Open The Refracted

[The Storyteller]

Posted by @Narzen

Mining Camp IX
Cirus_II
3 weeks ago

Foreman Dee sipped at her drink as the machines in the deep sinkhole before her continued their work. Dust and particles flew up into the thick

"Breaking through --- layer now. Estimate time to --- 5 minutes" The comm at her side crackled with static.

Foreman Dee grabbed the comm and spoke into it slowly. "Roger that. Get your devices under control. You're breaking up"

"Rog---" the comm spat out before going silent.

Dee sighed. Ever since this particular mining adventure, the electronic junk went to kriff. First, the droids began to malfunction and develop personalities faster than a nest of wamp rats breeding. Then, the sensors began to show living organisms in places where there weren't, and caverns of minerals where previously were none. Then some of the machines began to short out randomly, as if their very batteries were spiking. It was a non-stop conveyor of problems as the team got closer and closer to the motherload.

Dee smiled as she sipped her drink again. This was the motherload. The load that would make her a very rich woman. The sensors, before they started malfunctioning, showed very rich veins of what looked like Kyberite below the surface. Even when the sensors were malfunctioning after they began, the cavern below remained in the same place and the same readings were found. Dee had to reconfirm her findings with her collegues in the mining guild, but they agreed. This was Kyberite, and if she could get to it, she would be a rich woman. Sure, she had to basically create a mining town from scratch, and sink most of her life savings into this adventure, but this kind of riches would easily be worth 10 times that. The Galaxy would pay through the nose for such rare stuff, whether it was from Jedi, Imperials, or the black market.

The comm on the table blazed with noises of excitement as one of the drillers in the sinkhole made a new noise. They had broken through. They had gotten to the cavern.

"Mike, give me a readout!" Dee shouted into her comm as she stood up suddenly. She was anxious for the good news.

"Foreman..." The operator whispered on the other side. "Its...its so beautiful! I...I cannot"

Dee smiled. "A good haul, eh?"

"The colors Foreman..."

Dee frowned. Colors?

"The colors...I've never seen such...."

The comms suddenly shrieked and blared. It wasn't the only one. The astromech droids surrounding Dee also began to shriek and spin around uncontrollably, and the machines roared with life. Dee's brain felt like it was on fire. Like something was worming itself into her mind through the sound! Dee would've overed her ears, had not the ground began to shake violently.

"Get out of there! Repeat get out..." Dee tried to shout into her screaming comm, before a large kaleidoscopic crystal erupted from the ground into her thigh. She screamed in pain as the ground around her continued to break apart as more and more crystals emerged.

---

Today

No word had come from Mining Camp IX. Neighboring mining camps went dark shortly afterwards, with their own camps abandoned. Those who journeyed to Cirus II to find out what happened would never return from the camp. Bounties from loved ones requesting any information increased slowly but steadily.

From space, the mining camp was extremely alien looking. It was as if a forest of pale crystals had erupted from the ground, covering the land for miles. Ships from previous explorers were noticeably missing, but there were signs of life inside and around the crystal forest. People were living and working around the crystal forest, if sluggishly, with the most primitive of tools.

Spoiler: Any ship that approached received the following message from a derelict space shuttle:

ATTENTION:
DUE TO RAMPANT ELECTROMAGNETIC INSTABILITIES, WE REQUEST ALL DROIDS TO BE DISABLED BEFORE LANDING AND ALL EQUIPMENT WITH CHARGES REMOVED.

Spoiler: OOC

This adventure's threat is something original, and not Kyberite related. My character (@Narzen) will be introduced later in the story

 

[Skade]

The stories were few and far between, details of what transpired sparser than the tale itself. A private investor financing a mining operation for a rare mineral located deep within the crust of Cirus II. At face value, it would appear to be little more than yet another mining incident that spiralled out of control. Skade suspected there was more to it... Much more. A single excavation site going dark was one thing, be it pirates or similar brigands. Perhaps gas pockets that ignited and vaporized the camp as a whole. Yet multiple? Her senses suggested differently and the rumors of what they were looking for pushed her to investigate.

The crystal 'forest' was difficult to ignore as the ship dropped into Cirus' orbit. At first, as it began to grow on their approach, Skade mistook it for a cityscape but upon closer inspection, it was much more. A unique oddity and one worth further investigation.

“Put the ship down and wait for my call,” Skade spoke calmly to the hired pilot, the vibration of life below teasing the edges of her mind. So many missing, presumed dead, and yet life continued on below in a primitive form.

“Aye, I'll set the ship down and let you off but I never agreed to waiting around! You only paid for a one way trip! Besides, this place is cursed, I tell ya!”

A glint formed in Skade's eye, menacing and eager. Her lips twisted into a tight smirk, almost unnoticeable. “If that is your decision, so be it,”

As the ship descended, steam and contaminates blowing through the air scrubber purge valves on the hull, the ship seemed otherwise lifeless. Seconds passed. Then minutes. Finally, as the ramp descended, Skade walked to the planet's surface, hands drenched in blood as her dagger glistened red in the sun's light. The ship, as it so happened, would wait for her after all.

Skade remained cautious as she wiped the blood from her blade on her thigh, followed by her hands as best she could. Her eyes moved across the scene, searching for those who she had sensed from above. First and foremost, she needed answers before diving into the unknown.

@Narzen​

​

 

[The Storyteller]

As the ship landed, several nearby workers, miners judging by their helmets, thick overalls, and choice of tools in their hands, stopped their work of creating a trench leading out from the forest and pouring some kind of water on the ground. Each of them slowly turned their heads and stared a few moments. When the woman began to exit her ship, they began to move towards the ship. The leader of the group of workers, a short and stout Tin Tin Dwarf, smiled widely and raised a paw in greetings.

"Greetings. May we help?" The Tin-Tin Dwarf squeaked as he rubbed his hands together. His Pale Eyes seemed to sparkle with each word. With glazed looks, the other workers seemed to be studying the ship carefully and silently, seemingly unaware of the blood the woman had on her hands and thigh.

@Tulos

 

[Skade]

Slowly, faces began to emerge and approach. While most were concealed away behind masks and grime, it was hard to miss the rodent features of the worker that had come to greet Skade as she continued to observe the crystalline landscape, turning her attention to them as they stepped closer. “Great,” she muttered, slipping her dagger back within her sleeve. “A lab rat,”

Her facial expressions did nothing to hide her disdain for the filthy vermin that approached. Lesser life forms such as this bordered on semi sentient, she believed, but they could serve a purpose should the need of workers, or something similarly disposable, present itself. As he extended his paw, Skade simply glared at the furry extremity but made no move to grab it.

“I was under the impression that the mines and workers of this sector had been lost to some form of cataclysm,” Skade responded, her tone devoid of any form of respect for the minuscule mouse man. Rather, her voice oozed with disdain. Blue eyes shifted from the group around her to the crystal forest then back again, her hands smoothly moving to the small of her back in a seemingly relaxed and peaceful position.

“Unless I have been misled?” she continued, eyeing the foreman warily. He and his workers struck her as suspicious, working here where so many had vanished in recent weeks. “I suspect not. Tell me what you know,”

@Narzen​