Private The Forgotten Taint

[Silas Westgard]

Location: Thearterra
Objective: Investigate the distress signal
Tag: Valery Noble

The fact he still believed the Maw was still kicking only confirmed how long the man had been down here. It had been years since the fall of their cult, yet there still seemed to be remnants like this isolated in the galaxy gripping onto their old belief. Even so, they were still dangerous and itching to cause misery wherever they could.

"You heard her, your methods are wasted. The maw will never call upon you, nor will they exist in this galaxy ever again." Silas said with a shake of his head "You are the last of your kind, and one day no one will remember you people even breathed" he ended coldly, remembering the atrocities they committed when he was only a padawan. They were unforgivable, and for once in his life he was happy for a group of people not alive in the galaxy. They killed without mercy, now they were going to pay for their crimes in the afterlife.

Suddenly, Valery took out her pistol and shot. Not at him directly, but at the glass panel to his left. Shattering instantly, the glass stabbed into his arm and forced him to stumble back onto the table with a loud yell. The madman felt blood pouring from the gashes, making him panic and scramble for a large syringe filled with the strange red liquid.

Behind him, Silas quickly dashed up and swiftly threw him back first to the floor. The knight quickly ignited his saber and pointed it down to him with authority "Now that wasn't so hard was it?" he said with a sigh just before looking over to the syringe, one that was now empty of that same red liquid. Silas snapped his gaze back down to him and began to notice the scientist gradually shaking "What have you done?" Silas demanded as he took a few steps back towards Valery, his eyes narrowing at his muscles growing larger and deformed.

"Y-you lie!" the man grunted out with aggression at first, his form slowly getting to his knees "Do... do you think I'm-I'm a fool?!" he growled while looking up to them with bright red eyes and a constantly changing body "The Maw will never die... THEY WILL NOTICE ME!" with one last shout he managed to suddenly stumble himself to his feet and grab hold of the work station. Lifting it with unnatural strength, he sent a mixture of lab tools, glass, and the table itself flying in their direction.

"Watch out!"
​

 

[Valery Noble]

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Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Blasters | Double-Bladed Lightsaber
Tag: Silas Westgard

Everything happened in a heartbeat.

After the glass panel exploded, Silas was rewarded with a moment of opportunity he wouldn't waste. He closed the distance and forced the man down to the ground while his lightsaber kept him at bay. The fight should have been over, but the tension in the Force never faded. The syringe he had held was now empty on the floor, and it didn't take a Jedi Master's senses to feel the danger that was starting to brew.

"Silas, take a step back..." Valery warned him, as muscles and bones began to twitch inside the man. Whatever he had injected himself with, he was transforming and without any knowledge of what it was, she wouldn't take any risks.

Slowly but surely, he managed to get up to his feet. His eyes were red, and in some ways, he felt like the undead he had created. Just... more aware. He still spoke and the way he looked between the Jedi suggested intelligent thought. This was a bad situation that sent shivers down her spine.

"Incoming!" Valery ducked aside and let the table he threw hit the wall behind her. Immediately, she raised her hand and send more equipment flying directly at him. Not to take him out, but hopefully to slow him down.

 

[Silas Westgard]

Location: Thearterra
Objective: Investigate the distress signal
Tag: Valery Noble

Instinctively, Silas did the same as his master and threw the large work desk back at the crazy abomination. Both of their efforts were rewarded with a devastating yell from the beast, who was sent flying back with scalpels, glass, and broken pieces of wood sticking out of its body. Narrowing his eyes, he watched carefully as the former scientist got back to his deformed feet with a series of angry grunts. He was clearly in agony, but his resistance to pain was quite remarkable.

<"He's not going to back down, especially with his mind in the gutter. We must take him down now!">

By this point, the man was beyond saving. Even if they did manage to subdue him, the effects of the strange liquid were sure to slowly but surely break him down into nothing but a hollow shell. They needed to take him down and soon before his insanity only made him even more stronger and aggressive.

"Using projectiles to fight me?! You Jedi are nothing but cow-"

Suddenly, the knight dashed forward with lightning fast speed and managed to get behind him. It seemed like he was going to slash his lightsaber across the back of his neck, yet to his surprise, the mutant turned at a frightening speed and swung his forearm into Silas's chest. Flying across the room, Silas slammed into the wall and grunted loudly when he fell back down to the floor. He coughed heavily and looked up in what looked like shock to the monster's abilities.

This was not good...

Turning his attention to Valery almost instantly after dealing with Silas, he let out a blood-curdling yell of defiance and charged the master head on to try and ram her back first into a concrete pillar behind her. He didn't care what the outcome was, the still loyal follower of the maw wanted to get his hands on the sword of the Jedi and make his masters pleased.

"I'M GOING TO BREAK YOU IN TWOOO!"​

 

[Valery Noble]

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Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Blasters | Double-Bladed Lightsaber
Tag: Silas Westgard

"Silas!" Valery called out when he was sent flying into the wall. Their combined attack had caused this beast some amount of pain, but it wasn't enough to cripple him. It wasn't even enough to slow him down, either. While her former Padawan was down on the ground, Valery readied herself to charge in, simply to offer him the protection he might need. But rather than follow up and go after Silas, this thing turned towards her.

With a burst of speed, he accelerated to attack, and Valery began to back up towards the pillar.

To bait him.

As soon as the beast's body was about to slam into her own, Valery phased and the beast would only run through the air. She hoped her sudden disappearance would throw him off, and cause him to crash into the pillar on his own. Whether he did or not, Valery spun on her heels and lashed out at him with the rear blade of her double-bladed weapon.

A quick slash across the back that she hoped would bring him down.

 

[Silas Westgard]

Location: Thearterra
Objective: Investigate the distress signal
Tag: Valery Noble

Yelling with a mighty roar it appeared the mutant was going to squash Valery's smaller body like a pancake. However, at the last moment, the smart master moved behind her attacker in the blink of an eye. The man stumbled back with a low groan and looked to be dazed for a few moments after going head first into the pillar, leaving him open for a harsh slash down his back with the sword's lightsaber.

The beast shouted in agony and slowly but surely buckled down to one knee, his body breathing heavily from fighting against the pain that filled his system. Although, unknown to Valery due to the thick muscle that plagued him it wasn't a fatal blow to the down but not out Maw brute. If anything, it only made him more pissed and eager to snap her in two. For now, he kept down and waited for Valery to try and hit the fatal blow. She was cocky now, and before long she'd be paying the price.

That was the plan until a fierce Silas appeared at his side with frightening speed.

Just before he could swing his arm at the master Silas had jumped to his feet and grabbed hold of a long metal table leg that had been snapped off. Within a few seconds, the expressionless knight had stabbed half of the metal into the side of his body and forced the sharp end to appear on the other side. The deformed man screamed as he slammed into the wall right arm first, forcing his body to be pinned against the wall by the metal penetrating the other side.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I WILL NOT D-DIE YOU JEDI SCUMBAGSSSS!"

Using his free left hand, he tried to push at Silas's face to get him away to no Avail. The knight was pushing the metal leg hard and standing his ground with a bloodied face that showed no remorse for the heretic. It was clear something had changed in that short period, a lapse which had turned the young man on his head.

With a snap of his head, cold, blue eyes stared back at Valery "Aim for the head, end this now!" he growled while his arms trembled from the amount of force it took to just keep him there. All it took was one swipe to save them all, one last strike...
​

 

[Valery Noble]

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Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Blasters | Double-Bladed Lightsaber
Tag: Silas Westgard

With a slash across his back, Valery sent him down to a knee but she could still feel his pulse. He wasn't dead and the strike had severely angered him. Perhaps enough for the boiling rage to help him push forward and fight again. A sudden spike of danger alerted her to just that, but before she could respond and try to take him down, Silas appeared and impaled the beast with a metal table leg.

Valery's eyes widened at the gruesome sight, but there was no other way.

The beast screamed as the object pinned him against the wall. Blood squirted out from the open wound and a more lifeless look appeared in his eyes. But he was still resisting and Silas couldn't keep him down forever. So, right as he asked for Valery to finish it, the Jedi Master dashed in and swept her blade across his neck, severing the head from the torso to kill him instantly.

"Eugh," Valery groaned, "That was a lot messier than I hoped it would be." She turned to Silas and disengaged her blade, before she returned the hilt to her belt.

"Are you alright?"

 

[Silas Westgard]

Location: Thearterra
Objective: Investigate the distress signal
Tag: Valery Noble

Silas continued to push hard into the beast with no mercy, his blood streaming from the wound and pouring onto the arms of the knight whose arms were shaking. As soon as he asked Valery to strike him down, he was gifted with the sight of the maw scientist's head falling to the floor and rolling away. The body of the mutant suddenly went lifeless, along with his dream of the maw seeing him as one of their own once more.

Slowly, Silas fell to his knees and took deep breaths. His muscles ached from the amount of effect of holding a man of that size. Not only that but his face and clothing were smothered in the thing's blood. Using the clear part of his sleeve he wiped away some blood from his eyes and looked up to Valery with a brief nod.

"I'm fine... I-...I just didn't know I could be that brutal" Most of the time Silas could keep control of his emotions, but for whatever reason the man had triggered a deep hatred inside of him. Whatever the reason was, he didn't want to go back to that place ever again.

Frowning briefly, he finally got to his feet and stood over the body in reflection. They didn't get a cure or solution out of him, only death and retribution for those who had died for his creation. If anything, it was only a small victory over what was still going on outside of the tunnels. Turning to his Master, he motioned over to another table which had several monitors attached to the wall. It was transmitting what was left of the working cameras, including one at the entrance.

"He was watching us all this time, the man knew what he was doing" he sighed while walking over to the table and looking at each monitor "For a long time he must have been creating his power. How is a good question bu-" however, something on the monitors caught his eye. Raising a finger, he pointed at an infected individual who was shaking on the ground "Valery! look!"

It quickly began to become clear the dark outlines of bodies floating in the water, ones that were only moving and running after them not so long ago. Upon killing the scientist, it also seemed to pull the switch on the rest of the infected "They're dying! As soon as we killed their patient zero they seem to have malfunctioned like a network to a computer" he explained, his expression trying to make sense of the whole thing.

"If I'm thinking right, it's possible the rest outside of the facility are down too"
​

 

[Valery Noble]

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Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Blasters | Double-Bladed Lightsaber
Tag: Silas Westgard

"It's alright, we'll figure it out later." She knew what it was like to be overwhelmed by emotions. Jedi were trained to control them, but they were still people, too. Each and every Jedi had limits, and perhaps the things that had happened today pushed Silas beyond his. That was something for the Jedi Knight to reflect on later.

Right now, they needed to complete their mission.

Walking around, Valery finally began to take in details of their surroundings. She had been too focused during the battle to notice, but it seemed this man had planned a lot. He was watching everything, and-

Valery blinked.

"That's... odd," Valery commented when Silas showed her the falling undead. "It could make sense, considering that it wasn't a virus. But why would he have it all tied to himself?" Maybe that was his ego or the belief that he couldn't be killed once this army was on the move. Either way, she felt it was strange.

"Let's go outside and take a look, hm?"

 

[Silas Westgard]

Location: Thearterra
Objective: Investigate the distress signal
Tag: Valery Noble

"Maybe the scientist micro-engineered something biological? It's a rough guess, but it's probably best we pick up some samples and take it back to our own scientists to investigate" "he explained before briefly looking back at the body of the man who started all this "I guess that he felt unstoppable and thought no one could touch him. In the end, it was safe to say he was wrong..." Silas said with a sigh as he went over to a work table littered with empty viles.

Grabbing one on the way past, the knight went to the downed figure and knelt beside him to patiently catch a few drops of blood that was dripping from the wound in his side "A few drops is all we need to prevent something similar from happening again. By the time it does, we will be more prepared for it" placing the lid over the top he finally stood back up and sheepishly gave a smile to his former master.

"By all means, let's see if our thoughts are correct."

Moving themselves back into the tunnel it seemed like things had gotten way quieter than the chaos that ensued with the horde. Once they had reopened the large, metallic gate there were piles of bodies unmoving in the water. It was promising so far, and by the time they had reached the fresh air of Thearterra the fog had seemingly vanished in the wake of sundown.

Silas narrowed his eyes in the direction of the quarry and noticed green fireworks exploding in the sky, as well as in other locations which marked the end of their misery. A smile seemed to grow across his face from relief, proud that he and Valery had stopped the undead plague in its tracks "It's safe to say that many people will be drinking in victory tonight" he said with a small chuckle as he slowly lowered himself into a sitting position to watch the sun go down.

"And you know what Valery? I wouldn't mind joining them after all we've been through"
​

 

[Valery Noble]

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Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Blasters | Double-Bladed Lightsaber
Tag: Silas Westgard

"We should get soldiers and scientists to come here as well. If we bring things with us, we might change something about all of this that complicates the investigation." This wasn't exactly a murder investigation where they could destroy the crime scene, but she imagined that someone still wanted to look into all of this.

What if taking something away destroyed or damaged it?

"A blood sample should be fine, though," Valery agreed and watched as Silas got to work. Once that was done, it was finally time to leave and much like Silas, she was eager to find out if the undead were truly gone. So, she headed back through the tunnels, still alert, but found intense relief when they reached the entrance again. Not only were the undead taken care of, but people on the planet were already celebrating their demise.

Naturally, Silas was eager to join them.

"I agree," she said with a chuckle. "Let's return the sample, get cleaned up and changed, and then we can join them." She wasn't going to attend a party, covered in the blood of the undead they killed, after all.

She had class.