Faction The Heart Line Story - Don't Make It Starweird [CIS]

[Hazel Scheler]

"Well met, Rann," Philar nodded to him, taking up position at the center of the open bay. Plenty of space, that was for certain, but that began to change as the whiphids started filing in. Philar stepped back and gave them a respectable distance to land, his gaze flowing shortly from their feet and up, up, up to their helmeted heads. "Huh," he said with a faint smile, "never thought I'd meet a whiphid."


~~~

"Scheler please confirm friendlies in the field." Captain Ra's voice over the ship comm.

"Can confirm, Beacon. Did someone call for Whippits?"

"Whippits? Do you mean whiphids?"

"I don't really know what I mean, but that's what they're calling themselves. Boarding now."

"Just ... be careful. Keep us apprised of your status."

"You got it."

Hazel stood from her seat and turned to tail the Space Magicians through the ship and to the cargo bay. They were already down on the hold floor, two levels below the grated walkway when she found them. Philar had his lightsaber at the ready and though she couldn't actually tell, it looked as though they were lighting the beacon for their quarry.

With the cargo hold ramp drawn open and the shields glimmering at the mouth, she watched as their guests slowly floated in from space, making the transition into gravity with the same sort of grace she'd attribute to a building collapse. Space suits on, it was hard to tell just what she was looking at but there was no underestimating the sheer size of them. Her mind immediately thought oddly shaped wookies.

"Captain Scheler, I presume."

"Presumptuous," she replied, her eyes widening inside her helmet as the absolute behemoth of the walking elephant lumbered in through the shields next, "and correct. Welcome aboard - there's a nifty reward for the head of the Starweird Queen. Custom alchemy project."

And then...

THE SCREAMS BEGAN

the first of their targets materialized through the bay shield, clawing after Grundark

 

[Grundark]

Finally! His skin was itching as he tried to keep up to that Whipid chanting, he didn't understand it, but oh boy did he like the way it made him feel. Laughing as the first of these skeleton like creatures charged him through the hull he roared back in kind as the thrill of battle lit up his spirit. With a high pitch shriek it set at him with a sudden rush, and for a moment he felt the fear try to grow inside. Fear was never the warriors enemy though, and Grundark had embraced his long ago.

With a grin the Cragmoloid rose his sword as he joined it in a charge swinging the massive weapon to simply cut the creature in two. It was a simple plan, and the creature didn't seem to even avoid the blow as they approached. At the last moment it grew fainter as it attempted to phase out and simply avoid the blow by moving right through it. These were no ordinary blades though and as the creature's eyes widen in surprised the imbued blade severed it in twain.

Almost as soon as the first one vanished though a pair more moved through the wall eyeing the blades of the blades with vile hate before they too screamed and charged. With another massive swing the Cragmoloid sought to grow his numbers to three, and yet both moved to the side and slid past him sucking at his essence as they did. Whirling to met them he smiled at the pair as they stared with hatred. So they were smart, perhaps it would be a good fight after all.

Velok Brokentusk Hazel Scheler Magdalena Lethe Isaiah Dashiell Kyyrk Rann Thress Taiia Locke

 

[Velok Brokentusk]

Hazel Scheler got a laugh - "Presumptuous and correct, that's me in a human skull. Uh, I suppose that's not the figure of speech for you people. Nutshell, that's it."

Velok rejoined the chant. The next few minutes were a matter of instinct, not conscious thought. The Whiphids' Force-wrapped hands tore starweirds apart, but the incorporeal critters gave as good as they got. Whiphid blood sloshed along the deck, bubbling and freezing in the near-vacuum. The Whiphids, all seasoned boarders, covered each other and took turns slapping patch kits on their space suits as needed. The patch kits' fumes weren't bad when you only used one, but Velok's suit was a mass of patches by this point, some old and some still hissing with adhesives. His massive sword sheared through starweirds conclusively, but without precision. The fumes were getting to him - and a few others of his hunting crew were in similarly dire straits. The chant faltered as various Whiphids discovered emergent and pressing priorities.

"@Grundark," he called across the derelict ship's hold. "Little help over here, brother."

 

[Grundark]

Normally he'd have an actual weapon for distance during this fight as a good force bellow could rip these things apart he was told. However that also would have ripped his space suit apart, and that wasn't something he was hoping to see happen well, ever. With a whirl to his side he slapped a second one of the spirit looking creatures in the back even as the one to his gouged into him. The pain fed his passion though, and as he whirled on the third one he brought his blade to bear through it simply evaporating it? Where the kark did the dead pieces of these things go?

Slapping on an adhesive it continued that way, a single or pair at a time just coming through bulkheads, but the real pack never seemed to show up for him as he continued to cut through them taking a few blows, but nothing major. The smell of adhesives were a bit strong though and had he been paying more attention he might have realized it was too strong for the few he'd used.

Turning as he heard Velok call out he realized he'd gotten the smaller of the groups as the Whipids just seemed swarmed by the creatures. And he thought he'd had it rough for the minute. Still he didn't know what to do about the situation. They were all over the entire squad, just a ghostly storm trying to eat away at them. With only one option left that he could think of he ran to cut the distance in half and then pointed his trunk. This was going to get awful on all sides.

With a mighty blast he ripped open the front of his suit, and sent waves of force bellow rippling through the Starweirds and even throwing back the Whipids. Still only one of those groups evaporated into space. For Grundark though he began to suck in the sudden fear of floating through space like a popsicle and settle the force into his hide. Closing his eyes he let himself float as he held everything together trust Velok Brokentusk to get him back inside.

 

[Rann Thress]

O B J E C T I V E​

WEARING:

TAG: Hazel Scheler

“What the hell is that? That’s what we’re here to fight?” He stared at the creatures. Haunting.​

He blinked and shook his head, switching his lightsaber to his robotic right hand. With his organic left, he summoned the force around him to obey his command, to super heat the air and produce lightning. As he looked, he saw the sparks and nodded slightly. He hadn’t practiced this power perhaps as much as he should, but​

It’ll do for now. With a quiet grunt, Rann threw his hands forward towards the creatures, shooting lightning from his fingertips. They reacted...poorly. And this gave Rann a bit of confidence. He stepped forward away from Master Philar deeper into the ship.​

“These things aren’t so bad.” He said quietly.​

Then an ear piercing scream, followed by another, followed by another, and another. And another. And there they were. More than the two or three that he simply forced back​

Rann panicked. These creatures were terrifying, and they were legion.​

And they were coming.​