Event Galaxy in Crisis!

[Flood]

Spoiler: Nar Shaddaa

Nar Shaddaa​

Nara chased after the Mandalorian, trudged through the muck and slime. She noticed the way was getting a little more slippery. Turning a little downwards. Then turning more downwards. Then actually sloping down. She tried her best to edge her way down there slowly, but soon enough she slipped and tumbled, sliding down the slope all the way, holding her saber high out of the mess until she reached that drop and...

Nara went straight down that precipitous drop, managing to tumble into a... not quite graceful, but only mildly painful landing. Grunting with frustration, she picked herself up and patted her coat in vain. I will burn this thing the second I'm out of here. I will never get this out. Clinging to anything she could control as the moon above her burned and the hordes flocked to the sewers beneath. She advanced, the crunching bones providing the perfect ambience to the dreadful place around them both.

"Knew we shoulda sticked together," she mumbled as she looked at the floor, before hearing that noise. Those grunts and snarls, as the gates opened and the pair of rancor pushed out. Her jaw dropped.

"Oh shit."

Rancor. She'd never seen one before, not outside of the Holonet or a couple of books in the Temple. This time, she had no experience to pull on, no knowledge to draw from. And there was to be no sneakiness. They were there, hungry and right in front of the way out. Clutching the saber hilt with both hands, ready to strike if one came lunging for her, she determinedly stepped forwards.

"One each? Or try and pick one off quick?" she asked the Mando, before shaking her head. "Ha, stupid idea, right?" she said quickly, shaking her head. Trying in vain to control the fear burning inside her.

@Minuteman75 @Flood

Nar Shaddaa​

Minerva said nothing to Nara during the journey once they were through the left door. Of course she only slowed slightly but not so much to make sure the Jedi was still within reach. As the pathway became more treacherous and the muck made it harder to stand Minerva nearly tripped over. At the last second she employed the jetpack and spared herself a rough fall unlike her Jedi counterpart.

These peacekeepers should invest in more personal tech.

Landing in the chamber Minerva crushed the bones beneath her feet. Sparing a glance to the pile and bloodstains on the ground she grimaced. Suddenly an unnatural snarl uttered on the opposite side. Of course it would be a monster. The Mandalorian gripped her rifle, waiting for the challenge.

Subsequently it appeared in the form of two of the most terrifying rancors she had ever seen in her life. Through the T-Visor Minvera’s eyes widened in utter shock. It was far worse than anticipated. Despite the newfound dread gripping her soul Minerva ready herself, in a combat stance.

At Nara’s words the Mandalorian refused to glance at the Jedi Knight and could hear the fear in the voice. Instead Minerva observed the two flesh eating giants. Like the zombies they were operating as a team. We must do the same. She thought, before saying to Nara.

“I’ll provide a diversion. If you see any weak points either strike with your saber or powers.”

As soon as she said Minerva immediately lifted off from the ground via jetpack. She flew toward the towering sentinels as if trying to pass them both. Seconds later Minevra flew to the left side and opened up, firing two short bursts(four rounds each) at the rancors’ heads. She was no fool to believe that it would actually damage them. Rather it was an attempt to earn their full attention and gauge their reaction.

@Charndley @Flood

The padawan walked side by side with his master, a walk with purpose. Not quite jogging, but certainly intent on covering ground while being vigilant. The path curved slightly. They both could feel it...the door behind them was going to close. Master and padawan paused and looked at each other, but they seemed to be in agreement to see this through as they heard the door close behind them around the bend. "Well, that's that. Only one way to go now."

Together, they continued down the path until it led to a large, round room. Isen could smell the decaying flesh before they got there, and despite his best efforts, he had to pause and bend over to prevent himself from hurling. It wasn't the sight or the thought of the dead bodies that got most. It was the smell. He righted himself to stand up and look across the room with piles of bones and flesh, rancid and strewn about entire groups of people had been tossed into a blender.

Isen saw the tarentatek on the other side of the room. He was bent down and feasting on some poor, long dead soul. The young Kiffar suddenly felt ashamed for not having studied more. He felt as if he should know what this creature was through his studies at Jedha, but he never took the study of fauna as seriously as he should. He had no idea what was looking at. The beast snorted twice and his head began to swing as if it was on a swivel. It spotted Isen and Izel and a guttural growl echoed through the chamber. Isen turned his head slowly toward his master and asked, "What is that thing?"

Before Master Thral could answer, the deformed and savage beast would unleash a terrifying roar and charge the Jedi. Isen responded by charging back at the creature, deftly running up a pile of bones and flesh, before leaping and flipping over the horned monster, gracefully circling his lightsabers in wide arcs under him as he did so in case the tarentatek tried to snatch him or claw him out of the air. The grizzled beast did, and one of Isen's blue blades lopped off a hand for the monster's trouble. Isen landed gracefully in a crouched position, facing away from the enemy. He turned back to see the red mass in front of him scream, not in pain, but in anger. The beast turned to face the young Jedi, his massive body panting out of ire. Isen focused his eyes, awaiting the beast's next move. He and his Master would at least have the monster in a favorable position- between them. They had the beast outflanked.

@Reyn @Flood

Izel's anger was at least somewhat checked by Nara's outburst reminding them of the importance of what they were doing. The Vratix could only imagine how she would feel if this was happening to Thyferra. She put a hand on Nara's shoulder and nodded in acknowledgement. "I think we can manage both." She reassured her friend before turning and entering the passageway.

The didn't make it far before the blast door closed behind them, sealing them in. Izel spared a few moments looking back at it, mandibles working as she thought. It was to be expected she supposed, but she still didn't like it. "Be ready," She responded to Isen's comment. "With our luck we probably grabbed the shortest end of the stick..." Unfortunately her joke was much more accurate then she could have predicted. The passage brought them to a foul chamber filled with bones and gore. And something else. A creature Izel recognized immediately, one that made her instinctively freeze up and her blood run cold. A terentatek. Her studies quickly returned to her as the creature prepared to attack. The animals were filled with the dark side and fed on the blood of Force sensitives, so they were well evolved to fight beings like her and Isen. They were powerful, and carried a deadly poison in their tusks and claws, but not terribly intelligent. That was the feature that stuck in her mind.

Unfortunately before she could muster up the wits to speak Isen had already begun to charge at the creature. Izel's heart jumped to her throat. "No wait!" She shouted in warning. Fortunately Isen's training paid off. He managed to outmaneuver the creature while dealing a blow to it. Unfortunately he was now dangerously close to it, and it only seemed to be angrier. In response Izel reached out with the Force, lifting up several of the sharper bone shards amongst the pile and hurling them at specific points on the terentatek's body, specifically it's unarmored joints and eyes. Her attack plan was two-fold. First to try and blind and slow down the beast, and second to draw it's attention back to her through a display of her powers, hopefully taking advantage of it's hunger for Force sensitives.

"Keep your distance Padawan!" She shouted in warning. "It's tusks and claws are poisonous!" The Vratix crouched down slightly as she raised her lightsaber in a defensive stance, ready to jump out of the way on a moment's notice if she succeeded in gaining the beast's attention.

@Isen @Flood

Nar Shaddaa ​

Well well, wasn't his new friend quite the judgemental one? It wasn't something that really surprised him, most sith lacked humillity, but still, if he didn't have such an interesting virus on his hand, Jerex wouldn't even care to keep the conversation going, but for now, he would have to be polite "Well, the name and the mask are nothing but a memento at this point, I just do my own thing nowadays" The old legionnaire shrugged as a smile formed behind his mask, Jerex truly didn't know what happened to the group, did they all die? It wasn't his problem, the moment their leader had to be rescued proved to him that they weren't going far, Jerex preferred working mostly alone anyways.

Jerex' usual happy and relaxed demeanor was immediately dropped the moment Flood said all of his work could be undone, they couldn't afford to let this biological marvel go to waste! "I see, let's not waste more time than needed then, I am right behind you" the legionnaire said in an entirely different tone, even letting yet another verbal jab aimed at him be left unpunished, there were important matters to attend to and there was no way Jerex was letting this virus die, he still have so much to see, so much to study! So, he followed Flood closely, wondering about how could Flood leave his masterpiece so undefended he needed to quickly return to his base, maybe he shouldn't have left in the first place.

Spoiler: GM Post

@Salek Fallanai would find himself, alone, but on the easiest path. He would travel for what seemed like far too long before finding himself at another door, though this one was made from stone instead of durasteel. Set in the door were three holes. The left and right hole were occupied by kyber crystals while the center was empty.

Behind this door would be what the group was seeking, though unbeknowst to Salek his friends would be fighting for their very lives. If he could get the door to open he could save them, but every second he did not they drew closer and closer to an untimley demise.

Would the force guide him, or would he fail? Only time would tell. Tick tock, Mister Fallanai. Tick. Tock.

Salek ran a hand through his muck-splattered hair, then wiped it off on the wall next to the door. Of course he would get the puzzle. He tried to sense through the door to see what was on the other side, but nothing. More wards.

He lowered his head and focused, flexing all of the Force sense he could into the door in front of him. He could sense two objects that resonated strongly with the Force, and his fingers brushed over what felt like crystals. There was a third spot where the smooth surface felt a little strange, and his fingers found a third hole between the other two.

"I should have paid more attention to safe-cracking class," he muttered to himself with a small chuckle. At least right now he couldn't feel the life signatures closing in around them, although not knowing what was coming was pretty nerve-wracking as well. But it was a fear he was long acclimated to. His ears would warn him in plenty of time. Okay, time to think.

The kyber crystals suggested that they were in the right spot for a Force-user. The best-case scenario he could imagine was that this was the lab of the Sith maniac who had released this plague, and that he was screwing around somewhere instead of waiting to kill Salek.

A loud boom shook the walls around him, and the Jedi gulped. That probably wasn’t good news for the other Jedi. Focus time.

Three holes, two with khyber crystals. The obvious choice would be to take apart his lightsaber and slot in his crystal. But it wasn’t much of a lock if it was that obvious, and any Jedi could waltz right in. He used the Force to pull at the back of the hole and at both crystals to see if anything was loose. He also pressed gently on the crystals to see if they gave inward at all. He spread his awareness through the door’s interior, looking as intently as he could for any flow or channel of energy, any irregularity that could give a clue about the door’s mechanism. Hopefully the others were having more luck than he was.


@Reyn @Isen @Charndley @Minuteman75 @Flood

The rancor's facing off against @Nara Allam and @Minerva Fhirdiad would quickly showcase their ability. As the Mandalorian unleashed a torrent of blaster fire upon the beasts, they would guard their heads by utilizing their massive, clawed hands as shields. It would be evident that pain and suffering were of no concern for the rancors as the bolts were absorbed and they moved to the offensive.

The flying Mandalorian drew the attention of the bull, who was somehow bigger and uglier - if that were even possible - of the two rancor. Opening its massive maw, it unleashed a powerful, primal scream. Nara would be able to feel how the scream was tinged with the force and oozed with the darkside. Somehow this beast was capable of unleashing a force scream.

The second rancor would charge towards Nara, picking up a large stone from the ground and hurling it towards the Jedi as she ran. The female rancor would hope to close the gap between herself and the Jedi, looking to grab her up and tear her into pieces.

--

@Isen Ramm's defensive tactic with his lightsabers took the tarentatek by surprise, but not quite as much surprise as it felt when its hand went flipping through the air as it was lopped off with ease. As the Jedi landed, he would be faced with a counter attack from the beast. Gathering up enough of the extremely caustic liquid inside its mouth, the tarentatek spat a large ball of it at Isen's feet. Even if the attack missed a direct hit, it would splash highly corrosive acid in every direction, like the blood splatter of someone's head exploding after getting shot with a slugthrower.

With its thick back hide now pointed towards @Izel Thral, her attack with the sharpened rocks would do little in the way of damage. The tarentatek's skin was hardened and thick, such mundane attacks would prove mostly fruitless in harming it. As another roar loosed from the beast, spikes covered in lethal poison would fire off from its back in Izel's direction.

They would be numerous, maybe a dozen or more, and were long, thin and razor sharp like you would find on a nexu. New quills would already begin to push through the bloody holes left from the others, like a blaster pack being slowly reloaded.

For now, the beast's primary attention would be on Isen. Rumbling towards the Jedi, the tarentatek would keep its eyes on the shifty human, its instincts knowing that Jedi were slippery prey. That wouldn't be much of a problem for long, however. Most Jedi tended to be much less mobile when their legs had been torn off and eaten.

--

@Salek Fallanai's probing wouldn't yield much in the way of telling him how the door's mechanism might work. As he pulled on the crystals and felt with the force, he would notice they were set firmly into their positions, and that the hole just seemed to be that: a hole. He could suss out that it was fairly deep and cylindrical in shape, but not much beyond that.

After a few moments the kyber's would seemingly come to life, glowing ominously and casting a harsh crimson light onto the Jedi. The hard, crunching sound of ancient gears turning would suddenly fill his ears as the door would begin to lift up.

Though he might at first think some sort of dumb luck had allowed him to maneuver the locking mechanism, the blind Jedi would very quickly come to realize he had nothing to do with it, and he was likely in far more danger than either pair of his compatriots.

--

Flood and Jarex would move through the sewers at an incredible speed, aided through the force and by sheer force of will. It would not take them long to come to the back entrance of Flood's lab, the old Sith opening its heavily fortified door by tracing ancient Sith runes into it with his lightsaber.

Inside, Jerex would witness a scene straight out of the latest horror holomovie. Strapped down to several gurneys were denizens from Nar Shaddaa, laying openly vivisected. It would be clear that they were being medically kept alive despite the... severity of their wounds, steady streams of a self-created bacta solution flowing copiously into their veins.

Aside from the living experiments, dozens of journals and loose notes were scattered about on tables next to used medical instruments. Vials containing pure samples of Flood's virus strain were set safely inside a glass case that was cooled with with a cloud of gaseous carbonite..

Come, follow me. There is no time to dawdle. Flood said, ushering Jerex through a couple blastdoors towards the main corridor that lead into the front side of his lab. Eventually they'd find themselves in a circular room that contained dozens of research holobooks, as well as the main door.

Looking towards Jerex, Flood chuckled slightly. He could feel someone on the other side reaching out with the force, probing around somewhat aimlessly.

Time for you to prove your usefulness, Knight of Ren. Flood said, walking over towards a small console and entering a code. The door would slowly begin to churn, before opening and revealing the surprise on the other side: @Salek Fallanai.

Flood's chuckle would turn into a maniacal cackle as he walked towards the center of the circular room, the blast doors behind him that lead further into the complex snapping shut in an instant and sealing tightly. Looking towards Salek, Flood outstretched his hands in a mock look of disbelief.

A lone blind Jedi is to be this planet's savior? He asked sneeringly. This is all the grand Order could muster?

Shaking his head, Flood gestured towards Salek as he glanced towards Jerek through the corner of his eye.

Kill him.

 

[Salek Fallanai]

The moment the door cracked, dark side energy flooded through into Salek's senses. It overwhelmed the sewer smell and made him force down a gag. Stronger and fouler than anything he had ever experienced, it tasted like corruption and decay and fear and arrogance. But it didn't make him quail. He had been prepared for this, molded by a hard taskmaster who had looked long into the darkness and knew what it took to face it. In the face of true evil, Salek clenched his jaw and settled into a light, balanced stance from which he could spring easily in any direction. His lightsaber rested easily in his hand. He wouldn't show weakness to these pathetic creatures. He was their hunter.

"A lone blind Jedi is to be this planet's savior?" the one in back sneered. "This is all the grand Order could muster?"

"Yeah, that wasn't exactly the plan," Salek replied in a conversational tone, "but hey, in for a chip, in for a credit. Besides, I don't think it's worth bothering the real Jedi just for you two."

The Force warned Salek what was about to happen next, but it needn't have bothered. He'd listened to too many holovids to be surprised.

The dark figure muttered, "Kill h-"

Salek cut him off. "Yeah, no." His rear hand came around, and he stepped boldly into the room holding aloft the thermal detonator that Master Lentus had given him as he buggered back off to space. As the door opened, he had switched it to impact detonation at maximum power. Salek held the bomb in a telekinetic grip as well as his physical one, carefully watching the Force for any attempts to reach out to it. He stood before the two men, careful not to let them move to either side of him. His blank eyes stared at the space between them, not bothering to dignify either with the acknowledgement of body language.

"I know," he said with a smirk, "who am I to go on about clichés? But seriously, this has an open-field vaporization radius of twenty meters. In a room this small, not even your bones will be left, even with the best Force shield you could muster. I can't imagine how damaging it will be to the décor as well. So let's have a friendly chat, shall we?"


@Reyn @Isen @Charndley @Minuteman75 @Flood @Jerex Dorn

 

[Isen Ramm]

Nar Shaddaa​

To the extent that one could be lucky in such circumstances, the young Kiffar had a couple strokes of luck. As he was in the process of lopping off the hand of the beast, his master yelled out in warning that the monster was full of poisonous attacks. Isen was also quite fortunate that he landed with his back to turned to the massive enemy. When the tarentatek unleashed its acidic saliva attack at Isen, he was still crouched and turned away. Isen balled himself together as best he could, making himself as small as possible. He felt the splash of the caustic array spray upon his back. Isen could smell and hear the sizzle of the acid doing its work on his clothing. Isen sprang forward with another flip to create distance, ripping off the heavy robe he had been instructed to wear. He had been quick, but not entirely quick enough. Spots of the acid had quickly eaten through his clothing and was burning painful, heat-searing blisters into his back.

He was even more fortunate that Izel Thral, his master, had specifically told him to wear something thick and with sleeves. Had he not, he almost certainly would have gone sleeveless, and the burns on the backs of his arms would be excruciating. Isen gave his full attention to the creature and watched it send numerous poisonous quills in his master's direction. Even as he did, the monster's eyes were fixated on the Padawan. And again, the beast charged Isen. Isen responded as he did when the beast first charged him- Isen charged the beast right back. In this round, however, instead of trying to go over the top, Isen jumped and corkscrewed to the beast's handless side, extending one of his blazing blue blades defensively to prevent the backside hand from taking a swipe. With Isen's other lightsaber, he took a mighty swipe at the largely undefended leg. With no claw to protect that side, Isen's saber sliced through the beast's upper leg cleanly. A monstrous roar echoed once more through the chamber, but Isen, a quick study, would not make the same mistake as last time. Immediately upon landing from his attack, he would jump and flip forward twice in the direction of his master.

Isen quickly turned around took a ready, attack position with his eyes on the tarentatek. Despite the clean cut, the beast's legs were massive, and it did not completely sever the leg. Isen scolded himself quietly for not making his cut just above the knee. It would have taken the entire leg off, and the beast would be largely immobile. As it stood, the giant of a beast had fallen but was trying to stand once more, unsteady and unsure if it could even walk for now, but pissed...

@Reyn @Flood

 

[The Eclipse]

Coruscant
​

The quick reaction of @Nykoria Tallis had been correct in the end, though not in the way she had intended. The thermal detonator became partially deformed beneath the force of the duracrete slab, damaging the explosive and destabilizing it. Instead of a five-meter sphere of instant disintegration the grenade instead erupted into a blast of wild thermal energy. The explosion shattered the ground, cracked the walls, shook the ceiling, and turned the duracrete slab into a spray of smoking shrapnel shards backed by a wall of flame and superheated air. The Zeltron could survive with some quick thinking, the damage done to the detonator's trigger mechanism adding an extra second or so to the time, but she may well suffer for her mistake nonetheless.

@Darmus Onn meanwhile had come up with a clever scheme. If the Sith were there for information, why not force on them a secret little trade? The Ranger would find no additional network security, no network security droids or enemy slicers in the network. He was free to apply his dataplague as he wished. He was also out of the range of the detonator's explosion, though if he was unlucky he might catch a bit of hot duracrete or two.

Sirius and his walking checkpoint continued their retreat, the Sith's telekinetic grip on the grenade fading when it exploded. He had to admit, even if this Jedi was cocky, she wasn't necessarily stupid. He almost hoped she survived to face him another day, perhaps when he didn't have other business to attend to. But he did, so he moved to leave with the others as the grenade went off. The droideka collapsed into it's mobile rolling form and back-wheeled down the hall and the soldier ran after it. Sirius was the last, the Force speeding him on his way. It would soon be time to leave, and that was more important than riling up a Jedi. Perhaps at least this experience would plant the seeds of doubt in her heart.

Even as the Rangers retreated with their wounded comrade, @Dr Ilana Morata and @Trini Halrixien remained for the moment. The little rat had finally been flung from the Sith woman's arm to impact the wall, crackling with the remnants of evil energy. The injuries from Trini's claws were mainly superficial, but the teeth had bitten down to the bone and the vibroblade had sliced through part of her arm just as much as the Amaran's body. She found she couldn't properly move the fingers of that hand and grimaced with frustration, finding herself also under the continued assault of the Dark Side Doctor.

The Sith woman was cornered in place, off balance from flinging Trini off her arm and facing a raging inferno, unable to properly react in time. If she defended it would be insufficient, only mitigating the horrible burns she would endure and leaving her helpless. So she chose to attack. The Dark Side raged within her, surging with everything she could muster at once, eyes shining bright yellow and muscle and spirit training in equal measure at the strain. The lightsaber fell from the Sith's right hand, replaced with surging electric power saturated with hatred and sheer spite. As the Doctor's flames bore down on her she flung out her hand, crackling loudly with energy, and unleashed it all all once.

A bolt of lightning surged toward the Doctor like the wrath of a forgotten and ancient god. It was not a simple stream but a full discharge capable of causing severe injury in a moment and blowing a person hit with it backward as if they had just touched a high voltage line. The intensity of her attack badly scorched the Sith woman's entire arm as she pulled on more power than she was safely able just a half moment before the flames reached her.

She burned in the flames and she laughed, an insane and screeching sound that echoed in the hallway. Her flesh melted and burned, and she laughed. She laughed, and she laughed, and she laughed. Then, like a switch was flipped, the laughter stopped. The Sith woman fell to the floor, dead at last.

@Vera Coulter had managed to disorient the Nemoidian Sith, but he wasn't out of the fight just yet. As Vera threw the knife he let out a screeching roar of unyielding rage and leapt to the side, flipping in midair to land feet-first on the wall. Vera's three shots impacted a shattered control panel lifted before him. He did not need his eyes to fight, though certainly the precision of physical sight was out of the question. The panel was launched wildly, but with great Force toward Vera, followed by the Nemoidian himself. The Sith leapt toward her as a Force-empowered projectile, spinning rapidly and roaring monstrously once again, and would swing his lightsaber with both great speed and power at the old Ranger- even if it lacked exact precision on where he might strike.

Out in the hallway, the E-web wielding heavy weapons team had encountered a true horror- a teenager, with attitude. When @Crix Aran popped out around the hallway the E-web hadn't had the chance to fire, but the soldiers were hardened and under strict orders that were to be followed quite literally under threat of a painful death. The E-web began to lay down suppressing fire on the corner of the wall and space beside it while the soldier not on the main gun began to move up the opposite wall to clear Crix out. What he hadn't expected was to get beaned in the head with a jury-rigged stun rod that had been flung from around the corner.

"What the kri-!?" was all he got out before it went off in his face, flinging him to the floor and two meters down the hall. Only his helmet saved him from a detonation-related death, lucky for Crix. The flash of light blinded the main gunner, throwing off his aim. He kept firing down the hall, but was unable to see for a moment and a half- opening enough for one of Crix's shots to make contact with the gunner's leg, sending him tumbling to the ground and scrambling for his sidearm.

The remaining living medics on the second floor made a break for the stairwell behind Lorcan, grabbing @Weiss Zano and dragging him bodily along with them even under the threat of sniper fire. They were frankly more concerned about the incoming gunship at the moment. The gunship continued its attack run unabated, three turret firing into a through cracked and crumbled walls and shattered remnants of windows on the second floor, a hail of deadly cannon fire that as as deadly as it was inaccurate. One of the medics moving Weiss was impacted, vaporized by the attack, while the other two dove with Weiss into the stairwell and away from the curtain of lethal plasma. @Xaltienne and @Elikar Bridhec would need to move quickly unless they wanted to risk taking heavy weapons fire.

The gunship broke off after several seconds, turning back to the ring of CorSec to rain more fire and explosives down upon them before flying off to begin yet another attack run on the building, emergency sirens blaring all the while.

@Lorcan had decided to go the armoury. Considering the floors above the second were effectively gone that only left the store in the basement situated near evidence lockup. As luck would have it, the injured @Corran Velt and the Rangers grouped around him were at that moment emerging from a stairwell into the basement, the door left wide open and its Sith guardian just recently slain. He knew the way, he would only need to brave whatever he might find within.

@Talak Rand rushed into the building with all the quickness appropriate of a man under sniper fire without cover. The door barely slid open in time to admit him, but he made it inside safely. He found himself in something of a ground lobby, abandoned of life and instead featuring several blast-ridden corpses- and one clearly cleaved in half by a lightsaber. All was quiet for the moment, save for a soft humming from the opposite end of the lobby. If Talak was paying attention he might notice it was coming from the lobby's repulsorlift, particularly after it let out a soft ding to indicate the lift had passed a floor. It made the same sound each time it reached another floor At its speed, Talak had seconds before whatever was inside reached the ground floor and revealed itself to him, whatever it was.

@Catbert @TerranSteel @Killa Ree @Nefieslab @Ecclessey @Frannykins87 @AutoFox @Kestrel @MasterTyvokka @Dmitri @Phoenix @FireSong

 

[Cyrus Anvari]

Nar Shaddaa
Theme​

Honestly, this sort of mess wasn't usually Wolfgang's preference. Some time ago, what appeared to be the walking dead roamed in swarms through some areas of Nar Shaddaa's lower levels. It had supposedly been dealt with, at least to some degree or other, and Wolfgang paid it only enough attention to keep an eye or two on it. Not his own of course, he had people to handle that kind of peasant work. But here it was again, far worse than before and spreading rapidly through the under-tunnels of the Hutt's filth encrusted cities. A dark intelligence had been felt behind the swarm of ravenous corpses ravaging the populace of the smuggler's moon, disrupting Hutt business activities and supply lines and spreading complete and utter chaos across the areas it reached. Without a doubt, countless thousands were dying all at once, devoured by the shambling flesh of their fellow sentients. It was truly horrible, a mockery of the sanctity of life and death and a uniquely horrific way to die.

Naturally, Wolfgang kept track of the ongoing plague over a late lunch from within the Deliverance. Didn't want to miss anything important going on in the meantime, and there was really no sense in getting involved in the mess prior to any interesting developments. Which was why when a surge in the Dark something permeating the area convinced him to actually get directly involved. He'd donned his armour- swapping out the Scout HUD in the helmet with a Survival HUD module- and generally equipped himself with a pair of his more practical lightsabers, a pair of phrik vibroknives, his blaster pistol, a metal thermos of hot tea, two security spikes, and other usual belt items. Best to be prepared when walking into a zombie apocalypse, someone somewhere has probably said at some point.

It was prepared as such that Wolfgang had found himself within a rather macabre little laboratory hidden quite cleverly behind a series of doors. He'd shrunk his presence in the Force to the point of concealment during his journey to avoid the points of Light he could feel in the distance, preferring not to attract undue attention on his way. Ordinary citizens of Nar Shaddaa splayed across gurneys, insides clearly outside of where they should be and open to the world to see. They briefly attracted the Sith's curiosity, particularly the sheer volume of bacta required to keep the feeble creatures alive, but he soon lost interest. A corpse is a corpse, even if they don't know it yet, and he'd certainly seen corpses before. The virus itself was certainly fascinating in and of itself, but the scattered notes weren't terribly helpful. Wolfgang was as of yet an amateur of the Sith alchemical and sorcerous arts and, while he was a clever sort, he wouldn't be able to figure out this arcane hybrid of science and Dark magic quickly. That would require whomever had set up this laboratory and doubtless also unleashed the slavering horde upon Nar Shaddaa.

Wolfgang figured they would return eventually and decided to wait. He took a passably clean metal folding chair from a corner, opened the front panel of his helmet, sat down, and retrieved his thermos from his belt. The Sith removed the cap and retrieved a metal travel mug, which he filled with steaming black tea. He sipped at it, looking around the room. It certainly wasn't a sterile working environment, the sewer. He wondered idly if the Dark Side could be used for such a purpose, or if outside influences even mattered in testing the AMS strain. Questions for lat- ah, was that the door?

The large, fortified door had indeed opened, admitting a sort of pale gentleman (@Flood ) and another wearing a silver mask (@Jerex Dorn ) who both seemed to be in quite a rush judging from their speed toward an opposite door. They may well not have noticed Wolfgang sitting in the corner with his tea, considering it was out of immediate view and his presence was concealed, but they may also have simply not cared enough to greet him. Such a lack of hospitality. Ah well, he did suppose he hadn't exactly been invited, and they seemed preoccupied- likely by the closest presence of the Light, which Wolfgang could feel in the direction they were headed.

Fair enough then. That would have to be handled before he could reasonably ask any meaningful questions of the two Dark Side gentlemen, and beyond that, a Light Sider would probably want to destroy all this fascinating work along with killing or capturing those responsible for it.

Wolfgang replaced the cap of his thermos, returned it to its place on his belt, picked up the folding chair, and moved to follow the other two presumed Sith at a quick, loping pace. He had just about caught up when a series of blast doors closed, locking him behind the others. He rose an eyebrow behind his mask and looked around, quickly finding a basic access console. Wolfgang inserted a security spike into the accompanying dataport, recognizing that it would take a little while before it could actually open the door. But he was patient. He re-deployed his borrowed folding chair near the rearward blast door, drew his blaster, sat down, and arranged his weapon across his lap in case he needed it. He did not yet drop his concealment, unsure if the two presumed Sith would be hostile or not. A man never knows.

Wolfgang returned to his tea, considering it a shame to waste the fragrant brew after having already poured it. In the spare time he wondered just how long exactly this little facility had been under here, its denizen or denizens performing twisted experiments on the people of the smuggler's moon. Disappearances were quite common and likely went unnoticed amidst the chaos of the criminal city above. He wondered if the Jedi would be missed after he, or the other Dark Siders, or perhaps even the monsters roaming about, had a chance to tear him limb from limb and watch as the light faded from his eyes. Brutally murdered in one of ten thousand ways, their brave, young, feeble little life ended prematurely in the depths of a sewer. Like a rat in a maze featuring a painful death as the prize at the end.

Wolfgang chuckled darkly at the thought. He sipped his tea.

@Versok @JorusC @Logan

 

[Felix]

Dathomir

Felix glanced towards the door and back to the woman "umm thank you for the food." he spoke as he got up from the seat and made his way to the newly opened door, he stopped when heard the familiar voice. Master Grayza? was the name that came to mind on hearing the voice.

"Master Grayza? is that you?" he called back in reply to his question "it's me, padawan Felix" he turned the corner into the hallway to see if he was correct in his recognition of the voice

@Lavi @Mr. Teatime @AutoFox

 

[Darmus Onn]

The nearby explosion startled Darmus, who instinctively ducked his head. Fortunately the program that was infecting the system with his custom built dataplague was already running and neither the explosion nor the ducking of the head delayed it for even a micro-second. The little progress bar already showed it was two-thirds done, but still the Sector Ranger feared he'd been too late to deploy it. The comm lines had been suspiciously quiet and the fact that Corran hadn't yet confirmed he'd bagged himself a Sith also started to worry the older ranger. What if by the time the plague infected all attached systems and cards it'd be too late?

No, he couldn't think about that. Plus, he had the Jedi to cover his back, right? Even if the ranger service lost this battle, with the data from the plague they could win the war in a fortnight. Dataplagues were hard to detect and the chance was big these Sith weren't heavy into the slicing game, well.. the other kind of slicing game than the one with lightsabers. With a bit of luck Darmus could forward pivotal intelligence to his friend, the Jedi Oren Zapan, and prove to all those gunslinging rangers that his way of doing things was the better way.

((OOC: Deploying Class 3 Dataplague, turn two of three.))

@Catbert

 

[Dr Ilana Morata]

Coruscant

-THEME-​

She didn't have time to move. She didn't have time to react. Trini was in her arm that still held the stun blaster, finger off the trigger to prevent firing on a friend. Her left hand had still been reaching out, having cast the Dark Side Alchemy with an intensity that made her catch her breath. But when it slammed the full force towards her, she lifted her arm in a weak attempt to deflect it.

She screamed as it bit into her palm, raced up her arm. Beneath the suit, burns bit and blisters surged to the surface, scarring with the brunt of the dead woman's rage and pain. Her arm spasmed hard as she jerked back, slamming into the wall behind her. Breath spasmed in her chest as blue lightning still arched in faint wisps. She was only held up by sheer determination. The smell of burnt flesh and the crackling agony of the lightning would be seared into her brain forever.

Corran's on the other side of that door. I have to reach him. I have to make sure he's alright. I have to-- I have to...

Coherent thought was chased from her mind as she gripped Trini's body against her, bringing on another surge of agony. Melted plas clung to her lightning-burned hand, as she staggered to the doorway. She moaned as she punched in the code with burned fingers, leaning against the doorway to be let in.

Once she did, it slammed behind her, locked, and she staggered to the group. There was no gentle way to set down the Amaran, but she did her best on the floor next to her. Her breathing came in hard pants, and she was trembling violently. The shock left spasms to tremble even after the woman was dead. She took off her helmet, willing yellow eyes to turn back to amber, to gold. The helmet slid off, long white hair visible.

"Corran," she managed, on a cracked, raspy whisper, and staggered to her knees, eyes focused on him. "Is he all right? Is he stable?"

She couldn't focus on her own pain when he was right there, bleeding. Not after the agony she heard. She had to know. She had to make sure. It was the reason she could even move past that hallway.

@TerranSteel @Kestrel @FireSong @AutoFox @Frannykins87 @The Eclipse @Nefieslab

 

[Izel Thral]

Nar Shaddaa
​

Izel leapt into the air as the storm of quills fired in her direction, flipping and landing on her feet on the chamber ceiling, her insectoid biology allowing her to cling to it with ease. At the same time she held out her free hand and called upon the Force once more, bringing one of the poisonous quills to her palm. Thankfully Isen had avoided the worst of the Terentatek's counterattack, and was rushing in to deliver another blow. This time he would have his master's assistance.

Izel crawled rapidly across the ceiling towards the beast as Isen came at it from the opposite direction. While the Kiffar attacked one of the beast's sides, the Vratix dropped down on it's other, jamming her lightsaber pike into it's other knee to bring it down, and then stabbing the monster's own poisonous quill right into the underside of it's jaw.

Izel would then immediately jump back as Isen did, not giving the creature a chance to retaliate. The Terentatek came down on it's knees and roared in pain, hurt badly, but showing no signs of stopping yet. Izel watched the creature's mouth with curiosity, wondering if the acidic poison would have any effect on the creature that produced it. Slowly she began circling the beast while maintain her distance and keeping her lightsaber up. "Good job Padawan," She said with a huff as she kept her eyes on the beast. "Let's keep it's attention divided between us. You stay on one side, I'll stay on the other." Whoever the monster attacked, the other Jedi would be given the opportunity to counterattack it. So long as they kept this up and didn't drop their guard, Izel figured they could whittle the Terentatek down until it finally died. It was certainly losing a lot of blood from where Isen had sliced off it's hand already.

@Isen @Flood

 

[Talak Rand]

Coruscant​

Talak's heart was still pounding when he made it through the area and into the building and relative "safety." At least it was out of the way of incoming sniper fire or the gunship outside, so that was definitely an improvement.

In truth, however, he was far from being out of danger. The humming of the turbolift and the shifting lights on the floor indicator told him that someone was on the way, and he could guess they weren't going to be friendly.

He only had moments before they arrived, and he extended his hand. The hilt of his lightsaber leapt into his palm with reassuring weight as he covered the distance from the door to the lift in short order.

He'd have killed for a grenade right now, but seeing as he didn't have one, his eyes flicked around the room to whatever else he might be able to find.

That'll do, he thought as he looked at a nearby window. His saber swept across the glass and it shattered in such dramatic fashion. His saber flicked out again and back onto his belt as he took cover from the incoming elevator. He reached out with the Force and lifted up the shattered, jagged glass pieces. He had no illusions about being able to direct the dozens of shards with accuracy, but whoever was coming at him would be coming through a small lift door. Coat the area with glass, skewer the people involved from cover... assuming they were enemies. Simple and characteristically brutal.[/i]

 

[Crix Aran]

Coruscant​

Oh feck they were shooting at him and that was bad but holy crap his improved explosive had worked? Hells yeah! Running around the corner after he managed to get the last remaining soldier on his back, he fired twice more at the man, aiming to hit him in the chest twice with the stun weapon to finish the job of knocking him out while he was scrambling for his sidearm. With the last of the two soldiers downed he would take a second to just breathe.

"Crap crap crap."

Why the crap?

Because the door to the records room had been blown open (at some point), he could see a Ranger woman fighting an alien Sith and the feeling he got from this entire thing? It felt like someone had taken a brick and rammed it down his throat and into his stomach. The feeling he got from the Sith (who else flailed at Rangers with a lightsaber that was red?) absolutely sickened him.

A stun blaster wouldn't cut it.

So he went with option B - the desperate option.

Crix gritted his teeth as he pulled, hard, to turn his new weapon around to bear on the Sith's back as it clashed with the Ranger. Gripping the controls tightly, he lined up his shots and aimed at the Sith's back before pressing the triggers. The E-web turret would fire a burst of five to ten shots of heavy laser right at the back of the Sith as it was engaging with the Ranger.

He hoped the Ranger would be alright but all he could think about right now? Was making sure that disgusting presence that made him sick to his stomach would suddenly stop existing.

@Mr. Teatime @Killa Ree

 

[Vera Coulter]

Coruscant​

She didn't have enough real time to duck or dodge as she did before, her other vibroblade in her off hand, blaster in the other. But the Sith's inhuman screeching put her teeth on edge as her hearing cleared; the console slammed her way caught her in the leg, and she bellowed as pain cut sickeningly through the limb. She didn't have a moment to waste, however, as the damn thing took the bait; when he roared, spinning forward, she waited until he was in close enough range, his lightsaber arcing towards her in a dazzling display of power and speed.

She brought the other blade up to meet his own lightsaber and lock it, the cortosis weave coating the vibroblade meant to hold back the plasma blade temporarily, while she pumped rounds of stun shots blindly up the Sith's torso, face, as many as she could blast into him and stop that infernal screaming. Fear, anger, hatred, all of it cooled in an icy, controlled calm in the face of this creature's rage and pain, his arrogance.

She knew he wanted her dead. She couldn't deny she wanted the same thing of him. But the law was the law. The weight of the badge on her chest and patched on her official uniform spoke a silent pride to it. But she would be damned if she was gonna die to this screeching thing or his blade.

Not today.

@The Eclipse @Nefieslab

 

[Lorcan]

Coruscant​

Lorcan was hurting all over but he was able to tell that his chest was the worst problem because it had no further armour on it. Tutting a little bit, he made sure none of the chest or back armour was still on him before moving out. Of course as he did so he paused, spotting the group of people around the stairs leading to the basement.

Pushing his way forward, he spotted Doc with a crispy arm and some weirdos he didn't know. Of course it was then that he noticed they were all crowded around Corran, who was downed. He stared at his old friend, his ally from his days as a Ranger.

Kneeling down, he placed a hand on Corran's shoulder for a moment in silence. Before patting said shoulder.

"Walk it off, for fecks sake." he taunted his old friend with a grin, "Also - you don't need this."

He begun unstrapping the blast vest from Corran quickly and efficiently.

"Better for you to save him, right?" he asked Doc, pausing in putting the blast vest on as he stared at her, "Keep the bugger alive."

Now better armoured, Lorcan would head on down to the basement proper, rifle in hand, to head off to the armory. Hopefully Corran pulled through - he'd be able to return the vest without needing to dry clean it. Ranger dry cleaning was usually at a heavy discount, better Corran paid for it.

Where was that armory again?

@Killa Ree @TerranSteel @Mr. Teatime

 

[Mara Kensei]

Coruscant
​

Mara sprinted through the streets, cursing the entire time as she haphazardly assembled her Wan-shen. Once it was assembled, the long weapon took it's place in the holster on her back as she primed her Matukai gauntlets for battle. As she neared the Sector Rangers HQ, blaster bolts began flying toward her, "Damned Snipers," she muttered as she did her best to find cover in the nearby rubble. Once she found relative safety, she took stock of her surroundings, taking in the rubble, and other combatants also taking cover from the same snipers.

Mara fished through her pockets and pulled out her communicator, "R6! Patch me into any known Jedi comm channels." The droid would respond over the communicator and did as he was told. Once R6 gave the affirmative, Mara spoke into the communicator, trying to get the attention of any Jedi in the area. "Hello, This is Matukai Mara Kensei, I am here to help. Is there anyone out there!?" After sending out the message, Mara put her earpiece in and secured the communicator in one of the pockets near the top of her coat. She then made a dash for another piece of cover that was closer to the Head Quarters.

 

[Altina Tiramara]

As each introduced himself, Altina nodded in turn. So her fellow padawan's name is Felix. Hopefully he is the key to her getting off this planet.

"Sorry to bother," she bowed to the trio of hosts. She took a quick sip of the soup with the spoon, setting it on the table instead of returning it to the bowl. The taste was difficult to describe. It certainly tasted like soup, but there was something else as well. Perhaps she was being too paranoid, but hopefully it is simply what it appeared to be.

"Thank you for hosting us," Altina said again before following after Felix.

He seemed to recognize someone, but it didn't seem like the person who he stowed away with. There are others on this planet too? The whole situation seemed to get stranger by the hour. In the next room, there was a man with a glowrod in hand accompanied by someone else. The two were too distant to make out clearly in the poor lighting, but it was not difficult to tell that one of them was a human male. Perhaps he was the Master Grayza that Felix was talking about? The man shouted something across the room, but the echoes made it difficult to tell what he was saying.

"Master Grayza?" she called out to him.

Altina took off in the man's direction but, as she did so, the familiar voices started rushing back into her head. Her step slowed as she winced from her affliction. But she did not allow herself to stop; the padawan was determined to close the distance. Focusing on her training, Altina pushed onward, even as the voices started echoing things she had never heard before.

"It has been soo long and my path has been soo dark..."
"Let him lie in the dark with his secrets..."

Altina resisted the urge to tell the voices to shut up. They never have and never will. As she got closer, she tried calling to them again. "Master Grayza?"

A thought occurred to her that perhaps this was some kind of vision. Is this just another one, convincing enough in context to trick her? It has happened before. The seeds of doubt started to bud as she made out more and more of the features of the two. She eyed them carefully, looking for signs that they were fake, but none revealed themselves. Yet, anyways.

@christhebarker @Mr. Teatime @AutoFox

 

[Xaltienne]

(Coruscant)

Xaltienne managed to grab his gun, and not a second too late. Just after arming himself, a plasma bolt whizzed over his head. In all honesty, had he not leaned down to grab the blaster, that would have struck his head. He dashed back to the stairwell, grabbing Marie Antoinette (@Weiss Zano @Six ) in conjunction with another medic to drag the Jedi out of harm's way. Out of the line of fire, he let his legs cave in and slide down a wall.

"I thought you Jedi were supposed to be able to clairvoyant and feces," Xaltienne snipped. He then proceeded to take the time to inspect the blaster, checking the ammunition and insuring the safety was off. Returning his gave to Marie Antoinette and Big Nose (@Elikar Bridhec @MasterTyvokka ), he spoke, "I have no kriffin' clue what is going on. And I have given up hope learning what's going on. So I'll ask bluntly: What do we need to do to survive?"

 

[Weiss Zano]

Coruscant
​

As the gunship descended on the already devastated building that was once the Ranger HQ Weiss found himself being dragged to safety by medics and a certain other character (@Dmitri). He was almost at his limit before from his injuries and had hoped to get a breather and his arm fixed up at least a bit before jumping into the fray once again but the situation seemed to be only getting worse. First the snipers outside and now the fire from the gunship. He hissed out through his teeth in pain as they came to a stop. Due to both his back bruised and injured from the fight before and his arm bloodied and full of shrapnel it was hard to even lean onto anything. ''I got it from here, thanks.'' he murmured out to his helpers not wanting to watch them struggle with his rather large body and quite frankly figuring that he'd do less damage to himself if he alone was doing the 'dragging.'

He took a knee as bloodied arm hung to his side. ''Going outside is out of the question. Snipers on nearby buildings. I would have tried to take them but it was impossible to pinpoint their location from my predicament.'' he left out the part where he thought that even if he knew where the men stood it was still questionable would he be able to reach them with the Force. ''What's the situation down there ?'' he said pointing out at the basement floor. ''If we're staying here our best bet is to get behind one of the support pillars but judging by the power of that thing's blasts I wouldn't advise it.''

His commlink suddenly picked up something - "Hello, This is Matukai Mara Kensei, I am here to help. Is there anyone out there!?" -
Weiss brought the device to his mouth and spoke in it ''Jedi Knight Weiss Zano be careful when approaching the building there are snipers on nearby stations - I repeat snipers nearby. I don't know your position but it would fix our current situation a great deal if you'd be able to do something about it, they were targeting the medical staff around the building- over.''

@MasterTyvokka @Dmitri @The Eclipse @Phantom

 

[Mara Kensei]

Coruscant
​

"Yeah, I already ran into them," Mara grunted into her communicator, she was moving from cover to cover, getting closer to the ranger Headquarters each time. Mara looked up, trying to gage how high and what buildings each of the snipers were positioned, and then made a dash for an alleyway between two of the buildings. Once she was safe, Mara stood to her full height and began walking down the alley and speaking into her communicator. "Alright, I think I have a bead on three, maybe four of them. I'm trying to figure out a way up to them. Maybe I can find a... I'll be right back."

Mara placed her communicator back into it's pocket and waved at two unknown soldiers who were passing by the mouth of the alley, "You guys friendly?"

 

[Helen Holcomb]

DATHOMIR

As Helen and Hannibal made their way into the cave, the Lepi swung her glowrod around, illuminating dark stone, but not much else. Looking up, she saw a vast hole in the ceiling; she wasn't sure why, but her first thought was that some sort of enormous flying creature could have used such an entrance to come and go as it pleased, such was the inaccessibility of the place otherwise.

When Hannibal found a doorway, however, Helen looked at it with interest, guiding the beam of her light to it. For some reason, she got the sense that the two of them weren't alone, although the same instinct told her that the others weren't likely a threat. For now, however, she let the Jedi call the tune. Dathomir may not have been Helen's first alien planet, but she was far from the expert in this situation.

When voices responded, however, the pilot's large ears perked, and she turned to Hannibal.

"You recognize those voices?"

@Mr. Teatime @christhebarker @Lavi

 

[Nykoria Tallis]

Spoiler: DM Post

The quick reaction of @Nykoria Tallis had been correct in the end, though not in the way she had intended. The thermal detonator became partially deformed beneath the force of the duracrete slab, damaging the explosive and destabilizing it. Instead of a five-meter sphere of instant disintegration the grenade instead erupted into a blast of wild thermal energy. The explosion shattered the ground, cracked the walls, shook the ceiling, and turned the duracrete slab into a spray of smoking shrapnel shards backed by a wall of flame and superheated air. The Zeltron could survive with some quick thinking, the damage done to the detonator's trigger mechanism adding an extra second or so to the time, but she may well suffer for her mistake nonetheless.

@Darmus Onn meanwhile had come up with a clever scheme. If the Sith were there for information, why not force on them a secret little trade? The Ranger would find no additional network security, no network security droids or enemy slicers in the network. He was free to apply his dataplague as he wished. He was also out of the range of the detonator's explosion, though if he was unlucky he might catch a bit of hot duracrete or two.

Sirius and his walking checkpoint continued their retreat, the Sith's telekinetic grip on the grenade fading when it exploded. He had to admit, even if this Jedi was cocky, she wasn't necessarily stupid. He almost hoped she survived to face him another day, perhaps when he didn't have other business to attend to. But he did, so he moved to leave with the others as the grenade went off. The droideka collapsed into it's mobile rolling form and back-wheeled down the hall and the soldier ran after it. Sirius was the last, the Force speeding him on his way. It would soon be time to leave, and that was more important than riling up a Jedi. Perhaps at least this experience would plant the seeds of doubt in her heart.

CORUSCANT​

Even the duracrete slammed against the "fragmentation grenade" didn't stop the unpleasant tingling sensation that Kori experienced. It tugged at her, urged her to turn around and run; and it was rapidly becoming worse. It could be the Force telling her to stay away; but more likely, it was just fear. Regardless, the Zeltron was in no position to give it any thought. For the moment, she just focused her attention on keeping the duracrete "sarcophagus" in place.

But then the grenade emitted a strange noise; one that definitely wasn't caused by the standard explosion and shrapnel. White tongues of flame licked right through the slab, as if it was nothing. Instinctively, the Zeltron took a step back, but tumbled on the ground. In a desperate last ditch attempt to save her life from whatever weird explosive Sirius had used, Kori hastily crawled backwards on her feet and elbows. And then the grenade went off properly: the energy engulfed everything it its path, annihilating it in a blinding light accompanied by a high-pitched hum. Still crawling backwards, Kori could only shield her eyes with the right arm, while the left was gripping to the extinguished lightsaber.

For a few moments, there was nothing else in the world but pure whiteness, the high-pitched ringing... And pain. Searing the Zeltron's left cheek, lips, and forehead; piercing through the gloveless hand that shielded her face; pinching at the few places in her arms and legs. But soon, the white made way for the darkness of the basement. The ringing also subsided, as Kori's lungs ran out of air. As it turned out, the explosive wasn't the cause of it; it was the Zeltron's own desperate shriek. Unlike the flash, the pain didn't go away; it engulfed the entirety of the Zeltron's mind, with only one thought from before slipping through: "Should've taken the kriffin' helmet, Kori..."

Nykoria just remained there lying on her elbow and groaning, as she tried to seal the pain away with the techniques she had been taught. Soon, the groans reduced to coarse breathing. The mind cleared somewhat, and the Jedi could finally gaze at the aftermath of the explosion. The place where she had been standing moments before was scoured of everything. The duracrete floor, ceiling, and walls in a few meters away from the grenade were just gone. And the border of the blast ended almost at Kori's heels. You've just narrowly escaped certain death, girl.

Still trying to keep the pain at bay, the defeated woman turned onto her stomach and pulled herself up. Detached from the struggles that her body went through to make it happen, Kori just acknowledged the signals her brain was receiving. The Zeltron's right hand and arm, along with the legs, had been pierced by in more than a few places by small duracrete slugs. And her face... It still burned, as if someone had spilled boiling water. Luckily, there was no mirror nearby. Or else the purple-skinned woman would've been crushed to see a half of her once-beautiful face burned by a spray of hot duracrete. Covered with ashen dust, and blood dripping from the incisions on her face, arms and legs, Kori now looked like a pale shade of her former self.

The Zeltron limped towards the ranger, but stopped when she saw a camera record: her enemy retreating down the hallways. "I need..." Nykoria meant to say "... to know where he's going" but stuttered when she realized that even talking made her face hurt more. "The kriff that karker did to me?" But before she could touch her face and at least feel how bad it was, a twitter from her comlink caught Kori's attention. It was a message on a frequency commonly used by the Jedi.

The Zeltron tuned in just in time to hear a report from Weiss Zano and a reply from an unknown woman. Still in no shape to talk much, Kori struggled just to just deliver a couple of messages... in a painfully slow manner.

...​

Tallis here... I'm in the basement with a Sector Ranger.
Got a Sith and some gunmen... They're making a run for it.​

...​

Sirius's plan had worked, and in more ways than one. By now, the Sith must've gained some distance. Not to mention a 5-meter chasm that Kori had to cross if she wanted to pursue. In her tip-top condition, it wouldn't have been a problem, and and the Zeltron wouldn't hesitate. But even though her wounds were mostly superficial, Kori needed a while to recuperate and draw on the Force to heal her wounds... Or at least make them a non-concern for a while. Then she'd finally be of some use again.

But for the time being, she just leaned onto a nearby terminal with an uninjured hand; her eyes closed, stature crooked, and breathing slow and deep. A part of her tried to reach out with the Force, and maybe pinpoint where Sirius was running off to. But it was an uphill battle. In the worst case, she'd hopefully see it on a camera.

@Ecclessey, @The Eclipse
Message can be heard by @Six, @Phantom, and @Phoenix