The Frigid Expidition

[Outlander]

The Frigid Expidition​

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Spoiler: MISSION BRIEFING

[fancybox2]The Frigid Expedition
Nelvaan; a desolate world devoid of life. A perfect place for a small den. Normally, we wouldn't bother; but this particular den is sending out a distress signal. We don't know the circumstances behind it, but it can't be good. Head down to the planet and check on them. Take anyone you find into custody; WD can get them cleaned up and on their feet. May be undertaken by a member with any clearance.
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OBJECTIVES
PRIMARY— Apprehend the criminals​

SECONDARY— Discover why a distress signal was activated

Number of Missions
1

ASSIGNED
@Sammothy
@Outlander
REWARD
1,000 Credits
+ 2 Accord Loyalty
Non-Mission Critical Scavenged Materials​

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"It should be up here!" Bria shouted back down the line, lowering the macrobinoculars from her helmet. Her undersuit provided some insulation, but the cold still felt biting. The snow had begun accumulating on her upper plates, and she shook it off with a jolt.

they'd been trekking for less than a half hour, but it felt like a day. The ice made it hard going, but the team had expedited their walk. None of them wanted to be in the cold longer than they had to. Although, even with the hard conditions, the scenery was beautiful. If only they could see it without exposing themselves to such hard conditions.

But, Bria kept moving, leading the group towards the compound. it was small, and well concealed in the Ice of a glacier. They would likely have never found it if it hadn't been for the distress signal. From their distance, the facility appeared intact. There was no movement around the outsides, and the facility started to stick out more in Bria's mind. The only thing in the snow that wasn't flowing or moving somehow. An abnormality; an obtrusion in the environment.

"We're almost there!"

@Sammothy​

 

[Sammothy]

Ganthrax had been used to cold weather, but this was beyond cold. Freezing was more suitable. He could slightly make out the facility. He thought it looked fine, but he was probably wrong. "Any ideas as to what happened?" He asked. Gunthrax then looked behind him. It was gonna be a nice view from up there. He then thought about possible attackers. Pirates, bounty hunters like himself. He had no clue.

 

[Outlander]

"No clue." Bria said, wiping some of the snow off of her visor. The facility outwardly looked fine. No telltale blaster burns or explosions around the encampment. The snow didn't even look disturbed around the base. But the beacon had been activated for a reason, and they had to assume that the people inside where in trouble, even if it didn't appear like it from the outside. She thought back, briefly, to a mission in the outer rim, aboard a derilect republic destroyer.

She quickly stopped thinking about the destroyer.

The group truged down the hill, making their final approach to the compound. As they got close, Bria could make out the airlock set into the side of the metal building, the hatch partially obscured by ice.

@Sammothy

 

[Sammothy]

"Whoa, thats weird. Everything seems fine from the outside." He said. He dropped his rucksack on a steady rock and took a quick look at the sides. "No proper outside damage, it might have been an inside job?" Gunthrax tossed the suggestion away but he was still curious. He noticed that the captain was looking at an airlock. "Think some of us might fit through? I'm quite small." He went to the airlock to examine it. After a quick study Gunthrax knew he'd be able to fit through. "Wait, we could just break the ice. Anyone have any small blunt tools?" He asked stupidly. He didn't know how thick the ice was but he insisted on breaking it. No questions asked.

 

[Outlander]

"No need" Bria said, upholstering her rifle from its place on her back. She motioned from everyone to move away from the frozen airlock before taking aim. It would take spectacular incompetence to miss the large metal doorway, and she proved far from incompetent. The ice melted away under the blaster shots, the water falling to the ground and refreezing into ice. The steam rose, giving off a blast of heat that didn't last long enough to be comforting. "See if you can get it open." Bria said, reholstering her weapon and moving to observe the operation.

 

[Sammothy]

Ganthrax pulled out a pair of clamps. As soon as he took them out his bag he sighed with relief. He had no idea why he took them but thankfully he did. He placed them on the side of the door you would normally open it from. He called an Accord trooper to help him. They both pushed and eventually the door had a large enough gap to fit right through. He pressed a button on his visor and a small light turned on. It was pitch black and he had to be wary of any sudden attacks. "We definitely need to be careful now. Anyone could attack us." He said, sounding serious. He pulled out his assault rifle and took small steps. It didn't take him long to find a body. "He must've been security or something..." He didn't have time to check for possible death-cause. He eventually came across a door, but it was bolted shut. "Any ideas now Ma'am?" he stated as he looked towards Bria.

 

[Outlander]

Bria stopped for a moment to think. The only body they’d seen so far hadn’t shown any clear signs of pirates or raiders. The blood was minimal, with only minor lacerations along his arm. Maybe some sort of poisoned blades? She’d have to get some samples back to the Void to be sure. But the only way to get a clear picture would be to reach the beacon and the interior behind the other airlock door. “Crack it open.” Bria ordered, readying her weapon. A soldier complied, using the clamps to begin forcing the door open. A rush of warm air races out of the structure, heating the group and beginning to melt the accumulated snow. The man wedged it far enough for them to pass through, looking inside with his headlamp and checking from side to side. “Clear.” He reported, and the team slowly made their way inside.


The bodies littered the room, each of them killed in similar manners. Some propped up on small pieces of furniture, others against walls or laid down on the durasteel floor. Bria quickly began moving about, checking for vital signs as the others spread out and made sure they where alone.

 

[Sammothy]

As Gunthrax entered the room, the first thing he saw was bodies. Bodies everywhere. He had to stand still for a moment, sure he'd seen dead bodies before, but not in these numbers. He checked the area with the rest of the soldiers, it was clear. He then averted his attention to the bodies. Small cuts along the arm. Same as last guy, he looked up at Bria. "I know what you're thinking, probably... Poisoned blade, perhaps?" He asked. He stood up and checked all the other bodies, all the same. He was getting a bit freaked out and noticed there was another door, but this one had been forced open. It looked like they used clamps, or something more stronger. He aimed his rifle directly at the door and walked slowly to it. Gunthrax was preparing for the worst... He took one step out the door and, thankfully, it was another hallway. It had fewer bodies but still a lot of 'em nonetheless. He turned to his commander and said "Ma'am, I found another hallway. This one has bodies too, permission to check it out?"

 

[Outlander]

"Right." Bria said, looking at each body in turn. "There'd be more blood if not."

A multitude of species made up the slaughter. Most where humans, but there was a Duros, and a Twi'lek, and a Zabrak, amongst others. There was even a Lasat in the corner, pressed into the wall with her legs up. Bria moved over, pressing two fingers to her neck and checking for a pulse.

"Permission...wait! We've got a live one." Bria pulled an injector from a pouch and jabbed it into the creature's arm, the stimulant beginning to circulate through its veins. She slowly opened its eyes, grunting in pain and observing her surrounding.

 

[Sammothy]

Gunthrax took a step forward into the hallway, until he heard someone shout. He turned around immediately and aimed his rifle forward, preparing for the worst. Luckily they found a survivor, he lowered his rifle and asked. "Can she speak yet?" He was curious to know. He kept on, what seemed to be, swaying back and forth. He was wondering how she was alive. He checked her arms for the marks and boom, there were. He assumed that maybe she was immune to the possible poison. He put his weapon back in its holster and wondered. "How did she survive, they must've known if they didn't actually kill someone." Gunthrax was quite happy too, their first witness. The problem was getting her to talk. Right now she looked like she was on drugs. Repeatedly grunting and swaying. He shook his head and leaned against a wall. "If she starts even mumbling let the captain know."

 

[Outlander]

"Maybe they weren't counting on someone as big as a Lasat." Bria commented, kneeling by the woman. She looked like she was in rough shape; the lacerations across her arms cutting deeper than the others. But she knew the worst of the damage was internal; the poison that was working through her system causing the most harm. She was sweating, her eyes moving from regular awareness to shock as the stims really started kicking. "We need to get her back to the ship." Bria said, motioning over two other soldiers. "See what you can find around here; we need something sturdy enough and light enough to carry her back in."

"No." The woman said in a deep, raspy tone. "Just.. Just leave me here."

Bria turned back to the men. "You have your orders." They each confirmed before setting out into the compound. "Gunth, stay with her. I'll check the rest of this place."

She looked down at the Lasat as she moved off. She had closed her eyes and leaned back against the wall, but she appeared calmer than before, and her breathing was becoming more regular. The stims would help keep the poison at bay, and the soldiers in the room would keep her safe while they commandeered a method of getting her back.

 

[Sammothy]

"Yes ma'am." He replied. He'd never actually encountered a beast like a Lasat but those cuts were definitely deeper than other ones. Guess they didn't cut deep enough. He looked at the Lasat, she was still sweating. The poison was still definitely there. He took a small flask of water out of his backpack and placed it at her feet. "Drink this when you can, its Nic and cold." Gunthrax said, smiling. She looked up at him disgusted. She paused for a moment then ripped open the top and began to drink quickly. After she finished drinking she slammed it down on the floor. Gunthrax slowly picked it up and realised it was much, much more lighter than it was before. He slowly took a step back and handed it to a fellow soldier, asking him to fill it up. The soldier obeyed and filled it as much as he could. Gunthrax thanked him and then returned to the Lasat with the flask. "Drink slower this time." He said, as he placed beside her hand, the sooner she started talking the better.

 

[Outlander]

Bria moved down the hallway, her rifle out, spotlight roaming across the bleak walls of the structure, checking each corner and room, making sure whoever had done a number on the people was actually gone. Whoever they where, they where efficient, and they where ruthless. She scanned the side rooms, living quarters, and equipment bays. Everything seemed undisturbed. Nothing stolen or ransacked. The entire motivation behind the attack was ambiguous, and the more she learned, the less made sense.

Until she saw the creature.

There, at the back of the compound, in a small room out of the way, was a corpse. A humanoid, with long hair, tribal clothing, and blue fur. It looked like it had been executed, still tied up with the telltale signs of a blaster impact blackening the side of its head. And things began falling into place.

 

[Sammothy]

Gunthrax left the Lasat in the care of three soldiers, he was wondering what his captain was doing. He picked his rifle up and walked back to the hallway, he saw Bria staring at something, he couldn't see anything. He raised his flashlight past Bria and shone it against the back wall. He saw a human, or what looked like a human, tied up and executed. He couldn't say anything, his mouth was dry. He had never seen anything so cruel. He turned his flashlight back off and said to Bria. "This isn't a very pretty sight, the Lasat is beginning to talk." He tried his best to make her go away from the specimen. Gunthrax patted her on the shoulder and turned round. He walked back into the room where the Lasat was. "You need to tell me everything you know." He commanded. He lowered his rifle and put it back on his holster.

 

[Outlander]

Bria shrugged off the Soldier's gesture. She appreciated it, but it wasn't professional. They walked back into the main room, the Lasat drinking out of a small flask; small being relative to the size of the Lasat. "You need to tell me everything you know." Gunthrax said, and the Lasat flinched. "I didn't see anything." She said, averting her eyes from the collected armed personnel. "We saw the body tied up in the back." Bria said, gesturing a thumb over towards the hallway they'd come from. The Lasat quickly tossed down her drink, obviously unnerved. "I didn't want them to do it! But they did it anyways! That's why they came back."

"Who are they?" She asked, already having seen the corpse in the back. "The natives. One of them came looking, and we caught him. They didn't want to let him go back and reveal our operation."

 

[Shoggoth]

The last tribesman fell before of her. Iris gazed over the plateau sensing for sparks of life, but there were none.
The tribe had been useful up until this point, but now they were just in the way. Such easy minds to manipulate, there was no real challenge in it, it was only a nudge and they did the job.
Iris had done it before. She had dosed the first tribesman with a neurotic toxin causing a frenzy. Iris told the tribe that the facility had taken the fellow tribesman prisoner and After that, everything happened all on its own.

Iris disappeared down the utility stairway she had used before and entered through a broken shaft into the facility. She sensed life again.
cursing under her breath she prepared two neuro-toxic gas grenades, same toxin she used on the first tribesman. They weren't as strong as a real syringe-full into the eyeball, but a few seconds and anybody would loose their head, without proper gas masks of course.
She crawled trough the shaft, she felt them in the main room. "Five? ten?.. atleast five of them."
She thought.

With a steely loud "clang" the gas grenades hit the ground at the feet of the mandalorians. Streams of yellow gas gashed out.

 

[Sammothy]

Gunthrax immediately knew what this yellow substance was. "GAS!" He shouted, he quickly pulled three small gas masks out of his satchel whilst holding his breath. He applied a gas mask on himself, and handed two more to the soldiers. Everyone should've remembered gas masks, standard protocol. But some soldiers came slightly unprepared. The soldiers without gas masks started to scream. Gunthrax pulled his revolvers out and shot one of them dead. About 4 remained, the gas infecting them. "Get down! They've gone crazy." Said Gunthrax as he ducked for cover. He assumed some sick son of a b*tch threw that gas. The Accord troops shot all but one of them dead, a beefy soldier ran up to the infected trooper and speared him to the ground and the infected on fell unconscious. "If we find the antidote, this guy will be alright but if we don't. Kill him..." Gunthrax said. He didn't want to sound like the boss but they all knew what to do. Gunthrax turned around and looked for his commander. He knew that the door was closed in the hallway, but she might've been infected. He picked up a clamp and signalled for another trooper to help him. The door slowly but surely opened and he found Bria still in the hallway, thankfully not gassed.

 

[Outlander]

"Stang!" Bria cursed, seeing the gas grenades infect her soldiers. They acted appropriately, if somewhat severely, eliminating the now crazed men as threats. The remaining ones approached her, apparently checking her own mental state. "Go! Back out!" Bria shouted, leaning down to the Lasat. She grunted uncomfortably, but yielded as she was pulled up onto the Mandalorian's back. her legs bucked under the weight, but she remained standing, and rose to her full height. She moved as fast as she could, holding her breath to the gas and making her way out the front hallway. It would be a hard trek, at least without any help. "Flight 1! We're under attack from an unknown assailant, and need aerial support." The transport confirmed, and she could barely see it rise in the distance and began a speedy flight towards them.

 

[Sammothy]

Gunthrax was following closely behind, checking the other troopers to see if they were infected, he would obviously know. He saw the beefy soldier holding on to an infected one. Gunthrax swore he would find the antidote. When the eventually arrived outside Gunthrax frantically waved his arms at the ship. The ship obviously noticed them and landed just outside the facility. The ramp lowered and the rest of the squad piled in. He then turned to Bria and asked. "Any idea who would do such a sick thing?". He took off his mask and placed it back in his satchel. He also placed his revolvers back in their dual holsters, for safe keeping.

 

[Shoggoth]

Iris watched as the now crazed soldiers were executed as dogs. She pricked her nose at it; their fellow soldiers had not even flinched at ending them. "It really grinds it down" Iris thought "in the end, we are all animals.".
As the crazed fell silent to the ground they didn't even have time to think of their loved ones before the dark took them. Only rage.
She waited until all the soldiers had their frantic escape when she reeled herself down to ground floor.
Climbing over bodies she soon found an access card on one of the facility personnel, a young woman barely thirty she guessed. it was clear that the savages had been busy. The small slice wounds must be the work of poisoned knifes or dart-shooters she guessed, picking out a splinter of rock from a wound in the woman's arm.

She walked across the room to a wall mounted terminal and inserted the card and a data storage device.

PROCESSING...
DATA COPIED AND DELETED FROM MAINFRAME.