Stalking Specters [Ash]

[Krowbar]

The Outer Rim - Bakura.
Two days out.
Five men - three operators and two "research specialists" had arrived the day prior. The rotten, dilapidated and collapsing infirmary in front of them was all that remained from the virus. Whatever this was, it was some bad news. Or whoever, for that matter. Bacteria itself doesn't clear out an entire town and leave slugs in its hosts corpses. 
Doc's said it wasn't airborne, but Keegan kept his mask on anyway. If anything, to spare his lungs from inhaling the mass amount of mold and decaying flesh that littered the entrance to the infirmary. Even making their way through the main lobby, large portions of the walls were beginning to cave in and peel off. He couldn't bear his mind to think what could cause this much devastation in such a short period of time without bringing in half the Imperial navy. Escorting a couple scientists through a slaughterhouse was typically equivelent to a field trip, but this place had an eerie feel to it. They'd already been having comms trouble, but it resolved itself early on. So far it was more of a who-done-it than a biologocal research project. Keegan recalled once being told that the key to becoming an expert investigator was to be able to detect a link or trait in all of the victims. "I've got it. All of them. Each corpse we've seen since we got off the bloody ship, that's the connection. They're all dead."
The least he could do was poke fun at the two, as if they were accomplishing anything anyways. For the disgusting hell hole that the place was, spending the trip on his knees peering into the nearly liquefied organs of a week old corpse? He'd leave it to the professionals.
Looking over accross the hallway he heard a murmur. Something faint, insignifant enough to beg for attention, but subtle enough to make him question if it was a sound at all or simply dust particles settling. As his dreaded curiosity took hold of him, he stepped away from the others into the hallway, kicking, or rather nudging open the closest door as the rotten wood easily splinterred apart. A quick look brought nothing satisfactory. The small room was torn apart even worse than the others. As he turned, the floor creaked under his boot, offerring nothing more than a stereotypical horror movie screetch to lighten his mood.
Piercing his thoughts, he heard something else, only it wasn't faint. It was a blaster shot from outside. Almost instantly, he broke into a sprint determined to find the source of the shot, but the building had other ideas. Just as he made it to the doorway, the floorboards collapsed, plummetting him down into what must have been nearly a 15 foot drop. He never heard the crack of his armor beating against the ground as his head cracked against it afterwards. The blow drifted him in and out of consciousness, then slowly, darkness.

[Ash]

Why did it seem as it she always got the short end of the stick. Sure, she always tried to keep the space-lanes safe, but now there was some sort of outbreak of an incredibly deadly virus that luckily had yet to break off the planet where it originated. Bakura: a world she didn't know much about.

Sora managed to make it planetside, thanks to diplomacy and the force, and even managed to stay under the radar from any republic forces that were on the planet investigating the virus as well. While she wasn't here to directly support them, she doubted any Jedi would show up here, and she wanted to find the cause of the virus and snuff it out, so as to stop it from further spreading.

So now Sora found herself planetside, for now inside some mid-sized wooden building. Her black clothes, as well as the force, allowed her to sneak inside. Her mostly black hair was up in a ponytail, and she had a liberated re-breather across her mouth and nose, hiding any foul smell. It was uncomfortable, but it was better than smelling this blasted planet.

Sora couldn't help but sense and hear the activity going on above her as she snooped around on the lower level of this place: the basement she guessed. She was going through one of the ruined rooms (thanks to whoever invented gloves) when she hears a blaster go off, but a whisper from the distance she was at. Instantly, she dropped into a combat stance, waiting, then ran towards the doorway, which, nearly 15 feet overhead, splintered and collapsed, releasing a figure from his grasps. She jumped back, flipping once as she did so and landed 15 away from her starting point, hand up and ready. When the dust settled, a man laid on the ground, unconscious. He looked republic, which was easy to fake, but she felt obliged to help, and she could defend herself.

Kneeling down by the man, she used the force to clear some room around him, and to pull him away from the opening and deeper into the room, just in case. Then she set out to use her very rudimentary healing skills to at least try to wake the man up. She would feel better with at least that.

[Krowbar]

In ... out ... in ... out. His shallow breaths were the only thing eminating from Keegan's body as the world flashed back to color in a haze. Memory of the shot echoed in his mind before the floor collapsed, but it was quickly replaced by a screeching pain that jolted through his skull like a migraine from hell. His pale cyan eyes flickered open, and his vision slowly focused into a dark, hazed swirl. Perfect day not to wear a helmet. He groaned trying to prop himself up on one arm before even noticing the dark haired woman standing above him. His armored hand glided toward his blaster, stopping halfway as he gazed at her with nearly blood doused eyes. She was alone, or so it seemed, yet she looked to have been prepared for this. Was she behind this massacre? It didn't make much of a difference at this point. She could have finished him off far before now if she wanted to. His hand slid back against the ground as the pain set in. Running his fingers across his forehead he felt a bloody gash that spanned the side of his scalp, and a slice across his unarmored forearm. Now fully conscious, he regained what energy he could, and managed to push the shot blaster on his back away enough to lie flat. His eyes flitted between Sora and the hole in the ceiling, where the rooms sole bit of light was found. He needed to find his team, but whoever this girl was, she wasn't here by chance. Did she fire the shot? What was this place? How long was he even out? His mind nearly raced with thoughts and questions, but his eyes were still locked on her with a painful but curious anticipation, waiting for her next move.

[Ash]

It didn't seem like Sora had to do much before the man woke up. Maybe she didn't do anything, but it felt like she helped out... she really needed to work on her healing skills, but she was always running around too much, and just didn't feel like it.

Back to the point, the man was awake now, and seemed a little startled at first, but after taking in the surroundings, seemed to be more at ease... at least at little: he didn't pull his blaster out and tried to shoot her. When he seemed awake enough, she stood and backed away, dusting off her knees as she did so.

Good, you didn't stay out that long. Need help bandaging yourself up?

Sora debated on checking outside the door, but she didn't sense anyone nearby, this level or above. So they were relatively safe. She turned to look back at the man, her large brown eyes waiting for him to do something. She could only guess what he thought of a teenage-looking girl doing around here. This brought a sly smile to her face, and she raised an eyebrow, waiting.

[Krowbar]

Keegan leaned himself up against the wall as he listened to her, clicking into his mic briefly - comms were fried. He further assessed his injuries before replying, with a glance towards the pile of rubble and debris where he landed.

"Yea ... that would be nice. After all the men that have failed to kill me, I don't feel like dying at the hands of a wooden board."

His armor creaked as he peeled off its facemask to check the extent of the cut, only to be greeted by the choking, gasping feeling of stagnant and toxic air. He quickly reattached his rebreather, and managed to pull his helmet off his back, propping it up on his knee. It would be a miracle if it didn't get infected under these conditions, but there were likely more imminent threats afoot. A closer examination of Sora was quite puzzling in his mind. Seemed pretty young to be roaming around out here on her own, but she seemed to be doing great. Or so the mischievous looking grin on her face would suggest.

"So who do I owe the honor?"

[Ash]

I can think of worse things that could kill you.

Sora walked towards the man again, pulling out a small black pack that was offset on the back of her hip. From inside, she pulled out a small plastic pouch, and inside that was sterile bandages, which she set forth giving the man's head a quick patch job. It wasn't anything special, but it would help stave off any pain and infection, as well as help clot the wound.

When she was done with that, she brought out a second pack and began doing the same to his arm. She just began when the man spoke again, asking, in a rather round about way, for her name.

Normally the man would introduce himself first, ya know? I'm Sora, a peacekeeper of sorts.

When she was done with that, she stood back up, once again dusting her legs off. She had another bandage, but she wanted to save her last one for herself, as well as not wanting to spend any more of her sparse medical supplies. She reached out again with the force, but still didn't feel anyone close enough to care.

Any idea who would send ya tumbling down, or is it something you do for fun?

[Krowbar]

  He ran his hand gingerly over the bandages clotting the gouge in his head and arm, laughing slightly as he listened to her response.

"Keegan. Kahrana. Looks like I owe you one.

Standing up with a grimace, he locked his helmet back on.  Thats a mistake he wasn't making twice today.  Unslinging and racking the shot blaster from his back, he started clearing some debris from where he had fallen prior. Pretty quickly he was able to uncover the dusty, ruggedized suitcase that he had dropped, slinging it over his back and locking it into place. 

"I'd like to know, but before the building came alive and beat the hell out of me, I'm assuming you heard that shot. Similarly, what would ya happen to be doin' out in this bright, happy and joyful sort of place anyways?"

Keegan locked down the visor of his helm as he spoke, switching on thermals to scan the room silently. It was an eerie silence. With a shot having been fired right outside the building, there should be some activity. Something must have been dead wrong.

[Ash]

Pay me back some other time.

Sora leaned against a wall as Keegan pulled himself to his feet and locked his helmet onto his head. That probably would have been a great starting card, but Sora couldn't say that. After all, she didn't even have a helmet on this little expedition.

After that, he locked and loaded a blaster, cleared away some debris, and slung some hardcase onto his back. Sora was curious as to what was in it, but she refrained from asking. It was none of her business.

I heard it, but it sounded distant. Probably because it came from up there rather than down here. Im here for, im assuming, the same reason you are.

[Krowbar]

"Let's pray that's the case. Either way, I have four men upstairs, and whatever that shot was, it wasn't us and it wasn't good."

Scanning the room briefly he saw two doorways, and part of the ceiling that had collapsed down about ten feet from them.  If they managed to get onto it, the ledge continued around to where they could reach the upper levels.

"If you're really here to fix this, we need to get topside and have a look."

He locked his gloves together to make a platform capable of boosting her up to the ledge.

"Your choice."

[Ash]

Seems like it would be better to get up there then.

Sora watched as the man looked around the room, trying to figure out something or other, she imagined. The collapsed ceiling wasn't too far above their heads, and she imagined that it was the fastest way to get up.

Keegan had the same thought, as he linked his gloved hands together so he would be able to boost her up. She cocked an eyebrow at him, and jumped over his head, using the force to boost herself up though the hole, and landed softly so as to not cause any more damage. She looked down the hole now, a wry smile on her face.

You got anything so I can pull ya up?

[Krowbar]

Despite their situation, Keegan couldn't help but laugh after watching Sora leap over.

"You are a sly one aren't you? Showoff."

And a force-sensitive one at that. Something he would have no trouble remembering. In a situation like this, the one thing that either brought him up or drove him down was his competitive spirit, and her snarky comment about pulling him up only fueled his ego. Chucking his blaster on top of the ledge, he paced around the room briefly before breaking into a full sprint. Especially for the weight of his armor, he moved exceptionally fast. Almost literally bouncing off of the walls, he propelled himself enough to latch on to the edge of the overhang, mantling himself over it with some effort. It wasn't nearly as fast or graceful as Sora, but then again he never grew acquainted with the force, only brute force.

The little bit of energy spent renewed his headache. Grabbing his blaster up from the ground, he surveyed the rooms ahead.

"Let's go. Stay close."

He went room by room, finding primarily nothing but corpses and debris until they reached the main lobby. Everyone was gone without a trace, this wasn't right. He sat down against one of several broken pillars briefly, scanning every doorway as he did so. It almost sounded as if something was off in the distance. Again, faint and unrecognizable, but definitely there.

"Bloody place is going to drive me insane. So what do you know about this virus?"

[Ash]

Sora, surprisingly, didn't need to wait too long for Keegan to make his way up here. Better yet, he did it all by himself. He tossed his blaster up by her feet, then got a running jump, bounced off a wall, and climbed up to her level. It wasn't as... majestic as her, but it was good for someone in armor.

So, the armored man has some jumps.

Sora chuckled slightly, a sly half-smile once again on her face as the man grabbed his blaster, and headed out, telling he to stay close. She shrugged, open to the force, and interlaced her arms behind her head, apparently at ease.

Up on this level, thing didn't match up either. Bodies were missing and the place was in ruin, almost as if everything was destroyed before the people left. Sure, there were corpses lying around, but it seemed as if there should be more than their was, rather than general gore.

Just don't end up like these people. About the virus, I know that its dangerous, and can't get out into the spacelanes. I already caught whiff of it, and managed to track it here, but everyone who did have it are long dead now. It seems as if it drive them mad. What happens after that I only know rumors: most not pretty.

[Krowbar]

"Hm. How encouraging. Well the two lab rats we dragged out here were supposed to find out exactly what this thing was and whoever planted it here.  Probably best we find those boneheads pretty soon. "

  With a slight jump, he rolled off of the column and onto his feet. Shoving open the old door they came in through the day prior, he saw something else, barely distinguishable among the gore stricken building.  Blood. Fresh blood. Slowly pulling his hand away from the door, it covered the entire palm of his glove. He glanced toward Sora, but before he could even speak, a round of blaster fire echoed from outside in the distance. Nearly a dozen shots or more.  Kicking the door off its already broken hinges, he took three brief steps and stopped.  It was about sixty yards to the dense woodline that encircled the infirmary.  Right at the edge he saw movement, then a figure.  Switching on his thermals he spotted two others, but none of the three were in the unmistakeable suits that the doctors wore.  It wasn't them.  Whoever it was came from the direction of those shots, and they didn't seem to be coming back with open arms. 


  Slowly backpedaling into the building, he looked to Sora as he unclipped the case from his back, dropping it on a nearby table.

"Whatever kind of demented vacation you think this is, tell me you brought friends.

[Ash]

Sora nodded in agreement to Keegan's words; they needed to find out who let loose the virus, and from where. If the Republic brought scientists down here, then it would be best to find them. Maybe they could then figure out a few answers to their many questions.

She was about to fallow Keegan out, when he turned, and Sora spotted blood on his hand... fresh, crimson blood. She opened her mouth to say something, but blasterfire closed it. It wasn't too close, but it was close enough to be wary of. Sora took off after Keegan, right to outside. She reached out with her senses, feeling at least three people in the wood-line some 60 meters away. Slowly, Keegan backed into the building, but Sora wasn't about to back down as she tightened her gloves on her hands, flexing her right hand. She had a twinkle in her eye as she stepped forward.

I'm a solo artist, but lets see who these guys are.

Sora took off like a bullet, her force-enhanced sprint cleared the distance to the forest within three seconds. She managed to catch one of the people before his surprise ran out, shoving her boot into his face.

The other two were bringing their blasters to bear on her, until she crushed one of the blasters with the force, and shoved it back into his face and breaking his nose. The third managed to get off a pair of snap-shots on her, which went wide. Instantly, Sora closed the distance, ripped his blaster from his hands, and, with her open hand, shoved it into his chest nearly hard enough to break bones. With a little push from the force, she shoved him into a tree, where he crumpled in pain, but was still awake. The encounter too less than seven seconds from sprint to now: Sora was not to be underestimated in a cramped space, even a forest. Now she just needed Keegan here to carry people, or just question them; whatever he felt like.

[Krowbar]

Keegan was slightly shocked to see her dash out into the open as he readied his blaster. Before he felt he could react, she was already inside the range of the blasters spread. Instinctively dashing in after her, he was able to pull just short of when she reached them ... and it was already over. He watched with sadistic glee as each of the men were pummeled to oblivion one by one. Finally realizing he was out in open air, he peeled back his helmet and respirator, revealing the wide grin across his face as he admired the seven second blunt carnage.

"Daaamn girl..."

A quick scan of the area didn't show any other lifeforms ... yet. As much as he admired her enthusiasm, Keegan had no idea what they were walking into. For a four man team to go missing right above his head nearly without a trace, there couldn't be just three of these guys out here. Either way, he returned his focus to the task at hand. The three seemed to have been decently armed, or were, at least. The rags and torn clothing worn over their armor blended in surprisingly well with the environment, but their professional grade rebreathers and supply of air tanks stood out. Overall, he could tell they were clearly sent here, prepared. A devious grin came across his jaw as he glanced back to Sora.

"My turn to play. Go grab that case off of the table inside for me, if you'd be so kind."

Tearing off some of their gear to lighten the load, Keegan managed to drag all three of them out of the open and against a more secluded side of the building.

Drawing his karambit and spinning it in his finger momentarily, he decided to get to work.

"If they want to play mind games with us out here, looks like we can fight fire with fire."

He started by "surgically removing" one of their crumpled blasters from their rib cage, waking them up in the process.

Ten minutes, twenty questions, and several shot blasts later, the outside of the infirmary is already beginning to look worse than the inside. Each one of them separately claimed to have been a mercenary hired to cover up the virus, but it seemed to be nearly all they knew how to say. Enough was enough. Wrapping his arm around one man's neck and gripping his chin, the self proclaimed mercenary was able to look at the back of his shoes after Keegan spun his neck and spinal column like string on a spindle. That crack of snapping vertebrae never gets old. Only a few more minutes had passed, and it sounded like whoever these guys were had a small encampment about a mile south-east with potential prisoners. If they really wanted to hide this, the closest thing they could do to covering it up was not letting anyone see it. And capturing a research group fits the bill for exactly that.

Other than being in the area, neither of the men seemed to have much of any knowledge of the virus or its capabilities. From the looks of things, these guys may have been subbed out by a much more sinister group.

Hand on his side arm, he turned back to Sora once again.

"Any input?"

[Ash]

Sora wasn't too close to Keegan as he was interrogating the people who she brought down. She was on the corner of the wall, arms crossed across her chest as Keegan questioned the men. She also had her senses wide open, making sure no one else paid them a visit. The sound of a snapping neck brought her back to reality.

Sora peeked around the corner just in time to see one of the men fall, his head twisted around in an unnatural fashion. She shuttered and assumed her original position. When it was all said and done, Keegan looked back at her, asking her a question.

I think its a shame to kill em off. If we go pay their encampment a visit, maybe we can get a better lead on the virus, especially if they have prisoners. I expect security would be tight, especially if the virus is there.

[Krowbar]

"Yeah, what a shame it would be.  What do you suppose, we go cut em loose, sing kumbaya and march on over to their friends?"

Kicking the bloodied corpse out of the way, he eyed their two captives with predjudice. 

"Unlike you, I have people out here, and right now it's not looking very good for 'em.  For all I know, that just might be because of these two."

Kicking one of them back against the wall, he strided back into the building, leaving them to Sora.  It only took him a few minutes to secure the ruggedized case onto his back once more.  He noted the large staircase that led to the roof of the building, which surprisingly seemed to be decently stable and intact. Regardless, he never thought he'd enjoy the fresh air on this damned planet as much as he did.  Another quick jog around back of the building didn't bring any comfort to the situation.  This "outpost" the two described sounded fun, he thought.  Another part of him wondered who exactly sent Sora here in the first place.  She didn't exactly seem like the Jedi type, but someone as trained as she was didn't turn up here on accident. 

[Ash]

Not quite what I meant, but the last part sounds good.

Keegan kicked the fresh corps out of his way, spoke again, then kicked one of the two remaining prisoners against a wall, and strode into the building. Sora wasn't against killing anyone, but needless death... she did care about that. It was uncalled for at any time, and who knew what these two had: a family or more. Using the force, she put both of them to sleep through oxygen deprivation, and made a mental note to let whatever passed for law enforcement around here know about these two.

Keegan soon showed back up, his case on his back, and he did a lap around the building. She simply let him, and continued to lean against the wall she had been occupying, arms folded still. When he came back into view, she stirred, stretched, and readied herself.

So, ready to go find wherever these goons came from?

[Krowbar]

"Amen to that."

Sora did her thing, able to put the two into a harmless sleep. Keegan eyed them wearily, hoping they wouldn't have any second encounters. Still, he was relatively impressed as he looked for any sign of consciousness in either of them.

"Hm. Well that works. Hell of a lullaby you've got there."

With that, he set off into the treeline. The route they described was nearly the exact trail his team came in through days prior. One thing this part of the world had no lack of was its dense green foliage, something his stark black armor gave an excellent contrast against.

About half a mile out, activity began to pick up. Breaking away from the main trail, he decided to follow the commotion a few hundred yards off. If they were here because of the outbreak, they were staying awfully close to it for some reason. As the camp itself came into view, he estimated it to hold about two or three dozen men that he could see. It was less of a camp and more of a fort, with large portions of it consisting of old buildings from the small town that previously stood there. What he also noticed was the distinguishable blue markings of one of his comrade's gear hanging from a door frame in the north east corner. Aside from a few patrols, most of them seemed rather laid back and unaware. It wouldn't be impossible to get in and out safely if they played their cards right. Then again, Keegan wasn't exactly invisible. Maybe Sora was, that seemed to be the kind of trick she'd have up her sleeve anyways. Mentally he began charting his route to the north eastern side of the camp in such a way to have as little contact as possible.

Unhooking the case from his back, he opened it to reveal several components to a suppressed long range slug thrower, aswell as several full magazines to accompany it. In less than a minute it was fully assembled and loaded, as he slowly and precariously advanced forwards.

"Alright. Keep it quiet. Last thing we need is to alert these meatheads and have someone get killed. I'll tag 'em you bag 'em."

He pulled one of his karambits as a two man patrol passed by, oblivious. Slipping out behind them slowly, the ground beneath him crunched under his boot. As minute of a sound as it made, it was loud enough to jump someone who was only two feet away. As the first man spun towards the noise, the bridge of his nose instantly caught the solid hilt of a knife. Before his partner could react, Keegan turned his blaster against him, sloppily bludgeoning him in the back of the neck with it until he went down.

Through some tactful maneuvering and evasion, he made it to the north east side. Closer inspection of the bag hanging from the doorway of one of the old homes confirmed it was that of one of the doctors. Dead or alive, they were definitely here at some point. The only thing separating him from the house was a sole guard leaned against it. No getting around this one. Steadying his rifle, he let loose two rounds fast enough to be mistaken for only one. The only sounds the weapon made were the clinking of the ejected brass, and the splatter of the guards head painting the wall behind it crimson.

Until more circled back around, it was a clear shot in for the moment. Time to get some answers out of this place.

[Ash]

It's a nice little something something to know.

At the same time as Keegan, Sora went off into the forest, fallowing a trail. It didn't take long, however, before she started to sense some people. Not long after that, Keegan broke off the trail and started to break trail.

Sora felt the people at the camp before she actually saw anyone, or the camp itself. Keegan unlatched his case from his back and set up a sniper rifle. Sora, didn't know much, but she guessed it was a slugthrower. Probably a verpine, if she had to name one.

While Keegan was taking care of two people who were walking around, Sora made her way forward closer to the base, using the force and all the training she had to remain quiet and moved forward towards the outpost.

Ahead, near the entrance, was a guard, just sitting and waiting. Probably thinking that it was a pointless task. Well, he wasn't thinking for much longer after two holes appeared in him. Reaching out again, she felt that now would be the best time to run inside unnoticed, so thats exactly what she did.