Ask Infestation

[Darth Malicia]

Belsavis

The Children of Alkis were expanding rapidly and Demolly was overseeing it all. This time she decided that Belsavis was the next planet. The planet was odd insofar as terrain went, but after a lot of thought she'd settled on taking over an old laboratory and repairing it. To get to the location, one needed to traverse through a tunnel in one of Belsavis' glaciers; it was a mixture of ice and man made pillars that stabilized it.

Once through the tunnel, a base formally used as a laboratory laid at the end. It was large, heavily fortified but it turrets and other security measures no longer worked. Demolly knew she could have her men repair everything, but the issue was the beasts that filled the entire path and likely the base.

She didn't mind challenges, which was why she stood at the entrance to the cave. A newer Sith agreed to take on the project with her. Apparently, she was making a lot of connections and fast, though this one she wasn't sure was on the caliber of the others. It didn't matter much. Any help, any connection was worth fostering until she found herself further up the food chain.

Because it was cold, she had extra layers on her typical gear. Both her lightsabers still laid at her hips, and some of her cultists were preparing for the trek. She and her new Sith acquaintance were going to take point. Her cultists were ordered to cull anything left behind in their wake. It didn't matter if it was beast or man, they were no longer welcome in her cults new dwelling.

@Raydo

 

[Valen Sol]

The wind whipped, a small shard of ice spraying up and stinging his face. Valen pulled the hood of his cloak over his head and stepped up to the cave's entrance. He had come as a last effort to make some sort of beneficial connection. To be honest, he was doubting his choice to join with the Sith. The search for power seemed meaningless if all one did was stay in the shadows.

He had much to learn, but perhaps it would be better to set on his own. Find his own destiny.

Valen reached up and pushed a strand of white hair from his face as he glanced at the woman who he had joined here. He knew nothing of the woman other than she would perhaps be a good ally to have.

"Shall we?" he asked turning back to the cave entrance. He was eager to get out of the stinging wind but wasn't about to take charge.

 

[Darth Malicia]

She nodded at Valen's question, entering the cave after. As she did, she grabbed one of her lightsabers from her belt. She drew on the Force more than her Cadre-brother during combat, so she reframed from igniting it right away.

There was a cold breeze that followed the pair into the cave, though as they got deeper it seemed to even out. It was simply cold. The biting wind was gone. Large lights were scattered about the cave, somehow still working after all of this time. That gave her hope that the base had energy still, possibly powered by an untouched plant inside.

She didn't think much until they made it over a step incline, when a thousand small eggs came into view. Now, Demolly was not certain how deadly baby spiders were, but she was almost certain thats what these were. She'd face spiders before, but never ones that dwelled in the ice.

Instead of leaving them be and letting them hatch to cause trouble later on, she brought her hand up and let loose a cone of lightning. The dark sparks jumped from one egg to another, each exploring with a gory amount of goo.

Then the ground shook, and small bits of the ice on the cave began to fall. This was also not a new sound to her, but she hadn't ever faced a mother spider before. Each time she'd escaped, but leaving it alive was not a choice this time.

@Raydo

 

[Valen Sol]

He pushed his hood back as they stepped inside. While not actually warm, it felt much warmer out of the wind. He hadn't been told what she was expecting to find down here, but judging on the fact they were going down alone, he was too worried.

The ground evened out and shortly they came to a drop off in the path. Below were hundreds of large eggs, a thick web crisscrossing between them. Now he was somewhat worried. His face turned downward into a bit of a scowl. The eggs were not small, and whatever creatures came from them were bound to be quite large.

The stillness of the cave was broken as lightning shot from the woman's hand, cutting through large swaths of eggs. The acrid smell of burning ichor filled the cave as the eggs hissed and popped. Valen was just beginning to think it would perhaps be an easy enough task to deal with until the ground shook, large chunks of the ceiling breaking away. He sidestepped a piece of debris as there was a high pitched cry from something incredibly large. The sound vibrated in his chest as he reached for his lightsaber.

He looked up through one of the holes the falling debris had caused and saw a shadow pass over, seemingly thousands of eyes looking down on them. With another cry, a large, razor-sharp leg jabbed through the hole towards them. Valen only just got out of the way as the large creature started to push its way through the ceiling, causing more debris to fall.

From several passageways ahead of them, more of the smaller spiders emerged, even if their numbers had been greatly diminished by the onslaught of lightning.

 

[Darth Malicia]

The ceiling seemed to cave in as one of the spiders legs pushed through. Demolly jumped to the side, igniting her saber at the same time to cut some debris on her way. The cave was made of ice and metal pillars so she ended up sliding until she hit a wall. A small grunt left her as she looked to the side, seeing a small army of smaller spiders crawling towards them.

Could things get worse? Yes. Could they get much worse? Probably not. Still, she found thrill in the situation, grinning madly towards the small army. She was about to reach out when a couple more of the larger spiders legs broke through the ceiling. She dodged one, noticing that the other leg was dangerously close to cutting or piercing her partner as she did. She reached out again this time, using the Force to tug the man to the side. He might've been able to get out of it himself, but she didn't want to lose someone who could help cull the small army. "Be more careful you fool," she growled.

Behind her the smaller spiders went for her legs, and she turned with her saber out, cutting them away. The larger spider lowered, though instead of going for her it attempted to bite at Valen. Demolly was too busy to notice, moving forward and sweeping her lightsaber at the smaller spiders coming for her. She knew that she could probably keep this up for awhile but there was a chance of being overwhelmed, and she'd need another plan eventually.

@Raydo

 

[Valen Sol]

The clatter of a thousand legs rushing towards them sounded like a river of death rushing towards them. Valen unclipped his blade but wait to ignite until he was swinging to bisect the first of the spiders to reach them.

He started t spin out of the way, the Force already urging his movements away from the large spider's attack but he felt a tightness around his torse as he was yanked sideways. He was safe from the attack from above but stumbled off balance for an instant. It gave one of the smaller spiders an opening and it leaped towards him, hissing as it flew.

Valen dropped his blade and caught the beast, its momentum sending him to the ground as he held back the mouth of teeth. Knowing he only had an instant to regain a standing position before being overwhelmed, he reached out the force and with a clenched fist the creature's head exploded.

Continuing to use the Force, he jumped up and pulled his lightsaber to his hand before coming down and killing another.

 

[Darth Malicia]

As she slashed she soon became acutely aware of the life leaving the room. Before the life force of humans and their alien counterparts only interested her, but now that multiple smaller lives were coming to her attention her hunger began to claw at her skin. It begged her to indulge.

Maybe she should've tried to control it, but she hadn't gotten this far by holding back. She reached out, allowing herself to follow that same instinct she followed on Tatooine. The creatures began to scream as she ripped the life force out of the ones around her. She didn't stop there though. Without thinking her lightsaber dropped from her hand and she held it out, using it to expedite vacuum around her.

She was hardly aware of it, but something akin to a bubble formed around her. Draining everything in it's path as it expanded more and more and more and more. Nothing but gray, lifeless corpses laid in its wake. Soon her drain expanded towards the larger creature. It's leg was caught in it and screamed while trying to pull away, but it was caught, in pain, shocked.

Demolly had little control over her hunger at this point, and it was likely she'd expand it far enough to catch her partner unless he defended himself or moved.

@Raydo

 

[Valen Sol]

Valen dipped and spun through attack after attack, with each swing of the blade more and more of the monsters fell. A warm fire burned inside him, fueling the power of the Force running through him.

There was something else in the cave though. It was colder than any wind, it prickled at the back of his neck as he continued his attacks against the spiders. As more and more of the creatures fell, it grew stronger, pulsing outwards from the woman he had followed down here.

As the large spider came in for an attack, it ventured too close to the woman, getting caught it whatever this power was. It recoiled backward, its leg seeming to fail. Valen seized the opportunity and leaped, spinning mid-air to bring his blade down into the creature's head. It twitched before it started to fall, Valen already jumping up and away from the woman.

He landed on the ledge above, starring down at the woman. Whatever she was doing, it had almost swallowed him. He glared down, his anger stoking the fire brighter in him. He studied her from his perch above, ready to move again if he needed to.

 

[Darth Malicia]

Valen assisted in snuffing out of the mother spider. Demolly took it's life as it left, devouring every morsel of it with a hunger that seemed like it could never be satisfied. She almost lost complete control but when the spiders were all gone, only the beacon of another darksider remained. Demolly was finally able to reign herself in at that point. There was no reason to inadvertently kill allies, or provoke them to attack her.

She lowered her arms, no longer indulging the instinct. When she looked down she finally noticed she'd dropped her blade and reached for it, summoning it to her hand. She clipped it back on her belt, looking behind her to see Valen on a ledge. It only took a second for her to realize why. This was the first time she'd experienced so much death and a loss of control; it was something she'd think on and attempt to get better at.

"Come on," she said to the man before she continued through the cave, as if nothing happened.

It wasn't long until they came upon the entrance to the base. The door was sealed shut, and instead of cutting it open she waited for her men to arrive to slice it. "There may be creatures inside, unnatural ones. The lab was abandoned for a reason, but its a flip of the coin whether the experiments survived or not."

@Raydo