Seasonal Night of the Living Dead || LAW & Allies

[Sor-Jan Skywalker]

NIGHT of the LIVING DEAD
LAW & Allies
HALLOWEEN 2024

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The crackled transmission that came from Tatooine was garbled in most places, but enough of it was clear to raise alarms: something terrible was happening in the Jundland Wastes. “Play it back again, Corporal,” the comms officer ordered. They had received the initial transmission only a half hour before and had spent the time since trying to understand what was going on.

<“krshh -tooine! Homestead is- krshh -ttack! Not Tusk- krshh -thing worse!- krshh -won’t stop- krshh -send help!”>

Corporal Briggs, the Rodian technician who received the transmission, looked up to the officer with concern in his eyes. “What does it mean, sir?”

“It means we send in the Rangers,” the officer said grimly.

Tusken raiding parties are as typical for the denizens of Tatooine’s Jundland Wastes as moisture farming or bantha herding; going an extended amount of time between attacks is even considered a cause for concern. Most homesteaders have little trouble scaring off the Tusken, but the raiders who have descended upon the Dorvak family moisture farm are no ordinary Tusken - when they die, they don’t stay that way.

Unbeknownst to the homesteaders, the Tusken tribe has been infected with a virulent strain of the Blackwing virus, spread in small pockets by Imperial defectors fleeing the recent Battle of Tython. The LAW has dispatched a team of League Rangers, bounty hunters, and anyone else who can hold a blaster or lightsaber to investigate the source of the SOS and help defend the homesteaders from the Tusken attack. What they don’t expect is the hoard of Blackwing raiders awaiting them among the dunes…

Prepare for a NIGHT of the LIVING DEAD!

 

[Pal Veda]

Spacer’s League Hideout, Tatooine
Tags: Sor-Jan Skywalker Aiden Porte

This was long overdue. Pal leaned back in the chair and kicked his feet up, taking a sip of whiskey before setting his glass down on the table. He and Aiden had the Huttball playoffs on the holoscreen, but his mind had started to wonder, thinking back to the events on the Tython Orbital Station. What a gigantic mess that was.

His thoughts were soon interrupted by a message flashing on the comm unit next to him. Aerin Denno ? What does she need now?

Captain Veda and Jedi Porte: There is an evolving situation in the Jundland Wastes that requires your immediate attention. Preliminary reports indicated a Tusken raiding party attack on the Dorvak family moisture farm. Subsequent reports have confirmed there is more to this story. I am contacting other teams in the area to join you. If you need further encouragement, listen to the attached transmission.

Come on! I just poured my drink! Pal clicked play on the attachment.

<"krshh -tooine! Homestead is- krshh -ttack! Not Tusk- krshh -thing worse!- krshh -won't stop- krshh -send help!">

“That doesn’t even make sense,” he said aloud, processing what he had just heard. He played the audio again. Through the panic and the static, he thought he heard something. A recently familiar (and hoped to one day be forgotten) sickening moaning sound. A third listen. “Fething Sith!” he spat, realizing his reaction mirrored that of Abraxas Colt on board the station.

Pal turned to Aiden, frustration showing clearly on his face. “This is bad.”

“Sor-Jan!” Pal yelled for the juvenile in the other room, who was probably absorbed in some science fair project rebuilding a century old droid or creating a new grenade that was as likely to blow his own hand off as an enemy’s. “Party’s over! We’ve got a problem. And for Yoda’s sake, grab something bigger than a hold-out blaster this time.”

——

The swoop bikes raced across the nighttime dessert, headlights the only source of visibility. Pal briefed his partners as best he could, filling them in on what he knew based on his experiences just a couple weeks earlier. Basically two rules. Don’t get bit or scratched, and always double tap. The captain felt apprehensive about bringing Sor-Jan along. While he had proven himself on Eos, he was still just a kid, really. He had a much longer runway in front of him than Pal did at this point. But he had to remind himself, he was training on the Bounty Hunter’s Moon and pursuing bounties at that same age. He was less concerned about Aiden, knowing he was a little older, a little more experienced, and had some Jedi training based on their prior mission to Sluis Van with Katarine Ryiah .

Finally, just ahead, the Dorvak family’s rather large moisture farm came into view, a few dim lights signaling the location. He thought he saw shadows moving along the edge of the illuminated areas; it could just be his eyes playing tricks on him. Pal had a bad feeling about this.

 

[Aiden Porte]

Tags: Sor-Jan Skywalker Pal Veda

The transmission was replayed over and over again for the course of several minutes. Panicked voices strange noises and the like could be heard, as the times replayed over and over more information could be gathered but not much. Aiden felt the smallest of tremors in the force, as the audio was finally stopped and he raised his hand to his chin for a few seconds.

“That doesn’t even make sense,”

“This is bad.”

"It doesn't, and this is very bad." Aiden heard was his companion heard in reference to the moaning sound. The Padawan had dealt with sith spawn and even the Rakghoul plague before. In particular he hoped he never had to face those terrifying creatures again. Tearing flesh apart from its victims, victims then turning as their minds gave hold to the virus. The last time he dealt with this many lives were lost.

The only good thing out of this that he could think off was this was out in the Dune Sea, not too many civilizations out this far. They needed to contain and stamp this out before it gets any worse. Then again, this was just a hunch, he truly had no solid proof what they were going to be charging into. Carefully and decisively the needed to be.....

Very careful

This wasn't something to be taken lightly.

The padawan cleared his throat as he moved towards his pack, pulling a standard blaster pistol out and clipping it to his belt as his lightsaber was on the other side.


It wasn't long that they were racing across the desert towards the Estate and their speeders came to a halt. "There is something out there....." The Padawan whispered, he closed his eyes for a few moments. The Jedi reaching out with the force, trying to sense any signs of life. There was something faint, but then it disappeared all together. There it was again, the faintest of moans could be heard lightly echoing across the dunes.

Aiden opened his eyes as he glanced towards Pal. "I do not like this..." Aiden whispered before looking forward again. "What do you think?"

 

[Sor-Jan Skywalker]

Tags: Pal Veda | Aiden Porte
Location: Tatooine

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Pal's shout for him startled Sor-Jan. The boy was, predictably, nose-deep in a new project - installing a superior cooling module to his holdout pistol, the same one that the captain was quite adamant that Sor-Jan stop relying on. "I'm coming!" he yelled back, scooping up his B-103 and just making it to the door before he thought better of leaving with nothing more than a holdout blaster. He looped his free arm through the strap of a CR-2 and slung it over his shoulder as he ran.

"Wait for me!" His tiny frame came bolting in, ready to go. He wore a smaller version of Pal's ORO jacket, a pair of goggles on his forehead, and a rebreather around his neck in the event of sandstorms - he'd been stuck in one on Karazak before and it was NOT fun. He hoped that Tatooine would be a different story, but the solemn look on Pal and Aiden's faces told him this would be anything but a walk in the park.

Grains of sand plinked against the lenses of Sor-Jan's goggles as he and the other League Rangers zoomed over the dunes. He was nervous for what might lay ahead, but he wouldn't show it outright. There was a big part of him that had begun to look up to Pal Veda and Sor-Jan didn't want the spacer captain to think he was just a meek little kid. So, he put on a tough face, kept his goggles on tight, and prepared himself in case he had to use the heavy blaster pistol he wore on a sling.

Soon, the sandstone adobes of the moisture farm came into view. Their iconic square frame and domed roofs were easy to spot on the horizon, standing out among rocky outcroppings and sandy drifts.

Sor-Jan slowed his swoop and brought it to a halt near Aiden and Pal, keeping one foot on the pedal and placing the other on the ground to stable the bike. "I don't like the sound of that," he said in a hushed tone. "What do you think it is?" He looked to Aiden with fearful curiosity. Sor-Jan had never seen a Tusken raider before, so he wasn't entirely sure what they sounded like... but whatever it was, he had a gnawing feeling that this wasn't normal, even by Tusken standards.

As quiet as a Loth cat, Sor-Jan pulled the CR-2 around, letting it hang from his chest instead of his back. He kept one hand tightly wrapped around the handgrip.

​

 

[Pal Veda]

Location: Tatooine
Tags: Sor-Jan Skywalker Aiden Porte

Pal lowered the shemagh from his face and hung his goggles over the handlebars of his swoop, then retrieved the M.I. Model 7 shotgun from the holster on the side of the bike. The night wind blowing through the wasteland was in their favor, carrying sounds their way from the complex ahead. That meant their arrival may have gone unnoticed unless their headlights were seen.

”Tuskens don’t usually raid operations this large. Too much trouble to deal with the mechanics and farmhands that live on site. And listen . . .” He stopped talking long enough for them to hear the guttural call of the attackers. “That doesn’t sound like any Tusken war call I’ve ever heard. It doesn’t sound natural. It’s deeper, raspier, darker. And the rot wafting in the air, can you smell it?” Pal lifted his shotgun right his right hand and gripped the pump with his left, racking a slug into place. “For the first time in my life, I hope I’m wrong about what we’re walkin’ into.“

Memories of Tython came flooding back. The corrupt Sith Lord Darth Immortuos had unleashed the Blackwing virus on the entire crew aboard the Tython orbital station. Pal had fought tooth and nail to escape with his life, teaming up with Imperial commandos of all people to mow down undead victims of the sinister experiment. He would never forget the way those bodies moved, the sounds they made, the smell of the putrid flesh rotting from their animated corpses. The only good thing was that he knew this shotgun worked on them — the slugs did a hell of a lot of damage to those zombies as they navigated through the station’s maze of hallways and corridors to the hangar for their evacuation.

”If this is Blackwing, we have to stop it here and now. We can’t let it get beyond this farm.“ He looked at the two young men, deadly serious. “And I mean that. If one of us gets infected . . . You know what you have to do.”

 

[Aerin Denno]

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Tags: Pal Veda | Aiden Porte | Sor-Jan Skywalker
Location: Toshara

"Looks like the transmission made it through," Aerin said to the holographic render of Communications Officer Stennis. The human male nodded his relief and sighed. The SOS that he delivered to the Rangers had clearly disturbed him. He did the right thing, though, in bringing it to Aerin's attention. Mobilizing the League Rangers was the best course of action, whether it be Tusken raiders or pirates or some other kind of trouble - and her gut told her it most certainly was trouble.

"I've never heard anything like that, Aerin." She nodded at him, sympathy worn all over her face. "Me neither," she said. "But we'll get those people the help they need. I've already got a team on route ahead of the Rangers."

Stennis seemed to perk up at that. "Pathfinders?" he asked. The corner of Aerin's lip quirked up. "You could say that."

The League's Pathfinders were a regiment of elite soldiers under the LAW's SpecForces division. While their precise number and whereabouts were classified, it was no secret that the vast majority of them were operating along and behind the Sith borders to the west. Pal Veda and his crew were the next best thing. Aerin waited patiently for mission confirmation, and then again as the Rubicon made way for Tatooine.

<"Give me a sitrep when you make contact with the homesteaders,"> Aerin said as the team's swoop bikes closed in on the moisture farm. <"I've got a Ranger team en route, but you'll beat 'em there. Stay on your toes. I don't want to send those boys home in body bags."> She was referring to Aiden Porte and Sor-Jan Skywalker who'd tagged along with Pal. Neither of the boys were fledged members of the League, and Aerin loathed the idea of sending the Alliance and Miyuki their young ones in caskets.

 

[Aiden Porte]

Pal Veda Sor-Jan Skywalker Aerin Denno

”If this is Blackwing, we have to stop it here and now. We can’t let it get beyond this farm.“

“And I mean that. If one of us gets infected . . . You know what you have to do.”

Aiden brandished his lightsaber and the beam came to life. The light would no doubt give the creatures born from the blackwing virus, they would come his direction. The Jedi Padawan held his lightsaber in front of him, while his other hand reached for the blaster pistol prepared to fire.

"That's not going to happen." The Jedi Padawan said calmly in reference to getting infected. They would protect each other, they had to stick together. If these things were even just if not worse than the Rakghoul virus, they could not afford to split up. At least not right this moment.

The sounds from the blackwing victims could be heard getting closer. Aiden reached out with the force and he threw his lightsaber forward the beam striking anything that was in front of them. It would only hit a few, but the main portion now was to get some light and see how many they were dealing with.

As the green blade illuminated some of the area as well as taking out some of the blackwing victims, the faintest of glows revealed much more. As one or two were taken out, three to four seemed to replace those. And that was just what could be seen.

The blade returned to him, Aiden took a deep breath.

"This is going to be a long night......"

 

[Sor-Jan Skywalker]

Post Soundtrack: Damned 7 (Black Ops 6 Zombies Theme)​

Tags: Pal Veda | Aiden Porte
Location: Tatooine

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‘Blackwing’ was a phrase Sor-Jan wasn’t familiar with, but if the Captain and Aiden were nervous about it, he knew it had to be something bad. The pocket-sized spacer kept a white-knuckled grip on his blaster as they approached the quiet homestead. The sand was disturbed in odd patterns that was more akin to a stampede of bantha than a coordinated attack. Even Tusken weren’t that chaotic in their methods.

But then he saw them. The Blackwing.

Aiden Porte threw his lightsaber in a swift arc that spun around, slashing through a couple of zombie-like Tusken and revealing twice as many more with its green glow. Sor-Jan gulped, looking to Pal Veda for orders. It seemed quite clear what was going to happen next, though, so the boy followed suit. He closed one eye, relying on the C-2’s targeting system to spot the zombies in the dark, then squeezed the trigger.

A burst of blaster bolts flung from the barrel and burned through the Tusken, whose already unpleasant sound was exacerbated by the infection.

“We need a light!” Sor-Jan suggested. He reached into the flare belt strapped around his left shin, the one that he was told made him look like a wannabe X-wing pilot. Good thing for it now! He passed one of the silver flare capsules to Pal, unsure if the captain would want to risk attracting more trouble for the sake of gaining temporary visibility.

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