“`Peril! Deep within the Unknown Regions of the galaxy, a call for help emerges. Darkstone Station, a secret Imperial research facility hidden within an asteroid field on the fringes of the explored galaxy has activated it’s distress beacon moments before ceasing all communications with Imperial High Command.
Fearing the loss of the laboratory, a Search and Rescue team has been dispatched to investigate the call and secure the station. But aboard the "Pyre”, an Arquitens-Class Light Cruiser, the team grows wary as they slip through hyperspace, sensing that everything may not be as it seems…`“
Captain Jenoh of the Pyre wastes no time and has the ship take off toward its destination as soon as you are aboard. You journey to the bridge where the captain stands confidently commanding his ship. Ensigns are busy at each station as the ship travels through hyperspace. What would you like to do?
“I’m in the market…per se.” Thran said as he ran a finger along the edge of a navigation console.
The Arquitens was an older model, but it had all of the classic Imperial design cues that tugged at Thran’s heart strings. Something about the vessel resonated with him. He looked up to see his compatriots also pacing about the bridge. Thran casually strolls the area, peering over the shoulder of each officer at each station. His circuitous route eventually leads him back to the captain of the vessel.
“And how long is our commute today, Captain?” Thran said, assuming a resting stance beside the officer.
“More than long enough for you to preen yourself and do an interview, don’t worry.”
The quip came from a blond soldier leaned against a console looking thoroughly bored.
“Oh, excellent. Someone has to be the handsome face of the Empire. We certainly couldn’t let that duty fall to you circuit brains.” Thran replied over his shoulder.
Captain Jenoh cleared his throat.
“We’re on course for our destination and should arrive in a few hours. Sir.” He reported. The posture and tone of the veteran captain was almost reminiscent of clone troopers seen in holovids.
“Very well, Captain. Do we have any Intel regarding the facility? Any communications prior to the distress beacon? Anything that would point us at the nature of this call?” Thran asked.
“Nothing beyond their regular check-ins, sir. It appears this station is operating under protocol 1138, despite not being in a time of war.” The Captain said, a bit of curiosity slipping through his professional demeanor.
“That is peculiar, is it not Captain?” Thran asked, full well knowing the answer.
Thran pulls out a data pad and types away. Within a few moments he’s sourced the information he was looking for. Medical supplies, multiple distributors. Some kind of medical facility? No…they’d be more transparent and the location would not be isolated. There is something more at play here. He thought to himself reviewing the fiduciary reports.
“Titius, you’re a dweeb. What do you make of these supply lists?” Thran turns and shows the datapad to Titius.
“Respectfully.” Thran smiles.
Elaine had been standing quietly out of the way while Thran had been speaking with the Captain of the cruiser.
She had to agree with Thran that the cruiser was most definitely a beautiful ship indeed, however, in her opinion, this ship didn’t compare to the beauty of the Kom’rk-class Fighter she had been saving up for.
She watched for a moment, the interaction between Thran and Titius with the datapad.
Titius glared at Thran. “I don’t have enough quality caf in my system for your mouth to be moving.” Snatching the datapad, he began mumbling a rambling commentary. “Mhm, 7000 units mmrhm, well that’s an odd choice of supplier considering they specialize in hrmhmhm… why did that get ordered? Thats only used for…” Titius’ brow furrowed deeper with each line read.
“Right. Either this base has a totally incompetent logistics team or something fell asleep on a terminal. Because this…” he gestured at the datapad “…is totally randomized. If they’re preparing for a war, best they can do is hot baths and a rhinoplasty.”
“If I may,” Captain Jenoh says, turning towards the two men. “We’ve made multiple attempts to look into the facility, but everything we’ve been able to pull up has been quite heavily redacted. All we know is the facility’s name and that it’s existence was a well guarded secret of the former Emperor.”
Sykes rolled his shoulders as he rode the the turbolift up to the bridge. The new armor wasn’t as comfortable as his old Mandalorian set but it had its perks. What the hell is happening this time? he thought. He had been given an order to report to this ship and still wasn’t sure what the purpose was.
The turbolift doors opened and he stepped out followed closely by the little red and white R5 unit. The little droid scanned the bridge and took a count of every living body. Bleeep buuuurrr blip
“No. Not yet.” Sykes he replied back. A sigh escaped him as he realized who else was on the bridge. Great. Ofcourse our dearest new Emperor is here. Sykes could barely stand the man and his antics. He noticed Elaine off to the side but continued toward the group of three men. “What have we got?”
“Absolute incompentency and a severe caf deficiency.” Titius held out a hand without looking up. “Any second now, soldier. I ordered that caf an hour ago.”
She made eye contact with Sykes for a brief moment shortly after he entered the room. Oh lovely. It’s like a little reunion. She thought. She hadn’t been told who was assigned to this mission. Elaine let out a small sigh.
“There are more pressing matters than your addiction for caffeine.” She said to Titius.
Sykes looked down at the hand of the man and rolled his eyes. “Yes sir.” He reached up with his right hand a quick flame jumped from his gauntlet towards the open palm.
As the heat bloomed across his palm, Titius screwwed his face into a pained annoyance. “That is far too hot, incompentent karking waste of air. Must I do everything myself?” He finally looked up, glaring.
“Oh great, we invited an ancient relic aboard. Thran, for once could you tone down the extravagances? This is overkill for decoration.”
Sykes smirked behind the ancient Sith mask. His recent expedition for the Collegium had lead to the discovery of the armor he currently wore. “Relic indeed. Remind me to show you what an old relic can do with your skull later.”
The droid next to him started to beep and the sensors on its “head” went from blue to red. “Blinky, no. Not now.”
Elaine chuckled quietly for she understood her master’s companion. “I like this droid.”
Thran glances at Sykes, before tucking his head back into the datapad. “Dear Titius, as much as it pains me to admit, Sykes is a valuable combat asset. Since we’re going in to an unknown full of unknowns, it’s best to bring the right tools for the job.”
A probe droid floated into view, tittering maniacally. “What the krif are you laughing at, spare parts?” The droid made a rude gesture to Titius and sank from view.
Sykes sneered at his Emperor as he lifted the helmet off of his head. “Speaking of tools, I suspect you will be on this expedition, Your Grace?”
Blinky tootled lightly next the to briefing table. It plugged itself in and started to pull as much data from the vessel as it could about the target station.
“Formality doesn’t suit you, Sykes. Would it have killed you to just accept a compliment?” Thran said, not looking up from his datapad.
“I’ve learned how compliments from you turn into death notices later. So what is this facility we are checking out? Any clues so far?”
“Medical facility. Likely a Black Op Kamjin was running. Lost contact. They were operating at full wartime communication protocols. No intel on what triggered the distress.” Thran said.
“If Kam was behind this Force knows how bad it could be. His little facilities weren’t exactly known as producing ‘good’ type of products. Hopefully this will just be a milk run though.” He turned to Elaine. “What preparations do you need, Apprentice?”
The R5 unit continued to scan through the ships data on the facility but also began to pull the files of the humans around him. The Master seems agitated by all of them. All are threats. Priority of targets. Young male. Old male. Young female. Overload with firepower to eradicate.
Elaine looked at Sykes then unfolded her arms to grab the thermal detonator from the utility belt on her waist in one hand and one of her lightsabers in the other. “I’m all set. Let’s go see what fresh hell awaits us.” She replied with a very slight smirk.
The explosive earned a sideward glance from Titius. “You know how to use that?”
“Actually now that I think about it, I don’t!” She said with an obviously sarcastic tone. “I wonder what this switch does…” she pushed forward the activation switch and held it in the on position. The grenade began to beep with a ticking sound to follow.
Blinky’s head section rotated immediately towards as she clicked the detonator on. A hatched popped open from the top of its head and a large rotary blaster cannon came out of its hiding spot. A red laser appeared on her forehead as the barrels started to turn.
“Blinky hold!” Sykes shouted quickly. “Don’t shoot her. Elaine put that away before he gets angry. He will destroy this whole ship if you piss him off.”
She let out a sigh and rolled her eyes as she deactivated the grenade and clasped it back onto her belt, putting away her lightsaber as well.
“Would you look at that, Stitches, Im relating to a droid.”
Thran pinched the ridge of his nose and sighed. “Are you all finished? I’m certain there will be plenty of time for you to thrash each other later. We have work to do and getting into a Trandoshan standoff this early seems a bift daft.”
“Blip” the rotary blaster retracted back into Blinky’s head and it continued digging through the Imperial files.
Elaine glared at the droid and gave it a side-eye then looked at Thran. “You are quite right. What must be done to proceed with the mission?”
Thran turned to the Captain. “Captain…Anything else we should be aware of or shall we just proceed to the station?”
Captain Jenoh turned to face the Emperor, his demeanor calming down after that scene.
“No, sir. That’s the extent of our information. Ensign Aleiya. What is our time to arrival?”
“Very well. I expect hostiles, likely some remnant of the Hutt Cartel. Pirate scum. I will be in the ready room, tending to my weapons. I’ll want the enemy eliminated with extreme prejudice. I suggest the rest of you prepare yourself as well. Alert me when we are ready to board.” Thran said. Something about this situation set him at alarm. This was not pirates. He buried any seeds of doubt under mountains of confidence in his tone.
The Ensign reported without looking up from her terminal. “Moments, sir. All stations are at the ready. Dropping from hyperspace… now.”
“`As space unwraps itself around you, the Pyre pulls against the momentum of the sudden drop as you arrive at the set coordinates.
From your view on the bridge, you see a seemingly endless field of asteroids and debris stretching out before you. Fragments of ships float scattered amongst the field, some you recognize, some you don’t - an amalgamative tapestry of new and old technology woven into the web of asteroids easily centuries in the making.
The flight crew pour themselves over their respective stations, slowing the ship’s approach to the field as Captain Jenoh orders a wide-sweep scan of the debris.”`
“Lieutenant Resk, bring us to the edge of that field,” the Captain says. “Ensign Aleiya, I want scans of every piece of stone and scrap out there. Find me that station.”
Turning to the others, Captain Jenoh folds his hands in front of him. “If there are any final preparations or adjustments you’d like to make, now would be the time to do so. It won’t be long before we locate the research station.”
Thran took in a deep breath through his nose. His eyes drifted closed for a moment. The asteroid belt was a large space, it might take him some time to locate any survivors. The feeling came to him softly at first, but then grew to a scream.
Fear. Terror. Panic. The Dark Side fed on these emotions. He could almost taste it on his tongue; saccharine and enticing. All of them, together, running in fear.
His eyes opened. he stepped forward to the massive window on the bridge, pointing off the port bow.
“There.” He said.
The Captain stepped to Thran’s side, peering out into the field in the direction he had pointed. After a brief moment, he turned to Ensign Aleiya for confirmation.
“The Emperor is right. I’m picking up an energy reading in that portion of the debris field, but the Pyre is too large to maneuver in there.” she said.
“Have the transport prepped for departure,” Jenoh said, looking back to Thran and the others. “I think it’s about time we found out what’s going on here, don’t you think?”
Sykes looked out at the debris and nodded. “Let’s get to it.” He replaced his helmet and set the seals. “Blinky, on me.” The droid tootled lightly, unplugged itself from the terminal and fallowed its master to the turbolift.
Thran sighed, tucked his datapad into his bag and followed Sykes.
After a brief pass to the armoury,Titius made his way into the hangar. “Which transport are we taking here?”
An officer stood, awaiting the party as they entered the Pyre’s hangar.
“Erm- This one, sir.” The man said awkwardly, as he gestured to the only shuttle in the hangar.
A Theta-class T-2c sat to the left of the turbolift, boarding ramp down but otherwise ready for takeoff.
Stepping down from the boarding ramp, another officer appeared from the shuttle. “If everything is in order, we’re ready to depart,” he said, motioning the party onto the transport.
As you board the shuttle, the loading ramp recedes, closing you in as the pilots power up the ship’s systems. The thrusters flare, jostling you slightly as the shuttle lifts off and departs from the Pyre towards the research station.
As you draw closer to the station, one of the officers steps up to address you. “My name is Lieutenant Jensen, and that is Corporal Tull,” he said, gesturing to the other officer. “I understand that you’ve all been briefed, so I’ll keep this short: None of us know what will be waiting for us in there, so it’s paramount that you keep your wits about you. Once you’re in, your first priority will be to secure the station, and then bring the comm systems back online. The pilots, Corporal Tull, and myself will remain with the shuttle to secure the landing zone, so you’ll be on your own once we land.”
Reaching over to a panel on the wall, Lieutenant Jensen inputs a command, causing the lights in the shuttle to snap to a harsh red. “Our fate rests in your hands. Do your Empire proud.”
Thran looks at the others, then back at the Lieutenant. Is this guy for real right now? he thought. Mental note: Jensen is to be beaten to death with a garden hose “Right, yes. Thank you Lieutenant.”
“`On cue, you feel the telltale tug of the shuttle decelerating before setting down. You watch as the loading ramp descends, letting you out into an unfamiliar hangar.
As you step off the ship, everything seems normal: MSE-6 and Kx-Series droids mill about the hangar performing their programmed duties. Crates and containers lay scattered throughout the area in neat stacks. Off to the side, you can see another shuttle; a Lambda-Class, still and unattended.
Upon closer inspection, you realize that, other than your own party, you haven’t see a single living soul. What would you like to do?”`
Stepping off the transport, Sykes reached out with the Force. He could feel the despair and panic of a few people but it didn’t feel right. There were so few living beings in the area. His right hand twitched a bit in agitation. He looked around for an entrance into the station and pointed at the only door. “There aren’t many alive. We need to get to them quickly. That way.”
Blinky beeped a few times and followed his master towards the door
Elaine nodded to Sykes in an agreement. She could sense the survivors and something small like a womprat in another area of the station. The feeling of the small creature’s ambiance quickly faded but she didn’t know why. I’ve got a bad feeling about this she thought
“Whats the rush? They survived this long and I dont see any immediate hostile threats.” Titius slid his weapons onto his holsters. “Actually, I dont see a lot of anything. Since when does Thran not get a red carpet?”
Sykes shook his head and pulled his lightsaber hilt from his belt. He got up next to the controls on the side of the door to stack up. “Ready?” He asked his droid.
Blinky tootled and a hatch popped open on its body. A scatter gun barrel popped out and the lights went red as the droid aimed at the hatchway.
Sykes pressed the button to open the door.
Thran smiled to himself at Titius comment. The Emperor’s reputation preceded him. That was good. He silently followed suit and drew his lightsaber.
As you move toward the hangar entrance. One of the two KX Security droids steps forward toward the party
“Halt!” the droid commanded, “This station is under lockdown procedures. No one may enter without proper clearance.”
Thran yawns. “Oh, this is probably my thing to do, eh?”
“Open the door, Roger.” Thran says.
“Invalid clearance level. The Vizier must have access codes from the Emperor to override lockdown protocol 1138.a5.” The droid responded.
“First of all, how dare you…Second of all, pursuant to Imperial Code 694, subsection 20…In the case of Removal of the Emperor, or of their death, or of their incapacitation, or of their resignation, or other inability to discharge the duties of said office, all rights and responsibilities of duty shall pass to the Vizier, until such a time as the Emperor may be found fit to resume the discharge of duties or an appointment therein of a new presiding Emperor.” Thran said, tapping on his datapad that he’d once again pulled from his pocket. He turned the screen to the Droid, revealing an collage of images of Kamjin being shot and Kamjin floating unconscious in a Bacta tank.
“As you can clearly see, the Emperor has been incapacitated…So, I’ll say again…open the door. ”
The droid examined the images displayed to him. “This is acceptable for entry. Please proceed with caution.” It said. The other KX unit unlocked the door.
“Elaborate. What is within this facility that merits a caution warning? Surely it’s something more than wet floors.” Thran said.
“There is an active containment breach.” The droid answered, before turning to the next room as if detecting something. “Please hurry so we may close the door behind you.”
Thran sighed. “Droids. It’s never a simple answer, is it? Yeah, yeah…we’ll hurry alright. ” Thran turned back to the others “Shall we?”
Elaine unclasped one of her lightsabers from her utility belt. “I think we shall.”
“`The party enters the facility and the doors close behind you. The room is dark, lit up by the red glow of emergency lights. It’s eerily silent. You only hear the low hum of atmospheric conditioners running.
You smell the recycled air and it seems… rotten. The door to the next room is open. You can see a body on the floor.
What do you do?”`
“Hey look, Thran! Your welcome party. Sleeping on the job per usual.” Titius sauntered over to the body, reaching a hand out to check it for life.
The body was profoundly deceased and likely had been for several hours. Titius began orating his thoughts, entirely too enthusiastic playing with a corpse. “Interesting, this body shows the same effects as asphyxia by toxin. Wonder what caused the blackened pattern…”
Sykes looked around the room abit and checked behind some terminals. Nothing but small rodents moved around. “I think we should keep moving”
She saw the dead rodent the others left behind, Perhaps that’s what I sensed? But why is it dead? It’s unlikely that anyone from the station killed it so who else is here? She rambled in thought to herself. “I couldn’t agree more.” She said.
Sykes moved toward the second door and stacked up on it. He had Blinky set up to cover the entrance again. “Everybody ready?” He asked then hit the actuator
You open the door and see a dimly-lit junction. A mixture of blood and a black fluid is pooled in the center of the room, probably supplied by the 3 horribly mangled bodies laying in it. A moment of watching allows you to see that one of the bodies is twitching enough to splash the pool. Across from you, a mutilated stormtrooper bangs weakly on a closed door, moaning deeply as he does so. The sound of the door you opened seemed to travel to him as a half-missing face turns to you. The low red lights shone over a glassy eye and his jaw hanging by one side, which you could see was moving... trying to form words...
Sykes’ eyes widened slightly at the scene in front of him. The silver blade of his lightsaber ignited immediately and he squared up to the trooper.
Blinky rolled up to Sykes’ left and it’s rotary blaster aimed at the trooper.
“What the hell?” Sykes muttered
What's left of the stormtrooper raises his head and lets out an unnatural shriek before looking back at you.
“Ow, these were not calibrated for poor singing.” Titius flicked his helm lightly. “Trooper looks spent, dispose of them Sykes.”
Elaine lit her lightsaber. A knot formed in her throat while she also held back a gag with her stomach churning at the same moment. She grimaced at the scene in front of her. “What is that thing..?” She asked rhetorically.
“That is called research potential and if you feel you’re going to contaminate it with bile, kindly return to the airlock.”
“Blinky. Now.” Sykes said. The droids lights went red and the rotary blaster roared as the droid fires on the mutilated trooper.
The blaster bolt sears through the broken chest plate of the mutilated trooped, causing it to jerk back with a ghastly shriek of pain as it drops to the ground.
In the center of the room, the twitching body peels itself up from the gore, it’s low, gurgling moan growing louder as it finds its way to its feet
“I got this one.” She said in urgency but not a shout as she hastily took a few steps towards the convulsing trooper now standing in the middle of the room.
She swung her lightsaber, aiming for the abdominal area of the walking corpse when it unexpectedly lunged toward Elaine resulting in it being severed into two parts: Torso and legs.
The with the momentum of the trooper, the torso slammed into Elaine causing her to stumble back a few steps before it landed on the floor with a hollow sounding thud. “Gross!” She said.
The room is now clear of hostiles. What would you like to do?
“Blinky. Open that door.” Sykes pointed to the next door. The R5 unit wheeled over to the door a plugged into it. It tootles to itself as it started to slice it open
Sykes kneeled over one of the downed troopers and examined it. “What would have caused this?”
You open the door and putrid smell rushes past your face. Guttural moans and creaky throat noises fill the room before momentarily falling silent. 8 troopers turn their attention from a door on the side wall to the party. All of them are disfigured or showing parts of the body that are meant to stay inside. Their duraplast armor is heavily damaged and most no longer have a full set on. In the moment that you take to assess the room, a trooper in the back lets out a petrifying scream. All 8 of them charge you.
Blinky squealed loudly. It began to back up when a compartment opened on its body. Two grenades fired from its body towards the the dead troopers to his left.
The Emperor had been silent for some time. What he’d seen so far was troubling. It was not the first time he’d encountered beings which disregarded the authority of death, but the concern of why Kamjin had been invested in this venture weighed heavy on his mind. He manifested his anger and Thran extended his hand.
With a subtle flick of his fingers, the closest of the animate corpses was sent flying. It’s mass collided with the others, sending their clumsy bodies rattling into a pile on the floor.
“Titius…another grenade!” he suggested.
Elaine watched as the bodies tumbled as she unclasped her second lightsaber from her belt and threw it towards the a line of troopers. She left her hand up in the air, controlling the blade as it flew through the air. She watched as the red blade decapitated the closest trooper while it missed the rest. The blade returned her hand resulting in her holding two ignited lightsabers.
The gout of viscera was impressive. “Well done, Titius.” Thran remarked
“I aim to please…well in this case throw.”
Sykes moved into the room and started towards the last two troopers. He spun towards the first, his silver blade cutting through the head of the first. His second red blade ignited mid spin and he swiped at the second trooper as he moved past the first. The crimson blade sliced through the trooper, cleaving it in half. The Sith smiled slightly to himself as he recovered from his maneuver. “Well that was eas-“ he stopped as he heard the second trooper growl. Looking down at it, the trooper growled as it tried to crawl towards him with just its arms. “What in all the hells is this?”
The corpse, for all that was left of it, was unnervingly fast, lunging at the Anzat like a krykna with a battle stim. The room echoed with a snapping sound, its jaw bone breaking as it grasped and bit down on the Sith’s leg armor.
Sykes jerked his leg back after the trooper bit into his leg armor. He gave it a kick in the face before stabbing the tip of his lightsaber into its head. The body fell limp and he shook his head. He looked at the rest of the group. “What is happening here? Any of you seen anything like this before?”
“Their commander would be proud of their tenacity. Sadly, it seems they didnt keep to regulation dress.”
Blinky’s rotary blaster extended from its chassis and aimed at the last trooper. It squealed as it’s let loose a volley of shots.
The little tickle in the back of his mind set the Sith off. He dived back just as the blaster volley fired. A single bolt caught his leg armor as he rolled away. “Blasted droid! Not me!” His lightsabers came up to defend himself and faced the trooper
Thran’s focus fell to the tenacious undead. His hand clenched into a fist. A deep rumbling of unseen power filled the air. The ghoul twisted and contorted under the strain of a crushing invisible mass.
It’s rotten eyes bulged. It’s corroded bones snapped and joints popped loose. The body collapsed as in drawn into a miniature black hole. All that remained was a pile of unrecognizable flesh and shards of bloodied white duraplast.
Thran released his grip and turned to the others. “ I guess we need to make sure they are completely destroyed before assuming them dead.”
“`As the room falls silent again, the door before you captures your attention as you hear the inner mechanisms unlocking and the diagonal panels slide open.
As you peer inside, you find yourself staring at the business ends of a trio of blasters trained on you by what appears to be two Imperial agents and their Commanding Officer. Behind them stand a tall, thin man in a lab coat and a little girl peeking out from behind him.”`
“Hold your fire!” The man you understand to be the commander stretches a hand to the side, signaling the other officers to wait. “State your names, ranks, and intentions!” He shouts, his blaster still holding its mark on you.
To his right, you can see one of the officers furrowing his brow in confusion for a moment before he speaks up. “Sir,”
“Not now Solares,” the Commander says without taking his eyes off you. “Identify yourselves or we will fire!”
“But, Sir! Look,” the officer says, pointing at the still active lightsabers in Sykes’ hands. “I think they’re Sith!”
“Sith?” Looking over at the blades, the Commander’s eyes begin to dart from face to face of your party, stopping when he locks eyes with Thran. “Emperor Occasus?”
“Stand down!” He shouts, holstering his own weapon as he steps forward. “Deepest apologies, my lord, I hadn’t recognized you.”
“My patience has been exhausted already, soldier. Do not press it any farther. Sit Rep. Now.” Thran said.
Sykes looked at the troopers and shook his head. The lightsabers in his hands extinguished and he moved forward next to Thran. “Ten to one says they don’t have any more info than we do.” He took notice of the child and his head cocked. “What’s happening, Kid?”
Titius stepped away from the impromptu report to kneel beside the corpses.
“Interesting…” he mumbled, gingerly picking at one.
“Yes, Sir…” the Commander says, glancing back to his group and then back to Thran. “Well, I suppose I should start with introductions; My name is Lonn Agnar, Commanding Officer of the Icarus. ” Gesturing behind him, he points at the others in the room. “This is Second Lieutenant Pillan Solares and Ensign Garreth O'larr of my crew. The man and the girl belong to the original research crew that operated out of this facility.”
“I don’t mean to interrupt, Commander,” the researcher says, taking a step forward as the little girl hangs onto his lab coat. “But is there any chance that we could continue this conversation in a safer place?”
“Respectfully, sir, I agree.” Lieutenant Pillan said. “There are bound to be more of those… things… on the way, and we don’t have enough supplies to keep holding out here.”
“More are coming?” the little girl said, looking back at Pillan with pleading eyes as if she were begging him to tell her he was only kidding.
The Commander looked down at the girl as he silently turned the situation over in his head. “My men are right,” he said, turning his gaze up to the party. “We need to get out of here, and the sooner, the better. Perhaps we can retreat to your ship, provide it is still in working condition?”
“But what about my Dad?” The girl’s voice squeaked as she tried not to cry. “Mr. Arin, you said we would find him…”
“I did, May, but…” the researcher sighed, kneeling down next to the girl. “It’s just too dangerous… I’m sure your father is doing just fine.”
The girl, May, was on the verge of a full meltdown as she wiped the streams of tears from her cheeks. “But those scary things are out there! And he’s all alone! Mr. Arin, You promised! We have to go help him! We have to!” She sobbed. “We have to… You promised!”
Arin’s face fell as she pounded his chest with her fists. “I did, you’re right. I promised,” He said quietly, almost to remind himself of his oath. “Okay, May, it’s okay. You’re right, I said we’d find him.”
“Mr. Caster,” Commander Agnar said, looking down on the pair with a look that bore more caution than it did concern. “You know we can’t do that. The likelihood of anyone else surviving this long is extremely slim, not to mention the fact that her father might already have been infected.”
“But we’ll never know unless we see for ourselves!” Arin shot back.
“Or we might all get ourselves killed, or worse, get turned into one of those things out there!” Agnar shouted. “I’ve had my fill of losing men to these monsters. We need to get the hell out of here and burn this station to the ground, regardless of who or what is left inside when we do.”
Standing from his place on the ground, Arin swiped the blaster from O'larr’s holster, turning around to point it at the Commander’s head. “We are not leaving without Dr. Harper! I won’t let you!”
Agnar’s face went stone cold, staring straight at the man without so much of a flinch. “If you shoot me, my men will put you down faster than you can blink, so you had better think very carefully about what you’re about to do.”
“I have.”
In one swift motion, Arin turned the blaster on a nearby console, sending sparks flying as he emptied the weapon’s energy cell into it.
“Have you lost your mind?!” Agnar screamed.
“Full station lockdown. No one in, or out. No more hiding. There’s only one way off this station now; The admin key, held only by two people throughout the entire facility: Security Chief Akera Hir, and Dr. Daniel Harper. Its the only thing that can override the lockdown from the terminal in administration,” Arin said, looking past Agnar to the party. “Sorry to drag you into all of this, but this is the only way to make sure you don’t leave before we find the Doctor. I had no choice.”
“…OR I could use your skull as a packed charge vessel and make a new exit. Doesn’t seem like you have any brain left to take up the space.” Titius waved dismissively from the cadaver pile.
Blinky turned towards the armed Doctor and made a quick hooting sound. It’s rotary blaster popped out and immediately let loose a barrage of fire into the human.
“No!” Sykes yelled but couldn’t stop the droid before it had already acted. “Dammit, Blinky.” He moved next to the droid and ignited his lightsabers again, staring down the troopers. “Don’t.”
The droid hooted again and started to make all kinds of noise.
“I don’t care if he just drew a weapon. He might have been useful.”
More beeps.
“Yes I know he was a threat. Try not to kill these other ones. Cleaning up after you is a pain.”
The droid made a moanful sound as the laser sight moved towards the troopers.
“Not yet.” The Sith sighed
“Frak!” Garreth shouted, jumping back from the smoldering body of the scientist.
Beside him, Lieutenant Pillan reached for his weapon. “That droid is out of control!”
“Stand down!” Agnar said, stepping between Sykes and his men. “Caster’s chose his fate the moment he pulled that blaster,” Stepping over Arin’s body, Agnar retrieved the weapon from the ground. “But if I may make a suggestion, my lords… I believe it to be in everyone’s best interest to keep the body count to a minimum. The last thing we need is to add to their numbers…”
“What do you mean add to their numbers? What were those things?” Elaine asked