Private Prickly Playground

[RAV]

Moonlight silhouetted the snowy peaks of Odacer-Faustin. Nyla kept an eye glued on the navigation screen, weaving her starship through the contours of the steep, mountainous terrain. Al-Khali was not easy to find without an invite and coordinates.

At last she was hailed by Al-Khali's traffic control.

"This is Nyla Tacari. Friend of the family," she hinted to the more personal connection behind her visit. "I'm here to see Doctor Seras Goto."

Her arrival ought to have been expected. Nyla wasn't looking forward to being blasted out of the sky again, though at least she'd rather freeze and hibernate than be scorched to death in some desert.

The lights of the facility became visible, guiding her as a beacon through the night. Even for a creature of darkness, something about Al-Khali's presence gave Nyla the creeps, beholding the massive, fortified laboratory up close, as her ship descended and docked at one of the landing pads. She had no idea what awaited her inside the infamous lab, but surely her sire wouldn't have let her come here if it presented any imminent danger. Nothing that would kill her, hopefully.

The arctic chill was but a summer's breeze as Nyla descended the ramp to meet the welcome party. Her faithful loading droid, Ollie, carrying a few crates of vials and research and extra clothes for how long she would stay.

Seras Goto

 

[Seras Goto]

R RAV

The facility of Al-Khali was grand in its idea and the academy it was built upon with the ruins underneath it... was impressive but it was more then that. THey had built into the mountain itself below the ruins and shaped the area around it into something unassailable for security. There were still things out in the snow that were attracted to the warmth of the people. She offered a small look though and was seeing the screens as someone came to her and spoke. "There is a visitor." She looked up as the massive amount of scars on her face remained and secured her face mask... the preservation suit there and her face mask in place while she was walking through the one side of the airlock and it cycled.

"Invite them in." A joke but the port itself was highly secured with walls and heavy turrets, bioscanners saturating the area in a number of different places and guards both living in their hardened medical gear that enclosed them from bites and attacks as well as droids that were able to be flash sterilized with high heat. THe one approaching giving a bio tag for the checkpoints. "Procedure, do not go anywhere not authorized, your tag will warn you, don't touch experiments, do not have loose clothing or anything that could snag, tear or impede getting into hazmat suits quickly." He said it as routine but also making sure she would understand while leading the way to the first scanner unit to get out of the port and into the airlock.

THe process repeating even for Seras who had gone to the main visitors center some four airlocks and two decontamination hallways away. She stood there and her eyes tracked everything around her when the guards would be able to lead her in and the good doctor breathed with the preservation suit hissing for the air a moment but she could hold for a few days if not longer. "Welcome Al-Khali."

 

[RAV]

One of the guards came up to meet her, handing Nyla a bio tag which she compliantly accepted, and followed after the guard, into the airlock. Listening silently to the guard's instructions; when he was finished, Nyla nodded that she understood. She was sure her clothing sufficed. One never knew when a formal dinner gown would come in handy, but most of the clothes she had packed were thermoregulating jumpsuits, what she currently had on and expected to wear around the lab.

Waiting at the visitors center, Nyla arose from her chair to greet Seras when she arrived.

"Finally," she chuckled, after Seras welcomed her to Al-Khali. It had been a long, anticipated journey, and Nyla was relieved to have made it to Al-Khali in one piece. "It's much bigger than I thought. You built all this?"

As with any appointment, there had been prior conversation about the reason concerning Nyla's visit. From what she had heard from Porfirio, Seras was old - older than her, anyway - and belonged to another vampire coven. Another species of vampire called the Garhoon. Their similarities with the Sangnir far outweighed their differences, for the two covens to at least know of each other in the vampire network. Nyla hadn't heard of Seras or the Garhoon until recently, when Porfirio mentioned them to her. Though Porfirio was a sorcerer with a lab of his own, back on Denon, his focus was elsewhere, unwilling to waste time on Nyla's 'trivial pursuits' in figuring out what her birth species was, and so recommended Seras, if the other woman was willing to indulge her.

"I've got my research, here." Nyla patted one of the crates Ollie was carrying. Inside were vials of Nyla's black blood, DNA samples at various stages of experimentation, and datapads documenting what findings had been made. The accumulative work of several scientists Nyla had contacted across the galaxy. Isolating what remnants of unadulterated DNA, after her Sangnir conversion, was the tricky part. Whether it be a new discovery or a confirmation of what had already found, any result was progress in Nyla's eyes.

"So, where do we start?" She turned to Seras.


Seras Goto

 

[Seras Goto]

R RAV

She looked at her and there was a hiss of air. "Built on top of, the academy was stone and metal. the fires left much intact, the ruins the same... we rebuilt and secured as much as could be." She looked at the crates and brought up her scanner as they were being checked. "First we make sure of contamination... the sicknesses here are experimented on for all purposes." From use as they had created viral bombs to drop into cities to cures and yearly shots one needed to be able to get and afford... to fund the research and the doctors had gotten very very good at collecting. "Studying DNA is not always simple but there is much that can be learned."

She finished scanning and motioned for the droids to move the crates. "The labs are this way." She said it and was going towards the airlocks leading inside. SHe stood in the airlock and brought up the map for her to be able to see. "There are decontamination showers and facilities in all major labs, if things break out then you will want to... secure yourself until the purge happens... if you are infected... you will never leave here." She said it and didn't laugh it was matter of fact in most cases and as the lift went down the levels a section showed one of the larger chambers used for training that housed dozens of the infected. Students in old and tattered academy uniforms, slaves and more.

"One of our goals is understanding the sicknesses ability to not just jump between species... it also mutates them in ways that make them more dangerous. Excretions from claws and increased saliva production... even muscles tearing to make them able to bite over a larger area." The lift came to a stop at the lab and the doors opened to another airlock as she was standing there for a moment and it opened on the cases being brought from their own sonic lift. "This is the central viral lab, put on your protective equipment before entering." She said it and her armor was being given seals and checks from the droids while she secured a hood over her face.

 

[RAV]

"Built on top of, the academy was stone and metal. the fires left much intact, the ruins the same... we rebuilt and secured as much as could be."

"Do you live here all the time? By yourself?" She glanced around the room. "What about family?"

Perhaps a little too personal, too soon, but in the moment, Nyla was curious.

After the crates had been scanned and placed in the hands of Seras' droids for transport, Nyla left Ollie with a crate of personal belongings to be carried off to her quarters, while she followed Seras into the airlock.

She leaned over to study the map Seras was holding. A layout of the facility was worth memorizing, in case of an emergency. Ominous words spoken by Seras that Nyla gave a humored huff in response to, though she kept up a straight face as well, not underestimating the worst that could happen to her inside Al-Khali.

Concern etched on her face, seeing the faces of those infected, as the lift descended. While her heart had hardened to many sufferings in the slums of Denon, she was not devoid of pity for the innocent, if they were these subjected to such a fate of imprisonment and experimentation. Where did they come from? Were they healthy or sick before they arrived? Soon they were out of sight, out of mind, as the lift continued to descend, and Nyla dropped the ethical debate, remaining silent for now as she refocused on her present company.

"One of our goals is understanding the sicknesses ability to not just jump between species... it also mutates them in ways that make them more dangerous. Excretions from claws and increased saliva production... even muscles tearing to make them able to bite over a larger area."

"So…not just the disease, but the vector too?" She rephrased, attempting to show interest, if anything, for sake of small talk. "You're not just studying the disease, but ways to transmit them more effectively?"

Reaching another airlock, Nyla donned the protective equipment she was told to wear, and entered the lab, after Seras.

"I did have a thought about…deductive reasoning. If there are certain viruses that affect certain species, perhaps testing my birth DNA on different viruses would help cross some species off the list?"

"My adoptive parents said they found me on Dathomir. Since it's not too far off from Thustra, they thought I might have some Sephi in me. If there's a virus that targets Sephi, well… if my DNA's susceptible to it, then…"

She didn't know where she was going with this. The idea seemed so simple in her head, yet she was no geneticist to assume how feasible it all was.

"Before I became a Sangnir, I did do a few DNA tests - cheap kinds for common species - but all the results were...inconclusive. Said I was similar to a bunch of other species, but none that match up exactly with any one specific. So, either I'm a really complicated mutt, or…something else entirely."

Hopefully in a private, top-tier laboratory, she'd have better luck with getting answers.

Seras Goto

 

[Seras Goto]

R RAV

"Transmission or inoculation, viral weaponry or cures. Scientific Progress cannot happen without Experimentation." She said it and there was the barest hint of a grin on her face... the sith were beneficial to her goals of the lab here and they handled things no one else in the galaxy wanted to.. they preformed experimental no one else wanted to see but cures... answers for ways to handle such sicknesses... they loved those results. Entering the lab she was waiting for the clear and their sealed suits while she went to her area and started to unload and divide up the samples for the tests. The real trick would be seeing how much they had for testing first.

She didn't fully answer her letting the girl speak and explaining most of their research or what was considered her family was not something she did... her and Venefica had made a genetic heir in Via that was all... same with experimenting as she gave suggestions... ideas for how to do it and Seras went to the blood samples securing them in automated holders. "It is possible but the strain that turned you has altered your DNA on the fundamental level. It protects what small genetic materials is left over." She started inputting information though into the system.

"And species specific sicknesses are always around but rare. Once a species is able to travel the galaxy there is usually others with enough base genetics to be able to be infected." It was why they studied sicknesses and other things here. "Likely the sangir strains are... filled with junk genetics... from the various blood lines created through their bites and the idea of sires." She said it and garhoons being born was a point of... boredom they were much more direct and violent in terms of biting and procreation but smaller in numbers. "It is one of the lab subjects we have studied here, little tactical value to militaries aside from being slightly stronger where as infected can be modified to rot and die out in a number of weeks."

 

[RAV]

"It is possible but the strain that turned you has altered your DNA on the fundamental level. It protects what small genetic materials is left over."

"And species specific sicknesses are always around but rare. Once a species is able to travel the galaxy there is usually others with enough base genetics to be able to be infected."

"Likely the sangir strains are... filled with junk genetics... from the various blood lines created through their bites and the idea of sires."

Oh. That seemed to squash out most of that theory, then.

"Ah. I see." Come to think of it, she had no idea what her sire was. Never thought of it to ask. She ought to, sometime.

"It is one of the lab subjects we have studied here, little tactical value to militaries aside from being slightly stronger where as infected can be modified to rot and die out in a number of weeks."

That reminded her. "So the people up there, the sick people... Are they infected? What's happening to them?"

She watched Seras load her vials in the machines. Once her samples were secure and processing, Nyla started browsing the laboratory, not touching anything. Curious as to what other kinds of tests and experiments were being conducted here, but mostly to keep herself entertained than out of genuine fervor for science.

Seras Goto

 

[Seras Goto]

R RAV

She looked at her as the blood continued to be processed and spoke with a hiss of the air in her mask. "They are infected, we have been studying the various stages of decomp from them and looking for ways to accelerate and manage it. For use as bioweapons. Drop a few of them in a city of your enemies and then lock it down while the infection spreads and dies out." She said it and there was not much to them. THey were like many of the other biological weapons being developed. "We have more experiments running. Slaves sent here can do many things to progress our sciences." She said it with a look though while checking the screen and logging more of the information.

"Hmm." She moved and stood in front of her for a moment. "Tilt you head." She said it and it wasn't with the mechanical styling a request it was more forceful and the garhoons eyes watched the woman under the small covering for her face mask. "Your age when you were turned? Your eye color originally?" SHe said it and was watching her more now.