Restitution

[Mellifluous]

Location: Firrerre, Basin Camp 35
Local Time: 0230

How many lives is my freedom worth?

It was coming down to the wire. Her stomach growled and knotted, but after three days the sharp, stabbing feeling in the pit of her gut spread all over into an all consuming, ubiquitous soreness that penetrated deep into the bones. The hunger she could manage for a few more days, as a life ruled by rations had seen to it Sunshine experienced the sensation well enough. Three days wouldn't be as severe to most sentients, but her people, the Firrerreo, had an innate talent for regenerating and repairing cells, but with that demanded an equally fast metabolism. Three days to her was like six, and if she didn't eat something within a week her body wouldn't be able to maintain her immune system, clearing the way for the virus to finally claim the last victim.

Minimum would have to be the poor sods who tried to do a kindness and answer my beacon.

Like she had done a thousand times before over the past three days, pretty much the moment she finished that last bite of synthetic protein, Sunshine's fingers haphazardly flipped the safety cover of the switch in her hand. A lifetime of salvage and tinkering can teach you loads of things, like how to convert a few dozen broken datapad to make a one way distress beacon or how to build a rocket that can break atmo in less than a minute with some powdered rust and some battery acid. If any of the few other people alive on the planet saw her launch the rocket they never mentioned it to anyone else, and possibly, with the flick of her switch, the beacon would send out a distress signal up to three holonet relays away for at least a week.

Number infected will differ by crew requirements of the transport, along with any passengers.

Flick, snap. Flip, snap. It wasn't so much the loss of life that was hindering her, but rather the idea of the virus escaping beyond a controlled environment. A ship's crew would be a mote of dust to the devastation circulating this virus would cause.

No safety measure I try to think of will be effective. The virus is too aggressive. The moment I hit their enclosed system they're all dead no matter what I do.

A part of her mind was itching at how still she was, at how many things needed to be seen to and maintained. The moisture collectors, the algae beds, the... Not that any of it mattered anymore. The algae wouldn't provide the high levels of protein she needed to stay healthy, and the off planet traders that dealt protein rich synthetics for scrap was now a month and three days late to their yearly prearranged exchange. Generation after generation of martyrdom, ignorant seclusion and for what? To prevent the atrocity that had destroyed their people never be visited upon another civilization? Where was the galaxy when they where betrayed? Where has this light of civilization known as democracy been these last eight hundred years? Did they not care that an entire species was going extinct?! Maybe they needed a history lesson.

If I play it smart, go straight to a medical facility that can at least keep me sealed while they fix me, that's about as much as I can minimize the damage.

'Or you could just wait patiently and die with some dignity and self respect.' The voice of her father took reign of her train of thought. Half the time she wasn't sure if she had given her conscience his voice, or if it was simply that everything good she knew was from him and it was impossible to separate the two.

How could I respect myself if I stayed? If I didn't even try? If I took what was done to us lying down, head turned ashamed to even look at the rest of the galaxy as if it was OUR FAULT we were going extinct. Our fault our species produced such a traitorous monstrosity with complete disregard for his people's life! My fault that you... No...

Flick, snap. Flick... All the galaxy on one switch.

No, Father, I think it's time to be a little selfish.

*click*

 

[Jorco Czeku]

// In coming message from "Your Boss"

Hey Jorco, it's me Leega, you know, your boss. Anyways, you know that old bio weapons development team you created a while ago but never did anything with it. Yeah, remember that hive virus you were looking into, well we just got some news about it. There's been a distress beacon going off over at Firrerre and we need you and a team to head over there. If he can get a live host of the virus that could mean a lot of money. For me of course, not you. Since I'm CEO now, and you're not.

Chow

Leega

// End of transmission

What a jerk, first he usurps Jorco's company then needs to rub it in while making him do the dirty. Life isn't fair sometimes. Anyways, by now Jorco and his team of security contractors have started their decent onto the planets atmosphere. It was a POM Storm Team that accompanied Jorco. But since they were dealing with a lethal pathogen they were decked out in MOPP 4 gear to protect themselves from it. Looking like spacemen with guns.

They new that the distress beacon signal was coming from within a base, or camp of some kind. Unsure whether or not they would come across trouble is the main reason they were armed, even though the planet was considered void of sentient life. Most likely someone needed to make an emergency landing on the planet and has no way off, but considering the situation their in, they can't ignore it.

Landing their shuttle outside the base, Jorco and his team exited the vessel. The pilot would be on stand by when they get back or if they need to leave in a hurry. Since they have pinpointed the exact location of the beacon they knew where to go inside the base. As they entered what was an abandoned base, they turned on their flash lights. Considering this was an old building and the power was probably off and had been off for a long while. Yet they were picking up trace amounts of electrons in the air, strange.

Marching swiftly through the base they'd come to the room the signal was coming from. The door was shut it was quite on the other side. After a few knocks and getting no response they decided to act, quickly opening the door, the team stormed into the room. It wasn't hard to find the only other occupant in there. However, they were laying on the ground passed out. Jorco's heart sank for a moment, not at the sight of seeing someone possibly dead on the ground before them. Just knowing the mission could be a failure. Setting his weapon aside Jorco crouched down beside the young women to check her vitals. To his unfortunate surprise she was alive, just unconscious, and with a weakened pulse.

Looking up at the rest of his team he spoke. "Make sure the pilot's ready to head out of here and has first aid ready on the ship when we get there. Hurry up and get me a stretcher so we can get her out of here." This has sadly been the second time Jorco was dealing with a situation like this.

[member="Mellifluous"]

 

[Mellifluous]

Eyelids fluttered in the cacophony of noise and sensation jostling her about, but her near comatose shutdown of her body made deciphering the change in environment imopssible. There was a voice that held a sad urgency, and a distinct sensation of raising straight off the floor followed by a gentle stillness for quite a while.

'Well, you've done it.' Her father's voice filled the abscense, Sunshine's own mind too compromised to generate new thought. 'So let's not waste time finding fault with your choices and see how we can make the best of the situation.'

Mentally she sighed as she heard her father pause, collecting thought and breath the way he always did before his rhetorical discussions. His deliver was so dry. She felt it always lacked the fire of previous recorded ancestors.

'While you have set this train of events in motion, remember that all you can control is yourself. Be careful, and pay attention. Not just to people, but their interactions, reactions, everything they do. Action betrays the inner thoughts and hearts of others, especially unconscious action.'

To her surprise her father did not take the opportunity to scold her, but rather to remind her of something vital. She is ultimately alone, and only through careful observation will she be able to navigate this strange new world she has thrust herself into. No family, no friends, or connections. No homework to return to. The only direction left for Sunshine was ever forward, but with measured, conscious steps. There will always be chances to change up the pace, but until she becomes someone capable and useful in this new world everything she must do as if death lurked behind every wrong decision.

'With these new risks will come new rewards in the shape of what becomes available to you. Soak in as muck knowledge and skill as you can, make yourself someone of dauntless perserverence, and watch how others will quickly learn to respect you.'

Her frustration at her inability to argue back caused her to audibly growl, albeit weakly. More jostling, and motion seemed to stop. Bright lights flooded through closed lids, various beeps and stings from all sides, and even more muffled voices, phonemes in what could have been basic if she could just focus up.

'Remember, my Sunshine, that you will always be your worst enemy. Gain victory over yourself and not a soul in the verse can hold power over you. I love you, and will always be here...somewhere.'

Again the world swelled black around her as a warming sensation began to spread from a sharp pinch in the arm, soon rendering her too comfortable to cling on to consciousness any longer.

 

[Jorco Czeku]

By now Jorco and his company had gotten her back to one of their establishments. More specifically the headquarters to their bio weapons development department. There the women they'd picked up was in a lab, strapped onto a bed with some nutrition being infused directly into her since she was starved half to death by the time they got to her. Jorco stood in the hall way outside looking in from a one way window. Meaning no one inside could see him but he could see them.

Then one of the workers approached Jorco and spoke. "Mr. Czeku, the women you've brought in, she isn't human like we thought. She's a firrerreo, at least one of, if not the last of her kind. Not only that but..." The worker paused. "She's a living host of the hive virus as well." Part of Jorco felt glad to know she was still alive. Even dead her body was worth a lot of credits. Since you can keep the body functioning, and in turn the virus past death. But that meant it was one less thing he needed to worry about.

"How well is she now, I know she's not dead, but it's not like she could slip back into a critical state again could she?" Jorco asked. He felt kinda odd seeming to be so investing in this girl for more then just economic gain. Like there was a force Somewhere inside him that made him feel connected to her.

"She's well, there's no need to worry. I'm sure Leega will contact you soon to congratulate you on your fine work in saving this girl. Good work sir." The worker said before turning to leave Jorco. Now once again alone, he approached the door to the room, not even needing to flash his ID to the armed guard outside to be let in. Right now the doctors and lab workers were in separate rooms. Looking over her vitals, virus and are overall drawn back from dealing is a species they've never dealt with in their lives. He wasn't sure how long before she'd wake back up, but part of him wanted to be here when she dose.

 

[Mellifluous]

The new world greeted Sunshine wholly too brightly as she kept her eyes sealed tight, turning her head away from the offensive overheads and returned the greeting with a scowl. Seems any gods watching didn't have the common sense to let me die. The rhythmic beeps and tones that ricocheted around the metal walls were certainly annoying, but gave her a small sense of security knowing they mimicked the vital parts of her. The air smelled fresh but saturated with oxygen and a hint of other chemicals she couldn't place. The first question to pop into her head was addressed by the beeps. She was no longer dying. The next question as to her location was dismissed as unimportant in respect to everything else, but still one that needed an answer sooner or later.

Shine noticed how incredibly dry her mouth was and inwardly moaned, knowing full well she wasn't ready to open her eyes, let alone be forced to move to find water. The first attempt to split apart her eyelids didn't go so well, as if they were glued shut from however long she had been out. The second attempt found much more progress, fighting to stay parted just long enough to adjust. A few blinks later and what should have been a sealed room with her alone became a room with her and a very close Rodian.

"Wha..." She started but fumbled, the dryness in her mouth reaching much further than she first realized. After a raspy cough, she tried again. "What are you doing in here? I'm very sick, you need to..." Another coughing fit too sharp to ignore, forcing Sunshine to divert the pressing concern toward water.

 

[Jorco Czeku]

Surprisingly she wasn't asleep that much longer. Seeing her come back to consciousness he leaned in a little closer. However, seeing her surprised reaction to seeing him. Causing him to back up some. Listening to her concern he remeber that she must not have know she'd been "Cured" to an extent. But right after had a bit of a coughing fit. Letting out a slight sigh he went over to the small sink in the room and pulled out a small disposable cup. Filling up he handed it to her. "Drink, but slowly, water can be harsh on the stomach especially in your state." With too much motion having a lot of water smack around in your stomach can make someone nauseous.

After giving her the cup he'd speak again. "By the way, you don't need to worry about me getting sick. Our lab team as effectively made you cured. As you we've made you an asymptomatic host with suppressed contagion. Meaning you can get sick and can't make other people sick. Thud you're cured." After speaking he tried to put himself in her shoes for a moment. "You're probably wondering where you are. Well after me and my team got to you we did our best to stabilize your vitals. After which we sent you to one of our research facilities here in the Southern Systems." Leaving out the part that they got her for her hive virus. "Considering where you sent out the distress beacon we were prepared, and took the appropriate measures." Now that that was explained he wasn't sure how she'd respond. "I'm sure you have some, or many questions, so If you'd like, ask away."

[member="Mellifluous"]

 

[Mellifluous]

At first she wasn't fully able to process what the Rodian was saying, gingerly taking the small, thin cup from him and sipping slowly. The cool, pure fluid washed away the brittle feeling running from her lips through her chest, and as the cup slowly emptied Sunshine sighed heavily and with great relief, only to feel her mind become full of implications. Though he said very little, what the Rodian said held great significance.

She still felt very weak, which to her told her roughly the time she had been out. If they had been pumping stabilizing medicines and food stuffs into her since they picked her up, her people's healing speed would have had her up and about within a couple days. If the virus had started in on her in the weakened state, the medical professionals who saw to her would have had to eradicate the virus outright to keep her alive, which, too, would have taken at least a couple of days. Yet, since she she was told that she still had the virus but it was no longer contagious, that meant that these people not only kept her alive, but also managed to nuke the virus hard enough that it was no longer able to evolve, meaning her immune system was finally able to overpower and eliminate it. They did this in less than a couple days, meaning that the whole gor'ram time, for who knows how long, the world outside of hers had known, with ease, how to save not only her, but her entire people. How long were they able to do this? How many unnecessary centuries of suffering and exile did they go through for absolutely no reason? If we had only put aside the needs of the uncaring and unwilling galaxy to see to our own people's needs, maybe we didn't have to go extinct.

She hadn't exactly memorized the galactic map, but knew roughly where Firrerre was in relation to it. That meant her relay went much further than she had anticipated, or these people were somehow paying extra attention? "So no one else got sick picking me up? You guys sanitized all your exposed equipment, all safety precautions were observed, and you did it with methodical execution... and no one died. I..."

Sunshine was devastated. Yeah, yeah. No one died, that's a good thing, right? No, because that meant her conspiratorial fears of an ambivalent galaxy were true. The reality, her reality, that her suffering was not only unneccessary, but completely ignorant. It meant so much and changed very little.

Rehydrated, her body no longer had trouble producing the rivlet of a tear welling up in the corners of her eyes. "I wish I could thank you, but I have nothing to offer. Anything I've ever owned is back on Firrerre." She blinked a few times and turned to smile half heartedly at her Rodian rescuer.

 

[Jorco Czeku]

"I assure you miss, no one from either the rescue team or lab has gotten sick from you. We made sure to take all sorts of precautionary measures in insuring both you and our teams made it here safely. It's e very irresponsible of us to possibly cause a whole epidemic here on Rodia. Right now I sure the ship we used to rescue you can be commissioned once more now that's out of quarantine and has been cleaned down." Jorco explained to the women.

However, he leaned back when he saw she started to tear up. Rodians were not able to cry from there lack of tear ducts. So he always thought the idea of crying or tearing up was weird, and not wasn't sure what he should do. Should he continue talking or just let her let loose some since this easily could be a very overwhelming moment for her.

"Don't worry, there's no need to repay us." He reassured her. "And don't try to become like an indentured servant." He would willingly leave out the part of her body alone with like this already had the potential to make them millions if not hundreds of millions of credits. "If you'd like I could leave you to rest, even with a little water and the nutrition you're still gonna need to actually eat if you want we can get you something.

[member="Mellifluous"]

 

[Mellifluous]

So I'm somewhere on the planet Rodia.

The man seemed reassuring, and for some reason uncomfortable with her display of emotion. Was it socially unacceptable to display negative emotions, she wondered as her rescuer made way to excuse himself. The option to eat perked her up, seeing as how she hadn't in what felt like a week. Their synthetic protein was probably far superior to anything she had ever grown up with.

"Something real to eat would be much appreciated." She said as she lifted her left arm to draw attention to the intravenous sustenance they had her hooked up to. "I'm not sure what you've been giving me but my people have a high protein requirement, if it isn't too much trouble."

Her smile didn't feel as forced now, as she did feel somewhat safe in the hands of this stranger. "I was called Sunshine. Or Shine, I guess... Um. It's nice to meet you."

 

[Jorco Czeku]

Jorco nodded, "I'll let someone know and prepare you a meal, that way we can get you hooked up to less things." He'd make sure it was more typical food stuffs and not a more standard Rodian cuisine. Since he wasn't really sure how other races liked their food.

Then he got to hear her name, which sounded more like a nickname then anything else. "Narikvaro..." He said to himself, "That's what we call Sunshine here." In direct translation it means "bright noble", but was close enough he figured. "I'm Jorco, Jorco Czeku." The Rodian said with a smile back. After another nod he turned to head back out of the room to leave her to rest and eat when her food arrived.

[member="Mellifluous"]

 

[Mellifluous]

Sunshine warmed at the mention of her rescuer' s name. It meant a lot to her people to share a name, believing knowledge of a person's name held a certain power over them. As if speaking someone's true name laid bare their soul for the whole galaxy to scrutinize and strike. She could count on her fingers alone the times she had heard her own name spoken aloud and, as grateful as she felt for her rescue, she didn't think it would be a number increasing anytime soon. Just thinking about saying it outloud sent a shiver down her spine.

Now alone, Shine filled the time waiting for the promised meal studying the room. While she knew enough about her own anatomy to know when something was wrong and maybe a bit on how to mend it in the most common circumstances, everything in this room beeped and droned in a symphony of information she couldn't make much sense of. Sure, there was heartbeat and oxygen saturation, but all the other stuff seemed to echo her self imagined ignorance and ineptitude. In a normal society individuals specialize, best organizing effort and training while leaving the collective whole to keep all needs met. On Firrerre, everyone had to learn everything on their own if they ever expected to need the skill or knowledge, imposing on Shine and her predecessors a strong need for the individual to become as well rounded and knowledgeable as possible to be most adaptable in any given situation. It was a system derived from circumstantial necessity, but not one intended for any sort of society to do anything other than merely survive. There had never been the opportunity for growth outside of the limited and outdated resources of a destroyed and forgotten world. But out here... out in the real world there was so much she didn't know. So much room to grow.

At some point in her spacious mental roaming a droid entered the room, breaking her lack of concentration and drawing to focus the lack of food. Shine couldn't be sure how much time had passed between Jorco leaving and this new droid arriving, but it felt like it should have been long enough to collect a protein bar. The droid didn't seem to pay her any heed, going about it's business without distraction. Shine would have loved to break the silence asking it what all the various sensors were keeping track of and why, but didn't feel comfortable breaking the silence. After doing a few adjustments to some of the machines she was hooked up to the droid slid alongside the bed, deftly plucking up Shine's left arm, drawing out the thick needle to the intravenous system, and slipped a small swab of fibrous material over the wound.

"Please apply pressure for two minutes." The droid practically commanded her as it pulled itself upright and headed out of the room.

Hmm...Maybe they had to remove the liquid food before I was allowed something solid. That makes sense.

She held swab like the droid told her too, removing it after what she thought was two minutes to see nothing but the same smooth, golden skin she had always had without any clue a needle had pierced it not long ago. Healing so fast left little time for scars to form, but when a scar is indeed left it was from a wound that would likely never be forgotten. A slow, lazy yawn told her to stretch back and go to sleep, but she would have none of it. There was still too much to figure out, too much left unplanned and too little information to go off of. For now there was nothing to be done until theses people give her a clean bill of health, so sleep was a fine option, but for some reason she reflexively struggled against the draw toward unconsciousness.

As her gaze settled on some non descript object in the background, time once again slipped away. Spending much of your life in what is essentially solitude it was imperative that she learned how to meditate, if not for the benefits of focus and awareness then for the very sake of her sanity. A brain is wired to be on constantly, shifting between gears only to sleep or at the conscious effort of anyone trying to bring the ease of silence to an incessant mind.

Time returned with the soft hiss of the door, the droid returning this time with two Rodians. "Why is the subject awake?" The Rodian on the right said somewhat curtly.

"The standard dosage of anesthetic has been applied, Doctor." Chimed the droid, untouched by the tone as it maneuvered around the bed to inspect all the monitors.

The second Rodian stepped into the room only so much as to look Sunshine over. "Standard for a human, maybe." He said sounding rather annoyed, turning on his datapad. "We have next to nothing on her species, but I can already tell her metabolism is too fast for normal dosages."

"Is everything okay?" Sunshine cut in, somewhat groggy now that they mentioned it but quickly growing concerned for how little she knew.

"Well, we can't risk overdosing her. We have no idea where the toxicity limit begins or ends."

"We are on a scedule, Hinbe. There isn't time to run her through trials." The second Rodian sounded grim.

"So, then... what? We just move forward?"

"Move forward with what?!" Shine shouted, devolving into a growl as it was quickly growing clear something wrong was going on. Setting herself more upright four small energy fields projected from the four corners of the bed, enveloping her wrists and ankles in a soft, white light before drawing them tight.

After a pause, the second Rodian broke the heavily hanging implications with a weary sigh carrying a thousand other distasteful necessities in its wake. "Do we have any choice?"

Shoulders and hips. That's all Sunshine found she could move as she thrashed violently against the now mobile bed. What was just moments before a hue of gold across her skin flashed to silver in a body wide blush. This was what she was worried about, the very thing that ultimately gave her pause for two long years. The terrifyingly real fact that Sunshine was virtually powerless in this dauntingly vast galaxy put her at an immediate risk. Hitting that beacon wasn't just risking letting the virus loose up in the galaxy, but releasing the galaxy upon her.

"Stop!" She screamed as the pair guided the repulsor lifted cot through the hallways and up lifts, passing others who paid her no heed. "What do you want? Please...please... just, j-just let me go!"

The whole time they pushed her along she never stopped thrashing, never stopped screaming at the top of her lungs to plead, beg, demand, bargain. Anything to sway them, to regain some small measure of control over what was happening to her. Yet these people had no room for compassion or mercy. Perhaps if she knew exactly how much she was worth to them this would all make more sense of this hurried confusion and in some way find a rationale to this madness, but from what she could tell this felt like a simple exercise in exploiting the weak. Whatever it was that these people found valuable in her, they had made the decision to take it regardless of how she felt about it.

A final set of doors brought them to a brightly lit room that smelled strongly of disinfectant. As her thrashing came to a pause to collect the new surrounding Sunshine finally saw a glimpse of her own hand, fully enshrouded in silver. The very sight of herself in this state brought a sudden, icy stillness to her. Almost immediately Shine slowed her breathing, forcing her heart to slow in tandem. Seeing that biological response flare up always seemed to clear her head and bring about a well defined focus, forcing herself to willingly take the reigns rather than let her internal chemistry to determine how she behaved. She had to collect herself, to look for any opening and take it without hesitation.

The pair of Rodian split themselves between a set of consoles, on to monitor and guide, the other to control the motion of the articulated multi tool arm poised directly above her. She could hear them going over a standard operating procedure of running the equipment with the same uninvolved detachment one uses to pray when the faith has long been dead. These people were really going to do whatever they wanted with her without ever acknowledging her, no longer a person beyond the empirical value they can negotiate out of their callous innovations.

The mechanical arm whirled alive as the controls were calibrated, gliding smoothly across its entire range of motion. It wasn't just these two. It was everyone in this messed up, commercially driven monkey show. Sunshine could understand hanging up your morals and ethics in the name of necessity, but at what point did the profit margin become the necessity? It took so little to sustain a life, how much did it take in this galaxy to truly thrive ? Was she to be just another morsel in the feast of a titan she would never hear of?

Rotating through its various tools and sensors, the arm began to lower, centering the narrow red dot on her sternum at the base of the throat. She wanted to squirm out from under this thing about to tear her to shreds, but knew if she started struggling too much now they would risk a mild overdose to keep her still long enough. But if she didn't do something soon it wouldn't matter. There were no more options. The restraints had no give, and no firm purchase she could even attempt to rend her own limbs free. Her thoughts flickered to Jorco but for all she knew he was just as much in on it as the rest of them. The laser buzzed awake, within seconds smoldering a black dot into her chest. Her teeth clenched and another low growl escaped her as she tried to keep her attention on the room and not the pain. It didn't take long for the laser to warm up, however, and soon Sunshine could feel the concentrated beam of energy quickly slice through flesh and begin boring into bone. From the pit of her stomach Shine began to scream at the top of her lungs with such totality and complete lack of resistance it eclipsed any scream she had managed on the way from her room, and a pain more all consuming than anything she had ever felt.

Then all of it just... went away...

 

[Jorco Czeku]

After Jorco had left he let someone know to get her some food, whether or not they follow along with it wasn't something else entirely. He retired to his office, which was still his original executive room, even after getting usurped by Leega. Looking over some of the paper work on the formation of one of the company's newest assets. Setting the work out for them to official start their operations in the field.

Then Jorco began to get a call from none other then his boss. Reluctantly he answered it, then the holocom linked the two together. "Jorco, I've finally gotten confirmation about your latest success. You about to make this company a lot of money. Sadly you're not at the top to reap as much of the benefits."

"Don't mention it Leega..." Jorco replied

"That's Mr. Leega to you sir." Leega poke back. "Anyways my executive order should begin following through soon. It's unfortunate that she'll pass, but hey, you could say that nothing is too great of a sacrifice for science... and credits. "

"What do you mean she's going to pass, I thought we were just gonna collect some more samples and that'll be it, don't tell me the plan has changed?"

"Wh... Oh by the Force Jorco, are you really that naive still. Her bodies potential is too great of an opportunity to just let go off. I know, that you know this company wasn't founded on ethics and principles. Listen when you-" Leega seemd cut off for a moment. "You know what forget it, I need to go, something has come up. Chow."

Left there with the bad news Jorco wasn't sure how to feel or what to do. Slapping the stack of paper work he had on his desk he suddenly sensed something. Like Shine had just called out to him. Getting up from his desk he headed out of his office to trying and see what he could do to stop the operation if he wasn't too late. After reaching the elevator a alarm was sounded.

As he got to the floor he knew they'd operate on from the elevator doors open and what he was presented with was a grizzly sight. It looked like an earth quake and hurricane came through the whole floor. The main lights were off with only emergency red illuminating the halls. The property was well damaged, as blood could be seen covering here and there. Something terrible had happened, and he was now in the middle of it. Hearing more struggle further ahead he pressed on. Knowing that an even worse bloodbath was on its way if the a strike team gets called in, or worse. He continued marching through the floor until he found Shine. It felt like it to him to fix the situation.

[member="Mellifluous"]

 

[Mellifluous]

Reality returned in euphoria.

Finding herself leaning against the wall of a long corridor, Sunshine dimly began to piece together her senses. Her chest rose slowly as she gasped what felt like the first breath in a while, heartbeat racing in random tickling spasms. As eyelids fluttered to focus the first thing that demanded attention was a broken light stuttering off and on halfway down the hallway. For some reason Shine knew she was alone, that it was completely safe and that nothing could harm her. It felt nice and... comforting. Like being back home and knowing there wasn't another living thing around for a hundred kilometers. The flickering light bothered her, though. A little bit of chaos in what would have been a perfect feeling. Shine pulled herself upright, placing her left hand against the wall to aide what she found to be weak knees. Immediately she just wanted to sit down, to bask in the tired comfort of laying down in a safe place and let oblivion wash over her. But she couldn't... That damn light...

Taking another deep breath she pushed a little off the wall and stumbled a couple steps into the middle of the hallway, swaying slightly as she fought off the resignation to rest. There would be no rest knowing this light was broken. Even if she gave on, sat down, closed her eyes, and simply relished in this profound sense of security and comfort, it would all be disrupted just knowing this malfunctioning thing sat outside her periphery. The very nature of it's existence denied and despoiled the perfection she felt of the moment. Of course a part of her rationale argued against the offense, telling herself it was only her subjective perception of disruption that created the problem at all and that all she had to do to settle into that peaceful bliss was to ignore the malfunctioning thing and be happy with what she had. Sunshine would have none of this, however, arguing back that without the sublimity of heaven it would not be.

Taking the first precarious steps slowly, the further Shine pressed herself away from the easy bliss to enforce this idea of perfection upon her reality, the more she found her senses returning to her. A strong smell of copper mingled with... bodily fluids. And under that... The smell of chemical sterilizer triggered a memory and reflexively her right hand reached for her throat. As she ran her finger over the top of her sternum she quickly drew it back feeling something wet. Turning her hand over, broken flashes of light showed something dark on her hands. At first Shine thought it was oil of some kind as it was thicker than water and seemed to stick to the skin, but as she drew it closer and the smell of copper grew stronger there was no question. Shine was covered from head to toe in ribbons, dots, and in some places whole splashes of blood.

The unnerving part wasn't that she was covered in blood, but rather that this didn't break the euphoric sense she was experiencing. Why wasn't she freaking out? In fact, that was the very last thing she remembered doing now that she took a moment to reach for the memory. What happened? What had changed so much in who knows how much time to not only resolve that traumatic experience, but also replace it with the exact opposite sensation? Something wasn't right and it was breaking this great feeling. What the hell was wrong with that light?

Wits slowly being collected Shine pulled herself to stand upright, giving her muscles a little stretch before continuing down the hall. Drawing closer to the busted light cast offs of blood laid out like mosaics against the walls, long ragged streaks waved along the floor, drawing her attention further down the hallway toward that damn broken light. Again finding it daunting that the grizzly scene didn't seem to hinder how she felt at all in comparison with her fixation on the flickering light, she continued down the hallway until coming to an open door leading into a blackened out room. Along the edge of the door were what looked like bloody handprints, all of which appeared to have been grasping at the edge before being forcefully pulled into the darkness. Only now did Shine notice herself tense up, feeling a primal sort of fear looking into this pit of unknown darkness. It wasn't hard for the imagination to fill in abyss, but for Shine the most terrifying thought to first settle in was that whatever was in there was her. That who she was now in that very moment was just another set of handprints waiting to be dragged into that abyss, drunk on a completely blind and naive security, and that the true Sunshine was in there ready to pounce.

Completely lost she sank to the floor, eyes wide locked into the deepest recesses of darkness the room held. She would not move any closer, wouldn't let herself blink for an instant in fear of what was just waiting to pounce, but at the same time she would not run, equally fearing that if she ran she would never be able to find Sunshine again. Even as Jorco left the turbolift and made his way through the lightless hallways, which for some reason she felt and knew to be him, she did not break her stare or acknowledge him as he called to her. If she moved she might die for all she knew.


[member="Jorco Czeku"]

 

[Jorco Czeku]

Before turning the corner at the end of the hall, Jorco past one of the rooms, where he figured was ground zero for whatever happened. It was torn apart, along with the bodies of two of the company's scientists. He figured this is where Shine must've been taken. No mere young women like her could be naturally capable of something like this though.

As he continued he felt a sort of darkness beyond just the fact that the lights weren't working very well. There was a sense of bloodthirsty anger in the air. Finally turning the corner he saw the source of all this. It was Sunshine, on the floor down the hallway. "Sunshine?" He asked out loud. Despite being eager to check on her, he'd stopped himself before even leaning forwards. Then it hit, him, She was a Force User, and a seemingly powerful one at that. How else could she have decimated the lab room and any minor resistance against her.

Although she must've made quick work of the researchers that were here, he knew that there wasn't any armed guards on the floor, and despite speaking she haden't acknowledged him. Then a low hum could be heard from outside of the building. Jorco recognized it was one of the companies drop ships coming to land on the building Meaning a Storm Team or Strike Droids could begin the descend upon them. Backing away from the her in the hall Jorco began to rush back to the turbolift to intercept whatever forces were being called in to deal with Sunshine. In the mean time, Jorco would send out an emergency message to the Vicelord of the CIS.

// Outgoing Message

Vicelord [member=Darth Metus] I have an emergency incident occurring at one of my companies labs on Rodia. I'm requesting help from you and as this is a matter of Force. Which we at POM Security are not equipped to deal with. To avoid more unnecessary bloodshed I'm reaching out to you to attend to this matter of Corporate Security. Or I request that you dispatch a group of the Knights Obsidion to aid in my effort of trying to minimize damage. However, I fear that the longer this goes one the less I'll be able to keep my own firm from taking what it may see as the best initiative.

Jorco Czeku

// End of Transmission

Just as Jorco had finished his transmission, the door to the turbolift opened to the top floor of the building. There the Rodian was greeted to a squad of heavily armed corporate soldiers ready for action, and fortunately didn't just open fire on him as soon as the door opened. This was turning out to be a far longer day then he'd imagined.

[member="Mellifluous"]

 

[Malok]

This, simply, did not happen.

With the installation of two capable Exarchs, Darth Metus seldom became directly involved in the affairs of his Viceroys. They were trusted individuals who cared for their worlds. Deeply. And any request for aide or assets either flowed directly to the Ministers or was handled personally by one of his Apprentices. For this reason, when the Sith's datapad erupted into being, his eyebrows rose when he saw who had sent the missive. However. As his sulfuric gaze burned across the screen, urgency filled his stomach and seeped throughout him. [member="Jorco Czeku"] would not reach out to him directly unless the situation was absolutely dire. The Rodian had proved himself to be an immensely capable and resourceful individual. From dominating the skies to commanding a PMC, there was seemingly nothing that the Rodian couldn't do.

And so, for him to verbally admit limitations and to directly request assistance from Darth Metus? That caused the Sith to drop all that he was doing. His fingers furiously typed a brief response to the Rodian before ascent gripped his form. A simple on my way would reach Jorco's own device in mere moments. The saving grace of the situation was that the Vicelord was not too far from their current locale. A mere jump into hyperspace ferried him to the planet in under an hour, and utilizing one of his swiftest shuttles saw him cut through the atmosphere in seconds. Relying upon the coordinates provided, Darth Metus and a handful of Dauntless Commandos arrived at the facility at breakneck pace.

Soon, the shudder of the turbolift ascending would sound yet again, heralding the arrival of the Vicelord.

And as his form rose higher into the facility, he attempted to feel out what had transpired. The details provided by the Viceroy were few and far between, but the Force was involved. That much was evident. And though the slaughter had occurred before his arrival, a familiar sensation leaked into his mouth. It felt as though fresh, hot blood had been poured directly under his tongue. It felt as though the air was thick and viscous. This, Darth Metus had come to identify as the taste of Darkness. The Dark Side was draped over the facility like a cloth - and that was more than enough to inspire his hand to rest perpetually upon the hilt of his lightsaber.

He felt the death that clung to the walls. Felt the terror. The Viceroy of Rodia was right to call for aide. When at last the turbolift came to a halt, the Sith was the first to step into the mouth of Hell. But just as the Darkness clung to the facility, so too did it cling to the Vicelord. His arrival was as a second inferno being brought alongside the first. A second wildfire. For the one who had spilt this blood, his presence would be known.

"Viceroy Czeku." he breathed, whilst sweeping his gaze across their surroundings. "I came as quickly as I could. What is going on?"

[member="Jorco Czeku"] | [member="Mellifluous"]​

 

[Jorco Czeku]

Overall, the scene was like a hostage situation without any hostages. After witnessing the easy destruction that [member="Mellifluous"] was capable of, the building was promptly evacuated after the alarms went off. But that was just the beginning as the building was now put on a lock down. With POM Security contractors stationed outside and maintained blockading the exits as to make sure the target couldn't escape. One could easily say this was a bit of overkill. But the company had no actual experience with Force Users and what they could do. So the company wasn't taking any chances.

Despite the all this, they only had a single target on a single floor. Jorco along with the Storm Team that was dispatched to pacify or eliminate the threat, were on the floor above their target. If it wasn't for Jorco's interception and defiance the bloodbath would've continued. Already the corporate leaders regretted investing in Sunshine and how she was to be used as a resource. In the time [member="Darth Metus"] took to arrive, officials had been looking through and studying the footage they had over the incident. How Sunshine tore her way through the researchers and hand full of armed guards.Trying their best to understand who they were dealing with.

Metus would find Jorco in the hallway that leaded to the turbolift to get to Sunshine, there he was companies by a small army of mercenaries now that he'd assumed leadership of the operation. Finding that this wasn't an appropriate time for small talk or even Rodian Salutes, Jorco would get straight to business. "Vicelord Metus, thank you for coming. I'll give you the shot story. Yesterday me and a team responded to a distress single on Firrerre there we could someone, Sunshine, or at least that's what she calls herself. We brought her back here knowing of an infection that she was a carrier of in hopes of curing and researching it. However, the companies board and CEO wished to dissect her to further the companies research without my knowledge. During the operation Sunshine, under the stress, seemed to tap into a sort of raw force rage, killing off whoever she could. We have her situated in the floor below us. That's when I notified you, and came here to prevent the Storm Team from going in and furthering the bloodshed." He explained to the Vicelord, hoping he understood the situation Jorco and his company were in.

"All we know is that she's down there, the cameras were broken and no longer to record after her rampage. I messaged you as a Sith Lord, as someone who's knowledge and skill in The Force could save the day." Jorco added, and would offer the full backing of his forces once more for the man that gave him the opertunity to be more then just a gang leader. Who gave him the opportunity to take up the role of Viceroy of Rodia.