Ask Nar Shaddaa The Aftermath of Chaos

[Talak Rand]

Talak was exhausted. He was barely even a Lightsider, so his poor attempts at self-mending after meditation had got him to the point of "weak but mobile" rather than "cripplingly tired." The scene below him was one he didn't dare describe and knew would be forever etched in his memory. A gore pile from the hundreds of dead and the handful of roaming infected that still remained.

In the chaos, it had looked as though Hannibal had escaped, but inevitably with injuries. The quarantine zone door was right there, but the only option for getting through would be to cut through with a saber. Doing that would expose countless people to potential infection and was a risk he couldn't take. Surely, there were still quarantine doors that were open, and that was what he needed to find.

So who did he call? If Hannibal was injured, then the only other person who immediately jumped to mind was Trys. He hated the idea of her being at risk, but he also didn't want to die. Besides, she probably would have killed him if he didn't call her.

He'd made his way up the fire escape to the roof after much limping and looked out at the chaos of the city. What was left of it had been largely overrun and he could see fires from leftover resistance elsewhere.

He plopped roughly down on the roof as he awaited communication from her that she was in the area or otherwise looking for him.

 

[Trys Aran]

Trys thought it had to be a prank call when Talak urgently reached out to her about being trapped and surrounded by zombies. She could hear the chaos in the background, and only then did she believe he was truly in trouble. Cursing to herself, she was on the move at once, calling out a support unit to go with her.

It wasn’t long before she was on the scene, but this time she was in much heavier armor and covered head to toe to prevent bites. She also had the heavy gun that Hannibal had given her, along with a vibrosword and rifle. It was far different than her usual Ranger gear, but this was far different than usual Ranger business.

“We need to keep them from getting out!” Trys shouted as she saw the chaos in the streets. The Rangers with her began to pepper the infected within sight, and she could see several civilians that were bitten. Trys grimaced at the sight, “Take them to a med bay immediately! They can still be spared!”

She had called for an airspeeder to allow her to elevate to the higher levels. Once it arrived, she hopped in, rising above the streets. Trys put it on autopilot as she aimed her rifle and picked out infected she saw below. Trys commed Talak through her helmet interface, “Is it safe to land near you? What’s your position exactly?”

 

[Talak Rand]

With the adrenaline having fully run its course and hours of waiting on the rooftop, Talak had nearly begun to nod off when his comlink buzzed to life again. He all but gasped for breath in surprise and relief to hear that she was here, and he pushed himself up to lean against the side of the roof.

Yeah, it is, he said. He had tried to barricade the door, but it was an underwhelming job. He hoped the sound of a speeder wouldn't draw attention, but it was better than nothing.

I'll relay my location. I'm on an apartment rooftop, he said. He tapped at his datapad and sent the location through to her so she could find him.

But there're crazies all around. I don't know if the roof barricade will withstand an attack, he said.

He had royally screwed this one up. He didn't like needing rescuing, but he couldn't argue that it was nice to have someone to rely on. He only hoped no one else would die because of him. He already couldn't stop thinking about all the civilians who had died because of his failure. But it was the fault of the crazy gunmen, wasn't it? They sent the crowd into a panic long before he tried to shove the crowd forward. At least that was what he would tell himself.

 

[Trys Aran]

Trys got his coordinates and made her way over, spotting the apartment building ahead. Through all the chaos below, she could see fires and smoke rising. She was in touch with her support Rangers, and they were quickly beginning to advance into the sector. They had to push the Frenzies back before barricades could be set up.

She pulled up next to the rooftop, spotting some movement she suspected to be Talak. Trys put the airspeeder in neutral, pulling up the comms, “I see you! Get over here!” She yelled as she glanced up. Almost at once, the door leading out into the roof flung open as a few civilians rushed out screaming. Behind them were groups of zombies, and they flooded onto the roof.

“Shit!” Trys shouted, jumping out of the speeder and onto the roof. She pulled out her blaster, aiming and firing at the zombies. She had to take careful aim in between the civilians that were screaming and panicking. Trys couldn’t spot Talak anywhere, but anxiety began to set in - how many of these people had been bitten already?

 

[Talak Rand]

Talak could see the speeder in the distance, and started moving toward the most open area when the civilians all burst out of the building. He hadn't expected there to be others in there, and he wondered firstly how they had managed to survive so long and secondly if it was because they'd in fact already been bit.

Of course, behind them was the first of the horde, ready to devour anyone or anything on the roof that moved. He heard the report of a blaster firing and was quickly overwhelmed by the group of people who were evidently uninjured and able to move more quickly than he was.

He pressed on as the first of the frenzied reached him. His lightsaber lit blue and he swung it to take the head clean off. His movements were more sluggish and not as graceful as they might normally have been, but he was still working on years of muscle memory that came to his aid even when tired.

This would be an instant giveaway to Trys of his position, but the chaos of the civilians was already taking hold. Although only a handful, they had no intention of sticking around for anyone. Talak, Trys, or even each other. One of the men immediately tried to slide behind the speeder controls as soon as Trys got out and had every intention of leaving all of them behind unless Trys stopped him in time.

 

[Trys Aran]

Trys whirled around as she saw a man make a beeline for her speeder. She didn’t hesitate to level and fire her stun weapon at his legs, dropping him where he stood. She wanted to save others, but not at the expense of her own life. The man twitched on the ground, but others quickly got the hint and kept away from the speeder.

First Trys ran past Talak and shut the door to the roof, slamming it in the face of a zombie trying to get out. She turned back around and began to pepper bolts into the zombies with her lethal blaster. Trys knew that they needed to be shot in the head, and each shot had to count.

She saw Talak slicing through a zombie, but he was barely standing, “Toss me a saber!” She shouted, surprised at her own words. This wasn’t her style at all, but the weapon cut cleaner and quicker than anything she had, and they were in a desperate situation.

 

[Talak Rand]

The door was closed, and thankfully only a handful of the crazies remained on the roof. He was also thrilled to see that the speeder thief was laid out within moments. He swept his saber through a pair of frenzied and sent them to the ground before he heard Trys call out for a saber.

He deactivated the one in his hand and tossed it to her. His other was a red blade that he'd rather not pull out in public right now if possible.

Although the other hilt was in his hand, he didn't do much to try to engage the crazies head on. It was all he could do to stumble toward the speeder and catch himself against the side as he nearly fell over.

Get in! he shouted to the civilians standing around. It was going to be an incredibly tight fit, but it should work well enough as he climbed into the driver's seat. He swung around and the speeder slammed into a crazy in a move she would recognize from the Coruscant warehouse shootout. Some things never changed, and he placed the speeder physically between her and the rest of the frenzied.

You too! he shouted as he glanced back nervously at what was left of the crazies on the roof.

 

[Trys Aran]

Trys was about to scream at him for throwing his only saber at her. Regardless, she took it and quickly got to work and sliced and diced the frenzies that came at her. She had to admit that everything was much easier with her saber, though she wouldn’t say that out loud. After the door was shut, her focus could be on taking out the remaining frenzies.

She glanced up to see Talak hopping into the speeder along with the small group of survivors. Thankfully, the stunned man was back on his feet and back into the speeder. Trys heard Talak’s voice and didn’t need to be told twice, leaving the remaining frenzies behind as she rushed towards the edge.

Trys had to keep enough distance between her and the frenzies, and she turned back to pepper them with shots. Once she reached the edge, she finally leaped and hoisted herself up into the speeder. Trys plopped into the passenger seat, her legs still hanging over the lip of it but she didn’t care, “GO!!” She knew the frenzies would starve and die up on the roof, but they needed to get away from it.

 

[Talak Rand]

Talak swung the speeder back around again and toward the edge of the roof. In the back! he shouted to the man in the passenger seat and pressed on his mind to get the man into the back seat to free it for Trys.

She came running and he swung the speeder to the open seat, keeping a bit of distance to pull away quickly. The moment she was inside, he slammed his foot down on the accelerator and tore away from the building.

The adrenaline was still pounding through him, but it was already beginning to fade. He could feel the exhaustion grabbing at him and everything hurt far worse than he could have described.

The speeder tore toward the exit zone, and he looked over at Trys.

Thanks, he said, wincing at even saying the words. It was all he could do not to pass out, and the sooner he was in a bacta tank, the better.

//Thread