Into the pit

[Asteroid]

In the deep recesses of the Wrodia system on the outskirts of Imperial territory laid a rock drifting in space. This rock wasn't special by any stretch of the imagination it had no valuable minerals and the only thing of significance was the tiny research outpost staffed by a small contingency of imperial scientists. Yet on this rock everything was silent. A lone GALAF operative listening in on imperial transmissions on board the rebel cell's main ship managed to decode a muddled distress signal from the facility which at first confused the man. The transmission appeared to be the confused ramblings of a mad man before all communication was cut and the station was lost. Naturally human curiosity got the better of a few of the ships crew as a small shuttle was now in range of the dark station. Inside the shuttle sat two doctors who were tasked with discovering exactly what caused the facility to stop all communications. ​

@Jabonicus @Outlander

 

[Outlander]

"I swear, Doctor, if you make one more comment about toasters, i'm sending Specter Leader out to get you. With or without your ship."

The comms crackled lightly as Bria's voice flooded the cabin. They where running an ongoing encrypted communication from the shuttle back to the Asylum, which unfortunately left Bria with far too much free time listening to whatever Doctor was saying. Well, him and the new doctor, who seemed to be significantly more tolerable than the other one. But, the mission was about to start, and she made a point of tempering her tone into the cool monotone of someone dispatching intelligence.

"Now then. We received a faint distress beacon via an older Imperial channel about eight hours ago. Now, given the disjointed nature of the message, we don't know what to expect upon arrival. You two and the Security team are to secure the landing zone and explore as much of the area as you reasonably can. Keep your ship's transmitter running at all times, and relay the signal into your personal comms. Understood?"

 

[Jabonicus]

Quarantine.

It was standard for when entering entering medical or scientific facilities that had the remote chance of holding biological samples. Act as if there was threat, unless proven otherwise. So she the supplies were gathered for the mission, it was no surprise that, among them, a set of Hazmat suits had been acquired. If they had been branded for some other group or corporation, it was hard to tell. Any insignia had been marked out, leaving a vague shadow of what it once was. The suit in itself was designed for humanoid posture, with plenty of room in the initial design, likely to include for a number of near-humans that may need its use. Once it was equipped, a form of suction pulled unnecessary baggage into smaller pockets, less likely to be noticed. Once in place, it gave the suit a more neat, official appearance.

The suit's color depended on the segment. The torso, down to the crotch, was colored black. It also seemed thicker in the black segment, many pockets of various sizes hidden within it. Inside the pockets she had stored various supplies, ranging from emergency medical, to cameras and even a notebook. Of course there was excess room for anything else she picked up along the way. The rest of the suit, the head, arms, and legs, were colored a very light gray, made of a material that was hard to cut, harder to rip. The head was designed for visibility in mind. A wide, clear visor allowed a decent level of vision, with the only real drawback being that anyone else could look in and see who was inside.

In one of her pockets, regrettably, was a single magazine of ammunition, which was made for a blaster pistol. The pistol itself sat upon her help within a holster, already loaded with the first magazine. Each magazine held twelve shots, after which it would need to be replaced. It was for emergencies, nothing less. Even she was smart enough to know that sometimes, in order to save a life, you have to take one. She wasn't a fighter, but an emergency was an emergency.

The section of the ship she had gathered her belongings in was small, likely meant to be a workplace and bed for some pencilpusher who wasn't trusted to do anything with the ship itself. It was like a cramped office-space, enough room for a desk, a bunk, and a chair. For the moment, she was solitary, after all she had locked the door as she had changed. As the systems in the suit tightened and adjusted the bindings and the fabric length, rough, forceful hands, gripped her visor, tilting it side to side, what first seemed to be a reflection peering in at her startled face.

"Let's get a look at you." The figure stepped back, relinquishing its hold of her head. Solid in appearance, the woman in front of her stood at the same height, and even held the same face as hers. The differences seem to end there, as her hair was much neater, gathered in a ponytail with expert precision, eyes holding an amber gaze. The outfit she wore was similar to the one House typically did, with shifts in color. A smile plagued her face, in the same way a frown seemed to plague House's. The woman in front of her crossed her arms, one hand going up to hold her chin as she inspected House, who simply glared back.

"Impressive. You almost look like you're here on official business!" The mimic eventually declared, stepping closer once more, a hand going to rest on Houses shoulder. She tensed, every motion the thing made against her sending odd jolts of tingles and numbing feelings as her mind and body struggled to determine if the thing in front of her was reality or some vision. House bit her lip, refusing to answer to the mimic, refusing to feed what it wanted. Mere moments passed before the things face soured, a hateful gaze taking up her vision. "You can't ignore me. Or is it them? Don't want to look crazy in front of your new friends." It guessed- Or pulled from Houses thoughts. It was hard to tell how much it knew.

The mimic stepped away, turning its back on her as it moved to the desk, shuffling papers, resulting in an ache from House's eyes and head. "You know, there's a great deal of people who have put a name on people like this. Powerful people. What did they call them?" It stopped, as if in thought. Turning, a bright, cheerful smile on its face. "Oh, yeah! Terrorists! The word rung in her mind loudly, forcing her to close her eyes. When she opened them again, the room was just as it was, papers un-shuffled, and her visor un-smudged. Stepping towards the door, making her way to the section of the ship where they would board the station, she could hear the words echoing in her mind. "I guess that makes you one too, huh?"​

 

[Asteroid]

"Yeah yeah we read you Tsuani... Hardass.." Doctor muttered under his breath as he glanced back towards the newest addition to the team. Ever since Doctor first met House he could tell that she mad more than a few screws loose. She would often space out when not doing anything and could sometimes be heard talking to herself. Whether this abnormal behavior is acredited to an autistic level of genius or just pure unadulterated madness was outside of Doctor's expertise. Despite her flaws even Doctor had to admit that she was an excellent medical practitioner. While she didn't specialize in a specific field like Doctor did she was perfectly adept at treating a myriad of injuries and ailments which he respected.

Doctor wanted to scratch himself as the shuttle doors opened but couldn't seem to through the thick plastic of his suit. He sat in agony as he turned on his torch and stepped off the shuttle. The hallways of the outpost were illuminated a dull red by the emergency light strips that ran across the edges of the ceiling. "This place looks derelict, I wonder what happened to the crew?" Doctor said as he continued down the hall. ​

 

[Jabonicus]

House came into the cabin right around the time that Bria had made her instructions. Bria. She knew very little about the woman, and her current medical profile was lacking in more than a few fields. It was something House was hoping to correct, considering some of the information she could garner may be required during some medical situations. The same could be said for a majority of the group as well. The lack of a central foundation of how things were run made things hard to track, for their enemies as well as their allies. She certainly hoped she could keep some private list of information she needed, even if it was coded in some way.

As they connected with the site, waiting for pressures to equalize before boarding, House glanced over at the man who called himself Doctor. A strange case, as his name alone drove her to assumptions. A lack of medical training in any official stance, possibly, or perhaps some sense of humor that went as far as possible to get to the punchline. Regardless, from what she could tell he was proficient in his job. Cybernetics was his forte, as she had picked up. A difficult course of work, so if his work proved capable, perhaps his training wouldn't need to be questioned. After all, experience outmatched what you found in a classroom.

Stepping into the hallways of the facility, the dark, abandoned place faintly filled with a sanguine glow. This meant that there was still power running through the place. If whatever data they needed was digital, they'd simply have to reroute power to that specific facility. "Watch for bodies. That will tell us if there was an evacuation, even if it's only partial." She replied, patching her own torch into the chest of her suit. It kept her light facing forward of her, while keeping both hands free. "If the emergency power is still on, then there still might be enough juice to open any locked doors, or to power any terminals."​

 

[Asteroid]

Doctor shrugged at houses suggestion "If there was an evacuation I doubt there would be any locked doors but anything is possible." He replied, his nose continuing to itch. It was a short walk to what he assumed was the command center assuming imperial labeling was to be believed. As the magnetic doors sensed the presence of Doctor and House and slid open, revealing the abandoned command center with a lone monitor that still had power. Slumped up against a kiosk was a lone imperial officer.

"House, make sure he's dead." Doctor said as walked up to the screen and tapped on it, waking the machine from its sleep mode as it ran a few startup diagnostics on itself. The gibberish on the screen was not Doctor's forte but he understood the command that was prompted once the machine restarted.

Initiate system reboot? y/n?
​

Lacking any real choice doctor elected to hit the y button and waited as the station roared to life once again. The lights briefly shut off leaving the room in total darkness before being illuminated once again with white lighting. ​

 

[Jabonicus]

House took little time to walk towards the body. As the slumped figure neared, she watched for signs of life, a rise of the chest, or the twitch of a limb. A part of her, probably the part the enjoyed horror movies, expected, and anticipated, for it to jump out at her in some post-mortem frenzy. Her mind pushed away such thoughts as a gloved hand tugged on the corpses shoulder. As bad as the timing was, that's when the light went out. Though it only took a second for much brighter lights to flood the room, it was more than enough to give her a jump and raise her pulse. Taking a breath she pulled the slouch figure back, leaning him backwards against the chair to get a good look at him.

The body was not fresh. That much was obvious to anyone with any degree of knowledge in the decomposition of human tissue. Whoever this officer was, he was still in his youth. Brown hair, probably had pretty eyes and nicely angled face. Likely fit, standing just below six foot, though his perfection was ruined with a small scar on his cheek. It could easily be the scratch of some domestic pet during childhood. That was gone, now. The thing before her was bloated, a sheen on the grayish, greenish flesh that still gripped its frame. It was stiff, the rigor mortis of muscles preferring the slouched position.

If there was a cause of death apparent on him, it wasn't physical injury. Though his clothes and spot were stained by the decay of flesh and the spilling of sulfuric decay, there was little evidence to suggest the fatal blow was a piercing or cutting injury. A lack of blood that would have flowed so freely from an otherwise high-pressure circuit. Not to mention the place he was found it. It looked more as if the officer laid his head upon his desk to rest his eyes, only to find that they didn't open again. The lack of visible injury didn't rule out internal causes, whether it be bleeding or bruising, but given his position it was likely neither. Whatever killed the man wasn't a direct attack.

Here came a part she did by instinctual. A hand sank into his pockets, fishing for anything. A pen in one, which she left with its owner, a picture of someone sweet, left as well, and a card. The card was, as she expected, his Identification. Let him in where he needed to be and made sure he didn't go through any doors he shouldn't know about. She inspected it briefly, the picture in the left top almost perfectly matching what she had envisioned the man as. He had high cheekbones, a smile that suggested content. He was happy about his life.

Tarian Elreck
Human Male
Security Officer
Access Level V

She pocketed the card, standing up as she looked over at Doctor. Her face held no signs of ill, no foreboding reminder that she had just disturbed the rotting corpse of a man who someone was missing. She just appeared, for lack of a better term, focused. "No visible signs of what killed him. I'm assuming something chemical. Maybe a virus. Expect lethal effects and airborne spread until we can prove otherwise.​