Ask Nar Shaddaa Whispers in the Dark: The Final Eclipse

[Darmus Onn]

Darmus frowned. The punchcard console being inactive, seemingly cut-off from power, made no sense. Judging from the dust patterns at the other station the lift was clearly in active use and this was definitely the Eclipse's base. He pinged his dataplague to it. He was able to monitor their entire network (or a subset of it) and for the past months they also mapped the area around the base and the comings and goings. Sure, something was happening up in the higher levels of Nar Shaddaa and it wasn't easy for the rangers to get down here even with support from their Zaa Fenn undercover, but that would count for the Sith as well, wouldn't it? Maybe prior to the AMS outbreak the lift had seen more use.. but who in their right mind wouldn't keep the stairs as an option? It just didn't make any sense, so he removed the cover to see if he could fix it and to his surprise found a much newer device underneath.

Kriff.

Nothing in the data he had been able to monitor had consisted any simple manual codes for access points. Still confident in his abilities, Darmus plugged in his datapad which had more than enough software uploaded to function as a code cylinder and just brute-force through a simple passcode. Thing is, nothing happened. Seconds lapsed, the software worked and yet the code was.. more complicated? The old ranger sighed towards Corran, "This could take days." He said it in almost a whisper as he ran the options in his head. If his current program couldn't do the trick in a timely manner, then this console was way more advanced that the one operating the lift. Had they been smart to take the stairs? Why was the main point of entry less secure than the emergency escape? Kriff. Darmus was getting a bad feeling about it.

@Mr. Teatime @TerranSteel @Kestrel

<1d20 roll: 4 || +1 from DM || Result: 5>

 

[Bast Emblai]

After what felt like an eternity of waiting for nothing, Bast heard a buzzing. At first she dismissed it as her imagination. With a lack of stimuli and high levels of adrenaline in the bloodstream, the human body was known to experience minor hallucinations. During her time imprisoned, she knew the electric lights had played a great symphony of music for her. They had never been shut off, and if she listened carefully enough, a subtle melody emerged. Naturally, the lights had not truly made music, but her addled and panicked brain had latched onto the pattern. Therefore, she was hesitant to raise an alarm immediately.

The buzzing got louder. She couldn’t be making that up. Corran seemed oblivious and Darmus was hyper focused on the console. Any drowsiness vanished immediately. Relief and fear washed over the Lieutenant simultaneously. If there was someone there, at least they would have to fight. She wouldn’t have to listen for any sign of the enemy if the enemy was shooting at them.

“This could take days.”

Kark. They did not have days. At most, they had a minute. She had to warn them. Waving her arm frantically, she tapped her left shoulder, their signal that someone, or something was coming. Any more noise would give their position away. Hopefully the others would see her urgency. If she got no respone, she would stomp a boot firmly but not loudly. Frantically looking for a place to hide, the woman would crouch, her pistol drawn. She was now the first line of defense between whatever was down the corridor and her team.

@Mr. Teatime
@TerranSteel
@Eccles

 

[The Gatekeeper]

Darmus at the door was having some trouble with the more advanced console. The brute force approach wasn't working with any degree of haste. It was a difficult situation in which the slicer would watch progress be made extremely slowly with his current method, although days may be somewhat of an exageration on his part. Even so the door didn't seem likely to open soon through the use of RNG code generation. Other methods may prove more effective.

Corran meanwhile was on watch opposite the slicer and, of course, close enough to catch Bast's signalling, particularly if she resorted to stomping her boot. She tried frantically to warn them that something was coming, to let them know of the buzzing sound that seemed to approach closer and closer to their position. Corran's vigilance would quickly bring his weapon to bear if he noticed his fellow Ranger's reaction but nothing, sound nor sight, would stand out as a potential threat.

But while Darmus or Corran might notice what Bast was doing they would not hear what she heard. Even as she moved quickly to cover and drew her weapon there was no sign at all of what it was she'd apparently detected.

For Bast the buzzing continued to grow in volume and intensity, like the sound of swarms of black, bloated corpse flies looking for their next dead meal. It came from above in the stairwell, although nothing was seen, and then closer again.

Then over a few seconds it began to fade away until quite unceremoniously it disappeared entirely without a trace. No matter how hard Bast listened or how intently she looked around the Ranger would find no trace of the buzzing or its source. Instead there was just the other two Rangers and Bast herself, crouched down and pointing her weapon into the darkness.

@Eccles @TerranSteel @Kestrel

 

[Corran Velt]

The tap on the shoulder drew Corran's eyes to Bast, then to the darkness down the hallway. He was alerted and rose from his more relaxed position against the wall. No immediate sound or visual indicated a threat. Bast's stomp of her foot corrected any lingering uncertainty in her partner. The black barrel of a blaster rifle rose quicker than a blink to ready position, both hands at secure grips and aiming down the sights at the stairwell. Together, Bast and Corran would have the whole space covered. If she heard or saw something, he believed her.

Only the unsettling dark continued. Red sabers didn't come charging. Bolts of death didn't screech into the corridor. Stillness. Just stillness. Without taking his eyes from the sights, Corran's voice spoke from Ranger Onn's comm-set, "How's it going over there? We don't want to stay stationary for much longer." He was only a little paranoid. After the Fall of Ranger HQ, who wouldn't be? Surrendering the initiative in a tactical situation was always a risk not worth taking. Sooner they could move onto another objective, the safer they would all be. In theory.

Without a hostile making itself known, Lieutenant Velt's tactical instincts switched their focus to the originator of their alerted stance. "What is it, Bast?" Her commlink with crackle with his voice, "What do you see?" He hadn't heard tell-tale signs of someone or something approaching from the stairwell, so Corran assumed it was something visually detected. Regardless, the blond ranger would remain at the ready with his weapon covering his section of their defensive 'rear' until cleared by his forward partner.

@Eccles @Kestrel @Mr. Teatime

 

[Darmus Onn]

We don't want to stay stationary for much longer. No kidding, rookie!? Darmus looked at the awfully slow speed his soft was attempting to crack the passcode and by now he was absolutely certain that it wouldn't for some hours at least. Normally this was the point where Darmus would abort the mission, return to the outpost and prepare better slicing software for the next opportunity, but something in the way these paranoid lieutenants were looking at the staircase made him realize that wasn't an option right now.

Kriff. To kark with it.

Darmus unplugged his datapad, stepped back and drew his sidearm. "Maybe this works," he whispered angrily over comms before he planted a bolt straight into the console. That was how the Force worked, right? Shoot it and it opens. Thats how Preef Callo opened literally all doors in that Tatooine western flick he watched in his sleeping bag two days ago. What's the worst that could happen? The three of them dying horrible deaths because he just alerted an entire Sith base?

Kriff, maybe the old ranger had lost a step.


@Mr. Teatime @TerranSteel @Kestrel

 

[The Gatekeeper]

Bast had been quite sure she'd heard something buzzing away in the black up the stairwell and Corran responded very professionally. Both of them were ready for something to come from that direction and covered it well. Time passed and still they would see and hear nothing to indicate something was coming. Even for Bast the buzzing had disappeared entirely.

It remained quiet right up until Darmus chose to go with the most expedient possible for opening the door. Which was to say, he shot it.

That single blaster shot and impact rang loud in the quiet and echoed up the stairwell, the sound bouncing across the worn metal and duracrete. It burned into the stubbornly defiant console and sent it sparking. The first thing Darmus would notice, besides how loud that had just been, was that the door didn't move.

Until it did as something else sparked and shorted, the door sliding sideways halfway into the wall before locking in place, completely without proper power or controls.

The hallway beyond had active lights that were clearly not the same kind of poorly maintained garbage struggling to illuminate the stairwell, if still old in design. While it wasn't precisely spotless it seemed like it saw actual use. It went forward for only a little while before reaching a T-junction, left and right.

Corran would catch something on the edge of his senses. Another echo that followed the blaster fire, like the distant and approaching sound of footsteps. Looking around would reveal nothing immediate nor was it something detectable by either Darmus or Bast.

All the while their new entrance lay open and waiting.

@TerranSteel @Eccles @Kestrel

Spoiler: Dice Rolls

A flat d20 for Corran.

 

[Darmus Onn]

What the.. it worked! Darmus was surprised, but truthfully mostly overjoyed and quickly squirmed his way through the opened door. It took him a moment to gather himself and be fully alert and ready for opposition as he grabbed his pistol and pointed it forward. That T-junction looked suspicious, but then they did have the plans for the original building and he seemed to remember that this junction was definitely on there. "I think it's a right to the servers" he whispered over their shared commline and as he slowly approached the junction proper, stopping just shy of it to make sure he wasn't visible from either direction.

The datacards and datapad in his pockets felt heavy and he was thankful he wore a belt, for it seemed like the weight, or rather the burden, could have dropped his pants down to his knees and tripped him up. He was banking a lot on this mission. If he could infect the system.. the possibilities for a slicer of his caliber were.. they were endless. He could infiltrate the Sith Council much like he had the KnowOnes slicer's collective. Already distrustful of each other, Darmus could ignite rivalries and have the entire Order implode on itself. If only they could reach the servers and.. well, and get out alive.


@Mr. Teatime @TerranSteel @Kestrel

 

[Bast Emblai]

Nothing. She was barely breathing, barely moving, dead quiet. Bast’s pistol rested on her knee to maximize accuracy, heart pounding so hard she could hear the pulse in her ears. Perhaps it was a ploy. They would wait until she let her guard down to attack. Nothing came. No red spot on her thermal vision reader or any movement among the shades of green of night vision. Corran had taken up guard as well, snapping to attention as soon as she had given the warning. Now he turned to her. The way was clear. No threat.

The question was gentle, but the Lieutenant could not help but hear some uncertainty in the voice, a projection of her own fears. “I heard... it was a buzzing? Coming down the hall, straight toward us, like the rapid fluttering of wings.“ The voice was slightly higher than usual. She could have sworn there had been something. It had been so close. “Didn’t you hear it?”

Of course he hadn’t. It was the fatigue getting to her. She was tired and hyperaware, jumping at every shadow and creak of the duracrete. Still- it had seemed so real. So loud. Surely they would have, should have heard it, but they did not. Hurriedly, she run through the possibilities: either she had heard it or imagined it. If she had imagined it, she could not let anyone know or they would insist on returning her to base. If she had hear the buzzing, it was something dangerous or benign. An enemy or old machinery. But if she had heard it, why hadn’t the others?

A loud shot from behind make Bast flinch. Clearly, Darmus had gotten tired of trying to slide his way in. Pivoting, the corellian aimed the blaster towards the door. After a moment’s pause, it slid open.
“That is the first time I have ever seen that work. Well done,” came a whispered congratulations through the commlink channel. Letting the older man take point, she followed him in, glancing back to make sure Corran was following. It was almost too easy, but perhaps, for once, luck was on their side.


@TerranSteel
@Mr. Teatime
@Eccles

 

[Corran Velt]

Buzzing? If Bast had X-ray vision she would have seen an eyebrow raise upward under Corran's helmet. He hadn't heard anything remotely like that. Her description made it sound like it came from a swarm of insects. Nar Shaddaa wasn't called the Dark Twin of Coruscant for nothing. It was an almost entirely urban world except for whatever grew and molded down on the lowest levels. Normally, Corran would have cast such an idea out of hand but this being a secret Sith base made anything possible. His trust in Bast was unshakeable. If she heard buzzing wings, then she absolutely did.

The screech of a blaster forced Lieutenant Velt's attention at whiplash speed. A smoking door panel and Darmus pointing a blaster told him everything he needed to know. The best slicer in the entire Sector Rangers, who had planted a dataplague that leaked the very location of this base, who had gotten into the very deep network of the KnowOnes gang, had resorted to shooting a control panel. If that was the ultimate trump card of slicers everywhere, Corran thought he wasn't so bad a techie after all. After the two other rangers passed through the now-opened threshold, he brought up the rear with the usual strategy of checking for rear hostiles and keeping a distance watch to the front.

At Darmus' word, Corran moved closer to the right side of the wall in anticipation of heading that direction. The layout of this base had been captured by Captain Rook and himself, more or less. A more direct threat than the sound of insect wings rung in the blond ranger's attentive ears. Footsteps. Moving quickly. Making his way up the stack to the right-turn corner, he alerted the other two via commlink, "I hear footsteps. Likely checking on the noise from the shot. Let's move."

Even if some enemy soldiers discovered the damaged door, they wouldn't be immediately as alarmed as finding three intruders. Any alerts they could send off could be countered by getting Darmus to the server room. At the least, he would then be able to shoot it all. Lieutenant Velt would peer around the corner, rifle as his guide, and limiting exposure to fire. If nothing hostile appeared immediately, he would advance along the wall and continued down the rightward hallway with the intent of finding the vaunted server room.

@Eccles @Kestrel @Mr. Teatime

 

[The Gatekeeper]

The Rangers' path was opened before them and they moved forward with purpose down the hall, passing into and out of the direct light above as they approached the junction. It was a clear and silent path with no obvious guards or traps or even a camera to watch it. The only real sound was their own voices over the comms and their boots on the ground as they crept forward.

Corran stacked the right junction after Darmus suggested it. He announced the footsteps he heard, ever attentive and professional, but the others would not hear them. Even as they grew closer, grew louder, grew more numerous. It was the sound of armoured boots running across duracrete, joined by the hovering thrum of a repulsorlift growing closer, ever closer. Corran looked down the right hallway and heard the running behind him, the sensation of movement and being watched crawling and tingling down his spine.

If he turned to look he'd notice it was still behind where he looked, still getting closer, that impending sense of doom growing. Flashes of movement would draw his eyes left, right, to a wall, but there would be nothing there. Just the sound. Nothing but the sound.

Darmus and Bast heard none of this. The left junction they looked down went a short way before turning right again out of sight. The right they chose instead kept going forward a little farther until it became a four-way cross. To the right would be a simple doorway, forward a set of downward stairs, and left another hallway.

If the grouped Rangers continued on this way any of them able to listen would hear a sound from a distance down the dark stairs.

Cuh-clack. Cuh-clack. Cuh-clack, it went, with the shushed hiss of something heavy and dry dragging across the metal.

@TerranSteel @Eccles @Kestrel

Spoiler: Dice Rolls

Flat d20 for Corran.

 

[Corran Velt]

The line between preparedness and paranoia blurred. Armored boots worn by Sith troopers stomped against the floor distantly. Corran felt his body press harder against the corner, trained instinct crying out for greater cover and concealment. Footfalls scraping against duracrete grew louder and more numerous. A fireteam became a squad. A squad became a platoon. A company. A regiment! Tension slithered up his back with an uneasy trickle. Movement out of the corner of his transparisteel viewports forced his rifle to aim at the left. Something shifted at the right. The far wall. Each movement drew Corran's iron sights. The other Rangers would see this alert twisting and shifting. What they made of it was anyone's guess.

Targets refused to reveal themselves. Unadorned steel and stone of the hallways mocked him with their pacifism and inanimation. Lieutenant Velt felt watched and increasingly cornered. They had to move. Hesitation invited defeat. Two fingers pointed silently down the rightward hallway and he took point. The blond ranger's movements were still precise and calculated, but more urgent. Eventually they arrived at a four-way junction, with the trio standing in one of the spokes.

The open stairway was the path of least resistance downward. Unless Darmus corrected him, Corran recalled the server station was further down. This floor was technically the first of the camouflaged Sith base and likely had put all their technical vulnerabilities deeper. An unsettling scrape and thud of metal reverberated from the exposed stairwell. A hostile? No, no. It sounded repetitive. Mechanical. Like an engine.

Checking both ways before proceeding, Lieutenant Velt would wordlessly signal he was heading for the stairs unless one of his two partners suggested a better alternative. As with all movement, the barrel of a blaster rifle guided him and sliced the pie of every room and corner he entered. Steady, determined movements. A descent against the darkness.

@Eccles @Kestrel @Mr. Teatime

 

[Darmus Onn]

The next junction arrived shortly and the combination of possible routes jogged something in Darmus' memory. He had studied the old plans of this building and what it had been before Sith occupation, as such when the encountered a four-way junction which was usually rare, Darmus suddenly realized which way to go. The stairs let to a storage compartment, so when he noticed Corran going for the stairs he made sign to pause. "Left hallway," he immediately stepped forward and with his pistol raised took point.

The experience so far wasn't by far as dreadful for Darmus as it was for Corran and Bast. He heard none of the paranoia-inducing sounds. He heard no footsteps and noticed no surveillance equipment or traps as he lead the posse further inwards. Even the Cuh-clack coming from the stairs were ignored by the older ranger. No need fretting over strange sounds coming from a direction they wouldn't be heading in. Not now, anyway. It could only distract them from their mission.

@Mr. Teatime @TerranSteel @Kestrel

 

[Bast Emblai]

No matter how quite the woman was, despite holding her breath and slowing her pounding heart, she could not hear the footsteps Corran had determined were drawing near. The buzzing had ceased, but at every junction she froze, eyes scanning, finger on the trigger. The Lieutenant pitied the next rat that would scamper across the floor as it would be dead before it even knew what happened. Darmus was the only one unaffected, almost as if the Sith were playing mind games, as if the very base were alive, funneling through hallways like Banthas to the slaughter...

It seemed the deeper they ventured into the maze of halls, the more the echoes of their own footsteps reverberated, as if the walls were closing in slowly, trapping them in what could become a duracrete tomb. The dead quiet left too much room for thoughts. Following the older ranger down the stairs, she spoke through the comm link, voice barely above a whisper. “That isn’t the sound of footsteps, Corran.” A faint, steady cluh-clack beat out a rhythm from below. The sound was hollow, like the slow, agonizing drag of something dead and heavy.

@Mr. Teatime
@TerranSteel
@Eccles

 

[The Gatekeeper]

Cuh-clack, shhhh.

The Rangers three moved ahead, the jittery motions not detering their forward progress. Toward the junction they went, Corran in front. Fragments of Ranger Velt's attention not taken up by the growing and gathering sounds only he heard were directed toward the repeated noise from the stairs.

Cuh-clack, shhhh.

Darmus redirected the group to the left hallway, knowing well the direction the group needed to head in order to find their primary objective, taking the lead from Corran. His voice could be heard by Ranger Velt buzzing into his helmet through the storm of thundering steps. Ranger Onn had painstakingly researched, scanned, and studied the plans of this building as much as he could and that effort was paying off here. He would be fairly certain that at end of this hallway, which featured a simple broom closet off the right from what he remembered, would look to another door that accessed a more proper building. From there they could navigate closer to center of the building where their servers were kept safe.

Bast spoke as well, barely a whisper over comms in her case. She was too quiet for Corran to hear over the other sounds, especially as they grew ever louder, and the

Cuh-clack, shhhh

grew ever closer. But that sound, too, was drowned out by what was surely the rumble of an approaching army as far as Corran was concerned. His vision began to shift and twist, shadows edging in from the sides that no amount of blinking or head-shaking could clear. Points of yellow and black briefly manifested and disappeared again before it could truly be said to have been observed at all, flinging themselves his sightlines like flashes of visual static.

Cu-clack, shhhh.

There was danger following just behind Corran. He could tell, armoured footsteps and the readying of a rifle. An agent of the Eclipse was there, just about to give him another taste of that wicked venom that had burned through his nerves on Coruscant. Ranger Velt would hear a voice then, distorted into garbled, baritone nonsense by an enclosed helmet, the crystal clear buzzing of a vibroblade in position to gut him where he stood. Every instinct would scream to turn and deal with the threat, to save himself, to rescue his fellow Rangers from this sudden ambush and certain death.

And when he would turn to look, there would not Bast Emblai, but in her place a black-armoured soldier of the Eclipse, blade in hand readied to cut him down for good and edge dripping with an unnaturally bright crimson fluid.

At the same time down the stairs, Bast, and Darmus if he looked that way, may see the flicker of a shape in the dark. The barest shimmer of motion making its way up toward Corran around the corner of the first and only landing to the storage area. Ranger Velt could not perceive it even if his eyes were directly on it.

Cu-clack, shhhh.

@Darmus Onn @TerranSteel @Kestrel

 

[Corran Velt]

Ranger Onn's order to change direction cut through the stomping of boots and clicking of rifles against armor. Corran returned to the line-up and took a position a little behind Darmus. He tried to keep his focus glued to the veteran Ranger's back but shades of yellow and black flicked in and out of his vision. He'd jerk his head left, right, upwards, at an angle; every possible way to try and catch reality within the blizzard of lights, threats, and danger. The others, if they looked, would see these seemingly chaotic movements. Clattering armor and the discordant impacts of scores charging squads grew louder. They were coming. From behind? From ahead? Had they been discovered? A voice over his commlink tried to break through the storm but was drowned.

Cuh-clack, shhhh

That stupid engine kept interrupting Lieutenant Velt's attempts to maintain situational awareness. Or his twisted, fun-house mirror world of it. This hallway seemed to never end. Twisting and bending and growing darker. They were at risk of being discovered or worse, ambushed. Why couldn't anyone see that? Sith troopers were practically right on top of them!

Cu-clack, shhhh.

Then he felt it. The ridge at the back of his neck arched like the scruff on an angry kath-hound. An undeniable sense of danger that all organic beings had in self-preservation. Running blood dripped down his spine. Corran spun around and witnessed a foe dressed in black and red armor. Their voice garbled and cruel. Bast was nowhere to be seen. They had taken her. The Sith soldier was already too close. Swinging a blast rifle against a drawn vibrosword at this range was too dangerous. Hesitation invited defeated. No! Hesitation was death.

In the blink of an eye, Lieutenant Velt bolted at the sudden enemy who had appeared out of thin air. Using rifle as a barrier, he would attempt to slam it horizontally against the soldier's chest and pin them to the wall. Since the burning of headquarters, he had trained his endurance and strength. 20 additional pounds of muscle through weights, exercises, and resistance. It was all for close-quarters-combat like this. If he successfully pinned the Sith trooper, he'd then use his hand to grapple their wrist to stay their deadly blade. The other arm was fully dedicated to maintaining pressure.

Cu-clack, shhhh.

"Where is she!?" A grunting, aggressed Corran commanded over the secure commlink the trio of Rangers shared, "Where is Bast!?"

@Eccles @Kestrel @Mr. Teatime

 

[Bast Emblai]

In a moment, everything about the leading Lieutenant had stiffened. His head bucked, looking around wildly, like a cornered animal’s. Bast threw a nervous glance at Darmus. This was out of character. Over the past months he had trained harder than before, increasing both mental and physical fortitude. The last time he had been so skitish was when the headquarters had been overrun and he lay, writing, on the debris-filled ground. Lt. Velt was the anchor of the force. He could not slip. They couldn’t let him.

Trudging ahead, the air grew more humid. Bast could feel a bead of sweat under her helmet. Everything felt heavy, as if the city above was bearing down on them. She wanted to do something, to take both men by the shoulders and shake them until they saw what she saw, felt the breath of the underworld down the back of her neck. She reached out a hand to touch his shoulder, ground him, let him now she had his six.

In the dim light, the helmet looked back. She listened to the comm link, wondering if some sort of order or alert had been issued. Up ahead, Darmus took no heed of Corran. So it had not been him. Perhaps the lieutenant was still nervous as the dull clanging neared. Suddenly he spun, rushing her. The blaster rifle hit her breastplate hard, forcing the air from her lungs, making her throat sting. What? Bast’s chromium helmet struck the wall. the familiar form faded for a moment. Unprepared for the sudden attack, she had failed to brace herself. A wheezing breath sounded from under the helmet. Heat and fear pounded through her veins. Had they taken her here to betray her? Where was Darmus? Why? An arm like an iron buttress pinned her to the cold wall...

the cold tile floor... she was paralyzed. One of the pirates had spit. Saliva and blood matter her hair. It was so cold. So bright.

A vice-like grip took hold of her wrist, twisted it painfully. “Corran-“ She was cut off. “I’m here. It’s Bast. It’s me.” Where was Darmus?

He had changed. The Corran she knew was gone. Someone... something else had taken his place, something dark and agressive.

”Corran. I’m here. Hey.” The pattern of his laboured breathing did not change. He was lost. She wouldn’t fight. Not yet.

@Eccles
@Mr. Teatime
@TerranSteel

 

[Darmus Onn]

They were on their way. So far so good. Unlike Coruscant there hadn't been an impossible foe right behind the first corner and with every step in the right direction Darmus felt more hopeful, perhaps he slipped in letting himself feel hope.. though perhaps there was finally some light at the end of the long tunnel-

-suddenly a commotion behind him startled him and he turned only to to find Corran pinning down Bast and the former grunting with an uncharacteristic hostility. Did he break? Darmus feared the worst. The rookie had suffered injuries at the hand of the Sith before, had only barely survived one too many traumatic experiences and was coming this close to another one too much for his mind to handle?

Frustrated by the lieutenants kriffing up his carefully planned operation, the unarmored Darmus walked up to Corran and lowered his pistol. "Get your karking shit together, kid-" he whispered a growl over their commlink, "-and start acting like a kriff-karking ranger already." Corran had shown himself capable of proper tactical thinking when they had been assigned to protect that doctor from a hit job. He had been capable of following orders when they went into hostile territory and breached the lair of a top syndicate slicer. Finally, he had shown insight and proper unit tactics fighting against pirates in a situation not that dissimilar to their current operation. That he was losing it now was kriffing unacceptable.

Without thinking too much about it Darmus switched his pistol to the stun setting. If they were to encounter Sith it was probably for the best, considering the brief tips he had once received on fighting Force sensitives, but he also wasn't about to let the rookie kriff up his operation.

Cuh-Clack. Shhh

And could that noise quiet the kriff down? It made it almost impossible to think.


@Mr. Teatime @TerranSteel @Kestrel

 

[The Gatekeeper]

The brief touch against Corran's shoulder from Bast may have been done with a hand but it felt instead to to him like the beginnings of a fight. And in a way it was since as far as Ranger Velt could tell the person doing it was an Eclipse soldier. Bast was struck, pinned, and grapple against the duracrete wall, her comforting words garbled into threatening and baritone helmet speak to Corran's ears.

Darmus' on the other hand were still there, almost distant but clearly distinguishable and at adds with the situation as Corran perceived it. Ranger Onn was visible through the flickers of yellow, contrasting to the crystal clear image of the pinned soldier he saw in Bast's place, a familiar voice of reason. Bast herself was nowhere to be seen, the soldier seeming helpless before Corran's sudden and mighty preempted attack against the ambush.

The cu-clack, shhh sounded again from behind the group of Rangers. In the middle of the disruption they were handling the source of the sound made itself known.

Louder and closer came the sound, the shimmering shape that emerged from down the stairs more visible in the light of the hallway at close range. Cu-clack went long, wicked black claws against the ground as the shimmering drew back, shhh dragged a lengthy, gray-scaled tail across the duracrete. A loud and threatening hissss escaping a reptilian maw that opened to bare rows of pointed fangs dripping foul, viscous saliva, spikes along its spine raising up in display.

This two-meter long beast of some sort came into view and lunged toward Corran Velt from behind barely a moment after, its pale and sightless eyes clearly not the means by which it targeted the Ranger. Its claws would dig and grab while its teeth would find any available area to bite and tear. They could puncture armour, and if it got its hold it would try and drag its prey to the ground to ravage.

@TerranSteel @Kestrel @Eccles

Spoiler: Dice Roll

D20 will save for Corran in the face of non-illusionary danger. Roll before posting please.

 

[Darmus Onn]

Darmus had been looking in the direction of the intersection, was distracted by the sound and the second the sound was revealed to be long black claws, the veteran ranger stepped to the side -as to not accidently shoot his friends- and raised his pistol. Was it a calculated move? Was this the move of a trained and experienced ranger that just knew what to do on instinct because he was trained that well or experienced so many similar situation?

Heck no. Darmus was freaking the kriff out. He didn't coordinate with the others and he didn't think. His blaster pistol was set to stun and the second the barrel was angled for center mass of that creature he pulled the trigger. And again. and again. again. again. He rapid-fired a total of five stun bolts at the beast that was rapidly advancing towards them.



@Mr. Teatime @TerranSteel @Kestrel

 

[Corran Velt]

He had anticipated a struggle. Vicious grappling and trashing violence. A hand laid on his shoulder, barely perceptible through Corran's armor. Dialogue coated in static, deep as an ocean, erupted from the faceless Eclipse soldier. Had they started offering up where they had kidnapped his partner? Was this some plea for surrender? No. No, it had to be some trick. Sith always relied on tricks and lies. Corran wouldn't fall for it this time. The blond ranger pressed his blocked rifle tighter against the pinned shoulder and tensed one of his legs in preparation of a swift attack to the enemy's gut.

But an interruption gave Lieutenant Velt pause. A low, terse voice cursed him. Kid. Darmus? The delusional ranger angled his head to see his mentor and friend facing him, blaster in hand. Through the twinkling gold, the other man seemed to stand out in outline. Like he wasn't supposed to be in this reality. Darmus looked more displeased than alerted to a threat. The two discordant sights clashed in Corran's mind. Other uncertainties blossomed. Why was this Eclipse trooper not struggling for life and death? He turned his helmet to look at the faceless assailant and squinted. Patches of the enemy began to smudge like high-class paintings. Shifting and blurring. Dimensions began to break down. "...Bast?"

As much as his senses had been deceived, they had not been dulled. A carnivorous hissssss set off the ancient biological fight-or-flight chemicals within all humans. An alert glance revealed a horrific reptilian, spines rising in anger. Training and instinct fused to avoid danger. Using the pent-up energy in his leg, Corran would push off the wall, releasing his grasp on the former Eclipse soldier in his sight and taking his rifle with him while making sure to avoid Darmus's firing line. He'd attempt to retreat far enough back to get out of immediate striking distance. With any luck, Corran would be able to raise his rifle and fire off two shots to the monster's maw, if no friendly got in the way.

@Eccles @Kestrel @Mr. Teatime