(Nar Shaddaa)
The Doctor marveled at Flood's display. Sure, he had helped with beta-tests, to ensure the virus would act certain ways, plus the work by some other scientists like Riley Elin, but this had largely been Flood's baby. And what a beautiful zero birthday it was coming out to be. Carnage rain through the streets, screens sung into the night sky. The Doctor had unleashed plagues onto unsuspecting communities before, but none had come together as nicely as this one.
Granted, Flood did have some benefits The Doctor did not have in the past. First was the right circumstances; Nar Shaddaa was deeply packed unlike the locations the Doctor had chosen in the past (granted in order for a more controlled setting). Secondly, there was the sabotage to several of Nar Shaddaa's systems. Like with many ecumenopoleis, systems were in place in many parts of the infrastructure to deal with outbreaks, in large part due to the millennia of rakghoul plague. However, before Flood unleashed his wonderous gift to Smuggler's Moon, a small team of Legionnaire operatives that accompanied the Doctor infected several key systems with the Dread Virus or straight-up damaged them so they would not work, thanks to information gathered by Durr's network. Quarantine measures no longer worked, and actively disengaged when it should (such as a few key explosions that should have set off the blast-doors).
The Doctor monitored the AMS infection from Network Access, one of the few areas that had only been hit by the outbreak mildly. In part because protecting the networks were pale in importance to one's personal safety, to many of the employees (who honestly weren't being paid that much in the first place). The staff that remained where largely droids; some infected with the Dread Virus, while most were left alone, who minded little of the intruders, almost ignorant of their existence. The Doctor and his team had dispatched any droids that became a threat, particularly any security droids that sought to kick out the Eternal intruders. Of course, the Doctor's team was not foolish; they kept on guard for any threats that may approach, be it droid, denizen, or infection-propagated abomination; plus there were other Sith Eternal operatives on the planet that could arrive in the future. As an added protection, no Legionnaire had exposed body parts, encased in armor, though if the observed combat prowess of some of the infected were to be interpreted correctly, they weren't a guaranteed protection; after all, Flood controlled many of these abominations, but he couldn't control everything at once, and there was a risk of infected going after the Doctor's team. The chief Dread Virus-controlled battle droid was codenamed Scherzando.
From the repurposed hub, The Doctor inspected Flood's work, impressed with what he was finding. The Doctor predicted that, of the primary infected areas, at least a third to half of the individuals present were infected or in high-probability of being infected (i.e. engaging in close proximity to the infected). There was also the threat of the plague spreading. Already his cameras had observed some infected individuals sneak aboard the frigate Mellifluous bound for Kafane, a small agricultural planet; the ship hadn't departed yet, desperately trying to get the fuel lines working, but it was a possibility of a sequel that fans of this outbreak were looking for (The Doctor among the uber-fans).
The Doctor had mixed feelings about discovering Iko Gark Lokan Jistos (@samdragon) being on-moon. Jistos was a potential competitor, but a potential ally too. The Doctor deemed Jistos not a threat by the fact that Jistos sought to study the outbreak rather than contain or thwart it. He decided to send a message to Jistos, noting potential sanctuary in Network Access, denoting which access port to use. The same interpretation and invitation had been sent to Jerex Dorn as well, but he had already declined the offer. It amused the Neti how quickly the Eternal's resident scientists swarmed Nar Shaddaa at the first sign of an infection. Other Sith Eternal operatives on the planet already had been given notice of the beachhead at Network Access and access to rendezvous if desired.
The Neti scientist was displeased to see cameras picking up the assault on Flood's location, and another party closing in (unknown if coming directly after Flood or not, from the Doctor's perspective). Flood's loss would be a huge loss for the Sith Eternal, at least in the eyes of the Doctor. After all, Flood was one of the few surviving scientists who had worked on the project; much of the excess had been trimmed, though confirmations had yet to be given about the terminations for Riley Elin and Barrel Savack. As such, he quickly ordered research data already gathered to be backed up and sent off-sight to an operative on Nal Hutta, in case things went south; not one of Durr's men, but close enough to seek sanctuary with Durr's organization if it came down to it. The Doctor wasn't sure what would happen to the infected if Flood were killed. Of course he knew he wasn't invulnerable to having his location raided too; after all, what would happen if people began to become suspicious of why quarantine measures weren't actualizing and sought to investigate at the primary source of these systems, Network Access itself?
The opening post is my post from the original thread (with some modifications, to update), but due to it centered around away from the main plot, I felt it warranted a branch-off thread; this also gives people an opening to enter into the the event if they don't want to try to insert the 11+ page main thread.
I would request not targeting the Mellifluous mentioned in my post, as it's designed to give an option for a follow-up outbreak on a smaller scale.
I would request not targeting the Mellifluous mentioned in my post, as it's designed to give an option for a follow-up outbreak on a smaller scale.