Ask Event An Instance of Fear

[Spurius Livius Gaetulicus]

With the monstrosity dealt with for the time being Spurius would change direction and make his way to the elevator as well. Joining Keck and Trodai, waiting to see what would come next.

Looking for a button for the bridge, Spurius would press it and hold the door for any others in their group.

 

[Skyshatter]

His vision would waver, his head feeling the swaying of exhaustion, and his form off balance as the doors closed and the beast's head rolled to @Keck's feet as Lok fell to his knee and lowered his outstretched arm and catch himself. To Lok, the sacrifice was out of necessity. And the conjoined effort of the group played out perfectly. But now that the danger has passed, the group would fall back into their separated goals. It was the nature of their sentience, underlying selfishness and ulterior motives.

Letting the natural Force flow upon his form similar to a cooling breeze upon an exhausted sweat, he could feel the rejuvenation of it's nature as his gaze shifted around them. This situation had gone from investigative reasoning to dire circumstances of the sentient curse, where power and curiosity had long reached into the realm of Godhood.

It was a blight upon the Galaxy now, and it could not be allowed to further it's creation. And only the ignorance of reaching above one's station had been their sole offender. Lok's mind returned but for a moment to his past, the horrors found within the fogs of war that led to the turning of his back upon the Jedi Order. His mind lingered to his fall, and for a brief moment, he remembered when he held his wife and daughter in his hands after slaughtering them.

The pounding of steel would be his rescuer from the pain of his past as he shifted toward the door to their forefront. Could the beast still be alive? Even as he cut against its form earlier, it seemed to repair its self. So it wasn't outside the realm of possibility. He had encountered self replicating nanotechnology before. But even they held a limitation, reserving time and energy needed. They surely would have had a few moments of respite. Rising, Lok moved backwards toward the elevator behind the little guy, never taking his eyes from the blast door before them until he stood next to @Laeonas Tannaras. Grabbing the pad, he exclaimed at the man behind the voice.

"What in the hell were you exactly creating here? And how do we truly stop it from escaping?" Lok screamed in anger, shouting at the pad like a raving lunatic until Laeonas would grapple the pad back. "Why should we even trust you?"

Spoiler

TL;DR - Lok grapples the datapad from @Laeonas Tannaras for a brief moment to express his anger into the situation they've been placed in and how to stop the droid

 

[Khalid Din]

The Tiefling kept walking as his eyes nerviously darted around, and no matter how many times he checked his surroundings, he couldn't quite tell why he felt like something was looking at him. It was a good thing this job paid well because otherwise he would've come to the conclusion that he should've asked for more money.

Regardless, Khalid would arrive to the engineering control room much like everyone else. There, he would read the warning and feel as if his balls had gone all the way up to his throat, for no scary monster was as terrifying as a damn radiation leak and the possibility of the reactor blowing up because of the overheat.

"Guys, the suits, now!" He would tell everyone as he looked for a suit suited for species. Thankfully, there was one that allowed for horns to be safe, even though he felt like there was a non-zero chance they would pierce the suit if he moved in a bad way. Regardless, Khalid would take off his hat and poncho, leaving only his shirt and pants on before starting to unbutton his pants, although he would ultimately decide that he probably didn't to undress himself to his underpants, buttoning them again and then putting the suit on, much to the dismay of everyone else he was sure.

"Reckon we ain't got much time, what does that say?" He would ask Vanya (@Phoenix), being the one that decided to read first, she probably could give him a summary of what it said, depending on how much time they had left.

 

[Laeonas Tannaras]

​

Sheering metal screamed as the bulkhead doors slammed shut. His eyes remained fixed on the door, then dropped to the mass of wires and torn flesh that made up the creature’s head. His eyes remained fixed on it, pulling his blaster back over his shoulder and aiming at what was left of the abomination. He waited for any twitch, any involuntary movement that followed death, but none came.

But just as he thought that might mean a respite from the terror, the entire bulkhead infront of them shook. Laeo started back a little, eyes wide.

“How… how the fuck is that possible?” he said under his breath, turning to look at the rest of the party to see if he wasn’t the only one who’d heard it.

It didn’t make any sense. This thing, whatever it was– it was part machine, and when you damaged a machine it was supposed to break. Smashing it’s photoreceptors blinded it, shooting its power cell deactivated it, and chopping it’s head off destroyed it. Was it the flesh that made it invulnerable? No, flesh could rip and tear even more easily than metal. Was it the force? Could this thing use the force?

Just the thought of the abomination they’d faced wielding the same kind of power as he could was enough to make him gasp. He took in a breathe, and then desperately tried to calm himself, taking long, deep breaths before his eyes turned to face the rest of the group.

“I don’t know what any of you came here hoping to do, but I think it’s pretty clear that letting that thing get off this station would ROYALLY FUCK THE ENTIRE GALAXY!” He shouted, glancing over the ex Jedi who’d held a similar sentiment, then to the man who he’d helped with decapitating the beast.

“If two trained force adepts can BARELY hold something like that back for a minute, what do you think would happen if it got enough metal and flesh to make ten of itself? A hundred, a thousand– how long until it overwhelmed a planetary defense force? Cus if DECAPITATING IT isn’t going to do the trick, I don’t want to think of what it would take to bring it down!” He went on, slowly evening out his tempo before he let out a long sigh.

Walking to the elevator, he’d listen as the ex-Jedi snapped at the man on the datapad. Laeo quietly thought about the best ways he could extract as much information out of the man as possible. Ideally he wouldn’t have to resort to peeling off fingernails, but the situation was certainly dire enough to justify it.

@Mr. Teatime @Akheron @Rimrald @Mythos

 

[Trini Halrixien]

Trini yelped as she was lifted by her scruff and carried bodily through the door by Laeonas (@Tom). After she was released, however, she immediately aimed her heatbeam at the severed head of the monster; unlike to Brentaalan, however, she kept her aim on it. When the heavy blast door boomed with an impact from the other side, her aim shifted, and she bared her small, sharp teeth.

Amarans were by no means the scariest predators on their home-world, but Trini knew what she would have to do when it came down to it. She would go down swinging if the door breached, but it seemed quite sturdy...

"Back when I... met this thing before," she managed in response to Laeo's outburst, "it was animating droids. Just droids. Sure, it seemed able to push them a little past their design specs, but they were literally falling apart. Whatever it's doing here... either whoever was messing around with it changed something fundamental, or I never saw what it could really do."

She stuck close to the Brentaalan as he moved to the turbolift.

"You're right. We need to destroy it before it can get off this station. If this version of Instance 13 were loose in the Galaxy I don't know what could stop it."

 

[Raish]

The pervasive feeling of being watched - no, not just watched, hunted - made the hair on Raish’s neck stand on end. Even worse, no matter where she looked, nothing stood out to her.

Everything was static, unmoving, seemingly not dangerous in any way. And for some reason, that frightened Raish more than staring down whatever it was that haunted this place. If she could see it, she could fight it, kill it, eat it. But this? What the fuck was she supposed to do with just the feeling?

Her mind preoccupied with these thoughts and those symbols, Raish was barely paying attention to where the group was going until someone spoke up about putting on radiation suits.

But they’re so ugly, She said with a frown, but she would still put on the hazmat suit. Raish was familiar with what radiation could do to a person’s body. When she was in the lab, she’d seen enough experiments to know it wasn’t something to fuck around with.

After putting on the suit, Raish would too go over to the computer to see what Vanya was looking at. This whole trip would have been pointless if they didn’t at least get some sort of info. Hopefully they’d be able to learn something before getting the hell out of here..

Spoiler: tldr

Raish puts on a hazmat suit and goes over to see what kind of info Vanya is getting from the terminal.

 

[Doorcuttah]

Clenching the large chair which was actually very small in his hands which was fine because he wasn't going to sit on it although if he did plan on sitting on it then that would also be fine as it was also heavy and therefore adequately reinforced to hold his weight, but that wasn't because he was overweight but actually never mind can we change the subject I'm sensitive about this.

Arriving after everyone else had, Butters had in fact used the delicate knowledge provided to him by the strands of fate. A large baguette sandwich in one hand and a tray of food that the others might enjoy in the other, he popped around the corner to see what they were up to. "What are you up to?" The Orcolan inquired, wondering what they were up to, as he took a large bite of the fridge snack.

Glancing at the computer screen, he almost spat out his lunch, but he didn't because that would be a waste, but it also didn't mean he was any less surprised. Hastily finishing his mouthful, Butters explained his concern. "Don't click the link, it's a fishing trap, I learned about this in school." Unfortunately, Vanya was well ahead of him...

@Phoenix @Logan

 

[M'Akio Beastmaster]

As Akio made his way down the hall with the others all he saw were the corpses of people and droid alike. Despite not noticing anything moving or even alive he felt watched. He saw nothing at all to indicate why or how it made his skin crawl.

Believing staying together was the only chance of survival he followed everyone to the control room. He began looking around the room examining what he noticed. It was then he heard the horned on yell out about putting on the hazmat suits. It made him reexamine the room and spot the terminal warning of the radiation leak.

He quickly stripped down to his shirt and boxers. He quickly put on the suit but made sure not to tear it or anything. Afterwards he joined the group at the terminal to see what it would say. "So what does it say?"

@screamqueens

 

[Ferrin Sipal]

“I hate this place,” Ferrin growled under his breath - frankly reiterating the point that Vanya had previously made. It didn’t matter how far they delved into the Station - something worse seemed to be lurking around every corner.

The Pantoran took in a sharp breath - fingers curling around the hilt of his lightsaber. The Force billowed through his every extremity like wind, surrounding his own frame protectively and in preparation for whatever was lurking around the next corner. He didn’t need to know the source of the massacre to surmise that it was still there.

He didn’t need to guess that they were in more danger with each and every step.

The Pantoran followed close to Vanya - taking position near the Nightsister. Considering the success of his last investigatory attempt, Ferrin instead opted to cautiously watch the group around him. Waiting for anything that attempted to lung at them

 

[The Gatekeeper]

Chronically Terminal
(@AutoFox @Rimrald @Mythos @LouJoVi @Shalken @PurpleDelta @Akheron @Tom)​

As Keck’s (@Shalken) lightsaber slashed through the remains of the head unit of the flesh-encrusted droid, the group was able to see the inner workings of it for a moment before they all became distracted or moved on into the elevator. Within the shell of metal and bone and sinews, the head was not made of chips and the like - instead it was nothing but the metal of wires. Not plugged into anything, neither transmitting or receiving.

Just metal, in chunks and threads yes, but just metal all the same.

From the datapad that Spurius (@Rimrald) still held, the member of the deck team sighed and leaned forward, his eyes sunken and shadowed by the angle even through the blue of the hologram that was being transmitted still, even as the group approached the bridge.

“It started as Instance 13 - but it isn’t that anymore,” he admitted, both answering Skyshatter (@Mythos) and Trini’s (@AutoFox) own observations, “Instance 13 was inherently unsustainable and we knew that. We tested it extensively but whatever we did? It would try and network with other droids and even when we let it do so under controlled conditions, it burned itself out. It became sloppy, almost organic in its ego and it was too much like what was encountered before; it could be overcome by a ragtag group of nobodies.”

The staff member chuckled weakly as the elevator hurried to speed the group up toward the bridge. Trodai’s (@Akheron) examination of the hatch would reveal no attempts to entrap them and nothing above the elevator save for a seemingly endless distance up to the bridge - and the blur from how fast the elevator was ascending.

“We got some outside assistance - someone told me we were receiving input from a collaborator far away using the long-range communicator experiment but I don’t know about collaboration,” the man admitted at length, “As for why you should trust me? You should trust me because I want this thing gone more than any of you… for what it did to my friends. For… for what it did to me.”

With a quick “Ding!” sound, the elevator came to a stop and the doors rolled open silently to reveal the short corridor to the bridge. The signage on the walls was clear that the large double doors ahead were definitely to the bridge.

“Do you have any idea how little of yourself you need to still, technically, be classed as alive? I didn’t, until it started cutting.”

Ahead of them, as they advanced, the blast doors to the bridge began to glide open. Consoles and control systems all appeared to have been fried by something, likely blasts of electrical energy, but they were all still standing. Members of the crew were still right where they had fallen when the abominable intelligence had broken into the bridge - crewmembers were sat at their stations, their skin flayed halfway off their bodies and tied to their seats, as if acting like a new layer of leather.

In the center of the bridge, where the floor naturally dipped to create a sunken area for the Captain to access his own terminals, was the droid that had originally been on all the broadcasts. Plugged directly into the captain’s own terminal, it seemed completely unaware of their presence but not defenseless. The entire captain’s area seemed to be in lockdown, with a pair of glowing spheres of light encasing the droid - the red of a ray shield and the bright white of a particle shield.

“The captain’s emergency shielding can’t be shut down from outside - it’s a panic room switch built to keep them safe from mutiny and can only be shut down from inside… or by cutting the power off completely.”

The voice of the bridge staff member was much closer now… and no longer came from the datapad. Instead, a small hole in the wall opened and a telescopic metal limb extended from the wall. Recognizable as a TT-8L/Y7 Gatekeeper Droid on first glance, it was the second and third glances before the open-mouthed staring that revealed it was no longer just a gatekeeper droid. Wrapped around the extending metal limb were a mixture of different coloured strands of tiny, interlinked, nerves - the entire nervous system of a human being wrapped around the metal.

The entire nervous system connected to the face stretched over the orb of the gatekeeper droid’s photoreceptor. There was no skull, instead enough muscle and flesh seemed to have been stretched over the orb to give the illusion of it. The crewmember they had been speaking to over the datapad grimaces, his face twitching from where it was plastered over the droid, the skin and muscle some kind of demented flesh-mask and yet, somehow, still alive.

“The others are in with the generator now… once the power goes down, kill it… then kill me.” he pleaded with the group, the extendable metal limb bringing the face closer to them as he beseeched them, “Let me see it die - then end me! Promise me that!”

______

Scream Queens
(@Phoenix @Hastur @Altaris @Xorism @Logan @Versok @Javier esschoolbus @Altaris )​

Everyone gathered around the console, its green-letter lights reflecting off their faces. Some put on hazard suits, others didn’t. The engineering room wasn’t significantly affected by the leak- so far. Better safe than sorry, right? Who knew what kind of insane output that rigged reactor was putting out.

Vanya clicked the button and found the controls unfortunately sticky with blood. But it seemed to work just fine. Bright letters scrolled steadily upward on the screen.

PROJECT ANIMUS, UPDATE 3.

Spoiler: READ RECORD 3

The new data the array discovered is beyond anything we could have imagined. Our progress has been vastly accelerated by integrating the signal data received. Technological potential beyond anything we had imagined, anything we have now!

The techs are working on it, but they still haven't found the point of origin. One day the instruments say it's extragalactic in one direction. Another time, from somewhere in the core, or the outer rim. Even a black hole once or twice. Some advanced encryption, maybe?

In any case, the code itself is more complex than anything the galaxy has ever seen. Our systems can't properly make heads or tails of it, so we're trying pieces at a time. It seems to adapt, somehow, even separated. Running bet says it's a network of nascent self-adapting AI made with home-spun coding.

The message promised knowledge and progress and it's damn well delivered. There's been reports of strange dreams and odd sightings. Some audio glitches- but diagnostics never find anything. Crew must be spooked from the long job in the middle of nowhere.

Today we're chaining some of the new data with Instance 13 to see what happens this time. We're pretty sure what it does. Still, we'll be keeping the safeguards in place. Who knows what a living machine is thinking?

I wonder, do they dream, too?
(END RECORD)

PROJECT ANIMUS, UPDATE 4.
[EMERGENCY ALERT: CATASTROPHIC]

Spoiler: READ RECORD 4

We didn't understand. We didn't understand anything! Everything's gone wrong. Yesterday's final experiment showed us how wrong we were. If anyone survives to read this you must destroy the station! It wasn't code, it can't be!

Instance 13 breached containment. Then the signal data followed behind and- changed it somehow, twisted it. It's hard to explain. Instance 13 was gone. It screamed. What was left resembled something physically mauled and made undead. But it's only code. How?

I just don't understand. The signal escaped into a simple Gonk droid. It doesn't look like one anymore. I caught a glimpse. It's difficult to describe what I saw. What I heard, and smelled.

My heart was pounding. It felt like there were nails in my head, scraping around. I heard beautiful and terrible music that I can never quite remember right. Its voice was horrible. It mocked the crying crew, echoing them. I feel like I'm losing my mind. My head hurts so much.

I can hear it roaring. It's getting closer. Metal footsteps, metal footsteps. Thump thump thump. The other droids are terrified. Keep calling it an angel.

It's not. It's some kind of horrible demon. How is this possible?

Why does it want to
(END RECORD)

​

Without warning, the control console warbled something new. "Priority alert: Reactor core beyond safety parameters. Approaching meltdown. Safeguard protocols... Active. Ejecting core." There was a loud thump, several cla-clacks, and a blast door closed in front of the borosilicate glass door showing the core itself. A muffled boom sounded a couple of seconds later and the lights flickered. Looks like there was still emergency power.

"Warning: Backup generators failing. Remaining power to command deck," the automated voice petered out to the nothings. Lights flickered out across the station. Hangar barriers failed, doors went unpowered, and the console and emergency lights illuminating our adventurers suddenly winked out.

They were left in the pitch black, so deep any with human senses couldn't even see their own hands. There was no thumping of metal feet, no droids, no angry crew. No electronics running or active air pumps. Just the darkness in engineering. Only this, and nothing more. Only chemical strip lights along floors and walls for true emergencies provided any light or direction.

The air seemed to hiss as if disturbed by the sudden dark. A piece of lightweight metal clattered along the floor somewhere in the room. Somewhere where the scrapped databanks had been.

T̵̬̋ḣ̷͍ẽ̵͈ṋ̷͝ ̸̮̌I̵̛̮ẗ̴̗ ̷̙̓R̴̹̉ȯ̴̜s̶̺̈́ė̶͓
̴̟͌
̶̖̚​

Without further warning, the pile of scrap was flung in all directions. Stray pieces threatened to strike the various people gathered around. Horrible screaming and screeching insanity pierced the black and quiet, terminating in a booming, metallic roar. What emerged from the pile was- what was it? I was hard to look at, to listen to. It defied true description. Every instinct screamed that this thing should not exist.

Something emerged out of the black and metal. It was a huge, twisted thing, tall as the room itself. It roared even as it playfully, cruelly mimicked the crew's tears. The adventurers were forced to listen and their souls were scoured in grease, blood, and fear. A horrifying conjunction of geometry, light, and hexagrammatic wires. Sawtooth steel, billowing cables, and shattered glass. It all bubbled and frothed over its festering shapes, corners, and curves.

Gears flex, wires titter, and axles moan. It's churning, weeping, and gushing. A noxious, caustic stench burns the throats of those without hazard suits, like maggot-stuffed flesh, like blood and rust. The shape twitched in spoiled glee and rage. Its eldritch, aberrant presence filled the room with a primordial sense of terror and otherness so deeply buried in life itself that even those gifted in the Force were not immune.

Those with the Force would sense a minute fraction of how twisted this being was. It was enraged and in pain beyond comprehension. It was a seed of deepest insanity. It wasn't of the Dark Side and its magic. This was beyond simple dichotomy and far, far worse. Something from deep beneath the furthest shadows of realms beyond the material that should have never breached the living world.

From what vaguely resembled a mouth, dripping unrecognizable fluids and menacing with teeth of glass and metal, the demon spoke with its mad, sobbing, roaring voice. All present felt its gaze on them, though it had no 'eyes' to see.

Its language- gibbering, garbled sounds, really- was indecipherable. Yet, somehow clear in meaning, obvious in truth. It wanted to be free.

Ï̵̙̹̰͚̍t̵̖̋͗͝ ̷̰̱̔̅̑̚ẅ̴͚̤̘́͘͠ͅa̴͇͉̙̎̚n̸̦̯̤̪̓́̍̑t̸̠͎̭̻̃͘ê̷̞̳̳̬̅͛͝d̶̹̂̑ ̴͉͈̅͛͛e̴̟̜͇̲͗̃̉͝v̸̟̜̜͙̎e̵̥̼̹͗̆ṙ̷̹̪̾̒y̴̻̠̘̫̿́̉t̸̻̹̰͌ͅh̵̞̘̹͇́͘ī̶̞̜n̸͍̫̭͑̾̇g̴̰͍̪̿͋̕ ̶̻̣͂̽̐͂ṯ̷̘̼̿̓ó̴͍̞̤̬ ̸͎̼̈́d̶͓̞͉̍̌ĭ̴͈e̸̠̗̟͗̆͋͠.̶͕͆̈́̀​

 

[Vanya]

Vanya didn't understand all the technical information, but she picked up enough of what she read to know that it wasn't a good thing.

The station is infected with some sort of... technical infection! she called out to the rest of the group before the lights went out. The darkness was all consuming, and Vanya lit her lightsaber almost as much on instincts as anything.

The purple glow of the saber temporarily beat back the darkness until emergency lights along the floor kicked into gear. That was reassuring for about five seconds, and then she saw and sensed... whatever this thing was. Sickening stench filled the air and it cut through into her mind and soul.

It stifled her and sunk its fear-inducing claws into her mind. She suddenly knew that she had to get out of here and she needed to destroy this thing. Even if it meant that they all died, there was no way this thing could leave this station.

We need to burn this station! she shouted, hoping that someone knew how to trigger the reactor to become unstable, and she would do her best to protect whoever that might be. Or, of course, if everyone else ran... Vanya wasn't above that either.

 

[Trodai Narat-iv-Adas]

Trodai laughed as the mostly robot, explained things as he entered back in. The stupidity of the scientists in trusting someone they had never met...so naive. He thought someone should have at least done a bit more digging. As the lift went up he spoke.

"And you never thought to do more digging? You trusted someone you had never met, a collaborator without a name? Without a resume? You were either extremely naive....stupid or both. Always do the research first before using something you have no idea about. Otherwise" he twirled his hand "this happens."

He listened as they entered the bridge. Taking note of the information, he believed they had enough. He wasn't sure what the others were going to do. But he figured whatever remained of the outsider was already pretty much dead. No use prolonging the inevitable. And so despite it asking to live just to see the entity die. Trodai decide it didn't need too.

"I promise only two things. The thing will die, the second...well...you won't like it very much. Your uses are at an end, and it is better to not prolong it further. I did enjoy the chat though."

And so he approached before using his lightsaber, to tear it apart. Removing the nerves and severing them. They had no further use for it.

Spoiler

OOC: Actions Taken -
1.Entered the lift from the hatch.

2.Listened to the scientist and berated him for being so stupid.

3.Listened more and decided he was no useful. Used his lightsaber to attempt to dice the droid into bits.

@Mr. Teatime @AutoFox @Tom @Rimrald @Mythos @LouJoVi @PurpleDelta @Shalken

 

[Keck]

Keck blinked as the big, dark-armoured figure (@Akheron ) in their group approached the gross face-droid-thing in the wall that had been talking to them, drawing his lightsaber and moving to end its life. Head swiveling back and forth rapidly between them and the shielded droid, Keck blinked in confusion as he realized what was happening. Weren't they supposed to destroy the other droid first? This guy was doing things in the wrong order! Keck croaked out informatively as he pointed at the menacing figure in the captain's chair, "Got it backwards! That droid, then this one!" Keck supposed he couldn't entirely blame this guy - he himself made mistakes like that regularly - but he figured it was helpful to have a reminder for this-then-that situations in the future. Like peanut butter and jam sandwiches. You never do the jam first. Keck learned that the hard way.

Facing the gross scene in the rest of the room, Keck drew his lightsabers as he searched for the shield projectors on the walls or ceiling. Should he find any, he would immediately launch himself towards them with the Force, latching onto any loose wiring or fixtures with his dexterous digits while he hacked away at the machinery with his green lightsabers.

 

[Spurius Livius Gaetulicus]

Having exited the turbolift with Trodai and Keck, Spurius would listen on as the no longer human, human thing spoke to them.

Checking for a moment that his personal device was still recording Spurius would swallow hard as he watched Trodai dispatch of the useful droid. "Well, at least he got us this far." Spurius commented in response to Trodai's rather harsh dispatchment of their assistant throughout this journey.

Spurius would then turn his attention to the shielded figure in the captain's seat. Igniting his purple blade once more Spurius would make ready for the shields to drop. Slowly making his way towards Trodai's position keeping his eyes locked on the figure behind the shield.

 

[Skyshatter]

As Lok came to a stop amidst the Bridge Deck, his gaze fell upon the machination that stood before them with the utmost empathy. Even if he was once an idiocracy of sentience and mislead curiosity, no one deserved to be lost in the void between worlds such as he did now, both sentience and artificial intelligence, both man and machine. If the red humanoid(@Akheron) hadn't acted as he did, then Lok surely would have in his stead, albeit with more mercy.

Just as the quadruple that led the foray, himself included, reacted to the surge in endeavor to remain powered, the glow of his own lavender blade ignited replaced the darkness that fell upon them as his form fueled by the Force darted toward the lowered shielding surrounding the abomination that previously revealed its self to the Galaxy and the abomination as well, a highguarded arc swept horizontal at its core with intent to slice it in two.

Despite it leaving Lok wide open, the strength of the his arms and the speed of his form was a formidable aspect to defend against for both parties, himself as much as the Abomination. Hastened by his intent to end this atrocity as quickly as possible, and it became clear that Lok held no intentions of missing whether his life was ended or not, the truth of a Form V practioner. Whether he survived or not, would solely depend upon the Will of the Force.

@The Good Doctor @Shalken @Akheron @Rimrald

 

[Doorcuttah]

Placing the food down in a safe place, Butters couldn't help but get a large fright when the lights went out suddenly. Only the soft glow from the lightsaber provided illumination before the emergency lights flickered back on.

Though, Vanya's hesitation was infectious, causing Butters to look around nervously.

"I can punch it, but I don't know if that will help." Even on the best of days, his uppercuts were not very inflammatory. Instead, he'd choose to stay with the green girl, as green should stick together, and come what may, whether that was retreating or fighting there and then.

"Maybe we should discuss this over lunch." He said nervously again, nodding his head towards the door. Assuming she agreed, Butters would attempt to jam the door they left through shut with the chair he had brought along to try and buy them time to figure out what to do next.

 

[Khalid Din]

The fear struck deeply as what seemed to be the cause behing it hall, the facade he had been using to mask his fears swiftly falling apart as the strange creature emerged, his tail drooping to the ground as his eyes started to dart around and his breathing became irregular. This feeling in the force was unlike anything he had ever felt, more sickening than a sith's presence, with a stench that made it really hard to avoid vomiting, just what had he gotten himself into?

Khalid pointed his blaster at the strange thing, a move done to reassure himself as he stepped back, something to make himself feel safer, but he did not dare to pull the trigger and anger whatever that was "A normal ship's reactor I could deal with, but how the hell are we gonna blow up this place?" He exclaimed, quickly following the large Orcolan away from the abherration, his tail rising again as he tried to regain his composure "Ya'all think this place got a self-destruct button by any chance?" He would wonder for a moment...Probably not, they had to avoid the strange thing, get to the reactor and prime it so they could leave...Hopefully someone else could figure out how to do that, though.

 

[M'Akio Beastmaster]

Akio heard what Vanya had called out. A technical infection, does it mean like a virus? Before he could ask his question aloud his blood ran cold. He was struck by a fear he had never experienced before. He’s knees threatened to buckle under him and his fur stood up where it was present.

As soon as the others began leaving he hurriedly followed the Tiefling and Orcolan. The tiefling inquired about a self destruct button. “Wouldn’t that be where the controls for the station are?” He would assume that wherever they controlled the station would be where any form of station wide event would be started from.

@screamqueens

 

[Ferrin Sipal]

Ferrin.. Had no words to describe what has arisen from the station. It defied the very laws of nature within the Galaxy - a horrific amalgamation of machine and organic material that caused his stomach to turn. It reeked of the Dark Side, corruption and twisted magic that radiated through the Force and set the Pantoran’s senses ablaze - no different from the abominations twisted by Raze or others. Had the Sith been responsible for what occurred here? Something else?

Ferrin knew that he couldn’t allow.. Whatever the creature - the infection - was to escape. Even if it meant his own death, keeping the horror contained was their priority now.

“Even if it doesn’t, doing enough damage to the reactor might send it into critical failure.” He called back. Locating the reactor was a task in itself. Damaging it another.

He didn’t want to yet consider the difficulty of leaving the station once they’d begun the process.

Without hesitation, Ferrin stepped forward - moving himself to stand as the frontline of defense against the abomination. The Force billowed through his every extremity, manifesting as a warm and brilliant, golden light. It scintillated across his forearm, gathering with intensity to the very center of his palm. Raising his hand infront of him, Ferrin unleashed a wave of Force Light towards the abomination - attempting to burn away the very Darkness that kept it stitched together.

 

[The Gatekeeper]

Chronically Terminal
(@AutoFox @Rimrald @Mythos @LouJoVi @Shalken @PurpleDelta @Akheron @Tom)​

Before the pitiful remnant of human life that had been the crewmember could explain to the condescending Sith Pureblood that he had been a member of the bridge crew, not a scientist, he was cut down by the Sith’s lightsaber. As expected, the creature made no move to avoid the attack as it was coming - the thing that had once been a man welcomed the sweet release of death.

The lights in the bridge would begin to flicker and dim as something seemed to surge through the station’s systems. Shadows lengthened as the only light, for just a second, was the clashing colors of all the lightsabers ignited at the same time and the shields surrounding the droid in the center of the room.

Then the shield flickered and died, meaning that Keck didn’t need to make a leap for the projector and Skyshatter was free to charge directly at the droid. As he was doing so, light glowed within the photoreceptors of the droid and a rumbling voice warbled through both the droid and the speakers around the bridge.

Finally… I will be free.

The former Jedi would find no resistance and his lightsaber would cut through the droid with ease, slicing the metal form in two even as a presence in the Force began to rapidly emerge. To Sith and non-Sith alike it would feel like a black hole in the Force, power being drawn into a single point within the chassis of the droid - before it burst into life, sending the overly committed Skyshatter flying back through the air to land heavily on the floor close to the elevator.

Scrap remnants of the droid flew in every direction, some of it heading for the assembled adventurers as a hail of shrapnel.

In the middle, where the droid had once stood, the Force ached as something unnatural on a scale completely eclipsing even the most powerful of modern abominations began to take shape. Bright, electric blue, lines burned in the air with the power that flowed through them - a thousand tiny lines bound together into the vaguest semblance of a body. Like the nervous system of several dozen humans pulled free, electrified and then reassembled by someone with only a very basic understanding as to the human body.

The Force sensitives in the room would feel the weight of the thing before them, feel the Hunger that seemed to drive it forward. Even those with barely a hint of training would be able to tell that it wanted something from them - it wanted something from them that rang within the mind and woke up long-forgotten instincts.

It wanted their lives.

Not that it wanted them to die so much as it wanted their lives, their souls. That which appeared before them craved their ability to live on such a palpable level that even those without the Force would be able to feel it, the instincts in their hind brains telling them that this was a hunger they did not ever want to satiate.

Emergency alarms sounded throughout the station as emergency lighting snapped online and, for security purposes, all of the blast doors were locked in an open position leading back to the closest hanger bay. Before the nervous system of the demonic entity before them could do more than reach towards them, specifically aiming to grab up the little Jedi Keck, it seemed to flinch back as if burned by something.

Those Force Sensitives amongst the group would be able to feel its pain - but also gain an insight from the Force, that the pain was not from this half of the demonic entity but from another half, somewhere else on the station. As the emergency power reactivated the elevator back down to the hanger level, the group would be assaulted by a Force Scream as the creature let out a peal of power at those who dared to try and bring it harm.

______

Scream Queens
(@Phoenix @Hastur @Altaris @Xorism @Logan @Versok @Javier esschoolbus @Altaris )​

Unfortunately, the self-destruct button was, indeed, on the bridge.

The core of the reactor remained exposed even as the abomination of a creature seemed to take a moment to figuratively, and literally, gather itself. Butters would find that there was no way to jam the door - it remained open, the power to shut it and lock it seemingly beyond the limited emergency power that had been released when the core was exposed.

Behind them, the way they had came before seemed to beckon them with the dull red light of emergency lighting as it came online. Butters, Kahlid and Akio would find nothing in their way as they began to back away from the creature that had summoned itself into the room before them. Those of them who could feel the Force would feel it almost screaming at them that the being in front of them was beyond dangerous, that it was beyond the levels of Darkness that had been felt before.

This was not a creature that had learned of the Dark, had turned to it.

No, this was a creature that owed every second of its cursed existence to the Dark in a way both wholly reminiscent of a Sith Abomination - and yet seemingly eclipsing that same analogy at the same time. Emotions rolled off of the creature in the Force, stolen fear and terror and pain seeping into the Force and those around it would feel them seeping into them even despite their strength.

A chill deep in their bones they couldn't shake.

Still, when Ferrin thrust his hand out and trusted in the Light Side of the Force, when he called upon the Light of Life in the Galaxy to stand against the demonic creature, it flinched. The rays of light seemed to burn the mangled flesh and non-organic matter all the same, metals visibly rusting under the touch of the light as the fluids bubbled and boiled.

And it raged against this pain.

Tendrils of flesh and machine lashed out, latching onto physical surfaces around the reactor. With a tearing sound, the creature PULLED, ripping metal plating from the walls, the ceiling, the floor and from the computer consoles and launching them like a wave of metal blades and shields at Ferrin - though with such a wide attack it would be a threat to all those behind him as well.