Sorrow

[Laira Darkhold]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmVMWK9WS_Q​

[SIZE=10.5pt]Anna watched the security terminal with wide eyes, the tears that had been falling from her eyes had dried now, leaving her face stained with her mascara. What the hell was happening?[/SIZE]
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[SIZE=10.5pt]She watched the terminal intently, controlling the zoom feature and checking on any shadow that she even for an instant thought was moving. [/SIZE]
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[SIZE=10.5pt]The plan had been so simple, she and Ryn would go to the communication tower and send the distress call, then they’d take the two-person escape pod there to circle back to the rest of the crew to wait. Ryn had even taken his big plasma-thrower to deal with those… things. [/SIZE]
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[SIZE=10.5pt]But it hadn’t mattered. She could still hear the sounds he made when it got him. The heat from the plasma-thrower when he pulled the trigger and turned the wall and terminals into burning sludge. She sniffed, realizing she still had some of the spray from his brain-matter on her cheek and in her hair. [/SIZE]
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[SIZE=10.5pt]Anna had ran, ran as fast as she could and locked herself into the security station down the hall. Only one way in and she was watching it through the holocam. Nothing. [/SIZE]
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[SIZE=10.5pt]Fear gripped at her, at everything around her. She thought it was the silence that bothered her the most. At least if she could see it wandering the corridors or lurking in the communication center there would be something to focus on. But this eerie, nothingness, just silence left her mind to wander. She didn’t know how much of the message had gotten out before Ryn’s plasma burned the terminal, hopefully someone had heard her plea for rescue, but now there wasn’t any use worrying over it. [/SIZE]
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[SIZE=10.5pt]Minutes clicked by, nothing. [/SIZE]
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[SIZE=10.5pt]An hour, nothing.[/SIZE]
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[SIZE=10.5pt]Anna began whispering to herself, calming herself down enough so that she could act. The holocam would run out of battery soon if she kept using it, and then she’d be blind to everything outside the security closet. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Come on, you lost it. It was hungry, it grabbed Ryn. You got away while it dragged him off. Twenty meters, turn left, ten meters open the door, close the door. Launch.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” She repeated it to herself over and over again until she had the courage for it. [/SIZE]
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[SIZE=10.5pt]She readied herself, deciding it was best to just run for it. No sneaking, no trying to hide from the thing. Just run for her life. Anna clicked the door open, ducking under the rising door, sprinting down the corridor that lay before her bathed in darkness and shadows. She took the turn in the corridor with a skid, sliding as she twisted her momentum to keep propelling herself in the right direction. Her feet were barely hitting the ground as she ran as fast as her legs could carry her. <[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]There’s the door![/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]> She smiled in relief, breathing easy for the first time since she had left the safety of the barracks, just in time to hear it.[/SIZE]
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[SIZE=10.5pt]The hissing. The clattering of skeleton like hands and feet on the deck behind her.[/SIZE]
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[SIZE=10.5pt]She couldn’t even make herself look behind, not that there was anything more than an inky black form sliding through the darkened corridor. Panic filled her every nerve. <[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Just run, just run![/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]> Anna slammed into the door, smashing the button for it to open. She could hear it bounding, gaining on her from behind rapidly. The door slid open, she threw herself inside the escape pod hitting the emergency launch lever, falling to the floor as she scrambled for it. [/SIZE]
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[SIZE=10.5pt]The thing’s racing bounds increased in volume as the hiss of the door closing started. Anna rolled over to her back, eyes wide with fear, seeing the doors close as the thing crashed against the decking. A sudden wash of relief came over her. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]HA![/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” She laughed! Smiling, fresh tears of joy sliding down her face while she got to her feet. Anna had made it, survival was in her grasp and there was nothing that thing could do about it. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]HA! I lived you son of a hutt! Suck it![/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Her elation was palpable as the creature snarled into the porthole, drool dripping from its jaws. She mimed a crotch-chop at the door before pressing her face to the transparisteel window, “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Suck on that![/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Anna said with a laugh at the creature on the other side.[/SIZE]
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[SIZE=10.5pt]It’s mouth opened with a hissing growl. It’s tongue dashed out through the porthole.[/SIZE]
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[SIZE=10.5pt]The pod launched a few seconds later. Nothing but coldness and death within as air, blood, and bone trickled out of the shattered porthole while the pod listed away from the ship. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Laira spun around in her chair, the headphones around her ears playing loudly enough the music could be heard by others passing by her captain’s suite. She was trying to take her mind off everything, to focus on just living each day as best she could while she could. Everything that had happened and that she had done falling around. The redhead was trying her best to be a Jedi, trying her best to set every wrong she had committed onto others right, but it seemed like sometimes it was too little too late. That by nineteen she’d already ruined any chance of the life she wanted.[/SIZE]
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[SIZE=10.5pt]So, in her down time, she now tried her best to distract herself from all of that with music, tinkering with her lightsaber, or meditating on the Jedi Code and what she could understand of it. Sometimes she thought about killing herself, but she didn’t have the stomach for that. Dying while fighting she was willing to come to terms with, though it wasn’t something she hoped would happen, at least not always. But just ending it in a dark room? That was a little too grim even for her darkest moments.[/SIZE]
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[SIZE=10.5pt]Now she was listening to a song that was upbeat, rocking her head to the beat and occasionally whispering the words to herself while she read a book written by an old Jedi Master. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Yea the whispers all around say she has a reputation, Don't believe it 'til I see it so I want a demonstration.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]”[/SIZE]
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[SIZE=10.5pt]There was a knock on her open door. She could feel him in the Force, the tall Death Trooper that had feelings for her she’d brought on as a first mate months ago. Sometimes she wished he’d had let her reciprocate his emotions, before all that had happened but he was adamant that they needed to work through their own individual issues before seeing where things went, but some days Laira just wished she had someone that could hold her and make all her worries disappear for an hour. A minute even.[/SIZE]
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[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Yes?[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” She turned around, pulling the headphones off as she did with a smile. [/SIZE]
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[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Got a message, thought you’d want to hear it.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” [/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Leo[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt] answered, handing her the datapad.[/SIZE]
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[SIZE=10.5pt]She clicked play, waiting for the message to buffer. The image was of a pretty brunette woman, probably had some Hapan blood in her veins based on her attractiveness. She was on a darkened ship, only an emergency light on in her vicinity. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]This is Anna Pularu, Human Resources for Ex-Gal Five-three-four-seven, [/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Dona Carlotta[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]. We’ve been boarded, by… The ship has suffered severe…[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” the message skipped, the next time the woman was on, she was crying and the lights were out. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Someone, help me please![/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Then there was a scream, and something unintelligible before a bright light and then the message was only static.[/SIZE]
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[SIZE=10.5pt]And that was it.[/SIZE]
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[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]So who all got the message?[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Laira asked.[/SIZE]
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[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Us. It’s coming out of the Rishi Maze, deep out there. Anyone who wanted to go look would need a fast ship and a good pilot or they’d never make it. It’d be months before a big ship could go take a look.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Leo finished, arching an eyebrow.[/SIZE]
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[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Sounds like a job for us then.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Laira stood, leaving her little workstation to jog off to the Cockpit and set a course. It was exactly the thing she needed to take her mind off her own self-pity for a while.[/SIZE]
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[SIZE=10.5pt]Go do the hero gig for a bit, maybe it would help her decide what to do with the rest of her life.[/SIZE]
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[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Alright, Saeza.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” The redhead said as she entered the cockpit. No one sat in the pilot’s chair but her while she was aboard and so it was still empty. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Changing course to Rishii, max speed, push the hyperdrive to its limits. Let’s see what the fastest ship in the galaxy can really do.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]”[/SIZE]

 

[Laira Darkhold]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Laira sat in the cockpit, her legs kicked up on the dash as was her normal, comfortable position there. She was thinking about what to do once they got back from what she assumed would be a blue milk run. For the most part, only on her worst days did she contemplate her own demise and how she would prefer it to go down, mostly she distracted herself with talking to Saeza, listening to music, or tinkering with something on her workbench. Mostly she’d managed to shove off notions of doing the deed herself, though her rather lengthy note to her friends and family she’d been working on still seemed overly grim, trying to make sure all the things the crimson haired Jedi had never managed to say got written and distributed. [/SIZE]
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[SIZE=10.5pt]Last night she’d even worked on a short bit to a Mandalorian who’d hurt her what felt like ages ago, so that if she didn’t make it, maybe he’d managed to get it and know that she understood now. That it had all been in her head, and she knew that now, that she didn’t hold any ill-will towards him. Just business after all, but even that seemed hollow to her. It didn't make her feel any better to get off her chest, its not like he cared anyway.[/SIZE]
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[SIZE=10.5pt]She was in her spacer gear, form-fitting black suit covering her from neck to toe with bare arms stained with a bit of grease from the engine she'd been underneath earlier. She had knee-length black boots and her belt with her lightsaber and pistol worn on her thighs. Her own scarlet hair was left loose and free, brushed and cleaned, falling around her face and down her shoulders. Behind her[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt] [/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Saeza[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt] [/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]tapped on the sensors and navicomputer. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]The Zareca String hasn’t been heavily travelled. We should be careful going through it.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” [/SIZE]
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[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]I’ll be at the helm guiding us.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Laira said nonchalantly. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]I can manage hyperspace fine, managed that cut through the Briar Nebula didn’t I?[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” The redhead eased the Hyperspace lever upwards with her foot, sliding them back into realspace above the planet Rishii. The blue tunnel dissipated into thousands of white lines against utter blackness and then the lines pulled back into the pinpricks of stars in the cosmos. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]I’ve been working on a course to sling shot us through the String. Gonna put some wear and tear on our hyperdrive but it’ll get us there in time to help them out. I’ll show the hyperdrive some love on the return trip.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Rowdy could work on it if we need him to.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Saeza suggested as she plugged Laira’s course into the Navicomputer. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]We just worked on it this week. Not much more we can do until we put some lightyears under it. We’ll be trying out the boosters up the string though.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” The redhead retorted as she reoriented the vessel, listing through the black void of space. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Coming up on our jump point in seventy three seconds.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” The computer was clicking away kilometers off the meter, timer running down beside it. Jumps like this had to be precise, or they ran the risk of tapping against the Hyperspace Disturbance at the edge of the galaxy. Since the Companion Galaxy was located above the galactic plane, one had to jump from planet to planet along the Zareca String, a handful of stars and planetoids that connected the two galaxies along the travel point, any deviations might leave a ship stranded between the two.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Countdown, ten, nine.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Laira started, dropping her feet to the floor and taking control of the ship with both hands, her feet slipping on the pedals. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Five, four.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” The crimson-maned Jedi put her hand on the hyperspace throttle, pushing it upwards as the countdown continued. The pinpricks of stars began to turn back into the long thin lines. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]One. Mark.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]“ She finished, just as the lines of starlight gave way to the blue swirling tunnel of hyperspace.[/SIZE]

 

[Laira Darkhold]

[SIZE=10.5pt]The freighter juttered through hyperspace, some turbulence and a few lights flickered when Laira made a sharp turn that stressed the hyperdriv’s safeties to their manufactured limits, but everything held together as far as anyone could tell. Rowdy and Tinker ran diagnostics throughout the ship as the Outcast blasted from the Zareca String and into Companion Aurek for the first time. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]What does it feel like to be in a completely different galaxy Leo?[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Laira asked, lounging in the cockpit. She was keeping an eye on the readouts and feeling out the ship as they entered largely unknown territory. Maps of this part of space were sparse, and usually woefully outdated.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Doesn’t feel all that different.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” The dark haired veteran said, yawning as he got comfortable. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]The galaxy is a big place. It might feel small sometimes, but its plenty big to lose yourself in on its own.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Laira laughed, “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]I know. I just mean, like, we’ve never been out here. Its all wild space, from one end to the other.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” The redhead wore a smile on her face, her mind imagining it all. Lawlessness and dark corners of the universe weren’t what she thought of when she imagined a place without all the governments and regulations. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Just think, a galaxy with no Sith. That’s what we’re fighting for, and here’s one right under our noses.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” She smiled, grey eyes turning to face Leo, searching him for some comment.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Aye,[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” He understood the sentiment, even if he didn’t think it would ever happen. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]But we’ll have to keep them out, or they won’t be. Either the Confederacy, the Empire, or the Imperials will come here and Sith it up.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]She frowned, turning back to the controls. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]I don’t know, it just feels good being somewhere without all their evil hanging over everyone’s heads for once.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]https://i.imgur.com/zwIzcve.png[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]The ship rocketed through Hyperspace, cutting between stars and other objects for hours on end. In the common room, the three sat together eating their last meal before they would arrive. One of Saeza’s favorites, baked poultry seasoned with hot peppers, mixed greens, and wildberry pie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. It was an odd combination, but since the Yuuzhan Vong had decided it was her favorite meal, Laira and Leo had agreed to have it once a month just like they got their own, fresh cooked with real ingredients when they could afford it. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Alright, so its been a while since we heard from miss Pularu and the [/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Dona Carlotta[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]. Still no answer, so we’ll have to assume their communications are down.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Leo started as he clicked a button on the projector bringing up an image of the ship, “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]I looked it up, its an old Pakuuni-type.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]They might still have short range comms.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Saeza piped up from her behind her plate.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Maybe, and we’ll check, but we can’t assume that. Pakuuni’s used neuranium and turadium in their hulls, so sensors won’t penetrate through the vessel. We’ll do a pass, try to hail them, get an eye for what’s wrong with the thing, and then board her. Anna mentioned they’d been boarded so we’ll go cautiously.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Leo continued.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Yeah. We’ll pull up the communications tower, and board it from the outside.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Laira interjected, “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Let the droids keep the ship so there’s no risk of the Outcast getting nabbed while we’re busy.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Saeza nodded in agreement, Rowdy tootling something that made Laira blush. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Not that kind of busy![/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Leo tried to hide his own amusement at the comment, but failed miserably. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Its not on the schedule at least,[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” He remarked, clicking another button as he worked on his pie, avoiding meeting Laira’s disapproving gaze. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]We’ll lock down that part of the ship and do a quick sweep of it. Then, Jester and I will start repairs and see about plugging into the security system. Once we get internal comms up and running, should be a textbook rescue op.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Sounds good. So, suit up, gear up. We should hit the system in ten minutes.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” The three friends nodded to one another and finished their food before they went to their rooms and changed into field gear, readying to arrive in the system.[/SIZE]

 

[Laira Darkhold]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Laira strapped herself into the pilot’s chair, locking it in place in the tandem cockpit. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Reversion in thirty seconds.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” She called, doing a last check over the dash. Beside her Rowdy tootled something in binary. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]I know, that’s why I’m priming the shields. Give me full power to shields.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” The droid answered stoically, green lights pinging on the readouts as he worked to revert auxiliary power to the freighter’s defenses. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Reversion in ten. Nine.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” the redhead counted down, until they dropped from hyperspace in an empty system.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]The star system consisted of a single dirty brown star emitting a dim light, and an asteroid field containing a healthy mix of massive objects and tiny micrometeors. It was so empty, the system didn’t even have a name, just an old Pre-Gulag numerical designation. Before them, above a particularly large asteroid that could have passed for a moon if it had been orbiting a planet sat the small figure that was the mining barge they’d come all this way to rescue. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Sensors on.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” She called, bracing in case she was forced to take evasive action. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]What am I looking at Rowdy?[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” The droid droned on, giving her a waiting beeper until finally he responded by having the readout appear on her screen. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Saeza, hit the comms. [/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Dona Carlotta[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt] appears dead in the void, on emergency power only. Some sections are completely dark.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Saeza diligently pulled the communicator to her lips. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Dona Carlotta[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt], this is the [/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Farstar[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt], we are responding to your distress call. Please respond.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” She waited, but the line remained silent before she repeated the message on a different close range frequency trying to reach short range comlinks. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]There is some damage, looks like the asteroid field has been giving her a beating.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Laira said, narrowing her eyes in the direction of her astromech droid before he could say anything. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Sensors put it on an intercept course with a pretty good size asteroid in twenty nine hours, eleven minutes. Without power the inertial compensators won’t be able to save anyone once it makes contact. A few other showers will hit it, but it should be able to handle those.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Leo said nothing from the ventral gun, simply rotating the turret around while Laira pulled the Rebel Outcast closer to sweep around the immense vessel. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]You see the communications tower?[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” the redhead asked as she swept beneath the ship.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Yeah.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” He mumbled in the headset, “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]just behind the ventral mooring lines, beneath the storage towers just off the centerline.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Alright, that should be easy enough for us to pull alongside it and do a quick space walk over.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” She said, clicking through images appearing on her readout. The ship was massive, and it had taken a handful of major asteroid strikes throughout its long life. Some of the damage looked antique, which may have been caused even before the Gulag Plague had lifted, but other craters and holes in the hull looked much more recent. At least one, the port side of the prow looked like it had been impacted recently enough that atmosphere and debris was still slowly draining out of the large opening caused by the asteroid still lodged in place. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Rowdy, when we get off, I want you to pull away to mark seven-oh-nine and lock into an orbit at one thousand kilometers.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” The droid saluted with its manipulator arms, giving her a somber melody of beeps and whistles. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]We’ll get the comms up and running and then you can check in on me, okay.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Though it answered in binary, the remark sounded very much like <[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]You’d better[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]> to anyone who might have been listening.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]The Rebel Outcast finished is sweep around the ship, Laira pulling it around and angling it for a closer inspection of the underbelly as they flew off towards the communications tower near the rear of the vessel. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]It appears like a beetle, with its shell open and legs sprawling.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Saeza said as the ship cruised between the massive mooring lines that descended down to the moon-sized rock it had been mining before it had lost power.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Yeah,[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Laira nodded, “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]I think Verpine helped design the class a few hundred years ago.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Laira agreed with the assessment, but at that size, it looked far more monstrous than what Saeza described. Like a great devourer, with its maw wide open, wings blotting out the light from the sun, and arms ripping apart a world beneath its fury. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Alright, coming up on the tower. All hands, get ready. Rowdy, you’ve got the ship.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” The crimson-maned strumpet unbuckled herself from the pilot’s chair once the droid had control of the ship and made her way through the cockpit and the corridor to the boarding dock where Saeza and Leo were gathers. Leo was chambering his Eradicator and doing a last check on his pistol and carbine in his Death Trooper armor, Saeza had already done her final checks before they had ever dropped from hyperspace, standing by in her combat armor and masquer. Laira unholstered her pistol, giving it a solid once over and slipping a pair of backup rechargeable cells and canisters into her belt’s pockets.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]All good?[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Leo asked, double checking on the two Jedi girls. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Saeza nodded quietly, Laira responded in her own way, “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Whenever you’re around. Leo will be Control.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Alright team. Call signs. Red, Raven, and Lion. Raven take point, Red pull up the rear. Three. Two, mark.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” He flashed his hand over the control and the airlock opened, ejecting the trio from the door towards the massive ship. Running lights followed their trajectory from the Outcast, large floodlamps illuminating the emergency escape pod hatch left empty. Saeza used the Force to grab hold the ship and draw herself to it while Laira and Leo used a few short bursts from a maneuvering pack to follow. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Air lock is closed on the inside.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” She called, reaching through the shattered transparisteel window to click the door open control pad. It popped open with a groan, slowly moving on cold hydraulics. Once inside, Leo plugged his wrist pad into the interior lock and began overriding the locks.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Can you keep the pressure inside?[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” He asked. Saeza nodded, positioning herself in front of the door and letting out a deep breath. She nodded again and he flicked the switch, snapping the airlock door open. Laira could see the barrier, where air began and vacuum ended, held there by the Force Saeza was exerting allowing them to get inside the ship without depressurizing the whole section of the vessel. Once they had all three entered, Leo closed the chamber and Saeza released her hold on the barrier. Leo whispered quietly, “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Jester, scans of the atmosphere, start our sweep. Let’s secure the area. Communications should be thirty meters forward.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]”[/SIZE]

 

[Laira Darkhold]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Saeza moved fluidly and softly through the metal corridors, every twenty meters a single overhead light buzzed softly running on emergency power except in a few places where the glowlamps had been broken. The ship was cold, its life support functioning, at least in this area of the ship, but only barely keeping the temperature above sixteen degrees. The trio had to take solace that at least the atmosphere was still fine, though with the expected staleness of a ship that hadn’t been around a real planet in fifty years.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]As the trio moved through the corridor they continued cautiously until they found the communications control room. The doors were open, one set broken so that they couldn’t be closed properly, and a dust had settled over the room. Instead of banks of computer systems there were only a few, just enough for a holocomm and a subspace transceiver for short range communications, nothing like what was found about warships. Even the Resistance managed better on their aging recommissioned vessels. There they found the first signs of combat.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Blood spatter. A ton of it.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Leo said his helmet’s lamps illuminating arterial spray that had coated the walls and long since dried there. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Whatever got whoever it was nailed them hard.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” He finished, pointing out a few pieces of bone strewn on the deck. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Bone and grey matter on the floor and walls. Blood spray on the ceiling too. I can’t imagine this was one shot.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Looks like they put up a fight. Control system’s slag.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Laira said, crouching next to where the computer terminal had once been, now pools of cooled metal that had once been superheated into molten liquid. She picked up a few charred pieces of computer, examining them swiftly before placing them back where she had found them. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]I’d say this is why the message ended in light and static.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” The culprit lay nearby, a large industrial plasma torch, spattered similarly with dried blood. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]It's got some fuel left in it.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” She said upon inspecting the device. One puzzling thing was despite all the blood and evidence of a body, there was no body present, or any obvious drag marks where it might have been moved.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Saeza however stood off to the side, quiet. Her golden eyes cast off in the darkness. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Yeah, Jester, see if we can link up with a secondary terminal.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Leo ordered, hefting the plasma torch off the ground. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Might as well keep it.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” He muttered, setting it on a row of computers. He set to work closing off a few of the side doors into the control area of the tower, sealing them with a fusion cutter ran across the seam of the blast doors. It wasn’t military grade, but short of an explosive or another fusion cutter it would work. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]If I get time, I’ll come back and run it along the edges of the door for a full lock.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” He said while Laira poked around in a closet, finding a few smears of blood inside. It didn’t look anything like where they had found the plasma torch, probably transferred from having touched the blood and then the walls of the closet she surmised.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]A moment later the droid returned and buzzed out a response to the Death Trooper. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Alright,[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Leo’s tone expressed his joy even through the vocoder in his helmet. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Jester found us a security room down the hall that’s still functioning.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” He waved his hand, gesturing to the two girls. Laira stood from her inspection to follow, noticing Saeza had yet to move. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Come on. What is it?[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” The redhead asked as she came over to the disguised Yuuzhan Vong. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Tracks.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” The girl pointed down where dried blood in the form of five clawed toes made their way down the corridor and into the darkness. All the emergency lights had been damaged for as far as the eye can see. Leo flicked his longlamp on and cast it down the two hundred meter corridor. Nothing but pipes and loose wires along the walls of the corridor, the tracks fading out about thirty meters away.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]What do you think they were from?[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Laira asked in a hushed tone. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Doesn’t matter.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Leo retorted, turning back to lead the girls to the security terminal down the other hall. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]But at least we know it likes to get up close and personal.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Laira pulled Saeza along behind her as the trio moved down the corridor and into the security station.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]It was a simple layout. Three entrances set perpendicular to one another with the terminal facing the center one, its back to a supply room that probably seconded as a bunk room for a spare man. Laira ducked inside the room and scanned its walls, finding a few glowlamps and batteries, a few old blaster pistols with empty cartridges from having been left unattended for so long. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Doesn’t look like anyone ever used this place[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt].”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Yeah, must have been a skeleton crew.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Leo mused, plugging his datapad into the security terminal. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]I think I can get these doors back online.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]What do you think knocked em out?[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Laira asked as she tossed him a battery from a glowlamp. He took out a set of wires and plugged them into the dead control panel, sticking the wires into the powercell once he had them attached the way he wanted.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Sucks, but these batteries are only gonna work for one cycle. You can open and then close the doors. After that, you’ll need a new cell.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” He muttered, clicking the button to close the first door, leaving the cell attached, holding his hand open for a new one from the redhead. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Probably powerdrain. I’m gonna guess the reactor is in standby mode.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Saeza stood, still watching the dark corridor. Something deep within her told her to be cautious with the darkness and the shadows that lurked within. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Why would they put it into standby?[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” She asked over her shoulder.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Could be a dozen reasons. Maybe whoever boarded them tried to overload it so they cycled it down. Maybe one of the asteroid strikes ruptured a tank somewhere.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Laira answered. She knew enough about mechanical issues to know on an old ship like this, there could be a hundred issues with it at once. Leo clicked the second door closed and left the powercell attached after ensuring it was locked, the same as the first one he had done.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]How many more of those did you find?[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Six. I’m sure we can grab a few more from other places as we go if we need them.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” She answered handing him another as she walked past him. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]What’s the plan now?[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Well...[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Leo started, pulling his helmet off and setting it on the computer terminal. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]On emergency power I can’t do an internal sensor sweep from here. I need an uplink to engineering in order to reroute power from elsewhere to do that.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” He ducked underneath the terminal, pulling open a grate to expose wires he planned on slicing, muttering something unintelligible beneath his breath. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Alright, how do we do that?[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Laira asked, putting her hands on her hips. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Someone has to take a wireless uplink and plug it into the engineering mainframe.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]”[/SIZE]

 

[Laira Darkhold]

[SIZE=10.5pt]The redhead narrowed her eyes at the Death Trooper, his body still concealed by the terminals he was working under, pulling up wires to cut and hotwire his way into the security and communications system. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]I suppose you mean us.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” She said sarcastically. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Ideally, yes.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” He responded, sitting upright enough that she could see the top of his long dark mane. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]The other issue is communication. The hull is carrying a faint ionic resonance which is going to fuddle our comlinks. My guess is one hundred meters and all we’d be able to hear is static.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Leo grunted, shuffling through a pouch on his belt, digging through a series of tools until he produced a data spike.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Here’s an uplink. Go plug me in.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” He ordered, she wasn’t a fan of his tone. By now Leo should know she was in charge of this outfit. Sure she let him take lead where his strengths made him an asset, but he should probably be reminded that leading didn’t make him the boss. The redhead stalked over to the terminals and held out her hand. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Ask me nicely.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]What?[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” He stammered, unprepared and taken aback by her response and tone. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Ask me nicely. You don’t get to tell [/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]me [/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]what to do, but you can ask.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Laira said with a smirk, holding out her hand, waiting for him to place the uplink in her palm. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Go ahead.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Um,[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” He started, “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Sorry,[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” he continued, rubbing his hand against the back of his head. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Just got into the mission mind too much I guess. Please would you take this and plug me into the engineering mainframe?[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Because,[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” The redhead raised her eyebrows, her inflection drawing out the word she spoke as if she was leading him.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Because I need you to?[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Leo said, confusion on his features.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Not great, but that’ll do.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Laira shrugged her shoulders, planting a wet kiss on his befuddled cheek and sending a ripple down his spine. She grinned, turning on her heel and walking away with a slight saunter of her hips. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Come on Saeza.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Behind her she heard him mutter, “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]What the hell just happened?[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” eliciting a giggle from the redhead as the Sephi girl caught up with her in the darkened corridors. Every now and then it was pertinent that Laira remind him she was the boss, and that just because they weren’t expressing their feelings didn’t mean she couldn’t use them on him. As they passed through the bulkhead, the still confused Leo closed the doors behind them, leaving him alone in the communications center.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]The two walked to the end of the two hundred meter hallway before taking a left at the junction, following another long corridor towards the mag-lifts where they could travel up into the guts of the ship. Laira wasn’t certain where they were going, but they had a sonar-mapper and a rough idea of the ship’s layout. They knew the Reactor was above them, and they knew they’d have to scale the lifts or find a set of emergency stairs to take them upwards. Saeza stopped them at the next junction, pointing at a set of maps. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]This doesn’t say where we need to go exactly, but it does have the ship’s sections marked out. Engineering, aft, deck sixteen-thirty two. Command, aft, deck one-three.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” She said, wiping dust from the markings.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Hmm. Doesn’t say where we are but the lifts probably will. Come on,[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Laira said, turning nonchalantly and making her way down a different corridor. A lot of the emergency lights in this area were not functioning, leaving the pair bathed in darkness for most of their trip, only a handful had not been damaged or left unrepaired for so long they didn’t work anymore. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Red.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Saeza said softly, “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Shouldn’t we be a bit more careful than this? This ship was boarded. Whoever did could still be here.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]The redhead sighed, “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Sure.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” She whispered, “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Just, we’ve fought sith and their spawn for a while now. We’re prepared. Plus, why would they stay once they got what they were after? Especially since they probably know a distress call made it out.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” It was logical. Unless a pirate was going to risk jumping whoever came to the rescue, they wouldn’t bother sticking around any longer than they had to. And with a ship as small as the Outcast, it wouldn't be worth coming back for.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]I just have this feeling that we should be careful.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Saeza said falling back into line with the redhead as she lead them towards where she assumed the lifts to be.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]It's just anxiety. We will be careful, and if we come across anything we’ll handle it like we handle everything else.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Laira responded again, slipping down another corridor only after she had shone a light down it and ensured it was clear, a concession to the sephi’s concerns.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Saeza didn’t seem convinced, whatever was aching her still clinging to her subconscious. Laira wasn’t about to let it bother her, at least not more than she already contemplated death. The redhead had come to terms that it was better to die in combat, trying to help people, than to go quietly. Once she had come to terms that it might be better that she be dead, the rest seemed to come easy. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]I think I see some stairs.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” She mumbled, shining a light on a door with a window and the symbol for a stairwell above it. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Yup, let’s see, deck one hundred twenty. Ugh.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” She groaned at the long walk ahead of them. Eight-eight flights.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Laira opened the door and started up, Saeza in tow.[/SIZE]

 

[Laira Darkhold]

[SIZE=10.5pt]The redhead and raven-haired sephi heaved themselves up flight after flight of stairs, through bulkhead after bulkhead, slowly ascending the ship level by level. The emergency stairs were set with pressure bulks running every fifth flight, which luckily most were still open. It wasn’t until they found level sixty that they encountered a sealed door. Laira sat at the control panel to begin hotwiring it to the glowrod powercell she carried, letting Seaza run a scan to ensure she wasn’t about to open into the vacuum of space. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]The room has atmosphere still.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” She confirmed, while Laira pulled out wires, twisting them in her hands and jamming them into the right places of the control panel. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]The other side is locked too though.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Good,[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” she grunted, biting her lip while she worked the wires into place and waiting for the power to run through the wires and into the panel, then into the door mechanisms. A moment later, the panel turned on, buzzing with static. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]We can open five more doors, four once I get the other one open. While in engineering we should probably stock up on powercells.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” She clicked the activation button, there was a sharp hiss as the pressure doors slid apart allowing the two to ascend the next five flights of stairs. Inside, the pair saw a massacre. Three bodies, torn to shreds. Blood, week old meat, bones broken. Saeza clasped a hand to her mouth in shock, but all Laira could see was bloody bodies on a hill from some far off planet. She froze, looking at the three corpses with a far away look in her eyes while her friend slowly entered to examine them.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]By the Force,[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” the sephi muttered, lifting up a rag soaked in dried blood from one of the chest cavities. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]It was torn open.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” She said, looking at the hole of protruding ribs long enough to smell the rot coming from with in. Saeza dropped the rag back covering the hole and moved to another corpse. She looked at the lacerations upon it, “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Teeth marks,[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” she said allowed, seeing places where the woman had been bitten by relatively small jaws. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]What happened to them? They must have been so afraid.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” She asked, standing away from the bodies. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]They had fled here, hidden for a time, then something managed to get in, probably through one of the doors and just…[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” She turned and saw how Laira simply stood in the door, holding herself steady against the frame. The redhead was still simply staring forward with an empty expression. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]What is it,[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Saeza asked, reaching to take a hold of her friend’s arm.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Laira had taught her how to hug, though she wasn’t very good at it, very awkward in her approach and lacking a proper embrace, but the thought was there. Laira snapped back, blinking away tears that welled in her eyes. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Sorry.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” She returned the embrace, closing her eyes tightly. She could still see the younglings piled up, but it felt comforting being held by Saeza who wormed her way into Laira’s mind. Together, they pushed out the thoughts and memories from Laira’s mind. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Just, need a minute.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Well, can we take that minute up at the next door, away from all of, this?[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Saeza asked quietly.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Yeah of course.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” The redhead murmured, being lead through the mess of corpses and rotting meat by the short sephi until they had crossed to the next landing and up the stairs. Unfortunately, there were blood trails up the stairs and smeared handprints where the trio of unlucky crewmen had been trapped in the stairwell alone without weapons or tools to defend themselves and so the only thing they had been able to try was to run from it and hope they could get through the pressure door before it caught them. And unfortunately, that had not worked.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Once Saeza had lead Laira up the second flight, she released the redhead and let her walk on her own power. The redhead followed Saeza up the flight of stairs and put her back against the door, just sitting silently for a moment.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]What was it?[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Just, seeing the poor kid.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” She whispered, “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Took me back there. Like I was at Purity all over again.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Laira wiped her eyes, fumbling with the powercell and the wires, not yet working on plugging it into the panel yet.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Saeza nodded knowingly, patting her friend’s arm softly. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]It will be okay. We will save the ones that can still be saved. That is all we can do.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]It’s not that. I know we couldn’t do anything for them. Just seeing them,[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” She trailed off again. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Yes, it was bad. Clear your mind. Practice with me.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” The sephi said, brushing the thoughts from her mind with Laira’s help through the meld. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Focus on the mission.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” She said, and Laira nodded, opening the control panel to begin twisting the wires together with the ones from the jury-rigged powersource held in her hand. After a few minutes, the control panel activated and she flicked the door open. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Alright, only ten decks left.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Laira muttered, standing up to begin trudging up the stairs once more.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Saeza spared another look down, towards the corpses they left behind. It troubled her about it all. Pirates didn’t do those kinds of things. They didn’t eat parts of the bodies usually, and certainly didn’t tear open ribcages like the one she had found. Her stomach felt uneasy, but it was best to leave it behind and just focus on completing their mission. Whatever they encountered, they would simply have to be prepared for it.[/SIZE]

 

[Laira Darkhold]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Ten more flights upwards, continuing to move. Unfortunately they had left the doors from the massacre open, and so now the stench spread, following them faintly, flight after flight. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Shoulda closed those doors.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Laira mumbled to herself as they finally reached one of the many engineering decks. Most of the travelling had been accomplished, but now the hard part of finding an acceptable terminal to give Leo access to the Engineering systems lay before the two girls.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]The pair exited the stairs with a grunt, both of them brushing themselves off in the hopes of ditching the stale air and the rancid odor they had passed through. Laira took the lead, holding the sonar-mapper out before her, watching it take images of the interior, mapping out wherever the sonar ping could pick up, around fifty meters in every direction, assuming there were no sealed doors. She pursed her lips, glancing at the device every couple of steps while Saeza followed closely behind. The Sephi continued to look around, paranoid of something she could feel that Laira could not. The redhead had learned to trust the girl in many ways, but she was inexperienced in battle, and though she didn’t have a history of anxiety this was the first time they’d ran off into danger without knowing what they were up against or why.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Here we go. I’m gonna see if this terminal can tell us where to go.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” She clicked a few buttons, waiting for the screen to activate. This part of the immense ship didn’t seem to get cleaned very often as she scraped a thick layer of dust from the screen. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Hmm.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Finally the old data-terminal powered on, dim under emergency power and brought up the command screen for her to begin typing.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]{Input: Engineering Mainframe Location Action: ?}[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]The cursor blinked on the screen for a minute.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]{Output: Action cannot be processed}[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Laira frowned, typing in a new set of commands. {Input: Engineering Map}[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]{Output: file//not found}[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Ugh, stupid thing.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” She slapped the side of the monitor in frustration, jamming the Uplink into the computer terminal. Lines crossed on the screen and finally, after a few minutes a query appeared on the screen.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]{So you just jammed it into the first terminal on the engineering deck you found?}[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]{Yup. Tell me where I need to take it pls.}[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]{One sec, Jester is looking it up… Deck 40. Corridor B57… Engineering Control Center C.}[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]{Thank you baby.}[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]{Wha-} She yanked the uplink from its port without waiting for him to finish typing. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Alright Raven, let’s keep going.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Laira smiled, turning to lead the way down the criss-crossing corridors, through the labyrnth of hallways until she found Corridor B-Thirty Six several long minutes later. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Now we just gotta follow it until we find Fifty Seven.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Intersections every ten meters.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” The raven-haired girl said quietly, gold eyes peering into the blackness.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Ugh, this rescue mission feels like it’s been mostly walking.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Laira retorted, exasperation laced in her tone, but she kept on walking, moving from intersection to intersection with Saeza in tow. The pair moved quietly and cautiously, at Saeza’s insistence, the sonar mapper illuminating the room they were searching for long before they reached it. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Seriously, it feels like it's been hours.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]It has been one hour and eleven minutes by my comlink.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” The sephi said, shining her light into the empty chamber. It was small, banks of screens and terminals on both walls with a semi-circular command terminal at the far end of the wall. It was colder here than elsewhere on the ship, fans subtly blowing from the ceiling and unsettled dust stirring throughout the room. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Well, I guess that’s not too bad. Check the supply closet for more powercells. We might need a few spares.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Laira strode over to the command terminal and fitted the uplink spike into the slot, waiting for Leo to begin typing to her. Saeza nodded, ducking into the supply room to scour it for resources they could use. While Laira waited, Saeza rifled through the drawers and shelves, pocketing three more powercells from glowrods, and a fusion cutter before returning to the redhead.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Lion’s just taking his time.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” She said when the dark haired girl approached with a quizzical eyebrow raised. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]{Hello.} Appeared on the screen. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]There he is.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]{Hi there. What’s the haps.} She responded with a grin.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]{Good news. Bad news.}[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]{Bad news first.}[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]{Its going to be four hours before Jester can slice through the security to gain control of the emergency power flow. And before we can do that we need a manual access switch flipped to give us control. Aaaaand we need to reboot the emergency power generator, manually.}[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]{Good news?}[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]{I communicate with you through any non-max security terminal now!}[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Laira sighed, looking up at the ceiling and putting her hands on her hips.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]{Lay it out for me.}[/SIZE]

 

[Laira Darkhold]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Leo typed out the long list of instructions, sending it to Laira and Saeza piece by piece. First they had to go find the manual access switch array in the reactor control center, located on Deck Thirty Two and key in a code that would give he and Jester the ability to start their slicing program. That wouldn’t take them too long, they were only eight decks away and it was just keying in a fifty digit code he sent them. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]After that, Jester could begin his slicing protocol, which the droid estimated would take four to six hours assuming the aging monolith Ex-Gal called a mining barge didn’t have updated anti-slicing protocols. Admittedly, that was unlikely. While Jester did that, Laira and Saeza would then have to travel amidships to the emergency reactor and reboot it. Luckily there was some overlap in the duties there to cut out some of the wait time, but the rebooting process wasn’t exactly quick and easy. It took time and wasn’t just flipping a switch. The pair would have to go through a series of tasks to reboot it. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Whoever dropped this into standby did a piss poor job.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” He said, as though he was speaking to his droid. Since he hadn’t been able to do much about the power or communication issues, Leo had taken to securing the Comms Center, sealing off the corridors and fusion-welding a few doors closed. He left the main corridors closed off, with a powercell hooked to their control panels so that they could be reopened if needed while welding the secondary doors closed. He left the hallway to the Airlock they had arrived through open for the time being, but he’d taken a short sweep through the arrayed rooms and corridors before lounging at the Security Station he’d claimed as his Control Center. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]All in all, it was going to be a long mission, and he watched the timer he had set, Twenty six hours, nine minutes, fourteen seconds. The seconds continued ticking down, when it reached zero, they were leaving. With or without any survivors.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Should we split up?[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Saeza asked as the redhead gathered up a few things from the engineering mainframe they had been in. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Nah, once we get the boys plugged in, he can slice it while we are working on rebooting the emergency power generator.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” The redhead responded, placing a spare powercell into her belt. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Come on, we gotta find some lifts or stairs again.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Preferably not the ones we used to get here.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Aye. I think I saw a sign for mag-lifts up ahead. We can scale the tunnel up eight floors easy enough.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” It wouldn’t be difficult for them, the two girls were athletic, though Saeza lacked the muscle definition Laira bore. It was mostly tedious work, a very boring rescue so far. Laira mused quietly in the meld, noting how this particular mission wasn’t helping get her mind off her woes.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]She knew Saeza wouldn’t talk about it with anyone else, and she wouldn’t ask about Laira’s troubles. At least not yet. She and Leo had both been very patient about waiting for her to be willing to talk about it all, which only made the situation more awkward, as Laira felt she was not deserving of such friends. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Certainly not with her track record for losing friends.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]The pair walked through the maze of corridors until they found the Lift shafts they had been seeking. Laira plugged a powercell into the control panel as she had done a handful of times before, working the wiring together so that the door mechanisms could drain the glowrod cell in order to open. She pinged the open button, “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]One sec, gonna message Lion before we go.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” She said, tapping a message on the screen for the Death Trooper.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]{Going up. Radio silence, five minutes.}[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]There was no response, the cursor just sat there blinking. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Alright, let’s get climbing[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt].”[/SIZE]

​

[SIZE=10.5pt]Leo watched the message appear on his screen, leaning forward in the chair he had pilfered to read it. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]{Going up. Radio Silence, five minutes.} [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]The Death Trooper smiled, moving to begin typing a response when Jester’s proximity alarm pinged. Leo had less than a second to turn his head to see the creature drop from the ventilation shaft and charge him from just a few meters away.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]It was insectoid in nature, with a shining black carapace with a semi-humanoid appearance. Four limbs and a long segmented tail ending in a vicious barbed spike. Its head was elongated, and domed, reflecting the emergency lights. Each finger and toe ended in a sharp claw and large fangs filled its jaw, drool falling from its mouth.[/SIZE]

 

[Laira Darkhold]

[SIZE=10.5pt]His hands shot up instinctively, “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]FETH![/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” The word escaped his mouth just as the tail darted forward, catching him in the shoulder. The spike plunged through his armor and flesh with ease, propelling him backwards in the wheeled chair he sat in until he clanged against the wall. The creature’s tail drove through his shoulder and out the other side, burying itself in the bulkhead, pinning him to the wall.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]The creature scrambled forward, faster than any human could have covered the distance in an explosive bound, claws raking the Death Trooper’s armor and open jaws rushing for his scarred face. His hand caught the creature’s throat, stiff arming it from being able to bite him. As he held it, the proboscis-like tongue, ending in an inner set of jaws snapped out, only a millimeter short from scraping his skin. He could feel its wet breath against his skin, cold. Its throat surged with hidden musculature, Leo searched its form for a weak spot, eyes, ears, anything that indicated a gap in its armor and found none. The creature’s claws raked against his armor and his unprotected face, carving six deep gashes in his skin, as Leo struggled against it, putting his foot in its stomach.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]With all his might, the Death Trooper shoved. What should have been enough to send the creature sprawling only forced it back a few extra inches. Just enough that his injured arm could produce the pistol from his hip.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]The blast rang out through the room with a distinctive sound, catching the creature in the hip. It hurt the beast, but hardly put it down. But it did cause the creature to retract its tail from Leo’s shoulder and the wall it had him pinned to. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]The Death Trooper fell to the floor, snapping off blaster bolts at the black beast one after the other. It was quick, with sharp reflexes, retreating backwards and darting in a zigzag that kept him from being able to get a solid hit on the beast as it weaved through the room, bolts glancing off its hide or missing entirely. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]And then it was gone. One leap and it was back in the ventilation. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Oh, Feth.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Leo panted from his position on the floor, eyes darting from corner to corner of the security Chamber. For the first time in many months, he felt fear.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]He could hear scratching above the ceiling, little clattering of skeletal like hands and feet against metal decking. The emergency light fizzled out with a pop, bathing the room in pitch blackness. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Jester, Light.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Leo called, the seeker droid activating a glowlamp on its chassis which bathed the room in dim luminescence. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]His eyes scanned the area, “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Jester, message the girls. Tell them what’s on the ship with us.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” The droid buzzed some response in monotonous binary. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]NOW![/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Leo shouted from the ground. The droid moved over to the terminal, his manipulator arms working the keys with a soft tapping. Slowly the Death Trooper rose to his feet, still brandishing the blaster pistol in his wounded arm. He needed to sit down and tend to his injury. He needed to sit at the terminal and ensure Laira and Saeza were okay. If there were more of those… things, on the ship, they all needed to be on guard.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Gripping the pistol tightly, the Death Trooper opened his medipac, only risking short glances down into its contents while his eyes scanned every corner for the creature. He jabbed the needle into his flesh, injecting bacta into the punctured flesh, dropping the empty injector to fumble through the pack for the next treatment. Blood trickled down his face like tears from the six cuts on his face and neck, he blinked, trying to keep the visceral liquid from entering his eyes to no avail. The sting of blood in his irises blurred his vision.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]The control panel buzzed with a message, {Warning. Hostile Presence aboard [/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Dona Carlotta[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]. Proceed with extreme caution. Lion injured. Control Center compromised.} But there was no one to read it. It would have to wait until they reached the top of their climb.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Laira and Saeza climbed leisurely, one hand above the other, gripping the maintenance ladder one rung at a time. The pair climbed in the utter darkness of the lift-shaft, moving upwards towards their goal. Saeza called out each time she passed a door, three decks left to go.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Laira was getting tired, not of climbing, but in general. She’d not slept well during their trip and had taken to long shifts in the cockpit guiding the Outcast towards the system through treacherous hyperspace lanes at break-neck pace rather than getting her full rest cycle. Coupled with all the walking and climbing, it wasn’t exactly getting her adrenaline pumping or having her heart racing. They still had more than a full day to complete their mission, and at this pace they wouldn’t really be cutting it close.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Eight.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Saeza called. Below them, they could hear a little clittering, as if wires or metal was tapping against metal. It wasn’t concerning, on a ship as big as or as old as the Dona Carlotta, something was always making noise, but the girls pressed on. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Nin-,[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Saeza stopped mid-sentence. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Laira… there is something on the ladder beneath you.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Her gold cat-like eyes flicked downwards, shining in the darkness as Laira looked up at her. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Laira groaned, twisting around to shine her glowrod down the shaft. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Fine, let me check.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Near the door they had come in from was indeed a figure. Dark and ominous, insect like but larger than the average human. Vestibules protruded from the back of its exoskeleton, barbed tail flickered behind its body. It’s domed head reflected the light from the glowrod. Laira’s grey eyes grew wide. She could see the creature, but felt nothing.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]A cold gripped her spine. Its lips curled back, a deep hiss erupting from the beast’s throat. It sprang upwards, bounding from one side of the shaft to the other, covering a few floors in as many seconds.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]CLIMB![/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]”[/SIZE]

 

[Laira Darkhold]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Laira pulsed the Force through her arms and legs, taking the last floor in a single bound, grabbing on to the door frame. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Cut the door![/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” She screamed, the snap hiss of her lightsaber activating echoed through the lift-shaft. Beneath them, the creature covered another two floors in a pair of leaps, hissing violently. The redhead slashed the left hinges and releases, Saeza cutting the right side and telekinetically forcing the door open.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]The two girls ducked through the opening, Laira collapsing on the deck while Saeza closed the door with the Force. Almost as soon as the metal clanged back together, they could hear the creature smashing into it with a thud. The metal buckled under the creature’s strength.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]That’s not going to hold him.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Laira said, waving her Lightsaber towards the door. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Go. I got him.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Her voice was a cold pant, labored breathing. Was this what she wanted? To stand alone against something she didn’t understand, to not care whether she lived or died?[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Better her than Saeza. Grey eyes snapped over, looking at the Yuuzhan Vong taking up a defensive stance alongside the redhead. “I said go.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]I’m not leaving without you.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” The girl said sternly. Laira could feel the fear in her through their meld. She could feel her own doubts too. The creature crashed into the door again, forcing it partially open. Its hand slipped through the opening, exoskeletal carapace and claws carving deep furrows in the metal bulkhead.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Fine. Pincer him.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” The redhead grunted, gritting her teeth together, gripping the saber out in front of herself with both hands. The beast let out a screech, horrifying to hear, curdling Laira’s blood in her veins. Its claws pressed on either side of the door and forced them open enough for it to dive through. Claws clattered against the decking, the beast lurching towards Laira only to change direction in an instant and leap towards Saeza angrily. Claws outstretched to grab the girl, she flashed her lightsaber at its arm defensively.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]The scent of burning ozone and acrid flesh filled the air, the nightmarish beast emitting a wail like a banshee. But it’s arm was still intact, burnt where the Lightsaber had slashed it, but still usable. Laira charged its rear, feinting to its right and then ducking right after a split second hesitation. It ducked low, beneath Saeza’s second strike, reaching for her legs, forcing the girl backwards to avoid being grabbed or slashed by its claws. Laira slashed her azure blade in a downward strike, carving a deep burning wound in its back and slicing off one of the vestibules protruding from its carapace. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]The creature screeched once more, springing to the left, its tail lashing out towards Laira even as it pressed its attack on Saeza’s defensive screen, its claws scraping against the laminanium armor she wore recoiling as her saber touched against its exoskeleton. Laira, slashed her saber at it’s incoming tail, which it flicked at her like a whip forcing the redhead to duck under the spike or be impaled by it. She redirected her saber waving it at the back of the beast’s legs, connecting with one of its digitigrade ankles. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]It roared, snapping direction rapidly. Laira checked its movements, recognizing that it was quicker than the two Jedi girls, but was quickly realizing it was suffering a lot of damage combating them. Predators had simple minds, and so Laira reached out with the Force, hoping it would give her a glimpse of its next move and she felt it.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Nothingness.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Not a hole, not emptiness where there should be the Force but wasn’t. Just nothing. As though the creature they were fighting didn’t exist. <[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Illusion?[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]> She asked in the Force. So far she’d not actually felt the creature.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]<[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]REAL![/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]> Saeza answered back telepathically, panicked in her mental response. <[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]NOT OF THE FORCE![/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]>[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Sithspit.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]The creature pounced at the redhead, grabbing a hold of the ceiling and suddenly redirecting, the width of its tail catching Laira in the ribs sending her flailing against the far wall. The creature hissed angrily, darting forwards and then crashing down towards her. Laira snapped her blade between herself and the lurching beast, piercing its chest with the tip of her saber as it propelled itself upon her. Claws dug through her catsuit and into the flesh of her arm, others scratching above her brow and hairline. The creature screamed in pain, the azure saber burning through its back, drool dripping onto Laira’s face as it pressed downward further still. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Her eyes widened, putting her knee into its hip to try to keep it backwards. With its mouth open she could see the inner jaws flexing on its tongue, a row of jagged teeth behind its dripping fangs, ready to shoot out and bite her face. She didn’t even see Saeza slash at the back of it’s head with her saber, catching it at the base of the skull. Muscle spasm jerked its leg back to kick the girl in the stomach hard enough to knock her to the ground. It hissed and cried, but went limp after a few spasms.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Ugh,[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Laira groaned, snapping her saber off and rolling the creature off herself. Her arms hurt, four deep gouges in her bicep. She blinked, blood running down the side of her face from its claws.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]What is that?![/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Saeza asked, helping Laira to her feet.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]I don’t know,[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” the redhead answered with a grunt. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]But it hurt. A lot.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Saeza’s hand pressed to her wounded bicep, a burning sensation beginning almost immediately. The girl was cauterizing the wound and using the Force to direct Laira’s own immune system to being regenerating the tissue. It was an effective and energy conservative method of healing, but not always the most pleasant experience for the recipient. Saeza repeated the process on Laira’s forehead and scalp quickly.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]We gotta tell Lion.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Laira said, suddenly remembering her Death Trooper. The redhead rushed to the closest terminal, sprinting down the corridor with Saeza in tow. “Here!” She panted, tapping the screen. Shortly after she began typing the cursor showed a message.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]{Warning. Hostile Presence aboard [/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Dona Carlotta[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]. Proceed with extreme caution. Lion injured. Control Center compromised.}[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Sithspit. We gotta go back and get him![/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Everything in Laira’s stomach told her to rush back to Leo and spacewalk off this ship so that Rowdy would come get them.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]We can’t.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Saeza responded, sternness in her features. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]We have to stay focused on the mission. He’s injured, not dead. We give him access, and then rush back to him with all haste.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Laira pursed her lips, curling them back into a noiseless snarl. She didn’t like it. Leo was hurt and alone and they were bruised up. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Fine, but we sprint the whole way.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]{Killed something. Big, Black, and Buggy. Be careful, it was fast and tough.}[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]One thing was certain, there was at least one more of those creatures somewhere on this ship.[/SIZE]

 

[Laira Darkhold]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Leo’s eyes scanned the darkened room, keeping his back against at least one wall while he moved slowly, sliding along. The thing had dove into the ventilation shaft and cut the light to the control center before disappearing so he was trying to scout out where the other vent accesses were in the control center. So far he’d labeled three in his little series of corridors and chambers that he could see, a few others in secondary rooms. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Jester squealed a response in binary about three minutes after he had sent the message to the girls. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Well feth. There might be more than one left.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” He muttered. No way it made it that far away in that short amount of time. Without any knowledge of what kind of creature it was that attacked them, or what its motives were, Leo could only guess that it was a hunter after prey. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Jester.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” He sighed, knowing what he was asking of the droid. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Go into the vents, and start sealing off access points to the Control Center.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]The droid buzzed, and cycled off into the vents. Every few moments Leo heard the metal on metal screeching of a vent iris closing. The Death Trooper jammed another applicator into his shoulder, waiting for the droid to give an all clear or hear it torn to shreds by the creature. [/SIZE]

​

[SIZE=10.5pt]Saeza and Laira took off through the corridors at a run, ducking through hallways and bulkheads as quickly as they could while still keeping their bearings. Laira pumped her legs, adrenaline firing through her bloodstream. She wanted with all her heart to grab Leo, and get him off this ship as quickly as possible, get he and Saeza to safety and then see about the mission herself if they still could. Laira could feel the Sephi girl’s presence in her mind, stoic and determined to see the mission through to completion, even at the cost of her own life.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]The question circling around in Laira’s mind was whether she was willing to risk their lives for this mission.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]They darted around a corridor, “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]There![/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Saeza called, pointing to a closed bulkhead before them. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]There it is.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” They skipped to a stop, the raven haired girl taking watch while Laira dropped to her knees to start hot-wiring the door to a powercell to open it.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]The redhead muttered quietly to herself, trying to rush through the process of opening up the back of the control panel, stripping a pair of wires, twisting in new wires to the frayed ends and attaching them to the powercell, then waiting through the power on cycle, all while sub-consciously tapping her leg to the durasteel decking impatiently. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Good.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” The door opened with a hiss, the stale air trapped within the room leaking out to mix with the more easily circulated atmosphere from the corridors.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Saeza stepped through first, followed quickly by the redhead rising to her feet and darting inside behind her. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Keep watch. I’m going to try to see if Lion can send along the access codes he needs us to plug in.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]She pulled up the first computer terminal, tapping on the screen. {Made it. Walk me through the sequence.}[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]The cursor blinked for a moment before it began slowly, clearly typed with only one hand. The process was long and intricate, requiring her to go through numerous steps of pulling a master switch, pulling up the appropriate file, and then typing out the fifty digit code into the master terminal which soaked up one of their powercells just to turn it on enough to function properly, but after about twenty minutes, he had managed to walk Laira through the process. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]The first thing they noticed was lights blinking on that had been dulled and dormant shortly after from other terminals in the room. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Awesome.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]{Looks good on our end, how are you holding up?}[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]{Control Center Still Compromised. Working on securing it.} He responded after a few moments. She grunted, fighting her instincts. If they were going to keep going, they needed to commit to it.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]{I think we should leave.}[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]{Can’t.} The message responded quickly. She wanted Leo and Saeza safe. They could walk her through the issues and the mission from the Rebel Outcast if they had to. {We have to scan the ship. I’m fine, just a little banged up. Reboot the emergency generator. I’ve repowered the doors from here, so they should open on a motion sensor now.}[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]{Fine.}[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]It was all she sent, walking away from the terminal. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Come on Raven. We have to go amidship now.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]How far is it?[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” The girl asked falling in behind the redhead as they jogged out of the mainframe.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Twenty eight decks below us and a kilometer towards the front of the ship.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]”[/SIZE]

 

[Laira Darkhold]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]How much further do you think?[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Saeza asked while Laira scanned the Sonar-mapper in her hand. They hadn’t become lost, but their way had become blocked by damage to the vessel. Vented corridors, obstructed passages, and broken pieces of the ship had forced the pair to double back twice and now they were faced with the prospect of trying to go under and around the entire section of the ship.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]I don’t know. Maybe another two hundred meters. We could try going back to that junction and going all the way down to the beltway.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Laira mumbled, thinking to herself. It had been over an hour since they had started making their way to the emergency reactor and they were still probably an hour from having it rebooted even if they managed to get around the obstacle immediately.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Maybe we should just go through that open part?[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” The sephi suggested with a shrug.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]You know what. Feth it. That’s what we’re doing.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” The redhead let the sonar mapper drop from her hands, letting the shoulder strap catch it from falling to the decking. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Let’s go.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” She ushered, letting the Elven girl stand from her crouch in a jolt. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]She jumped up, following the redheaded Jedi, her face confused. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]We’re going to space walk through there?[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Yeah. Our suits are intact, we’ve both got fifteen minutes of oxygen. It’s only a five minute space walk and then maybe three minutes to get an air lock open.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Laira was already walking along the decking, moving with a purpose. So far there had been no other signs of the creatures that had attacked she and Saeza or the one that had ambushed Leo in his control center. Silence was good on that end. Maybe they’d caused enough damage to keep the predatory beasts away for now. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Another benefit was out in open space they wouldn’t have to worry about any of those creatures ambushing them.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]For a few minutes after Jester returned from having sealed off all the ventilation accesses and there had been no sign of the creature Leo had felt safe. He had went and checked all the doors, ensuring they were all sealed and that there was no way in or out of the control center that it could sneak through. The droid hadn’t seen any sign or detected it during his time in the vents.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Then, one by one, the emergency lights in the Control center had all shorted out. The only lights were now a few glowlamps Leo had set up, Jester’s lightsource, and his own glowrods on his armor and helmet. It was clearly an intelligent creature. Smart enough to hide and cut the power to the lights at the very least, and so the Death Trooper just hoped that maybe he could trick it.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]He’d waited and timed it, watching the pattern the creature had been cutting the lights, and when it was furthest away from his room, he’d reached up into the vents to set a motion trip infrared laser attached to a shaped charge sitting on the floor in the room. If it wanted to come down on him, it’d catch a claymore to the legs first. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]The next time he’d gotten a chance, he had set his helmet outside the door in sentry mode to alert him if it tried to outflank him through the corridor. With that done, now there was nothing left to do but wait and see. Eventually the girls would complete their mission and get back to him, or he’d pass out from exhaustion.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Perhaps his traps would stop the creature, or they might not...[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]At least I can sit now.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” He whispered under his breath, peeling away the makeshift bandage from his shoulder. The armor was uncomfortable now, pulling on his flesh and the damaged meat beneath, but he couldn’t afford to risk taking it off to properly dress the wound. Gingerly, he sprayed more antiseptic on the puncture and pressed wads of gauze between the injury and his damaged armor. The bleeding seemed to have slowed enough that he was no longer leaking visceral fluid openly, even the cuts on his face and neck were now just raw, open wounds. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]The terminal buzzed with a message. {Going on a space walk with Raven. Should only be a few minutes. Be careful Lion, or I’ll hit you.}[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]The tall man grinned to himself, smiling as he tapped out a response. {Already taken care of. See you soon.}[/SIZE]

 

[Laira Darkhold]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Laira checked over Saeza’s suit, ensuring that the small tears that had been opened in it were closed and that it was vacuum worthy by running compressed air through the suit just enough to see. The little Yuuzhan Vong had already checked and helped patch Laira’s torn suit, pulling the holes on the redhead’s shoulders closed and letting the suit-seal itself. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]See, that’s why I wear a shape-shifter suit.”[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt] The redhead said, grinning to her petite friend. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Makes it easy to pull together and open up to check me out.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” She held her hand out, making a spinning motion as an instruction for the Yuuzhan Vong.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]The raven haired girl spun around as instructed, letting Laira get a good once over her form before nodding in approval. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Yes, your wounds seem to be scabbing over fine.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]That’s not the kind of checking out I meant,[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Laira said with a joking tone, approaching the airlock.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Oh. Oh! I was not![/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Suuuure you weren’t.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” The redhead grinned, priming her helmet to activate sealing around her face. Saeza did the same, the solid-state hologram and laminanium nanobots forming about the two girl’s heads into sealed environment safe headwear. Laira’s appeared sleek, with a transparent face design while Saeza’s appeared much more militant, just a dual visor slit on the face with sharp angular features.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Ready.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” The vong said, nodding her preparedness to the redhead who worked on cycling the airlock. The doors behind them began to close slowly, drawing from the emergency power of the ship now and connected to a motion activated door sensor, however the inner doors still needed to be hotwired. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Laira’s motion detector buzzed. A single object moving quickly down the corridor. The redhead turned, Saeza following suit. She couldn’t see the Yuuzhan Vong’s face, but her sudden fear through their meld told her enough. Whatever sensation Saeza was able to sense off the creatures gave her the only method of detecting them in the Force the group had. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Her glowrod’s light shone through the dark corridor, doors closing slowly around it. Sleek black exoskeleton shone in the light, reflecting it across the glossy exterior of the bounding creature. It was fast, almost as quick as Laira could run even aided by the Force, taking several meters with each bound. Powerful leg muscles propelled it towards the two girls. Saeza instinctively pressed her hand towards the creature, unleashing a pulse of telekinetic energy that rippled through the corridor, shuddering it behind the great expulsion of power, enough that panels were crumbled by the blast and ripped from their housings. The creature seemed to take it like one would a strong wind, stumbling, but not losing its footing. Laira’s lightsaber snapped on just before it slipped into the airlock with the girls.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]The creature’s claws and tail lashed around, thudding against the hull and scrapping the armor of the ship, outstretching its forelimbs to tackle the redhead against the wall when Saeza snapped the outer door open before the inner ones could close.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]The sudden decompression hurled all three from the airlock, propelled by the explosive decompression of oxygen hurtling out through the corridor. The creature’s claws scraped against the hologram covering Laira’s face, leaving deep scores for the hard-light fixture to repair slowly. It’s body drove into her ribs, but with no resistance, it merely accelerated the redhead’s flight. She kicked hard, catching the creature in the head with her boot, driving them apart enough that her flashing Lightsaber sizzled part of its armored exoskeleton.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Inside her helmet, she was panting, the sudden decompression and combat making her fight or flight instincts go haywire. For now the trio were all simply floating through empty space, but not for long. The massive hole in the ship was surrounded on all sides by hull and filled with trailing debris floating through the void. The redhead hit a piece of decking, causing her flight path to twist oddly while Saeza used a separate piece to push herself towards the bottom of the hole. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]How is this thing still alive?[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Laira said through ragged breath.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Lungless Gand can survive minutes in space.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Well, sithspit.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” The creature found its footing, expertly using a few pieces of debris to brace itself against and propel its body in several short bounds, building up speed as it went. Whatever instincts drove the beast, they were refined as it seemed to feel right at home in zero gravity just as well as it had managed artificial gravity. It seemed fixated on Laira, turning its attention to attack her from a new angle, shoving pieces of rubble in her flight path to force her in a different direction. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Further away from Saeza.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]It’s trying to separate us![/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]I know. Focus on finding us a door to go through. I’ll keep him busy.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]But-[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” The vong girl protested, cut off by the commanding tone Laira wielded. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]I have a few tricks left.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Laira gripped her lightsaber with both hands, kicking the first piece away from her and slashing through the second, both pushing her subtly towards the upper portion of the ship. The creature hissed inaudibly in the void, snaking through the vacuum of space like a dark shadow, twisting its body to land with both feet against a small piece of an asteroid that had caused the damage they were floating in. With a great leap, it darted towards Laira like an arrow, seeking to collide with the redhead.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Laira twisted, dragging her lightsaber blade across the creature’s face while kicking her leg backwards to push off a broken girder. The blade sizzled against its flesh, burning a deep furrow across its teeth and the dark domed cranium of the beast. It winced visibily, slashing with its claws while Laira spun in the air, driving her other boot into its ribs. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Pain streaked across her features, claws digging into her calf when the creature grabbed a hold of her kicking leg with its other appendage. Droplets of blood seeped from the wound, propelled by the tiniest amount of air escaping the holes in the suit, freezing shortly after. Laira snapped her saber back towards the creature’s arm, slashing deep into its bicep forcing it to release her.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]I found a door![/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Saeza called through the comlink. Laira could feel the girl’s worried presence in the Force, directing her approach. Suddenly, Laira was pulled by an invisible hand towards Saeza and away from the creature. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]The wounded redhead, though slowly leaking oxygen and breathing heavily decided to leave the beast with a last gift. Her middle finger rose up from her clenched fist. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]See ya later, jerkface![/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]As if on cue, the creature twisted about and used its tail to slam against a piece of the ship to propel it elsewhere. Saeza caught Laira’s arm and pulled her in, “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Gotcha,[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” she muttered in the comlink, helping steady her fellow Padawan on the ledge. Laira wasted no time, plugging an already prepared powercell into the wires and prying open the control panel. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]See if you can buy us some time.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” She grunted, air and blood still leaking out from the wounds on her leg, no escaping more rapidly without the beast’s fingers there to fill the holes in the suit. Saeza nodded, using the Force to hurl small pieces of debris in a barrage at the creature, each piece hoping less that it would damage it, more so that they would slow it or alter its course.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Come on, come on.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Laira whispered under her breath, hotwiring the door as quickly as she could. It pinged, allowing the two girls to slip through opening, pressing the door close as they did to trap the beast outside. Once the door was closed and they were alone, the second set of doors opened for them. The deck outside thudded, the creature landing on the ledge where they had just been, its lips curling up in a bloodcurdling snarl as it stared through the window. Suddenly its mouth open and the powerful inner jaws smashed into the transparisteel. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]It’s clawed hands grabbed either side of the door, forcing them open. The air from the corridor began roaring past, keeping it from being able to keep its grip as Laira and Saeza escaped the airlock into the corridor, slamming the inner doors closed behind them. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Let’s get the feth out of here![/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]I concur.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Saeza said, eyes wide. She could hear the outer doors being wrenched open, forcibly pulled apart by the creature. Only a matter of time until it managed to open the second set of doors. Laira ran, limping on her injured leg alongside the yuuzhan vong into the darkened corridors, pushing towards the emergency reactor.[/SIZE]

 

[Laira Darkhold]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Laira had heard the skeletal creature’s screeching a few minutes prior while she and Saeza were still running, confirming that it had indeed wrenched open the outer doors and then pulled the inner doors of the airlock open and made its way back into the ship behind them, however for now, it was still behind them far enough that they could rest.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]She limped on through the hallway, only stopping when Saeza insisted she be allowed to treat the injury and check it for damage due to the suit having lost pressure. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]You were lucky.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” She muttered, holding the redhead’s leg in her hands, applying the Force to the wounds. Laira had already numbed the pain receptors around the wound, but the focused healing helped, though Saeza was starting to pull her fellow padawan’s body in too many different directions. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]You should be alright. Just soft tissue damage.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Yeah, I told you that.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Laira retorted, letting the raven haired girl wrap the injury in medicated gauze. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]We don’t know if they’re claws are venomous or carry bacteria. Some predators use such tactics to take down prey after the fact.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” The girl fussed with the wound further, pinching the skin near one of the punctures and smelling it, testing it with her refined biological senses.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Yeah, I wouldn’t put it past them.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Laira agreed. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]They are fast, don’t require oxygen, resistant to lightsabers and blasters, stronger than a human, can climb just as good as we can run, and capable of maneuvering in zero gees. I wouldn’t be surprised if they have any other evolutionary advantages.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Makes you wonder where they came from. Or why they don’t have a presence in the Force.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Saeza said, finishing her work. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Mhmm, mostly I’m worried they aren’t from this system and they are elsewhere in the Rishi Maze too.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” The redhead looked down either darkened corridor, watching the flickering emergency lights for any moving shadows. The creatures were exceptionally fast, and with a wounded leg, Laira knew she’d be hard pressed to outrun one, though being vain she did believe she could. Saeza was another matter. She could use the Force to enhance her speed, but not like Laira could. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]All they needed to do was be faster than the slowest of the pair of Jedi and the creatures would claim victory.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]They seem to prefer using ambush tactics and isolating us while we are vulnerable. We’ve seen three so far. We must assume there are more of them from now on.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” And they hadn’t exactly dealt with the third they had encountered.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Agreed. I’ll check in with Lion and see how he’s doing before we start moving.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Laira reached along the wall, pulling herself up to a data terminal while Saeza pulled her pants leg down to cover the gauze she had just placed. Her leg was already starting to feel better.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]{Encountered another one. Still loose on the ship with us. Please be careful Lion. We are almost at the emergency reactor, be back shortly}[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Alright.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Laira said, reading the sonar-mapper’s screen for directions. They weren’t far from the emergency reactor, but now they had to be on the look out.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Leo quietly read the message, holding pressure to the puncture wound through his arm. He’d started to lose feeling to it from blood loss and general post injury numbing seeping through his shoulder muscles and was beginning to worry. When the girl’s had finally messaged him, he had at least managed a smile.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]It had become clear the creature trapped in the communication’s center with him was waiting, probably to ensure he was weakened. Perhaps he had startled it with his enhanced strength, maybe the blaster bolt to the hip had injured it more than he had originally assumed, but it was certain the creature would be back to finish the job only when it believed he wouldn’t be able to fend it off anymore.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Jester, how goes the slice?[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]The droid buzzed a response, the screen rolling through the message that he was delayed due to the loss of expected assistance when the initial calculations had been made. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Yeah I know, I just-[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]” Leo could hear the slow draw of claw upon a metal surface, a thing easing its way, ever so gently and ever so slowly through a vent or along a corridor. He wasn’t sure yet based on what he could hear, the fainest tap of claws upon metal decking once every few seconds. “[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Didn’t think I’d be this bad off. At least I’m not bleeding anymore.[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]”[/SIZE]

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Laira and Saeza made their way down the longest corridor Laira had ever seen, or so it felt. Three hundred meters straight shot with doors on either side every forty meters. The only emergency lights active in the corridor were on either end, and so the going had been terribly slow. The girls took each junction with caution, shining a glowrod at each set of blast doors before continuing to move along to the next and had so far gone without issue or concern. They had closed and flash welded the door behind them with their lightsabers, hoping that would slow or delay any pursuit from the serpent that had been following them, but it did little to ease Laira’s mind.

She had taken to thinking on the creatures and what she had been able to observe of them thus far. Intelligence, at least enough to plan ambushes and attack when the girls had been preoccupied with other things. Speed, agility, strength, durability. Every advantage she could imagine a species possessing, it was like a creature dreamt up by a Sith trying to make a perfect Sithspawn.

But, as Saeza had noted, they didn’t have a presence in the Force.

It only made the serpents stranger, and more deadly.

“Alright,” Saeza muttered, kneeling beside the last door. One thing they had done by accident was unlocked all the doors for these creatures by setting them to motion activation. Unfortunately, until they managed to reboot the emergency reactor and allow Leo to enter in their data cylinder information to the computer, it was either motion activation or nothing.

“Let’s go. It should be about three decks below us to get to engineering.” Laira stepped forward, the door sliding open with a metallic groan. The girls peered out, surveying the corridor for a moment before slipping into it and making their way to the turbolift shaft. This time, they were forced to open the doors manually, which Saeza managed with a simple tug from the Force and then they carefully checked the darkened shaft with their glowrods before making their way doon to the engineering deck inch by inch.

So far, so good.

Laira tried a smile, red hair slightly dampened from blood that had mixed with it from her injuries. “Maybe we lost it.”

Saeza shook her head. “No. I didn’t get the impression that it would quit.”

“Yeah, neither did I. But,” Laira began, walking towards the next set of corridors they had to traverse. She changed her mind and decided to follow a different train of thought. “You do seem to be getting a better feeling off them than I do. Do you think it has to do with your, um, Vongyness?”

“I’m not sure. These things aren’t biots, but perhaps they are similar enough that I do. Whenever they are close, I feel a pressure. A coldness.”

“Well, let me know if you get a chill.” Laira chuckled, holding her pistol in her hand as the next door opened. “I get nothing from them off the Force. Just what my instincts tell me. Its a hunter of sorts I suppose, a predatory animal. When you hunt a manka cat, its sure of its place as an apex predator, confident. They don’t consider you a threat until you hurt it. But these are a bit different. Ambush, smart enough to shut off lights, preference for dark confined spaces. Less animalistic in that regard. Anything with their evolutionary advantages should be brash and confident. These things act like they take us seriously, but the first one threw itself at a Lightsaber.“

Saeza shrugged her shoulders, indicating she simply didn’t have a response for the redhead Jedi. Nevertheless, Laira was concerned what that information implied. It implied a level of sentience, and a simple disregard for its own life.

The pair turned a corner, flashing lights down the corridor. At the end, massive transparisteel windows covered either side of the door, viewing the pitch black engineering bay in its entirely. Running lights should have been on, power should have been cycling through the small reactor, and people should have been here if the ship wasn’t so quiet. Given everything they had seen, Laira expected the result of the life-form scan to be negligible, a few outlying creatures on the ship like the serpents they had encountered and no crew found.

Saeza whispered, pulling to hug the side of the corridor, pointing with her finger. “Look.” She clicked her light off, and Laira did the same, moving to hover over the petite yuuzhan vong girl.

“What is it?”

Saeza’s gold eyes peered through the darkness with ease compared to Laira’s human ones. “It’s in there.”

<Sithspit.> Laira cursed in her thoughts. “Really?” She muttered. “What is it doing?”

“Its not moving. It didn't seem to notice our lights or it would have found better cover. Maybe its asleep?”

“Well it won’t be once those doors open.” Laira began formulating a number of plans, but all of them required the two girls to confront the creature, which had proven risky but not impossible. “We can’t use blasters there. One bad shot and we could cause a leak and flood the deck with radiation.”

“Yeah. Not even our badges would hold up for longer than a handful of seconds.” Saeza’s eyes glanced around the corridor, “I think I have an idea.”

“Alright, shoot.”