Cold Space

[Thaddeus]

The distant light of stars glistened off the disk of the station, its durasteel structure all that existed within light-years, and beneath the disk descending for kilometres were great fuselages and reservoirs that gave the Prospathoun life and power; turning that empty and cold great durasteel disk into a habitable place for nearly 20,000 souls. The Prospathoun was one of those places located deep in the unreachable parts of the galaxy where the true war for civilisation was fought; not a battle between the Republic and Sith, Light and Dark, but against the forces of creation itself.

Its 20,000 were all researchers dedicated to the task of eradicating from the face of the galaxy the diseases and ailments which beset all, or at least to eradicate such things for those who could afford it. They researched many things but perhaps their greatest, and most dangerous, task was the refinement of the cure for the Rakghoul plague.

But only 4 days ago the Prospathoun had sent out a distress call, with no other information only that the station was in distress, and then gone silent. The corporate investors tried to allay the concerns of the Republic but their obfuscation could only last so long, and on the fourth day the Republic dispatched a Knight & Padawan of the Jedi Order to investigate the Prospathoun.

But ominously those Jedi had gone as silent as the Prospathoun, so fearing the worst the Jedi Order dispatched a second group of Knights to find the first and to investigate the station.

As the ship of this group of Jedi approached the station they found themselves amidst a great debris field: containers, beds, plants, water frozen into ice, and even bodies orbited the station grotesquely. The great disk of the Prospathoun was darker than normal, there were no lights except the occasional flash of a naked wire, and it was pot-marked with signs of explosive decompression… all the debris, people and all, had been violently pulled through the durasteel structure. No atmosphere poured out of the station, indeed even in the silent void the Prospathoun was unusually still and quiet.

* * * *

Balkk stood just behind the pilot and co-pilot of the ship, bent of course as few ships of any origin other than Trandoshan were able to accommodate his great height, and his orange eyes studied the scene before him closely. They had exited at the normal distance but soon found their arrival a bumpy one as the ship impacted with the debris field. A clawed hand stroked his chin and an almost silent hiss escaped his lips: there was nobody left alive on that station, even without the Force one could see that it had suffered catastrophic loss of integrity, Balkk thought to himself silently.

A jump from the pilot in her seat prompted Balkk to look left just in time to see a frozen human corpse hit the ship and break apart. Balkk turned slightly and looked down at his new padawan, but before he could have said anything the pilot turned and asked,

“Master Jedi, none of the docking bays are functioning and those with the blastdoors open look too obstructed to land safely.” The ship circled the disk of the station its lights illuminating each bay as it passed. Balkk did not turn away from studying the station and replied in his low and gentle yet rumbling Basic, “Sssstop.” The ship hovered in the inky nothing and Balkk’s clawed hand pointed at a solitary aperture of light on the side of the disk. A single bay had power and as they made their way closer the occupants of the cockpit soon saw another ship sitting unmolested in the bay.

Turning to his companion on this journey, the Falleen Jedi Xierra, the hunched over Balkk for once looked her in the eye as he asked “Can you ssenssse anyone?” Balkk then turned to Moonfire, “Come we ssshould prepare.” He left the cockpit clawed feet click-clacking on the metal floor as he made his way towards the ship’s ramp. There was a whir as the ship moved with renewed purpose towards the bay.

Reaching the ramp Balkk collected his robe throwing it over his powerful shoulders, looking no more worried than a man who was about to walk out of his house for an evening stroll. Not one for premonitions or visions of the future, his was the way of the Living Force, Balkk felt no trepidation or fear: There is no death, there is the Force.

“Trusssst in the Force padawan…” He was not some fool though who would leave his padawan with just a saying, a veteran of many battles understood fear. So Balkk asked “Remember your firssst lessson? What was my ssssecond precept?” He allowed himself to smile, and did not quickly hide his teeth as he did for others. Moonfire had been one of the few, even among the Jedi, who did not flinch at a Trandoshan smile.

The ship slowed noticeably and there was a horrid screeching like nails on a chalkboard, and then nothing. “We’ve docked, the bay has atmosphere.” The pilot’s voice rang out over the intercom. With a hiss and slight whoosh the stale air of the docking back flooded in. Without a backward glance Balkk walked down the ramp, his towering frame always lent the robes of his Order a stately appearance, as he stepped out onto the station and stretched to his full height there was a hiss of comfort. Looking up he could see that the ship had scrapped along the side of bay somewhat as it had tried to fit next to the other ship.

His eyes quickly flicked to the door out of the bay as the clang of something rang out from somewhere beyond the illumination of the emergency lighting.

[Mara]

[...from Collision Course]

She sat cross-legged and still in a corner of the shuttle's main cabin. Her dark eyes were closed, and her breathing was slow and measured. Jedi Knight Xierra Zalq was meditating, communing with the Force. The last few weeks had seen her almost entirely on the move without much let up from the action. Engaging in battles and missions that tested her and sapped her energy. Gargon. Tatooine. Now straight to some isolated space station far from the brightest spot in the galaxy. A few hours' rest alone was not only something she craved but needed. So after spending the required time briefing with her team members the past couple days, she had went off to prepare her mind and body for the task ahead once they were on the final leg of their long journey.

This was another mission with vague details. All they knew for certain was that the station had gone dark. A complex that had been given the important duty of researching various deadly diseases and finding cures for them. Thinking it could have been just a simple malfunction, two Jedi had already been sent to investigate the cause of the breakdown in communication. But when they had failed to check in with the temple on Coruscant, the Council had gotten worried that something else was going on at the station. Especially when one discovered that one of the diseases being tested was that of the rakghoul. Not wanting to admit aloud they had feared the worse, they had sent more Jedi to the outskirts of the galaxy, hinting it was more for precaution than anything else.

Having just arrived to the capital planet after returning Flavio Artaga to his parents after a successful rescue mission, Xierra had been scripted for this assignment immediately. As had her companion on Tatooine, Sisk Balkk. Though the Trandoshan had taken the time to gather up his padawan from the temple before they had departed almost immediately. The Falleen Jedi probably had earned a well-deserved break and could have turned down the Council's offer without any fallout. But she had thought long and hard about it, albeit briefly giving the time constraints, and had accepted. Checking out a communications issue on a research station full of scientists seemed benign enough, a way to ease herself down from the shock of what she had found in the Hutt's stronghold. Perhaps take her mind off of it.

Xierra had, against all odds, came up against her birth father. They hadn't spoken, but their eyes had locked on each other for the fleetest of moments before he had disappeared around a corner with the rest of his men. She hadn't been sure at first that the Falleen male had been her own flesh and blood.  But the Force had told her otherwise, remembering memories from her childhood before her life at the temple and connecting them to this man. Nor was she even certain that he had seen the recognition on her face. It didn't matter; the glimpse had shaken her in ways she hadn't imagined or thought about. That momentary connection was another reason for her current state of meditation; she needed to come to terms with it and move on so that she had a clear head for what was coming.

Her eyes snapped open as she suddenly felt a strong presence near her: Balkk. Seconds later he was standing, towering over her. And she heard and felt something bump up against the shuttle's fuselage. Up until that point, she had been focused inwardly and had not noticed that they had arrived at the station. Nor had been running through a debris field for the past few minutes. At his question, Xierra came to her feet then, her own height quite intimidating, though not to the extent of the Trandoshan Jedi.

Before she could answer him, she moved up towards the cockpit, and ignoring the frozen bodies floating around the station, she closed her eyes once again. But this time, she stretched out her awareness in the Force. Skipped over the other two Jedi, the civilian pilots and turned her attention to the large disk showing through the forward viewscreen. It didn't take long at all for her to lock on to the presence of a pair of Force users: the other two Jedi. Xierra didn't stop there, though, and went deeper. Her mind brushed against something else in there, alive... but not what she was used to sensing in regular beings, as she had expected the researchers to feel. There was something... unusual. And the discovery made her a little wary; perhaps this mission wouldn't be the cake walk she thought it was.

By then, Balkk had moved on to gather up his padawan, and the ship had landed. She gave instructions to the pilots to stay put and wait for their signal. Then she stepped back to the corner where she had been meditating. Xierra picked up her heavy cloak and donned it, expecting the darkened station to be cold. Her lightsabers were already clipped at her hips, and her folded up bo staffs were attached at the small of her back. Slipping a small bag over her shoulder, holding glow sticks and other supplies that might be needed, she worked her way down to the shuttle's exit and headed down the ramp.

The Falleen joined the knight and his padawan and looked up at Balkk. "They're alive,", she said, referring to the first Jedi team. The ones they had been sent to find and rescue, if needed. As well as solve the mystery of the darkened research station. But then Xierra turned to face the door that closed the docking bay off from the inside of the disk and paused for a few moments before continuing. "However, there is something...somethings... in there with them. Not the scientists, not exactly. They feel... odd." She turned back to the other knight. "We should be cautious."

 

[Thaddeus]

It was an odd thing to behold: to see soundlessly beams, debris, bodies, and boxes glide towards the Prospathoun in space, and then with a great clang or screech within hit the space station. But such scenes played out regularly all over the station visible from its viewports such as those around the very edge of the great durasteel disc where the main circular corridor of the station was.

Not far from the docking bay where the second group of Jedi had touched down the first group of that illustrious order was picking their way through and over the rubble littering the circular corridor. The way they had gone to reach the control centre for the Prospathoun was blocked by a great bulkhead door – and beyond that only the vacuum of space.

The noise of the space station falling apart resounded in the halls and rooms as bells which with each sinking and swelling of the anger of their toll distinctly tell how the danger ebbs and flows. However beyond the ominous metallic noise there was no sign of life, no sign of danger beyond the collapsing environment of the Prospathoun.

As the first two Jedi, master and apprentice, approached a doorway a small light flashed on a screen. It showed an unregistered ship having docked in the station – there was a peculiar strangeness in the station still adhering to protocols and regulations while it fell apart.

* * * *

The noise continued to toll, a muffled monotone, from the hallway leading away from the docking bay. Metal on metal it would sound like at times, and at another time there seemed to sound a grunt or groan, and then more distantly a rumble of something else. As the three Jedi stood watching the doorway the ship’s crew descended the ramp carrying bags and toolboxes.

With the single mindedness of someone trying to ignore the unusual nature of their surroundings the crew set to work. The side which had scrapped against the wall was inspected by one; while another saw to securing the refuelling lines of the docking bay before they turned to the terminal, which received several encouraging hits from a hydrospanner; and another crew member ran over the whole ship with a torch looking for Mynocks.

* * * *

Balkk nodded as Xierra told him that the other Jedi were alive, his eyes not leaving the door way. He could not smell anything in the hallway, as a Jedi he may not have much aptitude or talent for sensing with the Force, but as a Trandoshan his hunting instincts were second to none.

He heard the crew descend the ramp, turning and looking at them bustle, Balkk considered telling them to head back inside the ship. But before he could his thinking was interrupted by Xierra telling him more of what she had sensed – her eyes did not leave the door either.

“Are they far from us?” To Balkk the first objective must be to reunite with the other Jedi, if there was something dangerous on the station as Xierra felt then they may need help, and even if not they might know more of what has happened. Balkk turned and looked down at his padawan, “Padawan, go and look in their shuttle.” Another person may have added ‘and see what you can find’ or even given a specific instruction ‘find their comm channel’ but to Balkk to say any more than what he had was superfluous – what other’s would add was obvious and did not need to be mentioned to his mind.

As Moonfire set off toward the shuttle Balkk looked at Xierra and with a nod towards the doorway walked forward slowly. The emergency lighting flickered and desperately tried to continue its task of illuminating the hall way as the Jedi approached. Balkk breaths were slow and steady, his claws clacked on the floor regularly, and without apprehension his great arms rested gently at his side. He trusted in the Force, and it had not whispered to him in its way that he should draw his blade.

He reached the doorway, it was big enough only to fit one person at a time (and Balkk had to duck to fit through), without hesitation the Trandoshan Jedi stepped into the dank hall. His eyes took a moment to adjust, but he could sense with the Force long before that. There was nothing, the noise seemed to be a grating clanging against the wall. But Balkk could just sense what Xierra had, it was far away, but wherever it was it did seem to be getting closer.

Turning to look behind him he saw Moonfire had returned, before she could speak he asked Xierra, “Which way?” A clawed hand pointed left down the hall and then right. He nodded at Moonfire reassuringly.

[Mara]

Xierra thought back to when she had first sensed the Jedi pair while still aboard the shuttle, cycling through her recent memory banks. A moment later, she shook her head. "No, not far." Of course, the distance between the two Jedi groups and the path the latter of them would have to travel to reunite with the former could be entirely different numbers. If they could find a blueprint of the station, it could be of great assistance to them once they were inside. There was no telling of the layout and how many twists and turns might be inside the large rounded disk. And there were definitely areas that they would want to avoid, if her touch of the Force had told her anything.

As well, if the other Jedi were on the move, they may have wandered past where Xierra had originally sensed them. So to double-check to make sure they hadn't moved off from their last-known position and to guard against an error in her recollection, she lifted up an arm towards the doorway and closed her eyes in concentration, reaching out through the Force. Once again, it didn't take long for her to find them. Their location had only shifted slightly. Before she pulled back, the Falleen gave them both an assuring nudge with the Force, making them aware of the presence of herself, Balkk, and his apprentice. She dropped her arm, and her eyes snapped open. "Not more than 800, 1,000 meters up ahead, I would say."

Information relayed, the two knights delayed no further from their mission; there was nothing left now but to go through with it. Xierra followed the Trandoshan to the doorway, passing through into the darkness right after him. Though she had relatively good night sight and adjusted easily to the dimness, she still reached into the bag slung on her shoulder and pulled out a couple of glowrods. The more aids they had the better. Sometimes even Jedi could have tricks played on their eyes from time to time, and there was no telling how reliable the remaining few lights inside the station would last. She clicked them both on and passed one over to Balkk before they went on any further.

They had only got a few dozen meters when she heard bootsteps behind her; however, she quickly recognized Moonfire rejoining them and didn't turn around or pause in her movements. But soon after, she stopped, discovering the hallway they were in ending in a T-junction. The padawan's information would have to wait as they figured out which turn to make. Xierra consulted the Force for a moment and then pointed to the left. "Here. I feel them more in that direction." She nodded for Balkk to lead the way, hoping that this intersecting corridor wouldn't double-back somewhere, taking them away from the other Jedi instead of steering them closer. So as they started walking again, she kept her senses extra alert; the mysterious presence she had felt earlier was worrying her.

[Juzt]

This had not been a good mission so far for Kalan. The Miralukan padawan was timid and fearful at the best of times and now he was trapped on a broken down old space station with something. Kalan had not really seen what was wondering the corridors of this place yet. Well see was a subjective term as like all of his species Kalan was blind and could only see through the force, he could detect the way the force penetrated the things around him and the people and creatures. What he 'saw' around here disturbed him, shadows of things threatening dark shapes. It was not the darkness that bothered him it was these feelings plus his general phobia of space.

Worst of all, he was not sure where his Master was, they had gotten separated a while back by a collapsing corridor that even lightsabers would take a while to cut through, they both just had to hope that they would find alternative ways to each other.

Kalan moved as quietly as possible down the corridors, his heard beating rapidly in his chest. His cloak rustled as he moved, he continued to run his hands through his short blonde hair in a sign of his fear and apprehension. Soon he stopped, he felt someone reach out and touch his mind, another jedi he stopped and concentrated. He directed his immature senses in that direction and got the image of two Jedi walking down a corridor. He heard a groan of metal and a more organic sound behind him. He gasped and ran. There was nothing else for it, he rounded the t-junction and slipped falling flat on his face.

Jedi or not he was fairly clumsy, and the thirteen year old crumbled to the floor with a “Oof.” He tried to scramble to his feet and wished not for the first nor last time that he was back at the temple.

[Mara]

They had only gone a few meters down the left side of the T-junction when something stopped Xierra in her tracks, making her twist her head towards her wake. "Wait," she called ahead to Balkk and his padawan, closing her eyes and focusing in on what had made her pause. As they had walked, searching, she had been keeping tabs on the location of the other Jedi with a light touch of the Force, but now as the trio continued ever closer to their presence, she realized her error. The two lost Jedi were not together as she had first sensed; at the distance she had been at from outside the station's entrance, the two auras had merged into one. Now, though, she felt two separate entities, and one was back behind them.

Dark eyes snapping open, she looked back to the rest of her small party. And made an executive decision to take control of the situation. "They have been separated; one is still in that direction," Xierra pointed down the hallway the three of them had been headed down and then spun to indicate back the way they had come, "But the other is back that way. You two continue on, and I'll double back." Ideally, they would stay together and work methodically, but that mysterious, and dangerous-feeling, presence she had sensed earlier was bothering her. Best if they divided and conquered and got out of there as quickly as possible. "I have my comm if you need me."

Once her revised plan had been agreed upon by the others of her party, the Falleen Jedi nodded to Balkk and Moonfire, wishing them luck before turning around and heading back to the junction where they had originally chosen to go left instead of right. Falling into a comfortable loping pace, she reached it within moments. And then slowed, bearing straight across into the right arm of the T. Xierra opened up herself more fully to the Force; without other Jedi around her, she wanted to make sure she was hyper-aware of her surroundings. Holding the glowrod out in front of her, she soon discovered the body of the Jedi she had sensed in this direction.

Afraid he was severely injured--though laying prone, she could feel he was not dead--she rushed ahead and knelt beside him. He was conscious and breathing, so she gently laid a green hand on his shoulder. "It's all right. We've come for you and your master." Something tickled the back of her mind, and she glanced around herself in all directions before focusing back on the Miraluka boy. Xierra was uneasy remaining still for too long in this location. "Are you hurt? We should get going back to the others."
 

[Juzt]

There it was again that feeling of another Jedi searching for him. It was almost as if he could see a comforting spot light spiralling from one centre of the force scanning for him. It felt like a soft warm glow, powerful but gentle. Unmistakeably another Jedi. He struggled to get up, he knew there were probably things following his scent right now but he felt small impossibly small, weak and tired. Then a gentle hand settled on his shoulder, he jumped almost out of his skin and scream dying on his lips as he hard a quiet gentle steady voice. No Monster ever sounded so kindly. The voice said it had come for his master and himself. He breathed a soft sight of relief, other Jedi were here and everything would be ok again Jedi could solve any problem he told himself.

Uneasily Kalan pulled himself up on to his feet. He readjusted the wrap around his eyes which had loosened with his exertions. He always liked to keep it on, as many species with sight were uneasy at seeing one without it. Kalan had never been the neatest and most organised Padwan in the Order and his ordeal had not helped matters, his robes were dishevelled and torn and dirty in places. His short messy blonde hair looked frazzled. He had little scratches on his face and hands a bruise here and there but all his injuries were superficial. As always with Kalan the real problem was the inside of his head than the outside of it. The fear rolled off him in cold shivering waves. Far too many thoughts were buzzing around that head. He wanted to hug his rescuer, but that was not what a mature Jedi did. He also wanted to scream, cry, laugh and that dark little part of even the best of Jedi was telling him to go back and kill all the things chasing them.

However, fear trumped anger. “Oh.... hello.” Was all he said to her by way of greeting in the end, and “No I am not hurt.” He could feel his heart trying to kick its way out of his chest but he was not actually hurt. Finally an insistent little voice reminded him of the unspeakable horrors living on this station. “Yes... um... I think we should run.” he said in a quiet voice almost inaudible. An unpleasant sound came echoing down the corridor towards them, Kalan whimpered softly and gulped. “Now...” then he remembered himself. “...Master.” He said politely. He small hand hovered over a light saber, it was large the hilt was really too large for someone of his small stature. The one disadvantage of seeing through the force, is you could see the darkness coming even through walls.

[Mara]

At her touch, the Miraluka youth had reacted as if scalded before belatedly realizing she was a friendly, a fellow Jedi, and began to relax. She winced, regretting that she had announced her arrival so discretely, had come up on him without much warning. He was yet a padawan still and, despite his species' inherent skills with the Force, was not up to par with those twice his age. But she had been anxious to get to him, afraid he was hurt; as well, she hadn't wanted to unintentionally alert this mysterious presence she was continually feeling or let them get too close.

Xierra pulled herself back up to her feet and stepped back as the boy got himself standing again. Her dark eyes quickly scanned his body. He didn't appear to be suffering from any major wounds, but it was best to give him a once-over anyway. She couldn't have him collapsing while they were trying to get to the others and escape this dreadful station. But luckily the worst damage seemed to be to the Miraluka's psyche; he was radiating fear into the Force. And if she hadn't already a good idea of what was causing the boy's reaction, she probably would have asked him and told him everything would be okay.

He confirmed what she had already diagnosed; he was not injured, all the damage being minor and superficial. She smiled at him in a reassuring way. "And hello to you." Even if he was not physically hurt, his mental and emotional strife could be an issue down the road, getting in the way of completing the mission. Xierra had to get him to relax, and so she sent him calming thoughts through the Force to assist with that. "I'm Knight Zalq, Xierra; what is your name?"  Best also if she had something to refer to him by and vice versa. The last thing she wanted was to have to scream "boy!" if they were confronted by danger.

A danger that suddenly felt closer than it had, almost a buzzing at the back of the Falleen's skull. The Miraluka padawan was feeling it, too, confirmed by his anxious words. Xierra glanced around them, quickly working out the best course of action for the pair. "Yes..." He wanted to run, and she didn't disagree. But where? Back where she had come to reunite with the others seemed the logical course: safety in numbers after all.  However, a probing of the Force in that direction told her that it was no longer safe. They would have to go another way, deeper into the station and hope to double back somehow.

"Go!" Xierra gestured for the boy to go back from whence he had come, gently pushing his shoulder to emphasize her words. She could feel the mysterious presence that way as well, in fact, all over the floating hulk. But it seemed the least populated with the auras at the moment. The Jedi knight snapped off her glowrod in the next second, not wanting to give their enemy any added advantages. As they began to run, she also pulled her lightsaber hilt off her belt but did not yet ignite it. If it came to that, she would fight her way out of this place, and the Force was showing her more and more that that scenario was likely.

They pounded together down the maze of hallways and corridors, the Falleen keeping the Miraluka in front of her. Multiple times they had to pause at intersections, Xierra reaching out with the Force before making the decision of which turn to take. And more than once they had skidded into dead end and had to work their way back to a familiar walkway to try again. She no longer was hoping to catch up back with Balkk and his padawan, nor find the boy's master. Her first priority was just to survive long enough for them to get out of her alive.  Because after not wanting to believe the scientists had actually messed with the deadly disease, she had finally confronted the truth: rakghouls were hunting them.

[Juzt]

“Kalan.... Kalan D'ravk.” The boy spoke his name quickly to her as obviously they had to make their way away as quickly as possible. There was no time to tarry. She ordered him to run back the way he had come. He paused for a moment as he had been running from that direction for a good reason. However, he was not about to argue, and so he nodded and ran. He was with Knight at least, he felt a little less concerned still being at the naive age where he assumed that his elders could solve all the problems that came upon them. Soon he would learn the truth that life and the force seldom worked that way.

His small feet pounded the metal of the deck beneath him. He had forgotten some of his fears of space for the moment. Kalan was agoraphobic, with an innate terror of the wide open empty space he could sense beyond the bulkheads of ships and space stations. It had been something left to him from even further back in his childhood. Kalan had lived as a slave in the spice mines of Ryloth, until the criminal enterprise was raided. His force sensitivity had been known by the Jedi but he had disappeared from their knowledge until he was found in those mines. A Mirlukan child was very useful in such a venture. He could lead work parties without the need for potentially damaging lights. The guilt over that still swirled in him still. He was still rather staggered that he had been allowed to be a Padawan. He had never felt he had earned it.

He saw the saber in her hand, and ran a little ahead of her, as she seemed to want this. He was very sure there was little he could do anyway. He was a pretty useless Jedi as far as he was concerned, he would just get himself killed and put her in danger if he tried to stand with her. Self esteem was a foreign concept to him. He stretched out with his own immature senses to try to see which was the best path to take. However, the Knight seemed to know where she was going, so he meekly followed her directions. At a pause at one intersection he spoke, his voice small and not really intended for her to hear him. “They are stalking us.” He said morosely. He did not know much about Rakghouls. However, when he had touched them with the force as best he could, they seemed like the Cthon he and his first Master, Rune Oki, had fought in the undercity of Courscant. They were things of twisted darkness.

“What do we do?” He said this louder, his innocent hopeful voice directed up at her. His head was not turned to her, something many species with eyes found a little unsettling. No one liked being talked to without being looked at as well. He tried to keep his voice even.

[Mara]

Rakghoul. It was hard for her to even think the word, let alone say it out loud, or to stop from shuddering in response. Those twisted remnants of a time past, Xierra's only knowledge of them was a purely academic one. They had long been exterminated, along with the Sith who had fathered the deadly disease,  before she had been born. But fortunately, or unfortunately, those lessons were some of the ones she remembered the best. Not because she thought the information would be helpful later but because those images and their accompanying text were permanently burned into her mind.

Realizing his talisman for creating a grand army out of mindless beings was resistant to some--Force-users and some non-humans--the Sith, whose name she had forgotten, had dabbled in darker arts. The evil man had come up with his rakghoul plague; all he had needed was one subject, and the disease would spread by itself. Infected beings transformed, becoming unrecognizable to what they had formerly looked like, bloating up, gaining three large claws, and a wide toothy mouth all encased with a pale clammy skin in various shades. And all it took was one bite or scratch from a rakghoul to turn a healthy being into one. A scary prospect, for sure.

Which is why Xierra was a little on edge as she and Kalan zigzagged their way around this station, looking for a way to get out while simultaneously avoiding an attack, her skin losing some of its greenish luster in response. Because she knew the odds were distressingly against them. The Jedi wasn't sure how many scientists and workers had originally been aboard, but even if only half of them had still survived, the two of them were still likely outnumbered 20 to 1. A statistic made all the more overwhelming considering that her only partner in this was a lowly padawan of unknown skill level. She felt like perhaps all they were doing was delaying the inevitable.

Stopping at another three-way intersection, she had to pause again, reaching out with the Force to discern which direction it was best to head in this time. And what the Falleen felt was not encouraging. The presences of what had to be the rakghouls, for they were not the auras of healthy beings going about their business or scared people but minds of hunters with one track minds, seemed to be all around them. And closing in. Whichever way they could go, they would soon be surrounded. But if they stayed where they were, they would be overcome with rakghouls as well; this was not a very defensible position, with access points in three directions. Even a fighter like Xierra would not be able to fend them off for long.

Kalan spoke up them, voicing some of her own fears. She nodded. "Yes. They are." It was no use coddling the boy.  He could obviously sense them as well. And after all, he was a Jedi, if only a yet a padawan. The Falleen's mind whirled as the young Miraluka inquired of her what the plan was going forward. Xierra wished she had an answer for him that would put him at ease. For now, all she could do was look around her and hope an idea came to her. Her career had taken her all around the galaxy, involving her in various battles. But fighting Mandalorians and Sith were one thing; rakghouls were a whole 'nother animal.

She could hear them now, as the scrambling hoard was close enough to register their footfalls on the metal passageways. Her gaze became more frantic, and she nervously spun her lightsaber hilt. Xierra considered just cutting a doorway into the wall, but she hadn't an idea of how thick it was and couldn't spare the time to find out. Glancing up at the ceiling, she ruled that out too; there could be more rakghouls on the floor above. The Falleen turned back to the Miraluka, about to tell him to prepare himself, but the saw it, a few meters down: an actual door.

"Hurry! This way!" She called to the boy and grabbed his hand, not bothering to keep her voice down. The rakghouls knew they were here anyway, no use disguising that fact. Palming the door open, she pushed Kalan and ran in after him, closing the door behind her. It wasn't much of a barrier to those hunting them, but at least now they had whittled them down to just one front instead of three. They could only come from one direction now. And she would be ready, as ready as she could be for what was going to be very, very messy and dangerous.

Her dark reptilian eyes adjusting quickly to the darkness within the room, she saw it was somewhat spacious, a supply room of some kind. Having Kalan stand off to the side, she pushed a couple of large metal shelving units in front of the door with aid from the Force. Slow exhausting work but she got it done. She then took the padawan with him towards the back of the room, crouching low behind a stack of crates, keeping the boy behind her and holding her lightsaber in front of her body. If they were lucky, the rakghouls would just pass them by... but in case her small thread of hope snapped, as her pessimistic side thought, Xierra had given herself and Kalan the best chance at survival, given current circumstances. Time would only tell if it was successful.

[Juzt]

Kalan was just desperately running, trying not to think about what monstrosities were chasing them. He was surprising himself with how his small legs could keep up with the much taller adult next to him. Soon he heard a yell and with a yelp was yanked through a door way. She sealed the doors put him to one side and started pushing shelves and crates against the doors. Kalan helped to, though he struggled with heavier objects. Eventually however she pulled him behind some crates, and they waited in silence. Kalan kept behind her holding on to the back of her robe for reassurance.

The one advantage he did have over her was his eyes did not need to adjust to the dark he knew exactly where he was in the room. He held his breath and kept quiet hearing his heart beating his blood singing in his ears. Was that a creak of metal he heard? The sound of heavy breathing. He was not sure how long they waited in the dark, all he knew was he wanted to scream out to them. Demand that they either try and kill them or leave them alone.

He focused all his attention on what was beyond the door. He could have sworn he heard a growl. “I can't take this.” He whispered softly, gripping her robe harder. Just then he heard a thud at the door and held his breath hoping beyond hope they would move on.

[Mara]

Xierra didn't have to expand her Force awareness to sense the fear radiating off of Kalan even before he voiced them. She could smell it, too, almost taste the bitterness of it. But she didn't fault the boy for it. This was definitely a situation in which its presence could not be helped; the Falleen herself was feeling slightly uneasy about everything, had since arriving at this station. And she knew that fear on its own was not a bad thing. It could keep one sharper and more logical in the face of danger, not taking unnecessary risks. It only became so when a Jedi or Force user allowed it to take them down a dark path of anger, drawing on their fear to increase their strength.

She poured serenity towards the Miraluka boy through the Force. Xierra needed him calm for what was to come and not hysterical. "Yes, you can," she reassured him, her voice quiet but strong and full of conviction. "Remember your training, everything your instructors and masters have taught you," she added, dark eyes still focused on the door ahead where thuds and bangs could be now heard as the rakghouls pounded on it, trying to get in. "You are a Jedi." Even just a padawan, Kalan had an advantage over regular beings. He would survive this... even if it meant her sacrificing her own life to make it happen.

There was a thunk! as the mass outside lunged together against the door, shifting one of the shelving units they had placed as a barrier. This noise seemed to spark something in the rakghouls; their growling began more frantic and rabid, and they redoubled their efforts to get to the two Jedi. Xierra started looking around her again. She hoped that she would be able to cut them all down here with her lightsaber if they didn't all stream in at once. But that was a slim chance; in all likelihood the whole swarm would be at her. And so she needed a plan B. Or even C.

Igniting her weapon, its pale green blade washing over her face, she turned her back on the door and plunged it into the floor. Slowly she dragged it around in a circle, praying that she wasn't just opening up another access point for the rakghouls to get them.  But so far so good; in the Force, she still felt them in only one area, on the other side of the storage room, banging and pounding, their movements gradually sliding the metal structures backwards. Xierra put all her effort into what she was doing, and soon finished, though she kept glancing back at the detritus barring their path.

Before the plug could fall and create a loud clanging, she grabbed it in the Force. She pulled her glowrod off her belt, snapped it on, and dropped it through, using the Force to ease its descent. Xierra turned to Kalan then, indicating that he should jump in. "Quickly! she whispered. "I'll catch up to you. I promise. But now, just run. Get as far away as you can." Xierra waited for the boy to comply and then lowered the cut-out piece of floor back into place. Hopefully the bloodthirsty eyes of the rakghouls would not catch the marks.

In the next moments, she spend her time using her lightsaber to cut out two more openings, one in the wall beside her, the other in the opposite wall. These, however, she left unbarred, her plan to trick at least some of the rakghouls into going the wrong way. To aid in the deception she took the time to step into both of them, running around the corresponding rooms and pouring in pheromones to give the beasts a trail to follow. 

Originally Xierra had wanted to stand and fight, and she probably would have, except for Kalan. Despite her words to him earlier, she knew the boy would just get in the way. She did not want him to become collateral damage, injured from friendly fire. Her against a couple dozen or more rakghouls in this storage room, though she controlled the access, was still not ideal. And she still planned to take a few of them down before she made her own escape but on her own she could not cut down them all. So she stood, green blade before her, waiting for the monsters to finally break through into the room.