Faction |TIC| The Sundering Dawn: All Is Well

[Hanna]

Location: Maintenance Hallway Sigma-12 - Vorell Station
Objective: Contain the Artifact and Investigate the Phenomena
Tag: Valmy Tomo PT-45 "COWL" TK-1313 "Lotus" │ Open

Hanna holstered one of her pistols as the group came up on the puddles situated at the base of the stairwell. Her nose wrinkled—broken fingernails and hair clots floated in the murk, but she felt a measure of relief knowing that she was isolated from any potential contaminants due to her vacuum-sealed suit and helmet. In that, the Qilin gave a slight frown upon seeing that that wasn’t the case for Valmy and now, TK-1313. However, she had to acknowledge that Valmy’s riotous hair seemed to defy contamination on principle.

Swallowing her disgust at the puddle and its contents, Hanna gave a slight nod in response to Valmy’s question regarding the datapad. Then, activating her sensors, The Qilin initiated a scan of the datapad to ensure that it wasn’t rigged with a hidden explosive or a trap. If the scan returned as clear, she would pick up the datapad, trusting that her vacuum-sealed suit would prevent any residual nastiness from touching her skin.

“I recorded a ping too. I believe it’s coming from the floor above.” Hanna replied, feeling her repulsorlift skates briefly shift beneath her, before quickly stabilizing.

“‘Object in shaft interfering with field harmonics. Artifact appears self-powered. Knight Jorn advised evacuation. No follow-up logged.’” Hanna read aloud from the datapad. “This is ID’d for a technician named Rav Parros.” She continued.

“Are we pressing on towards the gravity control station or are we doubling back to investigate the ping?” Hanna said, her gaze shifting towards PT-45 as she did.

Spoiler: Loadout

• Sparkle Velocity
  
  • Gauntlets and Vambraces
    
    • Modular Weapon Mount (3) - R
      
      • PC-05V Plasma Caster
        
        • Ammunition
          
          • Medium Plasma Gas Canister
      • NML-02VTB Nano Missile Launcher
        
        • Ammunition
          
          • Depleted Baradium-tipped Baradium Nano Missiles (12)
    • Modular Weapon Mount (3) - L
      
      • IceJet Miniaturized CryoBan Projector
        
        • Ammunition
          
          • CryoBan Canister
      • Repulsor Projector
• Hanna’s HB-42 Disruptor Pistols (2)
  
  • Ammunition
    
    • FAE/AM-01-S2 Energy Weapon Cartridge - Ethaerium X Gas and CryoBan Coolant (4)
    • FAE/AM-01-S2 Energy Weapon Cartridge - Ethaerium Gas and CryoBan Coolant (4)
  • Attachments
    
    • 1-5x FAE/S-08 Electro-Sight
• Glitter Roses (2)
  
  • Ammunition
    
    • Standard Magazine - Controlled Penetration (4)
    • Standard Magazine - Standard Penetrator (2)
  • Attachments
    
    • 1-5x FAE/S-08 Electro-Sight
• FAE/MDE-01-S2 Semiautonomous Seeker Concussion Explosive (2)
• Infrared Smoke Grenade (2)

 

[PT-45 "COWL"]

OBJECTIVE: Secure the Station
LOCATION: Sigma-12 Stairwell
​

There were several puddles of liquid at the bottom of the stairwell that contained trace elements of people. Disgusting as it was, it didn't phase him. He'd seen worse things. The liquid wasn't blood, something else. Possibly water. Most of the people that had inhabited the station were human, and their bodies were largely made up of water. Given the trace elements of hair and nails within, it could be that they had somehow been reduced to a liquid state and certain parts had not.

His hud picked up a heat signature in the floor and he approached it, stepping over and past it without incident, though when he did, the resonance changed. It was audible to him now. On top of that, the tone shifted when he stepped past the heat spot. The addition of a ticking sound to the hum didn't bode well, but he didn't know what to make of it other than it probably signified some form of danger they were going to have to deal with.

The most curious thing was that, when he viewed the image transferred to him, it began to rotate in his vision. He had to turn it off to keep from getting dizzy. Had to be something strange related to whatever was going on in the station. It wasn't normal, and he wasn't going to let it affect him by getting lost in the spin. Though his HUD was now indicating a change in the gravity of the station, which wasn't good. They were no longer at normal gravitation, and it seemed their levels were decreasing over time.

"Gravity is dropping," he said, before glancing at the pink haired one who asked about a ping.

He hadn't gotten a ping so he wasn't sure what she was aware of that he wasn't, but he also knew they were all being affected differently by their surroundings so he didn't discount what she said.

"Ahead is the gravity control. We need to get it righted before we lose gravity altogether or this mission will become more difficult."

Loss of gravity meant people, and things, could move through the station far more quickly, and silently. He didn't want that to be the case if there were adversaries about. Letting them get the drop on the group wasn't a good thing. If the others wanted to investigate the ping they could, but he fully intended to move forward towards the gravity controls, which is exactly what he did, ignoring the rest of the puddles and other things, his weapon raised at the ready.

OUTFIT: LINK | GEAR: STAFF, Rifle
TAGS: Valmy Tomo | Hanna | TK-1313 "Lotus" ​

 

[Pel Grennin]

Flickering lights did not bother Pel. His own senses in the Force, plus his prosthetic eye, were more than enough for him to navigate and see clearly enough. But for a member of the team to disappear in front of him in a flicker of light like that was enough to raise concern. There were very few entities that could pull such a thing on most Force Users, much less one as experienced and powerful as Pel.

"Something on the station has been doing some customization. The insulation has been moved and modified," Pel remarked. Silence was more unnerving than sound, because of the lack of clues and context that it gave. But Pel had other ways. It was one thing if the crew of the station went missing, it was another for a new arrival to disappear so suddenly, surrounded by so many.

Fear would be a mind-killer. Pel had encountered beings that seemed inexplicable at first, but once known, they were often rudimentary to circumvent. Novelty was the biggest threat. Whatever this was, it behaved in ways he could not yet predict. But there were ways. Technology gave off a signal, a warmth and existence all its own. Distinct from life, yet mobile and autonomous in its own way. It radiated energy, and could be followed.

Pel let go of the blockers he'd come in with. They needed clues, of some kind, other than simply catching up to the first team. The insulation was directing that power, and diving off energy and heat. It could be sensed. And if there was something here in the room with him and the Bullfrogs, he could sense it in the same way. He held his hand to the wall where the insulation had been torn out, and felt for the movement of power, trying to get a map of where it was going, and how much.

Hemor Vechin

 

[Voice of the Empire]

​

TEAM ONE — SUBSTATION A-4 LANDING

Valmy Tomo | Hanna | PT-45 "COWL" | TK-1313 "Lotus"

Tick. Tick. TURN.

The rhythm echoes again—not in the ears, but inside the bones. Not a sound, but a command. The atmosphere seems to contract, as if the walls are breathing inward.

PT-45 advances toward the gravity control door. The hum beneath his feet grows louder, shifting pitch in response to his proximity.

Then—

A sickening snap-hiss as a wall panel behind Valmy folds open like peeling metal skin. Something stumbles through.

A humanoid figure, wearing the broken, melted remnants of a stormtrooper's armor. Its chest spins with grinding motion, the center of its torso an exposed gyroscopic mechanism. Loose wires and shredded plating pulse with blue light, faintly in sync with the station's rhythm.

Its face is wrong. Not just scarred—restructured. Eyes missing. Jaw slack. From its mouth, in Ralven's voice, it speaks:

"They turned us inward. I can't close the door."

And then it moves—fast.

The abomination lashes out with a burst of force as it lands on the platform, chest spinning. A localized gravitational shockwave emanates from the creature and throws the immediate area into chaos.

The Gravity Control Core ahead of PT-45 hums louder, its lights shifting from amber to deep red. Something is forcing a recalibration cycle from elsewhere in the station—possibly from beneath.

Hanna's HUD shows corrupted glyphs overlaying the datapad feed:

"DO NOT CLOSE THE DOOR. THE CLOCKWORK IS AWAKE."

The puddles on the floor begin to ripple, no longer from footfall—but in rhythm with the Keyhost's spinning core.

​

TEAM TWO — INDUSTRIAL SECTION

Pel Grennin | Hemor Vechin

As Pel rests his hand against the stripped conduit, he senses movement, not physical but electrical—signal flow redirected, like rerouted veins. He feels the station pulse beneath his palm.

Something ancient. Observing. Not conscious, but aware.

Then—

THUMP. THUMP. THUMP.

Heavy footfalls. Fast. Close.

From the adjacent corridor, the missing Bullfrog trooper stumbles into view. His armor is cracked open like a shell, helmet gone, and steam pours from the gaps in his suit.

He collapses to the floor in front of the team.

A moment of silence. Then he lifts his head—and vomits a stream of blackened, oily machine parts onto the floor. Tiny gear-teeth. Rusted coils. His mouth keeps moving but forms no words. Still a voice fills the groups mind:

"Turn... turn... TURN IT BACK—!"

And from behind him—another silhouette. Not a trooper. Not human.

Phase One Hostile is en route. Lights dim as the station reroutes power—seemingly to this corridor.

 

[Hanna]

Location: Maintenance Hallway Sigma-12 - Vorell Station
Objective: Contain the Artifact and Investigate the Phenomena
Tag: Valmy Tomo PT-45 "COWL" │ Open

Hanna replied to PT-45 with a deferential nod before moving towards the substation after him. All the while, the mechanical ticking echoed once more, the sensation now registering within her bones. The Qilin squinted, her features laced with tension as she sought to ignore it.

Then, came the sound.

A snap-hiss, sickening in the manner of a wet noise. Hanna spun around instantly, her Verpine shatter pistols leveled towards the source of the noise, eyes widening as a figure stumbled through the aperture. It was a stormtrooper, armor a ruin of molten, warped plastoid and its torso containing an exposed gyroscopic machine. Loose wires and mangled plating illuminated the figure, which pulsed faintly in rhythm with the gears of its chest.

Pistols still leveled towards the corrupted stormtrooper, Hanna glanced up and studied its face.

Mangled. Broken. Unliving. Wrong. The Qilin narrowed her eyes as the abomination spoke, its voice eerily familiar, yet wholly unnatural. Her HUD quickly tagged the voice as belonging to Commander Ralven, but she sensed that whatever the figure was now, it was no longer him as she would have recognized. Nevertheless, Hanna spoke up, her voice rising in a shrill, demanding tone:

“Stay back! No sudden movements. Hands where I ca—”

Too late.

The abomination charged, a burst of gravitational force sending Hanna reeling back as the gravitic stabilizers in her repulsorlift skates were suddenly scrambled by the warped gravity. Thrown to the floor, Hanna’s world spun within her perception, which was momentarily disrupted. Nevertheless, after a quick shake of her head, the Qilin growled. Clarity soon returned, but not in whole. Her HUD was warped, corrupted glyphs overlaying the feeds and preventing her from making sense of the readouts.

"DO NOT CLOSE THE DOOR. THE CLOCKWORK IS AWAKE."

Hanna didn’t hesitate. Sitting up, the Qilin leveled her pistols towards the last known position of the corrupted stormtrooper, primed to open fire at naught but a moment’s impulse.

Spoiler: Loadout

• Sparkle Velocity
  
  • Gauntlets and Vambraces
    
    • Modular Weapon Mount (3) - R
      
      • PC-05V Plasma Caster
        
        • Ammunition
          
          • Medium Plasma Gas Canister
      • NML-02VTB Nano Missile Launcher
        
        • Ammunition
          
          • Depleted Baradium-tipped Baradium Nano Missiles (12)
    • Modular Weapon Mount (3) - L
      
      • IceJet Miniaturized CryoBan Projector
        
        • Ammunition
          
          • CryoBan Canister
      • Repulsor Projector
• Hanna’s HB-42 Disruptor Pistols (2)
  
  • Ammunition
    
    • FAE/AM-01-S2 Energy Weapon Cartridge - Ethaerium X Gas and CryoBan Coolant (4)
    • FAE/AM-01-S2 Energy Weapon Cartridge - Ethaerium Gas and CryoBan Coolant (4)
  • Attachments
    
    • 1-5x FAE/S-08 Electro-Sight
• Glitter Roses (2)
  
  • Ammunition
    
    • Standard Magazine - Controlled Penetration (4)
    • Standard Magazine - Standard Penetrator (2)
  • Attachments
    
    • 1-5x FAE/S-08 Electro-Sight
• FAE/MDE-01-S2 Semiautonomous Seeker Concussion Explosive (2)
• Infrared Smoke Grenade (2)

 

[Hemor Vechin]

Objective: Neutralize the station, Recover artifact
Tags: | Pel Grennin | Open

The station is in disrepair... more than it should be. Hemor surveyed the hall ahead with his HUD with data being populated by Di9s and the other ID9 seeker droid of Grov's as they scanned the new space with a multitude of sensors. Behind them came a force user Pel, he seems to know what to do. Hemor comms him " Pel Grennin Let me know what you feel with your extra senses."

The lights flicker for a moment and come back... to the immediate notice of the droids Di9s and Sh3r the human Fils has vanished in that brief moment. Di9s chimes out in dismay "Beeep boop beep whistle" followed by a synthetic voice for the Bullfrog comm channel "Fils is gone during the flash."

A chill goes down Hemors spine, a rare occurrence as he spins around to look where Fils was.... and now isn't.
Going through comms "Grov do you have any ideas?" As Hemor turned around following the map of the station along with the overlay from the droids that doesn't match.

Grov gets an attached screen & keyboard combo out attached to his comm backpack "Umm I think I may be able to use the comm pack, Di9s & Sh3r's sensors to look for him."

Hemor nods "Lets move towards the Turbolifts."

"Something on the station has been doing some customization. The insulation has been moved and modified,"

Hemor heard loud and clear "So there is an unseen purpose. Pel Grennin would it be helpful if we use our sensors to follow the power, heat, and magnetism?" Grov's hands could be seen flying around the keyboard making a new program to help with their current situation.

Maybe, the team could figure this all out and get the artifact. Quickly. It was disturbing that the team with their sealed suits and precautions... that one of them could be vanished in a blink of an eye. Hemor's mind processing the situation and variables waiting for the data to reveal more.

---

It was only a few moments for Bullfrog Team 9 to begin planning and moving towards a presumed objective. When the loud thudding of combat boots could be heard. Hemor and two other turn towards the sound, the rest covering the other corridors.

Into view was a face of agony... of Fils. but his armor was cracked open with supernatural power helmet gone steam pouring around him before collapsing. For a moment nothing... then his head lifts vomiting gears and oil.

No words come out of his mouth before his head goes back down. And words enter their collective minds


"Turn... turn... TURN IT BACK—!"

Quickly another dark silhouette comes into view. Hemor barks into the comm "Potential hostile 3'o clock!"
Sh3r prepares to help the team, while Di9s is removing insulation from a wall section using its sensors towards the turbo lift.

 

[Pel Grennin]

Pel concentrated, attempting to sort out where, and why, the power had been rerouted. The Bullfrog trooper returned, altered and sickly as a result of whatever had grabbed him. Whatever it was, it had been powerful and fast enough to work beyond Pel's notice - alarming and annoying, that was for sure. Whatever modifications had befallen the poor trooper, Pel was not eager to allow it to happen to the rest of the squad. His first instinct was to put the Trooper out of his misery there and then, and sort of what had happened - and if it was reversible - after an autopsy. However, the appearance of a second, larger, and clearly more dangerous creature put that thought on reserve while they dealt with whatever this thing was.

Years of training and combat conditioning had Pel reach for his Lightsaber first, but he quickly corrected himself, and grabbed for the sprayer of the Nullification Resin he'd brought on his back. This was, in fact, an excellent chance to see if it would have any effect on the artifact they were after - if it didn't work here, it wasn't likely to work on the source, either.

"Step aside," Pel ordered the troopers as he aimed it directly at the entity. Not caring if he sprayed the affected Bullfrog - getting trapped in resin was likely a better fate than suffering whatever made him puke gears and oil - Pel began dousing the entity in the resin. Even if its signals were not through the Force, any connection to outside entities were unlikely to get through the stuff, and if this was, indeed, some strange union of the Dark Side and machine, it would stand little chance encased in the stuff.

 

[Valmy Tomo]

Objective: Contain the Artifact
Location: Vorell Station
Tags: Hanna | PT-45 "COWL" | @TK-1313 "Lotus"

Everyone else seemed much more task oriented, well as long as shooting things wasn't a task to be done. Valmy supposed there were other tasks she was good at, but this steady infiltration crap was not for her.

As everyone else discussed clues and tactics, Valmy merely kept her eyes open. She was happy to have capable teammates, but she wondered what they might think of her. Just a good shot with some pretty hair she bet. Those things had value though.

As the group approached the next door things started to go wrong. All sense of her surroundings went for Valmy as something sprung out of the wall. Instinctively Valmy opened fire. Her eyes focused on the target and she knew there was no reason to hold back.

"I suggest we get a move on. Should we close this door it mentioned? If we can find it of course"

Spoiler: Loadout

• HIMAR-1 Heavy Imperial Multipurpose Assault Rifle
• HB-42 Blaster Pistol
• Customized MM-100 Medium Mercenary Armor
• Vibroblade

 

[PT-45 "COWL"]

OBJECTIVE: Survive
LOCATION: Substation A-4 Landing
​

He had started moving forward towards the gravity control center. The feeling of something ticking resonated within his legs. It was no longer just a sound, the hum he'd perceived before, but an actual resonance with enough force to cause movement in muscle and bone. It was, he realized, a form of warning that something was about to happen. Something that meant danger.

Then the sound, and he spun towards the opening, watching as the... thing, came forth from the wall, spilling words in a voice reminiscent of the missing Commander. But it was definitely not the same man. Not any longer. Might have once been, but this thing was part man, part machine, and not in the sense that he was a cyborg, but in the sense that he was clockwork. It was easily the strangest thing that Cowl had ever laid eyes on in his life, and he was about to bring his weapon around when it moved.

And a blast of gravitational energy knocked him backwards. He staggered, falling to one knee. In so doing, he noticed that the ripples in the puddles around them were moving in time with the spinning core inside of the disfigured former Commander.

"We'd have to figure out what door it was referring to," he said as he brought his rifle around and joined Valmy in shooting at the creature. "Kill it first. Figure that out later."

It was still armored, And it was hard to say what effect their weapons would have on the clockwork construct portion of the... creature. Hopefully they would end up slagging it as they fired and they could move onward to figure out what had happened to the rest of the initial team, what had happened to the station, and how they could resolve it.

OUTFIT: LINK | GEAR: STAFF, Rifle
TAGS: Valmy Tomo | Hanna ​

 

[Voice of the Empire]

​

TEAM ONE — SUBSTATION A-4

Valmy Tomo | Hanna | PT-45 "COWL"

The Keyhost's chest spins faster, casting erratic shadows as it absorbs the impacts of Valmy and PT-45's blaster fire. The creature staggers—but it doesn't fall. The bolts sink into it, sparking against plastoid armor fused with bone and wire. It jerks, stutters, but doesn't collapse. In fact…

It begins to sing.

Not melodically—mechanically. A high, clock-like ticking now rings from its chest at double the tempo. The puddles ripple faster. A fine mist of condensation lifts off the floor, hovering like smoke.

Hanna, grounded and furious, opens fire—both shatter pistols erupting in tandem. The kinetic force tears through the upper torso, bursting open a panel of chest plating and revealing a grotesque mass of gears rotating independently of one another. There's no heart. Just interlocked mechanisms.

The creature staggers back, twitching. Then it collapses to its knees.

A moment of silence.

Then—the spinning core emits a pulse.

A harmonic burst lashes outward—not felt, but remembered. A memory not their own forces itself into each of their minds:

A man in a white uniform stands inside the gravity control chamber.
He is screaming.
Dozens of troopers float around him, helpless, contorted in agony—caught in reverse gravimetric eddies.
A voice, cold and alien, repeats:
"Doorway active. Compensation incomplete. Collapse imminent."
Then the man turns—his face is Commander Ralven's.
But the voice from his mouth is not his own:
"If I die here, they'll make me a key too."

The vision vanishes. The Keyhost collapses, inert—but the gyroscopic core does not stop spinning. It begins vibrating, emitting a low whine.

PT-45's HUD warns:

"ENERGY BUILDUP DETECTED – 7.2 SECONDS TO DISCHARGE."

The core is going to explode.

​

TEAM TWO — INDUSTRIAL SECTION

Pel Grennin | Hemor Vechin

Pel's instincts serve him well. The dark silhouette coming into view is no trooper—it is larger, hunched, and dragging one arm behind it like a weapon. Its entire body is swathed in twitching filaments of black wiring, and its movements are jerky, like a marionette not fully synced with its own skeleton.

Pel's nullification resin blasts from the sprayer in a thick, clinging arc. The first wave coats the collapsed trooper—and he stops convulsing. Almost immediately, the oily machinery in his throat clogs and seizes. The horror stops.

But the silhouette?

It recoils. Not in pain—but in confusion. It doesn't retreat—it shifts.

The resin disrupts its outer casing, eating away at the twitching wires. They dissolve like ash. For a moment, the thing stares at Pel directly—no eyes, no face—just a blank, segmented panel.

Then it charges.

Pel's HUD catches a flicker—beneath the plating is a series of tiny lenses, rotating in perfect synchronicity.

The creature lashes out with its dragging arm—revealing it to be a metal pylon twisted into a blade.

Hemor's nearest trooper is hit, knocked across the corridor, armor crumpling inward.

The lights explode overhead—now only emergency red glows remain.

Grov's sensors now confirm: the insulation paths all lead down. Toward the unregistered sublevels beneath the turbo lift.

Di9s' readings spike—suggesting a massive gravity field beneath them. Artificial. Engineered. Active.

Sh3r reports secondary life signs in the lift shaft. Indeterminate—but humanoid.

 

[Hemor Vechin]

Objective: Neutralize the station, Recover artifact
Tags: | Pel Grennin | Open

The shadowy thing comes closer showing a dragon arm on the ground. Bullfrog Team 9's force wielding ally moves and speaks.

"Step aside,"

A spray coats the most likely dead Fils stopping the grotesque display of gears and oil spewing forth. The spray then hits the weird construct which makes it angry. As some of it melts away, the creature.... monster, shifts and attacks with a massive makeshift sword. The scrapping and sparks are a sight to behold before Karth is hit and sent flying fate unknown. At least his armor shows a large dent as the light blow leaving only red emergency lights.

Hemor opens fire with burst fire of Ion bolts. "Aim for the center or head!" The day went from bad to worse, a weird artifact that made a stations worth of people disappear... just morphed into dead Fils and an uncertain fate of Karth.

The female pantoran Menii fires plasma blots from her specialized pistol in her right hand while roughly firing ion bolts from her main weapon held in her left.

Grov comms "Guys, all the energy leads down into the unregistered sub levels below the turbolift."

The teams HUD's in their helmets has a joint message from the teams pair of droids <<Organics in the turbo lift. Down below massive artifact gravity anomaly.>>
Bullfrog Team 9 doesn't even flinch as they unload plasma & ion watching through the helmets HUD's in the now dimmer but technological enhanced sight.

Sh3r fires a couple laser bolt shots while moving to a slightly safer position. Along with scanning for a duct vent to bypass the area towards the objective.