Ask TRC - Poor Unfortunate Souls

[Gram Van Alasdaire]

The Republic Cares:
Poor Unfortunate Souls

-Music-​

This was most unusual.

At least, it was for the Vahla. Gram had been somewhat intent on seeing himself join the Jedi Order in some capacity - but now it seemed he was acting in accordance with the freedoms he sought to defend wherever he could. In that capacity, it seemed, the Republic needed aide. Though Gram had a diplomatic nature, he had never once considered representing his planet on a greater scale.

Likewise, neither would he expect that the people of Rhen Var and New Vahla would accept such representation. Yet, here he was, representing the Vahla as a member of a quarantine busting crew. Commenor had requested aide with it’s overcrowded spaceports - filled to the brim with the desperate hoping to escape the ravages of the AMS plague. In the scramble to escape, a wookie vessel was detained due to a suspected outbreak onboard. With little alternative, Gram and a team of specialists would enter the vessel and attempt to neutralize the virus before it took hold of the inhabitants - possibly breaching the quarantine as a result.

The Van Alasdaire was uniquely experienced in this matter. Having dealt with numerous infected on Nar Shaddaa, he believed he could deduce their most likely course of action. The infected were feral, true, but there was a good deal of organization to their chaos. A method to the madness, if one would. The creatures the virus created would be dead set on spreading the pathogen as broadly as possible. They would need to act very quickly, unless they wanted to have to destroy the shuttle entirely.

Moment like this makes me wish I had a smoke...

To that end, Gram simply waited. He was already present on the platform, clad in his crimson armor for maximum protection, though this time preferring a blaster and his single saber to anything exotic for weaponry. If his information was correct, he would be joined shortly by the members of his team. He didn’t know who would joining the outing, but the Vahla held hope they too were experienced in AMS matters.

Otherwise, this would be a very long day.

@Rhogar

 

[Jericho Trench]

Jericho Trench had stirred the hornets nest just by meeting with Corran Velt. Somehow, it had gotten back to the Chief and he called Trench in the very next day. Now, the specifics were unknown by the old man, but Jericho was sure it wouldn't be too hard to put two and two together. So, of course, Trench would refuse to be 'talked at' and would fire back a few shots, mainly rumors about things said, which Trench would throw the secretary under the bus. But, none of that really mattered, except that's how he wound up here. On Commenor. Shit duty for a shit talker.

Despite having limited experience with the Outbreak, Trench had the intimate knowledge of taking a life and not feeling any remorse. He could push limits and ignore the voice in his head that said no, if there even was one. And the best part was, all of these infected could die, the perfect outlet for his anger.

Now, he had hoped he would be able to save some from this infected Wookie vessel, he also knew that his Shryiwook was sparse or even non-existent. Normally Trench could be seen in his leather jacket, jeans, and badge, this was different. He would arrive in his Mako-03 armor with his full combat loadout, which took him back to his SpecOps days. At least his companion had the smarts to wear armor, something Trench was worried about, so when he arrived, he was already sporting that audible grin. "At least you dressed for the occassion. Name's Trench." he'd tap the SR badge engraved into the armor, just over his chest. "I think it's just us, mabye we'll find more."

@Aurius

 

[Gram Van Alasdaire]

“Dress for the job you want, not the one you have, eh?”

A little quip to lighten the mood, as he returned the human’s smile. His gaze hung on the badge of the Rangers for a moment, realizing that he’d never actually interacted with a Sector Ranger before. This was an opportunity not only to help people, but perhaps to learn a little more about how they worked. Before his life went sideways, he was an explorer for the SoroSuub corporation. Navigator for his entire vessel. He wondered if the Rangers held similar positions and ranks.

“We’ll do just fine. Gram Van Alasdaire, pleased to meet you. First time dealing with the AMS?”

As he asked his first of many questions, the Vahla began to make his way towards the vessel in question. While doing so, and in anticipation of his response, the mystic elected to look his new partner over. See if he could get a read on the man based off of appearance, attitude, and comport. He seemed grizzled, like the human had seen his share of conflict. There was a well of anger inside him, gnawing at him - likely a rebellious steak to follow it. Reminded him of a younger version of himself.

The Sith had turned him into a living weapon. Moreover, he was driven to the borderline of sanity - forced to salvage his mind at the cost of his body. His redemption came at a rather bloody price - a sentiment echoed as his cybernetic fist tightened. Left arm, waist down - a wicked series of wounds that would have sundered lesser Vahla. But through the charity of others, he had survived.

Maybe he could inspire this man, Trench, to calm the seas in his heart - before he learned a similar lesson.

@Rhogar

 

[Jericho Trench]

Trench would laugh good naturedly at the quip. "Yeah, that's the goal. So what are you, a Jedi or something?" he asked, gesturing to Grams armor, it looked kinda monkish to him. He really hoped he wasn't a Jedi.

"I'll stick with Gram. Doubt I can yell the whole thing mid fire fight once the shit hits the fan." he said with a laugh. "First time with zombies? Nah, ya ever seen the Red District when all the spice heads roll through in waves? AMS, hell yeah. I try to avoid unwanted biting, but here I am with the ones with the biggest jaw strength."

As Gram stepped towards the ship, so did Trench, his rifle at the ready. He hoped for the Wookies sake, some of them could be saved.

@Aurius

 

[Gram Van Alasdaire]

“I’m allied with the Jedi, but, no. I’m just a guy with a lightsaber, doing what he can to help.”

At this point it was entirely the truth. Gram’s past as a Sith, unwillingly or not, was so far in the past now that there was little point in mentioning it. Though he’d worked with many Jedi over the last few years he had never formally joined their ranks. Furthermore, the Vahla sincerely doubted they were at all interested in having him on. A child was difficult to indoctrinate into their religion as is, let alone a fully grown and pre-trained force user.

The human’s replies were filled with an air of friendship. It was clear Trench was a charismatic individual, though maybe not an entirely personable one. The kind of person you’d expect to be gruff, but turns out to have the best sense of humor among you. It was a breath of fresh air in contrast to the utter seriousness of his activities of late. Searching for missing Jedi, and helping those he could was a honorable goal, but it was clearly not enough. Gram had come to recognize that recently, one of many reasons he had volunteered for such a dangerous task. His thought were interrupted by the mention of spice heads, causing him to laugh abruptly.

“Welllll... it’s basically junkies with super rabies. Lots of junkies with rabies, who believe the rabies are the next best party drug and want everyone involved...”

The vessel was dead ahead, its ramp still locked tight from the exterior. The landing bay itself was as a ghost - silent and eerie, with no living creature to be seen about the craft. The very aura of fear that surrounded the Wookie vessel was palpable, but it came from others, not from within. Gram did his part in ignoring it, knowing well such trepidation and fear would wash away as he and Trench completed their rescue. Though Gram had attempted to get a read on any living beings inside the vessel through the power of the Force, the interior was muddled and unclear. Too many beings in close proximity to each other, with even the infected giving off a living force aura. His senses were useless presently, but his knowledge was not.

“Do me a favor and shoot anything that lunges out of this hole, will you?”

Turning back to the entrance, Gram flicked his pale emerald saber into his hand and activated it, gingerly slotting the blade into the rectangular ramp’s edge line. He then began to slowly but firmly cut through the entranceway, in an effort to open the vessel to them. The cutting was complete in mere moments, allowing Gram to step aside as the sheet of durasteel alloy fell to the ground in a clatter, revealing the interior of the starship.

Luckily, no creature lunged out. Not yet, at least.

@Rhogar

 

[Jericho Trench]

Okay, so the guy wasn't a Jedi or a Sith, he was just Jedi... adjacent. Trench supposed that was acceptable. Other than that, the guy seemed well enough. "So then.. What's your take on the Pajama Bandits? They still take children?" he asked. All force users knew that stuff, right?

"Ah hell nah. Junkies with super rabies? Fuck. Good thing I got my shots up to date." Trench continued with a laugh. "Always gotta be when you have a girl that acts like she done some Tatooine Bath Salts and wants to make you a manwich." he continued to muse until they reached the ship. So far, this wasn't too bad. And if the Ranger died, at least he had a few good laughs in before the Curtain Call.

As the Vahla began to slice through the door, Trench would get ready for the big fun heading their way. He would take the moment to ready Kingpin, his ion cannon, and have that bad boy ready to fire through the doorway should anything happen. When the door finally fell away, nothing happened. At least at first. After a few moments four Wookies would begin to exit the ship, growling as if speaking their own language. And though he wasn't an expert, it didn't sound like infected Wookie. As he was closest, Gram could tell that the Wookies were relatively unharmed.

"You got any idea what they're saying?" Trench would ask as he stepped closer. The faint sounds of the infected aboard the transport could be heard as they clawed against what sounded like a steel divider.

@Aurius

 

[Gram Van Alasdaire]

“He said ‘only two of you?!’”

Wordlessly, the Vahla curled his cybernetic hand into a fist and raised it over his shoulder, extending his thumb to indicate that they should exit the vessel. Now. In order to facilitate the expedient exit of as many Wookiee as physically possible, Gram sidestepped and waited for them to file out, keeping his ear on the scratching. It began to turn into the sound of metal stressing and bending. Whatever the infected were trying to get through, it wouldn’t take long for them to complete their task.

Gram didn’t have time to try and sound out the Shyrriwook required to actually hold a full conversation. They might have useful information - but time dictated it was pointless to collect. They understood basic, hopefully they’d listen.

“You’ll be screened as you exit. We’ll send whoever else we find to you. Go.”

Turning to Trench, he paused for a moment, waiting to see if the Ranger had any instructions to add or questions to ask. It was, after all, more his jurisdiction than Gram’s. Being that the Vahla didn’t actually have, and actively dismissed, any authority granted to him.

“I’d advise we close the doorways to our rear. That way nothing can sneak past us.”

As the Wookiee trailed off, the Vahla would slowly enter the derelict shuttle. Officially, it was a perfectly functional vessel. But it was obvious in the chaos to clamber to the entrance that some of the wiring had been damaged. The flickering lights cast an ominous atmosphere, amplified only by a loud and resounding thud in the distance. The durasteel door, locked right at the far end of the corridor, began to creak and groan. A loud thud sounded out, and then another. A third strike rang out against metal until... silence. Nothing.

Then the door bent inward embossed protrusion resembling a large fist. A second protrusion sent the door off it’s slot, causing it to fall forwards. Lightsaber, Gram quickly drew his DL-44 and leveled it at the doorway. Whatever came through, he’d either cut or gun down before it could reach them.

The doorway caved in completely, the durasteel sheet that used to resemble a door slammed into Gram’s chest long before he had time to react. It knocked him prone, jostling his saber from his hand as a large, mottled flesh-Wookie emerged from it’s captivity.

“Get to fighting or get out of the way!!”

Roaring to the remaining civilian, Gram leveled his Bryar Pistol and began to charge a shot.

@Rhogar

 

[Jericho Trench]

"Walk to me, hands raised. Good. Good." Trench would say as the Wookies approached. "Now you will take a hard right and approach the other Rangers at the exit. Keep your hands up the entire way. You will then be quarantined and tested for the infection. Nod your heads if you comply." Both would nod their heads before turning to head towards the exit.

Trench would activate his comm. "This is Trench, we got civvies coming out. Something sounds angry on this thing. So once they're out, lock us in. Can't have this thing breaking containment." There would come an acceptance of the order before he advanced.

There was a third Wookie who seemed to relax as the other two left, this one was large. When the door started to take damage the three would begin to take an interest before it suddenly flew outwards and collide with the not-Jedi. "Van!" Trench yelled out before advancing two steps and firing an ion shot into the chest of the infected, sending a spray of blood everywhere.

A second infected Wookie would leap through the void towards Gram and Trench, backhanding the Ranger with a mighty swing as he tried to reload. "Fuuucckkkk!" he cried out as he sailed a couple meters. The Civilian Wookie would let out a roar as it stepped into the breach to wrestle with two more infected Wookies.

@Aurius

 

[Gram Van Alasdaire]

“NO!”

Gram reached out with all the strength and focus he could muster, grabbing the civilian with the Force and pulling him behind the pair. They didn’t need any more infected Wookiee to deal with today. Simultaneously, the Vahla released his hold on the Bryar’s trigger - spitting hot plasma across the accessway clear through the infected’s chest. It did not die, per say, but it was disabled for the time being. The Wookie would land, probably uncomfortably, behind them as the Vahla kipped up to his feet.

Once again reaching out with the Force, Fram seized his lightsaber with an iron telepathic grip. He began to spin the emerald saber like a helicopter blade, bringing it backwards into the remaining group of infected - which had moved over and in front of it to try and engage them. The two the Wookie had been holding back would be cleaved in two at the neckline, until the weapon clapped into his palm. Bringing it forward and in front of him, Gram once again took aim with the Bryar.

“Looks clear. Take point, I’ll cover you.”

Although Trench was at a slight disadvantage at close range, at their present location he was in a more opportune position to take a lead. Plus, the Mystic somehow doubted anyone or anything would get past that ion weapon. And even if they did - there was a reason Jedi didn’t use blasters. A Force-user with a gun is a terrifying thing - a meld of enhanced speed, pinpoint precision and rapid reflex response. In short, he could hit the wings off of a fly if given the right circumstances.

@Rhogar

 

[Jericho Trench]

There was something about a confused Wookie roar that very much so amused Trench. His laugh was pain-laden and very rushed. Because his Wookie was now trying to bite through his armor, the paulron. And he could feel the metal bending and the breath leaving his lungs as the Wookie hugged him tightly. "Fuck that.. you're not turning me into a... manwhich!!" Trench cursed out as he managed to get an arm free and he pulled the dagger at his chest free and plunged it into the Infecteds eye until steal could go no farther. The Sector Ranger would roar as he twisted the dagger. "Raaaaahh!! Get some, playboy!!" As the pair lowered, the Wookies grip would disappear as it fell to the ground dead.

Gram had three or so, maybe more. Trench had two. So far, so good. Loading his ion cannon, he would nod to Gram. "You okay? No bites or nothing?" He'd ask as he began to advance, his weapon primed and ready to go.

He would climb the ramp, moving around the fallen infected so that Gram could finish it off and he paused at the entry. "3-2-1." He would enter, clearing the corner as another roar would greet him. The massive dark form would rush the cop, only to be greeted by the sweet sweet chin music that was an ion blast to the face.

@Aurius

 

[Gram Van Alasdaire]

”Just scuffed up, nothing serious”

Gram took a long and deep breath as Trench reloaded his weapon and prepared to move forward. Centering himself on the present, on his surrounding and his objective. On the here and now. It provided him with a peace of mind and a sense of zen amid the chaos - very useful when trying to utilize the Force in combat. His cousin might have been a telekinetic ace - but to him, that Wookie had been heavy enough.

As Gram lowered his Bryar pistol and discharged a round, ending the infected still writhing, he offered the Ranger his single lightsaber.

“Just in case.”

The Vahla would then draw his A180, which was still in rifle configuration, and angled both weapons at the ready. He still had his saberstaff if things got too heated in close quarters, with two weapons he could engage multiple hostiles simultaneously. Besides, the A180’s rifle mode was neither hefty nor unbalanced - more akin to it’s pistol counterpart and easy to maneuver using cybernetics. If Trench refused the saber he would simply clip it back on his belt before the countdown ended.

The pair wheeled the corner on the Ranger’s mark - revealing a long and decrepit durasteel hallway. The wall plating in some areas had been torn from their fittings - wires lay in piles, ripped from the walls or dangling from the ceiling. The lights flickered ominously, almost in synch with the droning white noise of the electric discharges from faulty sockets. The Vahla barely had time to recognize the infected that attacked the Ranger, just as quickly as it appeared it collapsed in a mulch of gore. Noticing a pair of figures in he distance, shambling towards them, Gram leveled his blasters and opened fire.

The first figure fell as a hail of hot plasma ripped through it’s chest, but the second creature roared and leapt to attack.

@Rhogar

 

[Jericho Trench]

"Good. Be a damn shame if I had to kill ya after this." Trench said in jest. Then the Vahla did something that Trench never saw coming. He offered him his lightsaber. Trench may have had a great many thoughts on the Jedi and the Sith.. but a lightsaber? The helmet would hide the broad grin as the cop took it. "Seriously? Oh.. hell yeah. I can have some fun with this." He'd take the lightsaber and clip it to his belt.

Trench hated seeing lights flickering in unison. Bad shit always happened when that was happening. Not only that, it really messed with visibility. Thankfully, he had been able to drop the first charger, and Gram had managed to take out the second and wound the third. The Ranger would expel the charge for his ion cannon and slam another one home, allowing the weapon to then hang in the sling. He would then draw his DC-17x, in rifle modulation and open fire, putting a healthy helping of rounds into the wounded infected.

Several roars would fill the hallway, followed by a loud crash. Suddenly a door would race towards the pair, barely being lit up by the lights. Trench cursed as he tried to dive to the right, the corner of the door colliding with his left shoulder with a sickening crack. Hitting the ground, the Ranger would get back in the fight as a large Wookie slammed into him, pinning him against the wall. "Oh.. fuc-kahh!!"

A trio of Wookies, much smaller, would rush Gram. And from the looks of it they would be young Wookies, possibly teens or children.

@Aurius