Star Wars Roleplay: Chaos

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The Night is Full of Terrors

Kulthis System
2300 Galactic Standard Time

For a true testing ground for a biological project, one needed a few things to exist in the chosen environment. It needed to be isolated, but with plenty of subjects for broad spectrum observations. It needed to have certain medical facilities to see if they would or could synthesize something to counter your test. It needed to be on a world that was close to more traveled areas, including military forces to see if response times from a neighboring world or galactic power would arrive in a timely manner. For a Sith, it also needed to have an access to the Holonet ... for the inevitable cry for help that you wanted so it could alert a Jedi or two to investigate.

The Kulthis system had proven perfect for her needs as it had several isolated communities on the planet, one of which housed one of the world's Holonet hubs and premier medical facilities. She used her probe droids to hack into the medical facility to pose as a new nurse hire. She had even rented an apartment in the town, gotten to know certain key figures that might be leaders in a crisis. She wanted everything just perfect for the test.

One of probe droids was now floating in the poorer part of the town, a homeless human male in the targeting of its photoreceptor. Quietly, it floated over and stuck the man with a needle, injecting the virus she had been working on. Using her visor, she watched the stream from her probe as the subject began to convulse, blood pouring from his ears and eyes as the mutagen started to take affect.

His skin paled, his teeth grew longer and into sharp and infectious points. As he was already homeless, he was already on the thin side, but the virus began to mutate his body structure ... drawing away nutrients and excess cells to strength the muscles of the subject and turn his hands and feet into the clawed appendages the virus created. Within moments, the transformation was complete and the new creature gave a shriek as it tried to swipe at the floating probe droid, the constant movement alerting the otherwise blind monster.

The probe floated out of the way, but the shriek had alerted another local ... who came to investigate and found nothing ... until the creature leapt from the point it had climbed to.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~​
Several hours later, the town was lockdown and screams could be heard everywhere.

"This is the town of Yuranth on Kulthis, we need assistance! Some sort of monsters are attacking the ... gaham ... ahhhhhhhhh..." the transmission would end in an animal like shrike/roar.

[member="Connor Harrison"]
 
”Master Harrison, take a listen to this?”

Connor Harrison was about to leave the bowels of the Sanctum control room, making it habit now to sweep their space and up security after the Dromund Kaas incident. The voice of the security petty officer stopped him, and he span on his heel to return to him sat at a station.

A map of a world just touching their jurisdiction, Kulthis, was spinning on a holodisplay before the pair as Connor took an ear piece to listen to a transmission.

"This is the town of Yuranth on Kulthis, we need assistance! Some sort of monsters are attacking the ... gaham ... ahhhhhhhhh..."

Connor didn’t move as the blood-curlding scream melted into the fearsome roar in his ear before it clicked off.

"Again.”

Second time around, it was just as bad. Connor removed the ear-piece.

"Inform the Council. I’ll take a look. Keep me informed if you pick up anymore transmissions.”

”You got it.”

- - - - - - - - - -​
It didn’t take long at all for the Jedi’s light freighter to reach Kulthis, and follow the location of the transmission. Nothing evident from above after a high perimeter fly-by. Connor took the ship down on the outskirts, as close to shade as he could to hide it from being in the open.

The Skywalker hilt was by his side; the navy tunic and crimson cowl crying out that he was a Jedi here to help. Marking his position with the officer back in the Temple on Voss, he began a gentle walk towards the village, eyes open…watching…waiting….

[member="First Daughter"]
 
[member="Connor Harrison"]

"A ship hmm? Freighter class ... interesting ... and it was a Jedi that arrived ... thank you One," she said, communicating with one of her probe droids that was watching the new arrival. "Image."

A live feed came up on her visor, and she couldn't stop a smile as she recognized a Jedi from a mission to Toola. Jedi Master Harrison, the master of the girl the former Lady Azurea had wanted to retrieve. He seemed ... different ... something about the man and the cautious way he was reacting told her something recent had occurred to put him on edge more than a Silver Jedi should be.

"Switch to comlink beeps, and keep my informed of movements," she said and then closed the feed down. Removing her helmet and visor, she left the small office space she had been using in the medical center to return to her duties. "Doctor Morlin!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~​
The Jedi didn't know he was being watched, many of the lights in the part of the city he was wandering into had been damaged or destroyed in the chaos. The night was going to be dark tonight, perfect for the creatures to hunt for survivors. Shifting from shadow to shadow, observing the movement and sounds of the man, two creatures stalked him ... clambering over walls and other surfaces to keep out of sight for now.

The Jedi and the creatures would then hear the sounds of weeping from a nearby house ... and the creatures were drawn to it.
 
He’d never been this this planet before, let alone a village like this. It seemed, on the outskirts, run-down and vacant, but from the transmission and the few lights in the distance, it obviously was inhabited. Walking forward, careful steps with his senses open, Connor felt that uneasy feeling of eyes on him.

If there was trouble, it was expected, but it could be something as simple as curious beasts and creatures out foraging at night. He heard a noise, and the more steps he took towards the village, the louder it became and more evident it was crying from a unit nearby.

Cocking his head curiously, he diverted to move to the house up a little hill. Nothing special, but more like an old cottage, with lights inside and an open arched doorway. Connor stood back and took a look around the basic surroundings and leant inside the house, making a quick sweep inside. It looked dishevelled, but who was he to say how a house should be kept. It wasn’t his business.

"Good evening, are you ok?” Connor called quietly, twisting his head to listen for a reply if one came.

[member="First Daughter"]
 
[member="Connor Harrison"]

"Eldaah, we were finally able to capture one," the doctor said as she rushed up. "He's in containment unit 3 and ... I've never seen anything like this. Whatever this thing is, it mutates the body of an infected being within moments into these creatures. We've determined they're blind, but have amazing auditory abilities and can sense movement in some way."

"How do you know this doctor?" she asked, knowing the answer herself of course but that wasn't the part she was playing.

"Every time someone walks past the containment field, it tries to throw itself at them," the doctor answered. "Come, we need to start working on studying this creature immediately. I just hope we're not too late in finding a cure for those outside. We have to save the survivors!"

"My thoughts exactly, Doctor," she said, following him towards the containment unit.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~​
The two creatures following the new arrival cocked their heads as they crept around above him. He entered the home, the place where the sound was issuing from, and another of the creatures started to scramble down the wall to one of the windows...

Inside, the woman looked up as she heard someone calling if anyone was home. Scrambling to her feet, she rushed downstairs to find a man who was quite clearly a Jedi.

"Oh thank you!" she cried. "You have to get me out of here. We're under siege from sort of monsters. They just came out of the blue and started to..." she trailed off as she noticed something in the window behind the Jedi. Her eyes widened horror as there was a pause and then a crash of glass as one of the creatures broke into the house, shrieking.

artworks-000132579767-ku3i5s-t500x500.jpg
It started to advance on both of them, the crash drawing its fellow inside through different entry points in the house, One upstairs and the other through the window closest to her.
 
Connor didn’t have chance to speak before the distressed woman let out a scream, which immediately turned the Jedi to face the demonic creature bursting into her home. From the second he saw it, Connor noted it’s near human form, but crooked and twisted and disfigured beyond all recognition of what it was. Nasty looking fangs, streaky hair and scars across the face.

For the first time, the Skywalker hilt activated with a sharp snap-hiss, and Connor was relieved it actually worked after he had it cleaned.

"Get down!”

He called out and stepped forward, twisting his body, left arm out. Drawing on the Force was easy to send the beast back out through the window, taking some of the plaster away and with a satisfying yelp lacerating itself on the broken glass. However, there was a strong tinge of the Dark Side in it, which Connor felt down to his bones.

Stepping back, he hooked the girl under the arm and lifted her, pulling her back from the door, but heard another shriek above, moving across and to the stairs. He pushed the girl back at the sight of another foaming-mouthed beast, gnashing its teeth and looking ready to pounce.

Thankfully the space wasn’t very expansive, and with a direct strike, Connor lunged forward with his blade and pierced the creature through the thin ribcage as the blade spat out the other end with a strong hiss of burning skin.

He didn’t linger as the creature collapsed forward down the last three stairs. Turning, he beckoned for the girl to come, as the beast from the window hadn’t returned, which wasn’t good. He held the blue blade diagonally up, the hum filling the air with the smell of burnt flesh.

"Do you have a cellar, or safe-room?”

[member="Eldaah Aderyn"]
 
[member="Connor Harrison"]

"Fascinating," she said, watching the creature on the video feed while various droids tried to get samples from it. It seemed to find the droids irritating as it kept destroying them with swipes of its claws, showcasing strength beyond what its frail appearance indicated. Even the droid that got close enough to actually try and take a sample had been unable to for some odd reason ... which she knew of course.

"We can't get anything out of this thing," Doctor Morlin sighed. "Its skin is too tough, and I have no idea why. Whatever this mutagen is, it hardened and toughened the subject's skin to the point I doubt even a ballistic round could puncture it, let alone a scalpel or needle. We need to find some way to weaken the skin to extract our samples."

"Before we run out of droids," she quipped.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~​
The woman shook her head at the Jedi that had just saved her from the monsters ... for now.

"No, no one here had a cellar," she said. "The only safe place is the medical center, but that's on the other side of town! We would never make it. These things are more active at night, they don't go out where sunlight might reach them. At least, that's what they did all yesterday. We can't wait until daybreak as they'll just keep coming!"

From upstairs, another shriek was followed by another as more of the creatures came in through the broken access there. From the window Connor had Force Pushed one of the monsters away through, the same one scrambled up to perch in the open window, giving a shriek. It had no visible wounds from the glass, beyond its increased rage.

Blind eyes regarded the Jedi and the shivering woman close to him, their small amount of movement not alerting them currently but it knew prey was somewhere in the room.
 
Connor looked to the girl and lowered his blade and listened to her, and was about to speak but was stopped again at the noise of another creature upstairs, and the un-welcome return of one by the window, who looked surprisingly fettle for one just knocked through glass.

Not daring to move, Connor froze, eyes focused on the beast up ahead, hearing focused on the movement above. The girl was also frozen, out of fear, her breathing heavy.

"Don’t. Move.”

The beast seemed to look through Connor, and around the room and hall. It was acting like it couldn’t see them if they didn’t move, but could hear and smell, much like the large prehistoric creatures of old that once roamed the galaxy before man.

There was going to be fewer and fewer choices here – if he ran, he could defend himself but the girl would easily be killed, but if he stayed and more arrived, they would soon hunt the pair.

He had no choice if things didn’t improve.

[member="Eldaah Aderyn"]
 
[member="Connor Harrison"]

"The town is counting on us, and you're popping a joke at this time Eldaah?" the doctor scolded her. Not that she really cared. These fools didn't realize that their position was nowhere near secure enough. They would find out soon enough, but she wanted that Jedi here before then. "Go see to the patients in E wing, they should be stabilized now."

"Yes Doctor," she said, leaving him to regard the captured creature. She knew what to expect when she reached the ward he wanted to check on. Most of the beings brought into that ward had been injured when the creatures attacked them. A scratch there, a bite here. No one had gone in to check on them since the Doctor and his team were busy with the captured specimen, leaving the treatment of their wounds to droids.

Tapping her comlink, she sent a command to probe Two to locate the Jedi and observe him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~​
The creature jumped down from its perch, stalking around the room while the Jedi and woman huddled close. It gave another shriek, almost trying to startle them into a sudden movement. Then there was a loud crash from upstairs as one of the creatures there smashed into something, drawing its attention upwards for a moment.
 
Another noise upstairs, and the beast before them moved. The reckless Jedi in Connor acted.

"Run!”

With a heavy handed grip and swipe with his fist, Connor once more pulled the Force into his palm to expel against the beast; this time a violent push like being hit with a speeder into the far wall, knocking through a plaster wall and over a table. His hand looped around her arm and ran for the door out into the night.

"Don't stop! Keep going!”

Heavy panting escaped her lips and their feet thundered across the short grass and heavy earth. Connor heard the beats behind them but just ran; ran towards the few lights in the distance and for any salvation or high ground the woman could provide. However, part of him felt this was going to lead to a sticky end.

[member="Eldaah Aderyn"]
 
[member="Connor Harrison"]

"How are the patients?" Doctor Morlin asked as she returned, looking troubled. She wasn't the only one. Morlin had finally been able to gain sample of what they were facing, but he didn't look happy at all. "Any signs of recovery?"

"No, Doctor ... they aren't patients anymore," she said forlornly ... but not really meaning it of course. "I had to seal E wing and place the security droids at the door to make sure nothing gets out of there alive. They've all changed, but luckily, all those injured by the creatures were in that ward."

"For now, all who were injured," Morlin stated, moving his chair away so she could see the monitor. "We got a sample from the creature's saliva, and this something I had only researched in the medical academy on Ralltiir. It's supposed to be extinct, or near enough to it that it shouldn't trouble the galaxy. We're dealing with an evolution of the rakghoul virus, but it's different from what was on file. Someone has engineered this new strain."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~​
The creature, although Connor wouldn't know it yet the rakghoul, was sent flying as he pushed it through the wall and made a run for it. The creature gave a shriek as it got back to its feet, others answering it as it began to give chase. Darting from handhold to wall to the ground at super-human speeds, six of the creatures followed the Jedi and woman.

From ahead and slightly above them, they didn't notice a newly transformed creature perched ... until ...

tumblr_ny4nsvLU3a1uj4cqto1_r1_1280.png
It was aiming right for the woman, claws extended and mouth open in a screech.
 
The blue blade of Connor's saber was nothing but a beacon, but it was their only defense across the plains away from the creatures and the house. He couldn't run as fast as he wanted, but he had to keep the pace for the girl as she was counting on him. Focusing on the sight ahead, he just kept running.

Then, a beast came out of the darkness towards the girl, screeching like a siren and giving it's location away all too early for a Jedi to lock on. Spinning the girl across his front to the left of him, Connor traded places and cleaved an upwards strike with the blade, wonderfully splitting the beast in to halves that flailed to either side of the pair.

"Come on!"

They weren't far now, but far from what, Connor didn't know. The Dark Side was strong, and for a split second felt he was being led into a trap. Not for the first time that had happened.

[member="Eldaah Aderyn"]
 
[member="Connor Harrison"]

"An engineered strain? How would that be possible?' she asked, feigning innocence on the subject. "You just said it was extinct or close to it anyways."

"I suppose it is possible that strains survived on Taris, where the virus was first recorded by medical experts," Morlin said, looking at the aggressive genes that made up the mutagenic virus. "This strain is engineered to create specific changes in the host, but it is going to be difficult to even attempt a cure. There are so many alterations. For example, these rakghouls are blind, but they have an incredible sense of hearing and can sense a prey's movements. Judging by what security has reported, these things have heightened predatory senses."

"Just how heightened?" she asked.

"They would be an apex predator in the wild, capable of fooling their prey ... lead them into traps," Morlin stated.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~​
As the Jedi cut the creature in half, one of its arms stayed extended and caught the woman on her ankle, the sharp claw scratching her. Still, she followed him as they kept running, getting closer to the lights of the medical center. All around them though, they could hear the screeches and shrieks of the creatures as they closed in.

Reaching an intersection, they would find the path blocked off by two of the creatures perched on the walls above to every side. From behind, the creatures that had been pursuing them arrived. It would seem there was no way out of the trap, unless the Jedi happened to look up to see a possibly familiar red-eyed probe droid floating there and gesturing with one of its arms to the alley on his left.
 
The yelp of girl and stumble was a distraction. Connor turned and spurred her on; she was slowing and getting exhausted. Why wouldn’t she? Being whisked away from her home by a strange man while deadly beasts ravaged her home and village? It was awful.

Connor took her forward before coming to a skidding stop, and spinning around to check his surroundings. They were boxed in an intersection, and he didn’t see it coming. He now had the girl hugging his back, but he had killed the blade as to let them move safer and quicker.

"Stay tight, don’t move.”

The whines and demonic cries were circling, and where Connor looked, he saw a threat.

He had his arm out, palm forward, ready to expel an attack and trying to keep the creatures at bay like some strange wild beast ranger. The girl, not wanting to look around, only looked up as her face was pushed into his back. It was there she saw the hovering droid.

”Look!” She squeezed his arm.

Connor looked around, then up and across until he finally heard the buzz of the droid and saw it’s ominous light. This was probably another trap, but right now it was one he’d rather take than face down a collective of these demonic creatures.

"To the left,” Connor hissed, ”run fast.”

He clasped his hand around her arm and broke into a run to the narrow alley the droid was hovering over and pulled down a few stacked pipes on the side to create as much of a hindrance as possible when running. He just hoped there was something through the alley that would help them, because their options were running out.

[member="Eldaah Aderyn"]
 
[member="Connor Harrison"]

"These rakghouls do seem to have a curious trait though, one we might be able to exploit," Morlin said. "Part of their genetic signature makes them rather weak to fire and UV light. A curious mutation, but one we might be able to use to kill these monsters."

"That would explain why we didn't see any outside during the daytime from our cameras," she said. "If they stay away from light, they must retreat to dark places during the night to avoid being burned by the UV rays."

Her comlink gave a series of pings, and the doctor looked at her curiously for it.

"Oh it's nothing, just set my alarm to go off on the wrong time," she apologized, pretending to turn it off while tapping back a message to Two. So it had located the Jedi and was bringing him and a woman to the medical center. Two also said it detected a wound to the girl's ankle, a scratch from one of her rakghouls. The change would begin soon.

"So now what do we do?" she asked, putting her comlink away.

"Now, we need to figure out how to reach the Holonet hub station in the center of town to get this information out to the rest of the planet and possibly to the Silver Sanctum," Morlin said. "They might be able to devise some sort of weapon or such that could be useful against these things if they appear elsewhere."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~​
"I don't think I can keep going," she gasped, holding herself up against the alley wall. She hurt everywhere, a painful burning sensation that was only getting worse. With a cry, she fell forward as the pain surged. Looking up at the Jedi, she started to cry ... and that was when the tears started to turn red with blood as she started to bleed from her ears and eyes.

"What ... ahhhhh" she started screaming as her body started to turn pale, her teeth sharpening and elongating. Her nails slowly were growing longer and hooking into the claws of the other monsters. Before she would turn completely, she gave him a look, begging for a merciful end before she became another of the predators stalking them.
 
As the girl went down, Connor knelt and held her arm, eyes darting up because he doubted this alley was going to offer safe haven. About to speak and keep her resolve strong, Connor stopped as the tears in her eyes darkened and something other than tears formed to fall down her face.

His face dropped and his blood went cold, and under his hand he felt her muscle and skin tense, and go limp, and quiver, forcing him to let go and falter back. Her body was in the process of reacting to the attack, and she was turning.

He couldn’t grasp what he was seeing, and her screams were becoming more barbaric with each second. She looked at him, writing on the floor, all her features contorted except her eyes which pleaded – he knew what to do.

Kneeling swift beside her he raised the hilt in his hand to her chest and activated the blade without looking at her, instead looking up to the sky. The hiss of the blade exiting her body and her dead weight on his arm told him she was gone. He killed the blade, face stern and letting all the care for the stranger go as fast as her life ended.

Now, on the ground, face down, she was a horrific mix of human and animal with a sizzling hole through her body.

But Connor’s attention soon went from the woman to the droid probe up above with a glaring crimson eye watching them. He narrowed his eyes. He’d seen a droid like that before.

On Toola.

When Setzi has arrived with her Sith troupe to find Chastity. Setzi had been missing for some time from the Sanctum.

"What have you done?” Came the cold, hard words.

She would be listening. Connor rose and ignored everything else. He stared into the crimson orb.

[member="Eldaah Aderyn"]
 
[member="Connor Harrison"]

"Doctor Morlin, we need you for further testing," one of the other lab techs said, poking his head into his office.

"Yes of course, we need to see if fire will weaken them or not," Morlin said, getting up from his seat. "Coming Eldaah?"

"In a moment, Doctor, I just want to review these notes on the virus," she said and he left with a nod. Once he was gone, she shut the door and activated her comlink to Two's audio transceiver. She fully expected the Jedi to be nearby, and by this time, the girl would have changed. Making sure her voice would be altered when it came out of the droid, she started to broadcast a message to the Jedi.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~​
"An experiment," her voice would say, coming from the probe droid. "Master Harrison, it has been awhile. Toola, when the former Lady Azurea wanted her sister back. Do you like them? They took quite some time to create, but I would say this has been quite the successful test. Wouldn't you? No I suppose not. I do though, plenty of data to process and analyze. Not many left unchanged in the village, just those that have taken refuge in the medical center. Better run along to there, or else you might find you're the last unchanged being in the city. Oh, I did forget to mention one thing. Originally the virus wasn't able to change Force Sensitives, but I modified it enough that it can now. Don't get hurt handsome."

With that the probe floated away, and the shrieks of the creatures getting closer started to sound.
 
Connor stared down the droid, knowing there must be someone watching on the other side somewhere. During the distorted monologue, he couldn’t help glance left or right hearing the sounds of the beasts around him. The medical centre was where he had to go, and when the voice hinted it was a female, he had a horrible feeling Setzi had fallen.

But he didn’t have time to ask questions.

He had to run. Fast.

Lightsaber hilt in hand, Connor broke away and ran down the alley in near darkness. Sounds echoed around the walls and were bounced around the area which made the whole place very creepy indeed. Feeling he was partly being kept alive for some bigger reason, Connor still ran with purpose and didn’t stop, taking as many narrow and alternating routes as he could towards a large domed building that was clearly a medical centre.

It was bathed partially in light and looked abandoned, a few speeders outside lying dormant.

He ran around the perimeter looking for a way in, and only saw boarded up and blocked windows. As if that would stop him. He picked a boarded window and used his lightsaber to make short work of the material blocking it. Glass and metal fell to the floor, and squeezing through gently, Connor eventually fell inside a room, where two humans were stood watching, with blaster rifles pointing at him.

Connor forced a smile and stood.

"Hi.”

[member="Eldaah Aderyn"]
 
[member="Connor Harrison"]

Closing her comlink, she made her way out to the reception area where the refugees were huddled, the windows barricaded as best as they could be by what was at hand. With the Jedi on the way, she would keep her Force presence locked down tight ... appearing to all the world to just be a slightly Force Sensitive medical assistant trying to keep everyone calm.

That was when she heard the unmistakable sounds of a lightsaber cutting into something and then ... the Jedi came through one of the windows, security aiming their rifles at him and ready to blast him if he was one of the infected. When he made his jaunty greeting, he would see her by two refugees, offering aid.

enhanced-13563-1405560123-5.jpg

Striding over, she started to issue instructions to the guards with a no nonsense expression on her face.

"Get that window patched up now!" she said, and they and other refugees hurried to get the gap closed up before any monsters made their way inside that opening. Turning her attention to the Jedi, she continued saying, "And just who do you think you are? Trying to get us all killed by those monsters outside?!"
 
Connor rose, hands up and offering a peaceful stance with no aggressive movements. He did look a bit of an idiot falling through, but desperate times. In the hall, he noted a make-shift recovery bay with a few stragglers laid up and sat in groups, and those on their feet taking care with mish-mash security pointing guns at anything that moved. Other doors were closed up or sealed.

He saw a petit blonde approach who was straight on him.

"I’m with the Silver Sanctum, and I’ve seen what those monsters out there can do, alright?”

She was prickly, and a Force sensitive. She was…edgy. Annoyed. He dropped his hands, not willing to be treated like one of those freaks outside. He walked forward into the dimly lit room, passing the two guards who looked like chefs.

"Who are you? What is this place? And just what the hell are those things out there?”

He glanced back at the girl. "A girl from a small hut outside the village was killed – she was infected by those creatures and she didn’t make it. i received a broken transmission from this very village seeking help, so if you want help in fighting back or getting away from here, tell me what you know. Please.”

[member="Eldaah Aderyn"]
 

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