Ask Coruscant - Purging the Past

[Aska Ryun]

”Maybe in another life, Caveman. For now I’ll stick with with beating credits out of dead beats. Besides, I’m not that great with a hammer,” Pausing, a playful smirk formed on her face. ”Depending on what’s on the business end of it, anyway,” Aska whispered before falling in line behind Klied. As he motioned towards the collection of zombies at the security check point shield, she held a hand up to stop Kayto from coming around the corner. Twelve of the brain starved creatures were thrusting themselves against the barrier, burning their skin with each touch. Evidently, pain no longer existed for the undead as they continued to force themselves through the shield to no avail. ”Not very bright, are they?”

As they rounded the corner and came face to face with the group of security droids, the clone already knew they were doomed. As they raised their rifles and took aim, Klied unleashed a pair of shots that burned through two of the targets before he himself was struck. The hunter, not one to give up so easily, quickly dispatched the last two threats but with every action came a reaction. Upon hearing the Westar’s violent wrath, the group of zombies they had recently bypassed were now fully aware of their position and Aska knew she didn’t have time to get Klied on his feet before they would swarm them.

”Kayto, get those shields down!” she barked, pointing to the computer port in the wall with her left hand, still wielding her saber hilt but never taking her eyes off the hungry horde. One by one, they moved away from the shield they had relentlessly assaulted and the burns on their bodies became clear. Jaws snapping, mouths hissing, the horde began to rush forward as Aska braced herself once more and raised her right hand, squeezing the activation plate on her palm. Once again, a wave of invisible energy raced forward and collided with the horde, throwing them back with magnificent force.

”Get up, man!” she barked. The zombies, now a good distance back, wouldn’t stay down for long. Next to no time at all, in fact, as they began to scramble to their feet. ”On your feet!” she continued just as the shields dropped.

”I may be able to reactivate the shields if I just have a couple more…” Kayto began, twisting the port with his wrist mounted interface but the horde were already on the move.

”No time! Run! Run!” Wasting no time, Aska began to move down the hall as fast as her legs would carry her. Dead ahead was her old classroom, no shields keeping them from entering. If they could get inside, they could shut and lock the door and re-evaluate… So long as it was empty, at least…”

Spoiler

Dice One
Dice Two
Dice Three

@Bex @Reyn @Isen

 

[Alisaah Tila]

Ali's pupils shrank at the sight of undead throng beyond the door and Teela started screaming. How was it possible for so many of them to be crammed into that corridor? Fortunately Poffo reacted quickly to shut the door but in the process he managed to damage the controls, meaning they would no longer be able to use it. Considering what was on the other side it was probably for the best, however now that the zombies knew there was fresh meat right under their noses, they would be scrambling to bust through the door and there was no guarantee it would hold.

Poffo began to ask if Ali had any ideas, but it was Teela that made the first move. The astromech in it's panic screeched, spun 180 degrees on the spot and dashed back down the corridor, exactly the way they had come. Turning to Poffo, all Ali could think to say was, "Run!"

Not for the first time today, the Togruta found herself high tailing it after the T7 droid. She followed Teela all the way back to the pile of corpses littered around the entrance to the bottom floor. Now that they had put some distance between them and the infected, Ali wondered what her little robot friend was going to do. The slave was under no illusions that they had to carry out their part of the plan, so could not afford for Teela to desert them. Fortunately, T7-L4 had a lot more fortitude than Ali realised. Instead of zooming off to the staircase, the astromech went back inside the security checkpoint.

Ali followed Teela inside. The droid once again interfaced with the same terminal she had done moments earlier.

"We can't let anything get in or out of that hallway Teela" gasped the Togruta, reeling from the shock of just how many of the disgusting creatures were preventing safe passage to the droid control room. The astromech chirped away in droidspeak as if to say "Yeah yeah yeah, I know, what do you think I'm doing woman?" Seconds later, Teela gave a happy beeping noise to indicate her attempt at switching the ray shields in that corridor back on had been successful. This was confirmed when the monitor showing the floor plan flashed the ray shield icons in that section of the building.

"Phew... well done Teela, you're the best" sighed Ali with relief, giving the droid another appreciative pat on the head, "But... what do we do now? Wasn't that the only route to the control room?"

Teela responded to the negative. Tilting her head slightly at her mechanical friend, Ali wondered what the T7 droid was talking about. She was certain when they looked at the map back on the ship that this was the only route. Firing up her hologram projector, Teela transmitted a copy of the map onto the floor in front of them. Looking at the map, it seemed that if there was a door in the back of the Comms Unit, they would be able to reach the Droid Control Room by going a slightly longer way around. Unfortunately there was no door and neither Ali or Poffo had a lightsaber like Aska did to cut through walls and doors. That was when Ali remembered what she was carrying.

"... We could make a hole in that wall with one of mistress' detonators and go around! You're so clever!" said Ali, full of praise, "And that room is only just through there!"

Blaster in hand, Ali and Teela both moved back out into the bottom floor main corridor and tentatively approached the Comms Unit. Teela, being impervious to infection, moved inside first. Scanning the room, it appeared to be safe to enter. Though it was not empty, the only inhabitants of the room appeared to be three deactivated security droids, all in varying states of disrepair. Whilst they were no longer a threat, it dawned on Ali that if they went through all the effort of trying to turn the droids on the zombies and discovered they had mostly perished, all this would have been a massive waste of time and energy. Looking down at them laying in crumpled heaps on the floor, Ali asked, "Do you think you could repair one of these Teela? But program it to shoot the infected and not at us? It could be useful, in case our mission doesn't go as planned."

The astromech began chattering away in droidspeak again, trundling between the three lifeless security droids, before finally she set about disassembling them for parts. Though it was not obvious to Ali, being completely untrained in any form of engineering or mechanics, the T7 droid had identified that only one of the three was fully salvageable and would require parts from the other two in order to function.

Spoiler: Dice Rolls

Teela seals off the zombie filled corridor
Number of droids in Comms
Deactivated droids in Comms? - All droids are out of action, but as I kinda screwed up the way I rolled this, to create a functioning droid, 85 roll is the droid being rebuilt using parts from 68 and 27 rolls.

@Reyn @Isen @Tulos

 

[Kliedden Raxx]

"I'm up! I'm up!" Klied hissed through gritted teeth as she struggled back to his feet, favoring his injury. It stung, but it wouldn't kill him. That's what the zombies were for. He brought up the rear as the three made their way hastily down the hall, firing blindly behind him as he went to try and slow their pursuers. It didn't seem to be working very well. The horde remained ravenous and undeterred, nipping at their heels the whole way.

Aska and Kayto took a turn into another room. The hunter assumed she knew where she was going, and that they'd have a moment's respite inside. The Onderonian slipped inside just as the horde was about to overrun him, some of the creatures dumbly staggering right past the door. Klied didn't bother to take a look at what was waiting for them inside, instead turning his attention back to the door. He jumped to the console and hit the button for the door to close. Unfortunately he was just a second too late. One of the zombies crammed his way into the doorway before it could close completely, growling and snapping uselessly at Klied. The hunter cursed and moved to try and shove the zombie backwards, but at that moment another one shoved in from behind the first, throwing all three of them to the floor.

"God dammit!" Klied roared as he struggled to pull out his knife and jammed it into the head of the zombie that had fallen directly on top of him. Shoving the corpse to the side he raised his blaster and fired, hitting the console and causing a small explosion. This time the door shut and stayed shut. Klied had little time to react though before the second zombie was on top of him and grappling with him, snapping those stinking jaws just inches in front of the Onderonian's face. Of course Aska and Kayto would have their own issues to deal with, as five security droids had been loitering inside the room. Seeing the intruders the machines turned their blasters towards them and opened fire immediately. With little cover besides a few undersized desks and chairs, the clone and her companion would need to act quickly or be peppered with blaster fire.

Dice
@Tulos @Bex @Isen

 

[Poffo Sauvage]

Poffo looked around, but Ali was gone. She must have seen the zombies too. She was pretty fast. Probably a pretty good athlete. Poffo wondered if he could turn in her into a pit fighter. She certainly was easy to look at. If she could develop a strong right hook and a high kick with those long, pink legs...

Poffo was off track.

He started poking around and found Ali and the droid in the security checkpoint. At that he heard Ali say, "We could make a hole in that wall with one of mistress' detonators and go around! You're so clever!"

Poffo just listened for a moment, quite confused. After a while, he seemed to get the plan. They would go into comms, blow a hole in the wall, and take the long way around to the droid control room. He waited to give Teela time to hodgepodge a working droid together before taking a portion of the explosives and placing them on the back of the comms wall. Aska had shown Ali how to set and detonate the explosives, but Poffo with the guesstimations and how much to use and where to place it. Heaven help them if they started a chain reactor and blew the power oscillator up by accident. They wanted to use the smallest amount necessary so they would still have plenty to blow the oscillator if need be. But, they also wanted to be sure to use enough.

As they were setting up the explosives, Sauvage started talking to himself. "Too much boom. Too little boom...no, no. Got be like like baby garu-bear's porridge, yeah...got it make it just right, yeah, yeah we do." He stood up and backed away looking at Ali. "You ready Goldilocks?"

Poffo took the appropriate cover as Ali set off the kaboom. Poffo came running to check on the progress. Parts of the wall were still crumbling and the smoke and dust were thick and it was difficult to see. He started waving out the smoke and after picking up a few big rocks, there was a gap big enough for Poffo to get through. And if it was big enough for Poffo, it was big enough for Ali and the T7. He added a finger flourish and said, "Yeah! Dig it!"

They were fortunate in that they had made enough noise that any zombies in this hall had all gone around to where Poffo had broken the door. Luckily, they were all trapped between two ray shields. As they made the corner to get to the droid control room door, Poffo took a long look at what seemed to be dozens of zombies trapped between two red sheets of energy. It was kind of eerie knowing that they were one droid mistake or one power outage away from probably becoming dinner for the zombies.

Poffo opened the door, and there was, of course, one more surprise. As the door opened, a lone zombie came barreling out of the room. Poffo had the reach and caught him with a right cross before he could get the jump on the brawler. The bottom of his jaw came unhinged, but he charged again. This time Poffo came with a left cross. This time the jaw came completely off and bounced the zombie backwards. He charged yet again and this time, Sauvage pulled out his heavy blaster and smoked him right in the head at point blank range.

All was well until the zombie fell backwards into one of the panels, hitting several buttons and upturning several knobs on the control panel. Of course Sauvage had no idea what they did, and maybe it wouldn't mess the droid's run at getting control of these droids too much.

@Bex @Tulos @Reyn

Spoiler: Dice

General Success on bombing a hole in the wall and Mild Failure on if the room was safe.

 

[Aska Ryun]

Nothing ever came easy in the clones life, it seemed. Not even once could she or her allies catch a break. As Klied slammed into the ground with two ravenous zombies over top of him, she was left face to face with five security droids. But here, in this place? This is what she had been trained for her entire life and force be damned if she was simply going to roll over and die. Flipping a desk over for cover, Aska ducked down as blaster fire began to rain around her as Klied managed to stab one of the zombies and shoot the door controls, sealing them inside the classroom.

”Mister Klied, you are in danger,” Kayto stated plainly as blaster fire focused on the clone. Walking over to the downed Onderonian, the KX series leaned down and grabbed the remaining zombie by the collar of it’s tattered lab coat and lifted it up into the air. The undead wiggled and writhed in his grip, desperate to sink it’s teeth into his metal plating but the droid soon threw the infected up into the air slightly and grabbed it by the face with the same hand it had lifted it with, before slamming the skull against the stark white wall, leaving a bloody stain with what used to be it’s head. ”They are softer than your average organic. Intriguing. Why are you struggling with such delicate creatures, sir?” he asked of Klied as he leaned down to offer the man a hand to his feet.

Aska didn’t notice the commotion behind her. She had her hands full as it was. Lightsaber in her left hand, blaster in her right, she stood from her cover as the suppression fire of the droids gave her a momentary break to return fire. Aiming at the nearest droid, she squeezed the trigger and watched as the blue bolt of energy slammed into it’s chest plating. The droid dropped, but not before letting off another shot that clipped Aska’s left side, just above her hip.

”Dank ferrik!” she cried out as she collapsed to the ground. She couldn’t stop here. Not yet. Pushing through the pain of her wound, she sat up with her back against the over turned desk and placed her feet against the wall. In an act of desperation, she activated her jump boots and both her and the desk began to slide across the room and towards the four remaining droids until she slammed into the far wall opposite the door, nearly knocking the wind from her. It all happened so fast that the droids, unprepared for such a maneuver, were still in the process of turning to face her as she sat on the ground. When they finally brought her into their field of view, however, they were met with the sight of a woman who had her blaster at the ready. Squeeze. The first round found it’s mark. Squeeze, the second droid dropped. Squeeze, three down. Squeeze… Nothing. Jammed, the SE-45 was unable to fire and take down the final droid, of which was the closest to her position.

“Zzzt. Surrendor or be destroyed,” the droid crackled out as it began to advance on the wounded woman. She tried again to fire but nothing came forth. The droid reached out to grab her by the collar plate of her armour but as it did, it was met with the glowing red blade of her saber as it erupted from the hilt with a snap, cutting through it’s chest and out stretched arm.

Breathing a sigh of relief, she retracted the saber blade and leaned her head on the bottom of the desk she had been hiding behind. They were safe, at least for the moment as the horde of undead continued to clamor behind the door that led back into the hallway. Safe, but trapped.

”Aska! Aska, is that you?!” the voice crackled through the lab’s comm systems for all to hear. The voice was only too familiar.

”Trench? Still alive after all, huh?” she laughed painfully as she tried to stand but failing.

”You have no idea how happy I am to see you! I heard the commotion and I’ve been following you through the lab’s security feed!”

”Considering you’re facing certain death, I can guess at your excitement,” she groaned. ”It’s a damn shame I’m going to die down here along side you. Poetic, really,” Aska laughed again. It didn’t look good. How could they get out of here? Were Ali and Poffo facing the same difficulties as them? Were they even still alive? ”Where are you?”

”I am secured in my office for the moment but droids are patrolling the halls. Fortunately, there are no more infected beyond the final ray shields… And unless I’m mistaken, your friend’s on the lower level may just be about to save all of our skins if they’re set out to do what I think they are,”

Dice

@Bex @Reyn @Isen

 

[Alisaah Tila]

As the astromech set about gathering the parts required to reassemble the droid that remained most intact, Ali went to Poffo to hand over some of the detonators from the satchel Aska had provided before heading into the lab. It appeared the Coruscanti was not familiar with how they worked but being that Ali had listened closely to her mistress' instructions she was able to relay to Poffo how they worked. From memory the explosives would pack a sizable punch and as they were limited to only six of them, they had to effectively ration them in case the others were needed for something else. Ali started out by passing Poffo just one detonator and left him to prepare to breach the wall.

In the meantime, Teela appeared to have finished salvaging parts and fixing them to the most in tact droid. For a brief moment the astromech connected to the unmoving YD-Series Security Droid, apparently attempting to reprogram it. Ali held her breath and clutched her blaster. If this did not work properly she might need to drop the droid to prevent it firing upon Poffo and blowing them up in the process. Then suddenly, the droid's photoreceptors lit up. Teela disconnected from the droid, chirping happily just as she had done after reactivating the ray shields. "D-Did it work?" asked Ali hesitantly.

The YD-Series clambered to its feet, momentarily scanned the room before identifying two heavy blaster pistols that had belonged to his disrepaired counterparts and scooped them up before turning its attention to the Togruta and Poffo.

"YD-P5YK0 is online. All systems nominal. Weapons hot. Mission: The destruction of any and all undead, disease-riddled meatbags for the great and glorious T7-L4" were the first words to come from the reanimated droid. It's optical sensors then fell upon Ali. She hesitated for a moment, a little unsure if she should raise her blaster in self-defense, but it did not appear to be necessary upon hearing the YD-Series state, "Running diagnostics... Scan complete. Subject confirmed friendly. Greetings meatbag."

P5YK0's head then switched with pin point accuracy towards Poffo who was preparing to detonate the explosives. It ran the same scan upon him and determined he was also friendly. "Subject confirmed friendly. Greetings, big meatbag."

Alisaah was very confused. What in the wide galaxy had Teela done whilst reprogramming this droid? What was a meatbag? And who was Goldilocks? The Togruta had turned to address Poffo in answer to his question but before she could get any words out the Coruscanti had blown a chunk out of the rear wall. The hole was easily big enough to fit the brawler, the slave, the astromech and their new droid companion. Those detonators really did pack quite a punch.

Fortunately for the group, the swarm of zombies appeared to have been blocked off in the corridor with the ray shields as it was plain sailing for them right the way up to the droid control room. As Poffo opened the door he was assaulted by a lone zombie which was promptly beaten to a second death and an afterlife of consuming all of their food through a straw. Unfortunately its corpse slumped over some of the droid controls before Teela had a chance to interact with the terminal. For the time being nothing happened. The astromech approached the port and connected with the security droid control panel. This was the moment of truth. After a moment of interfacing with the console, Teela beeped in frustration. It appeared she wasn't able to change the security droid controls from their current settings because the zombie Poffo had forced into the dials had interfered.

"Keep trying Teela, we'll get this body out of your way" said Ali encouragingly, "Mr. Sh-... uh, I mean Mr. Poffo, give me a hand."

Back out in the hallway, P5YK0 had stopped in it's tracks. Whilst the team inside the control room were desperately trying to complete their assignment, the security droid had its photoreceptors on the ray shield further up the corridor.

"Running diagnostics... Scan complete. Multiple infected hostiles detected. Initiating combat sub-routines. Sub-routine 1: I blow a hole in all your faces. Sub-routine 2: I return to designated recharge station and power down for maximum operating efficiency like I'm fresh from the production line."

Spoiler: Dice Rolls

How many detonators are left?
Teela reprograms droid (ROUSING SUCCESS)
Attempt to control the droids #1 - Minor fail with a minor consequence. We're gonna say the zombie Poffo smacked over the controls meant that Teela's first attempt did nothing to switch control of the droids from their current programming (the consequence being that we'll need to get the controls right and try again next post).

@Reyn @Isen @Tulos

 

[Kliedden Raxx]

Klied growled furiously as he fought to keep the zombie from ripping his face off with it's teeth. With the injury to his shoulder he was mostly limited to using one arm to hold back the encroaching jaws of his undead assailant. Through the corner of his eye he could see Aska struggling with the droids, but pinned down as he was there was no way for him to help. The ghoul drew closer and closer, the hunter turning his face right as it was about to sink its teeth into his flesh before it was suddenly hefted off of him. Klied looked up with surprise to see it was Kayto who had come to his rescue, killing the zombie with ease and offering him a hand up afterwards. As well as some unwanted snarky remarks.

"Guess I'm off my game today." Klied murmured in annoyance as he accepted Kayto's hand and pulled himself back to his feet. "Thanks..." He added begrudgingly before surveying the room. It appeared Aska had fared well for the most part, barring an injury to her side. As he approached he could see it wasn't too bad. But, like him, she wouldn't be operating at 100% for a while, which was quite a problem given they still had a lot of work ahead of them.

He turned his head up curiously as the voice came over the intercom, but it became quickly apparent this was the man they were here for. At least he was still alive. While he and Aska spoke the Onderonian pulled up one of the chairs from the desks and sat down heavily across from the clone. Letting out a ragged sigh he touched at his wounded shoulder delicately. Blaster scoring was no joke, he would have preferred getting mauled. From Trench's description it sounded like things certainly could have been worse. Poffo and Ali were about to remove the droids from the enemy team, which would leave only the zombified staff to contend with. From his count there should have been eight security droids still functioning on this level, and at least ten ghouls. Probably more with their luck. That was promising, but he still didn't want to go back into the hallways until he was certain they'd have a more manageable number of opponents to deal with. He looked towards the west wall of the classroom momentarily before turning his attention back to Aska.

"If you're up for it we could use your saber to cut our way into the training chamber," He said as he recalled the map she had shown them earlier. "And then cut our way into the office area, circumvent the final ray shield. We could wait until Poffo and the kid have reprogrammed the droids, then Trench can give us the all clear over the com to move in and recover him." He leaned back in his chair and shrugged. "Then we just sit back and relax, wait for the droids to do most of the work, we clean up what's left and get the hell out of dodge. What do you think?" He shifted his gaze between Aska and the ceiling, as if to ask for Trench's opinion as well.

@Tulos @Bex @Isen

 

[Poffo Sauvage]

When the droid called Poffo a meatbag, the brawler did a double-take and then shook his head with big sweeping motions from side to side, his hands clenching and opening and clenching and opening until finally he pointed a big, thick finger at the offending droid. "You ain't my friend, no! Bucket-a-bolts, and the name-calling will get you knocked the fu..."

The whirling of the droid's mechanism resulted in a metal arm pointing the business end of one of those weapons systems directly at Poffo's head. "Re-running diagnostics. Scan complete. Meatbag...not friendly. Clear to eliminate."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, Sparky!" Poffo sidestepped with his head up. "I'm friendly, yeah! Best friends forever, yeah!"

"Hold elimination orders," is all the droid said.

Sauvage slowly stepped away, keeping an eye on the droid in question. When Poffo heard that the dials were changed due to the body laying on it, and said changes made it nearly impossible for Teela to reprogram the droids in their favor, well...there was only one thing left to do. Poffo finger flourished and started randomly changing dials and pushing level knobs up or down. It just took a magic touch, right? What's the worst thing that could happen? He threw all the knobs and dials in all different directions, totally unaware of what they meant or why they were there. "Oooh, yeahh...." Poffo said in almost a whisper. "Better to be lucky than good, yeah...yeah, it iiiiiii-uuus." He stepped back, started flicking his tongue like a lizard, and outstretched his arms with added finger flourishes. He was admiring his handy work, though he had no idea what he had done- for good or bad. "Yeah....yeah....better to be lucky than good, yeah." He turned to Ali, pointed at her and winked. "And Mr. Macho never has trouble getting lucky if ya dig the seeds I'm planting in the ground, yeah."

He turned his attention to Teela and told the droid to give it another go. The astromech let out a series of bips and beeps and that showed a huge level of doubt at Poffo's "expertise" with the control panel. The droid got to work, once more trying to get all the droids back online and under the control of the team. Within a few moments, the three of them could hear the whirring of droids powering up. Teela backed out of the control panel, and the droids started marching toward their position. Whether they were friendly or not remained to be seen. They came to a stop looking menacingly at the group, but then Teela started spinning her top, and even Poffo could tell that she was happy with the result.

"Running diagnostics... Scan complete. Subjects confirmed friendly," P5YK0 said from outside the room. "Greetings, mechanical brothers in arm. Prepare to eliminate unfriendlies in dramatic and decisive fashion."

The other droids stepped once in unison, turning toward the patchwork droid, appearing to be called to order like a military unit. Teela started beeping that he had put all the droids under the command of the human in the room that she trusted, Ali. They would eliminate without prejudice whatever she told them to kill.

Macho slapped his hands together loudly and gave out a loud, "Ooooooh, yeeeeeee-aaahhhh!!! Let's snap into it!"

@Bex @Tulos @Reyn

 

[Aska Ryun]

Aska groaned in pain as she still laid against the over turned desk, looking down to examine the wound. The blaster bolt had just missed her armour plating and while it wasn’t a serious injury, she knew it was going to be a problem. Trying to push herself to her feet, she struggled and soon collapsed again.

”Kayto, give me a hand,” she grunted. She knew she could walk but standing from her current position wasn’t in the cards.

”Typical of organics to be so… delicate,” the droid stated as he walked over, offering her hand much as he had done for the Onderonian sat across from her. Growling at his comment, she grabbed his arm and allowed him to pull her to her feet.

”Tell me again why you’re in here and not out there smashing zombie skulls together?” Irritated, the clone moved next to Klied and leaned against the wall as she listened to his plan. It would work but who’s to say what awaited them in the training room? ”Yea… Yea, sure. Here,” Handing the weapon to Klied, Aska grimaced in pain. ”You do it. I need a minute,”

”Perhaps you could hold on that,” Trench’s voice echoed through the classroom. ”I believe I’m about to make everyone’s day,”

Aska laughed painfully, staring at the ceiling as though she could see Trench in the rafters.

”That so? You gonna come flying out of that office like a roided out Rancor there, Trench?”

”Not quite. My connection to the lower level speaker system has been cut but… I think your friend’s have succeeded. The droids are eliminating the infected as we speak,” Aska’s eyes shot wide. Finally, some good news!

”And this level? They’re clearing our path?” she asked hopefully.

”Not quite. There is… Well, I’m not alone here and…” Trench trailed off, clearly hiding something. ”They want inside. They will not harm you on your approach but I’m afraid they are focused on securing my office,”

”What? Why? Are you… Have you been infected?” Aska requested of the Scientist.

”Not me, no. You will see soon enough. Perhaps your allies can lend you some aide in clearing the halls for you to approach?”

Whatever it was with Trench, whoever it was, they were distracting the droids and in their current shape, Aska knew they couldn’t make it. Sure, they could still cut their way to him but if they had reinforcements?

”Ali? Ali, can you hear me?” Aska spoke into her wrist comm. ”Seems you guy’s pulled it off but we could use a set of helping hands… Or four,”

@Bex @Reyn @Isen​

 

[Alisaah Tila]

Having moved the corpse away from the controls, Poffo had begun to aimlessly fiddle with knobs and dials in an attempt to help Teela take control of the security droids. Looking back over his shoulder, the Coruscanti had given Ali a wink before announcing "Mr. Macho never has trouble getting lucky if ya dig the seeds I'm planting in the ground, yeah." The Togruta rolled her eyes and folded her arms, tapping her foot impatiently as she waited for Poffo and Teela to finish their task. She was used to men like Poffo, there had been plenty of his type at Zugg's palace who acted exactly the same. Ali was tempted to tell "Mr. Shithead" to just get on with it but thought better of angering him again. She was starting to understand why her mistress spoke to the brawler the way she did, but she had to admit at times the eccentric fellow was amusing in his own way.

Someway, somehow, Poffo's tinkering actually managed to pay off. Teela successfully took control of the security droids which began lining up outside in the corridor in front to P5YK0 who greeted them like brothers.

"The great and glorious T7-L4 has decided we are to follow the instructions of the one known as Alisaah as she is most trustworthy" announced the repaired droid, pointing at Ali. A chorus of acknowledgement from the seven other security droids followed. Teela herself chirped away happily, seeming to enjoy watching the fruits of her work interacting with the others. "I have suspicions that the big meatbag may be zombie slime trying to deceive us. Remain vigilant." Evidently, P5YK0 had some of his behaviour protocols deleted when Teela reprogrammed him and had no concept of things such as tact and whispering.

"No no no, Mr. Poffo is our friend, he's not infected and we should both remain that way" said Ali quickly before her companion could take offense, but before she could say anything else she was cut off. Her wrist communicator had started and Aska's voice could be heard checking if the slave was on the receiving end.

"Mistress!" shouted Ali, pulling the wrist comm up to answer Aska, "We'll be right there, just tell us where we can find you."

Aska advised that their group was pinned down in the classroom on the 2nd floor. Keeping the conversation short as to not waste any time, Ali looked to the others and said "We need to get up there now. What would be the quickest way to get to them from here?"

"Running diagnostics.... Scan complete. To reach the classroom from our present location, the fastest method is, to decimate the ceiling of the power oscillator and climb" responded P5YK0 factually, "The fastest available route to the power oscillator is through that corridor." With that, the security droid pointed one of his pistols towards the ray shield, indicating the swarming mass of zombies beyond. "Initiate combat sub-routines. They are the disease. We are the cure."

At these words the other seven security droids drew their weapons and turned towards the ray shields. They were able to breach them without the red barriers coming down. The infected were upon them almost immediately, having been hurling themselves at the shields as the party stood just out of reach. They attempted to sink their teeth into the droids and feast upon their metallic bodies but all they would taste was the sweet embrace of death. P5YK0 and his brothers opened fire on the undead scientists with ruthless efficiency. Within seconds more than half of the corridor had already been wiped out.

"I'm... glad they're on our side..." said Ali, turning to Poffo as the biological members of the team watched on.

Spoiler: Dice Rolls

Zombies in corridor - 16 zombies. I took the first roll that was between 15 and 20 because there needed to be a lot.
Zombies killed by droids - 9 zombies killed by the security droids and P5YK0.

@Reyn @Isen @Tulos

 

[Kliedden Raxx]

Klied blinked in surprise as Aska handed him the lightsaber, slowly turning his eyes down to inspect the weapon as the clone and scientist continued to talk with one another. Of course he had heard stories about the Jedi but he had never seen a laser sword up close, let alone held one. It really was a fascinating tool. He remembered Aska telling him when they first met that it had been gifted to her by a Jedi. He wondered why they would ever let go of such a thing.

According to Trench the odds seemed to be turning in their favor, but the droids were apparently now posing a different kind of problem. What was it he had in his office that they wanted to get at? It probably would have been wiser to stay put and wait for backup. They were injured after all and so long as Trench was safe their mission objective was still in reach. But the hunter's curiosity got the better of him. He wanted to know exactly what was going on in this place. If the droids got in and destroyed something of importance... Well that just wouldn't do. The Onderonian pushed himself to his feet and looked to Aska.

"If the droids on this floor have been reprogrammed as well they should pose no threat to us." He reasoned with her before turning to walk towards the wall. "We should try to get to them and bring them to heel, make sure they don't damage whatever your friend's got in his office with him." Slowly he ran a hand over the wall's surface, then looked at the lightsaber as he ignited it's red blade. "If there are any ghouls in the training room we should be able to make a chokepoint here and whittle them down."

Without waiting for any input on the matter he would press the laser sword into the wall, melting the metal and slowly carving a circular hole. Once he was finished he pulled the blade out and kicked the circle once, twice, and then it came loose. In the wrong direction. Klied cursed to himself and jumped back, but he was too slow. The large hunk of wall fell directly on top of his legs, earning a pained cry from the hunter as he fell to the floor. Immediately two zombies stumbled through the gap, crawling over the wall and trying to get to the Onderonian.

"Seriously? How many people work here?" The hunter shouted angrily, and drove the lightsaber forward from his position on the floor, impaling one of the zombie's through the chest and killing it. Unfortunately the ghoul's corpse collapsed on top of him, further pinning the Onderonian. The remaining zombie crawled forward, ravenously transfixed on it's trapped prey.

"Must I do everything?" Kayto asked before casually walking forward. The droid did much the same as it had the last time it rescued the unfortunate hunter, picking up the zombie by it's collar before unceremoniously crushing it's skull against the wall. In the meantime Klied grunted as he pushed off the other zombie and extracted himself from beneath the chunk of wall. He tried to get up but yelped again as he fell on his rear. He didn't know if his leg was broken or not, but it hurt like hell. At least there didn't seem to be any more zombies in the training room. Klied grit his teeth and scowled before looking in Aska's direction. The hunter actually seemed embarrassed as he averted his eyes again.

"Think we can pretend that didn't just happen?" He asked her meekly.

Dice
@Tulos @Bex @Isen

 

[Poffo Sauvage]

Poffo watched the droids start mowing the zombies down like grass and was getting pumped up. Adrenaline is a powerful hormone, and the brawler was feeling invincible. That was unfortunate because he most certainly was not. The droids had done the math and calculated what they needed to do in order to blast a hole in the ceiling, but as they were raising their arms with...arms...to do so, the remaining zombies attacked, disrupting the droids from their calculations. As a result, the droid's targeting became significantly altered, which caused tragic results.

The bearded Coruscanti had shut down the ray shield to take out the rest of the remaining zombies so they could not follow the droids upstairs. "Oooooh, yeaaaa-aaah! Come get so..." Poffo's taunt was cut short, however. He had just crossed the threshold as the ceiling started to collapse, and collapse it did on the droids and zombies alike. He nearly had walked into a rocky tomb but had not yet made it to the door of the oscillator room. The collapsing ceiling, however, did create a blowback of displaced air through the door, sending Poffo flying back and collapsing against the wall.

The shaking and rumble of the ceiling collapse caused the door and all the remaining ray shields on the bottom floor to shut down. Thankfully, five of the zombies had been crushed under the weight of the ceiling rubble, but two of the zombies were very much a threat and unharmed. One landed right beside Poffo against the wall, as he too was pushed back by the blast of displaced air from the oscillator room. He snapped at the brawler's neck, but Poffo rolled away just before the teeth were able to sink into Poffo's skin.

Unfortunately, Poffo was not able to get away from the zombie entirely. While rolling away on his stomach, the zombie reached out and clawed at Poffo, ripping through his leather pants and digging into his fleshy and muscular buttocks. Poffo's options were limited. So limited in fact, he had but a choice of one.

He had to panic. It was the only viable solution.

"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!" Poffo immediately jumped up to a knee cracked the offending zombie in the face with enough force, his rotting bones and flesh literally allowed his neck to snap just below the skull and the skin and the goo and the head detached and started rolling on the ground, the mouth still snapping for several seconds before the brain finally gave out. The other zombie came running at Poffo, but he fired a shot, hitting it center mass. He blew it backwards but the living corpse came charging again. Once again, Poffo fired another round of the heavy blaster, but the kriffing thing just got knocked back a few feet with each shot and came charging back.

Poffo screamed with both fury and fear as he stood and decided to give the zombie the old 1-2 combination. The spikes from his left knuckle dusters dug into the zombie's brain, and all the zombies were clear.

Unfortunately, they lost every droid. P5YK0 was trying to move under the rubble, but he was in bad shape. Perhaps he could be salvaged. But Poffo's concern was his own ass. Literally...his ass. He started sprinting back toward the stairs and jumped on his comms directed at Klied and Aska. "I'm coming upstairs, yeah! We're doing surgery when I get up there ASAP! No questions asked, yeah! Someone's going to have to cut off my ass!" Maybe Aska could use the lightsaber to cut off enough of his left cheek so that the infection would not spread to the spine as it then would quickly get to the brain...And Poffo needed no more brain damage.

@Reyn @Bex @Tulos

 

[Aska Ryun]

Aska couldn’t deny the logic behind Klied’s reasoning, of course. While the Onderonian and the rest of her allies, Ali included, had no real clue as to what it was that she was looking to discover here, the safety and security of Trench was paramount. Nodding to the hunter to signify she agreed with his plotted out action, she remained leaned against the counter as he went to work cutting through the wall. Alas, much as everything else that had taken place since they arrived in the subterranean lab, they did not go as planned.

Klied was soon on the floor pinned by a thick blanket of steel as two more undead crawled their way into the classroom. By instinct, the clone reached for her blaster and raised it to eliminate their foes but in spectacular fashion, Kayto stepped in. Once again the security droid proved he wasn’t entirely useless as he slammed the zombie into the wall once more, leaving a massive red stain on the stark white.

”Mmmm, no. No, I don’t think so, Caveman. This one might follow you for the remainder of your life… However long that may be,” Aska smirked through the pain, lowering her SE-45. If there was one thing that she could count on, she always knew it was the Neanderthal of Onderon. Whether or not it was for a life saving plan or simply getting himself into a piss poor situation, well that was dependent on the day.

Suddenly, a panicked Poffo cried out through the wrist comm. The worst possibility was now reality. He had been bitten. Shooting her partner a shocked look of concern, she finally pushed herself from the counter and brought the comm to her mouth.

”You what?!” she exclaimed. This was always on the table, always a real chance. Even so, it was something she was not mentally prepared for. Despite any misgivings she had for Poffo, she was not prepared to lose him on a personal vendetta. But she also knew he wasn’t going to make it. Klied had sealed the door to the second floor, effectively ensuring that Poffo and Ali weren’t flanked by droids but also preventing them from reuniting without difficulty.

”Poffo! Poffo, you need to listen to me!” Aska barked, a new sense of urgency taking control. ”You won’t get in here! I’m sorry but you just won’t! I don’t… I don’t know what to do!” Panic was soon partnered with extreme sorrow. She didn’t want to loose a man she was slowly growing to accept as a friend. However, a long and drawn out sigh from Kayto could soon be heard.

”T7. She can operate. It will be bloody. It will be painful. But she can do it if ordered too immediately” The security droid, non chalant as always, cleaned the zombie guts from his hand. ”I can not guarantee anything, of course. However, it seems you’re intelligence processors are simply not functioning as they should to calculate such a response. Likely because of your foul habits, ’Mistress,”

For once, she was happy to have that useless heap of garbage around.

”Ali! Ali, did you hear that?!”

@Bex @Reyn @Isen​

 

[Alisaah Tila]

For a moment things seemed to be going well. Then the next minute the complete opposite happened. For reasons unknown to Ali and Teela, the droids that had breached the corridor were attempting to make a hole in the ceiling having not completely ridden the area of enemies. Ali looked at Teela confused. The astromech would have shrugged if it had shoulders. It clearly did not understand why they had halted their primary function in favor of a secondary objective. Meanwhile, Poffo had managed to turn off the ray shield in front of them and had started making his way inside, but at that moment the security droid's fire was interrupted by oncoming infected.

"Teela run!" shouted Ali, realising that they were no longer safe. The pair of them turned on their heels and wheels and scarpered as fast as they could back to the droid control room. In the distance the sound of the ceiling collapsing could be heard. Rubble tearing itself away from the structure of the building and colliding with both zombie flesh and droids. They had not seen if Poffo had managed to avoid being hit. Ali peered around the doorway, nervously holding her blaster, waiting to see if friend or foe emerged from the disaster area. She saw Poffo laying against the wall. Through all of the dust she didn't notice the two zombies that had been hurled next to him until it was too late. A flailing limb lashed out at the Coruscanti after his initial movement and he was struck. The brawler immediately retaliated and took out the zombie responsible but was soon set upon by a second. Ali nervously tried to aim her blaster at the final undead scientist but she was worried about accidentally hitting Poffo so did not pull the trigger. Eventually the macho man resorted to using his fists and the threat was eliminated.

The second everything died down Poffo bolted. He head straight through the room housing the power oscillator, presumably to cut through it and return to the hole they'd blown in the back of the Comms room. Voices were frantically shouting through the communicator on Ali's wrist. She lifted it up in time to catch Poffo yelling that someone would need to cut off his ass. This was immediately followed by Aska's panicked voice. It was the first time, possibly ever, that Alisaah had heard Aska admit that she was unsure what to do about something. In the background, just audible enough to for her to hear, Kayto stepped in as the voice of reason. His diagnosis: Teela would need to start surgery immediately.

"Yes mistress!" shouted Ali into the communicator in response to Aska's question, "We'll catch him up right away!"

The slave looked at Teela with wide eyes before waving at the astromech to follow her. They ran into the corridor, stepping over the infected corpses now littering the floor. When they reached the pile of rubble, Ali had to crouch down and help the T7 unit up in order to get over it. As she climbed over herself, she saw P5YK0 struggling to move beneath the rubble.

"Running diagnostics... Scan complete. Unit has sustained damage. Running self-repair protocol..."

Looking down at the droid from on top of the rubble, Ali could see that the YD-Series droid was mostly intact. He'd taken a few dents from the falling rubble, certainly, but if she could free him from the rubble there was still a chance he could carry on.

"Teela go find Mr. Poffo now!" she shouted, "Do what mistress said and operate on him, we can't let his infection spread. I'll be right behind you!"

The astromech did not need to be told twice. As sassy as she could be, she knew this wasn't the time to mess around and motored as fast as she could through the power oscillator room and out the other side to find the Coruscanti. Ali then, placing herself down on top of the rubble so she could use her full body weight to push the rocks off P5YK0, then shoved with all her might to clear away the debris.

"My robotic brethren... they betrayed me..." rambled P5YK0 as Ali removed the last of the wreckage from on top of the droid, "Their processors must have had a major malfunction... I will... exact my revenge..." None of this made much, if any sense to the Togruta but she pulled him up. One of his arms was hanging limp, having taken some structural damage and a few wires were sticking out, but he still had the use of his legs, though it became apparent as soon as they started moving that his left leg would need hammering back into shape as he now had a limp. "Thank you, Alisaah. The great and glorious T7-L4 was right. You are most trustworthy..."

"That's okay but come on, we need to hurry to save Mr. Poffo, Mr. Klied and Mistress Aska" she said before rushing off in the same direction as Teela, P5YK0 now shuffling along behind her.

Spoiler: Dice Rolls

P5YK0 is saved - Rolled a rousing success (83). So not only was he rescued, but he can still operate though he's sustained damage (i.e. various dents, hobbling and can only use one arm).

@Reyn @Isen @Tulos

 

[Kliedden Raxx]

”Mmmm, no. No, I don’t think so, Caveman. This one might follow you for the remainder of your life… However long that may be." Aska responded with a smirk prompting Klied to nod his head as he looked away again.

"Right..." He replied with a defeated sigh. He asked for a hand up from Kayto, only to nearly topple over again in shock as Poffo's distressed voice came over the com. He and Aska both shared a look of concern. This was bad, as far as he was aware the best equipment for an operation was on the second level, and they wouldn't be able to get here in time. Even if they could, it was still infested with the undead. Teela was apparently going to try something quick, but even that would have a high risk of failure given the impromptu circumstances. It almost seemed unbelievable to begin with, like the brawler was playing a bad joke on them. They'd been working together for a few months now, and while they had gotten their fair share of lumps, they always came out on top. The possibility of Sauvage dying was a difficult pill to swallow, made all the worse by the fact Klied was in no position to help whatsoever. He could do one thing at least though, he thought as he raised his own comlink to his lips.

"Poffo, listen to me," He said in a controlled tone. "You need to stop moving and lie down wherever you are. You're only going to pump the poison through your body faster if you run around like a mad man. The droid will take care of you. Just stay calm brother. You're gonna be fine." He lowered the comlink and started limping towards the hole he had made to the training room.

"Come on," He called after Aska. "There's nothing else we can do for him right now. We need to finish the job." He had to keep moving, focus on the mission. It was the only way to distract himself from panicking. Kayto was right. It wouldn't be pretty but Teela presented the best chance of success. They just had to be ready to get out of here and make a b-line for the nearest surface hospital once they had retrieved what they'd come here for.

Reaching the far wall of the empty training chamber Klied immediately got to work cutting through the wall with Aska's lightsaber. Get Trench, get whatever he had with him, use the droids to clear a path back to the stairs, get the others and get out. Simple. They just had to keep moving. This time once he finished cutting the hole Klied stepped to the side and ordered Kayto to knock them a path through himself. The droid made another snarky remark, but came forward quickly when Klied waved the lightsaber threateningly at him. The chunk of steel was pushed aside to reveal two droids standing on the other side, aiming their blasters at them. They didn't fire immediately however, instead pausing to speak.

"Running diagnostics... Scan complete. Subject confirmed friendly. Greetings meatbags and fellow droid." As they lowered their weapons Klied just rolled his eyes and maneuvered through the hole. The other droids were standing by one of the office doors some distance away. The hunter stopped to look back at Aska. This was her mission, her guy. He figured she should be the one to approach first.

@Tulos @Bex @Isen

 

[Poffo Sauvage]

Poffo didn't like what he heard, but Klied would know more about this than him. He immediately hit the ground on his stomach and waited for the droid. There were no two ways about it. "This is going to suck big rancor balls, yeah..." Teela wasn't a medical droid. She was an Astromech. The droid worked on other droids from time to time. Things with no nervous systems that didn't feel pain. They weren't made to understand sympathy or to be empathetic.

As Teela and Ali came running back to the corridor to catch up, Poffo took a shot at what could be his last view of the galaxy. "Quick, Ali....Take off your shirt, yeah!" It was a shot in the dark, one with very little chance of success, so he immediately pulled off his pants. There was of course a practical reason for all this. "I need something to bite on, yeah...." Assuming that Ali would not go shirtless so that Poffo could have something to bite down on, he went ahead and tore off a clean part of his pants without zombie goo on it. It was leather, so it would probably work better for this purpose anyway. But maybe, out of sympathy, she would at least flash him so he could see a beautiful woman one last time before he departed the galactic realm.

He clamped down on the leather strap with his bare, beautiful glutes shining for the world to see facing up toward the ceiling. He was thankful that he never had to take PEDs to get this hulking body because it was inevitable now that others would see his manhood, and thankfully there wouldn't be any shrinkage to be embarrassed about.

He bit down on the leather as hard as he could. Or at least, as hard as the thought he could. Once Teela's circular saw started buzzing and whirring, he realized this was going to be worse than going to the dentist without any painkillers. He managed to bite down harder.

The sound of the saw cutting through flesh was barely audible through Poffo's screams of pain. The droid was taking no chances. She was taking both cheeks, leaving only bone and cartilage. The saw wasn't a surgical instrument. It didn't allow for preciseness. The droid just sank it in, uncaring for Poffo's feelings or the pain. Blood and chunks of muscle and tendons began to spew in all different directions, splattering the immediate surroundings. As the right cheek, the one with the scratch, was completely removed, the droid with 0% affection or care, picked up the hunk of muscle and flesh with its manipulator armed and casually tossed it behind her as if it were a piece of trash that held no value.

Then Teela started on the other cheek, and again, Poffo started screaming drowning out the sound of the saw and the cutting through flesh. The blood loss was now becoming a bigger danger than the AMS infection, so the droid started using the fusion cutter tool to cauterize the wound. It was a harsh and crude method, and Poffo finally passed out which pleased Teela greatly. She was getting tired of his moaning. The end result was Poffo was alive. The AMS was no longer a threat to him, but he couldn't walk even when he woke up. This would take some reconstructive surgery and a prolonged stay in a bacta tank.

@Tulos @Reyn @Bex

 

[Aska Ryun]

Theme​

Aska followed Klied and Kayto but she didn’t say a word. Instead, she was focused on her comm link. Her eyes never moved from the device on her wrist as she limped along at the rear of the group, waiting, praying for good news. It never came. She had no idea what was going on the floor below and being unable to do anything was eating away at her. She couldn’t even bring herself to consider why Klied wasn’t more panicked about his brother in arms. Why was she the one who felt like her entire body died at the news and not him? Was it because of Nar Shaddaa? What Zugg had done to the only friends she had? Was she afraid that she was about to lose yet another?

"Running diagnostics... Scan complete. Subject confirmed friendly. Greetings meatbags and fellow droid,”

Even now, mere feet away from accomplishing what she was here to do, she didn’t feel a sense of victory. All she felt was hurt. Pain. Sorrow.

“Our scans indicate two infected are present with Doctor Ryun. We recommend maintaining a safe distance until eradication of the disease is complete,”

”Get out of my way,” Aska muttered softly, moving ahead of the crowd of droids. A metallic hand placed itself on her chest plate in an effort to stop her in tracks and while she did just that, her own hand gripped around the wrist of the droid. ”Move,” she demanded with more authority. ”Kayto. Take these droids to wipe out the rest of the infected on this floor and get that damn stair well open. Head down stairs and get Poffo to the medbay,”

”Yes… Mistress,” the droid replied, though she was too numb to really care about his compliance. Even he could see her struggling, it seemed.

“Negative. I will send a team of units to eradicate the threat but protocol dictates all infected must be eradicated. This includes-“

Raising her SE-45, Aska blew a hole into the bottom of the droids chin, never once lifting her gaze from the ground.

”You take your orders from me. Now get moving,” Not wishing to see a similar fate to that of their commander, the droids fell in line behind Kayto and began to return to the stair well. Klied, well… Whether he wanted to join them or follow her, it didn’t matter. Making her way to the office door, the clone knocked softly three times. She could hear the scramble from Trench, who must have been sitting on the floor at the far end of his office, rise to his feet and hurry over to the door, unlocking it and revealing what lay inside.

"Aska!" There he was, much as she remembered. Graying hair flecked with spots of crimson, a straggly goatee lining his mouth. Except she could see he had been crying though the sadness had been replaced by joy at seeing her alive. Aska, she felt no joy at this reunion. Never would have and under the circumstances, she simply couldn’t. Then… she saw them. Two young girls, twins, and barely five years old, sat huddled together beyond his desk. Their skin was pale, their eyes dark and gaunt. And they were shivering.

”Trench… What have you done…”

@Bex @Reyn @Isen​

 

[Alisaah Tila]

When Ali and the hobbling P5YK0 found Poffo, the man was preparing to receive emergency surgery from the astromech. When the Coruscanti shouted at Ali to take her shirt off, she looked down at herself, then back at the brawler. She scowled at him and her face went even redder than it already was. "T-this isn't the time for crude jokes Mr.... Mr.... Shithead!" she shouted back, before attempting to pull Aska's leather jacket around her more tightly. The Togruta attempted to zip it up but it only reached a certain point before her ample bust prevented the zip from rising much further. The result only made her cleavage more prominent, so she quickly undid the zip again before Poffo could say anything more. To make matters worse, as soon as he realised she would not go topless on command, Poffo removed his trousers, exposing his genitals to Ali and the two droids.

When she joined her mistress on this mission into the lab, she thought it would be a tough day and a journey that they may never return from. What Ali did not count on, was being flashed by Poffo's manhood seconds before he received emergency surgery. In her discomfort she screamed and the Togruta's face went from deep red to almost purple with embarrassment. She then shielded her eyes and spun on her heels to avoid looking at him.

P5YK0 raised his one working arm and pointed his remaining blaster at Poffo. "Meatbag! There are females present! Put your reproductive appendage away immediately! You are embarrassing yourself!"

Hating herself for it, Ali reached an arm out and grabbed P5YK0's outstretched one. "No, no, leave him be. There's going to be a much bigger problem than that thing in just a moment if Teela doesn't operate on him quickly. Please, just do it Teela..."

Meanwhile, the brawler had ripped a piece of his clothing off to bite down on whilst Teela operated on him. Knowing that this would be gruesome, given that the T7 was an astromech and not a medical droid and Poffo would receive no anesthetic, not even any alcohol to ease the pain, Ali removed Aska's jacket and pulled it over her head. Unlike her human companions, she did not have ears and instead heard through the montrals atop her head. Even with the jacket over her to try and block out the sound it was no good. Teela began cutting into the Coruscanti's flesh and the protective leather barrier did barely anything to mask the horrific screaming coming from Poffo.

What made matters worse was that due to the high revolution speeds of Teela's circular saw and the amount of buttock she was having to separate, a disgusting smell of burning human flesh filled the corridor. Ali started to gag and upon realising she was going to vomit, threw the jacket back off her head to avoid soiling it with the contents of her breakfast, before being violently sick.

"Running diagnostics.... Scan complete. Big meatbag's buttocks contain traces of AMS virus and must be terminated. The great and glorious T7-L4 is completing this task with ruthless efficiency. I love the smell of burning zombie flesh in the morning."

Holding herself up against the wall for support, Ali's face had gone from it's deep shades to pale. She felt positively weak. The screaming, the sound of the saw on flesh and the smell were unrelenting. There was nothing could be done about it if they were going to save Poffo, but the question was, when the operation was complete, what would they do next? If they didn't get him somewhere he could receive medical treatment he could bleed to death anyway.

To take her mind off what was happening and busy herself with something productive, Ali put Aska's jacket back on and wandered down the corridor in search of a stretcher they could use to move Poffo upstairs. On her way, the Togruta raised her wrist comm to her lips "Teela is working on Mr. Poffo now, mistress..." she croaked hoarsely, "I'm looking for something we can use to move him." She would have begged Aska not to leave her alone with Poffo again in future but chose not to. There were things she had seen that day she would not recover from and those things were better discussed with her mistress in private at a more appropriate time.

As luck would have it, Alisaah stumbled across a gurney which appeared to have been being used as some makeshift shelving for some disused technical equipment. Clearing it all away, she rolled the stretcher back up to the scene of the bloodbath taking place just short of the hole the team had blown out the back of the Comms room. By the time the slave returned, Teela had finished cauterizing the substantial wound Poffo had inflicted. Gagging and trying hard not to throw up a second time from the sight and smell of what she saw, Ali enlisted P5YK0's help in lifting the Coruscanti's unconscious body onto the stretcher and prepared to make the journey upstairs.

"The infection has been removed mistress" said Ali, solemnly into her wrist comm, "I've found a stretcher for us to move him but he needs medical attention. He's lost a lot of blood..."

@Reyn @Isen @Tulos

 

[Kliedden Raxx]

Doctor Ryun the droid said. That was enough to make the hunter do a double take. So this 'Trench' was one of Aska's relatives? Father? Brother? Or what? Aska didn't seem to be in a talking mood, so Klied focused his attention elsewhere. As he heard Ali's update on Poffo's emergency operation he raised his comlink to his mouth to reply. "Thank you Alisaah." He said in a sober tone. "Get him up to the second floor. The droids should be along to clear a path for you shortly."

He considered going with the troop to clear the rest of the level but decided against it in the end. In his current condition he'd likely be more of a hinderance then help. Besides, he felt like he'd earned an explanation for what the hell had happened here. The hunter followed Aska into the office, standing back and observing the scientist suspiciously as the two apparent relatives interacted. He kept his hand on his blaster, not sure what to expect from him. He also was still holding on to Aska's unignited lightsaber in his offhand as well.

”Trench… What have you done…” Aska said the words and Klied followed her eyes curiously. He spotted them as well, and frowned when he did. Two sickly looking little girls hidden by the man's desk. Were they infected? Or was this something else? Either way it didn't paint a good picture for Doctor Ryun's character. Klied's brow furrowed as he stood by silently, ready to hear whatever there was to be said. He sincerely hoped the man had a good explanation for all of this. For his sake.

@Tulos @Bex @Isen

 

[Aska Ryun]

Aska didn’t wait for a response from Trench, instead pushing past him towards the two young girls. She didn’t need an explanation as to who they were. Their facial features, shallow as they were, were reminiscent of her own at their age. And the way they looked up to her through the pain they undeniably felt told her that they too recognized her. It was like looking into a mirror that served as a portal into the past. It was like looking into her own eyes, locking stares with herself. Because she was. Kneeling down before two children, Aska reached out and brushed the side of each girls cheek. She wasn’t expecting how cold their skin felt to the touch, the clamminess of the sweat that poured from their pours. And the trembling…

”Making one wasn’t enough, was it?” Aska whispered, solemn in her tone. ”You couldn’t just leave it alone,” Trench, while unsure of the Onderonian bearing both blaster and lightsaber, walked over to Aska and set his hand on her shoulder, but she shrugged it away. ”They… They were here before I had even left. They had to be,” It had been just over a year since she had departed the lab in search of a life of her own. These children, even if they had age acceleration, would have had to be alive already.

”Yes. Yes, they were. Aria was positive that you were-“

”A failure,” Aska interjected.

”That you weren’t what we were looking to create,” Aska stood and turned to Klied, tears forming in the corner of her eyes.

”These girls,” Aska began to explain to the Onderonian, pausing to catch her breathe as she held back a sob. He deserved that much by now. ”They’re my sisters. I came here… We came here… Because I was made in this lab, just like them,” Aska looked back to the two girls in time to watch one’s neck convulse in a heavy twitch. It was clear they were infected and would transition soon. There was no saving them. ”The three of us, we’re all clones of an ancient ancestor of…” Pausing, she nodded her head in Trench’s direction.

”Aska, I’m sorry to intervene but…” Reaching into his lab coat, the Doctor pulled out a blaster and set it on his desk. ”It needs to be done and I… I can’t… I tried and I can’t….”

"How did it happen?" She needed an explanation of how this virus made it's way here. Of how these two poor children became infected.

"What do you know of AMS and it's origins?" Trench said with a sigh, clearly wanting this to be resolved sooner rather than later. But if he knew Aska, he knew she wouldn't move an inch until he cleared things up.

@Bex @Reyn @Isen​