Faction Outbound Flight: One Small Step

[Kessa]

"Welcome aboard, Kessa," the scoundrel with silver hair spoke with a heavy outer rim drawl, "I'm Atlas. Atlas Drake. Our scruffy looking green pilot is none other than Kaia Starchaser. We could always use a good meknek."

"Don't seem so scruffy to me," Kessa declared in a friendly tone.

Kessa settled into her seat with a contented hum as the shuttle's engines ramped up to a smooth, reassuring thrum. She buckled the harness across her chest, fingers drumming lightly on the armrest while she watched Kaia and Atlas work the controls in easy tandem.

The pair clearly had history and it made the cabin feel less like a High Republic showroom and more like a proper crew space. She liked that. No stiff protocol here, just people who knew how to make things fly and stay flying.

"See that structure? Let's head there. Atlas, you still good to run and shoot? Kessa?"

When Kaia called back about the structure on the scans, Kessa leaned forward as far as the harness allowed and craned her neck toward the viewport. The jungle canopy below blurred past in streaks of green and shadow, but she caught glimpses of something angular poking through the foliage, too regular to be natural. Her green eyes narrowed with interest.

"Still good to run? Me? Always, love," she replied brightly, patting the holstered blaster pistol at her hip.

"I didn't exactly sign up for shooting."

She sounded just a touch nervous.

"If there's any tech worth salvaging or patching, I'm your girl for that too."

She unclipped her satchel from the netting long enough to pull out a compact multi-tool and clip it to her belt, then tucked everything back securely. The shuttle dipped slightly as it descended toward the landing zone, and Kessa felt a familiar thrill bubble up.

"If it's an old outpost or something pre-Republic, we might find power cells, data cores, maybe even a working console. Fingers crossed it's not crawling with nasties yet."

She flashed a quick grin toward the cockpit. At this position life form scans were no good. They simply identified a whole lotta bio-matter right beneath them.

As the shuttle set down, Kessa stepped forwards. She frowned.

"Place is at a bit of a weird angle," she observed. "Either that's sinking or that's a ship reclaimed by the jungle."

Kaia Starchaser Atlas Drake Ishtar-Array

 

[Dominic Praxon]

Dominic's face became more neutral in expression the further the conversation went. Not for any degree of upset or annoyance, but his politician's mind reengaged. Though Tatiana had surely had many interactions with others on this ship, it was in some form a First Contact of its own. And in some, small way, Dominic felt deceived. Which lead him to not wanting to give away anything more, for the time being.

"If I catch you meaning? Explain it to me like I have never seen a ball before," he said, tone flat but not unkind.

She did not answer him. That alone was informative.

"What?" He said, caught off-guard by the question about droid sentience, "the droid?" His foot was firmly in the droid as tools camp, but not without significant caveats. His stance on the matter would be largely conveyed by the tone of his rhetorical question.

"I understand and sympathise with the droid-sentience movements philosophical argument," he added, for clarity, "a droid is a machine. But it's programming so close to that of sentience that I believe social pressure should be applied to insure that mistreatment of droids is avoided. Someone that is willing to torment a droid is just as likely to torment a sentient being."

His shoulder's squared. Eyes narrowed. The possible storm in space was forgotten entirely.

"You avoided my question. I am rather curious to know your assessment of our civilisation." And she better believe he was not leaving the other thread alone — her species was hard to explain, but an attempt to leads to questions about droid sentience?

Who are you, Tatiana Sah?

Tatiana Sah​

 

[Tatiana Sah]

While Dominic had spoken, Tatiana's expression hadn't altered. A slight nod had accompanied his explanation that droids were close to sentient, but not regarded as fully-formed, autonomous entities. It wouldn't be the first time she'd heard such opinion; it was far from rare in the galaxy.

"Did I use the phrase wrong earlier?" Tatiana's head rotated a bit to one side as she stared at Dominic. That was how they used it, wasn't it? 'If you catch my meaning?' Dominic had nearly sounded offended as if she'd tried to talk over him. Perhaps it was one of those sayings people might misread in tone.

She didn't wait for his reply, however, as Dominic seemed keen on a response regarding their civilization. "This galaxy is filled with a shocking diversity in lifeforms and cultures. My people have never seen anything like it. So an 'assessment' would be better contextualized for clarity, but if the galactic civilization as a whole were to be summed up in a word?" There was a pause as the blonde checked to see if Dominic would object. "It would be 'Young.'"

"Dee is also very young, and limited by their current electrical and mechanical construction. Both show great potential." A slight shrug followed. "Provided the destructive elements don't continue to consume resources, which hold back collective development."

"Senator, is there something specific you'd wish to ask me? I'd gladly converse whenever there is time during our journey. I meant no disrespect not to describe my own civilization earlier, but it would take considerable time to explain the nuances and I did not want to distract you from the rare opportunity presented today."

Dominic Praxon

 

[Atlas Drake]

Kaia Starchaser Kessa Ishtar-Array​

---

"Might be a crash site," Drake agreed with the meknek, "Or something stranger."

The shuttle's boarding ramp descended in a plume of steam and the uncharted world's tropical weather struck them like a wave of humidity. Captain Drake fiddled with the dials on a battered old EnhanceScan portable scanner. One small step and he was planetside. Confusing oscillations on the device he held troubled the scruffy guide.

"Whatever this thing is, I'm picking up faint energy readings. Definitely some kind of artificial power source. Can you take a look, Kessa?"

He offered the girl his scanner while taking a better look at the unknown outpost. If it was a wrecked ship of some kind Drake didn't recognize the architecture, although the scale made it difficult to be sure. Some kind of alien structure and yet something about it did not seem meant for this place. He looked back up at the stars and thought about what to do next.

"Setting up base camp can wait," he told the others, "We need to know if this site poses a threat to anyone else the expedition sends down here. Good thing we all seem to have salvage experience."

 

[Dominic Praxon]

"Young," Dominic smiled, despite himself. "I will try not to take offence," he said. It was a joke, but his tone was dry.

Relaxing, and turning largely back towards the windows above them. "I guess we both have things to learn from one another," he said, quietly.

He left off speaking for a moment, mind trailing to the realities of the galactic civilisation. War. Oppression. Vice. To call them 'young' was apt in more ways than one, but also rather charitable. The Republic was one of the small bright spots in the galaxy. Despite its own youth — by galactic standards — Dominic believed whole heartedly in its potential. But the subtlety of political manoeuvring had put him on this ship, away from where he could do the most good.

A knot settled in his stomach.

"The galaxy as a whole does seem bent on its own destruction. Should that energy be turned to good...to progress...who knows what Dee could become?" he said, thoughts elsewhere. He looked at her momentarily. "What we all could become..."

"I would very much appreciate further meetings. I believe we have much we can learn from one another. And maybe next time I will ask that big, looming question," he said, before quirking his eyebrows playfully, "What do you say? Perhaps we can add a lesson on colloquial sayings?"

Tatiana Sah​

 

[Tatiana Sah]

Tatiana blinked as Dominic seemed less... pensive than a moment ago. That was good. And he wasn't wrong, obviously. Despite her time among these strange worlds, there was still much to learn. A fact she hoped would extend her stay even longer than the requirements of this five-year mission would already demand.

It was surprising to hear Dominic refer to Dee when next he spoke. His opinion couldn't have changed so quickly. Perhaps this was the 'politician in him' appealing to a subject of interest? Though the man might be curious to learn what Tatiana expected of the astromech as well.

"I would like that, Senator. My objective is to learn how our people can work together. Learning how to avoid misunderstandings would be quite useful, and I would gladly exchange information in return." Though there were certain topics Tatiana was forbidden from discussing. Most of them should be pretty obvious even to outsiders. On the other hand, she wasn't entirely sure what actually was obvious. She hoped Dominic would be as eager to engage as she was.

Arched brows and her eyes being turned upward preceded a question, "Would 'lightning in a bottle' apply here?" Well, Tatiana was young in her own way.

Dominic Praxon

 

[Dominic Praxon]

The nebula had its first moment of brilliance. A short, sharp flash of light that pulled Dominic's attention upward. He missed the moment, but was focused now on a repeat. Whispers about them spoke less of a bolt of energy and more a flash of light. He turned his head toward a young couple that seemed eagerly chatting about comets. Their enthusiasm was almost as infectious as the explanation that Tatiana had given.

He looked back briefly to her. Offering a smile, one that she hoped she would see as sincere. "Perhaps by working together ourselves we can forge a greater understanding for the collective."

A second flash of light pulled his eyes upward again. A frown creased his brow for missing the second moment. "'Lightning in a bottle'? It will do for now."

Tatiana Sah​

 

[Luke Montann]

⠀

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Locations⠀ Space --- Surface
Objectives⠀ Take the shuttle, setup camp, find out.
Tags⠀ Atlas Drake l Kessa l Kaia Starchaser l


⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀LUKE MONTANN.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀Engineer.
"The stars are ours to see, the galaxy is ours to set foot on."
Follow the stars..

═ Man's Gotta Earn a Living⠀═

Luke leaned forward in his seat. He'd stayed mostly silent during the ride- letting the others play out their talking points. He'd been busy observing the scanners and equipment he brought. His helmet retreated back into his neck, a series of folding metal pieces collapsing into a neatly-compiled apparatus on his back.

"I'll stay back here and setup camp and a comms unit. We might be here a while. I'll try and cross-reference the energy readings with anything we have on file."

He stood up, his communications system and his status display module lighting up on his back as the ramp came down. His helmet popped back over his head, and the Engineer began to get to work, pulling boxes, crates and the tedious task of arranging a suitable short-range communication array. Luke was a worker bee, a man who advocated for nothing more than the honest work he was doing.

 

[Kaia Starchaser]

Fine. Landing. She didn’t want to, but it was what was needed for this, wasn’t it? Kaia nodded. She had her lightsaber, which meant she may likely take point. Just to help the others smooth themselves into wherever they could fit it in. Smiling over at Kessa she nodded.

“I can help make sure you get there. I’ve got a lightsaber, but truth be told, I’m not my father.” Which may only resonate with Atlas, to be fair.

She was agreeing with the elder Kathol, and looked to Luke. A small smirk on her face, but the man wasn’t running from opportunity. She knew that, someone should set up comms.

“We can keep the ship running for now, and hold comms, but yeah we should get a landing spot for folks. And in case we need to get help fast.” Somehow she was directing people. Didn’t matter.

“Come on, Drifter.” She whistled to her droid as she stepped from the ship, lightsaber in one hand, extinguished, old QQ from the Levantines in the other. Her eyes on the large structure, and reaching out in the Force. Too many things messing with her focus on it.

Atlas Drake Kessa Luke Montann Ishtar-Array

 

[Ishtar-Array]

She watched, air hissing through the crack in her faceplate, as the strange craft landed outside the walled perimeter of the Forerunner Outpost. Too far for the outpost’s audio sensors to pick up anything, just close enough one of the remaining security optics could keep an eye on them. The ship settled on landing struts and the jungle returned to stillness for a few minutes.

Ishtar logged the difference, if only to have something else occupy her mind than the slow, creeping cold infiltrating her body, the breathlessness gathering in her lungs. The occupants of this ship moved slower than the Saurians. Those had left their odd spherical ships swiftly, carrying armaments and wearing armor. Ishtar turned the optic sensor toward the main gate, observing and recording the resultant carnage of that first battle.

Saurian bodies lay scattered among the well-muscled Warborn, the latter's skin almost blending in with the vegetation of this world. From what she could see, it looked like a five-to-one ratio, the alien race outnumbering their forces. Ishtar’s eyes drifted from the feed to the broken command pod. It looked like someone had cracked an oversized egg.

The Second Augur would have far more Warborn and Forged assisting their outpost establishment now.

Her data would have been archived and her name flagged as deceased.

Movement in the optic feed caught her eye. Ishtar looked back at her fizzling, blinking HUD, the optic sensor slow to turn back and focus on the ship as her mind came dangerously close to unconsciousness again. A being came down the ship, a floating object following behind. Green skinned—a Warborn? Couldn’t be, the build wasn’t nearly efficient enough for direct combat. Sensors identified the hovering object as mechanical. A strange type of Forged, perhaps.

Perhaps the Saurians were their Warborn and now they were here to claim the outpost for themselves.

A lance of pain shot through her abdomen, duller now than before. Ishtar grunted and grimaced, her good hand reaching for the motionless limb of A12-9X4. Her faithful executor. Her faithful defender.

//Our lives for the Pattern Eternal.//

Blasphemy, to include a Forged in that sacred oath, but she was already dead to the Sovereignty if proper procedures were followed. What did she have to lose?

Kessa | Atlas Drake | Luke Montann | Kaia Starchaser

 

[Kessa]

"Whatever this thing is, I'm picking up faint energy readings. Definitely some kind of artificial power source. Can you take a look, Kessa?"

"On it!"

Kessa unbuckled her harness the moment the shuttle settled with a soft hiss of hydraulics and stepped down the ramp into the thick, wet heat of the jungle. The air hit her like a wall and she tugged at her collar with a quick grin.

"Blimey, it's like stepping into a steam bath," she said cheerfully. She kept her voice low out of habit from too many dodgy salvage runs.

“I can help make sure you get there. I’ve got a lightsaber, but truth be told, I’m not my father.”

"Be weird if you were!" Kessa mused. "But I'm guessin' you mean he's soke kind of jedi?"

Her boots sank slightly into the soft loam as she scanned the towering structure ahead, its angular lines half-swallowed by creepers and moss.

Up close, the weird tilt made more sense: not quite crashed, more like it had been here forever and the planet was slowly claiming it back.

"Proper mysterious."

She adjusted the multi-tool on her belt and glanced over at Kaia, giving her a thumbs-up.

"Cheers for the backup, love."

Kessa pulled out her portable scanner and waved it toward the outpost walls.

She frowned at the faint, oscillating energy signatures flickering across the display. Nothing steady, but definitely artificial, buried under layers of jungle interference.

"These readings are proper wonky. Could be dormant power cells, old generators, maybe even a data core if we're lucky. If we can get inside without tripping any ancient security, I reckon there's salvage worth hauling back to the ship."

Kaia Starchaser Atlas Drake Luke Montann Ishtar-Array

 

[Atlas Drake]

Kaia Starchaser Kessa Ishtar-Array Luke Montann​

---

Sparks reflected off Drake's blast goggles from the fusioncutter in his hands. Anomalous metals burned to slag and together they forced open the damaged access point. He could smell must from failing life support systems. Sweat dripped down the guide's brow after just a little physical labor. Punishing tropical heat was already soaking into his shirt.

"We're in."

Drake activated a glowlamp and his BD droid activated a light on their photoreceptor. Illumination chased away the encroaching darkness. It also revealed several prone forms. He knelt down beside one and checked the scales around its neck while BD-7 scanned the body with a brief chime.

"They're dead," he told the others, "I don't recognize the species. Some kind of reptilian. They might have been killed by hidden defense systems so let's try not to make the same mistake."

As a precaution, Drake unholstered his blaster. There might be survivors somewhere in this place who could be hostile to intruders. He also took out his comlink and sent a message back to Luke at the ship.

"We found bodies. Proceeding with caution towards the energy source."

 

[Pillar of Freedom]

The jungle heat still clung to Zin Margus' armour as he stepped through the breach Atlas had cut. The plating on his boots found stable purchase automatically. His rifle was up. Muzzle tracking what was currently zero movement.

"Taking left," he muttered, more from routine than instruction. He didn't rush. Rushing got people dead.

Zin cleared the first interior angle with a smooth pivot, sweeping high to low before shifting his attention to the ceiling line and upper recesses. Battle damage everywhere. Plenty of carbon scoring. There was structural ribs exposed where plating had peeled back. He took it in without staring, assessing the environment for the various scenarios that could play out. Whoever designed this place had thought defensively.

"Fortified conversion," he observed quietl, "used to be a ship."

A reptilian corpse lay just inside the corridor. Zin knelt without lowering his weapon fully, gloved fingers pressing briefly against scaled hide. There were multiple puncture wounds. Their deaths were as a result of melee weapons, not energy. He rose again.

"Engagement was close-quarters. No sign of scavenging."

Two more bodies further in. Not reptilian this time, but green of skin and strong of build. Their bodies were a grotesque mangled nightmare, the claw marks rendering them a mass of viscera. Zin shut out the retching that should have been instinctive at such a sight.

He advanced another few meters, passing a junction where the lighting flickered weakly on emergency power. The air smelled wrong, being filled with ozone, coolant, and something oddly metallic undergirding the whole aroma.

Zin paused. Helmet optics shifted spectrum automatically. There.

On the far wall, just beyond a shattered access panel, was a spray pattern. Different to the dark, coagulated red-brown of the reptilian bodies behind them. This was deeper. Somehow richer in appearance. Almost black with a faint iridescent sheen in the low light. He stepped closer without touching it.

He looked back to the ravaged husks of the third party, noting the sickly greenish appearance to the visceral content. Whoever had left this small splatter of blood was neither reptilian nor of the viscera.

"Drake," he called back in a low voice, not taking his eyes off the wall. "We've got a third party. Evidence only. No remains."

They could still be alive. Zin felt his vision narrow, focusing on every foreign-to-him sound in the facility.

A drop of this unidentified blood had trailed downward from the initial impact site. Then another. Then a smear, like someone had tried to brace themselves. Zin shifted his rifle slightly, tracking the direction of travel. The droplets continued down the corridor. The spacing was uneven. The drag marks inreased.

"Limping," he murmured. Not dragged. Crawling?

He adjusted his grip and started forward, boots silent on the deck plating, following the dark trail toward the partially closed cloister door ahead. Sparks faintly twitched from damaged wiring near the frame. He stopped just short of the threshold.

The door wasn't fully sealed. Just enough of a gap for something, or someone, to watch through.

Zin tilted his head slightly, listening. "Contact likely inside," he said evenly, rifle steady on the opening, "unknown condition. Unknown intent."

He took one careful step closer to the gap, and the blood trail that disappeared through it.

Atlas Drake Luke Montann Kaia Starchaser Kessa Ishtar-Array​

 

[Atlas Drake]

Pillar of Freedom Kaia Starchaser Kessa Ishtar-Array Luke Montann​

---

"Copy that," Drake answered his comlink, "On our way."

He could feel his heart pound in time with the increasing frequency of blips from their handheld scanner. Zin Margus and the second wave team transmitted a signal that was easy to follow. Atlas kept his blaster raised trying not to imagine one of those dead saurians lurching for him in disjointed flashes from the emergency lights.

"This feels promising!" he said when they caught up, "Looks like you might have found the bridge."

Zin tilted his head slightly, listening. "Contact likely inside," he said evenly, rifle steady on the opening, "unknown condition. Unknown intent."

"Karabast," the captain muttered under his breath.

Old military training kicked in. Drake crossed to one side of the unsealed door so he wouldn't be blocking Margus' line of fire. He signaled the expedition with a silent three count before quickly wedging the foreboding threshold open. Everyone froze. It took Drake a few seconds to process what he was looking at.

"Hold fire," he slowly lowered his Glie-44, "We've located a survivor."

Atlas knelt a little to take a better look but still kept his distance. More iridescent black blood leaked out of something he didn't recognize. A lot more. Whatever it was didn't look capable of hurting any of them at this point, but appearances could sometimes be deceiving when confronting the unknown.

"Unidentified humanoid. Condition seems pretty kriffing bad. Someone toss me a vial of bacta!"

 

[Ishtar-Array]

She’d followed their intrusion every step of the way, these Unshapen that carried themselves like Warborn. Ishtar watched them find the Command Center, the remnants of the command pod, and follow her blood trail. It couldn’t be helped now. Her reactions were slow and commands to redirect them or prevent them from getting to her triggered far too late.

And now they stood outside the door. Shouting.

Verbal. They used verbal communication like the Unshapen too.

By the Pattern Eternal. Of course they’d use verbal. The statistical likelihood of this cycle getting worse was astronomically small.

They breached the door, weapons raised. Ishtar shut down the camera feeds on her HUD and half-turned, half-flopped her head to face her executioners. Not close enough for her to fight back and she had lost a lot of strength hiding here, waiting for a chance to get to the medbay. She watched them and waited again, this time for her actual death.

It never came.

One of them advanced slowly and knelt out of reach, weapon lowering. This one was unarmored and, save for the weapon in his hands, did not look like much of a threat. The pitch of its voice seemed consistent with vocal patterns among male Unshapen. One of the other Unshapen handed a small tube to the kneeling male. Logic deduced it was not designed as a weapon: its small size meant its effective range was next to nothing. And if they wanted to kill her, they had suitable weapons for the task already.

Ishtar relaxed her good hand that had flexed in anticipation of a final struggle, electricity reabsorbed into the suit’s internals. Perhaps it was a tracker, or some kind of stimulant. One did not waste time or resources on a creature that would be left to die. For whatever reason, there was a distinct probability these Unshapen wanted her alive.

The male moved closer and Ishtar saw the tube clearly for a moment: a needled syringe filled with a semi-opaque liquid. Not a tracker then. Stimulant? A medical substance? Or maybe poison, to enable her to die efficiently.

All three options were viable. And preferable to this interminable suffering.

She did not offer resistance as the male hovered the needle above her suit then slid it through, pushing into skin and muscle tissue beneath. Her HUD alerted her to the puncture in her suit, and the introduction of a foreign element in her body. Ishtar ignored them but made sure to set algorithms to study the make-up of the foreign element so that—

It burned. It had not at first. But now it felt like the marrow of her bones was on fire. Her blood felt too hot. Her skin crawled with the bites of a thousand insects. Ishtar arched in pain, a ragged, hoarse cry dragged from her dry throat. If it was poison—and it felt like a poison—it was damnably inefficient.

Behind the faceplate, Ishtar panted through clenched teeth. Air whistled through the crack in the transparent shield as she weakly tried to push herself away from the Unshapen with the vial. But she didn’t have the strength. The fire in her skin sapped it with each passing moment. Ishtar wasn’t even sure if she could summon the strength to try verbal communication.

Something whirred nearby and below the roar of pain, Ishtar felt the hum of connective frequencies. They had a Forged. The frequencies had a different machine language, one that she could translate and understand if she had time. She did not.

However, the language had been built on binary.

That was child’s play.

//01001000 01100101 01101100 01110000.//
//01001101 01100101 01100100 01100010 01100001 01111001.//

She transmitted the route in binary to the strange Forged before a fresh wave of heat and pain flared. Her cry hardly made it out of her mouth.

//01001000 01110101 01110010 01110010 01111001.//

Atlas Drake | Kaia Starchaser | Kessa | Luke Montann | Pillar of Freedom

 

[Pillar of Freedom]

The scream that tore through the alien's cracked faceplate was a sound Zin didn't much care for. Not because of the volume, but because of the pitch. He took a half-step back, rifle stock tight against his shoulder, his eyes darting between the thrashing humanoid and the BD unit that had begun chirping in a frantic, high-pitched rhythmic cycle.

"Sir, back away!" Zin's voice was a low growl over the comms. He watched the iridescent blood smear against the deck as the creature arched. "That's not a standard recovery. Either her biology is rejecting the bacta, or we triggered some sort of...."

The BD unit let out a long, warbling whistle, its head bobbing rapidly. Zin's helmet translated the droid's frantic garble. His brow furrowed.

"Sir, the droid is picking up a direct feed. Raw binary." Zin shifted his gaze to the flickering terminals in the room, then back to the dying pilot.

"She's communicating with it? This place has its own automated facilities suited to her physiology."

He didn't wait for a reply before turning his attention to the odd looking droid lying motionless beside her. It might have looked like a piece of junk, but to Zin, it was a curio he wasn't willing to leave behind.

"Team Two, front and centre," Zin commanded, gesturing to the reinforcements. "Tag this droid for immediate removal. Get it on a repulsor-sled and prep it for extraction. I want it stripped and secured. We don't know if it has a remote wake-up command."

He slung his rifle, the magnetic lock engaging with a metallic clack, and stepped toward the survivor. The air whistling through her faceplate sounded wet and desperate.

"Sir," Zin said, looking at Drake with professional urgency, "if we're doing this, we do it now. If we leave her here, she's a corpse in ten minutes. Help me get a grip on her. You think you droid can tell us the way to the medbay?"

He reached down, his gloved hands careful but firm as he prepared to lift the alien, his eyes already scanning the dark corridor for the route ahead.

Atlas Drake Ishtar-Array​

 

[Kaia Starchaser]

She had to keep moving with the team. Being part of the away team was not her favorite place, but she could do it. As a Force sensitive, it helped her case as well. And tracking? That was a Warden skill. Just not her own on land.

“Some kind.” She nodded to Kessa . Not really a Jedi at all, but more a Warden with the right weapons.

As she kept with Atlas, she looked around. Lizards… So great.

Why did it have to be lizards?

“Maybe I’ll stick outside…”

Atlas Drake Kessa Ishtar-Array

 

[Atlas Drake]

Pillar of Freedom Kaia Starchaser Ishtar-Array​

---

Atlas recoiled from the injured survivor before he realized it was having some kind of seizure. Margus stepped forward to pick the cybernetic lifeform up so he helped grab hold of lower extremities and wrestle its writhing body onto a stretcher. He activated the rescue equipment's repulsorlift and it floated off the ground.

"I don't care if you're scared of a virus!" Drake lost his patience with BD-7 cutting off a stream of high-pitched droid babble, "Talk to it. Ask what we can do to help."

His scout droid moaned a translation in binary and Drake's team realized the survivor was screaming for a medbay. They needed to evacuate back to Outbound Flight where someone trained in xenomedicine could provide the right kind of aid. Or maybe a skilled mechanic. He pushed the stretcher while Zin and his team kept their blasters up and eyes out for saurians or whoever cause all this damage.

"Kaia get the ship prepped for takeoff!" he shouted for the young pilot when they emerged back into open jungle, "We found a casualty. Emergency procedures. Skip the flight check."