The Night Of Terror (SSC Rakghoul Outbreak)

[Audren Sykes]

At his words, as blunt and harsh as they were, Valae nodded and her expression hardened somewhat. Good. He'd never be a motivational speaker, let alone find the ability in the middle of a battlefield, but he wanted to keep his companions alive. If blunt and harsh accomplished that goal, so be it.

The girl looked around once more and headed towards the young Valkyr. Her movements were slow admirably smooth, unlikely to draw added attention from the creatures they opposed. He approved. On the other hand, the Valkyr apparently tried to smash one of the rakghoul with his improvised club had had it shatter. The club might have worked had it been tempered and banded with strong metal, but randomly taken from a tree was no good. So he was now weaponless, facing three of the creatures. In his favor, he had Valae at his back with a lightsaber...but he was still without a weapon.

Audren, unfortunately, had little to give him. His lightsaber he would not, in the hands of a novice that could be as dangerous to the wielder as the enemy. The sidearm he carried was an option, but if he'd not grabbed one from the wall on the shuttle maybe he didn't know how to use them. No matter that Valae was offering her own. That left the grenades - not likely - and his vibroblade. It was no sword, the blade barely as long as his forearm, but it was something. But first he had to get it to him without attracting the attention of the ghouls.

That part, at least, was simple enough. Another three bolts caromed out of his carbine and slammed into the middle Sithspawn, 'walking' up the creature. As they weren't all three concentrated in the same spot they didn't kill it, but they did push it back and knock it over. In so doing, the wounded creature attracted the attention of the two flanking him, and they pounced. It wouldn't distract for long. With his left hand, the Knight grabbed his vibroblade and tossed it into the snow near the Valkyr. He'd have rather thrown it and have it stick in the snow with the grip facing up, but his off hand wasn't nearly that good. He might have hit either of the other two by mistake.

The sound of an explosion and a screeching sounded from behind, so he spun to see...nothing. Well, not nothing, a red-head with a crossbow of some sort, pointing that bow back in the area of the explosion. No rakghoul though. She said something about coming up behind them, which was not a good thing. That suggested there were more of these things than anyone had anticipated, and something was drawing them at the group. The sounds of battle couldn't be helping.

[member="Valae Kitra"] | [member=Máni] | [member="Elara Wahia"]

 

[Joza Perl]

Normally Joza wouldn’t be expending so much energy to completely avoid being struck—a few cuts and bruises were the least of what she expected in battle, and occasionally she could turn an enemy’s attack against them. There was no way the Zeltron was risking that now, and she found that keeping herself safe from infection was harder than she had initially anticipated. Perhaps if she’d been a more ranged fighter things would have gone smoother, but here she was and there they were.

They fight like mad men. It was a little disturbing how fervently they grabbed for her as if she was their next meal, but it wouldn’t do to focus too much on that. I wonder if anyone’s been infected yet. Her stomach twisted as the blue beam separated a rakghoul’s head from its body, moving past it as she fought her way through the snowy battlefield. At one point, Joza realized that she’d strayed further from the others than she’d realized. What if someone got bitten? What if she got bitten? Would anyone be able to recognize it and take her down quick enough?

Jericho. He’s fighting alone. Her thoughts swiftly moved back onto the Lorrdian Master and her eyes moved toward the direction she’d felt him in, in time to see [member="Connor Harrison"] dashing through the brush. Wh-what is that man doing?! Going at it alone like— As if moving on instinct, she hastened toward him and hopefully [member="Jericho"], heart beating at the edge of her throat as she went.

Strangely enough, the lights flickering from the outpost soothed her to some extent. It meant that all life was not lost…or so she chose to interpret it as. The second thing she spied however, was one of the creatures stalking towards Connor. “Master!” She called out in warning, probably louder than she should have for this sort of situation. Grasping a heavy piece of lumber in a telekinetic grip, the Zeltron heaved it at the approaching beast in an attempt to knock it back and buy some space. If need be, she would rush forward with her saber, perhaps a bit too eagerly to engage the rakghoul.

 

[Celiana]

Having gotten a quick message from her Master Celiana decided that she'd join the fight. If her Master were here then odds were from what she'd heard she'd have something flashy like a suit of armor or a BIG gun. Probably both, having dropped into a quick landing approach via a shuttle Celiana checked her weapons. Her newly constructed sabers, Echani adaptable bladed staff, Vibrosword currently sheathed over her right shoulder, and last but not least her modified hold out blaster. Pulling on her modified Jedi robes over her head Celiana grabbed a bantha hide riding jacket and slipping a pair of goggles over her eyes made sure her forearm bracers were in place. Pulling a comms earpiece from a gear locker she tied it into the comms system planet side.

Checking through the systems of the swoop bike she'd "borrowed" making sure everything was in working order and checking the blaster cannon housed under the nose. Celiana yelled over the roar of the engines "Pilot! How long until planet fall?!" "Less than two minutes ma'am! Be ready for dustoff as soon as we hit. Master Roberts was the last one I heard from and she told me to bug out. Ma'am! May The Force be with you!" Reaching out with The Force Celiana shot an arrow of thought down planetside to her Master. "Hope I'm not too late for whatever party you've got going down there Master." Opening herself to The Force Celiana waited.

The next thing she knew there was a rough landing with the shuttle engines still hot. Reaching out with The Force Celiana hit the switch for the unloading ramp and kicked the swoop into gear. With a tell-tale fwooom! She rocketed out of the shuttle bay doors and watched it ascend rapidly back into the sky. The ethereal cry of the Raghouls could be heard as far back as her landing zone.

Activating her comms Celiana hailed her Master. "Well I'm planetside Master. Hope to see you soon." Revving the engine Celiana shot off like a dart in the direction of the nearest sounds of fighting. Hopefully she could provide some support.

[member="Karen Roberts"]

 

[Jsc]

Interesting.

As Karen was busy turning zombie nerfs into globby knobs with excessive amounts of glittering green disruptor fire, she couldn't help but notice [member="Celiana"] was approaching. Oh! And at speed too. Fascinating. So she let her cannon cool down for a moment so she could send her a quick reply via the Force,

~ "Drayven. It's Roberts. We are rallying to Master Harrison for a push into the Outpost proper. Theater is hot and the infestation rating is Code Omega Black. ...Erm. Nevermind. I mean, it's really flippin' big and there are a lot of them. Grr." ~

She cussed herself not putting her Apprentice through Special Forces training yet. Kinda hard to Navy Commando when you're the only one who speaks Navy Commando.

~ "Look. Just rally to Master Harrison and keep him alive. That is your mission priority number one, as of this moment. Good luck Drayven. Roberts out." ~

She also cussed herself for using radio slang during a thought message. Ugh. God save her. She was getting rusty since leaving the RnR. Where was Chip when she needed him. He'd cuss her out good for this too. Smirking at the thought, Karen leveled her gun to the horde again and noticed that a Zeltron female was moving to assist Connor too. Good. If Harrison could make it out of the Rapture unscathed? He could do this too. Bodyguard babes and all.

...

The chrome trooper returned her smile to happily disintegrating all hostile organic life in the area. With extreme prejudice.

 

[Celiana]

Hearing her Master's response to her message Celiana kicked the swoop-bike into gear again. Gunning the engine she whipped past several large bodies. Raghouls no doubt and saw much to her surprise a pink body in this madness moving quickly towards what appeared to be another Jedi with a sky blue saber. She also saw the Raghouls moving quickly towards the wielder of the blue saber. Pushing the engine even further she accelerated past her Master's signature in The Force towards the now clear Zeltron female.

Seeing her throw a rather large hunk of wood at the Raghoul that'd been gaining on the man wielding the blue saber Celiana's left hand reached for and pulled the trigger activating the blaster cannon housed under the bike. As the blast went through the Raghoul Celiana reached out with The Force telekinetically pulling her right saber to her hand. Igniting it with a snap hiss the Aqua blade sprang into existence as the Raghoul came down she cut it in two at the midsection. Sending the swoop into a brake the tail swung around lining up the shots on two more Raghouls that'd been coming up behind the Zeltron woman. Pulling the trigger twice more while the bike was still moving a blast went to the left and right of the Pink-skinned Zeltron woman directly into the chests of a Raghoul each. Pulling her hold out blaster with her left hand she unleashed two shots one each at their heads.

Well it seemed her Master was rubbing off on her what with the spectacular entrances and all.

[member="Karen Roberts"]
[member="Joza Perl"]
[member="Connor Harrison"]

 

[Eldaah Aderyn]

City Infection begun. Levels of infected and transformed will hit critical mass shortly. Distress call detected.

"They're taking their good old time in reaching the outpost," she mumbled to herself, not that she particularly cared. She wasn't present and thus wasn't in any hurry, but that one Jedi Master that was already there was interesting. The holocams were showing her a mostly metal man, so perhaps the result of some accident or battle? She didn't know, but she captured still frames as the fight continued.

Now, the one Jedi Master who was trying to gain samples (Eldaah didn't know that was occurring) was going to be in for quite the disappointment for how Eldaah had developed this new virus. Instead of creating a hodge-podge from different species such as Cathar and such, she had gone looking for the original viral strains on Taris and Ord Mantell. Once she had them and development of the virus began, she had given the express outline she didn't want anyone to be able to develop a cure. So, those helping her with the virus had looked into an aspect of certain viral types that infected human beings regularly.

What they had developed as a result was something that was quite unique when it was paired with the dark side of the Force. The virus, if tampered with in any way, would begin a rapid series of mutations that had been programmed into the viral DNA core. These rapid mutations would make any sample gained useless for trying to cure Eldaah's strain as they caused massive DNA half replications and damaged the viral core, while simultaneously strengthening the antigenic regions of the virus. The only way that a cure would be possible would be gaining a sample of the virus from Eldaah's lab.

But they couldn't know that was happening, so Eldaah continued to watch the Jedi fight the horde at the outpost... and began to pull up a diagram of the capital city of Galidraan so she could observe the progress of the outbreak there.

[member="Connor Harrison"] [member="Matsu Ike"] [member="Karen Roberts"] [member="Audren Sykes"] [member="Joza Perl"] [member="Celiana"] [member="Thurion Heavenshield"] [member="Mysa Snowstrider"] @Elara Wahla [member="Valae Kitra"] [member="Jericho"] [member="Syala Daivik"] [member="Abaigeal E'ron"] [member="Sorel Crieff"]

 

[Vakarian]

The creatures had been closing in on him and he could feel their malicious intent, as well as their sense of primal victory at having cornered their prey. They did not understand that their prey was Valkyri, a warrior people born into the cold that enveloped their planet; a people that were tested from birth by the elements and creatures of their homeworld for dominance and strength. Máni had been no different, though he had had a slight advantage to the many other Valkyr on Midvinter, his family was legend in their skill in battle and their unyielding faith in the divine. He was a Shield-Arm, and by very definition, he was destined to be a shield against the darkness. These creatures were no different, and if Máni were to die facing them, then he will have done his parents' legacy justice.

The Gods seemed to favor him today though, for a fire came to life to his right, yielding forth a vibrant and primal light that enveloped and revealed those around him. He turned his gaze to [Member=Valae Kitra] and offered a slight nod of thanks and looked down as she had offered him a blaster. He looked at the weapon oddly and gently pushed the blaster back to her, offering a reason as to why he had done so in a soft voice "I thank you for the offer of a weapon, but I fear that I know not how to use such a weapon. My hands shall be of better use to me than the weapon you have offered." he finished with a kind smile so as to not offend her with his words.

The sound of three rapid shots echoed around him and he followed the source to a rather unique looking Jedi, wielding a weapon similar to the one that the girl had just offered him. He could see the assessment that was going through the Sephi's mind, echoed in his eyes and a sly smile grew on the Valkyr's face. He offered an appreciative nod as the bolts hit the center rakghouls, causing it to collapse and simultaneously a weapon thudded into the snow beside the two padawans. He looked down and found a blade laying there, and a joyful smile replaced the sly one; this was a weapon he could use.

It was technological in origin, but it held the familiarity of a genuine blade, and that would be enough to soothe his technophobia as well as compliment his swordsmanship. He knelt slowly and retrieved the blade, it looking especially small in his hands. Length didn't matter, it was how you used it that counted. With this in mind, Máni gripped the blade and leaped into action, rushing the few yards to the nearest Rakghoul and swinging the blade with a determination-fueled strength. The blade met with little resistance, fueled by determination and natural Valkyri strength, he severed the head of the closest creature and brought the blade down in an arc that ensured the creature would not rise again; a belief founded by one that had fought against the Vinterbound.

A mass of dark blood began to stain the snow and he turned his attentions back to the remaining two creatures, his dark furs standing in contrast to the blazing fire that crackled hungrily the wind. He took note of how the creatures stayed well away from the fire and made a mental note to assess a certain theory about it later. His icy gaze turned down to the two creatures and a set confidence in his eyes told of his coming actions, should his newfound friends not join the battle.

He was vaguely aware of another voice mentioning something about the creatures being behind them, but he could not turn his attentions from the creatures in front of him. His single-track mind narrowed in on the creatures; the hunted had now become the hunter.

[member=Audren Sykes] | [member=Elara Wahia]

 

[Elara Amadis]

Elara turned and ran, "coming from the right of the path, through the tree line I can make out at least three, I think I stopped one but not the other two" She turned and tried to look as she moved she could hear it.

"They make noises like animals the sound is carrying from some where..." caves the briefing said they liked dark caves. There must be an opening to one off the path. Oh oh...she looked at those around her, [member="Máni"] [member="Eldaah Aderyn"] [member="Celiana"] [member="Karen Roberts"] [member="Audren Sykes"]

"I think I can hear echoes like maybe a cave. But I think we should go to the fort, if we are caught out here in the dark it won't matter they will have the advantage" They could only detect so many, and if they were out numbered, or worse...they needed to really check the fort to ensure safety they could look for the cave later. Once they had a fall back point, a secure place.

 

[Valae Heavenshield]

Valae blinked a couple of times when [member="Máni"] gently pushed the blaster back, but she listened to his hushed words and offered a small smile to match his. She couldn’t even imagine going after one of these creatures with fists alone. With the blaster set back onto her hip, she silently mused that he was far braver than she would ever be. She had never been in a fight that had come to blows, but she had slapped a man once, if that even counted.

A moment later, blaster bolts came in a volley of three, and she didn’t need to look to know where they had come from. However, her eyes did shift down to the ground at the sound of a blade falling between her and Máni. She’d been about to look back towards the Sephi, but a blur of motion next to her caught her full attention. Valae watched as Máni charged forth and quickly dispatched the nearest rakghoul, and she felt her stomach churn again at the sight of the bloody snow.

She let her dark eyes fall upon one of the two remaining rakghouls, and she fought against the instinct to look away in fear. Valae could see the courage and determination written on her companion’s face, and she took a deep breath to steel her nerves, and try her best to emulate his confident stance. There was commotion behind them, but Valae kept her gaze on the two creatures, and her hands tightened their grip upon her saber.

Valae heard a woman's voice behind them, and she agreed with her words. It would do them well to move on, they needed to stay with the group and advance towards the outpost. But first they would deal with the obstacles between them and that goal. Valae edged closer to Máni, and she nodded slowly to him, an attempt to signal her intent to attack. She pushed off the ball of her foot, using the force to add a bit of extra speed and power to her movements, and her saber struck out once towards the creature’s neck. Her blow had glanced against the creature’s tender throat, but hadn’t quite finished the job.

She watched the creature stagger, and then it moved in to attack. Valae saw its clawed hands raking through the air, and she jumped to the side out of their reach. Next, she dove at the creature again, this time her saber went through its exposed underbelly. Her eyes darted to the side, but she had a feeling that Máni was likely holding his own, probably far better than she.

[member="Audren Sykes"], [member="Elara Wahia"]

 

[Audren Sykes]

The redhead with the crossbow ran towards them, saying something about three in the treeline. Stopping one but not the other two. Were these normal creatures, that wouldn't be so much of an issue. Yet these were Sithspawn, considerably more dangerous than normal beings. One on one, there was no doubt the Jedi were better than these creatures. But this wasn't one on one, they were up against a swarm. He doubted that the fort would do much good, but theoretically it would be better than being out in the open all night. Many, if not all of them, would be dead or infected by morning. An untenable situation.

"Then keep them off our tail. Use your explosives as a distraction, or keep them away from our path. We'll be easy enough to follow as it is. Valae! Valkyr! This way!"

This world was unfamiliar to him, but he'd long ago learned how to keep to the same direction in the forest. Audren couldn't tell whether they were heading north, south, east, or west, but he could determine that the fort was over here, and that was where he was headed. He started without waiting for acknowledgement, but his Force senses were extended to their maximum. Hopefully the others would stay with him. As soon as the fort came into sight, he would help hold the rear, but allowing someone he didn't know to take the reigns and lead them deeper into the forest was pure folly.

If there were indeed Sithspawn behind them, there were others in front as well. Every motion attracted these things, even the relatively simple trot of a pace he set. Every sound, even the crunch of feet on snowy ground. The Sephi's gun sounded a number of times as he moved, each burst or two permanently ending one of the rakghoul. Until one of them blindsided him, springing laterally from a tree. Claws scrabbled at his torso and the sheer momentum of the thing knocked him sideways and to the ground. The armor he wore was all that saved him from evisceration and infection, but long training allowed him to take the attack in stride. He rolled with his impact with the ground, coming up to one knee with ignited lightsaber in hand. One slash sent both hands flying and the backswing separated everything above the armpits from everything below them with only slight resistance.

And lo and behold, the walls of the fort were barely visible ahead.


[member="Valae Kitra"] | [member=Máni] | [member="Elara Wahia"]

 

[Jericho]

Now the north entrance was somewhere that he couldn't go to, even with his constant fighting. The genetic mutated freaks, huge and their hide strong and their numbers equaled the number of the entire garrison, if not more. With the ability to turn a human into one of them and their numbers? Only a fool would attempt to fight them all if they had to limit themselves South to the center of the outpost was his only option, to [member="Connor Harrison"] and the rest of the jedi. But then, Jericho made another mistake to day, it was his day or rather his night to do so since he made more than he normally would and sometimes just his curiosity gets the better of him. He stopped his running and let out a breath, the cold winds making his hot breath visible as it seeped through his mask. He could feel it, maybe it was the effects of the super soldier serum he took, understandably the warrior could feel the increase of strength. Today he would be the fool, he never allowed himself to be, to truly push his limits even more.

But it was then, "Jericho!" The called echoed.

The loyal jedi, the loyal leader, and the loyal comrade. Loyalty would never waver in Connor Harrison, at least that is what Jericho assumed; it was quite obvious to all. Family above all else, it was basically what the people of Silver sanctum lived on. After all, it was not just blood that gave them the trait of tending to stay collected with what surviving family they have. Jericho took in a deeper breath, he had to focus, he could not give into the need to push himself more than he should. As a council member he had be an example not just a pillar of power as many may thought of him as. The warrior slashed through another and rushed towards his friends voice. Seeing another appear from him the warrior charged increased his speed, he grabbed the monsters head and slammed it into the closest wall quickly dispatching the monster and turned to face his ally, giving him a short bow of his head of respect.

"Master." Jericho started off. "Was my connection off? I thought I stated not to not to come to the center of things." Scolding aside Jericho went right down to business. "How many are here? Are there teams?" It was then he could feel the presence of his padawan trailing not too far behind. "Joza?" Last time he had saw her, she could barely handle a saber let alone fight rakghouls.

[member="Joza Perl"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

Connor didn’t acknowledge the call at first behind him, partly not responding to a “Master” cry, because he never associated himself as being one to others. Usually it was just his name. And second, he was avoiding falling stone from above, and a couple of dead bodies and beasts that hit the ground by the gaping hole into to outpost. All following the path of [member=Jericho] and his efforts.

The fellow Master was before him, surrounded by a partially smashed up rakghoul.

"A pleasure to see you too in such wonderful circumstances.”

He turned at the mention of one [member="Joza Perl"] – a face he didn’t know but a name he did. She was the one who called? Connor turned back to Jericho as she came through the outpost.

"We have teams, but they are broken already out in the trees. Cutting through to here proved harder than expected but they are keeping them distracted for now.”

Joza was closer, and so he stepped back, his blue blade deactivated, and nodded to her.

"Miss Perl,” he said, "you took a great risk following through here. Well done.”

--

[member="Thurion Heavenshield"] | [member="Mysa Snowstrider"] | [member="Sorel Crieff"] | [member="Elara Wahia"] | [member="Matsu Ike"] | [member="Audren Sykes"] | [member="Valae Kitra"] | [member=Máni] | [member="Eldaah Aderyn"]

 

[Joza Perl]

Slicing through the beast’s chest with a tightly arching slash, Joza planted a foot on its torso to push it away lest she be showered in zombie guts. The rakghoul fell to the ground in two cleanly sliced pieces, just a drop in the sea of corpses [member="Jericho"] had made. Glancing over to the unfamiliar presence behind her, she gave a quick nod in thanks to [member="Celiana"]. It was always nice to have someone to back you up, and the Sanctum Jedi seemed to be working well together thus far. The thought almost brought a little smile to her face.

Turning back to the pair of Masters, she couldn’t help but narrow her brows at [member="Connor Harrison"]’s praise. “I only followed you because you ran off! What if you had been bitten before you reached Jericho?” Despite the fact that she had no right to scold anybody about anything, the words poured from her mouth. Huffing, she tossed her head to clear a few stray locks of hair from her vision. “My apologies, Master Harrison. I was out of line to question your decision.” Swiftly correction herself, she twirled her saber in her hand as she eyed the Lorrdian combat master.

“Jericho.” She said simply in greeting, eyes tracking to the field of destruction he’d left in his wake. It had been a handful of years since they’d last seen eachother, back when she had been an anxiety-ridden Padawan.

 

[Eldaah Aderyn]

"Awe such an adorable reunion," Eldaah's voice said before a holo-image of her appeared in front of the Jedi, using the cameras mounted in the outpost. "I must say, with how many Jedi that came along, I expected you to reach the outpost far sooner."

She was in her normal attire, black visor and helmet obscuring the features that Master Harrison had seen on Kulthis, her armor and jumpsuit a much more comfortable outfit than the nurse outfit. One of her probe droids was perched on her shoulder.

"So, Master Harrison, do you enjoy what you brought to Galidraan?" she asked, smugness and cruelty evident in her voice. "I had hoped you would bring the virus to a more populated world, but that has been rectified. I have something to play for you all."

With that, she reached out of the image to hit a series of commands. While displaying her image, the sounds of screams and panicked voices started to play in the background... along with a looping distress call from the capital city. The monsters were currently contained to one section of the city, but it wouldn't be long before they broke out and infected everything.

"Oh dear, the virus has spread to the nearby city," she said, feigning being apologetic. "It would seem you either need to split up to try and contain it, making your mission impossible... or you will have to fall back and figure out another avenue to purge my work from the planet. You should have brought a fleet along."

[member="Connor Harrison"] [member="Jericho"] [member="Joza Perl"] [member="Audren Sykes"] [member="Valae Kitra"] [member="Elara Wahia"] [member="Máni"] [member="Celiana"] [member="Karen Roberts"] [member="Thurion Heavenshield"] [member="Mysa Snowstrider"] [member="Matsu Ike"] [member="Sorel Crieff"]

 

[Jenson Koraz]

[member="Connor Harrison"] @Jericho [member="Joza Perl"] @Audren Sykes @Valae Kitra [member="Elara Wahia"] [member="Máni"] Celiana [member="Karen Roberts"] [member="Thurion Heavenshield"] [member="Mysa Snowstrider"] [member="Matsu Ike"] [member="Sorel Crieff"]

Jenson Koraz, still deep in his meditation, had sensed the arrival of the Jedi rescue team some time before. He had not contacted them, for fear of endangering their fight against the rakghouls outside. Now, he could sense that they had paused, and he seized the moment. However, he sensed something else. It was great pain, great fear, coming from the capital. How could Jenson possibly ask that the Jedi save him and two Rangers over a whole city?

Go, my friends, he said through the Force, I will endure.