Log:Biological Threat in Theed
Biological Threat in Theed
OOC Date: July 18, 2019
Location: Theed, Naboo
Participants: Jessika Pava, Aryn Cole, Nae Tama NPC
Mornings on Naboo were often depicted in paintings, but all of them lack the luster to convey the real beauty the planet possessed. Streaming orange clouds segue to a warm blue and puffy white clouds linger overhead while a cool river breeze brushes through Theed. Business and life was just getting started. Aryn had linked up with Jess beforehand to schedule their arrival for the morning hours. Dr. Nae Tama was scheduled to be in her office during that time.
Aryn had chosen to wear something appropriate for the visit. Never one to turn down an opportunity to arrive in style, the Alderaanian noble wore an all white arrangement, with a cape and matching boots. Her hair was pinned back from her face, and she'd used makeup to cover up the scar over her eye.
The university was full of life, and the pair just seemed to stick out apart from the youth. Aryn led them across the fountain courtyard and by hundreds of chattering college kids. "I haven't seen Lady Nae since university in Novania." Aryn admits, sounding a bit apprehensive. "We weren't great friends then, and I'm not sure how things have progressed since then." She glances toward Jess.
Jessika Pava is not an aristocrat. She doesn't come from a noble background, and she doesn't dress like she does. Next to the fashionable Doctor Cole, she looks like what she is: a commoner. At least she doesn't look like the poor girl she was before she'd grown up. A pair of black leather boots with a barely-there heel make soft footfalls against the ground as they step. Her trousers are dark, tucked in, and supported by a black leather belt slung through its loops. A pair of pouches ride near her left hip as the only decoration for that belt. Her tunic is a steel blue, with a tall collar and an open V-neck, and its sleeves stop just short of her wrists. It's a loose tunic, and she leaves it untucked from the trousers.
Jessika's dark hair is spilled around her shoulders and is mercilessly teased by the breeze. It tames once they enter the university, save for the forward momentum of her body that causes it to shift about her shoulders with every forward step. A passing gaze towards Aryn is given with her brows gently hiked upwards. "Hopefully the academic challenge will override any.. bad feelings." With no more eloquent a way to put it, Jessika turns her gaze forward towards their destination. She has some silent hope that this all goes smoothly. It strikes her then, to ask. "Uh, define "not great".." She remembers a time they met one of Poe's contacts, and he defined them the same way. They ended up being shot at.
"Novania was a school for the rich and fortunate. A semester there could buy a corvette. My coming to Nae will likely feed her ego. I made it a point to never ask for her help in University and she ostracized me for it. I was 'too good' for her." Aryn shook her head and made a face that suggested she had a bad taste in her mouth. "Her specialty is finding cures through insects. To her credit, she's a pioneer in the field, but you'd have to see past her ego to find any brilliance."
The pair turn down a large marble corridor and begin to pass by a massive indoor garden. Their footsteps echo distinctly through the hall, and those walking avoid them by stepping out of their way. "I suspect this will be humiliating. Don't judge me." Aryn says facetiously, and shares a grin with Jess briefly. Their objective lay behind a pair of massive wooden doors. Aryn tugs one side open, gestures for Jess to move in ahead, then the young doctor follows. The receptionist glances up. "An appointment with Lady Nae?" She asks in a Naboo toned accent. "Yes, Dr. Aryn Cole and my colleague here, Ms. Testor." The lady behind the desk nodded and stood up. "One moment, I'll make sure she's ready to see you." Aryn nods, turns, and sighs.
Jessika doesn't bring up that her first classroom was a hovel, and that she's self-learned in any subject she's ever set her mind to. The idea of spending that many credits to sit in a classroom almost makes her nauseous, but it's not the first time she's heard of, or even seen, absurd examples of wealth. It won't be the last. "Well, I wouldn't say we're looking for a cure, unless you wanted to phrase it as the insect we found was able to cure life." There's a dry humor in her tone that's the morbidity of being in war for so long. She's used to having to find the funny no matter what situation she's in. "Oh, I'm already judging you." Jessika is quick to inform Aryn. "I half expect you to grovel. It's the last thing she says.
Jessika becomes silent after passing through the doors leading into the office area where they're to find Doctor Cole's colleague. Rather than setting her eyes on the receptionist -- though there is a brief moment that the woman is appraised -- only, Jessika's gaze sweeps the room. She looks for windows. Other doors leading out of the office. She counts how many individuals there are that she can see. It never turns off. Of course, to the people in the office, she just looks curious.
Jessika doesn't bring up that her first classroom was a hovel, and that she's self-learned in any subject she's ever set her mind to. The idea of spending that many credits to sit in a classroom almost makes her nauseous, but it's not the first time she's heard of, or even seen, absurd examples of wealth. It won't be the last. "Well, I wouldn't say we're looking for a cure, unless you wanted to phrase it as the insect we found was able to cure life." There's a dry humor in her tone that's the morbidity of being in war for so long. She's used to having to find the funny no matter what situation she's in. "Oh, I'm already judging you." Jessika is quick to inform Aryn. "I half expect you to grovel." It's the last thing she says.
Jessika becomes silent after passing through the doors leading into the office area where they're to find Doctor Cole's colleague. Rather than setting her eyes on the receptionist -- though there is a brief moment that the woman is appraised -- only, Jessika's gaze sweeps the room. She looks for windows. Other doors leading out of the office. She counts how many individuals there are that she can see. It never turns off. Of course, to the people in the office, she just looks curious.
"Lady Aryn.. oooooooohhhh, it's /so/ good to see you." Nae Tama appears, wearing a gown of green like spring and sandals. Her steps are taken quickly to close the distance and she embraces Aryn, kissing her cheeks. When she draws back, she makes a tsking noise, her thumb tracing the line of Aryn's fresh scar. "Aryn, dear, too many expeditions. We /told/ you it was a bad idea. How did that trip of yours go?" Nae smiles knowingly as Aryn grimaces. Rather than give her the satisfaction of being right, Aryn gestures to Jess. "Lady Nae, this is my colleague and close friend, Ms. Testor. Our adventures are what led to our visit today."
Nae smiles when Aryn avoids the topic of her failure. Everyone had thought she perished in her big expedition, instead she wore a scar to mark her failure. How fitting. Nae's green eyes lift to look over Ms. Testor. "Hello, Ms. Testor, I'm Nae Tama." She offers her hand and smiles a measured smile.
"/Lady/ Aryn doesn't have many friends, so I imagine you must be special to her, Ms. Testor. Honored to meet you, truly."
Nae turns, cutting off any remark by gesturing to her office. "Come now.. let's discuss what you need me for, Aryn. I'm anxious to hear." Facing away from the pair of women, Nae smiles for her own satisfaction.
Jessika dislikes the woman the moment she sees her. The pretentious greeting and the grating nature of her voice makes Jessika regret going on this trip, and she knows if she feels this way, Aryn must be having an even tougher time. She observes the exchange from the side, but her gaze doesn't fixate on them. Jessika keeps her head on a swivel, at least up to the point that she's introduced. Dark eyes settle on the ones that move to her, and Jessika holds this strange woman's gaze without a hint of wavering. "Pleasure." She doesn't attempt to shake hands, nor does she even attempt to respond to the remarks. There's nothing to cut off as a result. Lifting her hand once Nae has turned, Jessika tries offering a reassuring squeeze to Aryn's shoulder. Then, leaning in, she whispers almost too silently to hear. "I bet she would have totally peed herself if she'd been in that elevator lift on Umgul." Forward, then, the dark-haired woman moves, to follow their hostess.
Aryn's cheeks are red and for a moment she feels like they're back in university. Jessika squeezing her shoulder brings her out of the daze. Her comment about Nae brings a fresh smile to her face and an appreciative expression. Aryn steps off with Jess, combating the urge to hug her cape around herself and hide from view. In a single greeting Nae left Aryn raw with trauma. Her scar, her expedition, everything she said was petty.
A steadying breath is taken and she tries to find solace through one of the meditative breathing exercises, but this is interrupted when Nae shuts the door behind them. Rather than speak, Aryn produces the tube containing the insect and hands it to Nae. The awkward silence is made pregnant when Nae steps toward her window to draw the heavy blue curtain back. "Hmmm.." Holding the tube to the light, she studies the insect.
"This is a mineral larvae, common on worlds where mining is prevalent. Jelucan, Kessel, Arkanis.." She moves the tube around. "It's larger than normal, bigger mouth region, abdomen enlarged.. I believe there's something inside this." Nae crosses the room and arrives at a flat white table and opens the tube without permission to spill its contents. "Nae.. please be careful, we found this on--" "Aryn, it's dead. Judging from the hardened exterior, for awhile now. Relax, this is my field afterall."
"No I respect that but you don't know what we saw it do." Aryn says before taking Nae's hand away from touching it. "At least wear gloves. Please." Aryn's pleading voice disarmed Nae for a split second, and she nodded her head and gently drew her hand back. "Okay..just a moment." Nae went through a drawer to pull gloves on. "What did this do?"
Once the office door closes, Jessika takes up a position a little farther ahead of it, but more or less near it. Her arms move in front of her, and her right hand fingers close around her left wrist. She has no expertise when it comes to these academic subjects, and the most she can do right now is watch. Watch, and remember. Aryn shows off the specimen, and in typical academic fashion, Nae starts examining it. It's clear she has no regard for safety as she does, and even Jessika feels a steel knot of anxiety forming in the pit of her stomach when the woman starts to go through the motion of touching the insect without any kind of protection. Aryn's pleading prevents her from doing such a thing. Jessika doesn't relax.
"It killed a man." Blunt, to the point, and without any cushioning, the dark-haired pilot provides the answer. "I pulled it off the back of his neck and he died. It was attached near the base of the skull." She doesn't offer to show the exact position, or move from where she's standing. Information was needed, and information was provided. Jessika thinks now, at least, Nae is going to appreciate the gravity of the situation and the reason that they've bothered to come all this way. At least, Jessika hopes that she will. Part of her wouldn't be surprised if the seriousness went straight over her naive head.
"My goodness. Just what /have/ you brought me?" Nae shares a glance between the women. "It's from an expedition on Umgul, Lord Follar's to be exact. The fate of his team.." She gestures toward the bug. Nae looks at the insect with renewed interest. "Fascinating. Mineral Larvae are known to latch to warmer beings, the blood helps their growth. But the base of the skull? That sounds.. different."
Nae crosses the room and hits a button. At once, a small drone like droid appears and hovers in place. "I will record this. Perhaps opening it up will reveal some answers. If it's just blood, then perhaps it was some rare dependency virus or something? If it isn't blood.." Nae grabbed her tools and rolled the satchel like collection out. A gloved hand brushes over the tools until she finds the one she wants.
A gesture to the droid, and Dr. Tama leans over the table. Aryn moves a light over the area of the table Nae is working, and Nae nods for a silent thanks. A scalpel is used then to cut open the larvae. Almost immediately, a ink colored ooze seeps out. Nae continues to cut, but she doesn't realize that the substance isn't draining. It's slowly inching /up/ the scalpel. "Nae. Drop the scalpel."
Nae looks up dumbfounded. "What, why?" It's nearing her fingers. "Drop the bloody scalpel!" Aryn smacks it down onto the tray and pulls Nae back. "Aryn, what the hell--" Aryn points, and everyone can see the ooze moving on its own volition, around the tray.
Aryn isn't the only one that sees the black substance emerging from the insect's carapace isn't draining so much as becoming motile. Jessika releases her left wrist and snaps her right hand back along her right hip. Her wrist pins her tunic against her side, and a flash of melanin-rich skin is put on display when she lifts. Aside from a flash of skin, the textured grip of a blaster is exposed. She takes it in hand and draws it from the holster snug in the back of her pants, and her right finger moves alongside the trigger guard quickly. "Both of you step back!" Jessika's thumb flicks the safety off the weapon, triggering a subtle whine as it powers up and readies to discharge should she deem it necessary to pull the trigger.
Darting forward, she finds a large, empty culture tray on Nae's workstation and flips it, so the open side is down. A quick press into place sinks the tray in a prison around the scalpel and the moving substance. Jessika backs off instantly and brings both hands forward into a grip around her sidearm's handle. "You need to call your hazard control immediately. Alert them to a biological danger." They shouldn't have done this in an office. They should have done this in a controlled environment, and now Jessika's mind is in a panic. There are vents all over the place, and she doesn't know if her attempted countermeasure is going to remotely have an effect on this. And to be honest, Jessika would rather be safe than sorry in a situation like this.
Jessika's measure holds it for a moment but Aryn feels a sudden dreadful presence. Her stomach turns, her knees feel weakened to the point she dips back. "Ugh, we need to get it out of here." Instinct has her reaching for her belt. Is this a moment to reveal she is a Jedi Knight? She can't think, something is looming over her like a dark shadow.
Nae is frightened by Testor's cavalier drawing of a weapon and her moment of action. Made immobile by terror, Nae watches Aryn fall to her knees, holding her head and reaching for a cylinder like object strapped to her side. Jessika's voice draws her attention, and the commanding tone held no room for second guessing. Nae falls back to her desk and hits the alarm. A comm link emerges from her desk. "Containment breach, priority one. Send a quarantine kit, and the whole bloody team to my office. Move it quick."
The covering on the table makes a loud pop noise like someone flicked it. Then another. Aryn raises up, grimacing. "We cannot allow it to leave this room." She unclips the dull gray hilt and holds it at the ready. Her cape is brushed back, and she steps in front of the cowering Nae.
Finding the heaviest object she can in her line of sight, Jessika picks up a heavy paperweight and sets it atop the upturned specimen tray. If it can throw the paperweight, it's already got human-levels of strength for something so small, and Jessika doesn't want to consider that as a possibility. The paperweight almost slipped from her fingers when she'd picked it up because of the surprising weight behind it. Even still, Jessika moves right back away and retrains the barrel of her blaster onto the tray itself, where she can see the black substance still moving through the clear side. With Nae's intervention, she feels slightly better. Only slightly. Jessika casts a side-long glance at Aryn, who looks sick.
"Are you alright?" Her gaze lasts all of a split second. She doesn't want to take her eyes off whatever it is that she's seeing. Removing her left hand from the grip of her blaster, she dips it into the front left pocket of her slate green trousers and pulls the cylinder of her commlink from its confines. She doesn't use it, yet, but she's got it in hand just in case she does. "You ever seen any kind of substance like that, lady?" Even in moments like this, there's time for satire. She's talking to Nae Tama and using the honoric as much as she's just referring to her in general. Jessika doesn't think she has, given how this is going down.
"Stars above... no. No! What is it?" Nae has backed to the corner of her office now, cut off from immediate danger by the other two standing vigilant. Aryn has not activated her lightsaber yet, but she has an urge to. She wants to end it before it goes any further. "No, I'm not. I can't explain why. Not here." Aryn's hair has fallen loose and for an instant, it moves when she does. "Nae, get out of here. I don't need your death on my conscience. Go." Nae doesn't need to be told twice, she flees through the door, her sandals scuffing.
Containment crew has arrived in the outer office, and Aryn takes their hustle as a cue to refasten the hilt to her side. "Step out, ladies.. we'll handle this." Aryn is reluctant, but she does as she's told.
Jessika wants to tell Aryn to get out, too. The Doctor doesn't look well. She's just about to say something when the containment/hazard team arrives in their specialized gear. "There's a black substance under the paper weight and under the specimen tray. It moves on it's own. It came out of an insect, and I found that insect attached to an individual. He died when it was removed. The substance might attempt to latch onto any nearby source of heat." The containment team may be telling them to leave, but Jessika provides pertinent details regardless. The last thing they need is something happening that jeopardizes any of the people in this room. There's no way to properly measure the actual threat the substance poses.
"Do not take this lightly." Flicking the safety onto her weapon, Jessika lowers its muzzle and sets about seating it in its concealed holster while moving toward the door to leave the office. She doesn't turn her back to the substance. At most, she turns sideways, and moves towards where the door is being held open by one of the team. As soon as she makes it back out into the reception area, she activates her commlink. "Threepio, I need you to relay a message to the Valor. Inform Black Leader that we have a biohazard situation on the planet. We're going to need command to coordinate with the Royal House to regain positive control of an item that has just wound up in their hands. Priority one transmission, code Besh tree jenth trill." Stowing the commlink immediately, she looks to Aryn for some sign that she's okay.
