Lynne Jameroo
New Rebel Alliance
Posts: 181
Affiliation: New Rebel Alliance
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Post by Lynne Jameroo on May 23, 2019 7:09:08 GMT -8
Lynne, let the Headhunters go ahead, keeping her three E-Wings back to cover Endless Salvation. The Nebulon-B approached the fore section of the ruined ship. As they approached a sweep was made to identify any life forms aboard. As confirmation was announced through the ship on its PA system, a cheer from the crew went up. All medical personnel were busy either prepping by the airlock, or getting the medical bay ready and refamiliarizing themselves with Ryn physiology. Stabilizing the front half of the ship with the tractor beams, the docking tubes were extended. The hallway were Major Tethras stood turned red as the ready lights came on. Then a shutter went through the ship as it made contact with the other and the light changed Green.
=Merrill= Go, go, go! Guardians up front, keep blasters on stun, but ready. Medics move up when you get the all clear. Let's go!
Expertly the commandos moved into the derelict ship, shields up and ready, covering every angle and corner. Systematically they cleared each room, very familiar with the lay out despite the Salvation's modifications. They made their way toward the bridge of the ship, coming to the door, finding it sealed.
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Cain Dracus
Member
Retired
Posts: 120
Affiliation: The First Order
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Post by Cain Dracus on Aug 21, 2019 16:22:34 GMT -8
Sol Invictus - Outer Hull.One heavy footfall after another, the armored Zabrak made his way across the exterior of the massive Star Destroyer. It was a slow trek, certainly, but there was no opposition this way either. Though, as the Zabrak reached the peak within the hull, he knew it wasn't going to be that way much longer. Thick, pulsing tentacles were slowly etching their way across the exterior of the ship, as the Hivemind continued to grow larger with each passing minute. Regardless, Cain pressed forward. He needed to end this. Once and for all... Sol Invictus - Engineering Deck.In the span it had taken Cain to traverse half of the ship, the engineering deck was almost entirely unrecognizable. Thick, gooey biomass had crept across the floor like moss. Bulbous, quivering pustules grew along the walls. Infection forms occasionally burst forth from them, once the incubation process was complete. The odd combat form left behind, shambled about groaning every so often. No one living was left on this deck, and all of the ship's primary vital functions were now under the parasite's control. Which didn't bode well for the Imperials, holding position just outside of firing range of the vessel. Absorbing and being able to utilize the intelligence of its hosts, as well as accessing a collective intelligence that spanned eons, the Hivemind was able to quickly adapt to its surroundings as well as utilize weapons, equipment and even starships, given enough time. And this was no different. Having consumed various personnel across the ship, as well as still battle the few remaining holdouts across the ship, the Hivemind had gathered enough to know how to utilize the vessel it was on. Weapons, while poorly manned, came online. And with that, the Dracus had control of the ship. While nowhere near as skilled as their living counterparts, the Dracus manned weapons began spraying turbolaser fire out towards the Imperial ships. Whether or not it would have the desired effect, remained to be seen. The remaining fighters in the port-side hangar, on the other hand, were manned with Dracus Combat Forms and filled to the brim with Infection Forms, intent on capturing another ship. Launching from the hangar, these fighters, shuttles and other various space-worthy craft, swept forth haphazardly. Favoring speed over offensive capabilities, these ships surged forth, intent on flooding the surrounding Imperials. This 'divide and conquer' tactic, while reckless, was done purely to force the Imperials on the defensive while the Hivemind continued to gain greater control over the massive ship... Sol Invictus - Exterior Starboard Hull.As he neared the first section of starboard hangars that didn't have massive tentacles coming out of it, the armored Zabrak opened an access hatch and climbed down. Dropping down onto the service catwalk along the ceiling of the bay, Cain surveyed the scene. A sickly green fog hung in the air. And there was accumulated biomass everywhere. Entire starfighters were buried under the stuff. And thick tendrils ran across the floor. Further evidence that the Hivemind was continuously expanding across the ship. As he was about to move on, Cain dropped do his knees, shrieking beneath his helm, clawed fingers clutching his head. The Dracus Hivemind's voice echoed within his mind.Do I take life, or give it. Who is victim? And who is foe? Join your voice with mine and sing victory everlasting...As the pain subsided, Cain slowly rose to his feet and snarled loudly. Time was crucial. If the Hivemind managed to achieve full control over the Invictus, there would be no telling how it would spread. And if it did spread, unless the galaxy was united as a whole, there would be no stopping the Dracus. As an outbreak continued, the overall intelligence increased and each form became more and more capable. Soon, rather than seeing this haphazard attempt to take over another ship, they would be flying in formations and using the Order's tactics against them. And they they truly were in trouble. The sound of fresh klaxons blaring, brought the Zabrak out of his reverie. He had to move. Leaping down from the catwalk, the Sith landed on the ground with a wet squelch. The floor of the hangar, now covered in a moss-like biomass, cushioned his fall nicely. However, there was no time to take stock on what the Dracus was actually useful for... Sol Invictus - Command Bridge.The lift doors leading onto the bridge slid open, revealing a horde of Combat Forms and infection forms. Surging forward, the remaining command crew that were unable to escape in time, were soon felled and consumed. As the last living member fell with a suppressed gurgling noise, several tentacles rose up from the lift itself and began to intertwine around the consoles and stations, while an ominous, haunting laughter seemed to echo throughout the ship. A few minutes later, the engines of the Sol Invictus flared to life, and the vessel began to slowly move forward...
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Falmorn
Member
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Post by Falmorn on Jan 26, 2020 3:31:14 GMT -8
Deep in the Unknown Regions of space, a research station glowed a dull gray white as it rotated and reflected the light of a nearby star. It had been built into one of the rocks of an asteroid belt orbiting a gas giant. The doonium hull of the station had seen better days, but it still protected its inhabitants; a small group of Imperial Scientists and Stormtroopers. The crest of the Galactic Empire painted onto the hull was worn and weathered by the harsh conditions that the Empire had decided to place this particular installation. It had been years since they had been resupplied, so they did not have the resources to devote to something such as appearances. If the Emperor decided to show up, they would let their work outweigh the small crime of not keeping up the looks of the outside of the station.
The hangar bay doors slowly opened as what looked like a modified Sprint-class rescue craft slowly made its way towards the station. After it had docked, the thrusters on the outside of the research station rotated the asteroid it was built into back around, to hide the station from open space. While it was unlikely to be detected this far out into Unknown Regions, any detection was completely unacceptable given the work the station was tasked with. The shuttle slowly turned around before it landed inside the hangar and the engines hummed for a moment before falling silent.
Desari raised her arms up over her head, stretching with a groan as she relished the opportunity to finally be back home, or at least as close to a home as she had with this deployment. As a research officer with the Empire, she tended to get the bad details, but having been hand picked by a Moff who had in turn been hand picked by the Emperor himself gave her a small bit of satisfaction. Being on the short list for these special projects meant she could eventually expect a nice cushy retirement as a high ranking official somewhere in the Core. Desari turned to her co-pilot, another human research officer named Jovakenn. He was busy pouring over the numbers on a datapad, biting his lip as if praying that would give him the outcome he wanted. Desari raised an eyebrow and gave the man a shove.
"Maybe if you would stop telling them what they should be, we would actual make some progress."
Jovakenn looked over at his research partner with a bit of anger in his eyes.
"We have been at this for how many years without official word from the Empire? They may have just left us here to rot, so excuse me if the work is the only thing keeping me sane at this point. Maybe if we finally get the results that we were sent here to get, we can finally go home."
Desari rolled her eyes and put her hand on the shoulder of Jovakenn, a sorrowful look on her face. She shrugs as she starts speaking.
"I don't think you fully understand our orders, Jo. When we can finally replicate this stuff, we're not just packing up and leaving. The Commander sends a signal, an-"
Jovakenn interupts Desari, a bit of anger and impatience flaring up in the sound of the his voice.
"And we wait for further orders from the Empire, I know our orders, Des. I just..."
Jovakenn's statement trailed off and his eyes lit up. Desari frowned and stood up, trying to look at the screen of the datapad. Below the simulation that had been running on the datapad was a small box that was flashing green. Jovakenn flew up out of his seat, hitting the lever for the ramp of the shuttle to lower so he could run and tell the Commander the news. Desari smiled as she spoke aloud to herself, looking out of the viewport of the shuttle and out of the closing hangar doors, into the asteroid field.
"Well at least we can finally move on to the next phase."
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Falmorn
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Post by Falmorn on Jan 26, 2020 21:29:50 GMT -8
Commander Cauher looked out at of the viewport of his office at the slowly rotating gas giant the asteroid they're research station inhabited, a half empty glass of brandy in his left hand. The Imperial Intelligence officer's hair was graying on the sides, and his eyes looked like they had lost most of the hope they had once contained in the man's youth. Still, there was a fierce determination behind the sullen gaze that even all the years spent in this dead end of an assignment could not stamp out. Cauher turned as he heard a commotion outside the door to his officer. A frown formed on his face as the two Stormtroopers guarding the entrance let in one of the research officers who had been out collecting samples for their work. Cauher gestured for the man to calm himself and have a seat. The officer straightened his worn uniform as he sat down.
"Doctor Jovakenn, what seems to be the cause of your visit today? Is the shuttle making that rattling noise again, or some other problem that doesn't exist?"
Jovakenn scoffed at Cauher and slid the datapad he had brought with him. Cauher hesitantly picked up the datapad and went over the results of the simulations that been run on it. An interwoven group of lattices spun around on the screen in a sequential order, with power readings on each section rising in a specific order. After a few minutes of running, a green light appeared confirming the results of simulation. Cauher rubbed his chin in thought as he ran the simulation again, running each part in his mind as well as on the datapad. He thought about logistics and the supplies needed to match the . He set the datapad down and put his hands together. Jovakenn impatiently bounced his right leg as he awaited the Imperial Officer's opinion. After what couldn't have been more than a minute Jovakenn broke the silence.
"Well!? It can work! We should start right away!"
Commander Cauher raised his other hand to silence Jovakenn as he continued his train of thought. After another few minutes he finally spoke to the now exasperated Jovakenn.
"It will take most of the fuel we have left for the reactor and having to face a star for solar power on top of that...but yes. It can work."
With that confirmation Cauher turned slightly and entered something into his computer terminal. Hooking up the datapad to the terminal and uploading the simulation results to it, the Imperial Commander waited until a blue light signaled that the transfer was complete. The screen on the office wall light up and a full layout of the station, as well as what appeared to be a cave and tunnel system within the asteroid the station was built into. Both Cauher and Jovakenn stood up, walking over to the viewscreen. Jovakenn had seen these many times, he had helped mapped them. He turned to Cauher, who downed the rest of the brandy before speaking.
"We should move the creature before continuing. We know next to nothing about it after all these years. If this works it could get out of control and ruin the project. If we construct a temporary holding area "
Jovakenn shook his head furiously at the commander's suggestion, causing the officer pause with a look of displeasure growing on his face.
"No no, we can't move it."
Cauher raised an eyebrow at the research officer, causing him to stammer a bit of as he tried to explain.
"W-well, as I'm s-sure you know, C-commmander. The creature is connected to the material. To move it would mean either cutting it free or rearranging everything, which would make all of this meaningless."
Cauher turned back to the viewscreen and raised his free hand up to it to manipulate the image, zooming in on the tunnels and caves that permeated the large asteroid. His eyes fell upon a large chamber that all the tunnels and caves seemed to lead back to. His brow furrowed with dissatisfaction before he turned around and went a counter on the wall where was once a collection of fine alcohol that was now almost all empty after years of not being replenished. The officer grabbed one of the few bottles with anything left in it and pouring himself another couple of fingers of brandy.
"We can restrain it. It won't be a problem. We have the materials to shackle it down."
Cauher remained silent once more, swirling his drink in his cup as he then moved to his desk.
"You and Doctor Desari work on the plans and have them to me by the morning. We shouldn't waste time but I will not rush this. We do not want a repeat of what happened last time."
Cauher took a sip of his replenished drink before turning in his chair to look out again at the gas giant. He called out to the research officer as the man was hurriedly moving towards the door to leave.
"Oh and Doctor, do not tell anyone else about this...yet. I'll make the announcement after I have had a chance to look over and approve whatever you bring me. I do not want to get everyone's hopes up until we actually achieve our goal. Understood?"
Jovakenn cleared his throat and nodded, before realizing the commander was facing away from him.
"Y-yes sir. Doctor Desari and I shall begin work on the plans right away."
Jovakenn left the office of Commander Cauher and headed to the science lab to meet back up with Desari, his mind already racing to come up with ways to finish their work faster.
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Falmorn
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Post by Falmorn on Jan 29, 2020 1:48:29 GMT -8
"I don't understand."
Both Desari and Jovakenn were in the research lab. It was well equipped, despite not seeing much use. Some of the instruments even had a fine layer of dust gathering atop them, indicating they had not been used in some time. Both empty and half-empty cups of instant coffee were strewn about the lab. In fact, the lab had definitely seen cleaner days. Still, the chaos did seem to be organized to some degree, as Jovakenn had no problem going over to a counter with folders and papers strewn about and finding one in particular and tossing it to Desari, who began looking over the contents. The female research let out a huff and rolled her eyes.
"No, I understand the numbers that you're trying to make work, but you're not accounting for thermal expansion! If we pump this amount of power into the material, its going to expand. Either that or the energy burns it up from the inside and we lose everything."
Jovakenn threw his arms up in and fell back in his chair, exhaling a guttural sigh of frustration. They had gotten the plans to Commander Cauher, who had approved them on the condition that they put all other duties on hold to oversee the construction and repair operations in the asteroid's tunnels. There were collapsed tunnels that had to be cleared. Jovakenn sat back up in the chair and reached over
"I have been studying this material for what feels like half of my life at this point, I know what it will do when power is applied to it. I've run simulations, I've even tested samples. This stuff converts almost any kind of energy directed at it into something it can use, given there's enough of the material to disperse it out. I'm not saying it's limitless, it can burn out, but its stress limit grows exponentially as the amount of material is increased. The more material, the more power it can hold and convert."
Jovakenn wiped his hands over his face. Trying to explain xenobiology was mentally straining to someone who refused to accept that nature finds a way to make the impossible possible. He knew Desari wasn't stupid, but there was a reason he was taking the lead on this project. Jovakenn slapped his hands and swirled around in his chair, staring back up at the ceiling. Desari stood up and with her foot caught one of the armrests on Jovakenn's chair, stopping it.
"I know it just being you and I here isn't ideal. I'm an archaeologist and an engineer. The Empire sent me here to make sure whatever we found in these asteroids was properly excavated and maintained without damaging anything. But how many years has it been since your research team died? I might be a little slow on the pick up but after all this time, you know I just need this super brainy stuff explained to me a little simpler."
Jovakenn sighed and thought for a moment before cocking a smile with a mischievous sparkle in his eye.
"It just works."
Desari pushed his chair away with her foot, stifling a snort.
"How about you use that smart mouth for something useful and help me explain the importance of being precise to aging Stormtroopers?"
Jovakenn scoffed at Desari in dismissal as he slowly and awkwardly moved his chair back with his feet without getting up and stopped back at his workstation. The woman's face scowled and her eyes narrowed, shooting daggers into the man.
"Just as you have as much of a problem understanding this stuff, I have even more of problem understanding that stuff. I come up with the ideas, you put them into practice."
Desari moaned and moved to the coffee machine, getting herself a large cup of the caffeinated beverage to go before heading out of the research lab and to turbolift that led to an airlock into the tunnels. There were a few different access points to the tunnels that had been built for ease of access and transportation of machinery and even some larger excavation equipment they had been given for the project, at the request of Deari, of course. Surprisingly, they did not have to expand the tunnels that much. Whatever had caused them, or dug them, had been very generous in creating large spaces to move about. There will still some smaller tunnels tighter than even Desari could fit into, and she wasn't a large person by any degree. That was something odd that she had thought about each time she headed down into the asteroid. How much of the space inside the asteroid had been excavated, and how much had been naturally formed over the eons?
Desari moved over to her locker and grabbed her Enviro-suit, slipping into it and connecting its small onboard computer system to an excavation rig which was outside on its charging station. After triple checking all of her seals, Desari moved to the airlock and entered her code into the door, which logged her as exiting the main installation. Desari took a deep breath and walked out into the asteroid proper. The tunnels of the asteroid were large enough that it was difficult to see the top of them without flashing a light up at them. Upon closer inspection with a light source, there were strands of what appeared to be an extremely fine silk, much like that produced by many arachnid species. Desari walked slightly ahead of the excavation rig which floated above the ground, tethered to here by the link to her suit. She made sure to check the markers at each turn, getting lost would not be a death sentence but it would mean less time she was able to spend overseeing the 'construction' before needing to refill her tank. She was glad that the excavator had reserves, but they would only give her a few more hours, and walking to and from the main chamber took at least half an hour by foot. Still, she used to enjoy the quiet, back when there were more people at the station to get on her nerves and give her the need to escape for a little bit. Now though, they were finally closing in on their goal; something that would mean possibly leaving this station. If everything went according to plan, that is.
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Falmorn
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Post by Falmorn on Feb 2, 2020 2:19:36 GMT -8
The main chamber opened up like a dark maw as Desari entered into its expanse. The light emitted from her excavation rig swallowed up by the unrelenting blackness of the void. The glitter of the web-like material almost glistened in response to the new source of light for it be seen in. The only other respite from the darkness were floodlights where Stormtroopers equipped with rebreather packs worked. With the station being shorthanded, instead of security they were now assigned to assembly and construction for the project. The troopers moved to repair the webbing and restrain a still mass towards the far end of the chamber.
Desari slowly walked over to trying and find the Lieutenant, waving down a stormtrooper with an orange pauldron on his armor. The stormtrooper Lieutenant raised a hand in response before linking the signal from the doctor's commlink to his own so they could talk in private.
"Doctor, glad to see you finally arrived. We're still making slow progress repairing the broken webbing but we've moved all the loose beams we had here and have begun welding a frame to keep the creature from moving."
Desari moved past the Lieutenant and slowly made her way to look at the progress of the frame. Almost a dozen stormtroopers were welding metal beams around the dead creature. It was arachnid, but had some minor differences to the common spiders on most planets considered pests by many of the Universe's citizens. It was unmoving, as it had been ever since the research station had been built and they had begun their work. The creature was still an imposing sight, being roughly four meters in height, more if you included the size it could reach if it stood on its many limbs. The dark spheres the alien had as eyes still glinted in the light, open for an eternity to watch as its home was made another's, its mouth agape revealing fangs still ready to attack whatever had killed it.
Lieutenant Hawkkar moved to follow Desari and could not help but feel a shiver shoot down his spine as he looked at the carcass of the arachnid.
"Doctor Jovakenn really thinks this thing could wake up? Even after all this time of being dead?"
Desari shrugged and pulled her datapad out and sent out the exact location of where the power cables should be set. Several troopers began uncoiling the large spools of power cables from pulsators around the chamber and carefully leading them back towards the tunnels, where they would be hooked up to the power grid of the station.
"He has his theories, I'm still not convinced myself. Something about the web being a second brain. Since our head researcher died I think most of the time he is talking out of his ass. Regardless, the stuff it made can absorb energy. Has to be a reason for that, don't you think?"
The Lieutenant shrugged in response.
"I leave the thinking to the egg heads. I'll just be happy we might finally be wrapping things up here so we can get back to the Core."
Sparks flew from one of the pulsators as the cables to it and the base's power grid were linked, overloading the aging equipment. The Lieutenant cursed and switched his commlink to the open channel, barking out orders and yelling at the other troopers. Desari was about to head over to the pulsator to take a look at it, but paused, turning back to look at the creature. She stared straight into the black eyes of the alien, unsure if she saw something or not. She was jostled out of it by the Lieutenant grabbing her shoulder and motioning to the still sparking pulsator.
"Sorry to side track your reason for being down here, Doc, but we might need you to take a look at this. Don't want the Commander finding any reason for putting a failure on our shoulders."
Desari nodded and made a few steps towards the sparking machine, but not before turning back and looking at the remains of the alien for another moment. Finally, she dismissed her worries and walked over to help repair the broken equipment.
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Falmorn
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Post by Falmorn on Feb 6, 2020 3:36:29 GMT -8
Desari pulled her arm out of the sleeve of her Enviro-suit and wiped the sweat from her face as she continued work on the equipment in the chamber. The suit was well past its usable lifetime, and the extended use of it tended to make the life support system struggle with temperature regulation. The pulsator's energy converter was refusing to regulate the flow of the energy and completely overloading the power cells, causing the machine to spark and then shut down as the fuses, which also had been replaced to help minimize damage to the equipment. She finally found the issue, which was a faulty frequency regulator, which controlled the frequency of the pulses sent out from the machine. Desari, still staring into the casing of the machine to watch its inner workings for problems, raised her other arm and waved to the Stormtrooper who was on standby to slowly turn the power up.
Desari yelled in celebration over the open comm in delight as the machine sparked a few times before maintaining its charge and remaining on. The vibration of the pulses sent out into the webbing could be felt even through the boots of her suit. Each pulse caused the web to glow a bright electric blue light that spread out throughout the chamber from where the machine was attached. It was quite a beautiful sight, if not a little unnerving to have a better idea of how much of the material permeated the asteroid. Desari stood up, sliding her arm back into the sleeve of her suit before walking over to her rig and attaching a hose the rig to a refill port on her suit. After connecting she tapped a button on her wrist computer to test the seal before it began refilling her air tank. There was a hiss as the tank quickly filled and after a few moments the indicator light on the wrist-mounted datapad which controlled most of her suit's systems blinked. That was the last of the oxygen in her rig's reserve, so she had about six hours left before she would need to head back to the research base to refill her tanks. Desari closed off the valve to the refill hose and disconnected. She lifted her wrist to her visor and pulled up the map of the chamber and tunnels that pervaded the large floating space rock.
"You have got to be kidding me, Jovakenn.
Twenty red glowing circles were located on the map, indicating places where she would need to go to complete her assignment of implanting probes equipped with data scanning and processing packages. Desari hit her comm, trying to connect to the lab to give Jovakenn a piece of her mind. Minutes passed with no answer before she finally gave up on trying to chew the man out and huffed knowing she would have to try to do as many of the placements as possible before her oxygen ran out. It would take some doing, but she was determined not to have Jovakenn hold this over her head. Desari marched to the first location, located just next to the alien carcass, with her excavation rig following right behind her. After reaching the designated area, she opened up a container module on the rig and took out a long metal cylinder with a spike on one end, its diameter slightly bigger than her forearm. Kneeling down to the asteroid floor, she carefully moved aside some of the webbing to make a clear spot without damaging the material.
A small arm-like appendage extended from the cuboid chassis of her rig, stopping just over the spot Desari had picked. The Imperial Research Officer loaded the cylindrical probe into a slot in the arm, and manually brought it down. Hitting a button on her datapad, the probe shot out from a barrel like tube into the asteroid. Desari pressed a large red button on top of the probe, activating it and linking its startup program to her datapad to monitor that it was working properly. Every time the pulsators sent out a wave of energy into the web, the second brain Jovakenn had speculated it to be for years, came back to life for a moment. The probe read the signals that were activated by the pulses, and transmitted the data to the lab for translation, review and study. Desari hit another button on her wrist computer to retract the arm back into her rig, she sighed and turned around to head to the next closest location.
"One down.....Nineteen more to go..."
After the female research officer left, another pulse went through the webbing and into the arachnid. There was a small twitch in one of its limbs, but none of the Stormtroopers turned construction workers noticed the wounds on its carapace slowly heal.
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Falmorn
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Post by Falmorn on Feb 7, 2020 3:12:54 GMT -8
Desari glanced down at her wrist, checking the amount of time she had left in her oxygen tanks. A meter lit up on the display screen on her wrist, blinking bright orange as an early warning of her oxygen getting low enough that she could justify heading back to the base to take a break. She had been EVA for nearly twenty four hours, even using some of the Stormtroopers' spare oxygen tanks to operate outside for a longer period of time when she had been repairing the malfunctioning equipment in the main chamber. Now she was too far to try and make it there. If the Lieutenant gave her grief, she would then be too far away from the station's airlock entrance. Her only choice now was to head through the maze of tunnels straight to the airlock. She only hoped thirteen probes were good enough for Jovakenn for now, at least until she got some food and rest in her.
Desari readied the last probe into the arm of her rig and brought it over the desired area, in a nice thick area of webbing. She carefully moved aside some f the thinner strands so as not to damage the web. Finally she tapped the fire button on her wrist and smirked. The probe exited the barrel at high speed, piercing the top layer of rock. Desari imagined the echo she would have heard, if the asteroid was pressurized or she were doing this kind of work in an atmosphere. She hit the button atop the probe and monitored its boot up sequence for any errors. So far only three probes had given her problems, and she had to switch them out, but they had plenty to spare since she wasn't completing the full set of twenty yet. A green light blinked to life on her datapad, indicating the probe was finished starting up and was both scanning and transmitting data to the research lab. Her work finished for now, the Imperial Research Officer retracted the excavation rig's arm back into its chassis and pulled up her map, picked the quickest route, and started to make her way back to the base airlock.
At the lab, Jovakenn was combing over the data trickling in. It was strange, to say the least. Almost incomprehensible, at first anyway. If his theory was correct, this was data from a completely unknown specie's secondary brain, or something close to it. If he were able to figure out how the material held memory, and engineer or grow something similar, they could imprint anyone onto it, effectively ending death. With cloning people could effectively live forever. That was the ultimate goal of their project, to find a way to use this strange material detected by a survey droid in the Unknown Regions. So he had been chosen as one of thirty other scientists, engineers, and medical personnel assigned to the project. Now the only two of those left was Desari and himself.
Jovakenn frowned at some of the readings coming in as the number of probes increased. He switched the comlink on his desk online and hailed the Stormtrooper Lieutenant. The comlink let out a burst of static for a few minutes as the signal was spotty due to the interior of the asteroid giving interference. Finally the relay booster attached outside the airlock kicked online and the voice of the lead trooper came through loud and clear.
"How can I help you, Doctor? Are you trying to contact your research partner?"
Jovakenn rolled his eyes. While he and Desari had been forced to work together more closely than originally planned due to the circumstances beyond either of their control, neither of them considered the other a partner. More along the line of colleagues who aided one another. It wasn't that they were on unfriendly terms. In fact it was quite the opposite, the pair having even shared a bed together more than once over the years. But since the death of his actual research team he had never been able connect on that same level as some of the people he had lost, most of which he had gone to University with. Jovakenn had had even talked some of them into taking this assignment with him, which the guilt still kept him up at night. Jovakenn answered with an unintentional hint of disdain in his voice as the memories of his team dying came over him.
"If I was trying to reach her, I would have pinged her comlink. No, I want you to increase the power to the pulsators. I'm getting good data, but it still seems muddled. I want you to increase the frequency of the pulses as well. That should give me a more consistent reading as well as increase the longevity of the data bursts sent by each probe."
There was a pause and a sigh from the Lieutenant as he stifled some choice words he had almost blurted out at the Doctor for his curt attitude. Hawkkar cleared his throat before speaking back to the lab.
"Roger, Doctor. I can boost the frequency of the pulses and increase the power, but that'll put more strain on the generator, won't it? Did you pass this by Commander Cauh-"
Jovakenn cut off the trooper at the mere mention of having to pass anything by the Commander. He blamed the Cauher for much of what had happened at the research base, most of all the delay in his work. He would not let that man get in the way of what might be his best chance at completing his research and getting to leave this rock. Having to go back to that man with his tail between his legs once again just for simple approval of a power increase made his blood boil.
"Commander Cauher is more than aware of the work we are doing at this base, and I do not need to stress the importance of my work to the Empire. The quicker you do what I say the quicker we get to go back to the Core."
Jovakenn cut the signal to the Lieutenant, leaning back in his chair with a self important smirk. While he was sure he would catch attitude from the Stormtroopers for awhile, they would all be singing his praise as he unlocked the secrets to immortality and got them all home. Jovakenn checked the readouts on his datapad. Thirteen different probes were relaying data to his equipment, which he was reviewing even as it was also trying to interpret that information. As the power and frequency of the pulses emitted by the pulsators was increased, more data flooded in from the probes, and soon the computers were able to begin to more clearly piece together words and even images. They were still very muddled, but it was an amazing leap in what they had been getting earlier. Jovakenn activated his comlink once more to try and contact Desari. She answered the hail with a slightly annoyed tone.
"I'm almost out of air, Jovakenn. I'm already at the airlock. I'm coming in and taking a break. You can chew me out later."
While disappointed that he would have to wait for more probes to be put into place, he was still excited at what he was seeing. The images slowly became more clear. A whole life was unfolding before his eyes. Dozens, hundreds, maybe even thousands of images were being compiled from the signals. The excitement was very noticeable in his voice, surprising Desari and making her a little suspicious.
"It can wait, just get up to the lab as soon as possible! You have to see this!"
With that brief declaration, Jovakenn cut the signal to turn his full attention to the data that was still pouring in with each pulse. Desari sighed as she got dressed out of the stuffy enviro-suit and immediately went to the showers. She could smell the result of nearly a full day in the suit without a break and she would not be caught dead walking around the base like that. Jovakenn would have to wait.
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Falmorn
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Post by Falmorn on Feb 9, 2020 2:45:50 GMT -8
Desari sat in her chair in the lab, watching as Jovakenn paced back and forth in the lab, rambling on and on for nearly an hour trying to explain the readings he had been getting to the female Imperial research officer. Each time he paused to let her acknowledge that she understood what he was saying, she would give the same answer in a bored monotone voice.
"So its actually like a data-tape, not a brain."
Each time this caused the Imperial scientist to burst out in rage and go back several notes, pointing at examples of not just images of memories but even other signals for what could be abstract thought and internal discourse that they could not yet interpret. At one point Desari had gotten up and left to go get them both some food from the mess hall. When she returned Jovakenn was still prattling on to himself about the intricacies of neurological function and how memory was stored in the neurons, and to access them there needed to be biological processes for the creature to read them. The engineer and archaeologist sat down and began eating her ration bar. She pointed it at Jovakenn in a matter-of-fact manner.
"Right, like a data-tape."
Jovakenn ran his hand through his thinning hair in frustration, but froze with a frown on his face as his eyes caught the screen of still flashing images being sent from the probes. On the screen was a blurry but still distinguishable image of Stormtroopers in white armor equipped with rebreather packs. Desari turned her head in confusion look at the monitor as well. She tapped the screen a few times before speaking back to Jovakenn.
"Looks like the cameras froze. All this aging equipment I'm surprised your able to get such a clear picture from the chamber.
The blood quickly drained from Jovakenn's face; turn pale out of both excitement and terror. He had always known it was a possibility that the creature could be revived, but never in all his years did he think it would happen. Maybe after being able to take the body into a proper lab and more closely examining it. He was glad they had restrained the creature with overlapping beams of metal, though he was fearful how the arachnid would react, especially if it was sentient.
"We don't have any cameras out there...That's from the probes..."
There was an audible gasp that escaped Desari's lips at this revelation. Before Jovakenn had even begun to fully process the ramifications of the creature's revival, his hand was grabbed by Desari, who was jumping up and down with excitement. Desari was grinning ear to ear as she embraced Jovakenn, who simple stood still, still dumbstruck. Desari pulled back from the hug, and immediately started pulling him towards the doors of the lab.
"We need to get down there as quickly as possible! This is amazing! If its sentient, maybe it can tell us more about its kind! How its webbing works! How it came back to life!"
Jovakenn finally snapped out of his stupor as he was now being dragged out of his lab and down the hall to the turbolift. He blinked a few times before looking around, his gaze resting on Desari, his brow furrowed in confusion how he got into a lift for a moment. He checked his pockets before letting out a not so quiet curse under his breath.
"Sithspit! My comlink. It's still back in the lab! We need to raise the Lieutenant and inform him that the creature may be conscious."
Desari dismissed the man's concerns with a wave of her hand, a mischievous smile crossing her lips.
"If its hostile, its secured under tons of metal. Besides, it'll make him jump right out of his armor!"
Jovakenn rolled his eyes and put his hands on the woman's shoulder to calm her, shaking his head in disappointment. The last thing he needed was having to deal with another chewing out from Commander Cauher for one of Desari's pranks that she tended to pull every so often. With her demeanor and penchant for disobey or standing up to command, he had never been able to surmise how she was able to obtain such an important assignment. Granted, her abilities in the field were without a doubt on a different level; her having almost single-handedly dealt with all of the real world application of all his experiments. Not only that but she had overseen the repairing the damage to the station years ago.
"Let's just hope he doesn't notice and shoot the thing and kill it again before we have a chance to try and interact with it. He and his platoon have had itchy trigger fingers ever since we first got here."
The turbolift came to a stop and the doors opened up to the airlock room. Jovakenn released his light grip on Desari's shoulders and went to go grab his enviro-suit. Desari huffed a bit in annoyance at the thought of the Stormtroopers' shoot first mentality.
"Maybe you're right. Sorry, I just wanted to get down here as quickly as possible. Let's hurry and get to the chamber."
After the pair had checked the seals on their suits, they logged the exit of the airlock and opened the exit into the asteroid proper. They linked their suits to the waiting excavation rig, and the hovering machine slowly followed behind them as they made their way into the tunnels leading to the main chamber of the asteroid.
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Falmorn
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Post by Falmorn on Feb 11, 2020 4:08:23 GMT -8
The pair of research officers slowed as they made their way through the tunnels to the central chamber within the asteroid, using the time they had to discuss a plan of attack when it came to communication. Desari was no biologist, but she had picked on enough to somewhat understand the basic theory Jovakenn had on how the creature would communicate if it was Sentient.
"It could use pheromones, much akin to those filthy beings the Jawas, and have to use a form of sign language. Maybe even telepathy like the Iktotchi! If I still had a complete team, we would have been able to do more than a cursory examination."
Jovakenn jerked his right arm up and began fiddling with the datapad, pulling up a simple diagram of different signs and their corresponding meaning. Desari curiously glanced over as she saw the man start to make hand gestures in the vacuum of the tunnel. She chuckled at the man's poor attempt at constructing a simple sentence, she put her hands over his, attempting to stop the man from butchering the language any more than he already hand.
You would be better off just using the translator program. Besides, we do not even know if they even have the concept of language as we know it! They could communicate by arranging dust particles floating in space, or by emitting radiation from their bodies. We will not know until we get there."
Jovakenn huffed, annoyed that Desari was trying to stamp out his enthusiasm and excitement. Still, he did realize they should have brought more equipment with them. If he had not been some dumbstruck that they were getting live memories being created within the webbing, he would have been able to pack up a whole suite of scanners and sensors to better check if the arachnid gave off any sort of signal, light or even heat with a pattern that could be akin to language. He would of at least had something to go off of to deconstruct, analyze and create a more refined translating program.
There was a dim glow of blaster bolt impacts on several parts of the webbing as the tunnel came around a bend into the main chamber, causing the duo to both panic and pick up the pace. Jovakenn knelt down to inspect some of the damaged webbing at the beginning of the bend in the tunnel, while Desari went ahead to check on the troopers, but more importantly, the alien. Jovakenn carefully ran a gloved hand along the fibers of the web, and carefully looked over the damaged areas. While some of the strands were sizzling and clearly burned, none were destroyed as far as he could tell. Curiously, the researcher pressed a hand down onto the web and pushed down until he felt the rocky surface of the tunnel floor. After a moment he could feel the small amount of heat still dissipating. The energy from the blaster bolts having been transferred by the web to the rock and metal of the asteroid in the form of heat energy. It had not been entirely effective, some parts were worse than others, but Jovakenn was in awe at the material's ability to protect itself. It made sense if its was such an important aspect of the creature's biology that it would not be so susceptible to being destroyed, his tests had even proved this somewhat, but seeing it in action in the real world and not a lab was amazing to him. Was that why it was attached to the asteroid? To have somewhere besides itself to transfer any surge of energy it could not handle? Jovakenn was startled by the crackle of the speaker of his suit's comlink as Desari tried to get his attention from inside the chamber.
"Jo, you need to see this."
Cautiously Jovakenn got up and approached the other side of the bend, the tunnel opening up to the chamber. He did not even make it to be next to Desari before his jaw dropped at what he saw.
The bodies of what had been the research installation's aging security force were now strewn about the central chamber, lifeless. The floodlights that were not completely broken flickered, the emitters cracked and lighting the still settling dust in the air from what had been a massive struggle. The makeshift cage that they had been so careful to construct before they had started trying to repair and reactive the web, made out of large metal beams, was bent and torn. The end of the metal beams were bent upward, stretching up as if still trying to grasp the prisoner they once held. Some of the Stormtroopers were ripped apart, pieces of armor, flesh and whole extremities floating around. Several of the pulsators were shot to scrap, riddled with blaster fire to shut them down. Still, even with the few that were still working, a bright electric blue pulse expanded out throughout the web, even if it were at slower intervals.
The body of Lieutenant Hawkkar clung to the floor of the tunnel by one mag boot, the rest of him floating like a rag doll from the momentum of his final moments. The Stormtrooper leader's armor cleanly penetrated by a single hole through the visor of his helmet. The residue of blood that had boiled from the vacuum still clung to area of the puncture. A mist of crimson hung in the air where ever a trooper's corpse lay or floated, mixing with the kicked up space dust of their struggle.
In a panic Jovakenn deactivated his mag boots and kicked himself backward, trying to get back to the airlock as quickly as possible. His foot was caught by Desari, who despite all of his struggle held on until he was firmly connected back to the surface.
"Jo! Wait! We need the Lieutenant's helmet! We have to know what happened! He had recording hardware in his armor!"
Jovakenn threw a hand up, gesturing towards all of the bodies of their dead comrades.
"They're dead! We know that thing did it, so why do we need to see which order they died in!?"
With a roll of her eyes, Desari grasped onto Jovakenn and deactivated her mag boots, using him to launch towards the partially afloat corpse of Hawkkar. As she went through the mist of blood her a fine red layer grew on her enviro-suit, causing her to wipe the clear helmet with a gloved hand. The residue smeared, but she could see enough to grab onto the arm of the Stormtrooper, using his still anchored foot as an anchor and lever to swing herself down in a single motion. Desari hesitated as she brought her hands up and began to remove the helmet of the dead trooper, gagging at the sight of the round hole through the eye of the man, almost clean through to the other side of his skull. Desari carefully deactivated her grav boots again and with her free hand, the other carrying the helmet of Hawkkar, sent herself back in the direction of Jovakenn, who caught her and helped her back onto the ground. Desari triumphantly shoved the helmet at Jovakenn, who took it and held onto it, his apparent punishment for cowardice.
"See? Easy!"
The pair began to make their way back the way they came, through the same tunnel they had just ventured through, to return to the airlock and make it back to the research base.
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Falmorn
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Post by Falmorn on Feb 19, 2020 20:00:45 GMT -8
There was a visible twitch of the creature's legs, giving the Stormtrooper pause for a moment as he questioned what he saw. The arachnid's many legs lurched and pressed against the rocked, the metal beams creaking, the strength of the alien straining the metal close to its breaking point. It sat back down for a moment before ramming its carapace against the beams of durasteel. The metal twisted upward as the force of the brunt movement of the alien snapped the beams and bent them in a bid for its freedom from the makeshift cage. Red blaster bolts shot out at the creature, impacting the vacuum hardened body of the now living and very aggressive arachnid as well as the surrounding webbing lining the chamber walls and the bare asteroid rock, what little was not covered in the material. The alien seemed to shrug off the attacks, but at the impacts on the web, it reared up and pushed itself from the wall it had clung on to, launching towards the closest Stormtrooper.
The Stormtroopers tried to move out of the way, but the lack of gravity restricted their movements, their having to rely on their mag-boots clinging to the asteroid to remain solidly on the ground. One had enough sense to turn his off, launching up into the chamber off the ground. His escape was cut off as one of the limbs of the creature reached out and grasped firmly around his ankle. With little effort the Stormtrooper was slammed into the ground face first. The trooper clutched at his helmet as the visor shattered and all the air evacuated from his body. With the momentum of its attack, the spider-like creature pounced on the other troopers still trying to move out of the way, using its other limbs to both grab them by various parts of their armor and then tearing them apart by their limbs. The spasms of pain were as clear as day, even with their armor, as the troopers each died like insects having their legs and wings ripped off. Silent screams eaten by the vacuum of space could be felt as the troopers were slaughtered.
A hand outstretched at the pulsators as a bright blue hue of energy traveled through the web, and into part of the creature's back where it was attached. A blaster was brought up and more bolts of energy flew out to the machinery, one almost immediately sparking and seizing up as it ceased to function. There was a sudden distortion as the blaster in the bottom of the field of view dropped, and the trooper went limp, his helmet pierced by the tip of one of the alien's legs. There was a jerk as the spear-like end of the leg was pulled out, blood simultaneously shooting out and boiling in the vacuum. The arachnid was only seen again as it crawled along the walls, deeper into the tunnels of the asteroid. After nearly an hour, the only thing that was seen other than the webbing covered wall, there was motion as the body of the trooper was used as an anchor. Desari could be seen, covered in the blood residue she had floated through, as she removed the helmet of the Lieutenant and the feed shut off.
The trio of Commander Cauher, Jovakenn and Desari sat in the Commander's office, sitting in fearful silence at the recording they had just watched. Commander Cauher took off for uniform cap for a moment and ran his hands through his graying hair. While not outwardly showing any signs of fear, the Commander was shaken. Still, there was excitement in his tone of voice.
"Do either of you know what this means?"
There was silence from both of the other people in the office, not even a shake of the head in acknowledgement of the question. The Imperial Commander stood up and pulled up two images of the arachnid on the viewscreen. One being its initial discovery in the asteroid, dead; the other a still image of it pouncing on Stormtroopers, alive. Jovakenn and Desari seeme to wince at the second image, but the Commander laughed and outstretched his arms at the screen.
"It means it is possible! The whole reason we were stationed here! We have undeniable proof now!"
Desari stood up took a step towards Cauher, her eyes almost on the verge of tears. Everything that had happened, the reality of the situation setting it.
"Those were our friends that that thing killed, Commander! Not only that, but without them, how are we supposed to recapture the creature? The only troopers left are the ones guarding your door!"
Desari stepped back and sat back down, wiping her eyes on the sleeve of her shirt. Jovakenn was sweating, still terrified by what he had seen in the chamber. The Imperial Researcher sat silent as Cauher began to pace around his office.
"Why do we need the creature now? It has proven the concept Jovakenn's team were researching is within the realm of possibility. Let it have the outside, it is no longer of consequence."
There was a rumbling in the hull of the station for a moment before the lights and screens in Commander Cauher's office flickered for a moment before going dark. After a moment the emergency lighting came up. The Commander let out a curse and hit the comm on his deck. The speaker was silent and unresponsive, and a moment a stormtrooper burst into the office, his armor covered in black soot.
"Commander, the reactor room was breached! We're not sure what happened. I was on patrol when I heard it, but didn't get far when there was an explosion."
Jovakenn put his head in his hands and started shaking his head.
"This is its home, Commander! It's not just going to let us stay here and coexist, give us the secrets to its species' biology! It woke up pinned to the floor, surrounded by soldiers after dying from who knows what! We are invaders!"
The Commander walked over to Jovakenn and smacked him across his face. Jovakenn grabbed his face and gave the man a death glare. Before he could make a retaliatory move, the two Stormtroopers ran up and grabbed the research officer, slamming him onto the ground and pinning him. Desari stood up once more, anger visible across her face as she yelled at Cauher.
"Commander, stop it! Jovakenn is right and you know it! We need to signal the Empire and get out of here! We can take all of our data with us, and complete our work with a whole team of scientists! We cannot finish it alone, especially if you kill the only scientist left on the station!"
Desari shoved one of the troopers, who lifted himself up from the still pinned Jovakenn and took a step toward the much smaller woman. Commander Cauher raised a hand, the stormtrooper stopping in his tracks. Cauher had a look of disgust on his face as he waved a hand and the other trooper wrested Jovakenn from the ground to stand him up, but kept his arms pinned behind him. The look of anger was still in Jovakenn's eyes, but more so there was fear. The Commander took a step towards the man and spoke with a frighteningly soft and calm tone of voice.
"We are not leaving this station. We could not even if I ordered us to. With the generator's offline, there is not enough power to activate the beacon to signal the Empire to come and get us."
Jovakenn lunged at the Commander, held back by the strong grip of the trooper holding his arms pinned behind his back. Cauher merely stood still, a stoic and self important look on his face. He sighed with a slight roll of his eyes.
"Calm yourself, Doctor. If you do not, I am afraid it will not be you who pays the price for your insubordination."
Jovakenn stopped and turned to Desari, who now had a frightened look in her eyes as the second stormtrooper took another step towards her. She stepped back, raising her arm up ready to defend herself if the trooper tried to attack her. Jovakenn's shoulders slumped, Commander Cauher nodding at the trooper holding him, who released the researcher. Jovakenn fell to his knees, his gaze slowly moving back up to meet Cauher's.
"We will continue our work."
A satisfied sneer came across the Imperial Commander's lips as he moved over to his assortment of liquor bottles. Cauher poured himself a generous serving of brandy, the last of that bottle, and took a long sip.
"Good, now do not waste any more of my time. Troopers, escort them to their lab. They have work to do."
The Stormtroopers grabbed both Desari and Jovakenn by their shoulders, pushing them out of the commander's officer, and then escorting them back towards the station's research lab. Desari slowly moved closer to Jovakenn, speaking in a hushed tone so the troopers would not hear.
"I have a plan..."
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Ayeniner
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Post by Ayeniner on Mar 7, 2020 11:11:29 GMT -8
The villip on the Avatar of Yun-Yammka's shoulder pulsates. He stops and touches it gently. It inverts with a squelch. Tokin Herr's miniature face barks at him.
"Orik, return to the Redeemer. The Yun'O call us back to our cradle, and the infidels begin to arrive."
The tall warrior nods his obedience. Though he wants nothing more than to spill more infidel blood and set this galaxy aflame, he knows his vengeance will only be enacted if he follows the Most Holy in all things. This he knows with a surety like none other. "I return."
"I do not!" hisses Ftkyron. "We are finally here, on board one of their filthy ships. It would be an insult to the Gods if we leave it intact."
Dwymek remains silent, and that is good. Orik has no time to deal with two headstrong warriors. "The insult to the Gods is a warrior who puts his own bloodlust above their Holy Work. Do you think one vessel matters to the glorious Yun-Yammka, when the Most Holy plans to purge all the infidels from the face of this entire galaxy?!"
Ftkyron considers this for a moment, but Orik does not have moments to spare. He gestures to Dwymek and the two begin jogging back to the Redeemer. "I do not care whether you come back," Orik yells over his shoulder, "but do not bring shame upon the Chosen Race by failing."
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Ayeniner
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Post by Ayeniner on Mar 14, 2020 6:38:33 GMT -8
Orik arrives back at the Redeemer with Dwymek. Kyron has not come with them; his fate is sealed. Passing into the sphincter-like muscle that anchored the Yuuzhan Vong void creature to the infidel monstrosity, the Avatar of Yun-Yammka orders his accompanying warrior to defend the entrance. "No infidels are to step foot on the Redeemer."
Dwynek nods his understanding and Orik, amphistaff coiled around his waist and his vonduun armour encrusted with infidel blood, heads to the chamber where the Most Holy directs their pious mission. He notes that some of the coral that makes up the inner surfaces of the Redeemer is pale, and he recognises this as the creature being wounded and diverting vital blood supply to effected areas. He places a hand on one such plate and whispers a prayer to the Yun'O. The Redeemer has a special place in the history of the Chosen Race now, just like he, the shaper mistress, Most Holy and the devout pilot do. They have all started their magnificent race back on the path to redemption, and Orik knows - no, he has faith - that the Yun'O would not fail them now.
The Redeemer is sparsely populated. In fact, the number of infidel captives now outnumber the Yuuzhan Vong. They are held by Numi's dovin basals in a larger chamber. It would be an insult to have them close to the navibrain, or the Tall-Yor, or the Most Holy for that matter. Orik Kanor steps into the command chamber. Dromin Rag's face is obscured by the cognition hood that links him to the Redeemer. Orik finds himself battling away jealousy at that close connection. The pilot could not hope to understand the relationship between Orik and his amphistaff, for example.
The architect of their ascension, Tokin Herr, stands off-centre. His cloak seems to sense his excitement and Orik sees its teeth bite further into the priest's shoulders. Tokin's mouth twitches in momentary pleasure before beckoning the warrior further. "Come, Avatar of Yun-Yammka. Your mission was a complete success."
Orik shakes his head. "Most Holy, two of my warriors were lost to the infidels."
Tokin barks, it is guttural and predatory. "They were not strong enough. The Yun'O are simply weeding out the weak so that we may be strong."
Most Holy places his hand on Dromin's shoulder. "Let us return to Sekot. We have a new Empire to build."
The Redeemer releases its prey. With the sealed link between the perfect creature and the infidel monstrosity broken, the vacuum of space has access to the medical frigate and causes more damage, though the remaining inhabitants probably prefer the cold, unfeeling destruction of space to the murderous intent of the Chosen Race.
Like a benign comet, the Yorik-Strohna silently moves away and out of sight. Once Dromin is certain their aren't being followed, he urges the Redeemer to enter darkspace.
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Falmorn
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Post by Falmorn on Jan 12, 2021 0:39:05 GMT -8
Jovakenn glanced over at the single stormtrooper guarding the door to the research station's lab. The armored individual shrugged as he caught the look directed at him from the Imperial researcher. ::Orders are orders, doc:: The trooper said, causing Jovakenn to roll his eyes in response. The male researcher stood up and approached the trooper, who adjusted his E-11 blaster in his grip as she did so. "Your life is also your life. If we don't do something, we're all dead. Why die for a man who already let the rest of your platoon die? It's just you and Jasaov left, Trezand." Stormtrooper Trezand stood silent, his helmet hiding his facial expressions as Jovakenn stared directly into his visor. His pleading look turned to disgust as the trooper took a step forward and motioned for him to go back to work. ::The sooner you and Dr. Desari finish, the sooner we can signal the Empire for reinforcements. Otherwise they died for nothing. Get back to work:: Jovakenn let out a groan and went back over to his workstation. Desari spun around in her chair, a smug look on her face. "I told you trying to appeal to him wouldn't work, Jo. The more you challenge someone's beliefs, the more they dig in their heals. Trezand is a true believer." Desari turned to look at trooper Trezand, giving the man a forced smile and sarcastic nod. Trooper Trezand remained silent in response, ignoring the insubordination. Jovakenn sighed and turned back to his workstation to pick up where he left off. Desari spun back around in her chair to her own workstation, where she continued constructing something to help them escape.
Down in the engineering level of the station, Command Cauher looked over a map of the research station on a wall, with indicator lights located at different points. Out of the many different lights only a handful were a steady green, with a large majority of them being yellow, and many others blinking red, particularly around the area of the power generator. Cauher's face was rigid with anger, cold and intense. He looked at the report that the maintenance worker had given him, referring to both the map and report to understand the damage. Most of what filled the report was old problems, things that they did not have the resources or manpower to fix, not anymore. What interested the commander was the red indicator lights, which was where the creature had punctured the hull of the station and damaged their generator. "How long until you can fix it?" The maintenance worker, a human named Ral, shook his head. "There's no fixing it, sir. We ran out of replacement parts years ago. Best I can do is get her output up to forty percent, but only for a couple hours. Any longer would risk completely burning it out." The commander's face contorted with red hot anger, and he took a step towards Ral, staring the man down. The maintenance worker stod his ground, his face showing that he was not intimidated or impressed by the commander's looks. Finally the Imperial Officer relented, and he took a few steps to the side of the man with an audible snarl. "Fine. But make it your focus. We need as much power as we can get. Otherwise we're dead." Ral raised his hands in a questioning gesture. "Commander, it's just me left down here. If I could I would do everything you wanted a more, but I'm only one man." Without another word Commander Cauher walked to the elevator and left the engineering deck of the station. Ral began to put on his Enviro-suit to try and get the generator in semi-working order, grumbling about the giant hole in the hull.
"Jo take a look at this, will you?" Desari said to Jovakenn inside the research lab. Jovakenn spun around in his chair and stood up, walking over the few feet to inspect what it was Desari wanted to show him. His eyes widened in surprise and disbelief. Trezand turned his head slightly to watch the two as they conversed amongst themselves, before gesturing for him to come over. "Trezand! Come look at this. We think we have something that Cauher will want to see." Trooper Trezand walked over, motioning for them to move back with his blaster rifle, before he stopped before Desari's workstation. Before the trooper could fully inspect the device on the table, it sparked and sent out several arcs of electricity, one striking the trooper squarely in the chest. He fell to the floor, a large scorch mark on his armor. Jovakenn turned to Desari. "Geez, Des! You didn't have to kill him!" Desari ran over to the unmoving trooper and checked for his pulse. She let out a sigh of relief. "He's not dead." Desari grabbed the E-11 blaster rifle on the ground next to the unconscious stormtrooper, and began inspecting it. "Been years since I've laid hands on a blaster." Jovakenn ducked as she looked down the sights and turned in his direction, though not directly at him. "Watch where you point that thing!" Desari smirked and lowered the blaster rifle. "Relax. It's like flying. You never forget." Jovakenn shook his head in disapproval. "I've seen you fly, so that makes me worry more." The research officers gave a heavy sigh and looked to the door, pointing at it to indicate the last remaining stormtrooper in the station, who was guarding Commander Cauher's office. "I assume we're going to use that to take out Jasaov?" Desari's smirk morphed into a mischievous smile, which made Jovakenn take a step back. "I'm not going to like this, am I?"
"Trooper! Help! She's got a blaster!" Jovakenn shouted as he ran around the corner towards Cauher's office, waving his arms to get trooper Jasaov's attention. The stormtrooper raised his blaster rifle and aimed it at the research officer. ::Stop, doctor! Explain what happened:: Jovakenn wheezed as he came to a stop, doubling over with his hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath. "She did something. Knocked out Trezand and grabbed his rifle. Said she was heading to the hangar to steal the shuttle." Trooper Jasaov paused for a moment before the realization set in and he ran off towards the hangar, only to be met by a large blue ring. The trooper fell to the deck, unconscious. Desari rounded the corner, taking the stormtrooper's cuffs and using them to bind his hands together. She also grabbed his code cylinder and blaster rifle, handing the blaster to Jovakenn. The man held the weapon as if he had never handled one in his life, but this was a situation that he would rather have one than not. Jovakenn tried to keep up as Desari started walking again. "What's the next step of this wonderful plan of yours? Because it just seems like a mutiny." Desari rolled her eyes as she inserted the code cylinder into the reader of the door, which began to open. "There's not really a better word for it, but it's either that or die when that thing eventually attacks again. What if next time it rips through the hull where we are?" Jovakenn stopped walking and looked nervously at the ceilings and walls. Desari turned around and grabbed him by his arm, dragging him into the commander's office. "Don't think about it! We need to act fast. We need the hangar codes, and anything else we can get off his console." Desari moved Jovakenn to just inside the door to the commander's office and turned him around to face outside. "Stand here, yell if you see anyone coming." Jovakenn nodded nervously. Desari then turned and ran over to the imperial officer's computer at his desk, trying to find what she was looking for.
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Non-Com Or'dinii
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Post by Non-Com Or'dinii on Feb 15, 2021 13:00:48 GMT -8
==Archive of Souls SL== <<88 PP; G11 Sector>> The Archive of Souls, one of the holiest places for those of Clan D'Ordinii. It was not located in what could be considered a population center of any kind. The system in question had no other population of any kind. It was even lacking habitable planets. There were two planet in the system that could theoretically terraformed & inhabited, along with several possible moons. It was on the further out of the two planets that the Archive of Souls rested, safely under the sustaining protection of a heavily armored & shielded biodome. Inside the dome, most of the space was covered in lush green gardens. The Archive building itself was a massive cruciform structure nearly fifty meters tall, with the central dome & various spires rising nearly twice that height. Each of the wings extending nearly a half a kilometer from the central dome. Each wing of the Archive was capped on the end in an ornate entrance with a central door nearly four meters tall, flanked on either side by four more three meter tall doors. Each face was a intricate maze of columns, carvings & stained glass windows. Once inside, the a pair of hallways stretched clear from one entrance to the entrance on the far side, crossing in the center under the immense mural tiled onto the underside of the dome. Lining both sides of each of the corridors were ranks upon ranks of small rooms, with regular stairways & promenades granting access to the rows above the first.Within one of these small nearly countless cells was an older gentlemen sitting behind a stone desk that matched the rest of the building flawlessly. The room was cramped, only three meters on a side. Only one small door led into the room. From the door it was possible to see that the stonework between the small room & the main hallway was nearly two meters thick. At the back of the room, behind the desk & the man sitting at it, was a small, narrow window, showing the external stonework to be equally thick.The man spent much of his time in the room. Admittedly, much of that time was spent watching various shows on his HUD & waiting for a knock on his door. A knock that came at that very moment. Pausing his show & minimizing that tab, he made sure everything was in place.-Vatus Enter, please. The figure that entered was young & a little nervous. Obviously one of the new graduates from one of the training worlds instead of the rarer adult recruits. -Vatus Please, have a seat. Datapad, please. Vatus motioned at the only other seat in the room, directly across the desk from him. Once seated the young man handed over his datapad. Vatus didn't even bother to look at it yet, there would be time for that after the final exam. An exam none were told about until they reached this point.-Vatus Judging from the fact you are here, you have passed all your exams. Please recite the Resol'nare. The young man seemed a little surprised by that, but only took a moment to reply the the seemingly odd question.-Young Man Ba'jur bal beskar'gam, Ara'nov, aliit, Mando'a bal Mand'alor— An vencuyan mhi. Vatus nodded, it was a simple enough final test, but there was still the occasional one that got this far without being able to answer. Pressing a small button on a comlink in his armor, the pair were soon joined by a small floating droid carrying a octagonal metal plate. Leaving it in the center of the desk the droid carefully floated to the corner of the room.-Vatus Please remove any jewelry or clothing from your dominate hand & forearm. The Process may damage them. Once the young man had complied, Vatus pulled out a small flask of clear fluid, pouring it into a shallow stone tray sitting beside the metal plate. It was the only other object on the desk except a stylus made of stone.-Vatus This is a special acid, it will not affect your skin, but will eat carefully into the metal of the plate. Please press your hand into the acid, then firmly in the center of the metal plate. To prove his point, Vatus dipped his finger into the fluid as he was talking. After another pause, the young man pressed his hand into the tray. Withdrawing it, he pressed down on the center of the tray. The fluid tingled but didn't burn. At a nod from Vatus, he withdrew his hand. Passing across a disposable towel for the young man to dry his hand on, Vatus checked the plate. A clear hand print had been burned into the metal, sinking nearly halfway through, but clear enough to show every line on the young man's hand.Finally checking the young man's datapad, Vatus began the careful, delicate job of transcribing the information to the metal plate using the stone stylus & the acid left in the tray. Soon, above the hand print was the string "EnTem-G5-HFI1934" Marking him as a Fifth Generation Engineer Template. Below it was the young man's chosen name "Castor Silverlock". Once Vatus was done, the droid gathered up the plate & vanished with it again. Taking a moment to pour the little remaining acid into a container hidden beneath the desk, Vatus congratulated the young man.-Vatus You are officially part of Clan D'Ordinii & a true mandalorian as well. Welcome Brother. ==Archive of Souls SL== <{110 PP, Galactic Grid G-11; System Restricted.}> The system hadn't changed much since he'd been here last, practically alifetime ago... NCO was here today with his ad'ika, A'den'ade , to have the lad registered with the clan. They had arrived on world a few hours prior, having booked their appointement well in advance, and had enjoyed the gardens for a few hours before finally entering the archive and making their way down one of the long halls and then up a flight of stairs to reach their designated interview point. A'den had already been given the tests, though not always in an official manner. He'd been taught basics in marksmanship, hand-to-hand, brawling, tracking, and stalking. He'd been taught the resol'nare, and the reasons each action was an important part of being mando'ade. This visit was an official reccognition of A'den's achievement and desire to join the aliit D'Ordinii. They arrived on time and NCO indicated that A'den should knock on the closed door before them. NCO would wait outside the small room, but offered a quiet reassurance to his ad'ika.Oya A'den.
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A'den'ade
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Post by A'den'ade on Feb 15, 2021 13:36:43 GMT -8
A'den looked back at his buir, nervous. He both knew and didn't know what to expect. He had been trained for this moment, but now that the moment had come, he was unsure if he was ready.
Ni gana chaab, Buir. Ni ven gotal gar briikase. (I have fear, Dad. I will make you happy [proud]).
He knew his buir would never set him up for failure on purpose. So he knocked, awaiting whatever lay ahead.
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A'den'ade
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Post by A'den'ade on Feb 15, 2021 13:49:33 GMT -8
A knock that came at that very moment. Pausing his show & minimizing that tab, he made sure everything was in place.
-Vatus Enter, please.
The figure that entered was young & a little nervous. Obviously one of the new graduates from one of the training worlds instead of the rarer adult recruits.
-Vatus Please, have a seat. Datapad, please.
Vatus motioned at the only other seat in the room, directly across the desk from him. Once seated A'den handed over his datapad. Vatus didn't even bother to look at it yet, there would be time for that after the final exam. An exam none were told about until they reached this point.
-Vatus Judging from the fact you are here, you have passed all your exams. Please recite the Resol'nare.
A'den seemed a little surprised by that, but only took a moment to reply the the seemingly odd question.
Ba'jur bal beskar'gam, Ara'nov, aliit, Mando'a bal Mand'alor— An vencuyan mhi.
Vatus nodded, it was a simple enough final test, but there was still the occasional one that got this far without being able to answer. Pressing a small button on a comlink in his armor, the pair were soon joined by a small floating droid carrying a octagonal metal plate. Leaving it in the center of the desk the droid carefully floated to the corner of the room.
-Vatus Please remove any jewelry or clothing from your dominate hand & forearm. The Process may damage them.
A'den complied. Then Vatus pulled out a small flask of clear fluid, pouring it into a shallow stone tray sitting beside the metal plate. It was the only other object on the desk except a stylus made of stone.
-Vatus This is a special acid, it will not affect your skin, but will eat carefully into the metal of the plate. Please press your hand into the acid, then firmly in the center of the metal plate.
To prove his point, Vatus dipped his finger into the fluid as he was talking. After another pause, A'den pressed his hand into the tray. Withdrawing it, he pressed down on the center of the tray. The fluid tingled but didn't burn. At a nod from Vatus, A'den withdrew his hand. Passing across a disposable towel for A'den to dry his hand on, Vatus checked the plate. A clear hand print had been burned into the metal, sinking nearly halfway through, but clear enough to show every line on A'den's hand.
Finally checking the A'den's datapad, Vatus began the careful, delicate job of transcribing the information to the metal plate using the stone stylus & the acid left in the tray. Soon, above the hand print was the string "WaTem-G2-0000FF" Marking him as a 2nd Generation Warrior Template. Below it was the young man's chosen name "A'den Or'dinii'". Once Vatus was done, the droid gathered up the plate & vanished with it again. Taking a moment to pour the little remaining acid into a container hidden beneath the desk, Vatus congratulated the young man.
-Vatus You are officially part of Clan D'Ordinii & a true mandalorian as well. Welcome Brother.
A'den smiled. He brought his fist across his chest and bowed slightly at Vatus.
Vor entye vod.
A'den turned and left. Out to where NCO was.
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Falmorn
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Post by Falmorn on Feb 18, 2021 0:01:12 GMT -8
Desari's head jerked up as she saw movement; Jovakenn taking cover behind the wall of the entryway that was open, just in time for a blaster bolt to come through. Sparks flew as the blaster bolt impacted the area where the Imperial scientist was just peeking from, his face was white as a sheet in fear and his eyes shut. The balding researcher held the blaster with a white knuckle grip, the barrel pointed upward and shaking so violently that even if there was something to shoot above him, he would still likely miss. Cursing, Desari lifted the blaster rifle she had nabbed off the stormtroopers they had knocked out and fired several bolts downrange through the doorway. From outside a familiar voice, that of Commander Cauher, rang out through the suddenly still air. "Is that you in there, doctor? Jovakenn is too much of a coward to attempt a mutiny on his own." Without answering, Desari went back to trying to crack the encryption on the Commander's terminal. Sadly slicing was not her specialty, but thankfully the hubris of the Empire had not given them the foresight to think that a someone would try to hack files from within the station itself, let alone on the commander's own computer. It was still difficult, but not as difficult as it would have been if this was a Core Worlds military outpost with ship and troop deployments.
She looked up as she heard Jovakenn yell out, clutching his hand which had been shot as he had attempted to fire back, his blaster clattering to the floor. Cauher again called out to the pair inside his office. "Give yourselves up now, or I will be forced to use deadly measures!" Smirking as she found the hangar codes, she inserted her cylinder into the computer port and began downloading them, as well as anything else she could fit onto the storage device. She cried out and shielded her eyes as the terminal exploded into sparks and shrapnel in front of her, having been shot by the commander. She blindly grabbed and pocketed the code cylinder. There was no telling what she had managed to download, but she at least hoped she had the hangar door access codes. When she opened her eyes, her vision still recovering, Cauher was in front of her, using Jovakenn as a human shield; the researcher held at blaster-point. The commander firmly pressed the blaster barrel into the side of Jovakenn's head. "Put the rifle on the deck and come over here...Slowly." Desari's eyes flared with contempt, but she complied, setting the E-11 down on the floor of the commander's office and kicking it away from her. She lifted her hands up into the air and slowly approached the commander, who began side-stepping to be behind to swap places, ending up behind the desk where Desari had just been, whereas Desari now stood before the desk of the commander. "What were you looking for?" Desari again did not answer. The commander pressed the blaster harder against Jovakenn's head. The Imperial scientist turned mutineer's eyes widened in fear. Desari relented and finally answered. "The codes to the hangar doors! We want to leave this place, Cauher. There's no way we can finish our work. We don't have the resources, and with that thing out th-" Cauher scoffed loudly, interrupting the engineer. "That thing is nothing more than a non-sentient beast! Once it is hunted down and exterminated, you and Jovakenn can research what's left, under strict observation. Our work here cannot be halted!"
Cauher frowned as Desari's eyes widened, but it was not him that she was looking at. Cauher turned around to look at the viewport behind him, which normally gave his office a view of the vacuum of space. Instead of the clear view of the gas giant they orbited, there was instead the arachnid creature, its black eyes gazing at the humans just beyond the thin window of transparisteel. It seemed to stare at the seemingly out of reach beings for a moment. Cauher threw Jovakenn aside and slammed his fist down on a control panel on his desk, and a blaster shield began to close on the viewport. The arachnid seemed to take notice of the closing viewports, and began attacking them. Repeatedly slamming itself against the transparisteel window, cracks began to form in the clear metal alloy. Cauher began to make a run away from the soon to be compromised viewport, but it was too late. The spider-web of cracks gave way, and the viewport shattered. The blast doors were still in the process of closing, and as soon as the glass shattered, all of the air began being sucked out into space. Desari was pulled up against the front of the desk, clinging to the side to keep herself from flying out, her eyes closed in terror. Opening them after, what seemed like an eternity, the blast shields finally closed, and pressure was once again normalized, she stood up unsteadily on her feet. Both Commander Cauher and Jovakenn were nowhere to be seen. She was now alone in the office.
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Non-Com Or'dinii
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Post by Non-Com Or'dinii on Feb 26, 2021 8:28:54 GMT -8
==Archive of Souls SL== <{110 PP, Galactic Grid G-11; System Restricted.}> -Vatus You are officially part of Clan D'Ordinii & a true mandalorian as well. Welcome Brother. A'den smiled. He brought his fist across his chest and bowed slightly at Vatus.Vor entye vod. A'den turned and left. Out to where NCO was. As A'den returned to the hall, NCO grinned and spoke two simple words, that meant quiet a bit; especially today."Olarom vod."The lanky Gung gestured back the way they'd come, letting A'den choose their path back. He could choose to search the public records, or just observe the people and art in and around the building for a bit. Or if he had something he wanted to go do, he could lead the way back to his ship and they would be off again. It was entirely up to A'den; NCO wanted him to choose his own path today. If queried, NCO would give options without preference or bias.
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A'den'ade
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Post by A'den'ade on Feb 27, 2021 14:59:14 GMT -8
As A'den returned to the hall, NCO grinned and spoke two simple words, that meant quiet a bit; especially today."Olarom vod."The lanky Gung gestured back the way they'd come, letting A'den choose their path back. He could choose to search the public records, or just observe the people and art in and around the building for a bit. Or if he had something he wanted to go do, he could lead the way back to his ship and they would be off again. It was entirely up to A'den; NCO wanted him to choose his own path today. If queried, NCO would give options without preference or bias. A'den smiled at NCO.What now buir? A'den finally had an aliit, a family. He had never had this, at least what he could remember. He didn't know what to do now.
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