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Star Wars Corellia: Reach for the Stars

Discussion in 'Role Playing Forum' started by DarthXan318, Jan 17, 2012.

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  1. DarthXan318

    DarthXan318 Manager Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Sep 12, 2002
    GM Note: Rest of updates forthcoming ? sneaking on at work.




    [b]Jedi_MasterSkywalker, Penguinator-176, Saintheart[/b]
    [i]Tralus: Ruins of Cadelmin - Surface[/i]

    It was with some trepidation that the trio approached the entrance to the Rakatan underground facility.

    Davos? fears, at least, were unfounded. The original strike team had apparently not had time to perform even a rudimentary sealing-off before they left - the entrance was a gaping hole in the ground that bore unmistakable marks of having been blown up and then forcibly pried open.

    At least that meant the air inside was safe to breathe.

    The facility was as eerily quiet as the surface had been. The only noises came from their footsteps (muffled by the dust) and the occasional crunch when someone stepped on shattered debris from the firefight. It was also pitch dark, for whatever lighting had once been in place had either been trashed (or, more likely, the power had simply run out after ten years).

    No - not quite.

    As their eyes adjusted, they could make out a dim glow in the distance, somewhere in the depths of the facility.
     
  2. DarthXan318

    DarthXan318 Manager Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Sep 12, 2002
    DarkLordoftheFins, SirakRomar, spycoder9, tjace
    Selonia: Base of the Cloudland Peaks

    Nothing jumped out at them.

    Nonetheless, following Morgue?s outburst, Carek tossed the glowstick farther into the mines where its bright light cast strange, twisted shadows in all directions.

    Now they could see the mine in all its ruined glory. It had once been a fairly productive place, if the sheer amount of ruined crates were any indication: even blown apart, they were piled at least three or four metres high, and judging by the height of the ceiling, could be stacked roughly twice that high. Further down were remnants of (presumably) packing machinery and other miscellaneous technology that kept the mine running.

    (Nothing recognisably Rakatan thus far, though. To be precise there was nothing recognisably intact, Rakatan or otherwise.)

    After a few tense minutes of exploring, they came across a bank of crates against the far wall that looked less torn apart than the others. Nestled against them were a bedroll, a small heating unit, a survival pack and another comm relay: the missing scout?s camp. Undisturbed.
     
  3. DarthXan318

    DarthXan318 Manager Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Sep 12, 2002
    *Triple posts like a boss*


    Bardan_Jusik, docking_bay94, Mitth_Fisto, HanSolo29, Ktala
    Corellia: Surface

    It was over in a moment.

    The boy bending over their fallen leader had barely had the time to straighten before Calcin?s glaive smashed into the side of his head with just enough force to knock him out. He collapsed to the ground - mercifully away from the one Sacorr had shot earlier, who was also unconscious. (There wasn?t all that much blood on the ground; he must have hit his head while falling, or simply have a low pain threshold.)

    Sacorr, too, managed to subdue another of the gun-toting boys before he had a chance to bring his weapon to bear.

    The remaining three - the two closest armed with knives, one armed with a rifle crouching inside the wreck - hesitated when Anders shouted, their eyes going to his weapon. One of the knife-wielding boys glanced frantically back at the wreck, wavering - and then they both threw down their knives, raising their hands over their heads in surrender.

    Only the rifleman remained, and he would not be easy to get to. He had chosen his spot well, whether by chance or by design -

    ?Dammit, Cay!? one of the former knife-wielders shouted. ?They?ll kill us all!?

    For a long, tense moment, nothing happened. Then the last boy rose slowly from his cover, both hands over his head.

    ---

    Sarge221
    Tralus: Cadelmin Landing Pad

    Cadelmin was quiet and calm as Lyle worked.

    So far, anyway.
     
  4. Bardan_Jusik

    Bardan_Jusik Former Manager star 10 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Dec 14, 2009
    IC Major Ric Anders
    Corellia: Surface


    Anders was pleased to see the mission finally starting to get back on track. Calcin and Sacorr had done their jobs of subduing some of the scavengers. Meanwhile his own rifle seemed to have done the job of encouraging the rest to surrender as well. He reached back into his pack, pulling out several lengths of rope. He handed these to his Selonian colleages. "Lets tie them up for now." He continued to cover the captured group with his rifle. "When thats done, see what you can do for the wounded Sacorr."

    He backed off towards the landed ship, not taking his eyes off of the security team and their new prisoners. He called back to Graf and Mariisa "Ok you two, I think we have this well in hand. Time for you to take charge and see what we have here."

    Anders would wait for the prisoners to be fully secured before interogating them about what they were doing here. Who knows? Maybe they had found something useful and could point them in the right direction...

    TAG: Xan, Corellia team.
     
  5. Mitth_Fisto

    Mitth_Fisto Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Sep 29, 2005
    IC: Sacorr
    Corellia working on the ground

    Once the human young had surrendered she sighed in relief and took the rope that their Liar offered. Using it she set first to secure the conscious knife-wielder closest to her. Tying them wrists to ankles as though trussing each male up behind his back, much like a small mammal for the evening cooking. Taking her time she made the bindings were secure before moving on to another human, the wounded one did not seem in immediate danger despite being unconscious.

    For now she didn?t talk to them, she feared if she did she would be compelled to tell them the truth. With the Liar holding a gun on them she did want to let him slide onto murder as his next offense compounded by the lie she was killed by these humans. The fact she even distrusted him enough to think of such a thing, it only bore testament to his crimes witnessed so far. As she moved past a weapon on the ground she took the time to pick it up and toss it to the ship. Once she and Elder had taken care of this task she would see what she had in her kit from the station for human males suffering blood loss. Shouldn?t be too different from Selonian, she hoped.

    TAG: Xan, Corellia Team
     
  6. spycoder9

    spycoder9 Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jul 23, 2008
    Carek Thorn
    Mines


    Carek searched diligently for anything of any interest, but couldn?t find anything. Several things were somewhat cool, but not worth much. He kept looking, afraid to tick Morgue off anymore. He continued to glance at her as he walked around, making sure she didn?t have her gun aimed at his head. Her charm and beauty had melted away to a cold and almost deadly aura that Carek feared with a passion.

    Then he discovered something very cool.

    A bedroll, heating unit, other assorted gadgets. This could only mean one thing: They had found the missing scout?s camp. The worst and best part about all of it was that it had not been disturbed. Not a thing ?out of place?. That meant that no ?wild animals? were roaming, most likely. But then what had happened to the scout. Were sentient beings around here? Were they watching them? Carek felt goosebumps rising up and down his arms as he glanced around.

    ?Here?s the scout?s stuff, I guess. All in order and everything. Makes me wonder what the frak happened to her.?



    TAG: Fins, Sirak, tjace, Xany
     
  7. SirakRomar

    SirakRomar Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Mar 30, 2007
    Morgue
    Mines, Selonia


    Carek had indeed found the scouts basecamp. Small, in order and not telling who or what killed him. She went to her knees, pulling her assault gun over her shoulder.

    "It hasn´t happened here and the scout did not plan to stay away for long. Otherwise he would have put of the heater." She leaned over and checked the comm unit. "Comm works, she could have called help anytime." Morgue sighed. "Also no sign of any animal going through things. Well, we haven´t seen any wildlife down here. Which is strange in itself, but as nothing went through her stuff and we can assume this leaving the same smell than she did herself . . . and smelling usually is the way predators hunt in the dark . . . I´d say we can work on the assumption it wasn´t an animal." She got up and turned to Lisander. "Nor does this look like she was an amateur. So how likely is an accident?"

    Looking at Carek she saw he was now scared of her. She liked that one better. So she kept it that way and turned to her partner again.


    Tag: Spy, Fin, tjace, Xany


     
  8. Ktala

    Ktala Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Sep 7, 2002
    Mariisa
    Corellia Recovery Site


    Mariisa noted with relief that it did not take long for Calcin and Sacorr to render the rest of the younger humans either unconscious or weaponless quickly. The human Ric Anders seemed to have made the others surrender. That was good. Mariisa already had her pack on, and was still scanning the area, when she heard the human speak. He called back to towards the ship, "Ok you two, I think we have this well in hand. Time for you to take charge and see what we have here."

    Mariisa frowned, but she did take the time to throw her poncho over her, before she stepped out, goggles down over her eyes. It was easier to ignore the open space. Her head swiveled as she looked towards the wrecked ship. She had noticed the young humans had looked towards it as well. A thought came to her. She slowly walked over towards the wreckage, and began to scan over it, looking for either a breach in the ship's hull, or a doorway. As she scanned over the ship, she looked to see if there was any signs that the ship might have power. At least enough to operate the door, if she saw one. There was a very good chance that the younger humans had been using this as a play area, and might have actually gotten inside of the ship. Could be more inside. But if the doors worked, she would be able to find out quick enough. A quick patch, if that. But first, it was time to see what they were working with.

    And if human Graf felt the need to be in a hurry, she was not going to stop him. But she knew time was something they might not have much of. Her nose twitched, as she used her sharp eyes to catch anything unusual. Which in this case, was practically everything.



    TAG: Xan, Corellia team.
     
  9. Ramza

    Ramza Administrator Emeritus star 9 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jul 13, 2008
    Gareg
    On-Station: Comm & Briefing Room


    Whatever idiot had said no news was good news was... well... they were an idiot, synonyms be damned.

    Rock - because that was a marvelous contact name, certainly indicative of the fact that his information wasn't to be taken for granite, since his data was really solid, and with very few quarryls - may as well have been a ghost, but as far as anyone was aware, his leads were legitimate, and who was Gareg to make a judgement call about such a sedentary fellow? It'd be positively igneous of... wait, igneous didn't sound like another word more appropriate to the given situation! Abandoning his barrage of somewhat rocky puns, lest he develop a mental chip, Gareg turned to the patrol report excerpt.
    At 2100 hours Pvt Merd swore he could hear noise, so he and Pvt Nilo broke camp and crept up over the ridge to investigate. They saw a group of people clumped around this man who was speaking loudly to the group, and behind the man was a glowing item which he gestured at often over the course of his speech.
    Gareg fought the urge to snicker. Merd? Who named their kid Merd? Merd was literally one very naughty letter - specifically quaggle - away from being a Drall euphemism for something very impolite. Some slight mischief? Or human ignorance? Could go either way.

    "Not a wager I'd bet against, Brick m'boy," Gareg replied, before he realized what he'd just slipped, "Sorry, sir, Rock." Cover your ass, you moron! "First day jitters." Oh, fantastic. No one would ever see through that iron-clad excuse. "Any known hostile elements in the area? I'd love to - I mean, I'd hate to send our boys into any seriously heavy forqua - pardon my Drall - without notice."

    TAG: Xan
     
  10. DarkLordoftheFins

    DarkLordoftheFins Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Apr 2, 2007
    Lisander Olic
    Mines of Selonia

    "Unlikely. But not impossible."

    Lisander watched the others go through the scouts place. It looked indeed like it was in perfect order. So much for the theory it could be about a beast . . .

    Which left accident or hostile a possibility. Or it had happened much further down there. Or in the ship. Lisander siched once more and looked at Morgue. She was on the edge anyway, but the possibility of combat would probably give her a bit more focus. He thought she enjoyed being feared by the Medic. In the end the guy had probably gave her a few too many looks and just got what he deserved. Yet, they could not rule out this might become a problem.

    "Antilles, we need you to get the machine. So I´d say you stay here in safety and report the situation, while the rest of us heads to the ship. We need to make sure it wasn´t any security measures that kiled the scout. Or some old droid still guarding the wreckage."

    He looked around and tried to orient himself.

    Tag: Xany, Spy, Sirak (as tjace seems to be busy, I thought I´d write him out for now)
     
  11. DarthXan318

    DarthXan318 Manager Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Sep 12, 2002
    Bardan_Jusik, docking_bay94, Mitth_Fisto, HanSolo29, Ktala
    Corellia: Surface

    The boys put up a token resistance at being tied up, but a threatening wave of Anders? rifle quieted them. Soon they were trussed up, wrists to ankles, in a line on the ground.

    One of the boys glared at them. ?You won?t -?
    ?Shut up,? one of the other boys said (the one who had shouted the rifleman down). ?You wanna die??
    ?But they?re -?
    ?Shut up.?

    The third boy - Cay, the rifleman - was silent, staring at their fallen leader.

    Meanwhile, Sacorr was tending to the fallen leader?s wounds. The bullet had lodged in his shoulder (though mercifully not deeply; it had evidently been slowed down by the rifle), and he was probably also bruised from where the rifle?s stock had slammed back into him. He also had a head wound from landing on a rock, but it didn?t look serious. As Sacorr examined him, he stirred, groaning.

    Mariisa prowled around the ship. It was as much of a wreck as it looked like from the air - it had evidently crash-landed into the ground, and its entrance hatch was likely buried under a pile of rock and tree fragments. But the transparisteel covering the cockpit was broken open - and from the lack of shards inside, broken outward, not inward. Likely the pilot had broken it open to escape.

    Still, the cockpit was their best entrance. Evidently the boys had thought so too; one of them had tossed his coat over the jagged lower edge, making it safer to clamber in and out.

    ---

    DarkLordoftheFins, SirakRomar, spycoder9, tjace
    Selonia: Base of the Cloudland Peaks - Mines

    The engineer looked unhappy at being left behind, but he merely nodded and lowered his own pack next to the scout?s abandoned bedroll. ?I?ll see if I can rig up more equipment,? he said. ?You have my comm frequency??

    They did; and thanks to the scout?s efforts, comms worked perfectly down here. So Lisander, Morgue and Carek were free to penetrate deeper into the mine.

    Thanks to the scout?s notes, they knew - roughly - how to get to their target, the ship. Down the tunnels to the right, follow the tracks and emergency lighting (the scout must have rigged them as she went along) for three hundred metres until they hit another cavern, and then follow the path as it sloped back upwards into the mountain itself. The ship had been found somewhere in that vicinity. Straightforward enough. Every so often they would come across another comm relay, or a jury-rigged power generator - more of the scout?s work.

    But there was something strange about this mine. Oh, it had all sorts of mining equipment (wrecked, though, mostly) and had tracks laid in the ground to bring ore to the surface ? but it was too regular, somehow. Most mines were sort of haphazard, as they were made by following ore veins through the rock, but this place was built in a very deliberate fashion. And from the way the paths curved around, it seemed to be skirting around something...

    And there were the sounds. Echoes in the distance, so soft they could have been just their footsteps reverberating back - but gradually, it was clear to all three of them that they were not alone in here. The scout? Axel shifting things around? Or something else?
     
  12. Penguinator

    Penguinator Former Mod star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    May 23, 2005
    Lazlo Lundi
    Tralus: Ruins of Cadelmin - Surface

    From deep within the facility came a faint glow. Lazlo squinted, found it hard for his eyesight to adjust, looked away. His eyes had adjusted well to the dark, but this was becoming a nuisance.

    He pointed, realized they might not see the gesture. "Over there?"

    He started to move in the direction of the glow. "This'll ruin your eyesight. Watch your step."

    Then he stubbed his toe. "Ow."

    Tag: Tralus group
     
  13. DarthXan318

    DarthXan318 Manager Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Sep 12, 2002
    Mild railroading here, for reasons that will hopefully become clear ... :D


    Jedi_MasterSkywalker, Penguinator-176, Saintheart
    Tralus: Ruins of Cadelmin - Underground Facility

    The trio moved cautiously towards the glow, often stumbling over bits of debris. There was, in fact, a lot of debris: this place had seen some incredibly heavy fighting, and it showed in the sheer amount of ruined equipment.The combatants had (as far as they could tell in the dim light) tried to use ordinary lab equipment as cover.

    Lazlo, in front, nearly tripped on a long, thin, irregular rod. A bone? It probably didn?t bear thinking about.

    The glow was getting brighter - it wasn?t very far now -

    They rounded a corner (Ran edged around a crumpled pile of clothing that had possibly once been a person) and came face to face with a row of horizontal tanks.

    No, not any tanks. Rakatan stasis tanks. Davos, perhaps, might recognise it from his work with the Coronet Police Force: stasis was reserved for criminals too dangerous to be kept free, yet too valuable - for whatever reason - to kill outright. (Generally, said criminals were Rakatan. The slave races were generally not considered all that valuable.)

    Most of the tanks were inoperable - glass shattered, tubes punctured, machinery smashed. But the one at the end - the very end - was still active, and that was where the glow was coming from.

    And it had an occupant.

    And by the looks of it, its occupant was a human woman.

    [image=https://sites.google.com/site/xanify/files/corellia_cryotank.png]

    ---

    darthramza
    On-Station: Comm & Briefing Room

    There was a pause as Rock, presumably, looked up information. Or perhaps the connection was just that bad.

    "The patrol reported no hostiles, and no weapons among the people at camp," Rock rasped back, finally. "Can't say more than that. Patrol was recalled the next day to deal with an unrelated matter, so they were unable to investigate further. Uploading coordinates now."

    The report blanked, replaced by a map with the location marked - this place was on Talus, it seemed, about two hundred klicks from the official safe zone.

    "It's out in no-man's land that got really hard-hit by the Coneys," Rock added, "so it's unusual to even find people there."
     
  14. DarkLordoftheFins

    DarkLordoftheFins Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Apr 2, 2007
    Lisander Olic
    The Mines

    It wasn´t a mine. Not a real mine, at least. It was a carbon copy of one, but Lisander was so lucky ot have spend time in a mine lately. he had digged himself through a raktan mines on Selonia only two hours away from here the last few month. And this was not really a mine, he just knew it! Everything was so . . . organized. Mines did not happen to be like this. He stopped and listened. The echoes of the unknown mine-dweller was gone again. But obviously there was someone. Something?

    And the took another left turn. They always took left turns, but never two two fast after another. As if they ran circles around something.

    "Dammit, this makes no sense." He sighed. "Why hasn´t anybody drilled there?" He pointed to the center of the thing which they ran circles around. With a sigh he scratched his head with his gun. "I need to think a minute, wait please." He sighed and nodded to Morgue. she would hopefully get it. Sounds, no sightings. Whatever it was it probably knew where he was and one way to do that was to follow them, instead of lurk somewhere ahead, where it could easily be spotted. Morgue would hopefully look into that option, while they stopped.


    Tag: SirakRomar
     
  15. Ktala

    Ktala Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Sep 7, 2002
    Mariisa
    Corellia: Surface

    Mariisa sniffed around the wrecked ship, as the other took care of the young humans. She was doing her best not to pay attention to that. She was concerned with the ship. No hatch. Buried. She kept going. Then she found the cockpit area of the ship. The transparisteel covering the cockpit was broken open - and from the lack of shards inside, broken outward, not inward. Likely the pilot had broken it open to escape.

    Still, the cockpit was their best entrance. Evidently the boys had thought so too; one of them had tossed his coat over the jagged lower edge, making it safer to get inside ship. Mariisa frowned. That means that they have climbed inside. Tainted ship. Not good. Also meant that others could be inside. Mariisa turned her head, looking towards human pilot. She then walked over to him. Liar or not, he needed to know. Coming close, enough for him to hear, but not blocking him in case he needed to use his weapon.

    "Young humans have been within. Might be more inside. Must be careful." She then turned, and walked back to the hole she had discovered. She carefully sniffed the entrance, as she peered inside, to see if she could see or hear any movement. If it was just her, she would dig. This was like being back in caverns. Much better for her senses to detect. But she had to work with what was available. Mariisa also quickly scanned what controls she could see. If possible, she might be able to hack a patch to the cockpit, she just might be able to get an internal scan of the ship going. She had an extra battery pack or two. Might or might not work. But she wanted to make sure she didnt jump into a trap, before she jumped in, and began to work.

    This would be a rather fun place to explore, Mariisa thought to herself. She could see why young humans would want to play there. But dangerous too. Their own private den. Mariisa shook that thought away, as she frowned. No, must keep mind on track. Computers. Cockpit. What was there that she could find to upgrade self. Yes, that important.

    If Mariisa didnt sense anything immediate, she would slip inside, and then pause, waiting for a few moments, before moving to check out the ships computers.



    TAG: Bardan_Jusik, docking_bay94, Mitth_Fisto, HanSolo29
     
  16. Jedi_MasterSkywalker

    Jedi_MasterSkywalker Jedi Knight star 4

    Registered:
    Aug 29, 2010
    IC: Davos Reemus - Underground Facility - Tralus

    The underground facility was dark and quiet when the team originally entered. There was litte light except for a low glow farther into the base. Davos noted that as they moved forward their foot prints were the first that had been that base in quite some time. Lazlo noted the dim light, "Over there? This'll ruin your eyesight. Watch your step." No sooner had he given the warning Lazlo himself caused a thud and then remarked, "Ow."

    Davos kept moving forward towards the light while passing over large amounts of tech debris and what might have been remains of humans, Rakatans, he could not see as they snapped underneath his boots. They moved around a corner and into a larger room that was still dark but the source of the light was at the end of it. Davos tried to adjust his eyes and finally he made out that the room was full of standing tanks. He could not see if anything was in them as they were dark but he figured that they may have held the test subjects that the team was told about in their breifing.

    Davos tried to clean the glass on a few of them and there was nothing in them. The dust and rubble around them indicated that they were not active anymore and if they had been whatever was in them was long gone. Finally when the team reached the end of the row the source of light was coming from the last tank, and shockingly there was a human woman in it. Davos cleared the dust from the spot where they could see the woman's face and he saw that she was in some type of stasis. She looked well perserved and machine did not indicate whether she was dead or alive. Was this woman one of the experiments that was reported?

    The machine that kept her was warm to the touch and thus Davos assumed that she may be alive in there. He wondered if they could move this unit and get her to the station for study. Davos could not see if the unit was mobile but the discovery was remarkable. He looked to Ran and Lazlo and asked, "What do you make of this?"

    TAG: Tralus Team
     
  17. Bardan_Jusik

    Bardan_Jusik Former Manager star 10 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Dec 14, 2009
    IC: Ric Anders
    Corellia: Surface


    Anders was impressed with the speed and ability of the security team to do their job. They may not have been up against the varsity here, but they had ended the situation rather quickly. He took note of the conversation of the now tied up kids and watched as Sacorr tended to the wounded one. Hopefully he would live, but it was out of Anders' hands now. Mariisa approached him.

    "Young humans have been within. Might be more inside. Must be careful."

    He nodded in acknowledgement as he watched her bound off back towards the ship. Whatever it was that had set off the Selonians, they still seemed to be willing to work with him. He called out to Calcin. "Stick with Graf and Mariisa, there may be more of them inside." After seeing her in close combat he was sure she could handle just about anyone that they might find hiding within the downed ship.

    Now he turned his attention to their prisoners, taking note that except for the wounded one they were all tied up tightly. He chose not to speak to Cay right away, nor the one that was telling the others to shut up. They were a bit stronger than the other kids, less likely to talk right away. Instead he went to the one glaring at them, the kid clearly wondered what was going to happen to them now. He lowered his rifle, so that it wasn't pointing at any of the prisoners, but still kept it ready just in case they attempted escape.

    "So what were you kids doing out here? Find anything...interesting?"

    TAG: XAN, Corellia team.
     
  18. spycoder9

    spycoder9 Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jul 23, 2008
    Carek Thorn
    Mines


    Noises.

    Echoes.

    Carek snatched a look behind him. He could?ve swore he heard something that time. Maybe it just happened to be the echo of their own feet, but Carek didn?t think so.

    And neither did, Lisander, apparently, because he was getting freaked out by the noises also.

    ?Maybe?? But he stopped himself. Lisander requested silence, and Carek obeyed. The image of Morgue with her gun filled his mind again, and it wasn?t a pleasant one. Even though her eyes were kind of nice. . .something was wrong with him. This seductively mad woman was driving him crazy. He needed to get his head in the game.

    Before he lost it.



    TAG: Fins, Sirak, Xany
     
  19. Penguinator

    Penguinator Former Mod star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    May 23, 2005
    Lazlo Lundi
    Tralus: Ruins of Cadelmin - Underground Facility

    Lazlo bit his lip as he examined the tank. The glass was dirty, but the figure of a woman was unmistakable.

    "Hh."

    He stepped closer, running his hands around the edges and peering at things invisible in the dark. Lazlo reached for a flashlight at his waist, the small one that he could clamp between his teeth. With a click, the beam of light illuminated the are in front of his face. He bit down on the grip and moved in closer, his breath loud as he scrabbled for a comfortable position.

    "Fairly old. Not quite sure on exact numbers, though. Possibly a localized power source, that'd make more sense if the systems failed or if there was a major power fluctuation."

    The mechanic's hands brushed over the edges of the machine. He pulled them back, sat up on his haunches and turned to the others, taking the flashlight in his hand again.

    "If the power draw isn't too great, we could hook up a simple generator. Battery, even. Moving it, hardest part. Not sure how secure the unit is. Of course...not sure if occupant would survive any movement."

    Tag: JMS, Saint, Xani
     
  20. Saintheart

    Saintheart Jedi Grand Master star 6

    Registered:
    Dec 16, 2000
    OOC: Argh, Peng got in four minutes ahead of me. Altering to suit.

    Ran Ringhaven
    Bio readouts are all in the green; looks like she's alive.
    Weeelll, there goes our salvage, guys
    :p

    Ran had managed to restrain his shocked exclamation by biting down on his lip. To find a dim glow was incredible enough; to find something like this, intact, was incomprehensible. He worked on it by pushing down the excitement, glancing around the chamber.
    "Well, for what it's worth, it certainly looks to be a Rakatan stasis tank," he said, and he was surprised at how calm his voice came out. "Though Eryk Graf's really the expert on coney machines. Wouldn't surprise me if it was still intact and running, though -- I've heard estimates that some Rakatan power cells have a half-life of five thousand years. They built a lot of their stuff to last. And before you ask," he added, a weak, pale grin coming to his face in the dim, funereal light, "no, I've no idea why in the Holy Mother of the Stars' name they'd be storing human subjects in stasis tubes." Particularly, he thought to himself, when you could just pull random Corellian unfortunates off the streets to test weapons on them.

    His eye was drawn back to the woman's face. Despite himself, a ripple of pity went through him. Ten years, he thought. Ten years since Cadelmin was attacked and destroyed, and she's lain here all that time. Her entire family could have perished, children blown apart in raids on attack ships at Corellian apogee and she has slumbered on, in a dream ten years running, or ten years of continual nightmares...

    He drew away from the tube. "Try not to touch it any more than you have to," he said, glancing at Laszlo and Davos. "Even if we do decide to move it, there's still something about this that doesn't sit right. I'm going to take a look around here, see if there's much else that survived."

    In particular, he was headed back to that bundle of clothing he'd passed earlier to look it over. Something about it had drawn his eye, and there had to be a lot more clues in what remained of this fire-blasted lab than a mysterious stasis tube sitting in place.

    TAG: Tralus Team
     
  21. Penguinator

    Penguinator Former Mod star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    May 23, 2005
    Lazlo Lundi
    Tralus: Ruins of Cadelmin - Underground Facility

    No one else was going to voice it, so -

    "Why not defrost it now? Worst case, the occupant doesn't make it, best case, we hit them over the head or shoot them."

    He shrugged.

    "Easier to salvage if we don't have to worry about them."

    Tag: Saint, JMS, Xani
     
  22. HanSolo29

    HanSolo29 RPF/SWC/Fan Art Manager & Bill Pullman Connoisseur star 7 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Apr 13, 2001
    IC: Eryk Graf
    Crash Site, Corellia

    Anders and the Selonians made quick work of the teenagers picking around the crash site. Once they were bound and lined up on the dusty ground, Graf stepped off of the rickety ship and got to work. Of course, there was a very real danger of more of the scavengers hanging out within the ship itself, which Mariisa already allotted too, but Graf would be ready. He kept his handgun in one hand and his pack in the other as he approached the wreckage.

    His initial reaction was that the ship didn't look much better in real life than it had as a grainy image in the briefing room. In fact, it was worse. Despite the cockpit appearing to be shattered in the image, the jacket lying across the jagged edge had not been a part of the original crash. The site had already been compromised and it would take a miracle to find anything now. "Damn kids..." he mumbled under his breath as he placed a booted foot on the hull and peered inside.

    Not waiting for Mariisa, he crouched down onto the jacket and started to ease himself into the cramped space. "Let's see what you managed to destroy, shall we?"

    TAG: Xany, Team Corellia
     
  23. DarthXan318

    DarthXan318 Manager Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Sep 12, 2002
    Bardan_Jusik, docking_bay94, Mitth_Fisto
    Corellia: Surface

    The boy transferred his glare to Anders. He was a tall, muscular youth with a shock of dark hair, and evidently considered being tied up to be an insult. (The one telling him to shut up was smaller and more wiry; the one they called Cay was younger, and had wavy red hair.)

    He also seemed to have no intention of cooperating. ?Wouldn?t you like to know?? he taunted. ?Just goes to show, you ain?t -?

    ?Is he gonna be okay?? Cay interrupted, jerking his head at the injured boy.

    Who - if anyone cared to notice - also had red hair. The two of them also shared a certain similarity in facial structure. Relatives, perhaps?

    ---

    HanSolo29, Ktala, docking_bay94 (if following)
    Corellia: Surface - Crash Site

    The first thing Eryk noticed when he eased himself into the craft was the large, plush, comfortable-looking acceleration couch. Whoever the pilot had been, they?d liked to travel in style.

    As he expected, the place was full of evidence of the kids? tampering. Footprints and scuff marks everywhere, candy wrappers on the console, even an abandoned rifle (that boy Cay had been hiding in the cockpit, after all). The inner hatch was open, and from the footprints, at least one of the boys had explored deeper into the craft.

    They had also swiped the dust off some of the flatpanel readouts, but either hadn?t tried or hadn?t succeeded at activating anything. No - hadn?t tried. Upon closer inspection, Mariisa could see that they?d popped some of the access panels open (and had left grease stains on them, too) but the wiring and components inside were untouched. It was possible Mariisa could activate some subsystems from here, but would anything still be working?

    ---

    DarkLordoftheFins, SirakRomar, spycoder9, tjace
    Selonia: Base of the Cloudland Peaks - Mines

    In the silence, they heard it again: a soft, indistinct echo. It could have come from anything and anywhere.

    But it wasn?t close by. Certainly not lurking around the corner, waiting to strike.

    Or was it?

    ---

    Jedi_MasterSkywalker, Penguinator-176, Saintheart
    Tralus: Ruins of Cadelmin - Underground Facility

    Lazlo?s examination showed no easy way to move the tank - even if they could decouple it from the surrounding machinery and power source without damaging its occupant, even if they could undo the bolts fastening it to the ground, stasis tanks were incredibly heavy. Unless they could scavenge an intact sled, it wasn?t going anywhere.

    The tank?s control panel - nestled at its foot - glowed green in the darkness. It should not be terribly difficult to initiate the defrost procedure, if they were so inclined.

    Ran, meanwhile, was examining the pile of clothing he?d passed earlier. As he?d suspected, it wasn?t just cloth.

    It was ? or had been ? a person. Human, from the skeletal structure; Drall weren?t that tall, and Selonians had a tail. Impossible to tell anything else without a full lab setup, for time and scavengers had worn away all identifying features, including whether it had once been male or female. But Ran?s attention was drawn to its left arm, or at least, where its left arm should have been. The cloth covering it had fallen away when he touched the skeleton, and in place of an arm, it had a wicked-looking bladed contraption.
     
  24. Saintheart

    Saintheart Jedi Grand Master star 6

    Registered:
    Dec 16, 2000
    Ran Ringhaven
    Cadelmin site

    "Don't!" In less than one second, he'd raised his voice to the point of a bark, and somehow stood and turned, fists clenched, in Lazlo's direction at his words. "Don't touch anything on that tube. Not until we know what we're dealing with."

    The sudden panic in his voice had come in a gestalt rush from an examination of the pile of clothing and what it contained. The bladed contrapion confirmed at least one part of his suspicions from the intel report. The field of cybernetics was about as advanced as that of robotics among Corellians; which was to say, little to no knowledge. And no Corellian rebel had ever lived or survived any sort of procedure that replaced an entire limb with a mechanical version. Certainly none of the team who'd dropped onto Cadelmin.

    The other thing that jostled at the unholy things crawling up his spine was the orientation of the corpse.

    The raiders who'd attacked the station said they penetrated, killed every Rakatan they could lay their hands on and then withdrew after blowing the place. The scientists had attempted to prevent entry -- not exit. As far as he knew, none of them had needed to fight their way out or faced any resistance on the way out. There was also that the cloth bore none of the usual insignia to be expected from a raid team from that stage of the war. But the most chilling thing was the orientation of the body: ribcage face up, head closest to the lab, angled towards the tube -- not angled towards the exit.

    Which suggested that when he'd been gunned down, the human with the bladed arm had been facing towards the base's entrance.
    Not away from the entrance.
    He'd been killed defending the base.
    Not attacking it.

    "Davos," he said, swallowing to cover the sudden croak in his breath, "you'd better take a look at this."

    TAG: Tralus team
     
  25. SirakRomar

    SirakRomar Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Mar 30, 2007
    Morgue
    The Mines of Selonia

    She actually got the idea, absolutely. She unlocked the safety of her gun and cowered into a corner that seemed to be especially dark. Drawing her cloak over her Carlek probably never saw where she vanished too and Lisander knew where she was. Right behind them.

    If it followed the steps, it would pass by. If not they at least knew it wasn´t lurking on them. It was one of these typical Lisander moves, where he gained something out of it one way or another. Smiling in the dark, she kept her gun close to her body and kept her breath, only releasing it carefully and flat. She was almost invisible she hoped. Now waiting was all that she needed to do.

    Waiting though was not her strong side. She wondered if her message ever reached anybody. She wondered if she would kill someone here. She wondered. How Ringhaven did. If Lisander had meant what he had said. She wondered. When she had to wait, she usually began to wonder about all kind of things.

    Tag: Fin, Spy, Xany
     
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