This place stank like a Quorahi sewer, and was as stuffy as one of the tribesemen’s air-sealed caravans. Whatever means of ventilation and air filtration this horrid place had once held had long since broken down, leaving only an endless miasma of stale, still air, rank with the scent of decay.
It was pitch black as well, the only light coming from the lanterns that hung from the waists of the three Jedi as they trudged through the ankle-deep water that sat stagnant in these halls. The residue of some underwater river that cracked through the pavement, Uka assumed.
The place was like a swamp on sunless world; dank, cold, dark, and smelly.
Yet, it wasn’t the horrid conditions that kept Uka so on edge. There was something… wrong with this place. The pall of the Dark Side hung over everything here like nothing the inexperienced padawan had ever experienced.
With the exception of… that place. Back on Solyiat.
Uka shook her head, dislodging the memories of dark halls and haunting whispers, but she couldn’t banish the feeling of palpable dread, of bottomless malice that permeated these halls.
She followed behind Master Edgar and Master Turel, trying not to let her discomfort show, but she suspected they could sense it anyway.
“Master,” she said to Edgar, “Is this… wise? Shouldn’t there be more of us going into a place like… this?”
Edgar had been deep in concentration ever since they breached the perimeter of the containment zone. He was using his senses to reach out with the force to feel if anything was near. His senses were only brought back to his body with his padawan’s voice.
Taking a second to orient himself and to realize he was being spoken to. He took a quick look around and saw his old friend Turel doing his thing as well, and the Grey Jedi smiled as he was quickly reminded of old times.
Then, without another wasted second, he brought his attention back to Uk.a “Young one, you, for better or worse, are being accompanied by 2 of the most well-seasoned Masters in Odan-Urr, and although the few times we got ourselves into trouble, we most certainly found creative ways to get out of it as well. Look, I’m aware that for your second mission, it seems I’m bringing you into dangerous situations, but after our time in the ring, I know you can not only handle yourself, but you are very capable of helping others if things go south in there. So we should be fine, but as always, keep your head on a swivel. Who knows when and where something might jump out at us?”. Edgar said with a stern face and a cautious tone.
Edgar then motioned to his friend to come closer and reported to them both. “Now, as for the mission, Turel, we seem to be clear to enter the lab and maybe make it to the basement, but I would recommend some caution once we get inside. This place is playing up with my senses from out so I can’t say for sure if there is a welcoming committee on the other side of the door”.
“Lab…why is it always a lab? Who approved the permits for this? Someone had to,” Turel caught himself mid-rant as the trio continued to move down the hallway. Though calling it a hallways was generous, it was more like a impromptu sewer. The former gangster had certainly ran though similar passages many times in his life to evade threats or even sneak into places he wasn’t supposed to be. Turel had little experience with rakghouls but he knew enough about them to know that if they weren’t contained quickly the entire city could be infected within a day.
Turel turned to Uka, “we’re almost to the door. Remember our mission briefing, don’t let them bite or scratch you.” He realized how that matter of fact advice wouldn’t do anything to calm the padawan’s nerves. The Sentinel Master smiled slightly with fatherly warmth, “don’t worry, we have Ed here to protect us, he’s a regular hurricane with those blades.” He was half joking but this would be one of those times where he’d have to lean on his more combat skilled friend. T would be needed once they were inside to shut down security systems and get any experimental data off the computers.
The trio came to the entrance of the lab. Turel pulled out his computer probe and began slicing the door terminal. Edgar and Uka took up postions behind Turel, sabers blazing. Suddenly there was the rapid tap tap tap of feet and claws hitting the metal of the air ducts above.
Turel left his datapad dangling from the computer probe and spun around to ready his lightsaber, “I think we have company!”
Uka spun on her heels as the noise echoed down the hallway, immediately reaching for her sabers with cold, trembling hands.
They came all at once; no orderly ambush this, not even the coordinated pack-hunting of predators. This was the madness of the afflicted and dying trying to vent their rage on anything they could. A wave of pale flesh poured down the hallway, in such a way that Uka couldn’t tell where one ended and the next began. There was simply the wall of white skin, dripping teeth, and jagged claws.
Her heartbeat skyrocketed. Her muscles locked up. Time seemed to slow to a standstill as the wave of impending death barreled towards them.
She couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t even ignite her lightsabers she was going to die shewasgoingtodie–
“There is no emotion, there is peace,” she heard a voice mutter shakily, and then realized it was herself. The words had come unbidden, reflexive.
The next reflex was to take a breath and center herself, but then the wall slammed into her, and there was only blood. Her lightsaber ignited at both ends, and muscle memory took hold, as Uka centered herself in trance, and the carnage began.
Sabers ignited. The older Grey Jedi was already mentally prepared and taking note of the chaos that was bearing down on them. He quickly glanced over to his new apprentice and saw her in deep reflection as well. He was about to speak to her when blaster fire grabbed his attention.
“On your left!” Turel barked as he shot one of the 2 rakghouls with his pistol, and on that beat Edgar jumped at the second creature and was able to cut it down with a flourish of his lightsabers. Uka also opened her eyes and was able to move closer to her master to help cover his flank. The fight was now on.
In the next few minutes, Edgar and Turel managed to take down the majority of the first wave while Uka stayed in a more defensive posture. Edgar recognized this from their bout in the Area together. She was still nervous and still holding back, but she had most definitely found some of her courage fighting back these monsters. Using a burst of speed, he rushed to her side and bumped her out of the way from the rakghoul she didn’t notice coming up from the sewer grate in the floor.
Instinctively cut off its head and then dispatched the next few that tried to pop up. Uka looked at her master and muttered, “I’m sorry I didn’t see…” Edgar stops her with a simple gesture, “ No worries, we are a team and as your Master and Friend, I will do whatever I can to keep you safe… “ In which the Jedi was himself cut off when Turel bisected a rakghoul behind him. Uka and Ed looked shocked at their companion, smiling at them for a second, then said, “Well, if you two aren’t going to look out for yourselves, I guess I will have to. Now, do you think you can hold them while I finish slicing this door?”
Edgar smiled back, nodded, and jokingly said, “Yes, Sir!” then turned and offered a hand to Uka to help her up, and they both readied themselves for the next wave
Turel tapped furiously on his datapad for a moment, “Just a sec….annnnd got it!” the heavy doors opened just in time for the second wave of rakghouls to come creeping out of every nook and cranny in the hallway. The Sentinel disconnected his datapad and took up his lightsaber again, its lavender blade holding a trio of the creatures at bay. “Get inside! I can shut the door behind us!” The Jedi Master barked.
Edgar and Uka didn’t need any convincing and made a dash through the doors while dispatching rakghouls they tried to jump on them. Turel hit a button on the wall and the doors closed on a singularly rakghoul who had its midsection crushed by the closing doors with a soft crunch.
“Gross,” Turel remarked as the trio turned their attention to what was further inside the facility.
Following his new padawan into the structure only only turning around to swiftly dispatch the rakghouls that were caught in the door as it closed, the group took a few seconds standing there with weapons drawn to see if they were truly alone and to recollect their thoughts. The two veterans were using their senses to scan their surroundings, only for the padawan to break the silence first. “Those were rakghouls?!? They felt so empty within the force and monstrous.” How are we going to get out of here?” she said, trying to hide her nerves.
“As a team” Turel calmly said “Just stay focused, don’t take on more than you can handle and stick by your Master if there is one thing he does well is to protect the ones he cares about>” Uka looked over to her master nad without saying a word he gave her a knowing nod then pointed to the barred up windows.
Edgar said over the ever-growing sound of the monsters at the walls and door, “Let’s get a move on. The elevator is down that hall, and I don’t think those bars will keep those things out for long.” Putting his hand on his padwan’s shoulder. “You’re doing great, but with these things, you must stay focused. If you can do that, we will get out of here in one piece.”
Uka took a deep breath, drawing on the well of the Force to steady her racing heart. She tried to push the black, void-like presence of the rakghouls out of her mind, forcing it deep, deep down into the recesses of her psyche where it could be safely ignored. She was somewhat successful, though a twinge of fear lingered like a splinter in her heart.
She followed Masters Edgar and Turel down, as they all boarded the elevator and descended down, down into the darkness below.
When the doors opened, they revealed a space that looked as though a storm had passed through; shattered glass from beakers and test tubes lie scattered across the surface of smashed screens of lab equipment. Torn bags leaking some kind of stagnant fluid hung from overturned shelves, dripping onto the floor. Lights flickered overhead, unsteadily.
The trio emerged, ready to end this mission.
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As the trio emerged into the wrecked laboratory, the hair on the back of Turel’s neck stood up. He could feel a sentient presence in the Force, but it was almost inhuman, animalistic, like some dark artifice had twisted it.
Turel gave a warning to his teammates, “We aren’t alone down here…and I don’t just mean the rakghouls. There’s something else down here.”
“You think?” Edgar retorted as he held his crimson sabers at the ready.
Uka stayed close, also with saber at the ready.
Suddenly, a lab chair flew across the room at the group. Turel deftly deflected it away with a telekinetic wave of his hand. A large brute, roughly twice the size of a standard rakghoul, charged at them. The brute seemed to be wearing the tattered remains of lab attire that had been clearly stretched and ripped from it original size.
Turel instinctively threw up a translucent barrier of pure Force energy to protect himself from the brute’s charge. He managed to arrest the beast’s momentum just enough to avoid injury but the brute made repeated heavy blows that eventually shattered the barrier, sending the Master flying backward into Uka.
Edgar, wasting no time, threw himself at the brute in a whirlwind of red light. The beast slowly retreated at it tried to dodge and parry the barrage of incoming strikes. Finally, it overextended and Edgar took its head.
The headless brute sunk to the floor as Turel came to his feet and helped Uka up. “Thanks,” the Jedi Master added as he approached the slain assailant. Turel collected an ID badge from the torn lab coat of the brute. It belonged to one of the research directors. Taking the ID to a nearby terminal Turel began downloading all the lab’s research notes.
“Do you have everything?” Edgar inquired as Turel unplugged his datapad from the terminal.
“Yes.”
“Good,” Edgar ran one of his lightsabers into the terminal, destroying it. “Let’s get this topside so they can work out a cure.”