Log:Buried Beneath

Buried Beneath

OOC Date: July 14nd, 2020
Location: Twilight - Syha'h Sector, Unknown Regions
Participants: Sar Yavok, Narsai Ordo, Nerys Arda and Hadrix Kora (GM)

The craft destined for the surface of Twilight cut through the clouds that grip and cling to hulls and re-entry shields alike. The particles so thick that it even causes friction reactions shield systems, arcing blue impacts along their length before finally relinquishing their grip.

The wheel like city is dark with sputtering spark-lights flaring on street corners, some guttering out their last even as they're view. Shadows thicken between buildings and the heavy haze of clouds seems to have gathered in pockets of dense fog that almost crawls over walls and windows.

The target location, the colony science center, is highlighted on holo-displays and transparisteel projected HUDs. An uninteresting block of a building, like a hunk of concrete tossed to the side of a construction center, easily ignored and without worth of notice if not for the dome dominating half of the roof - a greenhouse design. A sructure lacking in broken windows or damage. There is room for two freighters to land there, assuming the roof to be reinforced for such - at the very least clear for foot traffic.

<<"We can risk rooftop landing, or drop-off and a holding pattern can be maintained. Mr. J'hansuunn wants any and all computer cores that we can get, especially if it relates to whatever the hell happened here. I'm on deck for support as needed.">> Hadrix's rumble comes over comms while the rest make their choice.

Having done his fair share of lone wandering in the past few months, Sar's reappearance on the galactic stage is likely met with parties and parades the Galaxy over. "I'm too old to jetpack. Just set us down," the Corellian remarks to the pilot through his vocoder, sliding his blaster pistol out of its holster and checking its charge before he slips it back into place. "No sense in me dying before we even get this thing started."

"Yes, I'm sure I loaded a full clip for you, HiBall." Nerys, who had come with the Mandalorian, was still prepping her gear, frowning her way through digging around in her backpack. "I will leave it to you to decide, Kora. What do we know about the building and its access points and current level of power?" HiBall chittered away, settled, as he always was, sitting side saddle on Nerys' right shoulder, his droid baby head resting on the top of hers. <<HiBall says he can make it work either way.>> Climbing was for meatbags who didn't have inbuilt repulsorlifts, apparently.

Narsai hadn't been here for the last mission, she hadn't been here for whatever the horrors were here for...but she knows that whatever things have caused the horror in this place are extremely dangerous. Hadrix was going to owe her for this one!

Checking her array of weapons once more, the red armored Ordo woman stretches her arms over her head. "Keep the ship in the air after we get boots on the ground," she speaks with a glance towards Sar at his comments. "We don't want something ambushing our only way back."

With that, she reaches up, securing her helmet into place.

<<"Unknown. Sensors are picking up trace power, weaker than the last time we were here. Suppose if we had a Gonk droid we'd have our own source, but it may be prying and pushing through hatches.">> The Woor'tra swinging over the flat part of the roof and moving into a hovering posture there as the bomb-bay doors of the cargo hold light up at the edges in preparation to open. Hadrix himself, with rifle shouldered, working his way down to meet with the rest.

<"Droid and crew will keep the ship positioned. Any of us calls for exfil and they'll get us in position."> the big mandalorian in dusk purple armor looks to Sar a moment, <"I suppose you jetpacking would snap your hips, and Roth would kill me."> rough voice rumbling with contained laughter before the doors open in full for the group.

<"These creatures are smart. Their skin absorbs light and they've got six arms. Keep your eyes peeled."> stepping along side Narsai next, one hand reaching to grab the collar of her cuirass before his helmet lowers to 'bonk' against hers. <"We had jetii last time, they had to use"> he makes 'wiggly fingers' <"To throw them away from us. jetii'kad came out too."> and then he drops down, letting his gravity belt make his landing soft, rifle up and turning to check the area for the others when they descend.

<<She's partial to these hips,>> Sar offers back, straightening his gunbelt and wandering to the exit ramp and dropping out of it alongside Hadrix, his own grav belt kicking into action. Left to his own devices, he would have clattered into the duracrete and made a whole lot of racket, but he's lowered ever so softly to the ground without a sound. The drunk that he is, he stifles a burp inside of his helmet and comms, <<So...what are we doing here, again?>>

Sar Yavok don't read briefings. Briefings read Sar Yavok.

Nerys, who would have preferred to climb her way down, looked over the edge of the exit ramp and then left it to the gods, who clearly did not exist. The grav belt could only do so much, as her angle was terrible and she clattered against the side of the building on her way down. Damned backpack. Well, it wasn't terrible, for all of that, she hoped. <<Movement on the roofs about two blocks north, if I had to guess, I would say they are the creatures living here. Light in the greenhouse, seems to have some sort of bioluminescent quality, but previous knowledge tells us that these creatures have blood that glows. Two points of access to the greenhouse, a hatch for a ladder and a maintenance access for a turbolift."

"<Absorbs light?>" she repeats, frowning a little behind her helmet after the bump and the warning. "<But the heat still worked, so a blaster should work...>" Hopefully anyway, otherwise it was going to be bes'kads and combat knives against unknown horrors.

Her own landing? It's met with a resounding 'crack' as she immediately steps down on a dried branch, earning a groan of frustration from the petite mando who immediately draws her blaster.

"<Get in, retrieve the logs, get out,>"

A quiet descent for those with gravity harnesses to soften their falls. Whatever rooftop gravel Narsai managed to find results in thundering silence. Met with a whipcrack of thunder when lightning some kilometers distant flashes and then the roar finds them. The accesses below, revealed, stand without sign of use, but not for how long. The doors to the greenhouse likewise sealed to the outside, suggesting a way in from deeper in the building most like.

<"Copy movement report. Keeping overwatch - following your lead on rear action until you tell me to take point."> Hadrix rumbles, moving slowly, turning to scan the area still through the sights of his rifle. <"I brought cutting charges as well, as needed.">

Choices for the access hatch lead to a lock picked easily by joint efforts of Sar and HiBall, revealing a square spiral stairwell lit by fading battery-backup lights descending into a darkness reeking sweet and foetid. But it's quiet, like the city outside. Like a tomb.

But at their bottom a door opening into a corridor that stinks of anticeptic with lights barely giving off enough luminecense to announce their existance. Several doors marked, 'Maintenance', 'Supplies', 'Rooftop Incinerator', 'Greenhouse Controls' and 'Turbolift System Control'. Two turbolift hatches exist, with no specific markings. Across from the rooftop stairs another stairwell, leading down, can be spotted.

Aided by the robot, Sar looks to the others for a moment before he lowers himself down through the hatch, boots landing softly on the staircase within, as he slides his blaster from its holster, a lovingly-maintained S-5 heavy blaster pistol with all sorts of aftermarket parts bolted onto it.

Descending the staircase with uncharacteristic grace that belies decades of training, the Old Man lifts his blaster in a sweep of the area. <<Clear so far,>> he comms to the rest of them, eyes flicking between the different signs.

Nerys and HiBall were not far behind, moving as carefully as they were able. <<I'm for the control room. It might give us access to buildings plans and the information we're looking for. Or at least a better idea of where the data is stored. Easy in and out. If we can get it.>> Spoiler alert, probably not. Nerys, moving carefully peered at all of the options, leaving the two that were unknowns for now. <<No signs of movement up here. Dust hasn't bee disturbed for quite a while.>>

Continued quiet, darkness only navigated by the equipment of those traversing it. Nerys's curiosity towards the greenhouse control room resulting in a quick popping of a panel, several switches flipped and a set of small dials accessing battery reserves to disengage the door latches so that it's a simple matter and some small exertion to open the hatch.

Within are three long table islands creating 5 lanes for movement. The far side of the room having a series of panels marked for sprinklers, water ph, air mixture, transparisteel opacity and other settings. One of the long island tables is simply soil checking, stone, mineral, and organic content. Another seed splicing and hard-copy written notes projecting success likelihood and applicable seed return during pollination seasons.

The third is geological data. Several core sample tubes resting in a small rack, a fungal like pile of soil on an examination tray, looking like it had never gotten further examined than that.

Moving into the next room nearest to the center as he can, Sar's blaster pistol stays leveled, swinging this way and that in a search for baddies to shoot. "Buncha nerd stuff, looks like," Sar remarks, eyes flitting between the different lab stations. <<Had to cut and run by the looks of things,>> he comms, blaster lowering. <<Work's half-finished.>>

Nerys Arda was a scientist, damnit! She was going to science! <<Since we don't know where these things came from, give me a few minutes to look this over and see if we can extract anything useful from the data.>> She frowned, as she began her walkthrough, her systems powering up to allow her to cross-reference with the tetan library. <<We're going to need to power on the computer system to get anything useful from them.>> She did collect what paper notes seemed safe to collect, though, and they went into one of the side pockets of her backpack. <<Who wants to pick where we go next?>>

<<"Data could be useful to someone,"">> Narsai muses as she moves, her own blaster held ready at her side while her Reviver-Armor's visor sweeps through vision modes. <<"But logs are the priority. If these things came out of the dirt, it's just as likely someone more scientific had more to say on it on some recording.">> Possibly between death-cries and panic, but she doesn't speak that part aloud. Instead she continues to move in her sweep of the room. <<"Seems the power supply is the logical next step...">>

<<"Not as like to find the power station up here...">> Hadrix grumbles from the door. Facing outward, rifle sweeping the area. <<"What's our next step?">> But there are sounds following examinations. A rattle in the space between wall and air shafts. A whisper of something dragging across a surface below.

Clicking sounds. A soft set of taps. Silence.

Somewhere, across the distances of the floor of the building. Tapping.

There's a long groan from inside Sar's helmet as his ears pick up a tapping. <<We're not alone, kids,>> he says, frowning deeply and stepping easily onto one of the workstations, blaster at the ready.

Sar has hunted a lot of things in his time. Especially things (or people) that didn't want to be found. His eyes squint in the darkness, his helmet's low-light setting only helping so much. The Corellian squats down on the table and has a PEER around.

<<Keep your eyes on those vents, and that door,>> the man says, gesturing to each of them in turn.

<<We heard the same tapping the last time we were here. They are highly photosensitive. We found that out the hard way, when we turned on the lights and they all attacked us. But alternately, we didn't walk into a nest of them unawares. It might be their way of communicating amongst themselves in the absence of light.>> Nerys, who was 1: Clearly no Mandalorian, and 2: shameless, looked over towards the Kora, <<Mind if I hide behind you if we have to down into the building?>> She sounded dead serious.

Softly, Narsai stills her breath, straining her ears and senses alike to pick up on the threats about them. Behind her T-visor, her eyes close and her heartbeat slows for a few moments...then she's straightening up with a curse and leveling her blaster pistol hastily, her other hand reaching to rest on the hilt of her backup weapon. <<"Drek. We did. They're in the floor and walls all around us...>> she speaks low, form tensing. <<"We're going to need to move fast. There's about half a dozen around us.">>

No explainations, just sureness in her words and a quick 'highlight' spreading across the HUD link as she flagged the threats.

<<"I'll think about it.">> The response to Nerys as Hadrix's head perks up, ticking towards the tapping sounds. Stone still, reviewing the HUD markings as they're flagged.

<<"Ladies and Yavok, I can provide a distraction... or I can try to open a hole for you. From what data HiBall got us last time we were here... we can try to hit the basement levels foe the independent power sources... or we can try to determine the level with the data-cores. Either way we're going to have to go down the turbolift shaft or the stairwell. Your choice. Let me know.">>

The tapping continues, air currents from the vents stopping - visible as disturbed dust seems to swirl in motes mid-air rather than swaying away from them on the way to the floor. A pattern discernable in some series, question and answer. What they are specifically anyone's guess...

<<Well, I reckon they ain't immune to blaster fire, but I still don't like the idea of gettin' swarmed by a whole lot of 'em,>> Sar says, frowning deeply once more.

Sar looks over his shoulder at Hadrix, the Corellian gunslinger still crouched on the table. <<I'll defer to the folks that have been here before.>>

Monsters all around, unknown layouts and who knows if the power generator actually works or where it is. Not a great time, they needed a solution and they needed it pretty quick. There was a bite of her lip behind her helmet, a consideration and an idea from the Ordo Alor. She'd used this trick with blaster packs, even the odd droid or two, but a computer bank? That was a new one. <<"Ah hells, why not?">> Narsai murmers under her breath before she moves forwards, lifting her hand from the backup weapon and slapping it down on the computer bank with a resounding thud. The hand lingers for a moment...and then lights begin to glow, circuits begin humming as the power to the terminals spring to life.

<<"Lucky us...">>

Nerys didn't bother with frowning. Hadrix would either agree to be her stand-in meatshield or he wouldn't. She still moved cautiously, trying to gauge the sounds of movement in the walls. Why were they even in the walls. How did they fit? Don't ask questions, Nerys. Nobody liked you when you asked questions. Her eyes darted to Narsai as the computers started powering up. What was not in question? Was how fast Nerys moved, HiBall actually deigning to lift himself from his shoulder to attack, figuratively speaking, one computer bank as she moved for another. <> She and the droid got to work, though his chittering was no the murmur of success. His ride had more, <<Main data-cores are on the second level, so three levels down. If we can keep power going for five minutes here, I can do a data transfer from there to this core here lab.>>

The system turning on, accessing, spreading small amounts of power from one part of the building to other computer systems has a sound. Most often people don't hear it, because of the noises of others. Atmospheric systems, other equipment. But there is a perceptible whine of electrical systems engaging.

When Nerys's SCOMP is inserted there is a mechanical clacking that comes after. They have access, for now. But these are the sounds that scream in otherwise silence.

<<They're coming,>> Sar says, standing up straight and holding his pistol at the ready. <<Narsai, Hadrix; get ready for a fight,>> he orders, the Colonel rearing its head for a moment. <<Kora, what explosives do you have on you? Narsai, you might need that lil' nerf-sticker I've seen you wavin' around before, too,>> he says, his non-dominant hand dropping to the knife sheath on his belt, at the ready.

Of course they were coming! No one ever wanted to leave a poor scientist to her work. Curse them! <<This feels like that Czerka lab all over again.>> Don't ask. Nerys and HiBall made best use of the time they had, both seemingly well aware that they were running down the clock on their power. Nerys did free a hand, putting a pair of power cells from HiBall's pistol on the console, <<Don't know if you can do that trick again. We're working as fast as we can. I just need a few more minutes.>>

<<"It's not exactly the most reliable thing,">> Narsai answers Nerys, her own weapon trained on the doorway as she reaches for the hilt of her Beskad only to hesitate. Last time there was a bigger team with actual Jetii about. This could get pretty damn nasty pretty quick. Flicking a button on her bracer and retrieving the hidden beskar hilt, she braces her blaster pistol across her wrist and holds the weapon deactivated for the time being. It was rather noisy, so she'd rather hold off to the last moment.

<<"This is going to be a long five minutes. Try to plug up the doorway as best we can.">>

<<"Breech charges, and everything from rifle fired concussion ordinance to a couple thermal detonators if we need to make a loud exit.">> is Hadrix's response to Sar as he pulls the light repeater tight to his shoulder. The tapping sound becomes more rapid from different locations. At that moment Hadrix actually backs into the room, looks to the others, Sar and Narsai specifically <<"I'm putting a door on the wall in case we can't go back up those stairs.">> rumbling as he begins to move back, rifle hanging from its strap as he fumbles with charges - detonation cord rather than block or cylindrical types and there is growling muttering over comms to follow the sound of them tumbling from their hang-points to land on the floor, forcing the Big Mando to drop to a kneel and re-collect the equipment.

In the hallways a keening wail begins to build, matched to a shriek of metal tearing open before a scrabbling sound. Silence. Clicking sounds, just outside the view of the door and wet breathing to follow it. A brief waiting game before there is an absence in the doorway. Light seeming to disappear, a figure that is utter blackness until the luminescent eyes appear and the mouth opens revealing conical teeth in rows that seem to float in the blackness. Arms swing open, the top and bottom pair with clawed, three fingered hands, and the middle pair with scything claws at the ends of the wrists. The source of the screech as it charges the room followed by three others.

<<Good. If we can't see these creepy crawlies, splash damage is gonna be our best bet. Just make sure you don't take any of us with 'em,>> Sar says, his blaster held low as he waits. It's almost like a quickdraw stance, but his pistol is very much bared.

There they are! Sar's pistol is lifted quickly and a trio of shots is fired. Two of them sail wide of their target, but the third one catches one right in the head(?), spraying that gross, glowing goop everywhere! <<Open fire!>>

Narsai's blaster pistol fires, a pair of bolts into the horde that doesn't really seem to find impact of any real meaning. She could curse about it later, instead she stepped forward to brandish her 'worst kept secret'. Lifting the beskar-forged hilt, the blade ignites as the W-35 is holstered and she shifts her stance for the oncoming tide. There's a step forward, an exhaled breath and she raises the glowing plasma blade while interposing herself between the monsters and the others. Hopefully she shooting would keep them back, but she'd try to deal with those that got through the door!

Part of Nerys wanted to look at the horror show. It was a terrible, terrible part of herself. But she kept her head down, she and the droid moving as quickly as their digits would allow, trusting the three others in the room to keep them from ending up as some monster's lunchable. Well, HiBall was probably safe. Work, work, work, <<Good work, folks. I'm almost there. Just a few more minutes.>> Didn't she just say that?

The creatures coming in leap at those closest, Sar, Narsai, Nerys - furthest is the Mando in purple rapidly attaching lines of detonator cord and utilizing tamping adhesive wedges to help direct. Quick work, but careful as well to make sure that the cutting blasts will get through if needed.

<<"Cord on the wall, in place - ready to blow on command.">> Hadrix turns, rifle back up and watching the creatures that try to get past the guards of Mandalorians and at the woman with a direct connection link into the computer systems. Data scanning up onto screen, percentage ticker proceeding steadily.

There are slamming sounds in the walls and floor. Scraping in the ceiling. No new creatures yet but cracks are forming as more try to get through. One of the creatures trying to chew the face off the Old Man snapping at him, spittle flying and screeching in the Colonel's face before teeth snap down.

With one monster very much up close and personal, Sar will make a grab at it, wrestling it down to the ground before he presses the barrel of his blaster to its head and pulls the trigger! Boom!

Sweating, tired, and angry, he'll lift his gun towards the door and fire twice more, killing another before he lifts himself back to his feet with the aid of the workstation nearest him.

The burst of splattering goop as Narsai's saber passes through one of the creatures in a horizontal slash down its length has the Mando'a whincing, and very much glad her armor is sealed. That was nasty! Still, she raises the weapon once more and exhales, already expecting a next wave. <<"I imagine there's more coming sooner rather than later. Any ideas on how to make this go faster, or physical drives we can pull?">>

Many things was Narsai Ordo, but a slicer was not one of them.

Did Nerys know that one of the creatures had tried to take a chunk out of her back? Had she just happened to shift her hips sideways like she was doing some weird Corellian dance while the team shot the **** out of it? The world would never know, and Nerys was too busy to keep talking. But then she was given an actual question, <<The physical data-core is three floors down from us. Download at fifty percent.>>

A shower of drywall and supports from one wall as a trio emerge, shrieking and splaying limbs before their bizarre physical structure, that makes them like an absence that still bears mass is moving. Headed towards Nerys even as one explodes from the floor and another pair hurtle through the door.

<<"Kriff.">> Hadrix's spoken thoughts succinct and maybe appropriate.

Thankfully the quartet inside have enough time to react before the beasts can get within striking range.

"Here," Sar will say, making his way back to the terminal. Sar contains multitudes. Unbeknownst to most people in the Galaxy, he's a computer wiz, himself. Unfortunately, his attempt to help Nerys hurry the whole affair along is curtailed when more baddies burst into the room. Sar spins on his heel and fires at them, all three of his shots striking true and splattering the room with more glowing grossness. He will back up just about butt to butt with the HACKER(wo)MAN, doing his best to make sure that nothing eats her head while she works.

The humming blade and goopy 'pops' it makes as she slashes the next horror down is far less fun than it looks, and it didn't particularly look amazing. Still, Narsai continued to twist, slash and stab between the blaster fire. No more words or suggestions from the redhead, just grunts of effort as she continued to swing her weapon at the monsters.

Nerys spread her feet apart, looking for all the world like a gamer at a console getting ready to go for the hi-score. Oh yeah! If there had been a button to stab or a joystick to wiggle around, she would totally be doing that. Alas, the systems were more sophisticated than that, killing her space pinball wizard fantasies. But that was alright, wasn't it? It was when the system beeped it's cheerful beep and Nerys pulled the drive on the system, shoving it into a pocket built into her pack, <<I've got it!>> At which point, she spun around. Oh. Damn. Right into a slash from one of the arms of the monster trying to tear her shield limb from limb. She jerked out of the way just in time, <<Not the face. Kael likes this face!>>

<<"KRIF">> Hadrix snarls as the barrel of his repeater takes the one only wounded by Yavok down, finishing the work started and leaving him open to the one bursting from the floor as it bites down on his left greave with a creak of metal and the sound of metal being pierced. There's a bestial sort of grunting growl. <<"Emperor's bones!">> his health reads spiking massive pain levels and for those present able to feel it the spike of pain the man is fighting is far stronger than the injury would be normally.

The pair of creatures that would have been at Nerys fended off from her and the one on Hadrix trying to chew into his leg before the Mandalorian lurches to the side at Nerys's exclamation of success and calls out, <<"Fire in the hole!">> followed by a HRRRKHRUMPF of shape explosives cutting through duracrete and durasteel rebar - fracturing stone and metalwork. The explosion far less within the room, rather mostly loud and kicking a haze of dust into the room blown in by the sudden appearance of the Woor'Tra at the hole, lowered so that it can be jumped onto.

The beasts seeming more intent on keeping their prey as more begin pouring through the holes and the door itself.

<<No you don't. Settle down, son,>> Sar says after slipping out of the way of one of the beast's attack and getting it into a headlock so he can drag it away from Nerys. Pushing the thing off and into a workstation, Sar drives a boot into its torso, pinning it in place and opening fire. With it whining and slumping to the ground, he backs into Nerys again and says, <<Just keep your head on straight. We're alright.>> Two more shots are taken and strike true, killing one and hurting another.

<<I always have my head. But I also like having all of my parts the way they came out of the factory.>> Nerys quipped, as she lifted her bowcaster, looking as though the weight and size of the thing was something she was accustomed to. She fired in tandem with HiBall, and this time it was the droid who missed, and Nerys whose bolt hit home. "Get on, we're going!" HiBall zipped over to Nerys, getting back into the saddle as it were, sitting sidesaddle on her shoulder, one of his arms wrapped around her neck to hold him in place, his blaster still ready, as the small woman began to make a run for the ship, ducking a weaving as she tried to stay clear of both anything that might want to fall on her head and these damned Cannibal Monsters From The Back of Beyond.

With more and more monsters piling in, and one of his companions making a break for it, Sar will leap back up onto a nearby table and hold his blaster towards the nice new 'door' that Hadrix made for them. A toggle is flipped and the trigger is pulled, launching a liquid cable dart from beneath the barrel. It anchors deep just above the hole in the wall and the pulley system engages, yanking the Corelliandalorian out of the jaws of an encroaching enemy. Sailing through the air at speed, Sar's body whips through the hole like thread through a needle and he lands clear on the other side, his grav belt slowing his descent so he lands safely on his feet, sliding to a halt and turning back to see if either of his partners die.

Two of the prey gone, one injured and one wielding light at them, the beasts screech and shred the air with talon tipped fingers and scythe like bone-blades. Attempting to work their way past guards. Hadrix removes the one biting his leg by blowing it's jaw off and staggering backwards towards the hole, hissing in breath. <<"Narsai! We need to go!">> Said as even more come pouring into the room, as if to recoup the losses already leveled on them.

More shapes from the floor, the wall, the door, and their cries become something akin to a hunting howl as they try to bear down on the pair. A toggle is clicked on Hadrix's rifle, <<"Get clear, I'll give them something to chew on.">> Ion sheath powering up within the barrel of the weapon, building a ball of plasma energy.

The Woor'tra hovers, dorsal hatch snapping open and Gripper's female voice, accent identical to Hadrix's, comes on external comms. <"Advise immediate entry so we can boost.">

All the cool toys were out tonight! Nerys could not fail to notice the man who had put himself between the cannibal creatures and herself (and her droid!) zipping away from the ground and into the hatch of the waiting ship. She just kept running, not slowing until she was inside the back of the ship. But Nerys wasn't a save yourself, sacrifice everyone else sort of girl, and even as she got to safety, she spun around, taking a knee to brace herself as she aimed at one of the creatures that was descending on Hadrix, the red bolt from her weapon splattering it apart and back onto its compatriots as her shot hit home. HiBall, still clinging to his ride, managed to wing one. It would have to be enough for now. His d-roid rage was not sated, but he would abide.

<<"Don't be too far behind! I don't want to have to turn back and get you!">> Narsai calls, one last swipe taken at the horde before she steps backwards, activating her armor's intergrated jetpack and leaping upwards. A twist in the air and she zooms though the space, the lightsaber at her hand deactivating whil she rushes for the hatch, twisting to allow the others clear line of fire back before touching her boots down with a metallic thud and coming to a stop. Clear, but already looking back at the other Mandalorian and the chaos he had in store.

More were coming in still. More. Even as Narsai lifted out and Hadrix behind her - the Mandalorians carried on wings of fire. <<"Not to worry, Nar'ika...">> the big man is shortly after her, doing a poor job of dissuading the creatures as the barrel of his rifle makes a -CHUNK- sound, expelling the compressed concussion blast as he uses his other hand to pull a frag from his hip to toss as he clears the hole. No glory on either, as far as striking targets. Too high on one, and down a crack in the floor to detonate, mostly, harmlessly somewhere in the vent shafts, the big man hits the ship and it's moments later the Woor'Tra is boosting skyward.

Below the hole in the wall looks like the entry to a swarmer-bug hive, dozens of the creatures suddenly surging out, climbing along the walls and screeching at the escaping ship. Oblivious to those on top dropping into the dorsal hatch. Knowing only that their quarry was lost.

Then they silence, heads tilting, and they retreat once more within the walls of the science center as if they had not just rushed out suddenly en mass moments ago.

But the data was recovered. Maybe more of this nightmare can be discerned at last?