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Mon Calamari/Dac


Nikolai Kolchak

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As the not-pirate’s ship loaded down with the bacta from the Jedi arrived at the Quarren dominated city of Morjanssik, Leena strained from her buckled seat to take in as much of the view of the watery world as she could. Her excitement was practically palpable on the air. “Wow! Look at that! Will you look at that! It’s just, it’s just, just, so blue!”

 

As the landing gear touched down, Leena was unbuckled and out of her chair. She couldn’t wait to get outside. At the door, she skittered to a stop and composed herself. Running her hands over her white robes, Leena let out a heavy sigh. “You’re a Jedi Leena Kil, remember that. A Jedi. Act like one. People here need your help. There will be time for sightseeing when this crisis is averted.” Grabbing her lightsaber, Leena made sure it was hanging straight on her belt. “Gotta make sure I look the part.”
 

As the doors hissed open, Leena strolled down the ramp with an air of dignity. At the bottom she looked around. The streets were empty. She didn’t see anyone, in any direction. The streets were desolate. Even as the cool sea air caressed her cheek, Leena’s concern pushed it from her mind. “Where is everyone at? I thought someone was going to meet us and help unload? Huh. Well, I guess we can unload it ourselves.” Grabbing an anti-grav sled Leena wheeled it back up into the ship and began to quickly load up as much bacta as she could. “Lets get as much of this on here as we can and get it to the clinic. Maybe we can find some answers there.”

 

———————————-

 

After the sled was loaded well beyond its standard capacity, Leena pushed it slowly down the ramp and down the street, following the directions on the built in nav-computer.

 

The streets were empty, but as they approached the final corner before the clinic, muffled voices could be heard. Leena glanced up at Sara and offered a weak smile, “At least we know there is someone around, right? Sounds like more than one someone by the sound of it.” Rounding the corner, Leena came to an abrupt stop, her jaw falling slack momentarily. Between the dura-glass double doors and floor to ceiling windows the view was startling. Crammed tentacle to gill to other alien appendage it seemed a majority of the area’s populace were crammed inside in a cacophony of hacking, coughing, wails and moans of pain and feverish delirium. “Uhhh. . . Well we found people that, ummm, look like they could use some medical assistance.”

 

”Lets look for a backdoor shall we?” She smiled sheepishly as she backed the grav-sled back around the corner.

 

Backtracking to a nearby alley, Leena turned and pushed the sled towards an aged set of double doors. Pounding on the doors they squeaked open and they were met by a tired looking Quarren in scrubs With a mask stretched across his face. “All patients need to check in at the front desk. I know it is a bit crowded. If you aren’t sick, I’d suggest going home and self-quarantining as ordered by the governing board.”

 

“Whoa whoa whoa doctor. I’m with the Jedi. Look. Bacta! If you’ll just let us in my friend and I will unload it and I’ll get to work.”
 

The Quarren doctor’s tired eyes lit up momentarily. “You are both with the Jedi? Oh good! Please please come in. Maybe you can help make some sense of this.” The doctor stepped aside and ushed the Zeltron and Mon Cal in. “Just leave the sled here. We’ll grab right off of it as we go. There are patients in each of the rooms and supplies at the end of the hallway,” he pointed as he spoke. “Don’t forget a mask. We think the virus is transmitted via particulates dispersed from the infected. Coughing, shortness of breath, fevers sometimes accompanied by hallucinations, and here in the last week it seems to have mutated some. Eight days ago we saw our first case of trans-species infection. Be careful master Jedis. We ate glad you came.”

 

The nameless doctor quickly grabbed two small cases of bacta and shoved them into Leena and Sara’s hands before grabbing another and rushing into the nearest room.

 

Turning the box over in her hands, Leena smiled at Sara. “How are you at emergency medicine my Zeltron sister? May the force be with you.”

 

In the corner a display continuously scrolled the following:

 

CITIZENS OF MORJANSSIK BY ORDER OF THE CITY’S RULING COUNCIL THE FOLLOWING EMERGENCY MEASURES HAVE BEEN ENACTED, EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY:

 

1. NO CITIZEN IS TO LEAVE THEIR RESIDENCE UNLESS REPORTING FOR WORK AT A DESIGNATED VITAL ENTERPRISE OR SEEKING EMERGENCY MEDICAL ATTENTION.

2. ANY NEED FOR FOOD, SUPPLIES, OR OTHERWISE CAN BE MADE VIA THE HOLONET.

3. DO NOT EAT ANY LOCALLY SOURCED MEDUSOZOA.

4. ANY EXPOSURES SHOULD BE REPORTED TO YOUR LOCAL HEALTH AUTHORITY IMMEDIATELY.

5. FOR THE YOUNG ADULTS AND ANY INDIVIDUAL CONSIDERED TO BE OF OPTIMUM HEALTH, SELF-QUARANTINE IS RECOMMENDED IF YOU THINK YOU MAY HAVE BEEN EXPOSED. LIMITED MEDICAL SUPPLIES NECESSITATE THAT THEY BE GIVEN TO THOSE MOST IN NEED. REPORT THE POTENTIAL EXPOSURE STILL.

6. A HOLOLINE HAS BEEN ESTABLISHED FOR ANYONE WHO HAS QUESTIONS.
7. VIOLATIONS OF QUARANTINE WILL BE ENFORCED BY LOCAL SECURITY FORCES.

8. DAC PLANETARY FORCES WILL BE BLOCKADING THE CITY IN AN EFFORT TO ENSURE THAT THIS VIRUS DOES NOT SPREAD BEYOND OUR CITY. ALL TRAFFIC WILL BE STRICTLY MONITORED. ALL SHIPMENTS COMING INTO OUR CITY WILL BE INSPECTED AND QUARANTINED FOR THREE STANDARD WEEKS. NO SHIPMENTS WILL BE ALLOWED TO LEAVE THE CITY UNTIL THIS EPIDEMIC HAS PASSED. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

It did not take long for security forces to find Xar’s handywork; nor did it take Security Command to understand that something with evil intent aside from the virus was lurking within the city. While most of the populace complied with the general lockdown and quarantine orders, the few joyseekers, anarchists, and morons that did not were quickly and usually not very violently dealt with, detained, or corrected. One of those few businesses had been a  cantina in the lower levels of the planet, well below sealevel. In fact it was one of the places on a not-so-lengthy list of possible origins for the plague now wracking the city.

 

It had not taken long for 6 security officers, armed with warrants and orders to shut down the place and arrest those in open defiance, to complete their task. The presence of 4   GU police droids only served to increase the seriousness of their quest and the cantina was quickly and relarively peacefully shut down. The server droids deactivated and 2 of the 3 staff members arrested. The third was also taken into custody; however the female Quarren had decided to try and fight and was promptly struck by numerous stun bolts and a trio of blaster bolts so she was rushed to a secure medical facility, already tasked beyond its means in the current crisis.

 

By the time Xar arrived the 4 droids and remaining 2 officers were finishing up securing the cantina against any would be looters or opportunistic law breakers. Then it went dark and blaster fire erupted. There was a clatter as Xar and the droid he wrestled with fell to the floor and while the two biologic security officers hesitated and shouted orders of surrender into the dark as they grabbed at their flashlights, the glowing golden eyes of the police droids gave away their positions. More importantly, those same eyes pierced the night and saw the droid attacking one of their own. They returned fire immediately, caring not if they hit their own but intent on restoring the peace.

 

———————

 

Back at the clinic, Leena paused, outreached bacta pack still in hand. Looking at the Zeltron, Leena saw the emotional tumolt that was washing over her and finally felt its waves echoing on the force amidst the ravaging tides of suffering that filled the clinic. “Oh my friend. I have forgotten about your unique abilities. This must be quite headache inducing.” Quickly setting the boxes in her hand down, Leena reached up and cradled Sara’s head between her two suckered hands, one atop each temple. “Lets see if we can fix this. You cannot help others if you are one of the patients. Just open your mind up to the force. Allow its calming presence to drown out the cacophony of suffering. See it, treat it, but do not feel it.” Reaching out in the treacherousness of the clinic’s emotional identity of the force, Leena found a bit of hope here and a calming presence there. Mixing that with the light she carried within her own soul, she inhaled and sighed deeply, willing a calming wave of purifying light side energy to surge from her mind outwards. It extended from her fingertips seeking to soothe and calm Sara’s mind and echoed across the chaos throughout the clinic offering a stream of hope to those in fear and panic, and a surge of strength and light to those toiling to help. 
 

It had not taken but a minute, having done  similar each time she sought to purify her work station back at the Temple. Lowering her hands, Leena smiled warmly at Sara. “There. I hope that helps take the edge off at least. Lets get back to work and try and sort this out. We’ll worry about any rewards once we can see straight again.”
 

 

At that moment a haggard looking medic rushed into the room. “Gonna need a hand out back.” she growled in frustration.  “Apparently security had taken to shooting bartenders who don’t follow their draconian directions. You there! Doctor Zeltron, grab that medical droid and come help!” The medic pointed towards Nok and his accompanying droid as they arrived in the back workroom before shoving Sara towards the back receiving area and scurrying that way herself.

 

Turning to look  at the new arrival, Leena smiled. More humanitarian aid had arrived. “See the galaxy does care,”  she smiled tk herself as she opened the large crate of masks. “Thanks for coming Master Nemoidian. By any chance do you have any field expertise?” Leena paised, only just realizing that the man before her wore a shroud that indicates he was most likely blind. ‘But he seems to navigate alright. She reasoned. Reaching out on the force, the Mon Cal Jedi-in-training felt the sting of darkness bounce off the man and visibly tightened her neck in surprise. “Just because one is lost in the darkness, does not mean they chose to go there. Sometimes they just need one person to show them the light,” She reminded herself of one of the teachings she had learned under the healers. Speaking louder as she faced Nok, she grabbed at her bacta boxes. “I am sure you can tell we have quite the emergency on our hands. You are clearly acquainted with medicine. I trust you can put yourself to use around here. Your droid is already in demand. We are thankful that you brought it. Such a tool will be of great use in treating the ill and injured. And for the masks! Gotta keep ourselves safe right?” Leena smiled at the man as she grabbed a protective mask and slipped it over her face. “Name is Leena by the way. Maybe once this wave is contained we can grab a cup of caf and talk more.”

 

 

And with that Leena slipped into the first patient’s room. The door opened to a series of coughs and weezes. Reaching out on the waves of the force, Leena sought to examine the fearful older Mon Calamarian male, assess his situation, and administer a force-powered dose of bacta to help fight off whatever infection, virus, or malady had befallen the city. The entire time, she chattered happily to the man trying to put him at ease. It would take time for Leena and the others to realize that the bacta had little effect On whatever mystery had gripped the city.

 

___________
 

Elsewhere across the city, numerous other similar scenes played out at every available clinic and hospital, above and below sea level. All under the watchful eyes of the city security forces who were all too ready to step in and handle anyone who disobeyed or got too hysterical. Supplies were limited. Value had to be assigned to who might survive and upon whom treatment would be a drain of valued resources. Rabble rousing was a surefire way to find oneself towards the bottom of the list.

 

Offshore, planetsry naval forces closed their blockade of the city. Nobody was going to get out without a fight. 
 

Overhead, patrol craft began to flit above the city aggressively confronting any would be approaching craft and escorting them away or to a landing zone, if they were designated essential.

 

The city was grinding to a halt and the planet and even the sector were taking notice.

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The aged frigate plowed through hyperspace and the following sublight travel. The duo of Med Corps corpsmen didn’t have a lot to say. They had briefly discussed the reputed plague they were going to drop supplies off for. It was simple, drop off the supplies and the Jedi Master Healer and get back to assisting in the fight against the Sith. Crates of bacta, protective equipment, syringes, and even a makeshift mobile hospital surgical suite packed the bulk of the ship. The two younglings, still somewhat bitter at not being selected as padawans, were more than ready to get to the front lines and try and prove their worth. This mission was just a hiccup in their plan. The discussion spanned the gambit from boloball to the current war ravaging the galaxy. 
 

It did not take long before the ship entered Mon Cal atmosphere. Almost instantly they were intercepted by a trio of fighters. Upon confirmation of their cargo manifest the vessel was escorted to a landing pad in the city. The fighters quickly returned to their patrols leaving the freighter alone on the landing pad except for a duo of simple droids that had been dispatched upon confirmation of the ship’s identity.

 

“Good luck mister Jedi.” The senior most of the two corpsmen offered a simple salute once the cargo was unloaded onto a waiting freight-skiff. Then they scurried back aboard the ship and began take off procedures.

 

“We are to escort the supplies to the nearby clinic for dispersal. Will you be joining us?” The droid queried emotionlessly to the large Cathar as the other started the vessel.

 

As soon as the Jedi-impersonator was aboard they sped off down the all but empty streets towards the back if the clinic where Sara, Nok, and Leena all were.

 

Rounding the corner a loud explosion reverberated across the sky. For those who might have looked up quickly enough they would see that the very same freighter that had just deposited the meds and Durose planetside. Bits of flaming metal and plastoids rained down in a vaporizing fine mist across the city.

 

The droids looked up and emotionlessly observed:

 

“Did they not know that all ships that arrive are quarantined for 14 standard days?”

 

“I was under the assumption you had warned them.”

 

“I did not. It was not in my directives.”

 

“The planetary patrols surely warned them. What fools those Jedi are. “


”We have arrived Jedi. We will assist in offloading your supplies from the bus. We have other shipments to wait for.”
 

———————————

 

“There you are Mister Meer. We at Morjanssik Clinic are extremely grateful for your generosity. It is not very often we see someone of your kind being so generous. . . errrr. I mean, it just, well, thank you so much.” Doctor Kil’n’tro set the stylus back down atop the datapad having signed the Neimodian’s order forms, grateful for any help they could get in these troubling times. “I know that you are quarantined here with the rest of us. If you wanted to still be of service I know that a Jedi just arrived with another shipment of supplies at the back loading dock. Maybe you can help direct those worthless droids so we can put the Jedi to work helping the sick. Again, thank you so much. I don’t know what else to say.”

 

——————-

 

Pulling the gloves off her suction-cupped fingers, Leena tossed the disposable gloves in a nearby trash bin that was already overflowing with other gloves and used disposable equipment. Grabbing a rag, she dabbed at her sweaty forehead reaching out in the force and projecting a calming aura that surged like an undamned stream through the hallways and rooms of the clinic.

 

“Maybe it just takes longer for the bacta to take effect. The force will guide us.” She reassured herself having not seen any improvement with the older being she had been treating.

 

“Another Jedi has arrived with more supplies.” One of the droids rambled as it walked by with a case of disposable aprons and disappeared around the corner.

 

Leena’s eyes brightened and she hurried towards the back, excited to see if she knew the healer that the Order had sent to help her. A twinge of relief coursing through her veins at the thought that a higher ranking more experienced Jedi was there to help. Maybe he or she knew what else they could try.

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Leena made her way towards the back loading dock. A smile pulled at the edges of her mouth. As bad as the whole situation was seeming to be, Leena wad pleased to not go it alone.

 

As she neared the door to the back alley, it opened before she got to it. Leena paused looking up at the large feline carrying a pile of supplies. He was clothed in the robes of a Jedi, from what she could tell. This had to be him.

 

Leena opened her mouth to offer a greeting, reaching out on the force to feel the familiar aura in the air that agents of the light naturally seemed to project. Not a sound escaped her mouth as she closed it in surprise at what she felt. The feeling she felt coming off this being was not that of a Jedi. It lacked the training and peace. Instead, Leena felt the man’s deception and was it nervousness? Still, he was clothed as a Jedi. She scurried passed him, locking eyes with him for a brief moment before slipping out back.

 

Something was wrong. There was someone clothed as a Jedi who was clearly not a Jedi, a being submerged in the darkside delivering ‘supplies;’ she looked down at the mask she had taken from the Neimodian’s shipment and threw it on the ground.

 

“Hey! That is medical supplies. Directive 32A5 instructs that no medical supplies is to be wasted under pain of unspecified imprisonment in the Deep Site mines.”  One of the simple droids rattled off, it’s emotionless voice dripping with judgement.

 

Leena waived the droid off. “Please worry about your current task. I will worry about mine.” She had bigger concerns now. Something was off. The plague that ravaged the city and now these people. Something was going on. Even her ship running out of fuel. “That should not have happened.”
 

Leena turned around. She was going to confront whatever was going on here. The focus had to be on helping the patients. Whatever else people were bringing in would draw away from that. That was her purpose, the purpose of the clinic itself and its staff and volunteers. Leena knew what she had to do, even if she was not thrilled about it. Before she could grab the handle of the door an invisible explosion of emotion tore through the air and ambiance about the place. It erased the cries of pain and suffering with a single powerful wave.
 

Instinctively Leena threw up her hands pulling an invisible surge of peace and light from the ether, sheltering her body and mind from the blast that echoed into the physical realm causing fragile items to break, loose rubbish bins to rattle and anyone not prepared to tumble to the floor. “Sara . . . “ she whispered thinking of the Zeltron woman who had helped her get to the planet and this very clinic. She was the Zeltron with another force signature filled with pain, pain she had tried to treat. 
 

Breaking into a run, Leena  slammed into the door, nearly bowling over the Cathar faux-Jedi on the other side. With an adrenaline fueled force guided grab, Leena grabbed Ro’s collarband yanked him towards her. “I don’t know who you are Master Jedi, but there is a man here, a Neimodian with a blindfold. Get him. Take him out back. Do it now.”  The usually kind and calm girl’s demeanor twisted in a stern icy wall of command. She was not toying around and her tone and very aura portrayed that she was a woman on a mission. The Cathar had a good feel, even if he was living in deception. She hoped he would help her. Leena had to find Sara. Dropping the feline’s collar, Leena surged forward, her path illuminated by the flashing red lights that pierced the darkness, her footsteps guided by the force.

 

Down the hallways and around several corners, Leena came upon both Sara and Nok. Brushing past the Nemoidian, Leena reached out to help her newfound comrade, projecting a calming stream of peace and tranquility towards her ravaged mind. “There is a cat, a Cathar Jedi,” Leena pointed down the hallway she just came from as she spoke towards Nok, “Go get him and take him to the back. The survival of these people depend on it. Go.” She barked the order before turning back towards Sara, pushing the pain and suffering and fear that now amplified throughout the facility away from the space around them. “I should have known better to drag you into this. I lost sight of that detail through the craziness of the plague. I know better than th . . .” Leena paused, her senses tingling as felt it. Some lights began to flick back on while other damaged ones sparked in anger as electricity began to work through the facility from the backup generators. That was not what gave Leena pause. What did was the damaged backup lines and the faint hiss of gas surging from a damaged line in a nearby room. As each room and system came back online one at a time it was obvious that there was little time. Lunging forward, Leena fell to her knees to grab the fire alarm setting blaring klaxons off throughout the clinic. If there had been fear, panic, and chaos before; it just amplified one hundred fold throughout the facility.

 

“We have to go!” Leena shoved Sara towards Nok and the backdoor where Ro was, turning to run the other direction. She grabbed the first patient who had made it to the door of his treatment room and drug him forward. Leena knew she didn’t have the power or ability ro save everyone, but she was a Jedi. She would do her part. Hopefully the fire alarm did the rest.

 

—————————-

 

Street level cameras did not take long to identify the rogue droid that had taken up a killing spree in the city. From Security HQ all it took were a few push of the buttons to redirect a nearby quarantine patrol and the bulk of the guards at a warehouse serving to quarantine offworld visitors now stuck planetside. The offworlders had been relatively well behaved. Command was not concerned that they would try and leave. Fear was an awesome tool for controlling the local populace.

 

It would only be a few minutes before they closed in on the killer bot. This time, they were going to bring the real firepower. The people needed to know that their government was the power that protected them in these uncertain times.

 

—————————-

 

Back inside the clinic, panic reigned supreme as the sick and dying clawed at each other trying now to fight their way out of the clinic they had, until just moments before, been jockeying to try and be the first in line to get back into. Treatment was limited, everyone knew that.

 

And then, as the seconds on the wall-mounted clock counted down, deeper in the facility, the power that surged from the backup generators sparked on a damaged line or a broken light with a still completed circuit igniting the gas filled air. Piped from deep under the planet’s crust beneath the ocean, the stuff was more explosive than the other flammable gasses and supplies that littered the standard clinic. The entire place was a tinderbox and the match had been struck.

 

Flames erupted blowing the door to the utility closet off it’s hinges. They raced down the walls in every direction consuming everything in it’s path.

 

Leena felt the lick of the flames before she could see them. Grabbing the three Quarren and one Mon Cal she had managed to pull from their rooms, Leena pushed them down, one atop the other, throwing herself atop them as the flames shot towards them.

 

Even in the chaos, Leena reached deep within, calling on whatever vestibules of the force she could find. She called waves of the force, pulling whatever liquid particles it could from the air and forming a temporary shield over the top of the five as they huddled on the floor. Leena held up her hand trying to hold the protective shield in place as the deafening roar of the flames slammed into them. The heat was unbearable. Leena felt her skin prickle as her robes began to singe. Beneath her, the others cried out in fear. “Hold on! Trust!” She cried, her voice cracking with the force of trying to maintain the shield against the overwhelming onslaught and maintain a sphere of calm.

 

——————

 

Outside, flames erupted from windows. One wall erupted outwards as a supply of oxygen caught fire abd blasted bits of duraplast and brick in all directions.

 

The entryway was eaten away as flames raced through it outside, melting durasteel and glass.

 

And as quick as the flames were there, they receded leaving a burning husk of supplies, bodies, and destruction. Screams filled the air mingled with the crack of fire, sparking of exposed electrical wires and coughs and wheezes of the sick as they tried to scrape themselves away from the chaos, fighting against the overwhelming police force that had already been approaching.

 

—————-

 

 

Leading her small band of survivors through the flames, Leena limped forward. She was covered in soot and ash and the group she had with her were crying in fear. She urged them on as gently as she could. “Almost there. You’re ok. We’re ok,”  she soothed. “Watch out for that chunk of rock. It looks pretty jagged. You’ve got this. Lets get out. Then we can help the others. Thats it. Good job.” 
 

Once clear of the building, Leena turned the party she had sheltered from the flames over to a group of citizens who had rushed out of a nearby business to lend what aid they could. 
 

Not even stopping to brush the rubble off her once white healer’s robes, Leena turned to survey the damage. “What in force is going on here?!” She lamented.

 

She saw it then. The droid. It did not belong. Not here. She hurried towards it, her hand resting near her lightsaber, just in case this was all some sort of elaborate Sith scheme. “Excuse me master droid. Can you help me? Something here is trying to destroy us, everyone. I do not know who to trust. You are not from here. Will you help me? We need to get out of here. Come on. Let’s find some shelter and together we can work to solve this.”

 

—————-

 

The air filled with sirens as responding emergency vehicles and personnel responded from all over the city. Even the police that had been tasked to apprehend Xar were drawn to the explosion and helping their own. Only a pair of security droids maintained their focus and direct line of sight on Xar. They pushed past the masses trying to flee, intent on their target.

 

—————

 

“I think they want to talk to you.” She pointed out the droids intent on coming after Xar as she tried to pull the droid behind an arriving fire response craft. 
 

—————

 

Several minutes later, Xar and Leena arrived at the warehouse a few blocks away. “I think we lost them. Lets dip in here. I feel, something.” 
 

There were no guards in sight as Leena dipped into the large warehouse lined with cots and makeshift housing. She felt it. Somewhere, in this crowded structure, there were Jedi, agents of the light. She wanted to find them. Then, together they could uncover what was happening. It panged Leena’s heart what had happened. She desired nothing more than to go and help at the scene of the catastrophe, to treat the sick and dying, but she was a Jedi. She had to face the greater darkness that was festering here, lest the darkness overwhelm any good she tried to implement.


Scanning the room, Leena was hoping to see the Jedi; what she saw instead, filtering in from other entrances, were the Neimodian, Sara, and the Jedi-impersonator. “They must be following me!” She hissed at Xar. 

Edited by Leena Kil
Spelling errors

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It did not take long for a command post to be set up. The next thing was quarantining off the entire sector, which included the warehouse district off the main offworld port of entry. The grizzled Quarren Police Commander now running the scene thanked his lucky stars that did not include the port. It made his job infinitely easier; and the assistance of port security in dealing with the scene was appreciated too.

 

Given that that city was already on lockdown, barricading roads and herding survivors, and lookie-loos into available buildings was not as hard as it could have been. The totalitarian no-nonsense jack-booted enforcers clad in the best combination of personal protective equipment and body armor instilled fear and a sense of control in the local populace.

 

 “KARKING DRUK!!!” The tired commander swore loudly as he slammed the datapad a tech had just handed him on the workstation in front of him. “And do we have any evidence of that soldier?” He snarled, his tentacles bouncing angrily.

 

The young tech, took a step back, knowing full well the power the man before him had at his command and rumors of his draconian responses to disorder. “There is video from inside and outside the clinic sir, at least before the cameras got vaporized; and if you swipe to your left you will see reports from the Port Authority regarding their arrival. Apparently it was their ship that got shot down earlier today.” He responded, gesturing to the datapad.

 

The commander expertly flicked his fingers across the pad transferring the screens displayed there to the multiple screens lining the walls of the mobile command center that now served ad e center for the makeshift treatment and search and rescue operation already well underway. The silent security footage played across the screens. It showed the inner hallways, offices, and waiting room inside the clinic and the loading dock and multiple street views outside.

 

“There!” Another officer in the bus pointed to a screen. “Thats the droid we’re looking for! And see,” he pointed to another screen from the port “It is with the Jedi who were supposed to be bringing relief supply and aid.”

 

“and there is that red skinned bounty-hunter Jedi stealing an ambulance after the explosion.”

 

“Does anyone know where they went to?” The commander growled, rubbing his temples. This day just kept getting worse. The Jedi were supposed to be bringing aid and comfort to their people. The ruling council should have known, offworlders only brought trouble.

 

“Yes sir. Watch.” Another tech reached over and with a few deft keystrokes called up the video of the streets in the warehouse sector and video inside Warehouse 13. “They seem to be rendezvousing in the offworld quarters.” 

 

“MORE Jedi? Where are they karking coming from?”  He snarled, his headache only increasing in intensity as he watched Mjan activate his sabers on the screen. Didn’t he have enough going on without an incursion and a potential international incident. His people already needed saving from one stain on the galaxy. “What ancient spirit did we awaken to cause all of this?!” 

 

“Sir, uhmm, do you think we should enact The Final Protocol? I mean, not everywhere but, well,” he stammered pointing a boney Quarren finger at the screens showing Mjan, Nia, Leena, Xar, and Sara all in the same warehouse. “We can make it look like another accident. No sense pointing fingers at the Jedi just yet, publicly.”

 

The commander leaned forward, massaging his temples as he stared up at the screens of the warehouse. Only a few Quarren had made it inside from the clinic debacle. Most of the packed warehouse was filled with a myriad of spacers, tourists, and travelers from across the galaxy. Nobody really important. The rich enough had taken it upon themselves to quarantine in the hotels and motels elsewhere in the city; those who had not escaped when the lockdown was being put into effect.

 

Blinking his eyes slowly, the commander weighed the possible positive and negative outcomes. Truth be told, he had read the memo that indicated that latest research seemed to indicate the plague ravaging his people and his city stemmed from an offworld source. Maybe they deserved to be punished. Nobody knew how to show respect for the locals anyways.

 

“Just do it.”  He sighed leaning his forehead forward to rest in his hands. “And make sure they use the implosion and not the explosion this time. We don’t need any more local casualties. I’ll brief the council. Someone start on our press release blaming the Jedi for this one too. Use the video. The sooner we get ahead of this the better. Don’t need any more kriffing Jedi mucking things up.”

 

The tense air in the mobile command unit fell silent for a moment, replaced by an eerie and uneasy calm just before it exploded in a furry of activity.  

 

_______________________

 

Across the city in a small, albeit state-of-the-art laboratory that rivaled even Kamino in it’s heyday several scientists buzzed with worried excitement. “If it doesn’t come from the jellyfish where did it come from?” One queried worriedly.

 

“I don’t know, but the sequencing seems to indicate that it is mutating at an alarming rate from when the first miners were diagnosed 2 weeks ago. It seems to be infecting offworlders now as well. Some with startling results! Did anyone see the photos of that Duros and all the orange pustules in his throat? Haven’t seen that in any Quarren or Mon Cal.”

 

”Or that twi’lek couple with the headtail rot? Serves ‘em right for going outside the quarantine zone line a couple of wanna-be heroes in the dark below if you ask me. They probably brought the stuff here or something.”

 

”Except they only arrived a week ago...” the first tech chided his comrade. “It is strange though. It is almost like someone wanted this thing to mutate. Look.” He pulled up several slides of microscopically enhanced viruses. “It seems just too perfect. Like someone wanted to nuke us. And there is that little add on we can’t identify.”

 

”It just pisses me off!” A tech growled. “How come the poor miner folk and those living below the surface are getting infected faster. Don’t see the council rushing to set up too many hospitals down there! But when it gets to the surface and threatens their bottom line...”  

 

________________

 

Meanwhile in the chaotic hangar/warehouse/ massive room, Leena suddenly found that the rather suspicious droid had taken off into the crowd. She didn’t have a lot of time to pay it heed though as a wave of fear rippled through the crowd accompanied by the nearby all too familiar hum of a lightsaber activating.

 

The girl was stressed as it was. This mission was not going according to plan. How she longed to be back in the sterile controlled medical ward of the temple treating all manner of interesting, odd, and deforming injuries that came through the door. This had to be as bad as the warzone the Empress was going to take her too. ‘At least there I’d have had an armed escort.’

 

Snatching her own deactivated hilt from her belt, Leena tried to shoulder her way through the crowd of varying species until she could see what was going on. ‘A Jedi? What was he doing? Didn’t he know these people were innocent?’

 

With a shove, Leena stumbled into the small clearing the fearful masses were trying to give the saber wielding spacer. Before she could do much more a Green-skinned Nia was confronting the Jedi. ‘Mjan...’ she had heard or read that name somewhere before. ‘A Jedi I hope. Still, better be on the safe side.’

 

Standing a few paces behind Nia, Leena settled into a standard defensive position, her saber held at her waist. The hiss of the blade activating and Bathing her salmon skin in it’s pale teal light was enough to draw an audible gasp from the crowd. “She is right, master Jedi. These people need our help. Taste the fear here. Put your weapon away so we can go back to helping right the wrongs here.” Leena hated the idea of confronting another Jedi, much less one probably who outranked her; but she knew the right thing to do and years in medical situations had taught her that swift action and willingness to confront a mistake head on were the best ways to save lives in peril. This was not an operating room, but the same still applied. The force washed around her in billowing waves, the smell of sea air emanating from nowhere as the Jedi Mon Cal settled herself in the midst of the maelstrom, a lighthouse of peace and surety in the chaos. 

 

Hearing Sara’s voice at the edge of the crowd behind her, Leena’s mouth creased into a slight smile. At least she wasn’t totally alone. If anyone could figure this out the Zeltron, the droid, and her ought to be able to. “Yeah. I think so. Just trying to avoid any more life loss.” She spoke over her shoulder, careful to not let down her guard or take her eyes off Mjan and Nia. “I am glad you made it out alive though!”  She expressed genuinely. “What happened? Terrorists? The Sith?”

 

 

——————

 

Out above the far reaching waves of the planet, a flight of bombers that had been patrolling the further waterways from the city diverted their course, turning their trajectory towards the city as new orders chimed in.

 

—————-

 

And deep within the bowels of the Chief ld dark ocean waters beneath the city something gargled and belched. Cracks and fissures began to appear in the latest vacant mine shaft and spurts of water began to stream down the dark tunnels accompanied by the hissed of Lethane gas as it escaped into the otherwise still moist black air.

 

Trickling downwards into the dark, the waters ran over and around everything in their path, exposing long forgotten crevices and caverns. This would have all gone unnoticed, mines and miners deemed nonessential for the continuing operation of the city during lockdown, locked and boarded up for the time being; however the trickling waters triggered something deep and dark and echoing through the waves of the force a wave of sickly cold laughter echoed forth inaudible to the ear but chilling and vengeful to those attuned to hear

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Leena sighed as the confrontation continued, only relaxing slightly as the others deactivated their blades. She was glad she had not had to use hers. In truth, she had only undergone the minimal amount of required saber training, choosing instead to focus her passions and mind on where the force had led her: healing. How could such a humanitarian mission go so off kilter so quickly? And what was that laughter she felt in her bones. It was as if a needle of darkness had pricked her and giggled.

 

Still, there was something about the Cathar. He did not feel right. He surely was not a Jedi, was he? Mjan? Most likely; and Leena knew if that wad the case she would surely pay for her actions. The Nautolan? Eeehhhh...maybe. If she was, she was not well versed in the Jedi arts. Still, Leena felt her frustrations and desire to help those all around them. Good Jedi feelings. Feelings Leena echoed in her own soul.

The dark Neinodian on the other hand, was the only one not wanting to kill anyone for the moment. In fact, was he unnerved by it all? As she suspected, he was nothing more than a force attuned thug of some sort. No sith to be worried about.

 

Everyone seemed paranoid, like they had something to hide. Even the Nautolan was dressed in rags, if she was an actual Jedi. Then Sara, the one person Leena actually had some sort of credit built with, even if she didn’t know anything else about her, spoke of getting while the getting was good.

 

Leena, held onto her blade, just about to deactivate it when the Cathar offered his hilt to the Nautolan. She froze. In that brief glimpse, it clicked. Along with the man’s words, she finally realized it. “Chandrilla,” she whispered under her breath, before shooting a glance towards Mjan with one eye, never removing the other from Ro.

 

“Do not take that blade little sister.” Leena spoke loudly and sternly across the expanse between them, gesturing the point of her saber towards the hilt about to be exchanged. “That was Master Vrink Dask’s blade! He went to Chandrilla to lend aid and never returned. He was reportedly killed in an ambush. He was one of the master healers who trained me! All he did was seek to help the less fortunate and was killed for his troubles!” Leena wanted to launch into a tirade as she felt anger and hatred towards Ro, for all she knew her master and friend’s killer, boiling up from deep within. The elder Mon Cal had been the only other Mon Cal healer within the Temple Healers and had taken a shining to the young Leena and her bubbling excitement for treating the injured bodies and souls under their charge. There was not time to reminisce, and as much as a deep part of her wanted revenge, she was a healer, not a murderer; despite what any of the other lunatics about them seemed to think. “That monster is a sand panther in bantha’s clothing. Should you go, he may kill you as well. Add another Jedi to his tally.”

 

Whirling around before anyone could respond, Leena shouldered her way past Sara, shooting a look at Mjan  that said ‘She is with you. Better rescue her before she does something you’ll regret’ and then Xar. “I trust a droid such as yourself would have no problems killing that, that killer cat if the need arose.”

 

”I am going to go and figure out what is kriffing going on here! Anyone whose intentions are pure are welcome to join me” She bellowed, shooting Sara a rage-filled glance silently begging her to come with her and get her out of there as she stomped off into the fearfully stunned crowd, deeper back towards the far corner of the warehouse and the small suite of offices there.

 

The anger she felt wracked her body and had she not spent nearly her entire life studying the ways of the Jedi, she would have undoubtedly leapt towards the cat and attempted to gut him where he stood. Leena had taken the death of Master Dask hard. It was his death that made her start keeping her lightsaber close at hand instead of in her quarters as she had been; she swore she would not allow anyone to desecrate and destroy those under her care. Right now, the whole city seemed to need that and Jedi, spies, impersonators, and droids be damned. She was going to do that. Alone if need be.

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Leena fought back the tears that were threatening to cascade from her bulbous eyes. She honestly did not care if anyone followed her or not. This mission was supposed to be humanitarian and she had already been stranded in space, practically blown up, come to blows with another Jedi, and been confronted by a Jedi impersonator wielding the blade of one of the masters she had felt the closest to. That was not to mention the dull pulse of laughter she seemed to feel gnawing at the base of her neck as if the very air had been possessed by some dark side wraith. 

 

The offices were where Leena was stomping towards with a purpose. She did not know why, but it seemed as good a place as any. She was upset, the sight of Master Dask’s blade pulling forth a pit of emotion she had not even been aware she had bottled away. A part of her wanted to lash out, to kill the one who had killed her friend; but it was not the Jedi way and she knew it. So she kept the emotions contained, the Jedi mantra playing in her head as she whispered it to herself, choking back tears: “Emotion, yet Peace. Ignorance, yet Knowledge. Passion, yet Serenity. Chaos, yet Harmony. Death, yet . . . Death, yet . . .”  Her voice trailed off at the thought of her friend and master’s death. Before she could start again she had come to a stop in front of the locked office door and the other Jedi, Mjan, had caught up with her. Leena tried to pull herself up and contain her emotions, especially as he introduced himself as a Jedi Knight. She sniffled pathetically as she whispered back, “Padawan Leena Kil of the Circle of Jedi Healers. This was supposed to be my first real mission and it has all gone so . . . so wrong!”

 

Before the conversation could continue, Leena was swung around and embraced by her pilot comrade, Sara. The Zeltron’s words flowed over her, and even if Leena wasn’t hearing all the words, she felt the woman’s emotions radiating and embracing her, tears flowing freely from her eyes and down her face as Sara pushed the lightsaber into her hand.

 

It took several minutes for Leena to compose herself before she was able to push herself off of Sara with a whispered, “Thank you.”

 

Looking from Sara to Mjan she offered a weak smile as she tucked the second saber in her belt. “So . . . uhhhh . . . What now? How can we stop this chaos?”

 

__________________________
 

Back at The mobile police command several blocks away, notice was given to the ‘Jedi’ leaving the building. In truth, while the majority of police command and resources were being dedicated to securing the scene of the explosion and searching out survivors and treating the wounded. A small, select team, however, was monitoring the Jedi situation: officially having been designated as terrorists on police watchlists the offworld Jedi had several strikes against them. One of these was that research reports continued to show that the disease that was continually mutating and infecting, and killing, at a higher and higher rate, had originated from a source outside of Mon Calamari’s natural world. In fact, it appeared to be lab grown.

 

The team in the command center watched as Nia and Ro left the warehouse. If the building was imploded, they would be left unscathed. The big cat had been reported to be the possible source of the explosion. Witnesses reported him running through the flames, cackling as he swung his lightsaber at anyone trying to get away. Label: EXTREMELY DANGEROUS.

 

Quietly, a team of specialized agents began to move in hidden amongst the chaotic crowd. On the rooftops above, several snipers easily found Nia and Ro in their sites. All they had to do was await the order.

 

___________________
 

Out over the vast oceanic expanse of the planet, the bombers’ engines whined as the aircraft raced towards the city, low and fast. It would be only minutes before they were able to fire on their target. Hitting the edge of the city, the pilots were then and only given the target: terrorists holed up in a warehouse that had blown up a nearby hospital. Reports indicated ground forces had the building surrounded. Implosion warheads were mandatory.

 

________________

 

Before any of this planned reestablishment-of-order-by-use-of-force could take place, the darkness below gurgled in evil excitement. Above the din of the chaos that drove the city to it’s knees, the conflicted force imbued chaos of our misfit party of mis-adventurers vibrated as clear as a harp string plucked in a silent orchestra pit. The presence in the pits of the planet would have smiled if it could have. The signature was recognizable and the ancient darkness in the inky blackness of the depths surged. The cracks and fissures splitting and spluttering in the isolation as the pressure of the darkness ate it’s way towards freedom. It’s call had been answered.

 

Gases billowed and fizzed as they whirled upwards towards freedom, the forward guard of the icy waters beginning to march steadily upwards.

 

Urged onwards and upwards, hastened by the force itself, the gasses raced on.

 

________________

 

In the warehouse, Leena’s query had little time to be answered. Just as the words left her mouth, the  tempestuous storm of vapors rushing upwards from the deepest depths found a place where shafts and worn vents interceded as one. From there, they surged upwards along being-made conduits, carrying the call of the dark presence, directed onwards towards the chaos that called above the din.

 

Sara, Mjan, and Leena had mere seconds before the vent grate below their feet blew upwards sending the three catapulting into the air and then back down towards the yawing hole of the floor’s vent. All around the warehouse the grates blew off, eliciting screams of fear and pain.

 

And above the din, throughout the cavernous warehouse a dark chilling disembodied voice spoke, “So you have heeded my signal, lord of darkness. Your sacrifices have just begun. Come to what you once deemed my place of eternal damnation that I may exact my revenge.” The voice seemed to center around Nok Morliss, not that anyone could tell, but it was focused on his dark presence, called to it by the chaos of the situation surrounding him.

 

The voice echoed on dark vibrations throughout the warehouse, but did not seem to go beyond; however the screams and cries for mercy as the refugees begged whatever supernatural deities they thought may have arrived did carry beyond the flimsy metallic walls of the yawning structure. Additionally, grates and manholes eithin a block radius, while a few seconds behind also burst with gaseous pressures, sending chunks of metal and duracrete into the air.

 

Far above, the sniper team watched in shock as they sent their rifle-cam recordings back to command, unsure of what was transpiring.

Edited by Leena Kil

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The din in the warehouse was deafening and fear rose so heavily in the air it was almost palpable. The vents blown to the ceiling crashed down adding to the chaos, some of the heavy metal brackets smashing into refugees. Others clattered against walls and the floor.

 

In all of it, before Leena, Mjan, and Sara could continue their conversations they were blown into the air. Knight Mjan had tried to push Sara and Leena clear. It only served to send them arcing through the air instead of straight up. Leena twirled as she tried to hold onto Sara. The chaos around her pressed in on all sides and she could not even grasp what was going on. 
 

The next thing she knew, Leena landed atop Sara on the hard floor. She felt the wind leave the Zeltron’s body and she, Leena rolled off of her to the floor shocked; her brain trying to take in what had just happened. The lingering darkness from the dark chilling voice coated the walls feeding on the panic and pandemonium. Leena felt it, even if she had not heard exactly what the voice had said, and she recognized it. It was the dark side. And as she lay there on the floor, she heard Sara ask if she was ok. 
 

Leena smiled as she reached out to grasp the Zeltron’s hand at the same time reaching out on the force with a calming wave, finding the vestiges of it within her soul. It was second nature, and in this chaos, Sara was something familiar. Sara was a patient.

 

Rolling to a half reclined position, Leena placed her hand on Sara’s shoulder, “Better than you it seems. We guppies swim better than fly.” She smiled at her own attempt to crack a joke as she pushed out on the force in a tidal surge over Sara’s battered body. Waves of healing energy crackled like blue-green sparklers in the air and an aroma of salty fresh sea air wafted from the Apprentice Healer. Leena was seeking Sara’s wound, visible and invisible, it did not matter. When she felt them, Leena injected them with a pulse of healing energy, encouraging the girl’s natural healing abilities to kick into overdrive. When it was done, which had taken a few minutes, Leena pushed herself to her knees. “We better get up before we get trampled.” Her eyes looked out at the crowd trying to push their way out of the too few exits. They had one thing on their mind, a mob focus on securing their own safety, regardless of those who got in their way or who was left behind to die. “Besides, we ought to find you some Juju berry pie or something. Accelerated healing makes one hungry.” She offered a hand to Sara, helping her up whilst simultaneously looking for Mjan. A jedi knight was probably exactly what this situation could use. “Where did he go to?” She pondered aloud, her head scanning the quickly emptying room before her view settled on the blown away grating in front of the office. 
 

Somehow, she just knew, he had to go down there. Jedi didn’t follow the panicked masses, right? “Come on. Lets see if he went that way.” Leena offered an arm to help Sara walk towards a nearby vent and together jump down, right next to Nom and Xar. “Oh. Uh. Hello fellows. Did you, uh, happen to see a Jedi down here?  He was wearing, um, not Jedi robes.” Are you guys following the tunnel somewhere? Probably a faster way out than the doors, honestly.”

 

________________
 

Outside, the refugees pushed and shoved until the majority of them were fleeing into the streets. High above, the overwatchers radio’d in what they were seeing, their mounted cameras displaying the chaos that rose as manhole covers and grating rained down.

 

It did not take much, the command was already convinced that the offworlders had brought the diseased that was now ravaging their city. A quick order and the snipers were staring down their rifles at the Jedi amidst the crowd and opened fire. High velocity blaster bolts whizzed through the air peppering the crowd as they tried to take out the ‘Jedi’ and any offworlder that got in the way.

 

Overhead, the squadron of bombers began their final approach, orders adjusted once again. Bomb doors opened And instead of one single incendiary implosion warhead, 8 warheads were released.

 

The weapons armed as soon as they hit the moist ocean air. All it was take now is impact and the warehouse and 3 blocks in any direction would be vaporized in a cloud of fire and ash. The bombs whistled through the air as they approached from high above; not that they were noticeable over the screams of fear and panic as the refugees sought to find refuge from the hail of blasterfire from above.

 

The sniper teams were a worthy sacrifice as far as command was considered. All it would take was the right political spin and the city would not be letting any more offworlders in for the foreseeable future. The Quarren would finally be able to live in peace.

 

“45 seconds to impact . . . 44 . . . 43 . . . 42  . . . “

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Chaos. Chaos reigned supreme in the streets surrounding the warehouse district. The people who had just been fighting to get out into the streets and try their luck against the city itself and the disease it harbored now clawed at one another in sheer terror trying to get to cover. Blaster bolts reigned down from above, and while a smuggler here and a mercenary there tried to return fire with whatever smuggled off world weapon they had snuck in, the majority of the off worlders collapsed in shock, tried to hide behind whatever makeshift shield they could find or ran. It was the runners who got picked off first. Nobody was going to get away, the expertly trained and technologically advanced police snipers would see to that. Even as they focused their fire on the supposed Jedi, nobody was shown mercy.

 

And then, suddenly, as abruptly as the shooting had started, it stopped. From their vantage point, the overwatching shooters sensed, heard, and detected the incoming explosives a mere second before those on the ground, the high-pitched whistles piercing the air as the technological terrors hurtled towards the city scape.

 

___________   
 

Leena bristled slightly at the droid’s tone, but she brushed it off. She had dealt with too many young troopers who had a chip on their shoulder or something to prove. 
 

She was breathing deeply, the caustic wave of air eating at her chest and lungs. Before the droid could direct her, Leena turned to the blind Nemodian, “Do you have a rebreather?” She asked as she reached out on the force, grasping at the tendrils of good that lay nestled in the baseness of the world around them. Gently, Leena pushed against the darkness that radiated from Nok’s heart trying to reach out a wave of calm to try and suppress the coughing fit, even as her own lungs burned with each breath. As she did, the red-skinned Jedi came rushing up and urged them onwards through the foul muck and deeper into the blackness.

 

And then, as Mjan rushed by, Leena felt it, fear, a cyclone of fear crashing down. On the heels of that fear, death.

 

Leena tripped and sent muck, yuck, and guck splattering, her already dirty and damaged white healer’s robes being coated in blacks, browns, and greens. “Go!!” she urged Sara, the droid, and the Nemodian, trying to encourage them to run as she picked herself up from the bottom of the pipe, planting a sewage covered hand on Sara’s  back and pushing. “Go! Use the force!” 
 

______________
 

 The sudden lack of laser fire raining down gave some of the frenzied masses pause, but the majority were too tizzied up to even notice. They noticed though. Oh, did they notice as the bombs touched down in unison. From eight individual points, waves of inferno boiled forth, flames rolling over one another as they raced outward enveloping everything in their path. Flesh sizzled, bones cracked, even durasteel began to melt; nothing was left untouched as the fire erupted outwards and upwards into the sky. 
 

Just as suddenly as the flames rushed outwards they ground to a halt, their eruptive force coming to a close. The flames then began to recoil with the hiss of a vacuum. The emptiness of air creating a superpowered vacuum in the wake of the firebomb. The fires collapsed back inwards with force enough to topple buildings in their grip, uproot trees, and knock statues off their pedestals. Nothing was left untouched; such was the power of the incendiary inferno bombs.

 

In a matter of seconds three square city blocks outwards and upwards erupted in a flash of fire and then with a deafening boom that echoed across the city collapsed the warehouse district in on itself.  Outside the perimeter, practically nothing was touched and within the blast small flames licked at the surviving flammable items lying haphazardly about in the devastation. 
 

Silence followed. The screaming masses, the frantic police, the first-world cityscape had been reduced to an outer rim wasteland leaving piping and pits exposed below.

 

And in the next few minutes, the whimpering of the few survivors, burnt and crushed, began to eek through the acidic scorched still air.

 

____________

 

Leena pushed Sara and Nok forward, the explosive flames superheating the air and igniting the Lethane coming up from the fissured septic line that branches into the mines below. The flames billowed after Mjan, Sara, Leena, Xar, and Nok threatening to consume them if something was not done. 
 

The force was swirling about them, darkness, light, fear, peace, passion, emotion, calmness, life, and death; it was all there touching their minds and bodies even as it ached at the sudden extinguishment of life above. Then Mjan collapsed, falling to his knees as the flames rushed at them. Leena skidded to a stop beside the downed Jedi. In the flickering orange glow of the oncoming flames, Leena’s eyes looked from Sara to Mjan and then to Xar and Nok. “We are going to die.” she whispered as the loss hit her in her soul. The young Mon Cal looked at the blooming plume of fire rushing down on them and then at Sara, “I’m sorry.”

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Even before the Sith forces began to appear in the sky, the eerie calm that was left in the aftermath of the chaotic inferno and imploding vacuum began to fill with the cries of those few who had managed to survive. Nobody was left untouched. Some were burned. Others broken. Still others were trapped / pinned beneath what had been haphazardly flying debris. In the distance, sirens wailed as nearby emergency forces turned their attention towards what was already being billed as another Jedi terrorist attack conjoined to the hospital explosion. 

 

In the midst of the rubble, a dirt and grime covered Zeltron male clothed in singed bantha-leather pants and vest rushed away from the oncoming sirens. He only paused at the sight of a battered Nautolan, Nia. He paused, extending a hand to the girl, “C’mon girlie, we gotta get out of here before they come to finish us off. I got a buddy with a ship a half klick or so away. If we can get there, maybe we can survive.” He glanced about anxiously before setting off clasping his heavy blaster in his other hand, “We gotta go NOW.”

 

___________
 

Elsewhere, all across the planet a myriad of invisible communications zipped about as government entities, military assets, and civilian watch stations tried to ascertain what was going on with the sudden arrival of a fleet that appeared decidedly set on military conquest. With planetary forces already focused on the medicinal safety of the planet and containing the murmurs of social unrest, the arrival of an alien invasion was the last thing they needed. At least many of the forces planetside were already deployed. Communications were sent to the fleet in hopes that whoever had arrived would respond with offers of peace and aid, although deep in the pits of their bellies those who viewed the scans of the fleet knew otherwise.

 

Then, suddenly, for a moment, the confusion was gone. It was nearly replaced with an exponential explosion of chaos. The fleet was launching invasion forces. It had already dispatched a wing of atmospheric defense fleet bombers that had been tasked with ensuring no one left the quarantine zone to potentially spread the plague across the world. War was upon them.

 

Like that, the majority of the quarantine forces found themselves with new haphazardly issued orders: Defend the world. Repel the alien hostiles. Protect the people.

 

Up on the orbital shipyards, several massive Mon Cal warships languished awaiting more orders for production, which had been lagging of late. Everywhere klaxons blared and emergency stations were manned. Naval personnel rushed to their battle-stations and the massive warships began to disengage from their moorings. Fighter pilots manned their craft awaiting launch. If war was afoot, the Mon Calamari Defense Force would meet it head on.

 

Planetary mounted orbital weapons began to take aim at the fleet dropping into the atmosphere. It would not be a moment before the skies overhead were filled with ion and turbolaser fire.

 

________________
 

Beneath the ruins of the warehouse, Leena blinked in shock, a glimmer of light kindling in her soul. Even in the total blackness of the septic main, Leena could feel it, just as much as she could sense the others still about her. “Hope.”

 

”That grenade was a great idea.” Leena said in what she thought was Sara’s direction as she picked herself up out of the muck. She smiled as relief rushed through her. “The force provides for those who . . .”

 

Leena could not finish her thought as the Nemoidian insisted they move deeper into the tunnel. Before she knew it, a light was piercing the darkness and Xar was urging the group downward. Looking back at the steaming sewage where the fire had been repelled, Leena knew it would be best to follow the group deeper. Away from the heat and carnage. “I think it would be best if we stick together, eclectic a group as we are. I am sure glad that you have a flashlight built in master droid. I’d hate to trip over a . . . something I’d like very much to not think about, and break my leg or get a face full of feces.”

 

Following the group, Leena continued to babble. Truth be told, it helped calm her down and the growing edge of darkness concerned her. The threat of being consumed by  fire was pushed to the back of her mind. Right now they needed to find a safe way out of here. 


“I hope we can find a way out. It is hard to help people when we are cut off from the city. I wonder if the virus is down here too. Oh, glad you pointed that out. Don’t want to trip. So what is everyone doing here? Mister ahhh Meer was it, it seems like there might be more to you than just selling medical supplies. I can still smell the gas, but the air here seems to be cooler and less caustic on my mouth.”
 

Leena paused when she thought she heard the voice, but shook her head. “Just hearing things. Pipes like these can echo anything can’t they? No way there is some other sentient being down here. It is getting cold though. I suppose it beats being baked alive like a eeopie steak though. Oh, we are going left? Doesn’t that one seem like it goes deeper? Don’t we want to get out? I suppose the droid has some built in compass though. I know I have no idea where we are. Do you hear that dripping? I bet we are below sealevel by now. Do you all know how to swim?

 

Leena paused as they came to an abrupt stop at the mouth of a maw where the pipe suddenly took a 90 degree angle downwards. “Oh. That is deep. I do not suppose anyone has a rope? I am not sure I possess the skill to levitate us down,” she gestures down the pit in the dim glow of Xar’s light, “that.” 
 

Overhead as drop pods began to make landfall a series of dull whumping sounds could be heard. “Perhaps the virus is worse than we knew and they are firebombing the city to try and exterminate it. That is not right. Those people have a right to try and survive. Who could do such a thing? We need to be careful guys. There is an abnormal darkness here. Can you feel it? I can almost taste it on my tongue.” A louder whump caused the pipe to shutter ever so slightly. “That was too close for comfort. I don’t know maybe we should, whoops!!” Leena had turned to peer down into the inky darkness and had caught her foot along the edge and began tumbling downwards into the blackness.  “Oh dear.” 
 

As she tumbled, the cold air rushing past her, Leena extended her arms and legs out the air whipping her disgusting robes about her. Reaching out on the force, Leena felt for the force. The darkness played at the edges of her mind, but she could still grasp the tendrils of light; wrapping it about her in a warm blanketing embrace. Leena prayed the force would slow her decent enough to keep her from being crushed on whatever lay below.

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Down in the darkness that was the sewers, Leena reached out on the force that encircled her, trying vainly to try and slow her fall into the abyss of unknowingness below. As Knight Mjan whizzed by her. The two splattered into the muck below at about the same time. With a sickening belly flop of a landing, Leena laid face down in the muck for longer than she would ever care to acknowledge. When she did tip her head back to gasp for air, her lungs were assaulted by the overwhelming choking odor of the waste of countless thousands of fishy denizens. It would have been enough to make a full grown Hutt vomit. Given that Leena paled in vileness to such a slug, she did just that; adding the contents of her stomach to the glop that coated her and came almost up to her shoulders.

 

That would have been bad enough, had a splatter not followed right behind her as she was coated in a fresh wave of fecal sludge. Had she been focused, the girl would have felt the dark consciousness of Nok Morliss; but even that paled in comparison to the darkness that permeated the entire pipeline, dark, subtle, ancient and growing. Leenawas not even noticing that though as proceeded to continue wretching as Sara splattered down nearby.

 

Four yards above them, shrouded in the darkness, was a deep and narrow fissure that stretched upwards for a dozen feet or more. It was a place where miners of countless of Dac’s precious minerals had strayed too far from the beaten path and intersected with the sewage line before making a hasty retreat and not bothering to admit their fault and report the error. That would have been hours of paperwork and a major liability. So it had lay undetected for the last 13 months; a ledge staring into the fumes along a tracked shaft deeper into the planet towards the core and the seabed that had birthed this outcropping of volcanic rock. It was still pitch black and the air in the mine chock full of Lethane. The shaft had been abandoned after the first explosion of the gas; deemed to dangerous to continue for the meager returns the shaft had been generating. The whole shaft had been blocked off somewhere high above: out of sight, out of mind was the company’s philosophy.

 

_____________
 

Meanwhile, on the surface, the already taxed-to-the-max local police forces stared in devastation as the solid-state hellifre rained down upon their city from above. Some wondered if this was a Jedi invasion force bent on retaking the planet for their rebellion against the ever-expanding Sith Empire. Others saw the mythalized stormtroopers and just knew the Empire of old had finally pulled out all the stops and begun their reclamation of the galaxy. Others saw it as an invasion force coming to prey on them in their hour of need. There was already death all around them and while some pockets of local government tried to cautiously and peacefully approach the sky-fallen arrivals, many opted for a tried and true approach: welcome through the heavy application of localized firepower.

 

That was the response in the areas of the fire-bombed hospital and devastated warehouse district. Terrorists, offworlders, plague, fireballs, explosions, it was not like it could get any worse right? While officers and troopers abandoned their posts and poured forth to form up some form of barricades against the planet-spanning rain of death-dealing soldiers, Police command was quickly mobilizing in an effort to get to the city bunker, hoping to survive the onslaught there. That is, until a drop pod slammed into the fleeing hooverbus, grinding it to a screeching halt in the roadway.
 

_____________
 

And, like a sick ever expanding fog did the darkness radiate through the gases, through the sewage-filled vapors, through the flames and the chaos. The more death and destruction that echoed on the force, the stronger the presence became; a silent laughter emanating across the city. “It is time. Dead in the cold and dark no more.” 

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Deep within the belly of the planet, connected only to the outside world via an abandoned shaft within which bodies of the burned and dead lay rotting, linked through a sentient-made waste disposal system that had long since needed an overall, a dark lumbering voice began to rumble. It was slow and but a whisper, but as it progressed, it grew in speed and crescendo.

 

“Uşaqlarımın yanıma gəlin,

əvvəllər gəzənlər

yenidən gəzmək və üzmək

Uşaqlarımın yanıma gəlin,

həyat həyatı bilən

yenidən həyatı tanımaq

Uşaqlarımın yanıma gəlin,

kənardan qaranlıqdan

ədalətli mükafatınıza çatmadan əvvəl

Uşaqlarımın yanıma gəlin,

cığır boyunca geri dönüş

növbəni dayandırın və yenə qayıdın

Uşaqlarımın yanıma gəlin,

qadağan olsa da, gələ bilərsiniz

Səni geri çağırdım

Uşaqlarımın yanıma gəlin,

təbii yüksəlişin üstündədir

yaradılışın məhv edilməsinə yol verilmir

Uşaqlarımın yanıma gəlin,

dənizlərdən və pirlardan

göydən və alovdan

Uşaqlarımın yanıma gəlin,

qurbangaha bir daha yaxınlaşın

son hədiyyəni götür

Uşaqlarımın yanıma gəlin,

qorxu tutuşunu itirdi

hamınızın qorxusunuz

Uşaqlarımın yanıma gəlin,

ölümünüzdən bir daha imtina edin

itirmək istəmədiyin şeydən yapış,

Uşaqlarımın yanıma gəlin,

Yenidən sənə ehtiyacım var

xidmətləriniz mükafatlandırılacaqdır

Uşaqlarımın yanıma gəlin,

bu zaman dayandı

vaxtı yenidən məğlub etməyə çağırılır

Uşaqlarımın yanıma gəlin,

.........”

 

And the chanting continued on and on.

 

__________________
 

Just as Leena finished emptying her stomach into the goo and ooze that encircled them, a fresh wave of revulsion in the form of the wise-cracking murder droid crashed into and over her. Had she anything left in her stomach, the Jedi-in-training would have surely added its contents to the sewer line.

 

The one positive of it all was that at least the droid brought light with it. Before she could even give voice to the thought the, the inorganic being was off chasing after the supposedly blind goblinoid with a dark soul. “Well then . . .” was all she could muster before she started to heave again. Thankfully, Leena felt herself, being drug forward through the filth by her Zeltron companion. It would have been unnerving, and frankly fear-inducing, had Xar’s light not illuminated the sewage clad woman momentarily. As it was, Leena was glad to have a friend.

 

Slowly Leena picked herself up and made her way towards the uneven wall, looking back towards Mjan, or more accurately where she heard Mjan sloshing through the muck. She could faintly feel him on the force. The senior Jedi was not in a good way, but there was little she could do here and now. They had to survive. The whole place seemed to emanate with some subtle dark side presence that made her uncomfortable. It could have been the descent of the Sith above, it could be what lay below, It could be that Nemodian businessman, or it clumd be something else. Leena had no way of knowing or telling. She did not even know most of it at all.

 

Rolling over the top of the lip into the mine, Leena’s clothes sloshed against the damp cool stone. “Yuck.” She mumbled. It was all she could muster in the moment. The air was thick and it hurt to breathe. She was coated in stuff she did not even want to think about. Her stomach was empty and ached.

 

Lying there for a moment, Leena gracious accepted the offer of the rebreather. “Thank you Master Jedi.” she smiled, grabbing at Mjan’s forearm with a squish of glop as she pushed a reassuring twinkle of light-sided energy along their physical connection in an invisible sign of encouragement. It was all she could muster.

 

She would have liked to have lay there and regain her strength, but the droid and their sole light source was off again, “So inconsiderate,” she pulled herself to her feet and slipped out of her Jedi robe. It landed on the ground behind her with a wet sickly slap leaving the Jedi clad in her equally filthy skin tight sleeveless tunic and pants.

 

With the rebreather in place, Leena looked to Sara in the quickly fading light and made a show of shoving both lightsaber hilts into her waistband. She too had no intention of being incinerated in their damp decidedly flammable surroundings.
 

The going wasn't easy, dislodged boulders covered in the thinest layers of slick moisture made the trek treacherous and more than once the Jedi Healer fell and scraped her elbow, knee, or shin on the uneven surfaces. Still she pressed onwards, only muttering incoherently a few times, after Xar, Nok, and the light.

 

Eventually she caught up with them where they seemed to have paused, Nok having ducked into a clearly manmade room carved from the stone. With Xar still in the hallway, Leena could not see anything inside; but as she tried to follow Nok in her toe found the broken fusion lantern on the floor. She stopped, her eyes staring into the inky blackness. Inside the room lay an overturned table and several chairs, a hodgepodge of maps and a miner’s helmet. In the corner, slumped in a chair was a clearly deceased and crisply singed Quarren. His or her, it was hard to tell, tentacles had all burned off. What was left of the being’s face twisted in a knot of pain and  their eyes stared sightlessly in horror out into the dark.

 

At least the air in the break room of sorts was purer, the Lethane fumes having carried upwards along the steep, slick, boulder-littered tunnel. It only got thicker the deeper they went. The going would only get more treacherous.

 

There in the dark, silence had reigned as king and had been for who-knew-how-long; interrupted only by the distant dripping of water from off in the dark yawning maw of the tunnels. That was, until, faint, as if a whisper, echoing along the walls along the tunnel came a voice. It was small enough now that if one were not listening, it might escape notice. 
 

“bir dəfə tərk etdiyiniz qabığa qayıdın

Uşaqlarımın yanıma gəlin,

qaranlıq iradənin damarlarınızdakı qan

olmasına icazə verin

aclığın sənə rəhbərlik etsin

Uşaqlarımın yanıma gəlin,

çağrışımı dinləməyin vaxtı çatdı

zaman-zaman əbədi

Uşaqlarımın yanıma gəlin,

Ağanınız bədəninizi tələb edir

ağlınız yalnız sizin olacaq

Uşaqlarımın yanıma gəlin,

alındığını iddia edin

səni lağa qoyanların qisasını al

Uşaqlarımın yanıma gəlin,

müqəddəs əhdi dadın

zənginizi yerinə yetirin

Övladlarımın yanına GƏLİN,

GƏLƏCƏYİN VƏ ƏYLƏNƏCƏK . . .”

 

The voice grew until it’s call rattled the very walls. Dark tendrils of invisible evil seemingly creeping forth. It did not stop, but just grew and grew, the unknown tongue chanting with the rhythm of the ages.  

 

Leena grabbed at Nok’s slimy robes trying to pull him close, the darkness that seemed to echo about them dwarfing what she felt radiating from the man. “Whatever darkness you carry, this is beyond you. Who are you and what are you doing? Can’t you feel it calling?”

 

________________
 

Far above the battle waged on. Where bodies fell they lie twitching on the ground. The fight for Dac was in full swing. A planet that had known the ravages of the Sith, the Empire, and darkness, who had stood against oppression and tyranny, would not go down without a fight. Wings of fighter craft mounted their responses and from the seas themselves, technological terrors built to blend with and accent the natural watery beauty of the world surfaces and unleashed their salvos at the approaching waves of Sith oppression.

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Leena let go of the Neimodian’s robes and shook her head, “That will not give you rest. The Sith are consumed by their desires. They want what every other being seeks, freedom. Freedom through strength and power though is not real freedom. Whatever trinket you are after won’t bring you peace. It will only hurt others down the road and pull you deeper into their snare. Before you know it,” Leena reached out and grabbed Nok’s wrist, “BAM! You are caught in their snare. A snare far worse than any fecal filled cesspool we might have already been caught up in. There goes any freedom you already have. Whatever that voice heralds is beyond what you or I or anyone here, even your supposedly newfound metallic bodyguard can probably handle.” Leena let go of the Nemodian’s wrist and turned to walk out of the room, looking back over her shoulder in the dim light. “I doubt that knife you have up your sleeve will do any good.“


Stopping at the doorway beside her Zeltron companion, Leena added, “But right now it doesn’t look like we have any other way to go. Looks like you’ll get your wish for now. Maybe if you change your mind, and we all get out alive, I’d be happy to take you back to THE Jedi Temple and take a look at your eyes; maybe even soothe those nightmares of yours.”

 

The young Jedi was not sure what the ‘businessman’ was playing at, but he was slimy, she could feel it. She didn’t even need to reach out on the waves of the force, there was too much else going on there right now. The story he was trying to feed her did not stand to reason.

-Not a Sith? But he had had a master, a darth. Maybe he still did . . . 
- -A master who taught him to see without his eyes. . . 

- - - taught him in the same battle he vanished in, ‘fortunately.’ . . . 

- - - The same battle the Nemodian was attacked by some wild animal in . . . 
- - - - On Kuat . . . The world was so terraformed they didn’t even have blood-sucking insects flying around. 

-Can’t find the Jedi? Short of recruiting posters, their locations are not exactly a secret, especially to someone with the funds to have others seek them out. 

 

Those were only the things that jumped out at her in the murky mire they now found themselves in. So she had spoken loud enough that the others could hear the last bit and the part about the knife she felt hidden. 
 

She was not happy about it, but they had to keep going down for now. Didn’t they?

 

Outside the room, the chanting cold voice continued, each best reverberating louder and louder off the tunnel walls. With each syllable the darkness continued to grow, pouring forth from the unknown below, now opened to the world again; for the first time in how many years? centuries?

 

“He has got a blade,” Leena whispered to Sara as she stepped back into the hallway and looked both ways before eyeballing Xar. “You might be our best bet to get out of here master droid. Do you have any sort of sonic or flame based weaponry?”

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The city was devolving into chaos. Already taxed, the local defense forces were easily overwhelmed by the unprepared for invading force. Their only saving grace the timely arrival of planetary defense forces. Even as the Mon Cal world was known for the production of their unique yet powerful space faring warships and luxury craft, a lesser known, yet even more potent production area for the aquatic world came in the form of true aquatic naval vessels and forces. There, the Mon Calamari and Quarren were in their element. So even as soldiers, aircraft, and spacecraft moved to engage the attacking Sith onslaught, the gargantuan Mon Cal Navy maneuvered into place. Soon powerful salvos filled the air as missiles erupted from beneath the calm surface of the sea. Anything that was not directly endangering to civilians was a fair target. If all else failed, the city could be sunk, her foundations destabilized by a plethora of submarine based weaponry. Cities could be rebuilt, they had done it before. All that they needed to do was ensure that the people were safe.

 

Along the shorelines and docks of the city, smaller quicker craft had approached in attempts to evacuate any citizenry they could, mostly under the watch of MWC-45c repeat cannon fire; each ship being mounted with one or more to try and dissuade any invaders from getting to close.


Of course, all this was lost on any adventurers below without radio access topside; even then, that was spotty at best, the ionized cortosis veins playing havoc on transmissions.

_______________
 

None of that mattered though to the presence deep within the mines and caves. It had been trapped for far too long and had upon its accidental release began to sow the seeds that were now coming to bear. The chanting grew louder and louder until it was near deafening as it reverberated off the walls and chasms of the mines, caverns, and sewers. Had the city streets above been quiet, it was quite possible that an individual out for a walk may have been able to hear the call.

 

Deep within the ancient forgotten lair, dim lights began to flicker, powered by the chaos and deep dark aura of the force, ((more description to come when adventurers get there)) and voice continued to boom its dark melodic chants.

 

_______________
 

Leena simply rolled her eyes at the droid. The pounding voice was starting to wear at her already taxed mind and she was hoping that they could work together. “Should have known better than to try to ask a machine to care about anyone but their programming.” She muttered to herself as she fell in line with the group. She was going to be a team player, in spite of what the others might want. The fact that the darkness was pressing in from all sides and the Nemoidian had flat out ignored her did not sit well either.

 

Shooting a side glance at Mjan, Leena paused to place a hand on his arm. “May the force me with you master.”

 

Trudging along, Leena tried to focus on not tripping over the uneven boulder strewn step decent, relying on the meager light from the droid ahead and the force to keep her from tumbling face first into the others.  
 

Leena didn’t know much about the cortosis the others had whispered about, except that it supposedly wreaked havoc on lightsabers. It didn’t concern her much though; what concerned her more was the sudden massive chasm spanning before them, a sinkhole into a underground cavern.  Undoubtedly there was water somewhere below; but it was dark and deep enough the yawning abyss could have very well opened into the pits of the underworld for what anyone could tell. Even the droid’s light did not reach the bottom.

 

“Oh. Now he cares” Leena grumbles sarcastically as Xar gave his instructions for the thin expanse of stone that reached out into the darkness across the chasm. “Watch this,” she smiled to Sara, the smile accentuating the tired lines of wear and grime on her face.

 

Reaching within to grasp at the candle of light that she carried in the force and then expanding from there in a wave of purity, Leena silently called on the force as she bent her knees and tensed her legs. Calling the force back towards her, she leapt; propelled upwards and forwards on a tidal surge of invisible energy. Flipping forward through the air, Leena twisted and landed with a crack of boot on stone on the far side of the chasm. Looking at the droid and Nemodian behind him she smiled and raised her eyebrows sarcastically, “One at a time was it?”

 

Leena stood waiting and watching for the others before linking arms with her Zeltron companion and setting forth deeper into the mineshaft. As they progressed, the going got slicker with moisture, the path more uneven as chunks of stone seemed to have fallen from the walls and ceiling and littered the abandoned pathway. The walls were all coated in a thick black slime, ash and soot that had mixed with the condensation. Every so often, they would stumble across  a charred and mangled body, unrecognizable from the flames and following moisture that had set to work on them. One thing was clear, an explosion had rocked the entire tunnel and nearly obliterated anyone that got in it’s way. The cortosis here was thicker, the lethane it had given off accelerating and magnifying the past inferno. Still now, the air was choked with it.

 

___________
 

As the group descended, the temperature continued to drop and the dark presence grew in strength and magnitude. Suddenly, the voice stopped and the tunnels were bathed in silence; save for the dripping of water in the darkness.  

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Pressing forward into the darkness, following the singular beam of light emitting from Xar’s head, the group had to slow because of the uneven, slick terrain. Deeper and deeper and deeper they went. Leena would have fallen several times had it not been for the flow of the force and Sara’s hooked arm.

 

When her friend noted the faint sounds echoing behind them, she responded, an echo of her former cheer shining through; “Perhaps it is more wanderers like ourselves. That or some terrible slop-monster hungry for a good meal. Either way . . .” she spoke louder hoping to catch everyone’s attention, “Hey everyone! My friend here says we are about to have company. How about we don’t shoot them until we make sure they can’t help us get out of here. I don’t think it is whatever is down below chanting.” ‘Maybe it drown and thats what stopped the voice.’

 

________________
 

Deeper in the mine, just down beyond the light of Xar’s light, around a bend in a cratered end to the tunnel, lay an inky black maw that opened from the left through a jagged opening torn open by the lethane powered explosion that had ravaged the tunnel. Bodies of twisted, burnt, decaying and mangled miners lined the floor there. Once inside, all one could hear was a wet hissing  breath... waiting.

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Leena listened intently to her comrades, rolling her eyes at the Neimodian’s sudden display of would-be-wanna-be-leadership, “I don’t see why you couldn’t just bribe them,” she muttered as she fell in line with the rest of the group. Whatever was behind them, the group had ordained was probably not the best thing; the resonating voice of the unseen commando confirming that. “The Sith will do as the Sith will do. There is no sense trying to delve their twisted minds.” 
 

The Mon Cal grasped her lightsaber hilt. She hoped she would not need it, but as a Jedi and a healer, she had a duty to preserve the lives of those under her watch. She felt a wave of the force, a surge in the invisible light side of the force as it lapped against the aura of her own. She did not know who or what it was; looking over her shoulder into the darkness though, she knew there was something else. Something of the light, unlike the darkness that pressed in on all sides.

 

Falling in step with Sara as they pressed forward, Leena carefully slipped the second lightsaber hilt of her former master free from her belt. The green glow of the blade familiar in her mind as she hesitated for a moment, wrestling with the surge of memories it carried with it. She held it lovingly for a moment longer before gently pressing the hilt into Sara’s palm in unison with their strides. Whispering so the others couldn’t hear, she urged her friend, “Watch the neimodian. He is with them,” she jerked her head back in the direction of their pursuers. “Use this, only if you must. The force will be with you, but a saber is still dangerous. I need to check on the light.” Whoever or whatever had projected that wave of peace could be with the Sith, could be their prisoner, and Leena knew she needed to find him or her.  She’d be able to help her friends if she could do something, maybe find some help, before the darkness overcame them. She had to trust that Mjan and Sara could help the others.

 

Falling back from the group, Leena allowed herself to be enveloped by the dark inky blackness. With only the force to guide her, Leena clasped onto the light side of the force and allowed the tides to carry her back.

 

Pushing her way back until she could hear the crunch of boots on loose stone, Leena found a deep crevice and wedged herself in as deep as she could, barely deigning to breathe as the troops passed her by, and still, she felt the light of another, calling.

 

______________
 

The group pressed forward, the damp moist shaft turning at a sharp angle before progressing several yards and coming to a sudden halt. The entirety of the walls and ceiling were coated in black ash. Ashen covered, rotting and burnt corpses lay splayed against the walls; the victims of a fiery explosion that burnt their flesh before being overcome by the humid cold air and mold.

 

There at the end of the shaft, the jagged edges of a caved in shaft opened downwards; water dribbled over the edge in innumerable tiny streams, splashing against unseen age-worn-smooth stone floors below. From the jagged maw of the collapse through a thick layer of cortosis a cold wet raspy breathing echoed forth and a dim green glow emanated from within highlighting in a ghoulish glow the edges of a desecrated ancient lab of sorts. Crushed shelves and unidentifiable artifacts lay scatted about the ground in pieces. Amongst these were several shattered holocrons. Overturned tables, soaked parchments, beakers and containers covered in dried and evaporated liquids could be seen here and there. An appearance of chaos covered in a wet layer of dust and grime presided over the entire lengthy room. The green glow casting lengthy shadows all about, except for the furthest end where still water met the rocky shore stretching out into darkness. 
 

And there, in the darkness that hovered over the water, even the force was clouded by the thick foggy blackness.

Edited by Leena Kil

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Leena held her breath. Her eyes were closed as she focused inward on the force as it churned within her chest. She heard the stamp of the troopers. It sounded like they were just outside the crevice she had wedged herself into. She daren’t open her eyes even. 

 

And then, it erupted, chaos. The odd warp of the sound-field as the chorus of stun fire and sonic weapons unleashed. That was not the most terrifying part though, the sudden rumble of the stone around her was. It sounded, sounded like the shaft was giving in. A cave in?

 

Leena sunk even deeper into the force, trying to envelope herself in a sphere of flowing protective energy, unsure if even that could save her if the entire aged shaft collapsed in on itself.

 

Out of sight and unheard over the tumble of boulders from the ceiling outside, the pressure of water began to spray inwards like dozens of closely compacted fire suppression systems of yore; except this water was salty and pure and COLD!

 

______________
 

 Meanwhile, at the maw to the pit, Xar’s well aimed rock arced downwards through  the makeshift opening in the ceiling before it landed with a ‘bloop’ mete inches from the shoreline where the nearest waters met the rocky shoreline of the massive cavern. Nothing stirred as the slight ripples faded into the darkness.

 

Out of sight from the caved in mouth overlooking the desecrated work space / lab / temple / thing a desecrated and rundown altar made of large stones stood at the edge of the water. Atop it sat the armored skeletal remains of an ancient humanoid. Elsewhere an overturned set of 4 shelves sat atop the remains of books, parchments, and what could only be described as several ancient shattered datapads.

 

Piles of bones lined the walls haphazardly as if they had been discarded without a care, each one covered in gouges and were those teeth marks? 

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The dark presence that emanated from the maw of the pit that Nok and Xar had stood at the precipice of echoed a silent hunger, it could taste its revenge and there was more than one of them. Then surges of power on the long stagnant force spoke that their snare had worked even better than it had hoped. Users of the magicks had heard the call and followed the summons of the deep.
 

Then . . . the closest prey (Nok and Xar) turned and started off towards the chaotic rumbling that had echoed down the chasm of freedom.

 

A surge of anger rippled across the waves of darkness, but quickly subsided at the taste of the fast approached new arrival. A stronger, more worthy victim was approaching.  The Spirit of The Deep could wait patiently a bit longer; after all, had it not waited this long? Mere moments more in the span of time would be nothing to finally exact penance.

 

Settling back into the silence, a deep joyous hunger twinged the call of the force. Ensnared for so very long, it could not hide it anymore. It had not had the need to. Soon the feast would begin.

 

_____________________
 

Further up the abandoned shaft, chaos reigned king over all. The display of force power from the Sithling Jedi had destabalized an already precarious situation, pebbles and boulders fell free from the darkened ceiling above, thundering to the floor sending up plumes of dust, dirt and ash. Accompanying this was the true master of Mon Calamari; the sea. Cold seawater, untouched by the warming light of the sun and pure in its salinated state, cascaded after the fallen rocks, tumbling down both sides of the pile of rubble, that reached nearly to where the ceiling had stood, in a frigid waterfall.

 

The water flowed quickly in both directions along the flat portion of the tunnel, only stopping to build its strength when the shaft began to arc back upwards towards the surface. It was only a matter of time before the seas reclaimed the shaft and all it touched as its own. It was the way of the masters of this and every world.

 

At the opposite end of the shaft, beyond the debris, the water flowed downwards, towards the maw, and it quickly surged passed the fallen Zeltron, a stream of near freezing liquid racing until it could find a wall upon which to gnaw. The fallen woman meant nothing to it, nor did the metallic feet of Xar or the Nemoidian. The waters did not care, they simply surged to claim that which was their own and sacrifice any that stood before it.

 

And then an explosion echoed up and down the shaft, vaporizing part of the hill of cavern ceiling. It rattles rattled forth a few more rocks and boulders that tumbled downwards and rolled to the foot of the pile.

 

The waters only surged downwards and outwards faster, loosed from their bonds.

 

____________________

 

Within the crevice, Leena crouched, envelopes in the warmth of the light side of the force. Even as the cold waters lapped at her feet and calves, she tried to give her body over to the warm embrace that was the force and ignore the sharp pain of unsuspected cold.

 

Did anyone survive?’ she wondered silently. A cave in and then an explosion surely were not good signs. Now with the water rushing in, Leena knew her companions could be in real trouble, if they were alive. Reaching out with the force, she sought to touch them, even the Nemodiain, to see if she could find them; see if they lived on. Through the surges of the darkness that had mummified this very venture from the moment they came underground and now seemed as if to awaken, Leena’s mind pressed. Before she could find her companions, except Master Mjan, who seemed to be in some sort of altered state and unresponsive to her prodding, Leena encountered another force of darkness. Another Sith? If so, it was nothing like the presence of The Neimodian; nor did it have the ancient beastial-awakening feel of the darkness that enshrouded them all. This, was darkness, personified.

 

Leena did not have time to ponder it or prod any further as soldiers came upon her. Carefully shoving the lightsaber hilt at her hip deeper into her soaked and filthy robes so as to not give herself away immediately, Leena pried herself out slowly, raising her hands up in the air. “Don’t shoot! I am a medic. I am sworn to preserve life, not take it.”

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Above the din of water cascading and crashing down, and the toe numbing cold that enveloped her feet, rising up over her boots and soaking them, Leena stared wide-eyed. She kept her hands in the air and didn’t move. ‘So this is what Sith look like? I thought they would have lightsabers. That is what all the manuscripts indicate...’

 

And then another trooper shouldered into view and demanded her lightsaber! Maybe they were THE Sith after all; otherwise how would the armor-clad warrior know about the hilt tucked in her clothes out of sight, in the dark? 
 

Reaching out on the force, Leena called the light towards her, from within, from whatever tendrilled strands could pierce the darkness, from the approaching being(s) of light; she mentally touched each of them steadying herself as she stared wide-eyed at the men with their guns. There was no sense in lying; deceit was the language of the Sith. “I had a lightsaber, I gave it to another already. They went on ahead with the others before the explosion.

 

The water was rapidly passing Leena’s knees by now. She was not sure she could trust the men / beings before her, but they hadn’t shot her right off so ... ‘Friends? Red faced one? Leena silently wondered what he was talking about. It was practically black, the faint glow of a light here or there barely illuminating.

 

And she heard it, the splashing and gnashing of teeth, gills, and flippers. It was quickly covered by the din of gunfire and the glowing flashes of red light from the tunnel. ‘Back the direction we came from?’ Leena pondered if she was not mistaken?  ‘Then maybe my friends are still safe.’

 

Closing her eyes, Leena gently inhaled, her open palms gently curling in relaxation allowing the force to wash over and through her as a cleansing wave, pushing the din of the chaos out of mind. She felt the darkness, could practically taste the chaos, felt the creatures as they approached. There were so many lives in this small patch of tunnel suddenly.

 

Suffice to say, this was not how Leena expected her first visit to her homeworld to go, at all!

 

With her hands still held in the air, Leena allowed the light to build up inside her. Suddenly she sent that light forth in a visible surge, blasting forth from her hands in an explosive wave of pure white blinding light. She snapped her fingers, both hands, and pushed the force outwards, her eyes clenched shut.

 

The entire cavern was suddenly illuminated. Light tore through the shadows illuminating bodies, rocks and walls, reflecting off of cold wet metal, shifting waters, and scales. Blindingly bright in its fury before it was gone.

 

And in that moment, Leena dove forward submerging herself in the water. She did not need to see. As the cold water hit her skin and her gilled lungs burned, Leena kicked once, her feet slid free of her boots, twice, she was shooting forward beneath the waters skimming above the ground, and three, out into the expanse of tunnel towards the raining flood.

 

And in it all, the waters continued to rise. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

As the thunder of falling water continued to drown out the chaos of the tunnel,  Leena shot like a torpedo above the ground. Barely a flick of her muscles propelled her expertly and invisibly through the dark sloshing waters. She felt it, the red Jedi, his pain. She felt the darkness closing in on him and longed to reach out, to grasp the force and shake the darkness out as she had countless times before in her medical wards. She could not though; she had pushed herself too far away. The darkness was pressing in on all sides and to drive it away, the ancient darkness that lurked, the great darkness that surged, the drowned darkness lost in the cacophony, and the dark fog of chaos, would take too much time. Leena could not drive the darkness away when the jack-booted enforcers sought to kill those that stood against them.


Maybe though, she could empower the power that surged forth in a spray of watery creatures. If she could stop this dsrkness, perhaps she could save the lives of other prisoners and innocents without them even knowing it. 

 

Slowing beneath the waters, Leena steadily extended her hand beneath the water, feeling Mjan’s pain and his death; drawing the peace the sith-born Jedi finally grasped forward. She felt for the soldiers, finding them standing in the rising waters, their dark forms Illuminated by any physiciality that strayed from normal. As a healer, she searched for wounds to heal. The skills she lacked with her lightsaber were more than made up for in her abilities to find and treat a myriad of wounds, visible and invisible.
 

It was simple enough to reverse the health of a being. Sometimes it needed done, to redirect the body’s natural healing powers elsewhere. Other times, one had to suppress a body’s natural reactions to save lives. It was not a dark power. Darkness depended on intent. And there in the dark waters, surrounded by darkness, Leena reached out with light. She would try and find the mind of each soldier, guarded against attack and steeled to the outside world. With a healer’s grace she sought to bypass those defenses. It wasn’t hard. Inside, it was a simple enough task to shift the balance of their inner ears, a simple irritant. Dizziness, nausea, pain, vomiting, and tinnitus would follow almost instantly if all worked as planned; if the force willed it.

 

The goon and his henchmen would not even know what hit them. Right?

 

___________________
 

Throughout the cavernous tunnel, water continued to fall and rise. this far beneath the surface, they were all alone, save for each other, and the fishes, and what lurked at the end of the tunnel.

 

Water surged down the tunnel, sweeping by Nok, ripping past Xar, and cascading down the maw into the ramshackled lair that seemed to have lain untouched for centuries or more, hammering the lifeless body of Sara beneath it.

 

As the water found its way through the cracked and creviced ground, it stirred the still calm waters that sat at the end of the lair, swathed in total darkness; a darkness that the unearthly green lamps along the walls did not pierce; a darkness that even blotted out the piercing gaze of the force. 
 

As the water rippled outward from the shore, something broke the surface of the water with a splash In the darkness. This splash was followed by several more and the splashes of footfalls stamping the waters marching forward until the wraith-like forms of four ancient droids modeled after the ancient Mon Cal formed from the shadows. Their deep red bodies were illuminated an eery black by the green light. Their knees creaked with each step.

Edited by Leena Kil

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The four well-worn droids, dripping with water and slopping moss creaked to a halt as their feet reached the edge of the blackened waters. There, they stood, silent sentinels regarding the droid and nemoidian without acknowledging Xar’s order.


“Çağırışa qulaq asmaq üçün daha layiqli bir qurban gözləyirdik. Nə olursa olsun, yetər. Dərhal qəbul üçün hazırlayın.” a dark otherworldly voice rumbled out of the swirling blackness that began to slowly churn out over the waters behind the droids. It did not echo on the waves of the force towards the surface this time, however. Instead, it seemed to reverberate on the force within the room itself, drowning out the sounds of the crashing water behind Xar and Nom.

 

_____________________________
 

Back up the tunnel where the forces of the Sith seemed to have the upper hand over those of the light, things were equally grim looking; even if nobody could tell yet. The aged tunnel constructed without inspection, repair, or the required safeguards struggles to bear up under the assault it had been subjected too. Sitting empty for so long, the fragile ecosystem was easily upset. The waterfall that cascades into the tunnel was but the surface of a wound that had pierced and spread through the stone like a rapidly spreading infection. Faults and weaknesses in the stone popped and groaned under the change, invisible to the senses of those trapped within. Invisible until further up the tunnel, the weakness burst forth like a blister unable to be contained any more.

 

Rock, water and all manner of fishy races fell from above into the chasm that reached deep into the depths where it met with underwater caves.  
 

Far above, in the already chaotic cityscape one more mostly unnoticed cataclysm seemed to erupt. The already overtaxed septic and sewage system failed, horribly. Across the city toilets and faucets erupted under the surge of watery force that now churned in all directions as the sea itself re- and over- pressurized any portion of the system it could reach.

 

Of course, this was all lost on our adventurers deep beneath the surface. They had more important things to worry about, like the literal wall of churning frothy ice-cold water that roared down the collapsing shaft. It did not care for sides or force abilities. It simply devoured anyone end everyone in its path picking them up as it surged onwards and downwards following the empty shaft towards the inevitable conclusion.

 

And still, the force ruled over it all. The froth of icy black picked up the adventurers and carried them forward, tossing and tearing at them until it slammed into the end of the tunnel. Then and only then could it even begin to subside as it regurgitated much of the contents of its gullet into the pit below.

 

Water, sea creatures, and adventurers were thrown into the pit amongst an unhealthy amount of water that surged over and through the desecrated laboratory until it met with the still waters where the aged droids stood.

 

In that moment, the four sentinels sprung to life with more agility than one might expect from an ancient robot. Sprinting towards the crashing junction of water and ancient air, the droids encircled the downward flowing geyser. Each droid lifted it’s hand towards another, a bluish purple glow kindling in the dim chaos until beams of light shot from each palm. The laser like blasts all interconnected and began to spread in sparking circles. Slowly raising their hands the expanding glows of energy became a single growing circle that cut off the water as it crashed over the edges of the energized barrier. Lifting the barrier towards the ceiling, as the droids raised their hands upwards, water continued to rain down until the shield connected with a hiss to the ceiling. And then suddenly, the cascade of death was stopped, leaving nearly waist deep water spanning the once lab, froth forming at the rocky walls. Aside from a few shelves that clung desperately to the edged, and the wall mounted ghoulish green lights, the only thing that remained visible was the stone altar and it’s long-dead sacrificial skeleton. Under foot, bits of broken who-knows-what continued to swirl as the waters began to settle.

 

Through it all, the darkness remained, swirling at the far end as if it was watching, tasting, taking it all in.

 

“Nəhayət. Sən axmaqsan. Məni dolandırmaq istədin indi mənim sahəmə atıldı. Sənin gücünlə bizim gücümüzlə birləşib azad olacağam. Sonra hamısı yenə qarşımda diz çökəcəklər. Məni əbədiyyətə qovmaq istəyiniz uğursuz oldu, çünki mən hamıdan güclüyəm. Qaranlıq tərəfi aşdım. Mən qüvvəyəm.”

 

The voice surged from the darkness, annoyance and anger masked with haughty glee apparent in the tone of the ancient forgotten words.

 

_______________________
 

Before Leena could act further, she too was caught up in the frigid surge. She inhaled on instinct, the waters searing her lungs. Grasping at anything in the dark, her fingers found leverage on a rock that jutted from the floor and she clung to it with all the strength that she could muster. The water raged about her. With her eyes closed, Leena willed the strength of her body to hold on for dear life; part survival instinct, part force-empowered. While she did not know that the others were swept away, Leena remained.

 

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The waters churned and frothed as they sloshed into the darkness, beginning to calm with the cessation of the deluge. The eerie green glow reflected off the shifting surfaces around the team. The darkness at the end of the cavern swirled in silence.

 

And then, the droid struck. Xar’s claws cut into the thin metal covering over the droid and the weapon’s fire illuminated the dimness causing the droid to topple without a cry; the light fadedfrom the droid’s palms as it fell, breaking the circle.

 

Before the waters could even calm completely, the waters thundered in again as the energy-shield flickered, a portion of it fading away with the fallen droid.

 

In the din, the presence within the darkness reacted. Beneath the chopping surface of water, snaking along the debris scattered floors, tentacled appendages sought their prey. Wherever they found a boot, a leg, or a limb, the eyeless stalks swirled, encircling the limbs with a lightning-like speed and grace. They pulled and tugged, drawing their prey under the splashing waters back towards the swirling darkness, a fierce and ancient high-pitched animalistic squeal echoed across the waters. Hunger and anger rippling on the waves of the force.

 

Suddenly, two tentacles, tinged a sickly pink as if they had never seen the light, twisted about the murderbot’s limbs, yanking it down beneath the waters before it could strike again. With a surge, he was carried, bumping and grinding against the ground, towards the inkiness.

 

The three remaining droids held firm against the torrent. Each one carefully stepped to accommodate the loss of their sibling. With a low hum that was all but drowned by the crashing waters the droids’ power surged, their aged photoceptors flashing red. They pushed their arms to thefull height their limbs would allow, stemming the tide once again. Their bodies hummed with the extra extended power. It was only a matter of time.

 

Blood. Blood wafted on the waters, mingling with the black. The fallen troopers presented easy victims and the sinewy tentacles found easy purchase; drawing them in with Xar towards the blackness.

 

Xar was swallowed by the darkness first, moving from the cold wet waters into a sucking torrent of pressure and spearheads. Teeth! Teeth everywhere. Then blackness, not the swirling darkness of the force that hid whatever was on the other side, but blackness in it’s purest form. Any light would reveal little but fleshly tones pressing in from all sides, muscled and massive; crushing in it’s monstrous intensity. The corrosive acids of the creatures gullet already bathing the droid in juicy hungry death.

 

 “Cəhənnəmə xoş gəldin,“ the voice whispered to Xar from within the beast, until a realization became apparent. The soothing dark voice changing to one of disgust.  “Sən neynirsən?!? ¡Bir iyrənc!” the voice growled.

 

Suddenly Xar was sent flying through the dark air, back through the swirling vortex as it pulsed with anger, towards the lab.

 

_____________________
 

Further up the collapsing tunnel, Leena held on for dear life, the force empowering her fingers to clasp for freedom until the tidal surges subsided. Silt and debris wafting in the settling darkness.

 

Letting go of her rock, Leena closed her eyes. The cold waters burned her lungs, but she could breathe. She could breathe though. Even in the dark iciness of the sea, Leena drifted. For a moment, the chaotic clashes above and the swirling dark powers below were kept at a distance. Here, in the moment, Leena felt it surging up around her in the deep; peace.

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Tranquility shattered into chaos. Screams were crushed into silence beyond the veil. The flash of muzzlefire from the trapped entities only added to the din as bolts of energy and projectiles joined with the racing of tentacles that sought their prey. Any who stood still would be found. Any that moved to slowly, drawn towards the maw. Ravenous hunger hung in the air; as if a homeless vagabond had been presented with a feast for kings. Unable to control himself as he gorged himself on the finest the galaxy had to offer.
 

Beyond the veil, armor cracked and snapped beneath the monstrous gullet, colossal spear-like teeth preventing any escape. The waters churned as if a maelstrom was forming, the epicenter: the beast. 


Tentacles that were struck writhed in pain, flailing in kraken-esque like fashion caring not for who or what they struck as they retreated back into the blackness. 

The pulse of outwardly propelling force threw back waters and tentacles together in a god-like display of power that serves only to draw the attention and ire of the cavern-dweller. As the blow faded, tentacles surged for the source with renewed vigor and hunger.

 

And through it all, the blackest of veils, began to fade beneath the monstrous alien cry of the beast that rumbled and echoed throughout, seeming to rattle the very cavern itself.

 

Beyond, in the darkness of the unlit far end of the cavern, should one pierce the fading veil and look amongst the chaos of weapons’ fire, frothing waters, and tumbling bodies, existed a maw that seemed to take up the entirety of what should have been the cavern wall. Teeth encircled it and from the throaty center came forth the monstrous limbs that were seeking to destroy man and droid alike. Waters lapped at the base of the encircling teeth, foamy and agitated. 
 

And for those unfortunates who were caught within the crushing insides of the beast, within it’s bellies they found a new definition of pain and suffering as it fed on their fears and bodies, smaller vine-like tendrils binding them as acidic ooze began to find every crack; exposed flesh, sizzling upon impact. For those who were not crushed into the sweet embrace of death, the next thousand years would be wrought with a slow decent of destruction and agony in which screams could not be heard, the force felt just out of reach, and torment would remain their king.

 

For the trooper or troopers of Delta’s command that fell to such tortures, comms would intermittently activate, pressed into service by the crushing churning muscles of the beast. The radio waves would be momentarily filled with static and the acrid sound of burning flesh accompanied by screams of otherworldly pain before falling silent once again. The only escape from the belly of the beast. 
 

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Allowing the cool waters to carry her body on the invisible currents, Leena focused on allowing the water to course through her lungs and deposit their life-giving gift of oxygen. Drifting in the dim gray waters of what could have been her childhood home, Leena’s mind embraced the peace. At the fringes of her force-attuned peripherals, she could sense dark chaos; but what it was remained to be seen. Immediately around her, however; Leena embraced the force. She reached within and amplified the light that still glowed there pushing it’s warm embrace outwards on the rippling currents of force and water. 
 

At the center of the light, Leena felt calm and her focus began to return. She was not sure what had all happened in the tunnel or where it, or they, even were. She knew, though, that they were not nearby. The waters had rushed her out to sea and she had not even known it. She also knew one other thing, she was a Jedi. Even if her initial mission to the planet had failed, she was a Jedi, and that came with certain reaponsibilities.

 

Feeling the tug of the waters around her, Leena kicked. With strong legs evolved to function even better in the water than on land, the young Jedi Apprentice shot upwards through the cold gray waters.

 

Like a torpedo, guided by the unseen, Leena races onwards and upwards until she burst through the choppy of the sea into the sun-filled skies. Sending drops of water sparkling up into the sunny sky, Leena bobbed in the water as she looked about trying to get her bearings. In the distance, thick plumes of black smoke rose from the city, low hanging vessels balanced in the sky as flashes of light indicated a fierce fight for the soul of the city.

 

Inhaling deeply, Leena rolled her eyes and set herself on paddling beneath the treacherous waves towards the city.

 

 

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The smell of smoke, blaster fire, and sizzling flesh filled the air. It mingled with that fish-tanky smell as the still waters were churned for the first time in a lifetime or more. Through it all, the maw of the beast that took up the end of the cavernous room salivated and snarled; it’s sharp piercing cries echoing about the chamber amongst the cacophonies of explosions. Bit of flesh and stone flew through the air as the tooth-rimmed maw was peppered.

 

And through it all a grim stillness overtook the cavern as the flailing of tentacles and boiling of water ceased. An eerie calm followed as the appendages fell back into the waters and lay still.

 

Then, across the stillness echoed a deep malevolent voice, “At last you have come, heralded by my call. So quickly do slaves forget their place, existing but to do the will of their masters. When the master is away, those foolish servants think they are free. Freedom is an illusion. For on the day of the master’s return, will they be punished tenfold for their sins. Twenty for they that sought to lock the master from that which was his own.”

 

”Come to me my children! Come!”

 

______________________
 

During this time, the droid Xar sought to bond with the ancient cranial processors of the slaved droid that he had fell shortly before. As the head neared the tri-conglomerated droids, blue electricity sparked and arced magnetically pulling the head to the makeshift mount. In an instant all that Xar could perceive was gone, his processors transported across time and space.
 

Looking out, he saw the lab, but not as it was. Instead, it was brightly lit by countless glowing rods mounted atop freestanding posts about the room. Shelves along the walls were lined with texts, manuscripts, and jars that seemed to contain a myriad of preserved animal and body parts of different species. That was not where his view was focused though. The eyes that Xar saw through stood as a sentinel at the base of a set of stairs where the maw now stood, an intricate pike-like weapon held at the ready. It’s focus was caught as cries of fear echoed out from above. Above a door slammed open and what could only have been an ancient Quarren-type alien clad in a red uniform, fear and loathing filling his eyes, tanked a chain causing a tumble of worn and beaten ancient Mon Cal clothed in bloodied rags to tumble down the steps. One more stubborn male tried to stand up, pulling at his shackled arms as he snarled at the Quarren slaver. It lasted but a moment as Xar’s host moved gracefully, lowering his pike and jabbing at the man, an arc of purple lightning leaping from the weapon into the objector crumpling him to the floor. The mechanical droid spoke, the words foreign and ancient. Still somehow Xar could understand. “Stay down chattle. Lest your family pay the price for your sins”


And then the memory fuzzed out, blinking into another visage.

 

The same view, the same lab, the same pike; but this time the droid stood away from the stairs in a line of identical droids. Emotions were not programmed into these obedient enforcers and so as his fellows held the struggling Mon Cal atop the stone alter; the woman’s cries for mercy fell on deaf ears. 
 

Materializing out of nowhere, a dark smokey wraith hovered over the woman, her pleas of mercy turning to cries of pure fear. A cold whisper coursed through the air. Again the words were not discernible , but still Xar seemed to understand, “Your screams are wasted on the icy depths. Fear not. Death is but a temporary alteration of power. For your service, you are being gifted the ultimate reward; eternal servitude.” 

 

In that moment, two smokey shadowy hands were raised menacingly in the air and plunged downwards. One hand passing through her face and the other her chest with flashes of green light as the woman’s eyes rolled back into her head and her chest stopped heaving. A ghostly whisp seemed to escape from the woman’s mouth. The smokey wraith cursed and shrieked as his anger surged, bursting glass bottles and jars along the walls and sending a billowing gust of wind in all directions. With its hands still in the body the being picked up the corpse and heaved it across the room where it crashed into the wall with a sickly smack before tumbling to the floor in a pike of like-destroyed bodies. 
 

The image faded again.

 

The eyes opened again on the lab, desecrated and destroyed. The shelves smashed, lights dimmed in the darkness, and droid bodies smashed and scattered about countless burnt and mangled corpses of differing species, many of them red-skinned Sith. Over a mass of black smokey robes that were half palpable and half ethereal that quivered silently on the floor, stood a muscled and armored Sith warrior, his ancient firearm leveled at the mass. “By the order of the Emperor, for undertaking treasonous actions, refusing to submit to royal edicts, and seeking to bring about the downfall of your superiors you are condemned to death, your body trapped for eternity within your self-made tomb.” 


Picking up a blue-tinged bottle on the nearby altar, the Sith general smashed it atop the quivering robes sensing a plume of dusty spores into the air. After this the general and his troops exited through the desecrated hole where the stairs and door once stood. Once they were out, a deep rumbling shook the room as a huge slab was moved in front of the hole.

 

The image faded to black and a massive information transfer probed the depths of Xar’s mind seeking out unknown knowledge and smashing against and through firewalls and other electronic defenses. Sometimes in an effort to defend against the latest and greatest technological threats, the simpleness of ages past is overlooked. Even a hammer can drive screws if swung hard enough. The droid hunter would know the superiority of servitude beneath a master who knew no bounds. An eternity of power was offered, all he need do was submit. Submit or be utterly destroyed from the viral consciousness that now pulsed within. 

 

__________________
 

And as the voice resonated from the mouth of the beast in the waters, the creature coughed. Plumes of gray dusty microscopic spores by the trillions spewed forth on a wind of rotted meat tore through the cavern, bowling over any who was not planted to withstand it, coating everything in a cottony white. 

 

The beast’s pain was palpable, as was it’s anger. Above it all, a dark glee pulsed silently.

 

Rising up from the waters before the maw a proverbial army stood. More droids wielding more pikes and ancient slugthrowers interspersed with hunched corpses of skeletal beings, rotten flesh hanging from their jagged bones. 
 

“Come to me my children...”

 

The horde rambled forward, silent save for the slosh of waters about their legs as they reached for the invaders, seeking to skewer and devour them. Thise that were cut down fell into the dark waters vanishing from sight, only to be replaced by more.

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‘We are all. We are none. We are servants. We. Are. Free.’  The voice echoed in Xar’s circuits to no one but the droid. It’s voice pulses of energy that faded into the noise of the electronic whirlings. 
 

Suddenly the attached head began to fizzle and spark, sending flashes of blue across the darkness. A loud pop followed with an blinding flash of white as the head disconnected from Xar’s and fell with a splash in the waters at the droid’s feet.

 

Meanwhile, the advancing legion of shamblers and durasteel closed on the party. They seemed undissuaded by the return fire. Wherever one fell another seemed to materialize to take it’s place. Some of the droids sent arcing traced of blue electricity skittering across the water as they fell.

 

The beast’s tentacles swished through the waters, grabbing and pulling any leg or limb it could find in the waters, dragging the unlucky owners towards the toothy maw and it’s rancid breath. Those who radiates the force the strongest were the choicest morsels and the tentacles beast sought them out the hardest. “Come to me my children” it whispered across the battlefield.

 

And then, it happened, the shimmering orb with it’s ominous flashing red flashing countdown light was hurled and accelerated towards the maw. In the chaos, it was not something to be simply batted away, even as it thudded into the visible maw of the creature, wedging itself amongst it’s teeth right above the waterline. The red light blinked, increasing in frequency. Seconds passed as the onslaught throughout the chamber continued. Then, it happened. The baridum core began to enter a state of fusion. The rapidly expanding field consuming all in it’s path as it tore through water, flesh, droid, and shambling undead.  25 meters in every direction the field cut, shifting the waters as they rushed to press in on the chasm that the explosion opened downwards, mingling with the chunks of severed tentacles. The ever present darkness that assaulted everyone within faltered as pain and agony pulsed through the air. The pressing assault came to a near standstill as the shambling undead and most of the robotic enforcers seemed to blink in and out of existence, once, twice, thrice, before vanishing entirely. A half dozen armed droids pressed onwards, wielding their aged pikes expertly as they closed on the Sith and their troopers.

 

Behind the group, the three droids that had been holding back the deluge stopped. The purple glow on their hands fading as they turned, the thunderous crash of water filling the cavern as they turned, sure footed and leapt. Two towards Xar, reaching and grasping for wires and loose plates, tearing and pulling. Another at Nok Morliss, intent on rendering flesh from bone with it’s vice-like fingers.

 

The maw heaved painfully, expelling more dusty spores into the atmosphere as it fell still, the voice calling weakly across the force, “Be free my children. Carry forth my will to the stars once again. They shall not resist you.”

 

With that, a sucking sound as fleshy appendages detached from the cortosis walls about the maw, the creature began to fall away, the sea pouring in across the wounded creature, bathing the room in darkness.

 

____________________
 

Meanwhile, back topside, Leena’s powerful strokes brought her closer and closer to the city. The attack was still going as strong as ever. The city fell steadily, small pockets of resistance only a temporary speedbump to the inevitable end. Those who were lucky enough to make it to any matter of air or water vessel were trying to escape the city. It was one of the later, an angular luxury yacht painted a shimmering white and yellow bore down on Leena. Slowing as it came close.

 

Several ragged and warn citizens reaching down to help pull the young Mon Cal aboard. Fear  and worry was etched across every line of their fishy faces. “Get her inside with the others. Are you ok miss?” 
 

Leena carefully picked herself up slowly nodding her tired head. “Yes. I, uh, thank you,” she smiled weakly. Fishing her lightsaber out of her robes and hanging it on her waist. The crewmen recoiled in shock whispering amongst themselves before one ran off to alert whoever was in charge of the boat. 
 

“You’re a Jedi? Can you help us?” One of the remaining men asked tentatively. Leena nodded and was whisked to what was once an elegant lounge area, now filled with the injured and dying. Without waiting a moment, Leena pushed her weariness from her mind and closing her eyes, began to reach out, cataloging injuries and sending a reassuring wave of positive purifying energy wafting across the room. Kneeling next to a Quarren woman with bad burns across her face and arms, Leena instinctively reached for her med kit, which was gone. “Does anyone have a first aid kit?” she queried loudly.

 

Before anyone could answer, an anxious voice buzzed across the ship wide comms; “Brace for impact! Incoming!”

 

Within moments the entire ship shuddered and groaned, windows shattering as laser fire pummeled the ship from above. The whine of fighter craft streaking overhead was enough to tell anyone who couldn’t see what was happening what was going on. They were not going to let them escape.

 

Standing up, Leena ran out onto the deck looking up. In the distance, she saw the craft arcing about in a wide circle to begin another straffing run. Screams echoed across the ship as the refugees came to a realization that they were doomed to die.

 

Leena felt her fists balled at her sides. Carefully she exhaled, allowing the force to flow through her and purge the tension that had overtaken her. Pushing the emotions away, Leena reached inward to grasp at the core of light she carried within. Inhaling and exhaling, she fanned the glowing embers of light. It grew. Leena held it, fanning it as her palms extended wide and she raised her arms, stretching out at shoulder high. She felt for any spark of light, of hope, love, and goodness. She fanned them and called them towards her.

 

The ships whined as they ducked low, their cannons opening fire as they sent geysers of superheated water Rocketing into the air with the blasts of their heavy lasers. Just as the blasterfire began to rock the ship, Leena inhaled deeply, opened her eyes and stared at the ships intently. Exhaling, she raised her hands, pointing her bladed fingers at the formation of fighters.
 

Like a whirlpool of white, lightnside energies burst forth from the small Mon Cal Jedi swirling forth to jostle and toss the screaming fighters in winds and waves of energy, frying sensors and disrupting gyroscoptic sensors, shutting down power sources and turning the vessels into state-of-the-art giant hunks of metal.

 

The ships tumbled overhead, overcome by the onslaught of light side energies, crashing into the crystalline waters like eggs on duracrete.

 

Leena did not see this though as she collapsed to the deck, her eyes rolling back in her head. Her chest rose and fell heavily, her body exhausted by the expulsion of energies.

 

The yacht raced onwards. Shock and awe at the Jedi display giving way to a scurrying rush as the ship’s crew sought to seize the opening for escape.

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  • 5 months later...

In the silence that filled a bar, a high pitched laugh echoed from a booth opposite the show. “Now if only a pretty albeit-sorta too much-ish way too big boned tally tall girl like that could actually fly a ship, she’d be next to dingy perfect for this job. No way José are the Jedi going to catch us pulling a half-baked nuna stewed idea job like that!” The shpeal stopped as the speaker devolved into another fit of laughter, slipping below the table as his green furred fingers held on to keep the speaker from slipping entirely beneath the bar.

 

His massive black well-worn commodore hat stuffed with any manner of exotic feathers shaded the squib’s view from above. His numerous pockets each bulged with a variety of tools, scraps, and the like.

 

Reaper Joe was all but a pirate. His and his clan’s fealty to the Jedi that had saved their lives did not waiver and was one of the few things that kept them alive. It was that same relationship that saw them claim first dibs on scrap from any Alliance scrape; sometimes before it was over, lending aid in creating the very scrap they salvaged. What he was doing on Mon Cal was anyone’s guess. Where Reaper Joe went, a ragtag fleet of squirrels was never far away.  

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The chortling laughter ground to a sudden halt as the head between the bench and table inclined upwards. A furred hand shoved the wife floppy brim of the hat out of the way so that it’s owners cold rodent eyes could stare at more than the boots of whoever it was that addressed him.

 

Hopping upwards, the squib’s behind landed in the worn seat. He gestured to the empty seat across from him, any aura of joviality gone; replaced by a serious air; one of business.  
 

Lookie here not-so-big-tall lady. I might have something for you, provided your behind can sail higher than it’s current low flying altitude. What I have to offer though is more costly money valuable than shiny lustrous gold or big’n sparkly jewels though. You see, friendship of high life-saving calibre is worth much greater high value than spacer trinkets and witch’s magical baubles. Please sit and tell me what you bring to the table most esteemed huntress of drunky disordered  discontents.”

 

The Squib smiled, patting his hands against his weighted vest. Each pocket bulged with contents. Running his hands over them offered the diminutive rodent a sense of reassurance, before he held a hand out to the woman, “They call me Reaper Joe, most high capitan admiral of her majesty’s salvage and recovery deepest dark space naval destroyer forces.”

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The Squib smiled. “You are very much misunderstanding the totality of the entire premise.” He gestured again the the empty bench across the booth from him, hoping to avoid any more of a scene than an unconscious  barabel might already create. The smile slipped from his fave as quick as a passing shadow.  “Now please sit.”
 

The squib stared unblinkingly at the woman/cyborg/droid. He was not entirely sure what she was, yet. He knew, from their brief handshake though that there was something more mechanical than met the eye. He waited for her to take a seat and once she did, the calm warm smile crept back over his face. “We have much big misunderstanding. I do not offer priceless friendship. I offer something more real deal real. I have a job that pays lots of shiny gold big bucks. I offer that to you. You have a spacer ship that can take a passenger of priceless value safely into the deepest uncharted region of no-Sith monkey business space? If you do have such a ship, lots of bouncy laser shields some big guns to keep off muck monsters, I have an expensive job. You can have this big money high-pay job, all you, no commission.” he chittered rapidly as he got into his groove. “So I give you big high grade job. Make you ginormous rich, important most-valued client, who cannot be harmed, not one scale. Open door to many more contracts. Contracts that are flowing like oh so sweet honey from my ears. I do this for you for a super beyond reasonable price trade. I just want your arm. You would agree very reasonable for the great glorious riches my secretive client will grant to you to transport and keep totally safe. Access to vast vaults of treasures gained from worlds across and beyond the wholeness of the galactic rim; all for you. What do you say to such a thing?” The Squib held up a data chip with  informational details and coordinates in one hand near his head while he extended his other hand to offer a deal-cinching handshake. “Do we have a more than fair free trade no take backsies deal?”

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The squib raised his eyebrows comically  and blinked at the response before reaching into an overstuffed pocket on his oversized vest. He produced a large fist-sized glistening hypergem and set it on the table, shielding it’s view with his arm from the rest of the bar. “And much more like this one,” he whispered, tapping the gemstone.

 

“The subject as you speak it is a very muchly being of highest Squibian regard, a devout religious magician of life saver mysticals and pacifistic ways who must remain unnamed until our deal is completed in total agreements so as to avoid any slimy evil dark Sith so-called Empire of imposters entanglements of bloody or firey big booms. 
 

The destination was unknown to our most gracious all compassionate benefactor, but Squibian charts of most detail across all of the galaxies are those of having no equals and I with my very large brain was able to discern the location beyond the grasp of all power hungry mongering empires nestled between many dead spaces of galaxies.  To go there would take the most powerful of all Squibian task forces too far from the fields of valued golden scraps and we would abandon our contracts. So I offer the job to you in exchange for a fair price. When we agree on a fair trade the destination,” he waggled the data chip in his other hand, “will be freely given. To aloudly speak of such a cursed world would bring cursed of ancient magicks unto your trek and I am bound by the deepest honors of my highest positions and familial superior lines of genes to not do so to a fellow sojourner of the space lanes. The Sith may still be quietly secret watching the world having only just been beaten with much slamming back with the forces of Squibian command turning the tide of battle. To go to Felucia and leave without Sith tail following is the catch.

 

If you have the fuel cells, such more shiny riches as these,” he tapped the hypercrystal in the table, “could be made yours. The amount is limited only by your programmed boundaries of imaginations. A storehouse of ill-gotten stolen Sith booty lies awaiting you at the end of your jumps, as much many as your ship may carry.”

 

Pausing, Reaper Joe shrugged before tucking the stone away again. “As to why anyone with sane minds would seek to go this far into the unstable core of the galactic center, you will have to nicely kind-like question ask our doctoring friend. She often very regularly goes to places where the people are of great sickness and in need of much magical mystical healer things.”
 

 

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