Wild Hunt - SJO Dominion of the Talasea Hex

[Errreembuhr]

Objective: 3

Molecular shielding was something of an interest to Errreembuhr. Many ships of his design bore the technology, but smaller ones had one common issue: overcharge. Too much incoming laser fire would produce significant amounts of redirected energy, so much that it would overload systems and cause them to fail. Even the Shadowclaw, a full-sized cruiser, suffered from this weakness much to his disapproval. Attempts to put together some sort of capacitor to store that extra energy for smaller ships had been failures so far.

This, however, was an interesting application of the technology.

The Wookiee arrived in an EFR-4100 to find [member="Jessica Med-Beq"] already overseeing the work being done. lmmediately he deployed the droids he'd brought with him to assist with the work before seeking out the leader.

"What have we got so far here?" he asked through the translation device.

 

[grammaticus]

Animus marched out of the vault building, a massive spire built in the middle of nowhere on this vloody rock. Spread out around the base of the structure, dozens of pirate soldiers he has hired for this job wereeushing to fill in hastily constructed barricades, barricades the Nemodians had been using only hours before. Animus has ordered them to prepare to hold the line, to buy their forces still looting the vaults inside more time.

Instinct more than anything caused him to look up at the sky, his eyes locking on dozens of small craft piercing the atmosphere. Turning to the nearest officer, who was still getting his men situated in a small dugout, Animus began shouting orders. "Captain, get some flak into those shuttles, I want them to go through hell before they even land. And order kill zones to be established. They have to come to us, let's make them pay for every inch." The pirate officer nodded his head, turning to shout his own orders at the men under his command.

Moments later streaks of laser fire tore into the sky from stationary weapon emplacements, firing wildly and only by line of sight, as their sensors and targeting support were almost useless against the shuttle's. Turning back to the front, Animus stood immobile on the steps as the pirates moved to engage the Silver Jedi landing party.

The moment the first shuttles began to touch the ground, pirate soldiers spread out across the defenses opened fire with their pistols and rifles, tearing into a few shuttles the moment their deployment doors opened. Watching it all, Animus turned and began walking back up the steps towards the vault.

He would wait inside for his foe.

[member="Jyoti Nooran"]

 

[Eugen Aker]

Location: Orbit over Cato Neimodia
Objective: Stop Pirates (BYOO)
Opposition: [member="Darth Animus"]

It was easy flying from orbit to planetside, the pirates in space too preoccupied with the fight with the Silver cruiser to notice the squadrons of stealth squadrons slipping by. However, it was a different story as the came near the destination, the enemy having AA in place. A couple shuttles were hit by flak cannons, careening into nosedives and soon disappearing into the clouds. However, those were lucky shots, evident by the lack of sensor pings against the shuttles with their stealth suites engaged.

Many slipped through, but the first ships that touched down were met with fierce resistance from entrenched enemies in gun nests behind barricades. As her Force consisted almost exclusively of synthetic Hoplite droids as her shocktroopers, it wasn't the end of the world, but the Echani didn't like taking heavy losses in any situation. That's exactly what was going to happen on the current track. The shuttles could wipe out the entrenched soldiers with their blaster cannons, but then they would be easy pickings for AA as their stealth would be broken. Alternatively, she could sneak under the AA and get close up for hot drops, but then the shuttles and troops would be vulnerable to the gun nests.

It was time to get creative.

"All callsigns, pull back and drop through the clouds I need to take care of those flak guns first."

Directly manning her own shuttle via her cybernetic interface, Jyoti elevated while the other shuttles descended through the clouds for cover. She brought the shuttle nearly directly the tallest spire of the vault, the popped open the door. Her white robes billowed around her as she was exposed to the winds of high altitude. She narrowed her silver eyes on one of the flak emplacements below, gripping the open bay door for support.

She took a few moments to channel the Force through her body, then jumped.

The shuttle immediately darted away after Echani had disembarked in spectacular faction, on a collision course right for the flak emplacement. She was tiny against the backdrop of the cloudy sky, so the pirates manning the gun didn't notice her streaking down into their position until it was much too late.

A terrible boom was created at the point of impact like a thunderclap, Jyoti repulsing everything near her with shockwaves of pure Force energy. Pirates were sent flying and windows rattled. Meanwhile, the flak gun shook on its foundations but remained intact.

The Echani didn't miss a beat, pouncing on the flak cannon as she unclipped her lightsaber and activated it in one smooth motion. As she landed, she extended the hilt to her side on the way down, slicing through the twin barrels with a brilliant blade of silver light.

"A path has been made, activate jammers and land on my position!" she ordered while shooting up from a kneeling into a sprint. A second later, the duracrete floor where she stood exploded as it was saturated with a stream of blaster bolts.

The flak cannon was now out of commission, but now there was still the matter of angry pirates to put down.

Easy.

 

[Ye Hyonu]

Location: Hospital Boat
Objective: Figure these shenanigans out

Hyonu nodded agreeing with the new boss about his interactions with Ciana. They knew each other for the most part, not by choice – though he was starting to warm up to the idea of having the woman around more. At times he was even disappointed if she wasn’t called to work with him. It was something he would never admit to – not even on his death bed. As they finished introductions, a boy came towards them. He seemed to be around Rachel’s age and Hyonu now warmed up to students, his awkward smile faded and became genuine. “You’ve done good work int here, I noticed the patients have been reacting positively to your treatment Reggie.” It was as positive as they could get, mild pain, but it wasn’t a cure.

A hand patted Reggie on the shoulder as the tall Seoulian looked to the two women. “I’ve been running some tests on samples we’ve received from the patients.” A hand moved through his dark hair as he sighed heavily. All the tests were coming up positive and pointing to an old enemy. Hyonu wondered if he had a full team during that time if he could have fought the battle longer and possibly have won. The doctor made a face and slightly stuck his tongue out, he hated thinking about past mistakes.

“We need to get everyone into my office.” He moved quickly through the small group and stopped one of the nurses who put out a message to all personnel to head towards Hyonu’s office which was roughly around the corner. It was decently sized and had a small projector for him. On his desk were several model robots in various poses. Next to them was a small bear that seemed to have seen better days, the bear wore a doctor’s lab coat and a surgical mask and cap. As the man walked by his desk, his hand patted the bear and it seemed to be a ritual of sorts. He waited till everyone arrived and then he capped his hands twice. Lights dimmed, and he flicked on the projector.

On the projector was a virus cell and it was labeled “Boganavirus”. The image that was being projected was string like. As people took in the image, the Doctor reached not his chest pocket and pulled a pair of thick framed glasses. Fingers pushed them up the bridge of his nose and he looked back at the image and sighed. “Boganavirus, it is a negative sense RNA virus. This means that the virus’ genetic material needs to be replicated into a positive RNA.” Hyonu waved his hand, “Doesn’t matter much but its information that you should know especially if you’re on the team trying to find the cure. The major difference between positive and negative sense is where the replication takes place. We discovered this back when we first found the Boganavirus on Torn Station, in the Mytaranor sector” Shuffling his papers he changed to the graphic images of the patents that they had found the first time they discovered the virus.

The patients on the screen were in different stages of infection. Some looked weak and tired, but still smiled. Others had several light rings the size of a standard cup upon their skin. Hyonu clicked through the images and the same patients were shown with the darker rings that were slowly turning into boils. The next slide had a video of the boils hemorrhaging and Hyonu in a bio suit trying to stop the bleeding. Shouts echoed over the video. The patient seizure and finally passed away from the bursting boils and shock. Shutting off the screen, he tossed the remote onto his desk and sighed. His voice almost robotic as he spoke of the symptoms as if they were said so much it was rehearsed.

“Symptoms: Fever, headache, Muscle pain, fatigue, vomiting and diarrhea, the ring like wounds, boils, hemorrhaging from the boils…” He paused and once more ran his hand through his dark hair, it was now apparent he had dark shadows under his eyes – endless hours working was starting to show. “Bacta and Kolto increase…excites the virus causing it to replicate faster. The difference between a patient that has been treated with bacta or kolto, and a patient that hasn’t is severe.”

“A patient that as been treated, dies within hours while untreated they die in 10 days. This means we cannot treat anyone no matter how much they beg with bacta or kolto.” Crossing his arms in front of him he shook his head and continued to talk about the virus. “So what we know is where it replicates, what causes it to replicate faster, but what we don’t know is how to stop it. Once someone is infected all we can do is make them feel comfortable as they wait for death. The virus is passed through what seems to be indirect contact. That means we’re dealing with something that could be airborne, but we’ve crossed that off back on Torn Station. What we have concluded it could be transmitted by contaminated objects, such as for example if an infected subject touches their mouth and then touches a tool or something of the sort. Another way we’ve seen it reacting is food and drinking water. The virus can live and survive extreme temperatures.”

Removing his glasses, Hyonu nodded and continued to think quietly. “So we can’t destroy it by any current means, our best bet is to figure out a way to prevent it from replicating to into a positive sense.” Pinching his nose, he sighed, “The only issue is on humans or near humans we were able to see the rings – the amphibious species we have that are infected don’t show the rings and boils – they also don’t survive the 10 days that a human or near human do without treatment from bacta and kolto. It seems 4 days is the length we have and instead of the rings hemorrhaging – we have their internal organs doing so…each and every patient is slowly bleeding from the inside and we can’t stop it.”

[member="Celeste Rigel"] [member="Ciana Teigra"] [member="Samara Raine"] [member="Reggie Faayare"]

 

[grammaticus]

Animus watched silently from a floor above the main fighting, watching as the pirates got slaughtered now that the Silvers were in their midst. He felt little pity for them, simple hired guns in for a quick buck. They couldn't possibly understand the goal Animus had in mind, the thing that drove him forward everyday. Besides, every pirate that died now would be one less he had to kill later.

Turning away from the window, Animus walked through the empty halls, stepping over the bodies of dead pirates and Nemodians as he came to the main entrance, taking a position in the middle of the vast chamber. Turning to face the entrance, he reached down to his hip, grabbing the saber there and flipping it slowly in his hand.

Staring at the entrance, Darth Animus prepared himself to hold the line.

[member="Jyoti Nooran"]

 

[Celeste Rigel]

Location: Boram-class Hospital Ship "Panacea", orbiting Talasea
Objective: Panacea – Do healer stuff

“Greetings, Reggie.” Celeste said, offering the young man a warm smile. It was nice to see some of their padawan leaners here to help. Though the situation here was quite unfortunate, it did offer the chance to gain some valuable experience in the field.

The Jedi healer had also taken note of [member="Samara Raine"], the Knight's presence somewhat familiar to Celeste. If she recalled correctly, the young woman had once been apprentice to Master Kitra and had skill in the healing arts.

“Yes, lead the way, Dr. Ye.” She said, nodding as the man mentioned his office. A moment later there was an announcement for personnel to join them there for a briefing. Sweeping her robes up, she walked after him. Upon entering the room, she took a seat near the edge of the room. Her brown eyes thinned slightly, narrowing in on a bear that adorned Dr. Ye's office. Interesting...she thought to herself, but quickly pulled her mind back to the present.

Attention on the projection, Celeste cradled her chin slightly as she listened. Boganavirus. Yes, she'd seen this name called out in the reports from the incident on Torn Station. Tackling such a virus seemed a daunting task, but she had confidence in her people. However, the fact that bacta and kolto made things worse was deeply troubling.

“Our time table is quite tight, then.” Celeste said, heaving a sigh. Four days. “Needless to say, we have the ability to dull the pain and keep patients comfortable, but that's not enough.” She sat back, lips pressed into a line.

“Have there been tests conducted with force healing?” Celeste asked, brows lofting, eyes focused on Doctor Ye.

[member="Reggie Faayare"], [member="Samara Raine"], [member="Hyonu Ye"], [member="Ciana Teigra"]

 

[The Midnight Man]

Location: Cato Neimoidia, IGBC-Owned Vault
Objective: Secure the Vault, Eliminate the Raiders (BYOO)
-Private Contract-

The turbolift ride was brief, leaving behind the landing pad and their exit... ​

​

The crushing weight of an entire mountain above might have made some feel as-if they'd been buried alive, but not Vincent. The professional paid little attention to claustrophobia, focused instead on what lay before & above him. He'd instructed his team to remain below, while he went ahead... Clearing out the area directly beyond the turbolift was likely to require some heavy lifting, and while the IGBC paid top credits for its' crews, the contract regarding his "consultation" for the operation was a serious affair, and he'd be sure to conclude their business together properly. ​

​

No more lives lost. No collateral damage. Clean the vault, and save the hostages if possible. ​

​

Perhaps once he'd cleared the Administrative area, he'd allow the team to join him.​

​

When the turbolift opened, it was just as he'd expected... He was not alone. ​

​

​

The turbolift doors opened to reveal a once-finely decorated office area, decorated in the IGBC's colors, fine furniture, and artwork... But now, it was all damaged, shredded, torn. Blood had painted the walls, and the smell of death & fire reached his nostrils... faint, but present. Somewhere, someone had been burned alive.​

​

Tables had been upended and chairs broken. Blastermarks scorched the walls, and motionless shapes remained where they'd fallen - those few personnel which lived & worked within the vault in certain seasons. The pirates had managed to choose the right (or the wrong) time to hit, with more than just the vault's riches ripe for the taking. They'd stolen lives that day... which were, even for the IGBC, far more priceless.​

​

Vincent slipped into the quiet remains of the carnage, the barrel of his blaster probing the air like a serpent.​

​

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~​

​

Three shots killed three pirates. The first died suddenly, sent into the void without warning; the entire side of his skull removed by the powerful shatter-pistol's projectile. Vincent took his fellows quickly, having begun the work by locking one pirate in a wrist-lock, assassinating his fellows at close range before Vincent turned his weapon on his helpless victim. The man screamed as he suddenly hit the ground, staring into the face of a Devil... then never saw again.​

​

The large room where he'd snuck up on the trio was a bit warmer than the others; it appeared to have been a meeting room at one point, but all the chairs & the great meeting table had been piled up against the wall, blocking the sight of the hallway & offices beyond. In the center of the dark, smoke-stained room, was a pile of ash and a charred, blackened ragged circle... with a carcass curled into a ball at the very center of it.​

​

Chewing on his lip absently, Vincent turned away from the sight, and left the room.​

​

~ ~ ~ ~ ~​

​

He met two more on the short walk back to the turbolift, ambushing the angry Gamorrean and his Wee-quay companion from a quiet hallway. The Wee-quay pirate lost his blaster, dropping it from the sudden close-quarters assault of fists & feet, and Vincent shattered the pirate's right wrist as he sent the alien head-over-heels. ​

​

The Gamorrean had responded quicker than Vincent had expected, attacking the suddenly-materialized ghost with a force pike - but the boogeyman ducked the swinging charge, using the fatter pig-like creature's momentum & weight against it, sending it crashing into a wall. Both died from the quiet cough of the Xana Shatter-pistol. Casually surveying his work, Nyax reloaded the compact pistol with a fresh magazine, tucking the used one away in a pocket. ​

​

"Goodnight." He muttered, then stalked back to the turbolift a few rooms away.​

 

[Charlie Nooran]

Location: Twilight Forest
Objective: Thunderfoot Coat

Charlie looked around and noticed a few faces, it seemed like they had a solid group going into the forest. After a good amount of them had gathered a man made himself known and began to speak. He was their informant, he gave a quick explanation of what was going on and Charlie listened. The bantha’s were terribly violent and it seemed that they were migrating towards this way. A hand rested on the padawan’s chin as she wondered if the construction had drawn their attention instead of scaring them off.

It was interesting, either way the safety of the workers and people at Spero outweighed the Banthas. After the explanation, Charlie nodded. “I think we’ll be fine. Thank you.” She gave the man a quick little bow and began to walk towards the direction of the watering hole. There was an assumption that the others would follow, but if they decided they had other plans than to follow the most direct path, then that was on them. The padawan didn’t draw weapons as she saw that [member="Yuroic Xeraic"], the senior knight not draw his. Maybe he had a plan to talk to the bantha and get it to stop attacking people.

Musing, the Padawan would follow Knight Xeraic and Knight [member="Leina Snowfire"]’s guidance on this mission. Entering the forest, Charlie knelt and felt one of the footprints. It was still somewhat fresh but had already started to dry out – showing time had passed. Frowning, they might have missed them at the watering hole, but she continued onward. She didn’t wait for anyone, just kept moving forward. Her voice hushed, but loud enough for the others to hear, she asked quickly.

“Any thoughts on a plan? If not, I think we need to either scare them off from the area or take them out. I’ve never heard of Banthas being like this – maybe there’s something wrong with them.”

[member="Corsica Cinto"] [member="Lucent Echo"] [member="Melanie Yoo"]

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

Objective: Lightning in a bottle
Allies: [member="Errreembuhr"]

"From the looks of it, it seems like a theater shield they've got in place. I have to say that this project would be a little different from a typical cap drain implementation. Here cap drains would shunt the excess voltage from any ion source as absorbed by the molecular shield, including but not limited to lightning storms, into a variable-tension transformer which will then convert it into power"

Typically variable-tension transformers required also that the number of turns in a coil be adjustable on a whim for implementations of this variety. But this technology wasn't unheard of; it was even what made the Kirishima and its ancestor, the Haruna, different from ordinary cap drains. Yet, in her mind, the issues of this system were the same as any weather-dependent power source, mostly solar or wind: one couldn't rely entirely on it, no matter how many capacitor banks there were. It needed to be supplemented by a dispatchable, weather-independent power source. Yes, you could, on a planet like Ilum, rely on wind farms as a baseline, or even on Ringo Vinda with solar power (in daytime for the latter case, provided one does not live in the Aldanna Range), just that it was a required precaution. And yet, as the capacitor banks and variable-tension transformers were installed, it was only now that she dared ask the question. Because both Jessica and Emy were new to Talasea, perhaps the engineering crews regarded the question as legitimate.

"But I have one question: what other power sources are there, should any given place go for extended periods without lightning storms? Any weather-based method of power generation will run into this issue"

 

[Reggie Faayare]

Reggie was glad to have found the group of Jedi doctors and hoped he could be a good asset to the effort. When Hyonu Ye told everyone to meet in his office , the young Padawan quickly followed behind him. Taking a seat that close enough for Reggie to see the projector screen.

The young Padawan took in the information that was being given by the Jedi Doctor and took in the images that were on the screen, even though they made his stomach turn. Reggie just didn't like seeing people in such a weak and painful state, but he knew that the information was necessary in order to help the patients. Hearing that there were only four days to find a cure made Reggie feel even worse but also strengthened his resolve. In his mind, he already made a promise to save these patients, and he would do anything to achieve that goal.

When Celeste asked about force healing's effectiveness, Reggie decided to answer with his own experience.

"Using force heal on the patients seems to give them relief from the pain, but is only a short-term solution. I don't know if someone more skilled with the art would be able to completely cure it or not, but from my time helping the patients, it won't save them."

His words were meant to relay his knowledge on the matter, but he still expected Hyonu Ye to answer her question as well. Reggie was the least experienced in the room, so he knew that there was probably more to the answer than what he said.

[member="Celeste Rigel"] [member="Hyonu Ye"] [member="Samara Raine"] [member="Ciana Teigra"]

 

[Samara Raine]

Location: Boram-class Hospital Ship Panacea, orbiting Talasea
Objective: #2 Panacea – Heal patients, hopefully find a cure
[member="Celeste Rigel"] [member="Ciana Teigra"] [member="Hyonu Ye"] [member="Reggie Faayare"]

Sea green eyes opened as the overhead announcement echoed in the humidified chamber where Samara was treating a young Mon Cal female. She was at a good stopping point in the healing session. The Liann excused herself, then quickly exited the room, discarding the bio-hazard gear appropriately before washing up. It was imperative they take precautions as it was still unknown exactly how the infectious agent was spread.

Samara had been at this for a while and a weariness washed over her. The ship's cooler, septic-tinged air felt good as she made her way down the corridor to the medical briefing. The honey blonde felt a bit like a wet noodle after being in the humid conditions. Her golden hair agreed as some stray strands around the Knight's face that had fallen out of her ponytail were wavy now.

Before entering the meeting, the young Jedi doctor wearing a set of blue scrubs instead of her robes had stopped at the nurse's station around the corner to grab a much needed cup of caf. She slipped quietly into the crowded office and took an empty spot against the wall. Between sips of the steaming dark liquid in hand, Samara watched and listened thoughtfully to the presentation. The use of the Force made her speak up.

"I concur with Padawan Faayare. Even with augmenting my Force healing with the Silver Sigil, I am only making minimal and self-limiting restorative progress with the Mon Calamari patients I've been treating. It is basically comfort care at this point, sadly."

 

[Asaraa Vaashe]

Location: Talasea
Objective: 1

The cool touch of the air has sent the Padawan scurrying back to the ship, intent on pulling a jacket out of the supplies before the hunt got started. The temperature on the planet had taken her by surprise, seeing the surface of the planet she'd thought that it'd be warm like Kashyyyk. That would teach her for not paying more attention to the briefing materials, the reality of the situation had taken her far by surprise. She'd already been starting to feel cold just standing in the town, but if they were going out hunting then it probably wasn't the smartest idea for her to be there, teeth chattering away, it was bound to give their position away to the bantha they were hunting.

Only...thing seemed to have gone from bad to worse. The clearing at the edge of the forest they'd all been waiting in, the one that had been filled by Silver Jedi was now empty. Asaraa looked around, a plaintive note entering he voice, "Umm guys...guys?" They'd left her behind...how could they have left her behind!

[member="Corsica Cinto"] [member="Charlie Nooran"] [member="Yuroic Xeraic"] [member="Leina Snowfire"] [member="Melanie Yoo"]

 

[WelshGuy]

Allies: [member="Charlie Nooran"] | [member="Leina Snowfire"] | [member="Corsica Cinto"] | [member="Melanie Yoo"] | [member="Lucent Echo"]
Objective: Find Thunderfoot

The guard had barely finished speaking before Charlie was racing off to find the beast. Yuroic sighed, he should go after her but there were still questions that he wanted answered. "Excuse me, do the banthas attack your men or the equipment? How frequently do these attacks happen? Finally, how much noise and affect to the environment do you believe this project has made?" These were crucial questions in understanding possible motivations behind their attacks. Rushing off without this insight might make things worse, the site could be a grazing ground for the beasts, it could be a former area they lived to escape the storms. If the attacks were equipment based which turned to attacking the workers that would show the banthas wanted the workers gone and things escalated.

Politely waiting for the answer, Yuroic stood, thanking the man afterwards as he then moved to find Charlie attempting to track the animal. He smiled warmly at first. "Hey, never rush ahead Padawan, you could be missing out on vital information. While we need to find the animals, tracking them is the easy part. At least I find it easy." Yuroic wasn't sure why but he somehow had naturally gifted tracking capabilities. He discovered this recently when tracking various creatures in the Shadowlands on Kashyyyk. He noted the footprint and followed to the next one, each mark easily identified in his mind. "Bantha leave more obvious tracks than other animals, being so large and heavy, it makes them easier to track. However, if we rush in to help them, not understanding what the Luna company might have done to provoke this response, either accidently or without forethought, then we could end up in a dangerous situation. This should end with everyone surviving but we must be careful, I believe the other bantha are not as aggressive as this alpha, Thunderfoot, calm him, calm the others." It was the usual method, alpha led the pack, they do as he would.

Calm the alpha, save the pack. That was his plan, he didn't need another option.

 

[Ciana Teigra]

Location: Boram-class Hospital Ship "Panacea", orbiting Talasea
Objective: Panacea

After an exchange of greetings, Hyonu led the group of physicians and healers to his lab, where he gave his briefing of the bioweapon in question. It turned out to be quite the nasty thing, almost always causing a lethal hemorrhagic fever within a short time, and actually became more potent within the presence of kolto and bacta. Being a negative sense RNA virus, while not immediately infectious like a positive sense virus, it could invade a cell and suppress an autoimmune response, priming itself for explosive replication later with little resistance.

This was like ebola on steroids.

On one hand, this was a horrible malady, but on the other, it was an opportunity to make history and pioneer some new techniques. For too long, advances conventional medicine had largely stagnated because of an unhealthy dependence on bacta, and kolto to a lesser extent.

She gave everyone else a chance to offer solutions, then took a turn.

"So bacta and kolto are out, and we don't know enough the virus or the physiology of certain hosts (i.e. Whaladons, Dolphinarians) to produce antivirals on demand. Firstly, because of the speed which the virus operates, I recommend that we place all victims into stasis as we conduct our research. While it's not a cure, the stasis fields will freeze all cellular activity and halt the spread of the virus. As for detecting the virus, the lifeform scanners aboard Borams are very powerful. Once we calibrate them to detect the virus, then we shouldn't have too much trouble with detection."

She was going to continue with a solution, then her eyes widened a bit as she thought about the Whaladons in the tanks.

"Ah, I almost forgot that the Whaladons are much too large for the stasis pods. Then they'll require immediate attention. I think Force techniques will actually be helpful with them, as there's only a small number of patients to treat." She shifted her focus from Hyonu to Master Rigel. "First, we focus on destroying the virus cells and trigger the autoimmune response of the cells so they can attack the virus while it's still in a harmless negative state. After our healers eliminate the virus, they could shift to dealing with the internal hemorrhaging."

"As for a long-term solution, I've been working with my company on developing some new anti-viral tech." She reached into her inner jacket pocket to bring out a small tubular instrument that resembled a lightsaber hilt. "You all know the phenomena of forced resonance? If you find out the right frequency for glass, you can cause it to shatter with soundwaves as vibrations grow more intense. We figured out that we could do the same thing with virus molecules, targeting them with ultra-short laser pulses tuned to their specific frequency. The host remains undamaged, while the virus molecules are broken down into harmless base protein structures."

It was quite the revolutionary piece of technology but only brought about as Kiribian scientists had to look for an alternative to nanotechnology. That once promising field had hit a sudden and inexplicable roadblock.

"As it's an ablative laser that passes through tissue while not transferring heat, we're currently calling this device...the phaser."

[member="Celeste Rigel"] [member="Hyonu Ye"] [member="Reggie Faayare"] [member="Samara Raine"]

 

[Jsc]

Thunderfoot
Entering of the Forest - p2
[member="Leina Snowfire"] [member="Yuroic Xeraic"] [member="Charlie Nooran"] [member="Asaraa Vaashe"]


Charlie and Yuroic lead the party into the woods. Tracking heavy footprints out towards the waterfall from the scout's reports. Nooran had dismissed the scouts themselves leaving only poor Asaraa standing all alone at the edge of the woods. Oh dear. Perhaps Vaashe would be able to sense them through the Force and follow. Else Leina might have to lend her a hand.

Corsica however. Had another idea.

"I'll stay behind and setup an ACC for the mission sortie. I'll have coms and drone support ready within twenty. Good luck gang! Call if you need anything."

The tall blonde gave the others a thumbs up sign as they entered the forest. Then she returned to her starfighter and began linking coms and requesting supply priorities from local command. Sure enough. Within twenty minutes. Corsica was flying over the forest in her light Interceptor. Flanked on both sides by aerial support drones. With this, the Silver Jedi would own the air and the clouds. Alas. Satellite support was not yet available on-world. So they'd have to work without it for now.

~ "All units, this is Corsica. We have eyes in the sky. Drones are ready for tracking, group coms are established, and supply drops are standing by for drop coordinates. Let us know if you need anything down there. Hehe. We'll be right above ya. Corsica out." ~

Ah. Now if felt like a proper sortie.

 

[Ye Hyonu]

Location: Hospital Ship “Panacea”, orbiting Talasea

Objective: :0

Listening to everyone’s questions and suggestions leaning towards the Force, Hyonu nodded and tried to think of a way around this without the Force. The last thing that needed to happen was that the virus adapted to the Force and began to use it against them. The Force as all they had left to make things comfortable for the time being. Looking at Reggie, he nodded. “You’re right. No matter what skill level the Force is only able to provide comfort. Patients have responded positively so I suggest keep using Force heal, but not as often as we have been. I don’t want this thing to shift and begin to mutate to counter our efforts.”

It was then the voice he had been missing in the crowd decided to speak up. He wondered if the woman was waiting for others to have their turn before she presented her idea. A hand rested on his chin, while his arm crossed his body. He was highly interested in what the woman had to say but was trying to not make it seem that way.

She spoke on several points, and the doctor was a bit ashamed of himself for not thinking of stasis. It would prevent (hopefully) the virus from replicating. Hand moving against his chin, he was quickly reminded of the scruff that was showing and he continue to listen especially when she brought out the tool she called the “Phaser”. “Interesting, Dr. Teigra.” Hyonu knew that since the infected were already infected for a day or so now they couldn’t stop the original host cell from replicating. Once the host was infected and began to replicate and create new cells it grew exponentially. As much as he wanted to zap away destroying the virus, he was skeptical.

“While in stasis we need to focus on getting rid of the cancerous cells. The issues that I see us running into is if enough of the cellular structure – especially if it’s gotten to the point where the immune system is compromised. What we need to focus on is reducing the viral cells but leaving weakened viral cells so that the immune system can combat them.” Sighing, “If we just go in and eradicate the virus, they could get infected again especially since we haven’t locked down how its passed. So, their immune systems are weak and then they get another infection possibly even if the virus mutates while we try and cure it – it’s only going to make things worse for the patients.” Hyonu leaned against his desk. “How long can the patient’s stay in stasis before their bodies start to have complications?” It was a serious question, he knew already the larger life forms were going to possibly become wiped out upon the vessel, but if they could save the others it wouldn’t be in vain. As he thought and waited for the answer, his hands gripped the ends of his desk tightly, enough to show the whites of his knuckles. Another question popped into his head, “Could your phaser, if possible be coded to pick out the negative strand RNA – or essentially the RNA tail of the virus while it begins replication in the cytoplasm of the cell? If we are able to do that we can avoid destroying the cells and focus on healing them.”

“From what I’ve gathered with my studies, the virus is non-segmented, so the genes are made up of three regulatory regions, a gene end signal, an intergenic region and the gene start signal. Possibly, with your phaser we can tune it to the frequency to regulate the gene start signal, to read as a gene end signal. This would force the virus to stop its replication thus allowing the body to create more antibodies and white blood cells to fight off the virus. Also giving us a possible host for creating a vaccine.”

The device that Ciana held was something magical and amazing that he wondered why she waited so long to present it. There was an urge that swelled in his chest to just grab her and hug her or something, but the doctor remained silent after he spoke of his ideas. He didn’t want to let on that he was overly impressed and thankful that the Silver Circle had contacted her.

“Please Ciana, please tell me this is possible.”


[member="Celeste Rigel"] [member="Ciana Teigra"] [member="Samara Raine"] [member="Reggie Faayare"] [member="Ciana Teigra"]

 

[Eugen Aker]

Location: Cato Neimodia
Objective: Stop Pirates (BYOO)
Opposition: [member="Darth Animus"]

Time slowed for the Echani as she bounded forward, the pirates around her almost brought to a standstill. From their perspective, she would appear as little more than a blur of flashing white. Darting in a zig-zag motion, she struck all the pirates in her immediate path with just a tap of her lightsaber to their limbs. The grazing blows wouldn't kill them, but searing third-degree burns did send one thug after another crumpling in agony.

Flitting toward the vault opening in an erratic path of mayhem, she finally felt a powerful dark aura right before her, just beyond the vault entrance.

A Dark Sider, ready and waiting.

Jumping common thugs was one thing, but running into a prepared Force User would be foolhardy. They couldn't be allowed to fight on their terms.

So as she reached the first steps leading to the vault, she held her free hand forward, summoning a small vortex before her to send bodies and barricades flying through the entrance. Before the Dark Sider met the Echani in combat, they would have to contend with the maelstrom launched right before her as a plow.

 

[Ciana Teigra]

Location: Boram-class Hospital Ship "Panacea", orbiting Talasea
Objective: Panacea

Ciana shook her head in the face of some of Hyonu's assessment regarding the use of the Force to treat the patients. Much more accepting of a holistic approach than her Seoulian counterpart, she felt like his aversion ultimately came from a sense of disdain.

"I have a hard time believing that the Sith would engineer a virus to become Force resistant," she interjected. "Then they would have no way to control it, and then we'd find ourselves with another Gulag Plague or an Alpha Red. When Sith alchemists create Sithspawn, it's common practice for them to leave an exploit in case they must eliminate their creation."

The Kiribian was well versed in alchemy, her planet's medical scene centered all around it.

"What I'm suggesting is that we stimulate what's left of their healthy tissue, and direct it to attack the virus. Working through the Whaladons' own boosted immune system, we can avoid direct interaction. In any case, I'm not all that worried about further mutation, assuming the patients remain isolated in quarantine. If anything, this is the perfect time to check in a live condition for future reference. As for stasis, they can be placed in suspended animation indefinitely."

While Hyonu seemed pleased with the phaser device, he appeared dismissive of how she wanted to use it, which made her frown.

"...as I said before, through the process of forced resonance, the viral molecules can be targeted while the host tissue remains unharmed - these microlasers are precise to the atomic level. The genetic composition of the virus doesn't matter because the solution is a matter of physics, not biology."

She sighed. "Look, we need to focus on helping the patients now. We can worry about creating vaccines and antivirals later after we stabilize their condition. Save some infected tissue for cultures later, we do have bioprinters on board."

[member="Celeste Rigel"] [member="Hyonu Ye"] [member="Reggie Faayare"] [member="Samara Raine"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PY-BvPriIBo​

Objective: Thunderfoot
Allies: [member="Charlie Nooran"] [member="Asaraa Vaashe"] [member="Yuroic Xeraic"] [member="Leina Snowfire"] [member="Corsica Cinto"]

"You have the scent?"

Over the skies of Talasea, the dragon Jongori would fly overhead as the Master Of The Order, who had been deployed a little later while he assisted in finishing organizing the assignment, would be relying on it's senses to find their target. "The bantha should be around here somewhere. If they're in a herd, their scent should be easier to find" Josh would communicate telepathically to the beast. The dragon would let out some sort of sound to note the affirmative. "We have to hurry and catch up to the others. Follow the scent as best you can, and we should find them."

After some time of flying, Josh would sit up straight when he could sense the presence of several Jedi below them. Jongori had begun to slow it's pace, which meant they were close. The one that he locked on was that of [member="Charlie Nooran"] who Josh decided to make a priority in ensuring she wasn't having trouble. "Here" Josh commanded as the dragon would stop it's flight. Taking a deep breath, Josh would unhook himself from the saddle and stand to his feet. "Report back" Josh commanded once more, as he would give the dragon a little pat on the head and a scratch behind it's ear before holding out his arms and allowing himself to fall backwards. Closing his eyes and allowing his senses to fly out around him as the wind kicked his long golden locks around, the Jedi would be able to sense all around him and pinpoint a little more accurately his destination. Finally, he would open his eyes and activate Force Flight a little ways from the ground. Josh would use it to angle his landing, slowing down his descent in time to land with a soft grace a little ways from Charlie. He noticed that [member="Yuroic Xeraic"] was present with her as well, not to mention others, and gave them all a curt bow.

"How goes tracking?"

 

[Errreembuhr]

[member="Jessica Med-Beq"]


"The most effective alternate would be geothermal power plants," the Wookiee replied, looking over what was already in place. "But that would be costly and time-consuming, so not quite practical for our needs. Solar ionizers could be put up relatively quickly, and would be much less costly than geothermal, but wouldn't produce as much short-term power unless we installed a large amount of them. It would be effective in the long-run as well, depending on how much solar exposure they receive, especially since they don't require extensive regular maintenance to operate efficiently."

His attention was drawn away to the looming clouds in the distance, growing ever closer as time went on. The preparations would need to be finished soon if they were to see it work.