Session export: [JST Research] Lost Contact

Kamjin blinked away the dust as the shuttle lifted off, leaving them to the jungle of Morak. Despite the prospect of engaging with hostiles the Emperor had neglected to bring his helmet. An outcome of having had no time to prepare, beyond grabbing some choice items from the shuttle. When the Justicar finds you in a hallway, shoves a datapad in your hand and ‘hmphs’ in the direction of the hangar one rarely stands around to question what is going on.

Not that questioning the Justicar would have yielded more than a raised eye brow and the tapping on the datapad to emphasize that he’d already given you all you were going to get. Kamjin was pleased to see his Proconsul, Thran, was with them. At least there was one wildcard in array that he knew. The others a female Mandalorian he had only had passing encounters with in the past, a Mirialan that looked just as likely to pick his pocket as complete this task, and a military man who appeared to be a medic judging by the equipment he carried.

“Well Thran, shall we start this off by checking out that nearby settlement? Maybe there’s a branch of one of the companies we contracted in the Caperion system doing refinery work out here?” Kamjin said, gesturing towards the outskirts of the settlement away in the distance.

“Don’t be foolish, Kamjin. Rhydonium is too dangerous to transport over such a large distance. And besides, if this planet were worth any significant investment, ACE would have already capitalized on it already.” Thran said, as he tapped the settings button on his helmet.

The truth of the matter was that Zxyl had sent him on this mission for two reasons: The first was to ascertain the viability of rhydonium extraction. If the Justicar had already been making use of the planet for whatever twisted experiments, surely the Regent could find purpose for this world. The second and arguably more important reason was just to get Thran out of his horns for a while. The Sith had a penchant for troublemaking. Boredom exacerbated that troublemaking. “Idle Thrans are the Devil’s plaything”, Zxyl had taken to saying.

Behind the red tinted visor of his helmet, Thran scanned the area looking over the terrain and his accomplices. He keyed in each of them into his HUD. Kamjin, to his right, immediately lit up in red – an enemy. Socorra, an Arconan, Praetor to Evant- The Thief. Red - Marked Enemy. Rhylance. He knew the name and clan association, Arcona - marked red. The Mirialan he didn’t know. Also, marked in red. Better safe than sorry.

The Sith examined the settlement ahead. It was a simple village, agrarian culture. A portion of the village appeared abandoned. Folks pointed and retreated into their shabby homes. Tension was in the air; the sweet smell of fear. Thran drank it in.

“Let’s move in.” he said, pulling his lightsaber from his hip.

“I don’t think we need that just yet,” Kamjin said, gesturing towards the lightsaber. “A few credits and a promise to leave will get us more information than a more direct approach.”

“…but, if that doesn’t work. There are funnier ways,” Kamjin finished with a smirk.

Socorra stepped out of the shuttle and moved to the side, her mind flashing towards the settlement and surrounding areas. Nothing out of the ordinary of course. She turned her attention back to the others. The woman knew them all already just by dossier alone but had met every one of them at some point in the last year. She was unsure of Rhylance’s current combat capabilities but she was not here to bodyguard anyone; if anything she was protective of Vez.

No need to disappear yet, with a silent nod she prepared to leave with them.

Kamjin took a keen eye to the villagers. While it had been decades since he had to infiltrate a population there was one constant between spy work and politics…there’s always a layer of over worked, under appreciated, middle managers just trying to keep the mag train on the tracks.

Kamjin had just spotted such a pair. Which a casual smack on Thran’s arm to clue him in he led the way over to these administrators.

“Hi,” he said, a practiced but natural smile on his face. “Could you help my companions and I for a moment? We are trying to get the lay of the land and what may be happening here.”

“It’s clear there’s something causing you trouble. If you tell us I’m sure we’d be able to take it away,” Kamjin said.

“What’s all gone?” Kamjin asked, looking towards the direction she was pointing.

…”who’s all gone?” Kamjin corrected himself.

Kamjin straightened up and looked around. “Perhaps there’s someone who speaks basic around here?” Turning back to the woman. “We will leave once we’ve addressed the problem here.”

Socorra taps into her wristcomp searching for the correct translator.

Kamjin looks at her, his eyebrows raised in hopeful anticipation.

“Cannot directly translate, but I believe they were supposed to trade, but they disappeared.”

Kamjin nodded in appreciation as he slowly clued in to the woman’s weird speech. “Where were those people last seen?” Kamjin asked, pointing towards to the abandoned structures.

As Kamjin spoke with the woman, Rhylance held back. He waited and watched, seeing the conversation with the lady going nowhere. The Chiss scanned the area, and noticed some children watching, but trying to hide. His blue mouth curved into the slightest of grins.

Slowly, he turned and took a few steps in this kids direction. He pulled out a coin credit chit and held it between two fingers. He flipped the chit between his knuckles and began attempting to entertain the children with simple sleight of hand.

While his ability was able to make the children smile, they scattered when a broken down speeders’ engine backfired. Rhylance’s red eyes turned on the driver.

“I’ll be seeing you later.” He promised within his mind. New specimens were always in need.

Kamjin turned to see the children scattering from Rhylance. A noble attempt but these type of people were probably just as likely to attack them for going near their children as to appreciate the attempt at bringing some entertainment to their otherwise downtrodden lives.

Kamjin redoubled his effort with the woman. “Clearly we’re making you uncomfortable. If you can just tell us where the people who were in those buildings were last seen we’ll get out of your village.”

“Is there nothing you can tell us about what caused this?” Kamjin asked, resigned that he was just gonna have to travel into the unknown.

Kamjin scowled at the woman. Whether she was ignorant or disrespectful he didn’t know and now he didn’t care.

“Thank you for your assistance,” Kamjin bit out the words and returned to his companions. Placing a hand on Thran’s shoulders he whispered. “I am getting our vehicles. You may indulge yourself in the interim.”

Thran pressed two fingers against his temple, annoyed by Kamjin’s very presence. What the fuck is wrong with that man? he thought to himself.

He looked towards the trade district, then back at the others. A quick assessment shouldn’t take long, but Kamjin’s impatience and impertinence was already showing and the time for thorough investigation of this area had lapsed. The likelihood that the peasants had any manner of valuable information was low. They appeared to lack any real measure of technical expertise. They were like cleaner shrimp, picking away the remains of the meals of bigger fish. Harmless, but useful in their own right.

He watched as Kamjin marched back towards the transport. The thought of abandoning the Consul to the wilds did pass over Thran’s mind for a moment, but curiosity of the nature of the Justicar’s doings tempered the notion of continuing any thought of active plotting.

His hands drifted over the calibration buttons on his helmet, prompting the HUD to display a pip on the coordinates of the target facility. It was some distance off, but not unreachable. Thran sighed and followed off behind Kamjin. He’d be damned if he’d let the Alderaanian touch his AT-ST.

Every time the desert woman saw Kamjin it reminded her of the absolutely aromatic plate of Ewok she had eaten on Seraph, back when she was a pregnant, waddling space whale and liable to eat anything. As they returned to the transport she realized she was kind of hungry for it now, which was the oddest karkin’ thing to think about on a mission.

While Thran went to his thrill ride Socks eventually followed Kam to the bike and gestured to the towering AT-ST. She seemed to be debating which to climb onto.

“Think you can outrun lasers on that? Asking for friend.”

“It’s not about out running. It’s about dodging. I don’t think we have much to fear from Thran. I anticipate he’d take a more up close and personal approach to eventually killing me,” Kamjin said, while he scratched his foot with the toe of his boot. A lost memory lingering just beyond recollection.

“Besides, with the paint job Thran has on this thing I’m fairly certain he’ll need to concern himself with drawing attention himself versus trying to frag us,” Kamjin continued, reaching out a finger to check if it was temporary paint or permanent covering the AT-ST.

Thran rushed up and slapped Kamjin’s hand away. “Don’t touch the trim.”

“Perhaps. I do recall him casually setting you on fire.”

Kamjin missed the comment as he shook the sting out of his hand. “Hey, I wasn’t going to hurt her. I just wanted to…see if you permanently painted it this way,” Kamjin said. There was the slightly hint of moisture in his eyes as he looked at his helmeted Proconsul who so greedily protected his toys.

Socorra snickered a little under her helmet and raised her hands innocently. I’m not touching your osik.

“I value my possessions as my children, Arconan. Would you trust me to place my hand upon yours? Or you, Kamjin? Would you place the same trust in me?” Thran said, voice dripping with venom.

He tipped up his chin, examining them both.

“Didn’t think so…” He said before they could reply.

He turned and leapt, propelled by the unnatural strength, to the top of the AT-ST.

“I believe we both know what happened the last time I entrusted one of my children into your care,” Kamjin said, his eyes flashing momentarily yellow/red before he exerted control over himself. “Shall we set out for this installation then?” Kamjin asked, throwing his cloak across the seat of his speeder as he mounted it.

Thran snarled to himself. He opened the hatch of the walker and climbed in, powering up the war machine with a complex sequence of toggles and buttons.

Against the crushing weight of desire not to, he had secretly ensured Komilia’s safe return on the recent mission to Crannix. Kamjin would rather pass blame than acknowledge his daughter’s gross incompetence. We’re he a younger man discretion would not have crossed his mind. Today, tempered by experience, he’d bear the comment and wait. The Dark Side would deliver Thran his satisfaction of the sweetness of Kamjin’s just desserts in due time.

Kamjin knew his daughter’s failings were entirely her own. However, it felt better to blame someone else than acknowledge the lack of training he had invested in her development and, frankly, the outright spoiling he had done which resulted in the abysmal showing in her first actual assignment.

“So, do you want me to just pace myself or can that thing keep up with me” Kamjin shouted up towards the disappearing figure of his Proconsul while he switched over the engine of his bike to power up from idle.

Thran didn’t bother replying. Kamjin seemed absolutely intent on being a nuisance. If he wanted to continue that pattern of childish behavior, he could do so on his own if he so pleased. Thran wouldn’t bite on his goading and prodding, he focused on the mission at hand. Kamjin could mock the custom paint Thran had on his walker all he wanted. The fact was that a towering metallic chicken that spat fire would terrify any local fauna or simple-minded shrimp-farming residents that may object to their presence. This added psychological tactic had proved more than effective in the past and with so much unknown about their destination the added firepower could be lifesaving.

With a last toggle flip, the AT-ST came to life. It’s slightly hunched posture straightened as it rose to it’s full nine-meter height. The cabin tilted slightly. The legs adjusted position, pointing the walker in the direction of the Justicar’s secret facility. Thunderous thuds sounded with each footfall.

“Arconae,” Socorra’s helmeted voice deadpanned at Thran’s use of clan instead of name or title. As if to remind that she was in fact an old guard Shadesworn, the woman activated the camouflage on her armor and suddenly, completely disappeared from visuals. She secured her blades, cocked a hip, and flipped him dual thermosensored birds.

While the duo’s banter was entertaining and informative, Socorra kept her comments to herself. She also paid no mind to the cloak spread over the bike seat. Clearly if Kam cared he would have at least moved it.

Her form slightly shimmered as she threw her armor-ladened weight over the bike seat and settled in as best a passenger could without completely violating the driver’s personal space.

With his own children at home at least Kam was less likely to try anything stupid.

“Dodge it is, then.”

Kamjin felt the bike dip slightly as the cloaked Arconae settled onto the bike. Not knowing how she was holding on and not feeling any arms around his waist he opted not to show off the newly modified thrusters and instead set the bike to cruise at the same pace of the AT-ST.

“If we’re fortunate we won’t have to dodge Thran nor the jungle and this is a calm expedition into the jungle,” Kamjin said over his shoulder.

The gyros whirred as the AT-ST came to a rest. The hatch swung open and Thran poked his head out. He looked down at the two riders of the speeder bike then to the two other adventurers. He sighed, conceding to the notion of playing nice with the others.

“Hey you! Avocado and Spotchka!”. It was instantly apparent he didn’t know both their names, so rather than guess he identified them by skin tone. “ Not gonna make you two hoof it…‘sides I’d be liable to squash you. Frankly, the paperwork is not worth the fun. So, looks like you’re riding with me. Come on up. ” He hollered.

Rhylance looked over to his…“avocado” squad member. The reference of his skin tones similarity to spotchka, while annoying, didn’t bother the Chiss. He wouldn’t remember the one named Thran after this day either.

As instructed he made his way aboard the AT-ST.

Vez rolled her eyes and stubbed out her cigarette on the wall next to her. “Climbing into this thing was not in my contract,” she muttered, but it was certainly preferable to jogging.

Rather than whisper, the incoming danger screamed in her head. “Dodge!” Socorra yelled at Kam with no nonsense, raising one vambrace to activate its shield and swing it in the direction of the blaster fire. Expecting sudden acceleration she held on with everything else with a death grip.

“Shooter, 90 degrees right angle to my position,” Kamjin called out, his piloting instincts kicking in. He felt Socorra’s grip on his ribs tighten through his armor as he kicked in the accelerator and swung the bike hard up onto it’s side, killing it’s forward momentum before rocketing them off in the direction of the shooters.

Kamjin leaned forward, his eyes squinting against the humid air hitting his face. His hands manipulated the controls with the finesse of a surgeon, weaving the bike through the jungle foliage. One of the attackers raised their head and Kamjin reacted on instinct.

Red blasts of light split through the trees before finding its target. The man’s head sizzled as a hole was burned through it. Kamjin and Socorra didn’t have time to linger on who he was as they rocketed past the shooter’s position.

“Fly, my pretties! Intercept!” Vez shouted as she tossed the satchel of micro-droids out the AT-ST’s viewport. They, at a mumble, “It’s a good thing you’re too dumb for me to feel guilty about this.”

“Wow, quick thinking. Good job.” Thran chirped at Vez, before he turned back to flick a switch.

The holographic targeting display blinked and focused in on the point from where the missile had originated. His finger squeezed a secondary trigger. The cabin of the AT-ST filled with a dull thud as the side mounted concussion grenade launcher spat out a payload in the direction of the missile launch. There was a delay, then a sizable explosion up atop the hill.

Rather than remain in the valley, subject to more downward fire, Thran directed the AT-ST up the hill. He carefully piloted the craft. The walker would knock over whatever small trees got in the way and avoid the larger ones on its ascent.

Red eyes followed the retreating form of the Rocketeer. Rhylance walked to the top hatch of then AT-ST with a deliberate step, opening the lid and calmly climbing the ladder. Once his top half was exposed he pulled out his blaster and his mind began calculating the best angles to fire from.

The Chiss’s blue hand caressed his blasters trigger. He waited for right moment, and once his sights lined up, he fired. The red bolt flew true and hit the man between his shoulder blades, dropping him and lowering the enemy count.

“Yeah, I have my moments,” Vez replied absent mindedly. “Is there a minibar in this thing?”

“Sadly, no. Zxyl has a strict no Drinking and Stomping policy.” Thran replied.

“Nice shot,” Socorra said over Kam’s shoulder. She didn’t relax her grip much though, that was an ambush and too karkin’ close. The woman activated the target acquisition system of her helmet, although didn’t expect to find anything this far out. “We have to head back. I no doubt Thran skill with big toy, but might be more bads than one. Maker forbid they have big toy too.”

“Hold on,” Kamjin said, as he goosed the throttle flipping the bike on it’s side again and pulling it back towards the sniper. The path back was obstructed by the cloud of dirt settling from the grenade attack. It didn’t matter. Kamjin had flown through explosions, debris fields, and nebulas in his lifetime, a little dirt was nothing.

Taking Kamjin’s words to heart Socorra was definitely holding on as Kamjin felt the momentary delay in the weight rebalancing as she shifted moments after he did. Kamjin’s hands on the controls made a minute adjustment for this as he lined up his approach.

Reaching down he grabbed the lightsaber off his right thigh, one of the benefits of the placement of his sabers was that they were easily accessible while in a riders position. With a flick of his wrist the blade extended angled away from the speeder bike.

The blood red blade shimmered in the humid air. The sniper spun around, hearing the sound of the approaching bike at the same time Kamjin and Socorra’s blurred bodies passed him. He stood uncertain on his legs for a moment before he slid sideways, his legs remained upright as he roared out in pain, dropping his rifle and reaching for his charred stumps.

Kamjin lazily circled the bike around before dismounting, kicking the rifle away and holding the blade to the sniper’s throat. “Now, we talk. Why were you shooting at us?”

While Kamjin did his thing Socorra picked up the weapon and opened up her mind to it. While she knew the value of an interrogation, objects couldn’t lie and the Seeker wanted to know what story this one might tell.

“Son, I’ve maimed you. You want to talk about risk? The risk is I’m not on a speeder bike being shot at. I have time now,” Kamjin said, thumbing a dial. The three illuminated lights clicked down to one as the blade became a 5cm cutting torch. “So, can you risk me spending my time with this and you? Now talk to me so I can help you. I have a med pack and if we move quickly we could save those legs,” Kamjin said, the lies hidden through the sweet empathy in his voice.

Thran watched as Kamjin “interrogated” the helpless soul. He yawned and leaned back into his seat. This ought to be interesting. He thought to himself.

“Good work, both of you. Really saved our tails.” He nodded to Vez and Rhylance.

“I don’t believe we’ve been formally introduced. I’m Thran. You might know me by my stage name, but please call me Thran. And yes…everyone always asks, I do all my own stunts.” He twisted around to the two in the back seats of the AT-ST to shake their hands. he continued speaking as he waited.

“I must apologize for my behavior back there. My Compatriot brings out my temper. I’m afraid Kamjin lacks some of the finer points of grace and tact. The man lives in a constant state of delusion and his methodology is… antiquated. Doesn’t seem to understand the average folk. He’s already got my temper up. Just near a month ago, he allowed his daughter to verbally, emotionally, and physically accost an officer of the Imperial Navy. See we employ a program that helps many Caperion-born citizens who have social and developmental disabilities to Garner valuable work experience, by having them shadow understanding officers. The poor accosted officer in question is a student of this program. It’s shameful, really…that Kamjin would allow that to happen with no recourse. Just wanted to warn you all of the quality of character he has. Be on guard. ” Thran droned on.

“Hold up,” Socorra said, looking back up and walking over and waving away Kam’s torch. “He’s far more scared of something else.”

“That’s evident. What do you recommend?” Kamjin asked, extending his blade back to it’s normal length and standing back up.

“He ran for his life from the facility, grabbing a weapon on the way, and probably this scrap for armor too. I think he either shot at us so we no go in.. for reasons, or thought we were what he ran from.”

Rhylance listened to Thran’s words with a neutral expression. The Chiss could see enough to know that there was much…coloring…being thrown into the man’s words. But there was also truth. In the end though, the Sith’s manipulations merely made Rhylance give a slight grin.

“You are certainly a cunning linguist, Thran of Scholae Palatinae. Kamjin, I am sure, is as easily dependable and effective as most of the sentient cogs I have come across in my life.”

Rhylance’s grin widened as he gently pushed up his glasses. Doing so, a gleaming reflection of the interior light from the AT-ST flashed across his lenses.

“I have found, though, that there are few truly trustworthy and dependable minds in these vast galaxies. I wonder, Thran, where you will fall. Insignificant cog of the Brotherhood, or splendid mind with superior capabilities? We shall see.”

Less from a position of mercy and more to silence the screams in his mind, Kamjin slid the point of his saber blade into the man’s heart. Silencing him forever. He twisted his neck, stretching it like a knot had formed as his mind absorbed and processed the images and sounds he had rent from the man’s mind.

He inhaled slowly and exhaled calmness. “So, what do you make of that Socorra?” Kamjin asked, as he reflected upon it herself. He suddenly regretted racing off without a helmet. There may have been some sort of biological or psychological threat in that research facility.

Vez leaned back in her seat, worrying an unlit cigarra to death between her fingers as she repeated Turel’s advice to herself: If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t talk. Actually, no, maybe just don’t talk at all.

At least she’d gotten to blow something up.

This is why I drink, she silently replied and straightened back up. It was difficult to compartmentalize and talk about it, especially for the woman that remembers everything.

“The weapon cannot lie or go insane. Something made him run for his life. And the scraps are mainly here and here,” she gestured to the man’s armor. “Shoulder and head, not chest. You saw the woman, sah? I think it safe to say something inside karkin’ with heads. But what? And would a helmet really stop it?”

Kamjin eyed Socorra nervously. Did she just read my mind, he thought. He steadied himself and steeled his mind from further intrusion. “You’re right, it’s clear that something is attempting to control them and the outcomes are not pretty,” Kamjin said, gesturing at the corpse.

“Regardless, we proceed. Shall we get back on the bike and get to the lab before whatever is there digs in further,” Kamjin asked, as he headed back to the bike regardless of Socorra’s answer.

“Ah. You must be Rhylance. I’ve heard of you. Rumor has it you’d be hell to play in dejarik. Perhaps, doctor, you’ll find not everyone’s preferred tool is a scalpel. We all deal in the fields that suit best suit us. Actions speak louder than I ever could. Trust me or don’t, but keep your eyes on the evidence and surely your scientific mind will come to your own hypotheses about who has ‘superior’ capabilities…” Thran replied, half smirking as he sized up the Chiss.

“Now that we’ve identified Rhylance, you must be Vez…what’s your deal, eh? You just gonna crush that thing or you got one I can bum?” The green-eyed Sith smirked

“I figured you for one of those guys who freaks when someone lights up in their ride,” she said, passing him the pack. “I’m here to break any tech we find.”

Thran took the pack tapped them down and drew out a single smoke. “Guess my publicist is getting that wholesome image out broadband…” The Sith said, cigarette bobbed in his mouth.

He took in a long drag. He blew the smoke out through his nose. “break with a comically hammer or break with a misplaced screw?” He asked, flicking the AT-STs scanner to survey the area.

“We’re about a kick and a half out. Reckon this was the best place for ambush, so we should be in the clear. Wanna hop up here and man the guns so I can keep us schmovin?” Thran patted the copilot seat.

He slipped his audio recording rod into the data device slot and music came over the small in dash speakers. The beat started slowly, but soon wailing guitar-like instruments joined.

Kamjin heard the music start in the AT-ST and sighed. “Are we moving out or are you entertaining?” He yelled up at the garishly painted piece of military equipment.

“Always go with the bigger boom,” the Mirialan replied, lighting the cigarra between her teeth. She took Thran’s cue and settled into the copilot station and examined the controls. “Seems simple enough.”

Socorra looked between Kamjin and the guitar-wailing AT-ST and wondered who actually was the lead of this adventure or who might have to be once it got hot inside. Herald emeritus didn’t count for much these days and praetor to Evant was less leadership and more fix everything in the hundreds of ways it could be interpreted.

“Why not. I still have some maternity leave left,” she replied, walking away from the corpse and hopping back onto the bike. “Are you sure you no want his helmet? He crazy but it might have worked. Maybe.”

Kamjin looked back at the helmet. “Doesn’t look like it helped him,” he said as he turned over the engine and proceeded on the way towards the lab.

“Well, alright then. Looks like the sun is moving along, so we’d better follow. I am certain we don’t want to be caught out here at night.” Thran grabbed the control yoke.

The AT-ST slightly adjusted course, marching back down the hill and towards their destination. At a click and a half off, they were near to the facility. At top speed, the would be there in one minute. Thran decided caution was the better part of valor in this situation. He moved the large walker efficiently, but opted not to rush in. It’d add time to their final commute, but not much.

“Whelp,” Vez said, “when all you have is a hammer…” She grabbed the weapon controls and held down the trigger, sweeping back and forth across the barricade until all that remained was a steaming pile of slag.

His green eyes scanned the barricade. It was apparent from its construction that it was built to keep something inside. He swallowed and deactivated the AT-ST. He ran a full shutdown protocol. The complex startup process would delay would’ve thieves.

“Welp, this is our stop.” He said, flicking the cigarette out the ‘eyehole’ before closing the flap.

He stood up, lifted the top hatch and climbed out. Looking down from the top of the AT-ST, Thran seemed to perfectly know the height of his vehicle. He leapt from it, tumbling into a flip as he fell. He landed perfectly on the soil, his lightsaber ignited with a roaring wail at the exact moment he landed. Thran smiled. That made me look so cool he thought. It had done exactly that. He looked very cool indeed.

Vez begrudgingly admitted it looked cool but resigned herself to climbing back down like a filthy normy. I really shouldn’t brought the jet boots.

Kamjin rolled his eyes. Thran clearly was operating on one of his private agendas and wanted to show off. He keyed off the speeder and let Socorra dismount in a good old fashion one leg over the seat way.

He walked over to join his Proconsul. His nose wrinkled immediately. “Ugh,” he said, taking a step back. “Thran, are you smoking again? I thought Rance said you quit.”

Kamjin turned back to look at the sparking door. His eyes unfocused as he stared beyond the mundane. Like the last holovid Derc Kast stared in this was just what it looked like. A few special effects and a lot of money for them to get through.

“Anyone bring a can opener?” Kamjin asked with a smirk.

Vez sauntered up to the smashed terminal, looking back and forth between the code cylinder in her hand and the broken husk of machinery in front of her. “I’m gonna need a minute. Also a light source if anyone feels like being useful.”

“Interesting you say that. I just happened to grab one on my way off Arx,” Kamjin said, unclipping a glowrod from his belt and positioning the light for Vez.

“And they say chivalry is dead,” Vez muttered. She worked a thumbnail under the access panel on the back of her code pad, popping it free. She plucked out a bit of cabling then set the device down and got to work on the terminal. After about a minute of quiet swearing, she yanked the end of another cable out from the terminal. She shoved the cable into the back of the code pad, face scrunched up in concentration until it finally clicked into place.

“Sorry, I have to say it, union rules,” she said with a grin. “‘I’m in.’”

“What information are you getting?” Kamjin asked, carefully moving the beam away from her eyes as she moved around.

“Ugh, figures that they’d actually segment their network. Just access logs and door controls. Looks like there’s a camera on the other side of the door, too.”

“Pull up the camera feed. Let’s see what we’re looking at in there.

“Looks like somebody had a rough afternoon,” Vez muttered. Then, loud enough for the others to hear, “I’m opening the door now. Heads up, there’s a bit of a mess.”

“Wait, can you disable any of the security protocols?” Kamjin said, shooting a hand out to stop Vez. “Let’s not have any sort of automated defenses think we’re unfriendlies.”

Ah, the Lap'lamiz family arch nemesis…doors Thran laughed to himself.

“I don’t mean to ruin your fun, Vez…but have we considered just using our credentials to get in? At least two of us have plausible reason to be here, we should be able to run out chain codes and just shut their defenses down. Just a thought.” Thran said.

Kamjin stared at Thran and sighed. He knew this would backfire on him somehow. He punched up his chain code on his gauntlet to input into the console.

“My apologies…I spoke too soon.” Thran said as the door slid open.

He lifted his lightsaber, slightly. The blade burned brightly, casting an amber haze of light around him.

“Shall we, then?” He said and gestured for Kamjin to press forward ahead of him.

“We can try your creds on the next one,” Vez replied. She started unplugging her code pad. “Just let me check it over first for badness.”

Kamjin shut down his chain code and ignited his own blood red blade. With a sense of ‘leaders lead from the front’ Kamjin took point as he crossed the threshold into the facility.

“Badness? Is that a technical term?” Thran chuckled

“Your credentials would likely just get us killed anyway,” Socorra lightly chuckled at Kam and turned the armor camo back on, shimmering out of sight.

The Chiss had stayed in the back, his gaze following the others. They were in a research station, and he was a researcher; a scientist. His purpose for this mission was rather clear.

Ad the doors opened they were greeted with the sight of fleshy bodies and numerous dead. Rhylance stepped ahead of the others.

“Keep your wits about you. I need to examine the bodies. Perhaps we can garner some intel for what happened here.”

Pulling out some of his medical grade tools, he went to work.

“Hence checking for badness first,” Vez said. “But it could save a lot of trouble if one of you has access.”

“Badness, nonsense, and naughtiness are the three main things we might encounter. Sorry if the technical jargon is too much.”

“Sounds like a party to me.”

“should we be alert for any shenaniganery as well?” Thran smiled.

“What about this situation implies there wasn’t ‘shenanigans’ happening?” Kamjin said, dripping with sarcasm. “I’m prepared for something to still be in here that’s unfriendly to us.”

“So badness would be dangerous nonsense,” Vez said, ticking the items off on her fingers. “Nonsense is boring badness. Naughtiness is sexy badness. Shenanigans is naughtiness except I’m the one doing it.”

“I like the cut of your solar sail.” Thran said, clearly ignoring Kamjin’s very existence.

Vez walked over to the terminal next to the elevator, stepping gingerly over a bit of crewman on the way. “This should go a lot quicker since I don’t have to hotwire anything. Let me just make sure it’s clean before everyone sticks their code cylinder in it.”

“Great, another hoodrat…” Kamjin muttered to himself as he walked over to Rhylance. “What are you finding?”

Once the code pad was configured, she did a quick scan and then entered her creds into the elevator terminal, staring at the screen of her code pad. “Hmm… my authority is not recognized here, but at least the system isn’t doing anything janky with it.” She glanced back at Socorra. “So probably not going to get us killed.”

Kamjin popped his head up, clearly seeing the massive hole and missing organs. “Who’s chain code do you want to try?” he asked.

The Mirialan shrugged. “I don’t actually know who most of you are.”

Socorra shrugged and gestured for Kam to try. She loathed displaying just how much imperium Evant had granted her to do her jobs.. it painted a much bigger target on her back.

Vez waited a moment, eyes on the code pad screen. “Nothing. Anybody else want to try?”

The Chiss continued his inspection, and found himself gowing curiouser and curiouser. Organic toxins he’d not seen before. Removal of the brain and other organ through perfectly bored openings. Was it Rhylance’s birthday?

He pulled out an empty syringe and began to extract blood from the deceased. He would needto further study this poison. And if he could get a sample from the source, the possibilities would open greatly.

“We are dealing with a toxin rich species. Perhaps one with quills or other sharp piercing attributes. Whoever caused the orifices, and removed the organs, seem to be studied in anatomy. Caution is advised as we descend further.”

“Frak,” Kamjin said. He immediately regretted not listening to Socorra and grabbing a helmet.

Socks internally sighed. She slightly shimmered as she moved to the console and did the thing.

Kamjin began searching the bodies for a functional helmet. Pulling off one from a corpse he inspected it and noticed a hole bored into it in the same position as the corpse Rhylance was performing his autopsy on.

“Looks like helmets aren’t going to help here,” Kamjin said, sticking a gloved finger through the hole before tossing the helmet aside.

“I am certain you Force Sensitive’s will have nothing to worry about. Your danger sense will surely protect you.”

Rhylance spoke with an air of condescension in his voice.

Vez turned her head to look at the Chiss and his corpses but her eyes snapped back to her code pad as the console beeped happily. “Ashla e Bogan, those actually worked?” She glanced at the emptyish space in front of the terminal where Socorra was hopefully still standing. “I knew there was a reason I liked you.”

“Huh. All this time I thought it was the cigarras.”

Kamjin entered the elevator. There were three buttons. Seems like a waste of the space unless this elevator only granted limit access to the facility.

“You all coming?” He asked, reflecting on which floor to go to first.

Vez glanced back at the terminal. “Looks like living quarters on the middle level and then the lab below.” She looked up to Kamjin. “Did you have some sort of plan?”

Kamjin winked. “I’m sure it’ll develop as we go deeper.”

That’s what she said Thran thought and laughed at his own joke.

“Yes, lets rush down into the darkness with venomous-punch-holes-in-your-cranium-Sithspawn with no plan. Great thinking.” Thran rolled his eyes, “Vez, Is there any way to secure this area after we go down? I’d hate if the new friends we met on the road had colleagues and they came looking for answers…with missile launchers…Speaking of that…Where do you reckon they got that kind of weaponry anyway? There an armory on that map? Armory means the people that worked here foresaw at least the possibility of things going…well…that way.” Thran said pointing to the corpses.

“The sniper found rifle while running on way out, for what that’s worth.” Socks said stepping inside and finding a corner. Even though her armor was silent she made an attempt to make a sound.

“I can lock up, but no map. Just IDs for each level.” Vez shrugged. “I’d guess the living quarters.”

Thran picked up a rifle from the floor, inspecting it briefly before tossing it to the ground again. He had suspected that this facility had been funded by the Regent’s office. It would not be the first black site that was buried in ACE balance sheets as twenty thousand credit hydrospanners, nor would it be the last. However, the thought that ACE weaponry had been turned against them outside didn’t sit easy with him. Dealing arms always bore with it the risk that the product would fall into the wrong hands; or worse, the right hands with the wrong minds.

“What about ventilation in this place? Spooky murder aliens love ducts. Every movie I’ve ever been in with mutated horrors, they’re in the ducts.” Thran said, inching his way towards the lift.

“I don’t mean to be a stick in the mud, but I just think it best if we…you know…be prepared.” Thran gestured to the carbon scoring on the walls and ceiling “These poor bastards were supposed to be prepared and look how that ended.”

Socorra’s head slightly cocked to the side, not that anyone could see it. “How many movies have you been in?”

Thran turned to where Socorra was standing, he looked the blank space up and down. “Ok, one. I have one hundred seventy eight listed credits. Point number Besh. Do you not know who I am?” He posed slightly, showing off his trademark looks ‘Blue Durasteel’ ‘Farrar-ee’ and ‘Le Nexu’.

“Derc Kast…Model and action holofilm star Extraordinare? Six time Galaxy’s sexiest man. Ghaggie award winning…No…Now is not the time for this conversation. Later…”

“The better question is how many combat ops has he been in,” Kamjin said as he drummed his fingers on the elevator wall. A soft but annoying tone had started to sound from him blocking the doors from closing.

“We could stand up here and talk tactics and strategies or we could acknowledge that there’s some sort of nasty…bug, that’s loose and the longer we stand around doing nothing the more dispersed they become. Assuming they haven’t already gotten loose into the whole complex.” Kamjin pointed to Rhylance. “Medic, finish grabbing whatever samples you can and let’s move out before we find ourselves like them,” Kamjin said, looking nervously at the vents Thran had mentioned. “Or worse…”

Amused by the bickering, Rhylance gave a mocking bow, then began collecting whatever specimens he could as the others decided on a course of action.

Thran bottled his rage. It would be useful later.

Kamjin knew nothing about his Proconsul’s history. For a war hero, Thran reckoned, Kamjin knew so little about the basics of war. Rule one: Know your enemy. Kamjin seemingly knew nothing about The Reclamation of Antei, The Horizon Crisis, or any of the other battlefields Thran had taken to. Kamjin didn’t know about his efforts to turn the tide as Clan Scholae Palatinae began its first move on Seraph, nearly two years ago. Kamjin didn’t even know about the horrors Thran had witnessed at the hands of the Children of Mortis. To stand face to face with Thran, a Sith hardened in many theaters of war, accusatory about his prowess in dealing death was indeed worthy of all the ire Thran could muster. But, now was not the time.

Temperance. Patience. Be the serpent in the brush. Wait till he’s close enough… Thran thought to himself.

“Though it pains me to say, Kamjin is right. Standing here doesn’t serve us any good, regardless if we have a plan or not. We should probably move.” Thran said.

Kamjin smirked at his Proconsul saying it pained him. He had meant it as a compliment. Despite his egotistical alter-ego that he wallowed in like a Hutt at a buffet, Kamjin knew Thran’s military record was far more impressive. At least to him, he’d never really taken to holovids. Compared to the sight of hopping hyperspace lanes in a fighter that could eradicate capital ships watching the Rog Trilogy put him to sleep.

Thran shut his eyes for a moment. Dark tides of energy rose up around him, swelling for a moment. For a moment, the dark side had granted him sight beyond his eyes. Albeit, the vision was cloudy. Writhing, moving, scrambling, he was able to identify there were multiple creatures that occupied this facility.

“I sense there are several of these…things. We should proceed with caution.” He said as the dark energy around him flushed away.

“Any idea where?” Vez asked absentmindedly as she toggled the security settings on the console and unplugged her pad.

Thran shakes his head. “Around…ish…” He said waving his fingers at the walls and floors.

“Which, brings us back to…what floor do we want,” Kamjin said, his body spread out holding opening the now alarmingly loud beeping of the elevator door that has wanted to close.

Socorra’s search resulted in not much more which was very frustrating. Sense normally came to the woman as easily as breathing.

“I no see all of the holos but sah, I recognize few.”

A recording beep and her heavily accented voice quietly sounded from the back of the lift. Remember to look up Thran’s holovids.“ *Beep.

Vez just rolled her eyes and followed the other woman into the lift. “Might as well just go floor by floor unless anyone’s got a better idea.”

“Let’s do the damn thing…” Thran said.

Once in the elevator he began humming a song to himself.

Kamjin turned to stare at Thran. “Would you like to press the button?” he said, gesturing at the panel.

The elevator dropped several inches as Thran attempted to exert his will over Kamjin to press the button himself. The sudden movement broke Thran’s concentration.

“I’m good. Let’s move, before gravity removes our power of choice.” He said and leaned against the wall, bracing himself.

Vez winced. I’m gonna die in an elevator while two himbos argue about the buttons.

Kamjin, finally relieved that things were moving went to push the button to advance down into the elevator. As the elevator shuttered his finger slipped and he pressed the one button.

“No, no, no,” Kamjin said, as the door closed. The elevator cycled through it’s transit, raising up a few millimeters and the door opened back on the floor they just vacated. Rhylance stared at them, having not yet joined them. Kamjin gave an apologetic shrug and beckoned the medic into the elevator. The man squeezed in, a disgruntled look at Kamjin.

“Alright, one more time,” Kamjin said, pressing the two button.

Thran hums a tune to himself, similar to “Girl from Ipanema”, as the elevator begins moving.

“Anyone want to step out and explore or just go to the next floor?” Kamjin asked.

“I think we need to quit while we’re ahead and get out of this lift,” Vez replied.

“Agreed” Thran stopped humming and quickly peeks outside the lift.

“First floor, men’s wear.” Thran steps out of the lift, raising his saber to his side.

“Force willing, the next one is ladies’ lingerie,” Vez muttered, following Thran out and looking around

“Preach.” Thran called back over his shoulder as he stepped over a body

“There’s something alive out here,” Kamjin said, stepping out and raising his own lightsaber into a defensive position.

Thran looks at Vez, makes some phony baloney hand gestures to move forward and investigate. Realizing they don’t make sense he sighs.

“Psst. Chief nerd knows what went down here, let’s go look in their computer and see what kind of freaky shit they were up to.” He half whispers

“Searching computers for other people’s freaky shit is my specialty,” she smirked, following into step behind him

Thran pulls out his audio recording device. “Note to self, delete search history.”

He moves towards the larger room and takes a peek inside.

“Surgeon Smurf…You’re gonna wanna see this.”

Rhylance walks passed the others, heading towards the body. He ignored Thran’s colorful nickname, and pulled out his surgical tool kit. It was time to figure out this new creature.

“What’s a Smurf,” Kamjin asked, sneaking a peek at the creature.

<<Vez, let’s see what sick porno and science this perv was up to. Can you find a computer?>>

Thran walked over to the hole in the vent. He could tell it was a hole in the vent because of the way it is. After satisfactory investigation he moved over to where Rhylance was working on the beast.

Not getting a response and recognizing his Proconsul was playing a game that only he controlled the rules; Kamjin fell back on what he knew. He looked the creature and, even without the analysis from their field medic, could feel the situation would soon get out of hand.

He extinguished his lightsaber and knelt on the floor, opening himself up to the mysterious of the Force. A path he found more untamed following his exposure to the Opal. As he closed his eyes darkness engulfed him.

He saw flashes of the floor beneath them. Red lights diffused through the fog of leaking coolant. The creatures, hundreds of them, dropped like overripe fruit from the ceiling seeking to splatter open their skulls.

The vision jerked towards the elevator shaft as more of the creatures, perhaps propelled by some sort of plan or guiding force, sought to cut off their escape. They were surrounded.

Kamjin gave a gasp, sucking in air like a man saved from the depths of an ocean, as he came out of his vision. He quickly got to his feet.

“We need to get out of here and burn this place to the ground,” he said, his eyes betraying his attempt at controlling his panic.

Vez could and did, hooking up her code pad to the terminal and poking around. “This guy was a real choob-chomper but his encryption is on poi–wait, what?”

“Vez, does this console give you access to a self-destruct or creature suppression system? This isn’t something we can handle with just this squad. It needs to burn,” Kamjin asked of the techie, who was under representing her potential giving into Thran’s curiosities.

“Not yet. One sec.”

Thran had stabbed the corpse of the beast, a form of scientific exploration in an of itself. He had hypothesized that lightsabers could kill the creatures and through testing has proved the theory. He stared at Rhylance, who was too busy poking and prodding to notice him.

“Yay, science.” He whispered to himself.

Vez scowled and tapped a few keys on her code pad, saving a copy of the files before scanning for self-destruct features. “…yeah, but there’s a catch.”

“What’s the catch?” Kamjin asked, fearing the worse.

“We have to trigger it from two terminals. This one, and another down the hall. Socorra should be able to access it.”

“Well,” Rhylance started as he completed his initial foray into this creature. “You all have the great privilege to witness undisputed proof of a thought to be fantasized creature. This beauty is known as a Fexian Skullborer. And by the sounds of things, there are many more within this station. I am assuming these are what the research team was focusing on. Take much precaution when going up against these beautiful creatures. A true Apex predator.”

“How’d that one die?” Thran asked, casually kicking the beast.

“Did you just sell me out? How rude.”

Oh, of course she’s lurking, Vez thought. “You’re the invisible one in head-to-toe beskar but I can do it myself if you’re not comfortable walking down the corridor.”

“Nah, I’ve got you. Your head is too bare and tasty.” She paused for a second, waiting to mentally hear the reply.

If you think my head’s good, you should try the rest of me.

“Bet.”

She silently chuckled and cautiously moved forward, slipping her blades in hand. At least it would be an interesting last thought as one of those things ripped her organs out.

Vez cocked her head, puzzled, until her expression froze in horror the implication dawned on her. Her face flushed a deeper, browner green and her voice was strained slightly as she said “So ok who wants to look at the security cam footage, bet it’s gross, hey Thran, maybe it’ll have catgirls haha. Ha.” Kark.

“Meeeeeow! I’m in!” Thran says walking over to Vez to watch the security feed

“Download a copy of it. We can watch it from orbit. Socorra, I’d recommend an escort for you given you’ll be tied into a computer terminal and potentially unguarded,” Kamjin said, then his face screwed up in puzzlement. “Unless you trust your cloaking more…”

“How thoughtful of you, Kam. Are you ready?”

“I’d say after you but give your,” Kamjin waved his hand in front of his eyes. “I’d better take point. Kamjin reignited his lightsaber and led the way. He shuddered slightly as his red blade created the eerie glow he saw in his vision.

Vez paused for a beat after the security personnel in the camera footage shot the head researcher. “Wow.”

She glanced at Thran and Rhylance. “Ok, no catgirls, but it’s always nice to see a Sentient Resources success story.”

“My disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined.” Thran hung his head.

“Speaking of ruining something’s day…” Vez casually tapped at the code pad for moment, linking up the panic mode circuits for each of the other rooms.

“This is probably going to be anticlimactic, but imagine a lot of these things falling off of ceiling panels or something.” She triggered the zappening.

“What?” Socorra asked, pausing midstride and grabbing Kam’s robes just in case he continued. “Vez, what you doing?”

“Just watching you flank,” Vez said, grinning sheepishly. “Don’t mind me.”

“Ugh, get a room.” Thran groaned “back to business…did the zapping kill the giant wingless brain mosquitos, or do we need to go room to room and squash these things?”

Vez shrugged. “In the footage they shot it anyway.”

“Well, let’s squash these things and then move to the lab.” Thran said, moving towards the door.

“I don’t sense any in the hallway, if that helps any.”

She nudged Kam jokingly. “As you were.”

Kamjin rolled his eyes and continued on his way. Like a discorded sympathy the hum of his lightsaber, the hiss of the venting gases, the clank of their foot falls against the metal floor, built with the punctuations of the cascading electrical zaps in the rooms.

Through luck they arrived at the room without conflict. Kamjin opened the door cautious, peering inside before motioning for Socorra to follow him inside. “Let’s plug into the terminal and end this,” he said, taking up a defensive position behind her. His eyes darting from the ceiling to the floor.

“On it,” she said, punching in whatever was needed.

Socorra waited for a signal and slapped the controls like it owed her credits.

“Wait…What are they doing? This facility represents a serious investment of money and ACE resources…we can’t just blow it up.” Thran said puzzled.

“How long do we have, Socorra?” Kamjin asked.

“I’m in, just waiting on signal. Getting nervous yet?” Kam is a sitting mynock, she thought. Then again if those creatures have other senses, so am I. The hairs on the back of her neck were standing straight up.

“I am prepared,” Kamjin said, the movement of his eyes seemed to belay that confidence.

“Woah woah woah…HOLD IT!” Thran shouted as he stepped free of an alien corpse. “Belay that order. You are all in jeopardy of destroying ACE property. I cannot allow that to happen. If you proceed I will be forced to strike you all…with legal action. Truly, a fate worse than violence. The paperwork alone will bury you. We were instructed to find out what happened here, not to destroy this place…we can reestablish control of this facility and minimize further financial and…err…personnel loss. We’ve already incapacitated a large number of them. We’ve thinned the herd already. Let’s finish this properly, not like scared children…” Thran said, approaching Socks and Kamjin.

“What do you know of this facility that you’re not telling us?” Kamjin asked, turning to face down his Proconsul.

“We have control of the terminals and can download the data. A facility like this is…” Kamjin did the math in his head. “Maybe fifteen million credits? Not insignificant but nothing to break the bank of Arx. Why risk our lives because you want to stab bugs?”

“Hmm. Thran - do you go by Thran? - might have point. This has already been very costly year for iron bank. It has not been year since the war, either.”

“It is truly amazing how little I care,” Vez said. “If this was such a precious investment your guys should’ve protected it in the first place instead of letting skullborers lay their eggs Ashla knows where.”

Ashla To invoke the light in that manner made him sick, but Thran stomached it. “Let’s not mince words here…we we sent here because we’re disposable. If the facility or whatever secrets it contains was disposable, there would be a fleet of Destroyers in orbit raining riiiighteous hellfire down on this place.” Thran turned to Kamjin, glaring.

“As for you. That opal has addled your brain. The cost of this facility is so much more than nickels and dimes. It’s a foothold onto this world, it’s commerce with the outside, it’s everything. Your view is so narrow, you only see the immediate. You only see your future, based on your plan. You lack real scope vision. There are bigger forces at work here…like capitalism.”

“Have you ever heard the tale of the caxquettes? Rhylance knows. Sometimes, nature just finds a karkin’ way.”

Kamjin stared back at Thran. Naturally, a businessman counting coins. The Empire…His Empire…didn’t need to trivialize itself to coin. This base didn’t mean the control of this population. Their lack of fealty clearly proved that saw this base as a distraction and not a threat. If trade was important to them they’d have greeted them with pleads for help and not indifference.

Control here wouldn’t be achieved by the almighty credit chit. “You overstate your own desires, Thran,” Kamjin responded. Years of military discipline keeping his tone strained by controlled. “Our objectives were to ascertain the situation, secure the facility, and report back. We aren’t going to report back with a hole in the back of our head,” Kamjin didn’t blink as he held Thran’s gaze.

“Give me an alternative to this situation that ensures we survive and the facility survive or get out of my way.”

“My desires? Ha! That’s rich. I wanted to be on a beach sipping Namana mai-tais, not spending my free time with an invisible Mando, two shades of nerd, and fuckin’…you.” Thran laughed. “Plan is simple, we sweep the rest of this floor…with thoroughly but with alacrity. Find flamethrowers, if they exist, Block the ducts, so what’s below doesn’t get above. Then we head down. We set up a kill point that we can fall back to. We funnel the nasties there…sweep the lab killing whatever is left. Not complicated…routine exterminator job.”

“Socorra or Vez, can either of you tell if this site has flamethrowers in their armory and where said armory is located?” Kamjin said, his face stone cold and not wavering from Thran. One didn’t look away from a beast that may strike you.

“No, but I wearing one.” She tapped her vambrace to make a metallic sound.

“Well, there were, right next to that rocket someone fired at us on the way in. So I wouldn’t take the computer’s word for it,” Vez grumbled.

“Ok, if we’re doing this, there were apparently only eight of the little kriffers and we know at least two of them are dead. They have no idea how the stupid things breed but apparently they weren’t doing it in the lab.”

Vez smirked into the comm. “More importantly, I found holo-neko and I have put my own encryption over it, so Thran if you want to see if you’re going to have to get me out alive.”

“…extortionate…but you got a deal.” Thran said.

“I’m sure that the blue sawbones is in on learning more about these things. Thats 3. Socorra is…well call it 3 and a half. Face it Kamjin, you’re outvoted and this is the right plan. Let’s follow this sound and completely reasonable plan…squish bugs, save facility, bingo bongo. We good? Good.”

“If one person dies or one bug escapes, I’m taking away the black card,” Kamjin said.

Well let’s hope if some does die it’s you Thran thought to himself.

“Deal. Let’s close up the holes the bugs used to get up here. Cut them off. Then sweep this floor, anything useful here let’s grab it and then move down to the lab.” Thran said, directing his collaborators.

No point in the camo for the moment, Socks turned it off and got to work on a vent.

Thran executed his plan. The ducts and entry point of the beasties were sealed and the did another sweep of this floor. When completed he turned to the group.

“Right…let’s do this. Socorra, you have a flamethrower on that gauntlet? Imma need your help on this one. Very dangerous monsters, combat with them, blah blah, something something, Mandalorian way to fight them. You and…” Thran looked at the others…“Fuck…I guess me… we’re on bug bait duty. We rustle them up after we have the kill zone set up downstairs. We look…tasty…they chase, Vez Rhylance and Kamjin merc the things.”

“Good enough for me,” Vez said. She unhooked from the terminal and headed back to the elevator with Rhylance.

“Socorra, the flames are just to direct the bugs. We don’t need to flambée them. Just funnel them to our shooters. Stay alert, these things are all Morphy colors and springy-at-cha.” Thran added.

“Thran,” she likewise used first name, “movie bravado aside, are you sure you want to volunteer as bait? There are spines with some nasty poison on those things. Plus the mind-karkery, and non-zero chance at least one has an ovipositor. Want to get full of eggs? That’s how you get full of eggs.”

“Lovely thoughts, thanks for that. No, I don’t want to volunteer, but given the other options…I give the best odds for success. Let’s just do the damn thing.”

“Come on guys.” Thran said stepping from the lift. “What are you waiting for? Nothing to worry about. It’ll be fiiiiine” Just then, one horrible brain eating monster fell from the ceiling. It’s spiky body latched onto the helmet of the Sith.

Thran quickly activated the plasma shield on his armor. The shield shimmered and bought him enough time to draw his lightsaber. A quickly flourish around his own head cut the creature in half. It fell to the floor at his feet.

“See? Like I said…it’s fine.” His eyes were slightly wide under his mask. He was glad he opted for wearing armor.

“I warned you about this Thran. Your hubris will be the death of you,” Kamjin sneered, stepping out he ignited his saber and raised it over his head. The elevated light of his saber cast a somber glow over the scene.

Kamjin’s head gave an involuntary twist as his waking vision mirrored his nightmare. They should not be here.

“You’ve elected to lead, lead the way Thran,” Kamjin said, gesturing with his free hand down the corridor.

“You shut your mouth when you’re talking to me.” Thran growled, reaching out through the force to mark his query.

“You clearly didn’t listen to the plan….anyway, Calling an audible. Some are shaft behind us. Need to clear those out before we move forward. At least one more on the ceiling and some are nesting in back. We clear our tails, then we press forward.”

“Vez, can you send the elevator all the way up. If they are lurking all the way up, maybe we can use the carriage to crush them, if they are below us, we should be able to see them in the shaft. One of us will need to hold the doors open, easy enough. Socorra, you can apply judicious use of fire upon the shaft once the carriage has passed. Then we can clean them up if they are still alive. The others keep weapons pointed ahead of us, shoot anything that looks hungry for grey matter.” Thran said, calling out his adjustment

“Look out!” she shouted to the other duo in the lift, getting the jump on a critter while it was looking for the easier snack. Twin beskar blades sliced the air and straight up into the open ceiling, impaling the creature before it moved in.

Pew!

Thud!

Vez grunted as nudged the dead skullborer with her foot. “Good job being the designated bait, Thran.”

“uhhh, hellllloooo?” Thran said, pointing at the dead hoover near his feet.

“No time for this osik.” Socorra left the lift and went ahead of everyone, using her helmet to scan for the ceiling cax. “Thran, act like bait and let’s go!”

Even with one eye she couldn’t see it, but the Force betrayed the critter skittering across the ceiling. The desert woman kept moving forward pretending to be unaware and suddenly thrust her blades upwards with a single motion, pinning the now-visible creature. Recalling the beskar, it dropped unceremoniously into a twitching dead-bug pile, its legs curling up against its body as it died.

“Are you going to shoot these things or get yourself pregnant?”

“They’ll have to take me out to dinner first!” Thran said.

Cautiously he pressed forward, moving towards where he had sensed the creatures at the rear of the lab.

Thran marched forward, vigilant against the attack of more horrible monsters. With a quick turn of a dial he set his explosive charge to remote. He leapt between the turned over lab tables, rolling between them. Even he was surprised by how well it was going. He spring up, looking for the nest. The rolls had left him slightly dizzy.

When he came to a stop, the Sith reached out through Force. His proton charge flew free of his pack and floated through the air. Directly over the nest. His finger twitched depressing the remote detonator. The room was filled with a sudden supernova as the proton charge detonated. The air blast explosion immolated everything in a spherical shape. The blue explosion was quite impressive and quite loud.

At some point, probably right after the first big landed on his head, his plan had gone off the rails. He was improvising now; real ad lib stuff.

“Hey bugs, I blew up your nest. Come and get me!” Thran said, before turning to run back to the others

“Looks like that’s an…explosive conclusion…” Thran said and turned to wink at an imaginary camera.

He sighed, noting that no one else was present to have heard his super cool and not at all silly one liner.

Vez picked through the labs, checking various datapads and grunting before tossing them either on the floor or to Rhylance.

“Did you…” Kamjin pinched his nose as he shook his head. “Thran, can you not take anything seriously? This isn’t a holovid and I thought we were supposed to protect all this equipment. You had a very serious stare down with me to then go ahead and blow up a room,” Kamjin said, gesturing towards the burned out hole of a room. “Do you even know what as in there? Was there an access to a cave vent? Maybe we haven’t seen any of those bugs coming towards us cause you let them outside!”

Kamjin stepped through the rubble to investigate the room. The fires were mostly out, burning in small clusters throughout the room. Kamjin blinked through the smoke and it appeared that the escape hole had collapsed sealing the exit.

Thran waited until Kamjin was done being indignant and turned his back. Just then, Thran reached out through the Force lifting a corpse of one of the Skullborers and directed it to land perfectly on the back of Kamjin’s head.

Ever the actor and painting the perfect scene, Thran twisted the Force again. Kamjin’s mind filled with a shrieking horrid sound resembling that which the Skullborers had made just moments before.

Kamjin felt the cold, hard, slimy creature hit the back of his neck. A moment of panic and terror overcome the Emperor. If there was one primal fear the Emperor had it was the lost of his mind.

He threw his hands up, reaching for the insect to rip it fear of his head. In the attempt, his cloak snagged on the debris. Kamjin’s head snapped back, the corpse flying free, as Kamjin’s feet flew up into the air. His head hit the ground hard as feeble sparks of Force lightning danced across his hands. Whatever attempt to fight back lost in the fall.

Kamjin felt his vision fail as he got tunnel vision. He fought to remain conscience as he felt a slight dampness in his royal Emperor shorts.

Thran looked down at Kamjin as a smirk crept across his face.

“Don’t suppose you saw that in your vision of the future, didja?” Thran said

Kamjin rolled over, looking up at the cocky smirk of an arrogant celebrity who thought they were above the galaxy. “Dank farrik, you did that on purpose. Can you not take any of this seriously!,” Kamjin spat, as he crawled back to his feet inspecting the tear in his latest cloak.

“I didn’t do anything…that you can prove. Your accusations are wild and baseless.” Thran replied.

“Let’s finish whatever it was that we were doing…I want a snow cone and my favorite cart in Tokare closes at 7:30.”

Kamjin was enraged at his Proconsul and his self righteous assumption that K'vin would get him out of any challenge. He made a lunge to sucker punch his Proconsul but his cloak caught on the rubble again and he stumbled forward barely staying on his feet.

He looked up, seething at the man that was quickly becoming more of a bane than an asset. “Fine, but I want Blue Meiloorun.”

“As long as you’re buying,” Vez said.

Kamjin ripped free his cloak. He sighed, another tear. “He’s just going to use my black card,” Kamjin said, dusting himself off.

“It’s the Clan’s clams, Kam. And I’ll buy if we can wrap this up toute suite” Thran said before stepping away to a lab table to look at science gear in a manner that made it appear he was helping.

Socorra’s dark brow raised at Kam’s sudden lack of stability.

“Would it be good time to tell you I have Evant black card? Would that get us out of here quicker?”

“Alarming…but…it’s probably safer in your hands than his.” Thran noted. “If we’re done here, let’s go.”

“I am beyond done here,” Kamjin said, stepping around Thran. Kamjin bunched up his cloak as he shuffled out of the room before letting his cloak flow freely again.

Thran took a look around then followed Kamjin. Arriving at the elevator, he impatiently pressed the lift button repeatedly.

“Has anyone seen the dorky blue one?” He asked.

“I’m sure he’s around here somewhere,” Kamjin said, inspecting the tears in his cloak while they waited at the elevator. “Do you think K'vin knows someone who does tailoring? I think this can be repaired.” He wiggled a finger through the two frayed holes.

“And, his name is Rhylance and I’m sure he’s around here somewhere. If not, the power seems stable and that’ll let him get out,” Kamjin said, looking around for the medic.

“Why would a dog have a tailor? He wears pants less than I do…” Thran said, pushing the button again.

“Don’t you make him take care of everything for you though?” Kamjin said, accidentally making one of the holes bigger. He batted the cloak back into place. “Who was that person you put in charge of the Bureau of Industry? You know who I’m talking about…started with an R or an X. Something exotic sounding.”

“Maybe they’d know,” Kamjin said, as he brushed Thran’s hand away and started rapidly pressing the button himself. “Are you sure you pressed the right button?”

“why would I have him…Gah…. No, Lana handles my wardrobe….Grrr. You mean Director Avecenda? Bureau of…how many stupid…no. We’re done talking.” Thran said, jockeying for position to press the button again.

“I thought you fired Lana because she was having an affair with that one trooper who won’t shut up. Pogo, Pongo, something like that,” Kamjin said, not giving up on trying to get his finger in on the button pressing. “Ugh, Avecenda? Think she could help me out?”

Socorra shook her head and turned to Vez. “Want to grab that drink?”

Kamjin scooted ahead of Thran to be the first in the elevator. A hallow victory but the best he could hope for.

“More than ever,” Vez said. “Think we need to let them ride up alone?”

She considered for a moment, recalling just about every horror movie seen.

“Nah, never split the party,” Socorra replied, stepping into the lift behind the duo.

Kamjin reached out and grabbed Rhylance by the collar, as he was bent down near the elevator inspecting the husks of the dead insects muttering something about being fascinating and trying to collecting another sample.

“Come on Medic. We’re leaving this place. You can hole up in your lab on the way home,” Kamjin said, as he pulled him into the elevator. Acting quickly, he jabbed the button for the top floor and gave the biggest poodoo eating grin to Thran.

With a smirk behind the helmet, Socorra waggled a finger out if view and telekinetically tapped the door open button.

Kamjin looked surprised and checked that there wasn’t a bug in the way of the doors. Seeing none he jammed the button for the first floor again.

She wagged a finger and opened the door again.

Kamjin looked at Thran but didn’t see any outward sign of him meddling. He went back to repeatedly jabbing the button. “Kraking thing, probably got fried when you setup off that explosion.”