Ask Here We Go Again

[Trys Aran]

Trys had everything packed and ready. She had a blaster. She had a rifle. She had armor. There was very little holding her back now. She paused for a moment as she gazed at the painting Talak had given her, memories playing in her mind. They were like balloons with strings that slowly threatened to slip from her grasp regardless of how hard she tried to hold on.

With an exhale, she looked away from the painting to swing her bag over her shoulder. She was about to keep walking when she received a comm message. Trys stared at it for a moment, thinking about how there were so few Rangers left to go off world. She looked at the name, wondering if her son would be all right if his master- no, he was his own man now.

---​

When Trys had messaged Hans back, it was from Nar Shaddaa. She mentioned she was going to dig up intel on Crymorah because what the Rangers had was outright disappointing.

That was hours ago.

Despite the reports on Nar Shaddaa, Trys decided to go over by herself as she couldn’t convince any other Rangers to come. The planet’s surface looked almost post apocalyptic with empty streets and the occasional rotting corpse here and there. Trys was determined to find an old base that may hold some intelligence on Crymorah. Her goal was to take out Preef's operations and holdings instead of going for him directly.

Despite all those lofty goals, she found herself in the mess hall of what used to be a quarantine facility. She could hear the infected piling against the door and she was in a dark room by herself. Trys had a shitty flashlight that kept blinking on and off as she pondered exactly how she landed in this mess.

Cursing inwardly, she was on all fours as she crawled through the room to avoid being seen from the glass pane of the door. The infected hadn’t figured out how to open doors, but she wasn’t going to bank on that.

Looters had made off with the loaner ship she used to get here, and she barely escaped with her life. For good measure, those people set a horde after her and so she was here.

She stopped crawling until she was behind a counter and out of view. Trys sat with her back against the counter, sighing as she drew out a pack of cigarra and placed one between her lips. The massive horde kept banging against the door behind her and she heard a crash as the glass pane shattered.

@Mr. Teatime

 

[Hannibal Grayza]

Honestly he didn't know exactly what he'd been expecting when he sent the message to his good pal Trys. Okay, well, maybe 'good pal' wasn't exactly accurate, but what was? They'd gone through some stuff together and he felt like he'd like to consider her a friend or something. Whatever she was, though, Hannibal knew she was a determined person who wanted to help people.

'Course he hadn't expected her to reply when she was already on Nar Shaddaa, which was currently a giant pit of clashing gangs and the walking dead. Hannibal had already been worried about her from the news going out from that Stolas character and this new information did nothing at all to alleviate that worry.

Hopefully nothing horrible would happen. Safe to hope, right?

-------
​

As it turned out, no. No it was not.

Seeing it on the news or in statistics was hugely different from seeing the dead and empty streets, devoid of the chaotic sense of life that he'd been used to. He was struck suddenly with the thought that he'd been gone from this place for far too long. Hannibal could feel himself tensing and had to keep forcing himself to relax, instinctually recoiling from the thick miasma of death and horror that clouded everything around him.

There was trouble right from the start. A group tried to take his ship, for starters, and the ensuing firefight attracting undead meant the ship had to take off under droid control. Ego floated off for surveillance while Hannibal took to the alleys and abandoned buildings to avoid them. Best not to risk it.

"Trys, where are you?" he said into his ear comm from whatever the hell tiny corner of hell he'd managed to get himself into to avoiding a patrol of droids. On top of that he was pretty sure the building he'd picked to escape them had more undead in and around it which may be what was drawing the droids in the first place.

Hannibal crawled forward in the confined and filthy space until he found a vent, careful about his mechanical arm even if it was cloth-covered to avoid making too much noise and glad he hadn't gone for the helmet, and looked down into into it. He didn't see any zombies down there, but he did smell cigarra smoke and hear a lot of thumping and the crash of glass.

With great care he popped the vent down, slowly so as not to drop it, and tentatively leaned his face downwards to check out the situation. Hannibal blinked.

"Oh." There was Trys. He waved at her to say hello.

@Sreeya

 

[Trys Aran]

Trys was planning her next course of action, cursing under her breath as the glass shattered. The cigarra was only slightly helping her calm her nerves as her eyes scanned for any other exits. The only thing she could spot was a walk-in freezer, and that didn’t sound like an ideal hiding place.

The Ranger heard movement above her and quickly trained her blaster up. They were in the kriffing ceilings now?! She was just waiting for the ugly infected to reveal its face before she popped it. However, she noticed that instead of dropping down, the vent was carefully removed. Was it one of those looters? In that case, she would fire two shots into the face instead of one.

As the face poked through, Trys shined a light on it along with her blaster. Her face was set in a deep scowl with a cigarra hanging at the corner of her lips. However, the expression changed to one of complete and utter shock.

“...Hans?” She muttered, completely puzzled as to what his head was doing in the ceiling.

She had no time to speculate as one of the infected managed to shove an elbow down and lower the handle. This cracked the door open just enough for them to begin piling in.

Trys spat out the cigarra and looked up at Hans, “Help me up!” She grabbed her bag and waited for him to hopefully do some kind of trick to pull her up. He could do that, right?

@Mr. Teatime

 

[Hannibal Grayza]

Oh hey, it's totally and most certainly Trys!

That's not good.

Both revelations he came to right after a light shined directly and his face and he squinted away from it before actually looking at her properly. She looked deeply unhappy about the situation. Hannibal really didn't blame her with the the sound of groaning and shuffling feet getting closer after a particularly ominous thump from doors he could only see by uncomfortably turning his head in the hole.

"On it!"

Awkwardly he rearranged himself in the vent as the dead began to shove themselves into the room, clanging his head on the top of the duct a little in the process with muttered cursing, and reached out his left hand down into the room. "Grab on!" The Lieutenant would find herself pulled up and off the ground toward the vent with haste, approaching the offered arm like the attraction of two magnets.

Hannibal would grasp her whatever-he-could-grasp and scoot back in the duct to pull her into the shaft and away from the walking dead, helping her into the tight and claustrophobic space. Below her feet were zombies were pushing into the mess in search of their prey, rotting fingers clutching and swinging at the air before them and heading toward the back where Trys and the vent both were.

Understandably then Hannibal felt the need to pull her quickly rather than gently and there may be some bruising, but it was better than zombies.

@Sreeya

 

[Trys Aran]

Trys stared up into the vent as Hans temporarily disappeared. She could hear some shuffling and banging as Hans chose to acquaint the metal walls with his face.

“Any day now!” Trys called out urgently, gaze flashing down to see the infected that fully broke into the room. She could smell the stench already, fear building at the pit of her stomach. Trys had a blaster hanging around her torso and she brought it up to pop a few off that got too close.

She looked up again and saw an extended hand. She grabbed on and was quickly hoisted up with the Force. Trys practically climbed directly onto Hans to avoid the zombies that swiped at the air. Elbows flew everywhere and she was pretty sure she accidentally kneed him in the crotch in the process.

“My bad,” Trys muttered awkwardly as they untangled themselves in the very dark vent. There was a creaking and metallic groan that suggested this structure wasn’t meant to hold the weight of two people, let alone one that was well over 6 ft tall. It was amazing he was able to cram himself in at all.

“Go go go!” Trys hissed, practically shoving Hans to get him to start moving in the opposite direction as the vent shaft began to give away beneath them.

@Mr. Teatime

 

[Hannibal Grayza]

He grabbed hold and yanked her up in a hurry, squeezing into the tight space and being climbed atop in the process. Hannibal wouldn't have complained if not for his living elbow banging into a wall, some generally awkward arm and leg entanglements, and a new and pressing ache in a sensitive area from forceful knee contact.

"Yeah no problem," Hannibal answered in a clearly strained voice punctuated by the metal around them complaining about all the weight on the inside. He git his teeth and got to moving, basically prone-crawling through the small space as quick as he could ahead of Trys off into the dark ducts. It was far from ideal- he was pretty sure an elbow had bruised a rib in there somewhere, too- but on the other hand there weren't any zombies in here!

Probably shouldn't jinx it, though. The duct could lead them back to an external vent he'd pulled off a wall and out of the building if they just kept moving, no problem. He could even see the light from it up ahead!

"Ah f-"

And then the bottom of the section they were in, the vents being in rather poor repair, abruptly disconnected from the rest and fell down into a storage room in a shower of bargain brand ceiling material. Hannibal whipped around to grab Trys and slowed their descent but he still hit the ground back-first hard enough to drive the air from his lungs.

"Hate it here," he groaned, "Y'alright?"

@Sreeya

 

[Trys Aran]

Trys was quickly crawling behind Hans, feeling the entire shaft sway and groan in protest. She could only hope that he knew the way back. It was almost impossible to see and she kept colliding into him and hitting her head atop the vent. All in all, this was quite possibly the worst rescue ever.

Until they fell to make it far worse.

The Ranger hissed as she felt weight give away beneath her. She felt that unnatural feeling as the Force slowed their descent, a nasty feeling that always made her hitch her breath. She landed on Hans with a grunt, her blaster uncomfortably wedging against his ribs.

Trys scrambled to get up, one of her hands grasping at what felt like metal. A quick glance to the side revealed it was a cybernetic. She paused for a moment, eyebrows raising, “Your arm…” She muttered quietly before remembering they were in a crisis.

She sprang to her feet, looking around and raising her blaster. Trys could hear infected from all sides, suggesting they were trapped. Unfortunately their drop had resulted in a loud crash which only drew more of them towards the storage room.

Trys switched her flashlight back on, glancing over at Hans, “...I hope you had a Plan B..”

She stared at him for a moment with a sinking feeling. She was reminded that she was likely standing next to the only person in the galaxy that was worse about plans than her.

@Mr. Teatime

 

[Hannibal Grayza]

Hannibal trying to recover some air was not helped by the whatever it was digging into his ribs but thankfully it wasn't there too long. Probably another fun and interesting bruise to think about later, hurray. He got himself up to his feet, sucking in a breath and stretching the muscles of his torso a little to check for any new and horrible pains. Nothing yet.

His machine arm got a glance, then to Trys, and he sort of just shrugged a bit and looked around the room. "Yeah, stuff happened," he muttered back, brows furrowing in focus. There were some boxes in this room but it was otherwise empty. Oh, and more of the walking dead were all around them in other parts of the building and were certainly attracted to the sound. Wonderful.

"I've usually got some." Green eyes glanced over at Trys for a brief moment, the usual breezy smirk still on his face. He could plant something in front of the door but that took time, so instead of that he figured he'd go with the faster option. Sol's lightsaber was unclipped from his belt. "Also have an idea."

Hannibal walked over to the wall where the external vent would have been. Near the top was a rather small window similar to a typical basement, dim light filtering in through the grimy glass. "Gonna involve moving really fast through the air, though. Sorry in advance." He hopped up on a box and moved to cut a section out of the wall around the window away from the ground level.

"Watch the door?"

@Sreeya

 

[Trys Aran]

Trys’s face visibly displayed surprise when Hans mentioned he had a few. That was until he followed it up with further clarification. There it was. The Ranger rubbed her temples as she audibly groaned at the joke, shaking her head, “Clearly I don’t..” She muttered dryly under her breath. It was only worth that quip simply because this was the very man that trained her son.

She grabbed her blaster as Hans got up to cut open an entrance for them. Trys wasn’t thrilled at the prospect of being launched, but their options were limited in this hell hole. She watched the door as the infected pounded against it. There were a few dents that began to cave the door in.

Trys glanced up every now and then, shining a light to see what the hell Hans was doing. He appeared as carefree and breezy as ever, as if cutting through a dingy basement window was his favorite hobby. There was never a sense of urgency or panic with this dude. She huffed and shook her head, looking back at the door.

The door opened just a crack and she immediately blasted the first infected in the face. She did the same with the other that took its place, “Are you good?!” Trys would keep defending until he gave the signal and rush towards him. She had just a small sliver of time to go through the entrance. Trys hopped up on the box and attempted to make her own way over - she hated relying on Force bullshit for help.

@Mr. Teatime

 

[Hannibal Grayza]

Hannibal only grinned at the Lieutenant's back commentary, chuckling softly to himself in the middle of the situation they'd found themselves in. Crix was a pretty good kid though so he the young Jedi certainly wasn't complaining about the outcome.

It was a good thing the door wasn't in too bad a shape. Although the wall wasn't precisely durable it still took leverage and force to burn through the durasteel outer layer of a Nar Shaddaa building. Luckily his replacement was really good at getting a firm grip, being based off a droid design after all, and he was able to get a decent sized hole cut out of the wall. A couple shots cracking out behind him as the infected began to try and push into the room and he knocked the chunk to fall down below, replacing his weapon on his belt. The infected below were trying to push through a solid below the chunk and couldn't reach the breach.

"Time to go!" Hannibal called out a couple seconds after Trys asked, turning to watch her clamber up the boxes and then behind her where the dead were starting to filter in from the unwatched door. He reached his hand out to help her get up to where she needed, pulling her into place on the box and turning toward the new hole. His eyes narrowed at a broken open apartment building window across the way.

"Hold on!" He wrapped both arms around Trys from the side, right arm around her back and left around her front, bent his knees, and sat there for a moment to take a deep breath.

Then he launched the two of them forward through the gap in the wall, flying overtop the grasping fingers of the infected below them and off into the open air in a long arc. The window rapidly approached and he worked to reduce their impact rather than fix their angle of approach.

The end result was him turning and tucking Trys into himself to protect her face and head before they hit the window, the two of them crashing Hannibal first through the opening, impacting the floor, and rolling along the cheap and dusty carpet for a bit before they came to a stop against a particularly garishly papered wall. He let go of Trys at this point.

Hannibal decided to just take a minute there on the floor. He was pretty sure the impacted shoulder was either dislocated or just very unhappy with him landing and rolling on it. But hey, no zombies up here! So far.

"This wallpaper sucks," he grumbled.

@Sreeya

 

[Trys Aran]

“Wait, can we just talk about th-”

Trys didn’t, in fact, get a chance to talk about it. Hans had grabbed a hold of her and hurtled himself through the air like a vibrantly colorful missile. There was a trail of profanity behind them as they sailed through the air, Trys clutching Hans with a vice grip. There wasn’t a single bit of this that she didn’t detest.

The Ranger buried her face against his chest as they approached the other building, expecting nothing but pain. They crashed through another window and landed on the other side, falling into a heap and rolling. It was a wonder her blaster didn’t go off throughout the ordeal.

Trys was released at some point and she groaned as she plopped onto her back next to Hans. She stared up at the dark ceiling, feeling ache all throughout her body. She knew he cushioned almost all the impact, and she couldn’t imagine the agony going through him.

Whatever, he was a Jedi. They probably had built in super pain tolerance.

“If you wanted hugs from me so bad, you could have just asked,” Trys stated icily, now counting two instances where they ended up in some sort of painful embrace. She didn’t waste too much time on the ground, peeling herself off and dusting off her clothing.

She walked over to extend a hand to help him up, “No time for naps, let’s go, Sparkles.”

@Mr. Teatime

 

[Hannibal Grayza]

Hannibal had both cushioned his fall and rolled, but frankly, landing while carrying someone else wasn't exactly a pleasant walk in the park. Pain wasn't real or anything, but it also sucked and his shoulder was continuing to complain about the whole situation. Briefly he wondered if part of his general attitude was related to his skill at healing.

Trys spoke and he looked at her, watching her get up and matching her icy tone with a slightly strained but mischievous grin. "I'll remember that," he replied, choosing wisely to grasp the Ranger's hand with his uninjured left to help his tall self off the ground, hissing a little bit as he stretched up. Ah yes, there were more of the new bruises. Ribs weren't too pleased either.

"I don't sparkle," he protested jokingly with that same irreverent playfulness sparkling behind emerald eyes. "S'really more of a glimmer." Hannibal stretched a little, moving his limbs around to check for any fun things like joint grinding or sharp pains. Mostly aches, especially in his shoulder, but it seemed to still be in the socket for now at least.

Good enough! He looked around the apartment a bit, then glanced out the window to the outside. Most of the infected were still trying to swarm what used to be a quarantine center, although some were wandering over to the apartment building at a lazy pace.

"Yeah. We should go." He turned around and peeked around the living room doorway into a small and dirty kitchen area, double checking for infected, before he headed toward the front door. "Take it that mess wasn't where you were tryin' to be?"

@Sreeya

 

[Trys Aran]

Trys said nothing in return to his clarification that he wasn’t Sparkles. She caught him inspecting his shoulder, judging that it was likely hurting him quite a bit. The Ranger reached down and took out a pack of cigarra, popping one between her lips before tossing the pack to him. She would pause to light it for him before they continued walking.

“What gave it away?” She muttered dryly at his question. Trys opened the door and looked around, spotting dark corridors going both ways. She stepped out and took the right fork, hoping to come across some stairs that led down.

“I’m trying to find out information on Crymorah,” Trys explained quietly, “So far I found out that Zaa Fenn is the group to strike. From there I uncovered the name Shere Zaa Fenn. That’s as far as I got,” Trys drew in from the cigarra and exhaled as she walked. Every now and then she banged her blaster against the wall to see if it would lure any infected out. She preferred that over being surprised.

Trys glanced over at Hans, “I didn’t expect you to come,” She admitted, “No one wants to kriffing come here. For good reason too. So...thanks. For saving my ass..." Trys muttered quietly under her breath, "...Again."

@Mr. Teatime

 

[Hannibal Grayza]

His cybernetic arm caught the pack in a distinctly mechanical motion, precise but far from 'natural' in the way it came up and then back down with the cigarras laying on the metal palm. Hannibal pulled a cigarra out with his other hand before handing the pack back over and leaning over so Trys could light it for him.

"Thanks," he said before exhaling the first cloud, "The infected gave me a clue." His shoulder rolled a little again as they walked out into the corridor, senses sharp for danger. Hannibal rather liked her idea of banging on the walls and filed that away for later.

"Shere Zaa Fenn, huh? A name's somethin' to work with." Hannibal's intuition could lead him to things he was looking for but really only if he knew what 'thing' he was after actually was. Knowing what this person was called may help. It also may not, the Force could be fickle that way.

"C'mon, Trys, of course I'm gonna show up. Neither of us wants to be here, but we do wanna help, right?" His waved a hand through the air. "Don't-" then paused and sighed a little. "You're welcome. Just glad you're not dead or somethin'."

The two of them would eventually come a turbolift that was clearly out of order. It even had a sign on it that said as much. Next to it was dark stairway with only a few flickering lights left powered on, the whole building being out of repair and abandoned.

"Stairs it is, I guess." he said with a shrug, wincing as the motion irritated his shoulder, and then headed toward it to make their way to the ground floor. Hopefully the infected weren't awkwardly hanging out in there somewhere.

"Where to next, y'think?"

@Sreeya

 

[Trys Aran]

Trys paused as he kept squirming with his shoulder. She drew in from the cigarra and let out a cloud of smoke, “I thought healing shit was your specialty or something,” She said with a quirked eyebrow as she reached into her pocket and pulled out a thin syringe, “Hold still,” Trys said simply before jamming the needle unceremoniously into Hans’ shoulder. It was an instant stim boost that would kill the pain for hours and take away inflammation, but it would certainly return to bother him later.

“Make it count, I only brought three,” She said as she turned to walk down the stairs. It was pitch black and she drew out her flash light again. Hans’ concern may have been appropriately placed given that faint, distant growls could be heard from below.

Trys cursed under her breath, pausing where she was. She turned to look at Hans, “We will need to get to a warehouse in the 18th District,” He would know that was at least six or seven blocks away and there was an entire city infected from here to there. There was no getting around how shitty this operation was about to become.

@Mr. Teatime

 

[Hannibal Grayza]

Hannibal developed a mildly annoyed expression as he was looking around. Not at her really but controlling the face looked was much, much harder than it had used to be. "I'm good at healin' but it takes time. Rather not sit around- ow," he was interrupted by the stim needle stabbing into his shoulder, head turning around to look at it. "Oh. Thanks." Boy these did work quick, already finding his shoulder felt better. The lack of pain also made it easier to determine if the joint was grinding or not. It wasn't, so likely a sprain or something.

He also kept in mind how many she had on her, only nodding in reply. His very compact belt medkit mostly had more minor injections and things like bandages, not a proper one like hers. Best not to overuse them if they could avoid it.

Growling echoing up in ominous chorus from down the stairwell did little to assuage his concerns. At least they weren't packed into their path like sardines so far. Hannibal walked forward up to Trys and then up next to her to look at where the light shined into the stairwell. The way to this place they were going to was far enough he'd usually opt for transport but any of the vehicles he could use would draw all kinds of attention. Walking was unfortunately the best choice.

"Well then that's where we're goin'," he answered with determined enthusiasm, metal fingers pulling Sol's lightsaber off the mag-clip on his belt. "Don't mind if the mystical space swordsman's in front, right?" Just in case something stupid happened. Which it probably would.

Hannibal started to go down the stairs one at a time, relying on Trys' light to see, and took a drag from the cigarra. He quietly suspected this mission wasn't going to be fun.

@Sreeya

 

[Trys Aran]

Trys liked that Hans never had any complaints. Either it was because he was confident about most situations, or he was simply an idiot that jumped into things head first and hoped for the best. The Lieutenant kept her thoughts to herself, giving a simple grunt in response to allow him to walk ahead. Her flashlight lit the way, but the growling became louder.

As they continued to descend, the stench became almost unbearable. Trys tried to focus on the smell of the cigarra, but even that wasn’t enough. She took the cigarra out and gagged a bit, biting into a fist to keep from vomiting.

“God damn that stinks,” She said as they descended. It was clear that whatever was trapped down here had been here for a very, very long time. Trys thought about all of her previous knowledge on the infected. She began to see infected limbs strewn about here and there and noticed how warped they were.

“Hans,” She said abruptly, placing a hand on his shoulder to make him stop. There was palpable fear from her that he would be able to sense. Trys spoke very quietly towards his ear, “We need to turn back.”

As if on cue, a loud roar unlike anything they had heard thus far before erupted. It sounded like it came from something massive.

@Mr. Teatime

 

[Hannibal Grayza]

Hannibal's right hand to cover his mouth and nose, grimacing mightily at the increasingly foul stench that permeated the air as they headed down the stairs. It wasn't the first time he'd smelled the rot of these walking corpses but even with that and his Jedi training he had to fight back to the urge to gag, face set. He would have agreed with Trys aloud but he was concerned it wasn't words that would be coming out of him if he tried so he just nodded.

Emeralds scanned over the surrounding details, strangely twisted limbs scattered around. He'd bent down to get a closer look at one when Trys put a hand on his shoulder to stop him. Hannibal turned to look at her, brows furrowing further as he perceived the colours of her fear and the feelings that came along with it.

"What f-?" he was interrupted by the deep and echoing roar, his head whipping back around to look down the stairwell. Hannibal went to take one step further and a thumping sound resounded from somewhere below. The Jedi visibly stiffened, the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end.

"Yup, turning around," he agreed as the thumping sound continued, something like heavy footsteps on old metal stairs. The Jedi made a sort of shooing motion back up the stairs and moved up right behind the Ranger, emeralds darting around in the poor lighting. Somehow he had a feeling it wouldn't be that easy.

From a stairwell door a floor above them two infected stumbled through, likely attracted by the echoing call of whatever was down below.

"Kriffing nerfshit," Hannibal swore, moving up right behind Trys to handle them. "I vote roof."

The two infected suddenly flew up and back with a soft woosh and then a pair of cracks as their skulls impacted the edge of the doorway.

@Sreeya

 

[Trys Aran]

Trys quickly turned and began to make her way back up the stairs. The roaring below continued as she quickly took a few more steps. She acted on reflex as the two infected appeared from above. It hadn’t even registered that Hans could silently take them out - she had her blaster drawn and had popped off a few bolts. The infected were sent crashing back from both their attacks, creating a ruckus.

The Ranger paused for just a moment, “...Shit,” She said simply as a tremendous roar ensued below. This was soon joined by thundering footsteps as the behemoth began to give chase. From the sounds of it, it had an infected army coming right behind it.

“SHIT!” Trys hissed as she bolted into a run, leaping past several steps at a time. They had a long way to go to get to the roof and she doubted the entire coast was clear. She could hear the cracking of debris and loud crashes as the massive, hulking infected plodded its way up behind them.

“Any bright ideas?!” She asked breathlessly as she continued to rush through stairwell after stairwell. She could already hear some more movement the next level up.

@Mr. Teatime

 

[Hannibal Grayza]

It occurred to him too late he probably should have said out loud that he'd handle the infected that'd appeared. Blaster shots and more joined skulls hitting doorway and then, shortly after, a renewed roar from down below. This was likely not a good sign based on the lightning tingle running its way down the Jedi's spine in response to this and the sound of heavy running.

"Bèn tiānshēng de yī duī ròu!"

Hannibal shot off after the Ranger up the stairs, giving her a moment to gain some space and using his long legs to his advance, surefooted as he tended to be. He kept pace with her leaping strides up the steps with the practice of someone who literally advocated Jedi keeping in shape for this exact kind of reason, breathing increased but more or less even. Probably also helped that Jedi could cheat on the whole endurance thing.

"Keep going, I'll call an extraction!" the Jedi barked, suddenly switching to an almost military cadence as they rose up the stairs and turned around a corner. Emerald eyes shot up toward the landing, face set in an expression of absolute stubborn determination. His right hand clicked several times at his commlink button on his belt to do the calling, although it would take a bit on account of his ship needing to stay farther away rather than just landing somewhere.

The next level up presented a trio of infected looking blindly around for whatever was making all the noise. They shambled toward the Ranger and Jedi's thumping footsteps and strained breathing, one closest to the stairs suddenly lunging-

And they all flew sideways, the front infected plummeting over the railing to fall down below while the other two struck the metal bar, off balance but still active.

@Sreeya