Populate Outbound Flight: Rampage [THR Populate of Empty Hex above Commenor & Mokk IX]

[Pillar of Freedom]

An Outbound Flight Story
A High Republic setting

Rampage is a PvE thread open to all Jedi and Civilians, and select allies, of the High Republic.
The Outbound Flight is a setting only, writing in this thread does not mean you are committing to the ongoing long term plot.​

A burst transmission clawed across the Wayfinder's comms array, cutting through the bridge chatter with enough force to make even veteran crew freeze. Then the stars ahead split apart into streaks of crimson fire. "Contact portside!"

The vessel shuddered violently as turbolaser fire raked across its shields. Consoles erupted in sparks. Somewhere below deck, metal screamed. The Wayfinder dropped hard to starboard, engines whining in protest while klaxons flooded every corridor in pulsing red light.

Out beyond the viewport, shapes emerged from the black. Unmarked daggers cutting through the emptiness of space.

They were not Black Sun. They were not Sith. But whoever they were, they had been waiting.

Another impact slammed the hull. The lights flickered. A coolant line burst overhead in a hiss of steam as the co-pilot wrestled with the controls, fighting to keep the ship level while hyperspace calculations spat error after error across the navicomputer. "The hyperdrive won't lock!"

A second enemy craft broke from formation and swept low beneath the Wayfinder's belly, peppering the underside with cannon fire, seemingly meaning to cripple.

They wanted the ship alive.

And somewhere ahead, drifting silent in the dark, waited The Ark.

Intended for: Jedi, Spacers, Outbound Flight Personal, Pilots.

Goal: Restore the Hyperdrive, fight off the attackers, don't get boarded, don't die.

[float=left][IMG width="140px"]https://i.imgur.com/moo6c3D.jpeg[/IMG][/float] - Code for Objective image.

The fighters did not scramble in time. By the time the Outbound Flight's hangar crews realised the approaching contacts were not retreating, the first boarding pods had already impacted against the hull.

The entire vessel lurched.

Metal screamed through the decks as massive drills punched through outer plating. One pod struck the portside habitation ring hard enough to rupture the corridor entirely before magnetic seals engaged, the boarding craft locking itself over the wound like a parasite. Another smashed into the operations spine near the primary data core.

Turbolasers fired. One pod vanished in a bloom of fire against the black, another spiralled away venting atmosphere and debris, but most survived. Too many survived.

"Boarders! Boarders on multiple decks!"

Explosive bolts detonated almost simultaneously across the ship. Boarding ramps slammed down into smoke-filled corridors as the Ssi-Ruuk came clawing through.

Scaled figures burst from the haze with blasters already firing. Lean, powerful reptilian hunters in segmented armour, moving with terrifying speed through the narrow confines of the ship. They advanced in coordinated packs, laying down suppressive fire while others tore access panels from the walls with hooked claws.

The first Republic security line lasted less than a minute. Then the corridor fighting began in earnest. Blaster fire strobed through the darkness. Screams echoed through sealed bulkheads. Every intersection became a kill zone as crew and soldiers fought room by room to stop the invaders from reaching the ship's central systems.

And deeper inside the vessel, near the medical holding cells, a single pod was still cutting its way in.

​

Intended for: Civilians, Outbound Flight Personal, Military Personal, Limited Jedi.

Goals: Drive back the invaders, prevent the datacore from being accessed, protect innocent lives, prisoners and patients

[float=left][IMG width="150px"]https://i.imgur.com/Mib3ESH.jpeg[/IMG][/float] - Code for Objective image.

Other threads for Populate:
Look on the Bright Side
Fractured

Spoiler: tags

Novac Lyrikal Connel Vanagor Quinn Varanin Ishtar-Array Balun Dashiell Kael Varnok Luke Montann Tatiana Sah

 

[Dominic Praxon]

Dom had only managed a few hours of sleep. The dim lights of his quarters still glowed with half-finished work scattered across the desk terminal. Reports, and recquisitions were his life now. He had stayed awake far later than he should have during the ship's cycle, trying to clear enough responsibilities from the next few days to finally afford himself some time away from work.

Time he had quietly hoped to spend with someone else.

Then the ship violently bucked beneath him.

Dominic hit the floor hard as the entire room shuddered with a deafening metallic groan. Something crashed from a shelf nearby while red emergency lighting flooded the quarters in sharp pulses. For several long seconds he simply stared upward through blurred vision, disoriented, half convinced he was still dreaming.

Another impact rolled through the vessel. The sound this time was different. Definitely worse. A piercing alarm erupted overhead.

"Warning. Hull breach detected. Multiple hostile boarders reported across several decks."

Dominic pushed himself upright, pulse suddenly hammering. Boarders? Still unsteady, he stumbled toward the doorway and forced it open.

Chaos.

Crewmembers flooded the corridor in both directions, some shouting, others crying, many simply running. A mother dragged two children toward a sealed habitation room while security personnel pushed past in the opposite direction with weapons in hand. Somewhere deeper in the ship, blaster fire echoed faintly through the deck plating.

"What's happening?" Dominic shouted.

A technician nearly collided with him, grease-stained uniform, terrified expression, clearly trying to get somewhere fast. Dominic grabbed him by the arm. "Hey! What's going on?"

"I...I don't know," the man stammered breathlessly. "Something boarded us. Security says they're monsters or...or aliens or something..."

A fresh impact thundered through the corridor, hard enough to flicker the lights again.

"Alert. Boarding impact detected near medical sector Aurek-Seven."

Dominic froze. The secure medical wing. His thoughts immediately went to the patient still recovering there. The novel alien was isolated, likely vulnerable and of the highest priority enough that entire sections of the ship had been locked down around them since departure.

The technician pulled free and disappeared into the crowd. Dominic turned back toward his quarters without another word.

A moment later he emerged again, gripping the compact holdout blaster he kept buried in a storage drawer. Small comfort against whatever was tearing through the ship, but better than nothing.

Then, with alarms screaming overhead and terrified civilians rushing past him, Dominic started toward the medical sector.

Ishtar-Array @Open​