Session export: GJWXVII - Natural Disaster

Wreckage drifted endlessly through the void as they made their approach… shattered fighters, ruptured cruisers, and frozen corpses that drifted within the darkness of space. And beneath it all, concealed away from the remnants of chaos above, rested the Elizabeth-I.

An arachnid vessel glided silently towards the satellite moon, its long mechanical limbs unfurling beneath a black armored hull. The Gravewalker moved slowly and deliberately, taking an alternative approach through the drifting debris and darkened rock shadows, to avoid triggering orbital sensors. It did not resemble a ship, so much as it did a predatory creature advancing through the dense void.

Crimson view ports glowed faintly along its frame. Within the central eye of one, stood the still silhouette of a woman. The unnatural paleness of her features, of skin devoid of blood, rested beneath the thick black hood of her cloak. And yet, the faint glow of her crimson gaze briefly caught the dim light that flickered across the primary chamber of the ship. Velira watched the Elizabeth-I within analytical silence, as it came into view.

The Gravewalker descended through the darkness, until its arachnid landing struts each carefully pierced into the rocky surface beneath. Hydraulic limbs anchored themselves deep within the jagged terrain, as the vessel slowly lowered itself behind towering boulders, allowing its shadowed hull to almost vanish against the black rock.

A second vessel descended shortly after. The Dawn’s End swept low over the terrain with nimble precision, maneuvering between stone formations under the guidance of its integrated Droid Brain. The V-21.1 Chevlex Haulcraft belonged to the Consul of Odan Urr herself, its engines humming softly as its dark form settled beside Gravewalker, beneath the cover of rock and shadows. Within the piloting quarters beside Velira, stood Mihoshi. A brimmed hat rested low upon the Consul’s head, while her violet eyes remained fixed upon the barren landscape beyond the viewport with a sense of focus.

“And so, the hunt begins…” Velira whispered slowly from beneath the shadows of her hood, the Anzati female’s voice smooth and low with each spoken word. Her predatory crimson gaze swept over the various sensory components of the Gravewalker, as she adjusted the various bladed weaponry carefully secured to her formfitting black leather armor, in anticipation.

At her side, a spider shaped droid skittered across the floor plating with sharp metallic clicks. Thin mechanical limbs unfurled, as the machine released waves of scanning pulses toward the moon’s surface below, quietly mapping the seismic activities beneath the rocky crust, in eager pursuit of hidden structures and hollowed chambers.

Outside of the cockpit, Celevon Werd'a sat on the floor deep in meditation. It was the only way he could remain calm whilst inside of a space-faring vessel without something to distract him.

It was only natural, as his first experience on a ship had ended with him barely managing to flee in an escape pod before the ship itself had exploded. It had damaged the pod, which had sent it hurdling to the surface of Onderon. Whilst Celevon had survived the crash, it had not been without serious injury; he had been in a coma within a bacta tank for a week. A head injury to the temple sustained during the crash led to the loss of his memories for over a decade before they were regained.

The crash itself had occurred when he was only eleven years of age.

Not far from the Seeker stood his droid companion, HK-72. His bo-rifle propped within reach, the Gladiator droid was honing the edge of a durasteel blade that extended from his forearm with a whetstone. It was double-edged, more akin to a dagger of the naturally dark-toned metal with a recessed grove down the center that that tapered to a deadly tip.

His master had finished his own preparation and gear check before entering the meditative trance, spurred on when HK helpfully pointed out that Celevon had unintentionally conjured an emerald ball of flame that hovered above his hand.

Satisfied with the sharpness of his backup weapon, the Gladiator droid retracted the foot-long blade with the faintest metallic snikt. With that done, he reached out and grabbed his CJ-9 Bo-rifle.

The look in the droid’s photoreceptors could only be described as an eager gleam as they continued onward to their destination.

Far behind enemy lines.

As the Gravewalker eased itself down onto the rock and dug into place, Rhan released a breath she was unaware she had been holding. Throughout their descent, both of her lidless black eyes had been staring at the ceiling of the ship, expecting to hear the screams of target locks and ion engines as interceptors closed upon them. She wasn’t sure what was worse now; the further uncertainty, the lack of a tangible foe, or just the ship she was stuck on.

“I should have gone on the other ship,” Rhan muttered, entirely to herself in order to break the silence. If the Gravewalker was offended by this it gave no sign, but there had been a feeling of mutual hostility between herself and the belligerent droid mind controlling the vessel from the start. An ugly thing of spindled legs and jagged shadows, the Gravewalker lacked the metallic grace or blunt industrial directness of most ships. It reminded her too much of a predator, though the irony of holding that against the ship was not lost on Rhan. Her own warplate, an arterial red masterwork daubed with bone white streaks of grease paint as part of the pre-battle rite of Kiast’s Jensaarai, had been crafted to emulate the look of an oceanic predator. Both its bloody tone and her sky-blue skin typical of Nautolans blended well with the dark interior.

“Any sign of our breaching point?” Rhan called up toward the bridge. To her surprise, it was the droid brain that answered.

“Contact confirmed by Spyder,” it said, in a blunt an dissatisfied tone. “Location matches Sentinel Network intelligence. Pursuing window of opportunity.”

That was all the warning they were given as the ship lurched into the air once more, engines firing in a jolt of sudden motion.

Leaving the Dawn’s End to remain hidden as an emergency escape vessel, the Gravewalker swept forward before turning down toward a blackened chasm in the rocks. For long minutes only rock could be seen, trailing either side of them as the vessel raced down the narrow chasm, with less than a metre of space either side of the ship’s insectoid landing gear. Yet soon metal took its place, scarred and marked black by the recent passing of ion engines on full burn. Dust which had only recently settled was kicked up once more by their passing, reducing vision before them to only a scant handful of metres.

After several more minutes of flight, a light penetrated the dust cloud, eminating from some way ahead of them. The Gravewalker was given barely a moment to register the presence of the atmospheric field before it passed through it, and the airless environment gave way to a solid atmosphere. Beyond them, its blast doors wide like the jaws of a waiting predator, was the hangar they had been informed of. Its location had been given by a captured Collective spy under interrogation, both detailing its exact site and the access code the Gravewalker had been broadcasting since it had begun the descent.

Finally the ship passed through into the hangar and landed hard, picking one of the multiple launching points once occupied by the hangar’s fighters. The squadron place there had been long since launched skyward to join the battle, leaving it abandoned save for a handful of droids attempting to clean up after their masters.

“No sirens, no gunfire. So far so good,” Rhan said to no one in particular, grabbing her equipment and heading for the exit ramp. “Here’s hoping our luck holds out for a bit longer.”

Einhardt’s feet touched down from his floating meditation as the ship touched down in the hanger. Moving towards the hanger he pressed a button on his left vambrace and the HUD of his helmet lit up.

“Ritter system online, connecting to nearby auxiliary devices. Kriegsrabe unit is coming online.” The deep, croak-like voice of his armor’s AI spoke inside his helmet. Further along in the ship, closer to the ramp his ACE sentinel droid had finished it’s startup sequence and was now floating, awaiting further commands.

Reaching out through the Force Einhardt scanned the hanger bay they were in for sentient lifeforms outside of those on the Gravewalker. He could feel a number of different signatures, in the surroundings and more coming in.

Speaking through the communicator, his voice deep with a very strong accent, “Kriegsrabe run additional scans for droid presence outside of the ship,” the man then turned his attention to the others, “I feel like this should be unsaid, but they’re aware we are here and are moving in.”

The Knight slung his shield around from his back, sliding his left hand and forearm through the straps and tightening them down before slipping the guige strap from around his neck and wrapping it around his forearm as well. Still no alarms despite what he could feel through the Force, something he found odd but wasn’t about to jinx anything by bringing it up.

The Gravewalker’s ramp descended with a soft metallic hiss as the vehicle lowered itself. Beyond the vessel, lay a cavernous expanse of durasteel and stone, a structure carved deep into the rocky core of Elizabeth-I. In the distance from where their ships had settled, red industrial lighting faintly flickered against steel walls, illuminating a labyrinth of reinforced corridors built into the structure.

The silhouette of Velira emerged from the shadows of the arachnid shaped vessel, as she slowly descended. Her cloak flowed behind her form in black silk. Wisps of dark hair danced across her pale features in the wind, as her crimson eyes adjusted to the harsh artificial glow light coming from the facility. For a moment she stood at the foot of the ramp, silent and motionless, as she began to scan their surroundings. At first glance, everything appeared orderly. The hangar appeared to be well maintained even from a distance, though sterile in design. And yet, experience had taught Velira that places possessed memories of their own. Each corridor and forgotten pathway could collect traces of those who passed through them, and the natural patterns that went along with it.

The facility remained unnervingly quiet, without the shriek of alarms. Even still, Einhardt’s warning lingered in the back of her mind, and Velira certainly did not doubt his senses, which led her to one conclusion— That this reaction was deliberate, on the facility’s end and made the silence all the more palpable. Predators concealed themselves before they struck, a fact that the Anzat understood all too well.

Her crimson eyes swept towards the facility again. There came the faint glow of various sensors and security cameras. Beyond an array of droids standing guard, lay maintenance access points intentionally concealed the beneath natural cast shadows of rock formations. Something that her vision quickly picked up on.

And yet, partially obscured behind a stack of abandoned cargo containers near where the Gravewalker hid, a long dark coat hung forgotten from a utility rail. It immediately drew her attention, in the sense that it didn’t seem to entirely belong. Velira carefully approached with measured steps and knelt beside the garment. A thin layer of dust covered the fabric, though not enough to suggest long abandonment… A week perhaps, two at most. Her pale fingers brushed across the material, as she removed one glove.

The coat was expensive, that much Velira could infer, with reinforced material and holsters that suggested concealment for equipment. One sleeve carried the faintly lingering trace of floral perfume, along with the scent of imported Core World liquor. A tear and dried blood was enough to reveal that this was someone on the run, or who at the very least had left in haste. Concentration settled over her thoughts as she reached outward through the Force, following the lingering threads that coiled around the object.

The connection revealed itself slowly, appearing first as scattered fragments—- A woman’s silhouette, blonde hair and sharp features. Velira followed the pathway deeper, willing the image to sharpen. The woman had once moved confidently through pristine halls hidden deep within the facility, with enough influence that security personnel stepped aside without challenge, as she passed. She wore no uniform and displayed no credentials, yet had carried herself with ease.

The image shifted to one of a private apartment hidden within the complex, with two empty glasses of wine resting upon a table and the half blurred face of Rath Oligard. The glimpse lasted only an instant, but it was enough for Velira to infer the owner of this coat knew him. Her hand next carefully withdrew a shattered data pad from within one of the pockets in focus, and a final vision emerged… A sealed security checkpoint. Rather than approach the access terminal, she pressed her palm against a seemingly ordinary section of wall, with the data pad clutched under one arm, revealing another passage from somewhere within the facility. The translucent image lingered briefly, before fading. Velira opened her eyes. The Force withdrew from her grasp, and she quickly rose, looking over her shoulder.

“I found a sympathetic connection attached to this garment. The owner was a woman presumably with unrestricted access to the facility. And I have reason to believe that she was closely associated with Rath Oligard.” Velira shifted her gaze towards the complex as she spoke. “The connection revealed… fragments. And something that can potentially be of use to us.” She briefly pointed toward the maze of structures deeper within the facility. “It is possible there is a concealed maintenance route that bypasses portions of the primary security network. The woman accessed it through a hidden panel disguised as part of a corridor wall. I do not know its precise location yet, and I have reason to believe it leads deeper into the facility, to certain quarters where we may locate Oligard.”

Kriegsrabe let out of series of boops and beeps through the communication device in Einhardt’s ear.

“Standby in combat ready, disruptor use is authorized. If anything gets within 10 meters of us engage.” After giving the droid the commands he descended shortly behind the Anzat. “Those droids are combat models, not sure why they’re not attacking yet. Do you need more time to get more information on where we can find that passage?”

As he spoke the Knight kept alert, ready to bring a barrier into existence at the first hint of an attack.

The Shaevalian-Umbaran gave a simple telepathic acknowledgement back to the High Councilor, then physically turned to the Gladiator droid. “HK, you’re Velira’s backup. Help the others as needed should she give the order.”

A silent nod, though the gunmetal-clad HK-72 somehow managed to give off the impression that he was disappointed to not be immediately rushing into their enemies. “May I keep a count, Master?” The droid requested, enthusiastically hefting the bo-rifle.

Celevon chuckled. “You were going to do it anyway, even if I don’t think those particular units count as ‘kills’. I’m on overwatch.”

With that said, the former assassin leapt from the ramp, setting off at a run toward the scaffolding that was the easiest way up to the beams and catwalk. In what seemed to be no time at all, he scrambled up the scaffold and hopped the railing onto the catwalk, taking in the field of view.

Whilst taking in all that he could see, the Shaevalian-Umbaran focused on the specific item he wanted from the pocket dimension he had learned to utilize. A Synergy S-5 Oathbreaker, a slugthrower sniper rifle, shimmered into view in his hands.

After racking a round into the chamber, Celevon took a knee and looked through the scope to their enemies below.

“Orders?”

The question had come not from one of the prior voices, but a metal skeleton which had been otherwise silent during their journey. Vega, prone to sepulchral stillness when not in combat or training, had occupied one wall of the ship during the journey, seemingly inert and senseless. Yet now they had landed, the red coals of the MagnaGuard’s photoreceptors had blazed back into life, his vision fixed squarely upon Rhan.

“The knight is taking point, the raven is going high, and I am expected to take cover and disable anyone from range,” Rhan reiterated Miho’s commands, Vega apparently having missed the grandiose speech before he had joined them. “And Morvane is being offered to assist us however she can.”

“Confirmed,” Vega said, the rhythmic clunk of his shoulder mounted cannon priming sounding oddly like a chuckle. “Aim to incapacitate, I will recover their memory cores for reprogramming and refitting.”

Beneath her helmet, Rhan’s features creased in a grin. Raising Stormherald above her head, she thumbed the activation stud and the sky-blue plasma blade extended from its point. More importantly, the energising crystal at its beating heart flowed into her, as Rhan extended her influence into the Force.

The droids had been gathering for some moments, their reactions slow and purposeful. Rather than the rapid assault expected of the Collective, they were proceeding with caution, seemingly focusing more upon containment and suppression than facing any military presence. There was a noted shift in behaviour, programming altering to more hostile algorithms as they caught sight of the lightsaber. They were not given enough time to fully realise their mistake.

A trio of hulking bulk loading droids, refitted for combat with slab-sided armour and industrial claws, shuddered and then roared. Each began laying into the nearest droids like enraged primates, ripping off limbs and heads as they tore through the nearest of their companions.

Celevon Werd'a let a smirk cross his lips as he noticed the heavy loader droids turn on their fellows, then panned the sightline of his scope further afield.

It was always nice to have a Techweaver on your side to generate chaos amongst the ranks of clankers. As the sights shifted deeper into the hangar, the Shaevalian-Umbaran noticed a small group of repair droids and frowned momentarily. If they were to decide to make repairs on any droids that weren’t completely disabled, it would add an unnecessary level of risk.

Time to add to the chaos and eliminate a possible hindrance at the same time.

‘And people claim I’m incapable of multitasking. Ha!’

The former Assassin took his hand from the underside of the rifle’s stock, then took careful aim down the vambrace. One breath, then another before it was slowly released, and the Seeker clenched his fist.

With a slugthrower pistol or rifle in his hands, aiming down the sights and taking a shot took the span of mere heartbeats. Firing a mini-rocket from a Mandalorian Vambrace? That took more care and precision.

Celevon’s arm jerked back slightly as the miniature rocket ejected, a keening shriek heralding its flight path across the hangar.

As the others within her team engaged in combat, drawing the primary fire and focus of the majority of the droid’s’ sensors in the area, Velira set her sights elsewhere for the time being. In her mind, the chaos of the moment was something that could be wielded, to create a strategy for maneuvering that could work to her advantage. As an Anzat, Velira had always been aware of the fact she lacked natural body heat due to the absence of a circulatory system or heartbeat, another factor which contributed to the deathly pale quality of her smooth skin. And yet, it was also something that could act in her favor to avoid the heat sensors of their attackers.

While the fighting intensified behind her and ranks of droids began to pour into the room, Velira turned her attention to the hunt, licking her lips once as she felt her own probosces lightly stir beneath the skin of her cheekbones. What she needed was insight… Possible weaknesses within the facility’s defenses, anything that could allow them to follow the trail to Rath Oligard. And for the purpose of the hunt, Velira set her sights on seeking those who were human rather than machinery, her predatory instincts locking onto that goal with cold focus.

Velira briefly turned toward the HK droid Celevon had assigned to assist her and issued a short yet direct command. “Engage in combat. Draw their fire, and aid the others.” She intentionally did not mention her intended route, nor any indication of where she meant to go, in the event that the droid became compromised by their attackers. Without waiting for a response, Velira ducked out of sight behind a large slab of metal, its surface scorched and dented from the ongoing exchange of blaster fire.

Temporarily concealed from the worst of the fighting, she ordered her own droid to scan the area. The small spider shaped machine shifted at her side, its arachnid legs clicking softly against the floor as its red receptors initiated the scan. Data streamed quickly to Velira’s Hush-98 comlink, feeding her digitally encrypted readings of possible nearby passageways, those that held the least amount of detectable movement.

A sudden flash erupted behind her, as one of the droids detected her position during the brief moment it took to complete the scan. With a subtle motion of her hand, she summoned a well of inky darkness, allowing it to bloom outward in front of the droid’s visual sensors. The shadows spread unnaturally, swallowing the space between them and obscuring her movements for several precious moments. In the same instant, Velira dove through the darkness she had created, slipping down into a narrow passageway concealed below the hangar floor. Her body vanished from view in one fluid movement, her small spider droid scuttling after her close behind.

As the battle continued above, Velira began to descend beneath the facility. The path led her deeper through the complex, into the cold inner workings of the structure. Narrow corridors gave way to a network of air vents, which eventually led into a small abandoned room. Velira silently lowered herself inside, quietly noting the smell of liquor. A few discarded flasks rested near one wall, the first sign of anything remotely human within the facility, and she could infer that they most likely belonged to workers who had taken advantage of the secluded space to sneak away from their duties for a moment of respite. She crouched beside the nearest flask and lightly placed an ungloved hand against it, focusing her senses on the item.

Translucent impressions entered her mind, of a small research station, not too far away from her current location. And there… The human owner of the flask, still nearby.

Velira followed the information she’d gained from the item, now moving swiftly to make her way there. Twice she used her Gyrda keypad to bypass sets of locked doors with sets of codes, as the camouflage built into her formfitting leather bodysuit distorted her outline with shadows to conceal her from the security cameras. It did not take long for Velira to reach the security station, as she entered through the ceiling. She descended in silence, landing behind her target of a human male without a sound.

In one swift motion, Velira drove the end of a shock prod into his side. The man convulsed, eyes rolling back as his body collapsed onto the floor. Before he could recover enough to cry out, she fastened a shock collar around his neck with practiced efficiency, and triggered the device once more. The man’s body jerked against the floor, his breath catching in a strangled sound as Velira stood above him, composed and still.

She extended one leg, using the tip of her stiletto boot to angle the bottom of the man’s chin up towards where she stood. “You shall tell me what it is I wish to know…” Her voice purred gently through the shadows of the room. “And perhaps, even live to tell the tale.” Velira tilted her head slightly, crimson eyes looking down upon the man gasping at her feet. “Or I shall pry it from you…”

As the controlled droids started their attack Kriegsrabe increased its height to get an aerial view of the hanger as it had yet to receive any orders to begin firing.

“Patch Kriegsrabe’s view into my HUD, top left side alert the moment non-droid combatants enter the hanger,” Einhardt commanded his armor’s AI. As soon as the window appeared he started running towards the bulk of the combat droids, raising his shield to deflect a good portion of the blasters now being fired in his direction. As he got closer he unsheathed the “sword” on his hip, only for there to be only three inches of a “blade”. Using a scant amount of concentration, the knight used the Force to activate a hidden switch and a silver-blue longsword-style blade ignited from the hilt.

Einhardt was timing his next move in his head, willing the Force to build up right in front of his shield until the moment he was on the nearest droid in a cluster. Once he was there he swung his shield arm, bashing the droid in front of him and releasing the built up Force to extend the bash further then what should have been possible with just the shield, causing five of the droids to be sent flying backwards before cutting down another droid on his right with his lightsaber.

A stay blaster bolt ricocheted off of Rhan’s helmet, earning an uncharacteristic curse from the Jensaarai. With a sweeping gesture, Donnager flew from her belt. The gravity hammer struck the offending droid’s blaster arm, crumpling it in a cascade of wires and delicate components. Already falling in behind Einhardt out of instinct, Rhan made one gesture after another, each motion throwing clustered battle droids against one another to be ripped apart, or killing them herself with the floating forge weapon.

We need to end this quickly, Rhan pulsed through the Force. If we get bogged down here that’s it for us. Aim for limbs or - Where in the Nine Hells is Velira?

Focused upon controlling the trio of hulking droids, Rhan had only just noticed the other woman’s absence in the Force, and her lack of participation in the carnage. Before she could try to reach out and find her, a construction droid whose arm had been replaced with a crude hacking vibrosword charged from her left. Rhan raised a splayed gauntlet and channelled power through it, taking the droid apart in a burst of arcane lightning.

Nevemind, questions for later. Just finish the last of them, but avoid damaging their memory cores if you can.

The man lay sprawled across the floor before where Velira stood, for several moments. His breath came in soft gasps, eyes glassed from the after effects of the shock collar. And yet despite this, there was enough awareness within him for him to grasp the predicament that he was in. His hand shifted as he willed himself to move in one sudden motion. The man slipped free a small black capsule from his sleeve, forcing it into his own mouth. A dark red stain began to drip from his lips as he began to cough, his body shuddering as poison began to enter his system.

Velira swept forward, slipping free an injector from one of her medical kits. She drove the needle into him with precision, administering a controlled dose of antidote directly into his bloodstream. And yet, it was intentionally not enough to save him… Only enough to slow the progress of the inevitable. His convulsions ceased for the time being, though his breathing remained uneven, as he gazed up at her with a look that she could only define as hatred.

“My, my…” She began to murmur. “You are certainly quite dedicated to the Collective’s cause, if you are willing to die so easily for it…” Velira continued softly. “Such a waste…” She finally whispered, referring not to him, but to the life essence ripe for the taking that lurked within.

The hunger lightly stirred within her subtly, though Velira ignored it. Now was not the time, not yet.

She locked her gaze on him predatorily. Threads of the Force answered her beckoning call, coiling outwards from where she stood. They began to slip towards his mind, delving beneath the surface. Velira was met with a wall of defense, just as she had anticipated from someone within the Collective. His mind was trained enough to keep casual intrusions from Force users at bay, this much Velia could tell. And yet, unfortunately he was no longer in a suitable state to properly utilize such practiced defenses, due to the effects of the poison within his system.

Velira pressed inwards again, finding that his mental resistance came slower now, the walls of defense fraying against her intrusion. Locating a gap, she clawed through it and reached further into his mind to intentionally search for the whereabouts of Rath Oligard. Whether this man knew anything useful remained uncertain to her, and yet the memories began to yield beneath her touch… Glimpses of corridors, command terminals, and locked sectors. And then a blonde woman, the owner of the cloak she’d found earlier. The woman had been close to Rath Oligard.

Perhaps a lover, judging from the images within his memory and the gossip within the facility… One who inevitably had attempted to betray him in the end, along with the rest of the Collective.

Velira lingered only long enough to gain more insight, before pressing deeper. Rath had withdrawn from the rest of the facility temporarily, isolating himself within the lower levels where he still issued commands and remained protected by droid defenses. And then she felt it, the man’s mind attempting to resist her once intrusion again, to sharply push her out. Velira relented, eyes narrowing in focus as she fought to maintain control. Though she did not relax her grip on his mind, she shifted it, beginning to instill something else into him… *Relief. * Just enough to calm him, to shift his urge to fight into something more pliable.

The operative relaxed as Velira’s presence swept through his mind, as she extended one hand to help him shakily rise to his feet and guide him towards a primary control panel. “I need you to help me..” She whispered into his ear. “I mean no harm. Please. Lower the defenses… As much as you can.” Her focus remained sharp around his mind, and the control held.

He turned toward the monitor, movements guided by muscle memory as his fingertips input a series of codes.

Lines of successful command entries flashed across the screen in blue, as he sorted through them and began disabling various security measures within the facility. Lights began to flicker, as elsewhere in the surveillance systems began to power off. Security gates in various corridors slid open with the relayed transmission, sensors powered off, and alarms were put into a state of deactivation.

Just as the man reached for the final input, to begin powering down droids, his hands began to shake. Crimson dripped from the corner of his mouth as his body slid to the ground, the remaining poison now beginning to overtake his bloodstream. His mind blurred beneath her control, flickering in place. Velira tightened her focus, trying to draw the last code from him before it was lost… And yet, as his mind began to fade, his memories did along with it. Only then did she release her grasp on him, once it was clear that his death was inevitable, even if more antidote was to be provided.

Velira lightly pressed her hand to her comlink, intentionally ensuring her message was secured beneath layers of encryption, to keep it safe from the Collective’s probing technology.

“Consul Mihoshi, Rhan…” She began, connecting to them through the Hushlinks that they each wore. “Rath Oligard is isolated from several crewmates at present. He has barricaded himself in the facility’s lower sector. We can expect him to be surrounded by an active defense.” Her eyes moved briefly over the terminal screen.

“Various sensors and alarms have been disabled in several corridors, though the droids remain active. I am transmitting locational coordinates to you now.” Without another word, Velira activated the data transfer, sending the extracted information through the Hushlink’s encryption system to both of them.

“No, but I think she found a very talkative amusement,” Rhan answered her. The Jensaarai’s comlink was out and her head was cocked, listening carefully to the device even over the dwindling sound of blasters. The hammer still spun about her, smashing through wrists and blasters alike as they were pointed in her direction, invisibly guided through the air by Rhan’s will.

“If the information she had gained is correct, he is in the lower sector somewhere, likely guarded from all angles. She is disabling… Excuse me…” She waved a hand and Donnager took the head off of one droid in a shower of sparks, its body tumbling to the floor like a broken marionnette. Rhan gave an irritated sound before listening again. “No, it seems like sensors and most security measures down there are disabled. She’s passing on cooridnates now.”

Rhan waited as the comlink decoded, the blaster fire surrounding her rapidly diminishing with each passing second. Having hurled themselves into their foe, the droids numbers had thinned out in a matter of moments. By the time the coordinates were passed on, the fighting had ceased entirely.

“Four levels down at least, somewhere to the north of our position,” Rhan reported. “We’ll have to move fast, and have no room for errors. At least if we want to reach him before others know we’re present.”

Rhan’s head turned toward Vega, who had already opened up the diagonistics panel in one of the three droids she controlled. From one arm was exended a slicing tool, hacking into its main circuits. Only one of the giants had taken any notable damage, its arm melted into a lumpen club from a high energy weapon. As she watched the droid’s back straightened, Vega have swapped its friend-foe programming.

“Can we leave you to hold position here?” she asked, earning a dismissive wave from Vega as he set to work on the second of the droids.

“I will do what I can to reprogram and salvage those here who can be saved,” the droid answered. “We will guard the ship.”

As the final pieces of droid deleterious struck the surface of the hangar, the Corellian native drew back the bolt and ejected the spent round as he noted the Jensaarai had out her comlink. The mostly depleted magazine was replaced by a fresh one in a deft motion as Celevon stretched out a kink in his neck.

Whilst organic and cybernetic eyes swept the nooks and crannies for enemies lying in wait, there came a familiar mental nudge followed by a whisper at the edge of his senses. “We’re clear here and need to move immediately.”

Mere moments later, the mechanized voice of HK-72 came across the comlink linked through his armor’s onboard systems via one of Celevon’s vambraces. “Inferior hostilities terminated, Master. The Pirate Queen’s Temptress has a location on our primary target.”

“Acknowledged,” the Shaevalian-Umbaran replied absently as he focused on the pocket dimension that resonated with his Force signature. A few short seconds after the Seeker connected to it and maintained the link, the Oathbreaker rifle was dismissed in a flicker of ghostly viridian flame.

As soon as it vanished, Celevon leapt over the railing and dropped to the floor, where he landed in a crouch and returned to his full height. The moment he was upright, the Corellian native directed a short burst of Force energy through his limbs to enhance his speed and took off at a run.

The others in their crew, sans Rhan’s MagnaGuard and Velira who was elsewhere within the compound, wasted no time as they continued onward.