Private The Crew Remains

[Corin Vale]

What a depressingly interesting life Corin turned out to lead. Trouble on Corellia with the law over a misunderstanding had forced him off the planet unless he wanted to visit the inside of a prison cell. His dubious legal status meant he couldn't work his job, repairing ships just off of shipping lanes.

Now Corin had to bid for deep space jobs. Longer, bigger crews, bigger ships, but usually more dangerous. More than once a ship had been waylaid by pirates lurking out in the dark of space. More than once a KIRG recovery team went missing and never came back.

But Corin had no choice. He was just lucky the company hadn't turned his information over to the Law. They promised him this one last job before they'd have to turn him in. Paid him in advance, too. So, naturally, here Corin was.

"Coming out of hyperspace in five…four…three…two…one…" the ship shuddered, and deceleration forced Corin agains the safety harness of his seat.

"Alright," the captain declared, "good re-entry. Perry? Give us the job again. Broadcast over ship intercom."

"Aye, captain," the other, Perry, replied then cleared his throat and keyed the intercom.

"Attention Crew. We are approaching the last known position of a Capital Class Warship, Pure Bliss. The ship went missing two weeks ago, but sent out a distress call last night. No attempts at communication have proven fruitful so, naturally, we're assuming communication breakdown. We don't know the status of their ship, we don't know the status of the crew, we're coming to lend a hand in whatever capacity we can. Be on your best behavior while aboard. Thank you for your time."
Perry clicked off the intercom and nodded at the captain who rubbed his temple, "yeah okay sure that works," the captain answered.

"Ship spotted." The pilot said.

Corin rose and looked through the viewport. "no visible hull damage," he said as the ship grew closer, "no scorch Marks, no loose panels no nothin'. They weren't attacked. So what happened?" He clicked his tongue.

"Not your job to figure that out, Vale. It's your job to fix it." The captain replied. Corin shot him a look and shrugged.

The KIRG Recovery Ship Lothcat held a crew of fifty people. Most of that crew were repair technicians, some security personnel, one overworked cook. This meant that the boarding tubes into the Pure Bliss ended up being a bit cramped, yet Corin made sure he was the first one on board the silent ship.

The quiet, low red flash of a ships low power lights were the only thing that met him.

"No crew. No signs of crew. Power is in reserve….where is everyone?" He asked quietly to himself as he entered.

"Right team, you know the drill. Vale, go find a diagnostics console. Figure out what's broken. Moll, go find a crew console, find out where everyone is. Everyone else? Well, if the crew ain't here then we get salvage rights. So go see if you can find them too. Stay on comms, report your locations, don't start stealing stuff."

Corin huffed and nodded at the shift leader as he gave out the assignments and started towards the nearest Engineering desk. Through the darkened halls and corridors, he a sense of dread.

"Okay what the hell," he said to himself, "Where is everyone?"

Darth Nexion

 

[Darth Nexion]

"Well, this trip wasn't nearly as educational, or entertaining, as I'd hoped. I mean, what is half of this junk? None of this has given any inspiration for my next project. Hate when that happens."

Nexion threw away a piece of old technology, a slugthrower, he had been looking over in disappointment. He was crouched down in a storage section of the ship he had... well, technically he was invited, so 'snuck aboard' wasn't quite right. No matter. It had been a few days since the crew of the Pure Bliss had picked him up from Jakku. They had both their hyperdrive and navigation systems broken, but fortunately, Nexion was there to lend them a hand in getting parts in exchange for a lift.

Well, they were quite nice hosts, and had apparantly quite the collection of weapons and technology, but they all turned out to be junk. He was hoping their tech, or even the crew themselves, would inspire him in his state of 'job hunting'. Unfortunately for him, no such joy. Let's just say that he and the crew then had words, which Nexion won. Annoyingly, they did hit a distress signal button and shut the place down, leaving him basically stuck.

It wasn't long, however, until he felt another ship dock and so he snuck off to the security cameras, watching the new arrivals. A smirk grew on his face as his eyes glowed a bright green in excitement. He felt his 'job hunt' had come to an end.

"Hmm... 'Director Nexion'. I'll have to work on that. No matter, this may be entertaining yet. Let's see. One to diagnostics, one to the crew, the others scavenging around... oh, that's just too perfect. Don't they know not to split up on a broken ship drifting thought space? I wonder which one will find my handiwork first."

He spun in the chair, giggling in pure glee at his current opportunity. He stood up and walked over to a panel on the wall. His hands began to spark with lightning before he sends a small torrent into the systems, sending them haywire.

"Let's set the mood first, shall we? Let's see how they get through the first act of: A Taste of Horror!... yes, I think that will work nicely as a title."

___________________________________________________________

Corin Vale

 

[Corin Vale]

Corin continued onward until he got to the nearest Engineering desk. Immediately, his eyes lowered and he saw a datapad on the ground, dropped mid entry. Corin furrowed his brow and kneeled down to pick it up.

“Mid report? You don’t just-...” he tossed it on the desk and looked around, leaning over the desk he spotted something red coating the floor. Immediately, his face fell.

“Is that….?”

Suddenly, the lights began to flicker, no longer the low red of low power. Something was pulsing energy through the ship’s systems. Corin looked up, away from whatever stained the ground, and backed away from the desk as he observed the phenomenon.

“That’s not normal,” he said quietly and brought his finger to his ear, “Corin to team, are you guys gettin’ crazy lights?"

“Who cares about the lights, how’s the ship?” came the immediate response, then no others.

Corin cursed silently and entered the engineering area, once again looking down at the red mess upon the floor. “That’s…that’s blood. That is blood.” he said, frowning. Still, he raised his eyes and checked the systems.

“What the hell…?” he said as all systems flashed green. Nothing was wrong with this ship. Absolutely nothing. Systems were de-powered manually, sure, but nothing was broken. Escape pods were all launched, he noticed, but...no reports of life signs on any of them. They were all launched manually at the same time. There was something very very wrong here.

He looked back down at the bloodied mess on the ground. There was a trail. Something had dragged someone away. He followed the trail to a vent on the wall, and his eyes went wide.

“Team, Corin. We need to get the hell off this ship,” he said, quickly leaving the engineering desk. They were attacked after all, he thought,

And he was pretty sure no one survived.

Darth Nexion

 

[Darth Nexion]

Nexion spot one of the crew members, the one sent to the engineering area, was the one who found his display first. His smile would have stretched further if it were possible, but the ever increasing glee in Nexion was palpable. "Well, well, well. It seems I found my leading man. I'm sure he'll grow into his role as our filming goes on.". He got up from his chair at the cameras, removing his over-cloak, leaving him in simple black robes. He had a stretch, all the bones in his body cracking as he did so as he peered back at the cameras.

"Now, who will I have to remove first? No, no, better question: how should I remove someone first? Let's see, there's- no, too simplistic. I could- no, maybe save that for later. Perhaps... no, that will be for the final act. Hmm...". He looked over the crew, humming 'eeny meeny miny mo' as he landed a finger on a screen. "You, my dear. I'm sure you feel safe in the barracks, it was the one place I'd yet to deliver anything into, but I'm sure I can correct that.".

He moved to the door, using the force to deactivate the cameras for the time being, save for the one observing the engineering deck. As his leading role, he couldn't have the man catching on too quick, it could ruin the rest of the first act. As he moved through the dark corridor, his eyes glowed brighter in delight.

After a few minutes, he arrived outside the barracks, forcing them open with silent force. He saw the woman in front of a screen, looking over the crew list as he simply watched. He was still debating on what to actually do at the moment, but when he decided...

There was nothing she could do.

_______________________________________________________________________________

Corin Vale

 

[Corin Vale]

Navigating the corridors of a ship in low-power red lighting was a pain.

Navigating it while the lights sporadically, inexplicably pulsed like a heartbeat? Sending blinding white light into Corin's eyes with each flash? That was bad made worse by the scene Corin had found, and he desperately kept trying to contact the rest of his team.

"Team, damn, this is Corin Vale, stop pissin' about!" He sent again over comms, but got no response. With a deep breath of frustration and growing fear, he checked his comms. It was working, just not transmitting...something was blocking the signal. His growing panic and need to analyze caused him to slap his communicator against his palm, trying to beat the thing into submission before he cycled through every available channel and tried again. Nothing was working. That didn't just happen. Not every single function? Something wanted them disconnected, separated and for the first time in his life Corin felt like prey. His heartbeat quickened with growing fear at the realization, and he pushed himself into a sprint.

He couldn't remember the last time he'd run aboard a ship. Running meant panic. Running got people hurt. Today, he couldn't make himself slow down as he ran, crossing Engineering deck with haste until he reached the engines and found another member of his crew diligently working away at the engine trying to scrap any useful part he could find.

"Corin? The hell're you doin' here?" the man asked, a look of annoyance on his face and, in a moment of self reflection, Corin hated that he never learned the man's name. He decided to waste no words or time,

"There's somethin' on this ship," he said simply, "Somethin' killed the crew. That pulse earlier?" he pointed to a light fixture, "...Yeah?" came the unenthusiastic and uncaring response, "Someone did that."

"...okay." The man said simply, and slowly turned back to what he was doing.


Corin reached out, his hands trembling with, now, a sense of overwhelming anger. He closed his fists and pulled them back, groaning in frustration before he turned to leave.

As he did, an ear piercing scream came from somewhere-nowhere....-everywhere all at once. Loud, sharp, scared. It ended just as soon as it began, immediately swallowed by the dead silence of the ship. It was a voice that Corin had recognized... It sounded like...

"Moll," Corin said quietly, his heart dropping into his stomach. He turned back around and met the crew members, whose own eyes were wide with shock and fear,

"Yeah you friggin' heard that huh? Now you care?" Corin spat. The man nodded and rose to follow him, "We gotta go get Moll," he said with a panicked tone.

Corin nodded, and the pair started sprinting towards Crew deck.


"Keep trying to get a hold of someone. Anyone." Corin said over his shoulder, trying to mask how terrified he truly was.

Darth Nexion

 

[Darth Nexion]

Nexion had entered the barracks in silence, the door hadn't even let out a creak or groan, and the young lady inside was none the wiser. He drew closer, not a footstep ringing out in the room. She didn't know anyone was there until a hand had gripped her by the back of the neck and lifted her off the floor. Before she could scream, a cold hand covered her mouth before a light hearted voice (devoid of warmth) whispered in her ear.

"Not yet, my dear. Screaming will get the attention of others, but I need a bit more time to set up the scene."

Nexion took out his saber, hitting the crew member over the head, knocking her unconscious. He clipped the hilt to his belt before drawing a knife, one that looked more ceremonial than practical, but the blade was stained with faint blood regardless.

"I haven't used this in a while, so I may be a tad unsteady."

He raised the blade high before plunging it into the unconscious body's leg with a sickening CRACK of bone. He carved the left leg off almost too casually, tossing the severed limb aside, for now at least. He did the same to 3 fingers on the left hand, the right hand and a slash across the stomach. He reached in and pulled something out, the room was too dark to see clearly, but what it was got thrown aside as well. Satisfied with the scene he had created, the slightly decrepit barracks now being blood-soaked with scattered limbs, he decided now he could proceed.

He reached out and held the woman's head in his hands, green energy released from his hands and leaked into the body. He forced the body to wake, the woman's eyes glowing green like his, but there was no sound of pain coming from her. Nexion had felt her body was already cold, probably from the blood loss mostly, but that didn't matter.

"Scream."

That single command caused the corpse to release a scream of pain, sounding all too real despite how manufactured it was. Nexion knew someone would catch it, the scream echoing off the walls of the ship. he drew the energy (now smoke) from the body as it slumped lifelessly on the floor once more. He smiled, as if he were taking a pleasant stroll, and picked up the leg he cut off.. He then stood by the door, knowing whoever came in would pay him no mind as he left, their focus would be all to much on their friend.

_______________________________________________________________________________

Corin Vale