He chuckled at the thought of the relation. Count Dooku in his early years was renown for his skill with a lightsaber but most notably his turn to the darkside. He never really gave it much a thought but surely if that were the case he wouldve had some slight of benefit.

“Maybe only in fighting style, and possibility of age but more or less no relation.” Doku responded as he crossed his legs in his seat. The hum of the inner workings of the shuttle helped calm his mind before a mission.

Reading the room he noticed a familar face in Waza Sunstrider, only being in Clan Odan-Ur for a spell and Azmodius only in passing, Clan Plaguies was his home for so long until only recently.

“Excellent, the Ethereal Realm? Intriguing, after all this time.” Her voice had a tinge of enthusiasm laced into it.

“Wait, was that Wynn? Tell the ass, and say that I have missed him.” Memories came flooding back, those of a simpler time. There was so much to catch up on. Hopefully, they would have the time.

She wiped the screen of her datapad before clipping it under her backpack. The dampness in the air kept fogging up anything that hadn’t been treated with her alchemical oils. The familiar slushing of mud and silt continued as she made her way to their landing zone.

Waza watched the atmospheric entry passing through the cloud layers, and the green , gray bog of the surface quickly reach up to meet them. Waza heard his name, drawing his attention to the cabin he shared with others.

“Yeah no sun to ride on but looks like plenty of mud to get stuck in.”

Still he wondered if this Kushiban on this mission would be as fierce a warrior as his friend in Odan-Urr. Noticing Doku he nodded in his direction, conveying what ever happened he had his back.

“My first mission for the Envoy Corp any special protocol we need to follow?” The elder Jedi reached out with his senses to get a feel for the surroundings and what the area of the landing zone would bring.

“Hmmm spare the innocent, deal with those that deserve it, bring back results. I think we can pull that off. What are the results we are looking for?”

As the shuttle skirted across Uskil’s swamplands, Meero was on his datapad reading as much as he could about the continent’s wilderness and going over the mission details. His ears then perked up as he heard Wyndell approach him.

“Oh yes, hello. No I don’t believe we’ve properly met, but I have heard about you from the Exarch.” He chuckled as Wyndell then proceeded to address the others and nonchalantly go over the mission’s protocols. The primary objective was pretty simple and standard, but the young kushiban couldn’t help but feel a tad nervous. Not just because the mission itself was alarming, but also this was his first Envoy mission. He wasn’t much of a fighter but he was determined to make himself useful in any way he could. “If I may ask, what does the Collegium know so far?”

Azmodius looked up at Wyndell from his seat toward the rear of the ship and chuckled.

“Azmodius, Az, Azzy. I’m not too picky as long as you aren’t either”, he replied as he reached for his flask and held it up for Wyn and the other to see before taking several gulps.

Wyn’s emerald eyes and amiable smile gave off a familiar warmth. Alaisy inclined her head at him, mostly in thanks for remembering who he was facing. “Deep, dark, tentacled memories Wyndell. Pleasure seeing you here.” Her tail swung smoothly from side to side, until her eyes began scanning over the rest of the squad.

The tail twitched as she saw the short Kushiban, a species she had only heard of before, but never seen in person. Less than half her own height. The slender, white-furred creature gave off a vibe similar to that of the Zygerrian Zig she had left behind more than two years ago. Perhaps it was the glasses or the way they held themselves.

Must be the tech person. Important. Easy to lose sight of.

Her head turned, hand leaning on her hip. A dark energy radiated off the lean figure. There was no doubt in her mind that he would be Sith, like herself. She admired the enchanting paleness that shimmered off of him. Gleaming, much like her own alchemical skin. She wondered how much else they had in common.

Possibly like-minded. Intriguing.

Tir'eivra’s visor turned towards the older two men. One with brown hair, and a voluptuous beard full of history, and the other sported raven hair with a neat tuft of hair on the chin. Her tail coiled itself around her thigh, its tip slipping under one of her many belts. A ‘Dream Team’ indeed, if Marick had already successfully kept such a varied selection together aboard the tightly spaced shuttle.

Protectors? Strength.

“What a fine selection you Tyrises have brought to this desolate swamp. Indeed a delight meeting everyone here.” Her voice was cordial through the mask’s modulation. Alaisy banished any thought of ulterior motives from her mind, having been on similar missions in the past. She unclipped a small flask from her belt. Blood of a rathtar she had slain together with Wyn. Perhaps it held some traces similar to the Ethereal Realm’s after-effects that the Exarch mentioned.

Waza looked around the area, watching the lithe form of the being meeting them on the ground. With the Sith on the shuttle and a powerful dark side aura rolling off of Alaisy Waza would have to watch himself or he could be to close again to the darkness.

Waza moved to the ship which appeared mostly intact, Looking in the view port he can see the open panels and wires hanging free. He moves to the ship to go in to look around.

“I’m going to see if I can figure out what is missing from the bridge of the shuttle. Waza says and heads to the ship. After some digging Waza returned to the open area announcing the ships data recorder had been ripped from the console.

“I suppose. I will double-check the mud.”

If there was ever anything to the blood, it sure didn’t activate here back on Uskil. Disappointing, but entirely expected. Nonchalantly she tossed it into the murky waters. It went down with a satisfying flomp.

Useless

In fact, nothing really stood out. She had been wandering the area for some time before the shuttle had landed. Only in the silt and wet sand had she seen any traces at all. Alaisy pushed the vegetation to the side as she waded through the shallow glop. As her platforms raked up the mud she noticed marks left behind.

She raised a hand and peered at her vibronails for a bit.

Claws

With an exhaled hiss she lowered herself and placed her palm on top of the indentation. Her hand wasn’t small for—whatever anyone considered her to be—but it paled in comparison to the beast that had roamed here. Her head turned from her position back to Wyn behind her, dragging the mask’s tube over her shoulder.

“Hey, come take a look at this.”

After Alaisy scanned the group and greeted them, Meero gave a gentle respectful bow in her direction as he came down the ramp. The young kushiban’s eyes and ears then quickly darted in the direction of the crashed ship when Waza mentioned he was going to investigate its bridge. While he did, Meero also approached the shuttle looking at all the damage on the exterior and gently sliding his hand on part of it. “Oh… look at you.” He said with a slightly pained expression and his fur changed to a light gray. “You’ve certainly taken a beating, haven’t you?”

When Waza came back from the bridge and mentioned the black box was missing, Meero tilted his head slightly thinking that was quite odd. He headed inside the bridge, opened up a few panels and began tinkering with the wiring. “Alright, let’s see if we can get you working again…” After rearranging some things and some sparks flying here and there, the shuttle hummed as it went back online.

“Atta girl!” Meero then closed up the panels and took out his computer probe from his essentials kit. “Now let’s see what we can find out.”

“Well met Alaisy it is great to finally meet you.” Doku responded with a deep bow as a sign of respect, he could feel her eyes scanning the two “seasoned” team members of the group. The dossier provided on the team were accurate to the finest detail.

He noticed both Meero, the Kushiban as well as Waza making there way to the ship to salvage any tech. Doku took it upon himself to survey the area briefly in search of anything out of the ordinary with the initial crash site.

Meero tried to find something, anything, left in the ship’s files. Unfortunately, even with a computer probe, he couldn’t find anything. Especially with the black box missing and the ship being in the state it was. Disappointed, he packed up and went back outside to rejoin the others.

“Well, she won’t fly, but I got her working again.” He said adjusting his glasses. “I tried accessing the system and look for recordings but everything’s scrambled and glitchy. Any luck out here?”

The Uskil swamp had always been a great place to find alchemical ingredients, as long as you were willing to work for it. Their particular compositions were unique in the galaxy, partially due to the experiments conducted on rare species. Some of the remains even left traces of the Force behind despite decomposition.

Alaisy only knew of one place that would get her the tissues she needed for a very potent Nightsister potion, and this was it. This experiment had taken her patience to prepare, and the stakes were higher than ever.

Her heart pounded in her chest as she heard her comms ring in her ears. She answered. The calm voice of Marick, instantly recognizable. Who was she to ignore it? If Tyris willed it she would have been dead, her body lost to the swamp. Why here, why now? He must’ve caught wind of her invitation to Clan Taldrya. If anyone would know, it would be the Gray Fang himself. Then it dawned on her.

Zag, you and your prattling mouth.

Fine. No way back now.

A modulated voice replied with a sultry lilt. “I accept your welcome. Perhaps we can help each other.”

Tir’eivra rested her hands on her hips, peering down until her boots stopped sinking. The Envoy Corps? And they had use for her expertise?

“Where can I find you?” Alaisy looked for particular landmarks, before consulting her datapad.

“This area of the crash site feels….off. I dont have a correct way to explain it but something has drained it of life. Almost like it was meant to be this way from the start.” Doku stated as he made his way over to Alaisy. He had heard her mention of something which sounded like utter significance to getting some answers. Not being here long and finding unknown phenomena put Doku on edge, something was or maybe is still here.

Azmodius walked toward the Sith crouched in the mud. Something about her seemed different. Something… familiar. He introduced himself with a respectful nod, ignoring the wave of painful memories attempting to flood his mind and focused on the task at hand.

“Whatever this is, it’s huge. I’d guess maybe the size of a rancor.”

He studied the tracks a little longer before continuing.

“And it looks like it’s heading that way”, he said as he pointed deeper into the swamp.

Waza listened to the conversations and things clicked in his mind and snapped apart, or maybe that was just his knees.

“If we have a creature that sized if it is wild it may have a pack or herd nearby and the previous team got to close.” Waza looked around. The dead trees, the dead scrubs the mud. With living floara just a few dozen meters away,,,,

“This looks like more of a mount for someone or an attack animal. With the specific data recorder removed the previous team was a target and now we are too.” Waza changed his out look from investigation minded to combat and seeking enemies.

Meero approached the others and got a look at the tracks. They were big, especially when compared to himself which made him nervous. He shook his head to snap out of it and thought for a moment.

“Waza’s right.” He said while staring in the direction the tracks headed off to. “A creature wouldn’t just attack a ship without reason. There’s also the shuttle’s missing black box… The previous team was very likely targeted. We should move.”

Alaisy snaked back up to her full height and acknowledged the bleachy-haired Sith by inclining her head. “A rancor? That checks out. Not the most subtle of creatures.” She wondered if this one would be different, considering the events that happened here.

With Wyndel in the neighborhood, it was always harder to focus. But she gave it an attempt regardless. No matter how much she tried to open herself up to the Force, all she could focus on was the tapping of Wyn’s boots. The only resounding conclusion she could make from the haze around her was that her own feet were also still there. Her tail twisted in such a way that it looked almost like it snapped.

Why is he so present?

She blew the air between her teeth. “Fine, I think our Kushiban friend here makes a good point. Curious that the black box went missing. I am with you on moving further.”

Waza looks at the path ahead.

“These look sturdy and should hold us all, without issue. Thing is they look old but someone had to be here long enough ot make a path and build these bridges, either natives or off worlders. This is beginning to raise more questions than potential answers.”

Waza was not happy about the situation and how complex this was becoming.

Despite the fact they were traversing a gloomy swamp and his usually white fur was slowly turning brown with every step he took in the mud, Meero couldn’t help but be fascinated by the path they were following.

“It’s interesting really.” He said carefully looking at the weathered boardwalks ahead. “Who do you suppose built the-“ He suddenly paused as he noticed the ground ahead looked… off somehow. His head and ears tilted as he tried to figure out what it was. But he couldn’t put his furry finger on it. He just didn’t trust it.

The little lagomorph instinctually just hopped over it. As he landed, the ground made a squelching sound and he could feel the mud going between his toes. “I’m definitely going to need a bath after this…”

Aside from the smell of the swamp Doku stayed focused on the task at hand. The creature with a possiblity of either size or grouping seemed to be what the current focus was. The further the group progressed inward, the realization of the crash landing area felt more like a staging area.

The wooden-slat walk ways connected solid earth creating some sort of predefined path. Upon arriving to a more open area something caught Doku’s eye. While the rest of the clearing around the center seemed to match the natural habitat, the larger center section was a complete different shade….almost like something passed thru.

Picking up his pace a little, Doku managed to reach Azmodius who was leading the group. Within ear shot of himself and the others he tapped his shoulder.

“It may just be me friend but that center clearing looks to have been disturbed. The shade of color doesn’t match the rest of the clearing.”

Waza leaped forward to the next ground area. An ache starting in his legs. SLowly working up to the knees.

Upon feeling the sinking Alaisy activated her jetboots. The unsatisfying drowned-out bubbling ticked her off. Enough to use that frustration to delve into the Force and send it surging through her long legs.

Seeing the Kushiban struggle after his impressive jumping earlier made her feel a hint of sympathy.

Protect the techie.

A claw grabbed him by the scruff, making an attempt not to pierce his fur coat. With the grace of a loth-cat she vaulted out of the pool. The Dark Side made it feel as if Meero was merely a purse she carried. Tir'eivra landed heels first, back on the bridge, making sure there was no chance of slipping.

Somehow the lean creature looked worse for wear as she put him down. And it was not just the mud messing up his white.

As the murky water began to rise, Meero could feel it going up his legs. But this didn’t feel like the pleasant waters from back home. His normally white fur was now wet with fetid water and full of random dirt and leaves. It was making him feel rather woozy.

Because his feet were slightly stuck in the mud, he was struggling to get loose until he felt Alaisy grab him by the scruff and pull him out. Once they were back on the bridge and she let him down, Meero shook off the water from his fur like a wet hound. “Thank you for that. I really appreciate it.”

Now standing on solid ground, Azmodius felt himself weakening.

Poison

He knelt down and began extracting the toxins from his body. Through the Force, he was able to isolate and neutralize the infection in moments.

Waza could feel a change in his body, focusing with the force he attempts to cleanse the intrusion of some sort. Poison, infection, parasite? Waza wondered what was happening. The force eludes him, he concentrates more, still not healing. ‘There is always the med pacs.’ Waza thought. ‘Don’t want to waste it, if it gets worse or an actual injury then I’ll have to use it.’

Waza shakes his head like he is clearing brain fog, looking around to take stock of the situation.

Similar to the others, Meero felt off after being in that putrid water. He definitely wouldn’t be stepping in it again. He took a moment to open his essentials kit and rummage through its contents until he saw a single-use bacta pouch. “Ok good. I didn’t forget it.” He whispered to himself. “I think I can tough this out. But it’s good to know I have it, just in case things get worse.”

Upon landing Doku began to feel the effects of being in the swamp water. He had been in it long enough to feel what felt like poison, nothing as toxic as prolonged exposure but enough to be an annoyance. He reached into his pack and procured a small bacta pouch.

This could come in handy later, better hold onto this one, he thought to himself as he decided to tough the situation out until the actual pouch was needed.

As the clankers rose from beneath the swamp the sound of a lightsber igniting could be heard. The orange blade from the curved hilt Doku carried ignited to life as he rushed forward to the nearest clanker. In a matter of moments Doku came down upon the clanker with a fast overhead slash.

The lightsaber sliced thru the clanker like a hot knife thru butter, the heated smell and slag of the clanker falling down as the other three turned to face the attacker in programmed retaliation.

Whether the bolts were all aimed at her or the others mattered little. Alaisy stepped forward, making sure both Wyn and Meero were out of reach of her saberstaff ‘The Chromium Spine’. She unclipped it from underneath her backpack. With a crack-hum the twin crimson blades burst to life.

One hand waiting above the hilt, ready to catch it. And the other hand gripping the spine in the middle. Her renewed calmth and intense focus away from Wyn’s green eyes allowed her to anticipate the blaster bolts. A loud hiss came out of her mask as she exhaled. Brows pulled together and her electric-blue glowed more intensely.

The first hit the right blade. She sifted her weight in an attempt to redirect it to the same droid. Then her saber spun. Her other hand caught it. The second bolt hit her left blade, and again she tried to fire it back with a light twist of her wrist. The last one came in as she spun her Chromium Spine, hitting harder and more accurately aimed at her. It came in and was deflected, but there was no way she could send it back at the bulbous thing.

Waza crosses the bridge unclipping Gojira from his belt, leaping to the ground giving Doku enough room to continue fighting. As he lands igniting his saber with the roar of a Kyrat dragon echoing over the Snap hiss of the blade. Waza strikes from mid guard bringing his saber from hip to shoulder.

With Doku taking the droids head on, Azmodius charges and leaps over the group or modified B1’s to flank from behind. As he lands, he ignites his saber and contacts his target, searing through some of its external plating. To his surprise, the droid shifts, but remains standing.

These aren’t your average B1 battle droids

Waza’s blade entered the hip joint of the droid slicing up. Metal melted and gave way as the blade sunk into vital components of the droids stability. Moving through the processing unit and torso gears the droid began a death rumble as it tried to speak again. Its vocal processor now separated it could only scream in static.

The droid begins to shift and fall, Waza’s momentum from the jump still carrying him forward and the droids shifted weight cause him to slip. His feet move from the balanced strike to an unstable position. He lands in the mud with a splash.

Because Meero was still woozy from the swamp water, he couldn’t sense the modified droid approach and swing at him with its tube-like appendages. The second it made contact, the young kushiban was hit with an electric shock that left his fur standing like little needles. “W-what the…?” He turned around, getting a look at what attacked him and his eyes widened. “That… looks like an ID9 but… different. What’s wrong with it?”

Trying to react quickly, Meero took out his blaster and began shooting at the bizarre droid. Unfortunately, it managed to dodge every shot left and right. As he was starting to feel slightly frustrated, Meero paused for a moment. His expression completely changing as he had an epiphany.

Despite not following the path of the Jedi or the Sith, Meero still researched and practiced Force techniques he found helpful. He remembered learning about one in particular that fascinated him but never managed to use until now. He put his blaster away, closed his eyes and extended his hand towards the droid. Silencing everything else around him to try and make a connection.

Meero concentrated trying to form a connection with the droid. Strangely, not only did he suddenly feel better from the water’s effects, but he also felt… calm? He opened his eyes wondering if the technique worked or not and was pleasantly surprised when he noticed his vision was not his own. He was now looking through the droid’s “eyes” and was fully controlling it. “It worked!”

The droid’s motions and functions were now at his command.

As the droid closest to Doku fell into a pile of junk the other clanker closest to him turned to face him. Doku rasied his eyes to see that the heavy blaster it carried had already been primed to fire. In moments the blaster let loose a large bolt towards him.

There wasn’t enough time to physically dodge but as if already prepared to do so Dokus natural reflexes kicked as he maneuvered his body just enough to dodge the blast. His lightsaber in a position to unleash another attack.

Alaisy was no defender. Or Rescuer of Kushiban either. She was Sith. She raised her free arm, vibronails pointing at the middle droid. A concentration of hate—pure Dark Side power—funneled through her upper arm, culminating at each tip. The metal became white-hot as electricity burst out in crackles and sparks. The party of three lit up in flickering cerulean light as Alaisy flung a bolt at the bulbous abominations.

The stream crashed into it and connected to the others at the striking point. Her mask hissed as the focus strained her, breathing heavier and feeling the pounding of her heart in her chest. The buzz coming from her alchemical skin was scintillating and pleasant in turn.

Waza covered in mud and stench, frustration edging into his mind after falling.

Waza raised his protective barrier of force power and watched as the blaster shot ricochets a way. His mind battling to let loose and remain centered bounded like two Reeks clashing for a mate.

Waza collapses the barrier into his hand and unleashes a wave of lightening into the droid standing above him.

Waza thrusts his hand towards the droid but the force doesn’t respond, a slight sparkle dances round waza’s fingers but fails to extend. “Well that proves it, you droids are just not my thing so I can’t perform like this. It’s not me it’s you.”

In retaliation to the droid shot the orange blade came up for a counter attack. The strike looked cleaned but Doku missed judged the distance and missed the slash entirely. Bring his saber stance back to a more defensive posture he readied for a counter attack.

Azmodius quickly turned his thin frame sideways, just in time to narrowly avoid the droid’s bolt and took another swing at its head. The droid dodged his saber and readied another bolt as the Arkanian prepared to twist his body sideways again. To his surprise, this bolt was larger in radius and clipped his shoulder, sending him staggering backwards.

Is it… Learning?

Waza spins on his back to a kneeling position bringing his saber up to slice through the torso of the droid. Slightly worried the force had been elusive on this planet Waza reminiscent of the world the brotherhood had invaded against the children of Mortis.

The tall Sith spun her saber, blocking their attack. Both of them seemed to be confused as to what to prick her with as their appendages lacked their mechanical claws.

While his body stood still concentrating, Meero was now moving through the droid as if they were one. Its mechanical tentacles began releasing sparks as it floated towards the nearest enemy droid and swung at it releasing an electric shock upon impact.

“Doesn’t feel so good, does it?”

In an attempt to validate his theory, and put an end to what should have been a vastly inferior opponent, Azmodius took another swing at the modified B1. The droid moved to dodge just as before and just as Az predicted it would. With a quick shift of his stance, Az dropped to cleave the droid’s torso in two. Sparks flew and motors puttered out as the droid collapsed before him.

A lateral cut from her crimson blade seared a tendril clean off. With a deft twist she caught her spined hilt with her other hand.

“No feelers for you, floater.”

Alaisy swung at the last bulbous droid with her free hand, attempting to pierce it with her vibronails. There wasn’t much conviction in her attack, however. A slow exhale was followed by a hiss of her mask as she blinked rapidly.

The final droid stood between Doku and Azmodius as it charged its rifle for a shot. Looking at Azmodius and giving him a confirmation nod Doku engaged the droid from bellow as Azmodius engaged from its upper section.

Before the droid could attempt to register the danger it was in the sound of metal and gears being severed and destroyed happened in an instant as both the Sith and Jedi’s blades made contact hewing the droid in two.

Standing up from his position he could hear the sound of four more droids coming up from behind them. Turning to face them he took a defensive stance and readied for an attack.

“Those B1 learned our tactics, no doubt they were programmed with a higher sense of machine learning. We need to be cautious with these droids as im sure they were developed in the same manner.” Azmodius spoke to the party as he readied himself as well.

“What is that?” Waza wondered out loud. “Their eyes are blinking rhythmically like a count down. Let’s move away from these as fast as we can.”

Waza decided the possible self-destruct needed to be elsewhere since crossing the bridge had become not an option. Mustering the force Waza pushed on the blinking droid shoving it as hard as he could away from everyone towards the far side of the small dry land mass.

Waza turns just after throwing the exploding droid away sensing an attack from behind. Bringing up his saber, he parried an arm swinging towards him severing a shock mandible. Leaving a stumpy arm swinging wildly. Waza reverses his motion into a strike to cleave the droid in two.

Azmodius could feel his injuries crippling him. Fighting through pain would be one thing, but this was making him sloppy and there were 4 more droids to deal with. Reaching out with the Force, he quickly revived the failing nerves in his shoulders keeping him from fighting at his peak. One of the floating droids took the opportunity to fire a bolt at him while his focus was on himself, but was too late as he deflected it with his saber and smiled. “I’m back, bubbula!”

Alaisy turned her head towards Wyn. “Follow my tail.” Dark energy coalesced into her thighs as she let her weight sink into her heel. With a grunt she pushed herself off the ground. She commanded the Force to propel her into a well-calculated arc. With a loud thud she landed close to Meero’s droid, heavy platforms smashing into the soil just before the edge of the bridge.

While Wyn, Alaisy and Meero were clear of enemy droids, the little kushiban noticed the other group was still surrounded. He had the controlled droid quickly float towards the other Seekers and immediately began blasting at the nearest one.

The seeker droid infront of Doku opened fire, letting loose a volley of shots. As a few went wide Doku was able to push forward and deflect the lost few shots. With a flick of the wrist he moved his saber in an upward motion cleaving the seeker droid in two.

In awe of the giant scaly creature that just burst out of the swamp, Alaisy tried to refocus.

Shenron, Wyndel you jester.

Her spine slashed out at the nearby droid, even if her will wasn’t fully behind it.

In mid slash, a Dragon appears and suddenly his target is gone in a flash of teeth and scales. Deactivating his saber as the swing nears the falling dragon Waza turns the momentum into a half spin to face away from the dragon and bridge to assess the open area and search for more droids or targets.

After the Seeker managed to avoid Alaisy’s attack, Meero immediately followed up with more blaster fire before it could retaliate. It spun around in the air while spasming before falling into the murky waters.

The final seeker droid floated above the ground readying its blaster in a desperate attempt to destroy its attackers. It turned to look at the tall Sith with silver hair as Azmodius went in for the final blow. Suddenly the ground shifted and loosing balance the saber he was holding fell into the murky depths. The seeker droid sent out several confused beeps and continued to charge his blaster.

Watching it unfold Doku dashed forward and with a fast overhead swip the light of his orange blade made contact with the seeker droid and much like its compainon was cleaved in two. Standing up and catching his breath and deactived his saber and clipped it back on his belt noticing that no other threat was in the area to be dealt with.

With the droids defeated and feeling a little defeated himself, Azmodius dropped to his knees and cried out. “MY LIGHTSABER!” In his moment of great loss and deep sorrow, he raised his head to the sky and spoke.

“Oh great and powerful Shenron, may peace be upon you. May your scales shine with the brilliance of 1000 galaxies. I beseech thee, take pity on your faithful warrior and return to him the means to fight in your honor. In your name I pray.”

Clapping his hands together twice as he finished, Azmodius reached out with the Force and pulled his saber from the murky depths and clasped it to his waist. His lightsaber was an extension of himself and its loss was equivalent to loosing an appendage in his eyes. The Arkanian turned to face Shenron and gave a deep bow as a gesture of gratituity.

With all the enemy droids disposed of and no one being seriously hurt, Meero let out a sigh of relief while still maintaining control of the Seeker. “Now to deal with you, little guy.” He said as he lowered his hand. The droid then floated down to the mushy ground and all its lights slowly turned off as it deactivated itself. “Nighty night~” Meero whispered while opening his eyes, severing the connection. He then made his way over to the deactivated droid.

“I honestly can’t believe that worked! I’ve never tried it before.” The lagomorph said excitedly and his fur turning a soft yellow. He opened his essentials kit, took out his computer probe and connected it to the droid. “Ok, let’s see what you can tell us.”

Seeing the white-haired Sith praying to Wyn’s pet was somewhat endearing. But then she saw the Kushiban change color. She shook her head.

Strange company.

With a woosh her lightsaber deactivated. Alaisy held out her hand in the air and closed her eyes, taking the chance to immerse herself in the pool that was the Living Force. A light headache that had developed earlier ebbed away and a warmth flowed through the Arcanist. Her tail moved elegantly back and forth until her hand clenched into a fist.

“Better. I wonder where these things came from.” She peered at the soft yellow Meero, who seemed to be prying out the droid’s secrets.

With the computer probe hooked up to the droid and a bit of tinkering, Meero managed to gain access to its programming. “Now let’s see here…” he said with a very focused look. “It looks like these were made by someone called… Dr. Shelby Watenka. It also says they were deployed from an underground lab around here somewhere.”

As he finished reading the droid’s code, Meero raised his gaze and looked around the area. Suddenly, his eyes focused on the ground where the droids detonated since he caught a glimpse of something. “Wait a minute…” He disconnected his probe, put it away in his essentials kit then walked over to what he saw. The kushiban kneeled down and dusted off the dirt and debris to reveal a hidden door. “I think this is it!”

Waza rested for a few minutes with everyone, but something was nagging in the back of his mind. He began scanning the trees and scrub brushes for surveillance gear, cameras, sensor pods. He felt they were being watched and they were not out of danger yet.

The swamp for the most part was a still quiet now that the droids were taken care. Doku knew the brotherhood had security in place for such things but to install machine learning in a set of guard droids felt excessive but for the most part made sense. He witnessed such things during his time in Clan Plagueis with there droid army but never encountered in action before. The young Knight Meero was able to probe the droid he had control over to find a hidden entrance to what could be the facility down below the surface.

“Well that was exciting for the most part, hows everybody else feeling?” Doku said as he took a seat on a makeshift stump near the entrance.

The break was welcome, but Alaisy had already taken a moment before sipping from the Living Force. She decided to look for the same tracks that they had seen before. Dragging the platforms over the mud, she did notice several familiar tracks. None of them fit any pattern or path though. She raised her shoulders and made a long drawn-out hissing sound with her mask.

“Just for your information. The same tracks are present. They still fit that of a possible rancor.” Her modulated voice was just loud enough for their party to hear it.

She noticed no one else was keen to enter, her tail twitching with aggravation. With a clawed hand, she unclipped an Electro Magnetic Pulse Grenade from her waistbelt. “Stand back, just in case you do not want to fry any cybernetics.”

With her free hand, she raised the latch just high enough to fit the round object in. The droid popper tumbled in after she activated it with a press of her thumb. “Anyone want in first?”

Waza turns from scanning the area for surveillance to see Alaisy drop a grenade down the open hatch.

Electronics squeal and explode, everyone watches the resulting explosion.

“I guess I’ll go first.” Waza says and walks over to the hatch and jumps down.

Meero was a bit nervous when Alaisy dropped an EMP grenade down the hidden door, bracing himself in case the whole ordeal went badly. For a moment he could’ve sworn he heard a voice but it was immediately silenced by the sound of the grenade going off.

The nervous kushiban then calmed down when it went off and there was silence. “Phew… Well, alright. Shall we then?” His ears suddenly perked up, his eyes widened and his white fur turned a dark gray, nearly black when he heard the second voice. Recognizing the kind of droid that would make that voice, the little lagomorph felt only fear.

Despite feeling terrified since he just heard an HK droid, Meero tried to shake it off and toughen up. He still had a mission to accomplish and he wasn’t gonna help the group being paralyzed with fear. “Calm down. You’re not alone. You’ve got this.” He said in a shaky tone. He took a deep breath, his fur changed back to white then he went into the hidden passage with the others.

Meero made it to the bottom of the ladder and noticed the HK droid on the ground. “Well that is a welcome sight.” He said then noticed the two other droids just ahead readying their blasters. “That not so much.”

Meero then stood exactly between the droids’ line of sight and the rest of the group. He extended both of his hands and, after a few seconds, manifested the Force as a protective barrier to defend anyone behind him.

Azmodius quickly jumped over the fallen HK at the bottom of the ladder and rushed towards one of the HK units still standing. The droid was shocked as his saber made contact.

She hated ladders. Slightly less terrible than durasteel gratings. Alaisy had to calculated every step carefully lest she get her boots wedged between heel and platform. It was a struggle to get to the bottom. She used the rough profile under her platforms to keep them from slipping.

When the person below her finally got on the ground she could simply slide down instead.

She gave the burned-out HK droid a kick afterwards before focusing her sight on the next.

The frustration of the ladder funneled into her arm. Crackles of electricity blasted out of her metal nails towards her new target.

Tir’eivra produced a hiss of disappointment as the bolt merely bounced off. Either she didn’t will the Force with enough conviction or it was protected by a layer.

Fine

Alaisy reached out for her spined hilt, flourishing it and making room for the rest of the party.

Waza surveys the room and as the team spreads out to engage the remaining two droids. Waza reaches out with the force to the droid unit on his left and grips the whole body in a force vise crushing the droid, incapacitating it and disabling its combat effectiveness

Finally descending down into the room the large cavern area was alit with activity. Azmodious was engaged with an HK droid of unknown origin but the same similar design in early years of development. Over to his right was Waza, Wyn and Meero; who had erected a barrier to protect themselves. Another HK droid was positioned on the opposite and had a direct sight line to Meero. Doku rushed over drawing his saber and placed himself in a defensive stance to ensure they were set in a good position.

“That’s an interesting sword”, the Arkanian spoke, somewhat surprised his saber didn’t even damage the blade. With another slash he cleaved through the HK’s shoulder, its arm falling to the ground. “shame about that arm though.”

“Meero can you do the wavy hand thing on this droid like you did to the one upstairs?”

The poor attempt at imitating quality was pathetic. It just stood there, waiting to be pulled apart, wire by wire. It infuriated her so much that she simply clipped her saberstaff back under her backpack.

Spare parts

Alaisy built up speed as she sprinted away on her giant heels. At her height, several steps were enough to cover the distance. With a heavy thud she made her final stride, pushing off the rocky ground. Her long leg reached high, aimed at the droid’s chassis. The 40 lbs weighing platform crashed into its armored chest like a hammer. She used the superior grip of its profile to make an overhead flip. Her sharp heel gushed through the metal on her way up, screeching and rending through it.

She deftly got back on her feet, the dirt crunching as she landed behind the P.H.I.L pretender. Tir'eivra used the remaining momentum to raise her claws in a fighting stance akin to a Sith Warbird. With her vibronails, she slashed and ‘pecked’ between its joints and wires.

While the group went after the HK droids, Meero focused on maintaining his barrier to provide some protection if they needed it.

When Waza asked if he could perform the same technique from earlier, Meero tried to sense if he could make even the slightest connection with the assassin droid but he couldn’t. He had been lucky the previous time and that was just a Seeker droid. These menaces, however, were a different ball park. “I can’t. It’s still a new thing for me and these guys are made of sturdier stuff.”

Hearing the sound of the second HK droid brought some ease to Doku as he faced off with the last one. Readying his stance he lunged forward with an overheard strike directed at the last droid. The HK droid readied its weapon to retaliate in due as the clash commenced

Waza looked around at the cavern, ‘Strange there were three HK droid protecting an empty room.’ Waza thought. Waza moved toward the large opening peeking around expecting a blaster shot out of the darkness.

“Anyone else think it is unusual these droid were just parked underground? I see some hallways over here. A couple appear to just fade away or are dead ends, but a couple seem to have doors a few meters down the way. Who wants to pick a direction?”

As the group moved deeper into the cavern, Meero stayed on alert. His yellow eyes looking around and his ears positioning in different directions trying to pick up the slightest sounds. Since he wasn’t picking up anything, he connected with the Force to try and sense if there was anything close by.

Suddenly, he felt something. A mixture of presences. He couldn’t tell exactly where, but he knew they were somewhere ahead. “Uh guys, I’m sensing something up ahead. It’s an… odd mix of presences. Let’s proceed with caution, shall we?”

Looking to the north Alaisy released her millipede droid Creepy from behind her backpack. It unfurled from a flat ball shape, crawling down her back with its little legs.

Her tail twitched and a shiver ran over her spine as the sharp metal legs tapped over her alchemical skin. With a click on her helmet she sent it out north, setting its mode to a cautious approach.

Beeps in her ear reduced in frequency as Creepy crept further away. It had nestled somewhere to the northeast. Clearly there was something there.

“Take care up there, my droid found something.”

Waza looks at his companions, “Ok we have multiple warnings we could have trouble, what is our plan? Are we clearing this facility breaching the doors and taking everyone out or we walk in like we are supposed to be here and see what we can find out before the shooting starts?”

“Ok if you hear my lightsaber or lightening come in blazing, otherwise let’s just look like we belong.” Waza said approaching the first door to the north. Waza pauses to see if the door opens or if a keypad is near the door.

Waza pulls his Data pad from his belt pouch and began by heading down the center of the room looking at any console or displays he can

As the group moved into the room, it appeared to be empty. However, upon closer inspection, Meero noticed something unusual. A sarcophagus-like stone that appeared to be a mold for something humanoid, and a large tank with tubes and pipes.

“Oh, now that’s fascinating.” He said taking out his datapad, taking pictures and writing notes. “I’d definitely wager whatever large thing was outside came from here.”

Meero’s gaze shifted to a panel on the wall, then he quickly went towards it. “Hello, what do we have here?” He said as he began tinkering with the circuitry. “Hmm… perhaps I could…”

After a few seconds of the little lagomorph attempting to break through the system, unfortunately, he wasn’t able to find much. “Blast… this Dr. Watenaka sure did a good job keeping everything locked. I can’t even access her search history.”

“Indeed, tried to slice it as well but it appears now that the terminal is locked out from further attempt. Whatever the good doc was doing down here they sure had some excellent security.” Doku said as he slipped his hands behind his cloak.

While Doku and Meeru tried their hand at slicing the terminal, Azmodius began wandering around the room. More brawn than brains, he felt his team was more equipped to handling the discovery of esoteric secrets. In the meantime, he’d relax in preparation for whatever will be thrown at them next.

As he made his way through the room he stopped at the large tank.

tap tap

“Here fishy fishy”, he mused.

Clawed hands ran over the instruments, measuring and sensing. Her mind sank deeper into thought as the clues began to form patterns.

Alaisy had done experiments like these on herself and others before. Once her body had settled down after melding with her symbiote there was finally room to refine her features in a way that she preferred.

She could afford to be selective, picking out species by species and comparing their anatomical perks. One of those childhood dreams that had to become a reality. After wondering for so long why a Human had to have a defunct tailbone, without the grace and balance of the real thing.

This was no different than when she had found just the right Ryn for her tail. She sliced and spliced until it worked for her. In the end, it far outweighed the number of Ryn she had to string along. A complete induction of alopecia was all that was required and the alchemical skin took over and did the rest. The result had been there, shiny and functional, just not fully prehensile.

The vats and metal moldings here were for a fusing of something more monstrous. A shame that they did not have the same values as herself. No doubt they would find out soon.

“Gene-splicing, a careful selection of preferable attributes.” Her tail swung wide as nails scraped over the humanoid shape of the molding.

The tall woman peered at the pale-haired Sith, wondering why he was prodding the tank. Her eyebrows pulled together and then relaxed again.

At least he did not break it.

“Interesting is it not? Imagine what could have been created here. The incident made so many things possible!” Despite the modulation of her mask, she sounded enthusiastic.

“Possible yes, but to what purpose remains to be seen.” Said Meero while also observing the tank. “As to what was created here, I feel like we might find out soon.”

“I’m going to move to the right and circle down the wall. Split their attention so they can’t rush in mass into the bunch of us.”

Keeping his saber unlit but in his hand Waza moved as stealthy as he could. Keeping an eye on the behemoth he was headed towards. Observing its moments searching for a weakness to exploit.

Seeing the massive creatures approaching them, Meero’s ears drooped down as he immediately felt intimidated. They were large enough to tower over everyone in the group, especially a little 3’8” kushiban.

“Well I just had to be proven right.” He said shaking off the nervous feeling readying himself to act with the others.

Wanting to help out with their attempts at subterfuge, Alaisy waved a clawed hand around. She willed the Force to obscure a large area, so the rest of them could pass through unnoticed. Or at the very least keep her out of the encounter long enough to not ruin the surprise.

Her eyes widened when her focus faltered as Waza slipped out before she could finish.

Not nearly large enough

The disappointment was real, but at least she did not move out yet. Perhaps they could go one by one?

Doku knew that the Sith had experimented on creatures before. His travels in the outer rim yielded much information about said experiments with Sith Alchemy and the like but he hadnt really encountered anything this close. No amount of experimenting thou would prevent him from pressing on the emotional spectrum of one of the rathcores. Reaching out with the force Doku pressed the rathcores mind with images that played on the creatures innate fear.

Moments passed as he watched the creature but to know avail the creature made no reaction to the suggestion force power. “Well if thats not gonna work then we just go with plan B.” Doku said as he focused his attention to the ceiling. Raising both of his hands he focused the force into a push of power and with a swift motion of his hands pulling down he brought some of the stalactites from the ceiling crashing down on the unsuspecting creatures.

Azmodius looked over towards the creatures and was instantly struck with a familiar rage. Memories of caged creatures all crying out in fear and pain swept over him. His eyes focused on one of the creatures with catlike mannerisms as he reached out to touch its mind.

I’m not here to hurt you

He could feel it resisting. He knew all too well how difficult it was to trust someone when you’ve been kept caged between sessions of poking and prodding. He tried harder.

I know your pain. I’ve been there myself.

Sharing his own tortured memories seemed to pacify the creature. It relaxed its body and moved towards him as he reached out to stroke the creature’s cheek.

“It’s alright, buddy. I won’t let them hurt you anymore. Whoever did this is going to pay.”

Waza keyed his com link to talk to the group.

“Ok I see we have some things setting up an assault on these creatures, someone want to give the go signal or is it me leading the charge? I have a line on one of the big ones maybe split their attention and not over whelm the group. What are we planning? Do we just want to try and sneak around them without a fight?”

“Believe were past the point of sneaking, I agree its time to take action. Its probably best that we split the focus now and work around the larger ones. Feel like they could bring the house down with the wrong set of movements.” he replied as he readed himself to engage one of the rathcores.

The two strange taily-spider-things were huddled together in the darkness that she had created.

What killed the Cratakiti, the ice age!

Water and ice, meet the chill of night. Alaisy lowered her clawed hand and unclipped a Cryoban grenade from her waistbelt. With a careful flick of her wrist, she tossed the metal object into the fading obfuscation.

A whine of crackling icy shards wheezed out in a blast. The grenade sucked in the moisture around the two creatures. Spikes jutted from the point of impact, away from the party. The resulting crystals were a sight to behold.

Waza had expected the larger beast to turn and face off with him. When the smaller creature circled around and charged him Waza brought his saber up in time to parry a double strike from its front arms. Swinging his saber he easily batted away the claws bringing his saber in line with a counter attack. Thinking to finish this quickly Waza struck at the creature’s neck thinking to decapitate it and move on. Surprisingly his saber just scored the flesh leaving a burnt mark and a screech echoing through the chamber. Waza Reached out with the force unleashing lightening into the creatures face moving further down the wall to make for the open area of the floor for the maneuverability he would need for this fight.

The Shiny Sith placed one boot in front of the other. Her tail rose up and both of her arms stretched out. Palms and thumbs pressed together and sharp claws stuck out.

Alaisy was calm and calculated, summoning a torrent of electricity as if she received her hot brown morning potion for the first time in the day. Any irritations and imperfections of today were channeled into the Force.

The funneled Dark Side energy accurately arced onto the closest Cratakiti, chaining onto the other as it crackled and connected with the ice. The bright blue light amplified like a focusing crystal on the frozen water, hissing as it superheated.

With his eyes still glued on the creatures ahead, Meero momentarily put away his blaster and vibrodagger, and darted off on all fours.

To the rest of the group he would’ve seemed like a white blur as he quickly galloped across the chamber. He slid past Wyn’s barrier but, upon approaching the Rathcors, he lost his footing and tripped while trying to avoid the hulking beasts. Ignoring the slight pain on his now bloody knee, he managed to get back up and continue scurrying away from the commotion and reach the other side of the chamber.

As Waza moved away from the wall circling the creature he had squared off against, he came to a realization. Seeing more beasts that are similar near his position, he followed logic there had to be more we could not see. Waza keyed his comm link.

“I think from this side of the room we need to make a tactical relocation of ourselves, we are very outnumbered and these creatures are resistant to lightsabers. We are supposed to observed and report. I think we need to report someone is building an army. At least one of us needs to make it out alive to get word back.”

Alaisy took some pointers from the Wynning team and opened her Envoy kit. She took out a thermal detonator and found a good point of view to aim it right at its mouth? The dark side of the Force swirled around her fingertips.

She lobbed it at the giant gaping and permanently astonished hole. Her arm stayed stretched out, following up the toss with a chain of lightning. The cerulean electricity propelled the activated metal globe right where she wanted it to go.

The tall Sith hoped it would tenderize its insides nicely, before delivering the payload.

“Fire in the hole!”

Realizing they were quickly being outnumbered and would probably be outgunned soon, Meero also used his comm link.

“Guys, Waza is right. We’ve got more company incoming and we did technically accomplish what we came for. We should probably vacate the premises.”

Noticing he wasn’t alone near the exit, the kushiban once again took out his blaster and vibrodagger just in case he appeared to be a snack.

Although he hated the idea of leaving any more “test subjects” to their fate, Azmodius made a promise to his newfound friend, and he couldn’t keep it if he was about to be swarmed. He let out a sharp whistle, grabbing his vornscreech friend’s attention.

“Hey, let’s go!”

The creature perked its head up but hesitated to follow.

I know, but we’ll be swarmed if we stay here. I promise well come back to finish the job

The vornscreech accepted the Arkanian’s words and followed to meet up with the rest of the group.

After his attempts to cause some type of damage with the roof he knew there was really only one way to deal any type of long lasting damage. Retrieving his saber from his belt he finally engaged the rathcor closest to him. The orange saber lit there side of the cavern and with a swing made contact with the rathcor’s leg.

With a combined attact on the same rathcor the giant creature came tumbling down, the goal he was looking to achieve.

Before their retreat, Alaisy had gathered at least a few scraps of crispy Cratakiti and some fleshy Rathcore hide. She wasn’t sure if it would be useful, but at least she didn’t come back empty-handed. These could just as well have been the failed experiments. In her two years of absence from the Brotherhood she had forgotten how useful a few extra pairs of hands were.

A few haphazardly made traps with leftover explosives made their retreat a little easier. She could restock now anyway. Creepy skittled along behind the party, biting any ankles if they were approached. It arrived mostly unharmed, aside from a few bent legs.

The tall, black-clad woman inclined her head at each of the Envoys in a sign of respect. No one had perished and all of them had proven their worth in some way or form. As much as Marick seemed to ignore Wyn, Alaisy in turn did not react to The Gray Fang, instead simply glowering at him with her arms crossed. She tapped the polyhedral droid when it floated by, wagging her long-nailed finger at it, before it could get the chance to scan her. Her tail rose up defiantly and she hissed at the floating droid as it peered back at her nonchalantly.

Tir'eivra had only just begun to realize her luck when the Envoys arrived. Expecting to handle all of what they had found alone and getting out unharmed would’ve been the peak of arrogance. It was difficult to admit that the assistance was welcome and that their party—despite their great variation and unlikelihood to mesh—had been surprisingly effective. The Shiny Sith had already contemplated returning to the Brotherhood in some form, this venture had made it more likely.

Here we go again

She let her clawed hand rest on Wyndell’s shoulder as she made her decision. “Hey Wyn, at least Shenron said hi, that officially qualifies this as an adventure.”

While on the shuttle, Meero let out a sigh of relief as he patched up his bloody knee. It could’ve gone better but it also could’ve gone worse and he was glad it didn’t. Everyone made it back alright and without any serious injuries.

As Meero left the shuttle with the others, he saw the Exarch and gave him a respectful bow. “Yessir.” He said then cleared his throat while standing straight like a little soldier. “Upon our arrival on Uskil, we searched the crash site and managed to get the ship working again. Unfortunately, we found out the ship’s black box was missing and discovered huge tracks that went deeper into the swamps. We followed them and made an… unsettling discovery.”

Azmodius watched as the Lagomorph began to relay the successes of the envoy to the exarch and stopped to give a deep bow in passing, nudging his newfound friend to do the same. The vornscreech looked to the Arkanian and mimicked the gesture as best a quadruped could before moving on away from the group.

You need a name. Something that speaks to you, Azmodius thought to himself as he stroked the vornscreech’s face.

There’s love in those eyes, now far away from the pain and humiliation… What is love?… Vlad is love?… Vladislav!

“I’m going to call you Vladislav, Vlad for short! Works for you?”

Vlad let out a sort of crackling sound of approval, likely a side effect of his genetic alteration, and pushed his face further into Azmodius’ hand.

“Well, that settles that!” Az exclaimed, now happy to have a name to the face, as he took his place a small distance behind Meero. Within an instant, Vlad’s eyes became fixed on the lagomorph as he let out a high pitched, yet quiet crackling sound and took on a pouncing stance.

“Woah, easy there. Meero is a friend and ally. We don’t hunt our own. Besides, I’d bet he’s a LOT faster than you,” The Arkanian jested, easing his newfound friend.

I guess you can’t genetically modify a hunter’s instinct. Lucky for us.

Waza had spent the flight back to the Envoy compound preparing a written report of the encounters and his thoughts on what was found. As the group approached the Exacrh Waza performed a bow with respect for the office. Once others had given their verbal reports Waza handed over the data pad with detailed analysis obtainable from his perspective.

“Exarch it is my opinion someone is creating an army of these altered beasts, if contact with this doctor cannot be established to determine her intentions a strike team should be sent to eradicate with extreme prejudice. You’ll note in the report these creatures hides are lightsaber resistant.”

Waza bowed his head and moved away so others could report and waited for official dismissal of the group.

Meero waved gently at the Exarch as he and his brother left to further discuss the reports. The Kushiban looked at his injured knee for a moment and chuckled as he also left. “Man… Lola’s gonna kill me.”