The Wolf and the Ghouls

[Gilamar Skirata]

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Spoiler

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d88E8T53V_k​

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Two Tu5k-Class corvette dropped out of Hyperspace above Aeten II. Devestated by decades of mining and farming since the galactic restoration project. It was a sad gray ball now, the remnants of its past life forming an even drearier halo around the world. It was there that companies found their fortunes. Several companies now held orbital stations within the asteroid belt surounding the planet in a attempt to find a vein of Stygium in the old planet's wreckage.

But why was this small group of mercenaries here? Surely not to mine, they knew that much. Mordecai held the rest of the story...

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"Mordecai. I need you to get something for me," Gilamar turned to face his son. Well, could he really say he was his son? He didn't raise him, in fact nobody had, he was a clone created from Gilamar and Rave Merril's cells in an insane and unethical Sith experiment.

Mordecai swung his feet off of the desk, his boots landing with a smack, "Back to the GA?" The older Mandalorian shook his head and pressed a button on the small holoprojector nestled in the center of his desk.

"The MandalMotors R&D facility in the orbit of Aeten II." The screen shifted to a close up of the derelict facility. "Unlike Mandal Hypernautics we didn't employ any private security to hold the station. During the Vanishings 45% of our staff went missing and 77% of the United Clan's military stationed there also vanished. During that time we believe Tralik and his Deathwatch infiltrated and made off with a large amount of the stygium and other prototype technologies. The station has since fallen into disrepair and its orbit has begun to deteriorate." Mordecai's eyes followed the hologram intently.

"However they didn't take everything. There are several datachrons that are incredibly important for MandalMotors. I need them retrieved..."

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The Beskar plated transport rumbled as it left the hangar of the corvette. An eerie silence hung over the group as the ion engines pushed it delicately through the debris of what had once been the MandalMotors R&D facility.

"I've got a bad feeling about this vode,"

"Awww Jeremiah shakin' in his boots!"

The group laughed heartily. Meanwhile Mordecai stood in the cockpit behind the pilot, watching as the station grew in size. "Sensors showing no atmosphere in the hangar and very little gravity on the station Cai," The landing gear slid from beneath the shuttle.

"What about inside?"

"Oh, aye, but not much I'd suggest keeping the helmets on and taking some extra oxygen though." The shuttle shook and a green glow came from the troop bay behind the cockpit's open door. This was it, whatever was so important as to send this many Shriek-Hawks to the station was here, somewhere.

 

[Gilamar Skirata]

Almost immediately as the shuttle's doors opened the atmosphere was sucked from the ship. If there was still sound the whir of power would fill the air as their magboots activated, latching them onto the metal floor and keeping them from floating out of the hangar. They walked in silence, three groups.

"Cai, we've got another shuttle here. Scaver?" Mordecai turned his head to the white shuttle in the hangar bay next to them. "The engines' still warm." Why was anyone here? Just junk at this station...

"Alright Hawks, keep your weapons active, be ready for anything." Mordecai's com clicked,

"Alright Cai, we're headed in, south entrance, we'resasvnzbztzzzzzz"

Coms out? Some sort of interference?

"Tin, you there?" A hand clapped onto his shoulder, one of the other Mandos in his group. He shook his head and kept moving on, a signal that Mordecai should do the same. The door before him opened up as the group moved on into the blackness. Several headlamps switched on, illuminating the hallway. With one last glance at the shuttle he walked through the blast doors which slammed shut behind him.

 

[Isaiah Dashiell]

"Karking scavers stripped this place clean..."

Here he was again, in the middle of nowhere with almost no fuel, no food, and no where in sight to get any of these things for purchase with the measly credits G.U.I.D.E had to offer him for his work.

Oh, and also his crew was dead.

All of them.

He didn't know what had happened, or why it happened. But they were all dead, and he probably had some amount of internal bleeding going on. That wasn't the biggest issue though, his ship had kolcta tabs that he was able to get into his system. Now he needed food, water and fuel or he would be trapped here forever.

<Heh, this place is wrecked eh?>
<Keep your eyes forward, Cai said we might have scavers to deal with.>

Who were these guys? He ducked behind the counter and clicked off his light until the footsteps had gotten far enough away.

 

[Grrwunhoooll Agaburry]

Location: On board wrecked R&D Facility
Equipment: Lightsaber, x2 Probe Droids & rest in Sig

Tags:
[member="Isaiah Dashiell"]
[member="Mordecai Tal'kyr"]

Was a simple job. Gather the listed parts and leave but things always went south. Shiro never had the luck of a smuggler. This was far out in space and their were dangers of being out there too long. Wearing his Beskar'gram Shiro carried his Rifle close by his side. Was a pity his companion/pet Durge was not able to come Shiro always felt better by his side, then again if you had a pet storm beast you too would be feeling good.

This station gave Shiro the creeps, giving him flash backs of his last deep space mission. A mission he refused to share with anyone. Putting a hand on his armored chest he thought about his past wounds. Already he was dreading taking up this scavenging mission. Stopping in the mid section of a dark hallway the Shiro took a knee looking to see what his two probe droids were able to find for him. He would be damned if his employer thought he was coming to search for parts just by using his own two eyes. No, their were faster ways.

For now he would rest and check his oxygen supply.

" Shek'eta rayshe'a sruga'yus... Hra'ne." he muttered in Mando'a

 

[Runi Verin]

[SIZE=9pt]“Fierfek!”[/SIZE] [SIZE=9pt]Ru swore as her eyes settled on the wrecked remains of the auxiliary generator, instantly grimacing as the curse word echoed loudly in the self-contained confines of her EVA suit. She traced the marks with a gloved hand, allowing herself the luxury of another profanity. Some of the parts might have been salvageable, but repairing this would require some major parts and equipment, not to mention time and oxygen she simply didn’t have. No, the thing was well and truly slagged, along with it her plan of opening the heavy blast doors sealing off access to the inner levels. If there was anything worth salvaging in this kriffing dump, it would be in there. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]With a sigh Ru slipped back out to the maintenance corridor once more, hand coming up to tap the side of her helmet and open the comm frequency to her ship. “Boo, change in plans. I’m gonna need those demo charges brought up from the hold. Seems being subtle is only going to get u---”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]The words died on her lips as she turned the corner, eyes widening as she caught sight of lights coming in the opposite direction, too high and too focused to be her droid. That only meant one thing. Competition. Kriff, she knew she shouldn’t have trusted that blasted Kubaz and his promises of exclusivity. Silently vowing to even the score with double dealing infochants and Kubaz alike, the salvager slipped back around the corner as quietly as she could, her free hand easing out her wrench.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]Why could things never run smooth?[/SIZE]

 

[Gilamar Skirata]

The station was eerily silent and without coms things were looking to get interesting. His boots clicked and clacked as he walked down the hall, two other Mandos flanked him, their blasters raised, ready to fight. Something whistled past them, he could hear it. The metal walls around them creaked and he wasn't sure if it was some supernatural force or just old ship parts. It felt as if someone was watching him, and it made him uneasy.

Something like scuttling caught his attention. The light on his weapon blazed over the scavenger's head. Luckily she hid well, the Mandalorian didn't notice her.

<Huh...Coms back up yet?>

<Not yet.>

They were speaking in Mando'a. Suddenly the lights began to flicker. There was more than just coms interference coming on this ship. He was starting to think that more than just scavers had been around here. It was starting to seem more and more like something other than the vanishings had caused this place to fall into disrepair and decay...But he couldn't figure out what it was.

[member="Runi Verin"] [member="Shiro the Deceiver"]

 

[Isaiah Dashiell]

Satisfied with how far away the footsteps were sounding Izzy felt confident enough to stand up himself. Heaving a heavy sigh he switched his headlamp back on and removed his blaster pistol. Set to stun the wary adventurer continued down the halls. He had to get deeper into the station. There was bound to be something left towards the center...Or was something else calling him there?

Either way he carried on, shifting the sack for salvage on his back a little. Something wasn't right with this place. He couldn't figure out what it was, but it made the hair on his neck stand on end. He shivered.

Odd. His suit should have protected him from even the likes of Hoth, but suddenly he was freezing. In his HUD the temperature of the room seemed to drop suddenly. Something like a shadow past by him. He gripped his blaster even tighter and he became slightly more puckered than he was before.

[member="Runi Verin"] [member="Shiro the Deceiver"]

 

[Runi Verin]

[member="Mordecai Tal'kyr"] | [member="Isaiah Dashiell"] | [member="Shiro the Deceiver"]

Runi counted to ta’raysh in her head before she chanced another glance around the corner, catching a glimpse of a trio of armoured forms moving off down the corridor. Mando’ade. Her gut twisted. If they caught her trying to illegally salvage some of their proprietary tech, it’d be more than smack on the wrist she’d be facing. She would need to move fast if she wanted to make this little excursion worthwhile and get out in one piece. It was a testament to her sorry state of financial affairs that it really wasn’t clear which objective should take precedence right now. She ducked back along the way she came, hoping to find another maintenance access tunnel to the inner levels before the Mandalorians had time to loop around.

She had barely made it thirty or so feet before she walked smack headlong into it. A palpable wave of unadulterated terror and pain, an emotional sucker punch that crashing into her stomach like an invisible fist, robbing her lungs of breath and causing her to stagger into the wall. It was at that point she saw them. Or what was left of them, anyway. Bodies. Shredded like confetti, limbs and organs scattered far and wide, faces all contorted in a final expression of fear and agony. When you were this far out from civilisation, death was less a stranger and more a constant, unwanted companion that dogged your steps at every turn. She had seen men die countless ways over the years, even seen fit to put a few to ground herself.

The massacre – and it was a massacre – before her, however, was something entirely new and different to the Kiffar. Something had pursued these people through the station corridors, preying on them one by one, tearing into them with a savage and bestial fury. They hadn’t stood a chance. Cattle to the slaughter. No Mandalorian did this, that much she was certain of. Kriff, the closest thing she could match this up to was one of those old spacer tales Jacaro used to tell her when he was a few bottles in…

She shook her head, dispelling the notion before it had time to form, forcing her focus back to the present. There was no point in dwelling on the old horror stories of her youth, not when a very real one appeared to be shaping up before her. The truth of the matter remained the same; she had to get off the station, now more than ever.

“Boo, I need you to get back to the ship and prime the engines. Salvage or not, we’re getting out of here. Now.” Instead of the usual chipper trill of binary that would have ordinarily signalled confirmation from her droid, her order was greeted by the heavy, drawn sound of silence. That twisting feeling in her gut intensified. “Boo, did you copy that? Boo? Buyca?”

Nothing. Even if the Mandalorians had been jamming comm signals, there should have been at least a hiss of static. That only left her with a handful of other possible answers, either Buyca’s comm was damaged or…

“Oh kark this.” Rationalising that getting the kriff out of there was the better part of valour, Runi discarded the need for stealth entirely, spinning on her blood-soaked heels and sprinting noisily away as fast as her legs could carry her. She would rather take her chances with the Mandalorians over whatever had done this. At least with them she would her a fighting chance, however slim it might be.

 

[Gilamar Skirata]

Throughout the station, the power began to fluctuate. Parts of the station that had been without suddenly did, artificial gravity began to activate and deactivate sporadically and the air began to chill. Mordecai was getting a ridiculous amount of feedback, some of the voices he didn't recognize.

"Cai, are you getting thi-" Time seemed to move in slow motion. Mordecai was already thinking of a response, but a terrible scream like he had never heard before pierced his skull. He turned around, weapon at the ready but a heavy hand slammed into his chest, sending him into the wall. His vision blurred, the sound of blasters sounded like they were a mile away. It was a slaughter. Their claws pierced beskar and durasteel alike cutting his men to ribbons.

There was an aura about them, violent and unstable. As darkness surrounded his vision he saw their face, taut and stretched over a skull, their eyes were like single neutron stars in the deep black of space. A sharp pain shot through his torso. Any survivors on the station would know they had arrived. Like a pack of banshees their cries echoed through the derelict station. A single word ran through the clone's mind:

Starweirds...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gL4XqkQOFU​

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[member="Runi Verin"] [member="Shiro the Deceiver"]