military officers and paranoid intel agents. That wasn't his concern at the moment though.

"That is why I am here though," He mused, making a mental list of things he needed to work through. "Find out if someone set off a bomb. Force them to reveal the antidote. Take them. Into custody." He gave a frown. "Think you can manage here?" He wasn't entirely sure about her experience with things like these. He wouldn't assign a rookie Ranger to a case like this. He wouldn't care to assign a Padawan either, but the Jedi Council kept their own council and things for their own reasons.