Dead Ice

[Matsu Ike]

Ando Prime was a cold world.. covered in snow and ice.. but it was compared to many inhabited. The natives being some of the eldest in the galaxy. They were the Dai Bendu and she knew them well. She had studied with them, visited them and come to learn from them but there was more now. THere was always more going on as the jedi master stood there on the ramp of the ship, she was leaving it opened for her bodyguard. They were headed into an old CIS base that was used for experimental technologies... could be dangerous so she had offloaded some fo the war droids who bring them around. They would protect and link between the ship and the facility as they remained there. She looked over at some of the pathways within the snow. To lead them around towards the facility when she looked at her equipment. Letting the bounty hunter [member="Maple Harte"] be hired on as bodyguard in case of trouble and this was a bounty on exotic technologies. "Welcome to Ando Prime." She said it with a smile while she was watching the droids march off.

 

[Maple Harte]

The Silent Erika, a black chromium plated J-type 327 Nubian descended upon a frosty world.

Maple, clad in her old Sasori Light Armor, an all black color, landed close to the facility on a nearby landing pad...the place looked pretty old, and old CIS bases had developed a reputation for nasty surprises. She grabbed her simple, cortosis weave cane and her rifle, stepping off the ship, the hatch sealing behind her and she went to meet [member="Matsu Ike"].

Her lithe body was still not used to the old armor, but it would keep her warm here. She had met Matsu at Dantooine. Getting hired after her business there was an extra stroke of luck, addition to what she had uncovered.

The cold was a distant thing in the flexible, all black armor, and Maple flexed her fingers in it as she approached the Jedi Master.

"Master Ike," she said with a nod, trying to not think about the Jedi teachings too much. She had long since stopped being one herself. She was sad about that for a second as she stood in front of the beautiful Jedi. The eyes were bewitching especially.

"I'm told you needed a body guard." She said with a smile. "So, what kind of technology are we after?

 

[Matsu Ike]

[member="Maple Harte"]

Matsu stood there and then she felt it and could see it. the ship approaching and appearing there. She looked at the woman wearing the light version fo the armor that they had developed. In black with it as she offered a smile on her face. Letting herself go forward and notice her hands flexing. The work that they had to do here, could be dangerous if they weren't careful. Ando Prime was not bad but the CIS were not ones to take chances.... so bodyguard who was trained over just being alone... Meant she could get back home easily enough when her eyes blinked at the woman. "THank you for coming." She said it with a smile appearing while she stood there in the robes looking towards the facility.
"
As to what is inside, there is not much information... only rumors of the exotic technology that was being developed. New ways to handle clones, different droids and a way to move armies without ships within an instant." She said it and if it could work, if they could manage to do it then they would have something like notes or a prototype. The republic at the time attacked the facility and it was used. We are uncertain about whether it is still functional or something we could improve upon but we found and made smaller molecular converters from technology discovered on Karra." She said it while she was walking and nodded her head. "So you ready to have some fun Lady Harte?"

 

[Maple Harte]

"Master Ike, I was born ready to have fun," Maple said with a grin, hefting her rifle.

She paused though at the mention of molecular converters. She'd have to ask about that later. But the technology at this old CIS base alone could be interesting. Maybe she might find something she could use on her ship. Skip. The world was an endless inferno, and she was the last survivor in a shield bubble on the verge of failing. Skip. The chilly world was distant in her armor. Droids were a CIS specialty. Hopefully one or two pieces would be worth taking home. An assassin droid to act as a spotter, perhaps. Maple was an avid admirer of droid tech. She had no talant for building one but she could certainly try to learn it depending on what she found.

She stared at Master Ike again and was troublingly reminded of how she had once herself tried to remain so peaceful. She felt a powerful radiance from the Jedi Master, and had to mentally pull away from it. It was like gazing at a lake, soothing. Tranquil. All the things she knew not any longer. The light in her endured. But it did so barely.

Ike was different from Ursula though. There was something she had Ursula lacked. She could not give it a name.

"Lead on, Master Ike." She said.

[member="Matsu Ike"].

 

[Matsu Ike]

[member="Maple Harte"]

Looking at her with a nod, she could sense something there... something in the distance of the woman's mind but didn't say anything walking and the facility itself was visible. Defensive walls cracked and crumbling where they were visible and not buried with snow. The door closed tightly while what looked like frozen and wrecked vulture droids were on display. She could see some of the older droids but nothing much in terms of evidence of a battle. THe jedi master reached out touching the metal door as she spoke. "Tunqstoid, smart. Ultra heavy, not really something you'd want to cut into and requires hover tracks to move."

She said it while waiting and pushing herself into the door. She couldn't find power to the facility but it at least explained why the door was still closed. She focused on the force itself thougg and was reaching into the door mechanisms. Feelign the weight of the door as she was lifting it. On the tracks and slowly pulling it, caressing it with the force when her feet were planted firmly on the ground just long enough to make an opening one fo the war droids could fit through barely. It would admit them and she stood there letting the force vibrate off of herself with a small smirk appearing. "Alright we can get it, if you want anything here you are welcome to it."

 

[Maple Harte]

Maple felt the Force glide easily out of the Jedi Master, parting the door.

As Maple had walked to their destination she made note of the damage. The republic had hit this place very hard. Some ruins were just skeletons and twisted metal, but the good stuff was always on the inside, Maple knew as she peered in ahead of Ike. It was quite, the battle droids that had went ahead of them were scanning for threats. Maple scanned the area by gazing through the scope of the rifle. Nothing. So far. The radiating presence of the Jedi Master was something that Maple was slightly distracted by. She had had teachers like Ike before meeting Ursula. Not for the first time, Maple wondered if her time would have been better spent among them. A shadow's life was a bloody, violent thing. Even if you were doing it right, someone still ended up dead.

The facility looked on the inside to be a combination testing area and small scale manufacturing of equipment. She spotted droid and ship parts assembly machines, all frozen, all dead. A number of corpses were in the area. Wrecked conveyor belts trailed off to other parts.

"We should find the central database if they had one. We might get an insight into how far along their research was." she suggested to [member="Matsu Ike"] as she took point ahead, pointing out areas that seemed to lead to medical testing chambers, one of which she eventually went into. She spotted a number of broken down corpses in bacta tank like cannisters suspended in yellow fluid in a blackened and wrecked chamber filled with computers.

"You mentioned clones, Master Ike. Could these be it? I never did have an eye for medical. Here, lemme see something."

Maple knealt down by one computer, checking its power core. After a few minutes of jury-rigging to her datapad, the computer flickered on and she begin digging into its code to unlock it. She wasn't the best hacker, but she had scavenged ruins before, military ruins being a priority.

"I saw some stuff like this on Katanos Seven," she gestured to one of the corpses. "That one has implants. Recognize anything?"

 

[Matsu Ike]

[member="Maple Harte"]

She was moving inside after the woman.. wouldn't be a need to have a bodyguard who could protect you if you were just going to run into the line of fire. The jedi master was walking and reaching outwards with the force. She entered the medical lab and looked over at the vats of cloned materia; Taking in the implants and bringing up her datapad with a look on her face. "It looks like they were taking apart some fo the clones, they were implanted with bacta processing implants. A quick way to stay going and healed in the field when injured." She said it while touching the glasteel but pulling aaway at a moments notice.
She was
looking at the computer terminal and the archives droid she brought out to hook into it as the droid started pulling up information. "The Skoakans were testing exotic technology they had managed to reverse engineer. Something powerful but they never got to tet it as th last logs show the republic mounting their attack to stop the experiments after information was leaked from this facility by someone unknown." There was a look on her face though while she started reading some of the notes. "The droids were not very detailed but it appears they captured a squad of commando's and started experimenting on them."

 

[Maple Harte]

"Ugh...what is it with these facilities and experimenting on prisoners of war? Its like this bad habit they can't seem to shake." Maple remarked as she continued slowly breaching the systems in the lab. A screen on the computer came to life, revealing a schematic of the implant. She downloaded it after a few minutes of getting through the firewall.

"ALERT. FACILITY BREACHED. DEPLOYING COUNTERMEASURES." announced the PA system of the facility.

Maple ran past Matsu to the exit, getting out her. Rifle. She spotted over three dozen battle droids, old, rusting B1 models firing blasters at the other droids that had gone in ahead. Maple pulled out her rifle, and started firing at them, telling Matsu to stay behind her as she hit three clustered together.

Her alarm grew as she spotted a dozen B2 Droids, just as rusted and shaking, opening fire, pelting the entrance to the lab they were in. No choice now. She called on her own connection, letting it seep in past the lies and delusions. Her reflexes increased, the world slowing down, allowing her to aim more precisely.

"Stay behind me, Matsu!" she told [member="Matsu Ike"]

 

[Matsu Ike]

[member="Maple Harte"]

Matsu was looking over at the things ans then she heard it, the sound was there and the bounty hunter was moving off to protect her. Well the jedi master wasn't going to say she wasn't diligent in her job before she moved to be in the back. FOcusing the force to ionize before she felt it that brush of the force from the girl. A raised eyebrow in that she was using i, that she was letting herself before the jedi master brushed back. Allowing a combat meld that could be used to better communicate without leaving it a danger. She moved holding her saber at the ready to defend before firing off a force blast into some of the droids and sending them into a wall with the force. She remained behind Maple though but sent some fo the force to her to keep augmenting her combat abilities as they could go deeper into the facility.

 

[Maple Harte]

Maple stiffened for a second as she felt energy flood her, feeling an artificial connection form, felt her body lighten. Skip. The Sith Lords dominated the galaxy and she was one of the last Jedi, feeling the years of running catch up with her. Skip. Mice! Skip. Maple dodged a bolt fired from an old B2 Droid. Her already superb reflexes kicked into overdrive as she fired off over a dozen bolts that took out over a dozen B1's but she stayed behind cover as some of the B2's were still moving. She didn't move from cover until she had destroyed the last head on the last B2.

Maple at last moved from cover, quickly signaling Matsu to follow. If you were not guarding the body, you were not the body guard, at least that was what the Super Insects had told her. The alarm was still going. She could hear the clanking of machines in the distance.

"Damn." She muttered, looking for a way deeper into the facility. She spotted a larger door in the distant end of the manufacturing line. But more B1's were already between her and that door. She went to one knee and took careful aim, trying not to think about how much this reminded her of the old days, her charged reflexes blasting away at droid after droid.

Through her scope she saw a panel in the floor open up, and her eyes widened in alarm.

It was a MagnaGuard. It was armed with a Force Pike, this model a long black spear tipped by a silver spike emitting arcs of orange electricity. It looked in relatively good condition, given the way it smoothly, purposefully proceeded to them at high speed, it's pike held in a charge position. Maple was firing at it even though she had not yet taken care of the other B1's. She knew what MagnaGuards were. She knew that you didn't face one up close if you didn't have to. She fired at its torso, her ammo count dangerously low. Her old Marksmen rifle had a lot of ammunition, but that only went so far.

Maple stood up, saw, fuel canister. Stretching out her hand, feeling the Jedi Master's strength give her an easier time to let the Force flow through her. There was no choice. There were too many of them.

The fuel canister lifted with telekinesis and Maple hurled it at the MagnaGuard, snapping her rifle to an aim position as she tracked the fuel canister, firing where she knew it would be.

The blast hit the MagnaGuard from above, and just behind him. The shockwave knocked the droid flat and Maple poured fire into its exposed head repeatedly, firing and melting its circuits,

A bolt hit her shin, then her arm and she went down, staggering in pain. The armor had taken the worst of it, but it still hurt.

She was having trouble thinking, mind clouded by pain. She saw a B2 charging in and with her last ounce of strength before she blacked out from the pain she Force Pushed it into the wall before it it could aim at [member="Matsu Ike"].

 

[Matsu Ike]

[member="Maple Harte"]

Matsu was watching it, her mind going into a state of serenity as the trance centered herself, centered her mind to feed the force to the woman. Maple was showing her skill before a magnaguard appeared from the floor. They were not ones to play around defending the facility even if it was leftovers and over eight hundred years later. She admired the dedication to a cause while moving forward once the droid was coming at them. She could face it and from her sleeve the sabers appeared... then something happened. An explosion, a wash of heat and power from Maple that surprised her before the jeid master was bringing up her hand to form a barrier against the explosion for the two of them.

She dropped it once it was clearing so the shots could go through into the head of the droid on the ground. She released a blast of ionized energy to the torso to make it melt in places and stop moving. The ionic style energy keeping them all on their toes before she was fired on. The feeling in the force was there and then she was moving. Matsu going towards her quickly and dropping down before she released a force blast down the hallway to toss the others against each other and the wall until she was checking her out. "Careful." She was watching her wounds and moved over towards a room getting the door open and slipping her arms around Maple.

She hooked at her to pull her into the room as she closed the door and looked at the woman. Creating a glowball in her hand before putting it on the ceiling as she looked down at her. The armor had taken most of the impact as she brought her hand up. "Hey now, careful." She didn't see a lot of damage, the woman wasn't going to die but she was still pulling out some fo the bacta patches to get them on and a small compression bandage of skylar. THe material was a little stronger before she was looking down. Removing her larger outer robe and placing it there on the ground. "Hold still Lady Harte, I'll heal you up and we'll come up with a plan."

 

[Maple Harte]

That was the second woman since she had come out of hiding to drag her to safety. And the second one was beautiful at that. Maple uneasily decided she rather liked Matsu as she was pulled into another room. It looked like an administration area.

Maple winced as the Bacta patches were slapped on, cried out when the skylar material was attached.

"Agh, it reminds me of this one time on Corellia." she hissed in pain. "Stupid rodian and his fancy heavy blaster..."

Maple rested on the floor, trying to not focus on the pain too much. "I saw a door at the end, before the injuries. We want deeper inside, we go there. But those rustbuckets out there still work. Longer we wait, more of a chance they will regroup."

Maple then paused and stared at the offices they were in, dusty, abandoned, partly frozen, due to lack of temperature control. It was cold.

Maple stared at Matsu. "The droids, we can't fight them forever though. No telling how many got set up as security measures. We have to find central control in this place or I think we will be overwhelmed."

She heard mechanical clanking outside. More droids were out there. Maple clutched her rifle a little tighter. Skip. She was on a medical experimentation table, about to be cyberized fully. Skip. Matsu was still there. So were the droids.

[member="Matsu Ike"]

 

[Matsu Ike]

[member="Maple Harte"]

Matsu was looking at her and gave a nod of her head to that. the reasoning made sense and while the droids could be afew hundred years old... nearly nine hundred by most accounts they were mostly left untouched and offline waiting for this sort of moment. There could be several thousand of them and who knew how many of the special units like super battle droids, magnaguards and commando droids. She was looking at it and could see where Maple was when she spoke. "Agree, we can weld the door shut here, that will buy us time to get into another room. If you can move." She was looking at Maple and where they could go when she removed the robe.

her outer robe going away as she stood in the skylar and wintrium under robe. FOrm fitted to her body to hung each inch of her, for temperature regulation. She was placing the outer robe on Maple as she spoke. "THis will help, wintrium material that can protect from their blasters while we are moving." WIth a nod of her head though she was moving and produced her lightsabers, twin blades in her hands that apeared from her forearms in little sleeve like sheaths. The silver metal that was smooth and radiated the force itself from the synthweaving, the snap hiss of the blades as they revealed pale purple pink style blades.

She plunged them into the wall making a hole as she turned and sent the second blade at the door itself. Setting it beside the metal as the blade started to melt the metal but it wasn't cutting it it was welding it as she pulled the blade away and left a line of metal there. She brought it back to her hand and used it to keep cutting into the wall so they could get through. Eyes focused intently on it before she was pushing the wall out and holding it so it wouldn't fall over. Durasteel buildings were easier to make sure but it wasn't nearly as strong while she set it to the side and left room for her to be able to support Maple on her.

Matsu took the weight with a look on her face as she peered at the woman and offered a weak smile. She was more then certain they would get through this and hefted her up. A small grunt as she wrapped her arm around her, pulling her in close and then going under her arm so their faces could be close together. She slipped through the hole before pulling and setting the piece with the force where they might be able to. She was welding the steel back into place while letting Maple look over the next room. It was mostly.... lockers and for decomtamination which meant generaly stronger doors that were sealed.

 

[Maple Harte]

Maple grunted as Matsu hefted her up, placing her in a Wintrium Robe. She had never worn the stuff before. It was unexpectedly warm, even if Matsu had been wearing it previously. She got her cane and helped with the weight by partially balancing on it.

"I was mad, they said, to bring a cane into battle. They laughed at me! Well now who's laughing? Still not me. This hurts. Ow." she joked as she felt a spike of pain as Matsu sealed up the entry she had made after setting her down. Maple still felt warmth from the side of Matsu's face on hers.

"Decontamination control should not be far. It also would not surprise me if a security checkpoint lay beyond it. They'll probably have more droids, since we are in an adminstrative section."

She got to thinking. She could hear the droids crashing into the Room they had just escaped from.

"If we are near an adminstrative section we might be able to find a directory to the control room in of itself. It all depends on what this section handled, exactly.

She forced her injured arm to move as she rebalanced her rifle. Wincing in pain, she looked at Matsu.

"Thats a hell of a lot of droids. Even for a secret facility. Whatever type of transport tech they were working on must have been valuable. Can you see whats past those decontamination doors? Don't peak your head out too much. Just see if there are any droids waiting beyond."

[member="Matsu Ike"]

 

[Matsu Ike]

[member="Maple Harte"]

Hmm she was looking at her and thinking about it. Sher could do one better.. maybe. It wouldn't be that easy in a piunch like this but the jedi master moved. Leading them both to a locker and case as she worked on it. To clear it out and the two of them would be able to just squeeze in. She spoke. "I can do one better for the moment." She was looking at her and moved putting Maple in and then using her smaller size to fit close against her. Focused and ready as the sounds came the jedi master held her hands up and started to focus. "Don't break contact." She could focus the force energies now and she was feeling it.

That rushing sensation along her skin as gooseflesh came and a tingle went along her spine. IN a pinch she could fight through the droids maybe but it would take time and she had dealt with a great deal.... then she was allowing her hands to shimmer.. Bringing out parts of it as she made a wall that looked like the interior of the locker. She was making it into just that the interior as the illusion fro =m the white current could work on sensors and droids. Obscuring them and Matsu almost held her breath for a moment as the first signs came from the wall. The droids were getting in and through as she finished and she could feel it. Like a thin layer between the two of them.

It was a membrane thin illusion but it functioned to mask the two of them as the droids were stalking through to face them. She flicked her eyes and had an access panel.. well more a square of metal fall in the corner that revealed the vents to the facility. Matsu focused back on the illlusion as they were investigating it. "THey went into the vents." The droids were dumb, they were looking around but couldn't see her as the older rusted droids but they could still move when they started to file out. "Track them." One of the striped droids said before they were moving around. "Roger roger." They were starting to file out more and Matsu maintained her focus.

She released her breath when they left the room and didn't take down the illusion but was expanding it only enough for the two of them to be able to speak. "We should be able to sneak around them, first though we need to heal you and secure the area beyond." She was thinking about it and if they could get to a directory to find the way forward then they would better be able to handle the situation. A small tight liped smirk on her face. "You smell nice for someone who was shot." A small joke to lighten the mood a little but She dropped the illusion with a look on her face moving forward and closing the doors quietly.

 

[Maple Harte]

Maple wondered what Matsu was talking about when she was suddenly hefted towards a small locker, Matsu squeezing in close against her, almost snug, as she generated a strange illusion that fooled the droids that burst through the wall looking for them. Maple grinned a bit as she managed to fool the droids into thinking they had fled, before she joked a bit about how Maple smelled nice for someone who had been shot.

Maple wondered just how much Matsu was enjoying this but did not ask. That smirk though...

Maple gave a quiet, small snort of amusement. But there was a proximity between them that made it more awkward.

"Well, if I'm going to be trapped in close quarters with anyone, better someone who thinks I smell nice after being shot. Heh. At least you aren't a vampire. That'd be all kinds of scary."

Maple began thinking. They were still in the locker together.

"Give it a minute. I can still hear them out there."

The mechanical and clanking sounds left and Maple opened the locker, wincing and balancing herself on her cane.

"I also use this thing in dance routines but those are a tad more impromptu." she said in a low voice in regards to her cane. "Pretty neat trick with the droids. If only I could use that for the creditors."

She liked Matsu. She admitted it to herself. She hadn't often met a Jedi who joked like that. One more way she was different from Ursula.

"Okay, lets get me healed. I...I know a bit about it. I'll try to help, if possible." she said quietly to Matsu, closing her eyes so she could help the Jedi begin healing her.

She wasn't sure what it was about Matsu that had her talking so openly to a Jedi. Maybe she herself was lightening up. Or maybe [member="Matsu Ike"] really was different. She had a sense of humor, which was always something she had supported.

 

[Matsu Ike]

[member="Maple Harte"]

She looked at her and allowing the force to ease away she felt less of a strain but she was used to it. Using the abilities cause many things but she sat there and was working with the force. THey allowed themselves to be within a bubble that was silent and shielded, the droids wouldn't be able to see them if they peered in and she would work on it if they needed it to protect them. "Alright, let us get you patched and healed up." She was looking at her and motioned for her to uncover the area and expose the patches. "We'll get you good and search out, that cane will come in handy." A smile was on her face though when she knelt down near her. "Well when this is over, if you wanted to... I would be honored if you would deem me worth a dance." Her hand came up with a cube from her thigh case as she focused on it. THe healing cube was a synthetic healing crystal of fire, made to heal from the brink of death. She stayed there offering to have her hand over the patch and channel the crystals power through her.

 

[Maple Harte]

Maple uncovered the injured areas so Matsu could begin healing her, calling on whatever remained of her own connection to the light to help speed up the process.

"How funny you seem to be the bodyguard now. I apologize for not having been able to earn my pay. And if you want a dance...very well."

Maple looked at the synthetic healing crystal. "Looks pretty."

She felt the Force enter her and she concentrated on the affected areas of her body.

The light was faint in her. It worked slowly. She accepted Matsu's offer. "Fine but I'm ticklish at least three times a day and this is about the right time for tickle number two." she answered.

She felt the surge of light in her body. Felt quiet in her brain for the first time in weeks. Felt her body relax slightly in spite of the tense situation, her piercing green eyes closing as she went into a meditative state, a classic jedi technique for novice healing.

If [member="Matsu Ike"] did not suspect she had been a Jedi before, she likely did now. And Ike's disarming presence had made her easy to trust. Lowered Maple's barriers in a manner that was effective to an almost frightful level. Ursula had never had that...magnetism. Ursula had commanded respect, for she was tactical and dedicated to her mission. The Mission. Ike...didn't need to command it. She gave it. And received it.

 

[Matsu Ike]

[member="Maple Harte"]

She could feel it, the force was there within her and Matsu didn't comment but showed little surprise. Allowing herself to work with it, there was a kernal, a seed that she could try and nurture... maybe. She had met a few who were skilled with the force to the point where they knew how to cut themselves off from it. Not an easy feat but it could be done.. she could also be wrong of course the reason it could be small is that she had never gotten through the initiate stage of the training. The jedi master was latching onto it, using it and the connection she had to the force to speed up the healing processes. She knew how to do it with a nod of her head.

"Well remind me and when we are back on the ship, I can give you your third daily." She raised her eyebrows and channeled the force into it while she was moving the crystal to be on Maples stomach. Simple enough creation, standard design but she was using both of her hands to manipulate the healing energies to repair the flesh and removed the patches while they were dry. She moved closer and touched lightly the skin as it was mending and could feel the flesh going back together underneath her fingers. There was the chance the skin was cool and more sensitive when she blew at it. "There we go."

Matsu was feeling her and with the force once she was done remaining there but she reached out with the force to revitalize herself.White whisps of energy coming around her hands, generating the energy from the force itself. It was like an old place, whatever had been here on the world... no she could see it. The promise of seeing it, of being able to go back and learn was there but she couldn't do that. Flow walking was a dangerous temptation before the jedi master opened her eyes sitting there. She had a charge and this was more important. She couldn't dishonor Maple by going and looking back.

 

[Maple Harte]

Maple flinched a little as she felt the light surge through her wounds, Matsu's presence temporarily joining with hers, feeling her wounds seal and then Ike's breath where the wounds had been.

Matsu was a calm stream of power within the Force, and Maple's was a disturbed, erratic, ziz-zagging pattern of energy that was barely focused. She had never been particullarly skilled at healing in any case but she helped where she could, getting more used to Matsu's pattern as it went along.

When she finally opened her eyes her piercing, brilliant green eyes looked directly into Matsu's as she rose up. There was a five second silence where she just stared, smiling into Matsu's gaze before speaking.

"Thanks, Matsu. Now I can at least get back to properly doing my job as your body guard."

Matsu had not peeked any deeper than she had to. Maple was thankful for that.

She grabbed her cane and her blaster rifle, handing back Matsu her wintrium robe so she would have the best protection. Maple was the one who needed to be light on her feet.

Maple had been the one to take point as she led Matsu out of the Decontamination chamber to a security section beyond a twist of a passage. She saw more ancient, dilapidated conference rooms, and a rusted security room.

Maple headed to the security office, bidding [member="Matsu Ike"] to follow her in quickly. The computers were dusty but hopefully something might still work.

Maple took apart the tangled and broken electronics, jury-rigging what was left into the rusted power core. It would likely work for only a little while but they would get something. She'd used the same plan to escape an electrified deathtrap once.

The computers flickered on, displaying weak images. Maple quickly broke into its directory, looking for the facility's central command location. It turned out to be a few levels below...and surrounded by a security perimeter consisting of MagnaGuards just waiting to activate if someone tripped a laser. But this place had also been working on experimental munitions, particularly ion weapons. A weapons lab a few sections down had been stocked with enough spare parts to hopefully cobble together a crude emp device. But the moment the breached the lab without authorization the security system would deploy every droid in the area to intercept them. That is, if any in this part functioned beyond the factory floor.

"We'll have to be quick, and we have to get enough to assemble something that can disable central commands security. I have the directions." She said, pulling the datapad she had used to interface out. "You ready, Matsu? Anything still active will probably get way more aggressive once we breach that lab. I'll lead the way."

Maple started off from the office down the security passage, eyes staring through her rifle for any threat.