Log:Undercity: Collapse!
Building collapse in the Undercity.
OOC Date: November 22, 2021
Location: Nar Shaddaa
Participants: Hadrix Kora, Leith, Tamsin Cas as Self/GM, Tarq Najjic
[ Tamsin Cas (Cas)]
Ko Hentota was no stranger to the shifting currents of the planet. Most of the District was not on entirely stable ground, teetering, figuratively, as it was over the vast warrens of the Undercity. But when the rubbing began to vibrate the district itself, buckling the thoroughfare as if it were a bucking nerf, people took notice. Many, moved to protect their holdings. Some, abandoned their current environs entirely. Only a handful, at first, ran towards the danger and not away.
One of that number was Dr. Tamsin Cas, who had been in surgery in her clinic when the building rumbled and the power threatened to cut out. She had only just had enough time to change places with her assistant, and grab the medibag that was tossed in her direction, before she made for the alley, and the crumbling stairs that lead down into whatever hell awaited those good samaritans who heeded the call for aid.
[ Leith (Le)]
Leith wasn't the type to run towards danger. That doesn't explain why he was here other than he was here already when the shaking began. So when Tamsin was coming down the stairs, Leith was among those that was milling about. The Wroonian trying to figure out what was the best way out of here.
[ Hadrix Kora (Had)]
Not a bounty hunter, but still a hunter of a kind - moving through the twisted labyrinthine sections of the undercity. Sometimes it's some drug den, or another criminal enterprise upset with the other. As long as he's not slaving or enforcing 'protection' work is work and it's when the call for aid goes out that the big man finds himself within proximity.
<<"Gripper.">>
<<"If we can trust the building type you can put holes in these points without hitting support structure.">> the ID10's voice on comms even as markers begin appearing on his heads up display.
<<"Not sure if it's a good idea.">>
<<"It's not, but it's better than them trying to pile out of the stairs.">>
<<"Cannon?">>
<<"Pike or your fancy gamorean sticker.">>
Hadrix sighs and nods, lifting off on his jets and approaching the building.
[ Tamsin Cas (Cas)]
The stairway was not expansive at the best of times. And now? There was an absolute crush of people trying to make their way up along the crumbling steps. Not as many coming down, but it was like trying to keep your feet in a king tide. Still, Tamsin managed it, followed by a few behind her, using the doctor as their wave breaker. "If you're going up, keep to the left, the way is clear above!" She would get down there eventually.
Down in the undercity, the sound of screaming could be heard from the northeast. There was no billow of smoke or dust, only the sound of sentient distress and the almost animal sounds of buckling durasteel and falling duracrete. Like the thunder before the lightning strike, as the wave of bodies finally came, coated in dust and crumbled mortar, sentients of every stripe and variety, reduced to a single ashen mass trying to escape death and possible destruction.
At ground zero, Hadrix and Gripper would see, through the billowing clouds of powder and debris a building that, once upon a time, had been a highrise housing development. In the years since it had sunk below street level, it had lost the support stories. Now, it had lost the rest. the lower levels, crumbling down like a souffle taken from the oven too early. Whether there were any left alive in those lower levels, it was not yet possible to say. And those in the upper floors were trapped with no way down to the street.
[ Leith (Le)]
Leith was covered in a fine layer of dust and wonders up to Tamsin. Not that he was really doing this on a concious level but well he was a bit in shock from being down here in the Under City when the collapse happend. If Tamsin reconizes him, she might not as he was covered in dust. He wasn't really hurt. Just kinda dazed.
[ Hadrix Kora (Had)]
<<"Start mag-locking quicklines to anything metal that doesn't look it's going to fall. Best points, I'll see if I can get some openings for people to get through to them.">> The big man keeps airborne, above the throng and closer to the target building - blink marking spots where he -wants- to put lines and letting Gripper survey to confirm or cross off such selections.
Pike drawn, the weapon designed for anti-personnel as much as for cutting boarding holes is pulled from his hip and a switch pressed to extend the weapon to full length.
<<"I don't expect field-mode of the vocalizers will help.">>
<<"Probably not until you cut a hole or two.">>
<<"My thoughts.">>
<<"Yep.">>
One of his indicator flares green and he hovers close - nozzles angling to provide pressure without any sort of hooks or magnetics to keep him locked to the building, the vibro-blade at the end of the weapon chewing through masonry,
<<"Bet you wish you had Sumi's l-">>
<<"Very much so, but this will do.">> Stone falling away once the cuts edges all touch, one of his gauntlets digging into a crack to pull it away and the floating droid begins anchoring descent lines.
[ Tamsin Cas (Cas)]
The exodus continued, helped, no doubt, by the small team Tamsin had brought with her. Those who could make it out along the stairs to the city above were doing so, though there was still a great deal of kicking, pushing, and fighting. For those familiar with the undercity, the worst of the trouble was coming not from the residents, but from many of those who had come down to walk on the wildside. As per usual, though not always in such destructive fashion, they were now regretting it.
Tamsin, who had been about to head towards where the people were pouring out, paused as Leith stumbled into her, and she reached out to steady the man. "Leith, you're safe. Stay back here, and the others will help you out. I need to go and do what I can." She had not proceeded far enough to see the building proper. This was not Tamsin's usual aid station, but two of her techs were setting up supplies to assist those who either were not trying to leave, or who could not physically make it u the stairs.
The sound of blade grinding on masonry would have been loud indeed, if Hadrix had not had the ability to adjust the ambient sound in his helmet. Or, perhaps he couldn't, in which case, it was a LOT of screaming steel and cracking masonry as the big mandalorian began cutting through the building wall. He could see the onslaught of bodies heading right for him, but the building was tilted enough that they could not simply pour out at him in a flood, and he would have time to direct them to the cables Gripper was setting up.
[ Tarq Najjic (T)]
There was no obvious reason for the Kuati with a taste for self-indulgence to be here, lower than even the Ko Hentota district. He rarely traveled to Ko Hentota in the best of times, much less during 'natural' disasters. Yet here he comes, descending the stairs against the sentient horde storming their way to a marginally safer place. When he has to shove someone hard to make his way, he does so without hesitation.
As the mob continues, Tarq Najjic vaults the side and lands on top of a building with his weight off-balance, slipping sideways and falling down to the next tier another floor down. He lies there for a moment, then climbs back to his feet, holding the small of his back. "Ugh."
Still he's not close enough, so with a running start, he jumps to the roof of the building adjacent to the collapse in question. His gaze sweeps over the madness, spotting Hadrix but no one else. He cups his hands around his mouth and shouts, "Tamsin! Where are you! What happened?!"
[ Leith (Le)]
Leith blinks a few moments as he sees Tamsin. Though the sound of the confusion seems be pushed away and in true annoying Leith fashion. He doesn't listen or do what he's told. He instead follow the doctor into danger as he looks to try to figure out what's making this new noise and it's a danger. Seeing it's Hadrix, Leith decides to put him in the maybe category. Though as there's a flood of people between Tamsin and his destination. He looks around and seeing an alley way to keep from being trampled. He reaches out to grab the doctor by the elbow and pull her along with him into the relative safety.
[ Tarq Najjic (T)]
Tarq looks along the crowd streaming towards the stairs again, really focusing. He paces along the edge of the roof. "Know you are here," he mutters to himself. Then he spots her: high collared blue outfit, skin hinting towards golden, blonde hair, shorter than about half the crowd. Like him, she's pushing against the crowd; unlike him, she has someone with her.
He glances back at the familiar Mandalorian armor with the saw going. He cups his hands around his mouth once more: "Tamsin! TAAAAMSIN!" He sees them ducking into an alley. He peers over the edge of his rooftop: "Left - left - right! Short drop from wall!" The half-broken wall is the reason everyone isn't pouring out this alley already - it's easy to drop down, but not so simple to climb back up. Since they're heading towards the danger, Tarq does the same, sliding down a utility pipe to be in the alley ahead of them, waiting to then follow them further in. Except the utility pipe only goes halfway down, and the momentum almost shakes him from the pipe as he catches himself. One hand is ripped free, and the other strains, fingers gripping.
To no avail. He falls again, smacking down into the dirty pavement of the alley. "Ow."
[ Hadrix Kora (Had)]
Vocalizer speakers engaging at field volumes, Hadrix's voice is a bark as loud as one might need to be heard over cannon fire and artillery as much as this sort of cacophony. Looking into the dust choked hole with sentients charging towards what they perceive to be safety, <"STEADY, APPROACH STEADY, GRAB A ROPE CLAMPER AND JUMP WHILE SQUEEZING."> the descender ropes will do their part. The pike held in a threatening posture with the intent to show he isn't kriffing around on this.
<<"Hadrix.">>
<<"Yep.">> several brackets appearing among the throng, facial recognition highlighting and tucking freezes to the side of his vision with 'last taken' images to compare against.
<<"Banner day">>
<<"If you want to call it that.">>
The big man motions towards the ropes the droid is still anchoring, to hopefully turn it into a steady stream of descending figures and rising drop clamps for the next in line. The conversation between man and droid silent from the throng, only the bark of instructions 'public', as it were.
[ Tamsin Cas (Cas)]
If Tamsin had been a gopher (if such things existed in this galaxy far away) and the sea of sentience had been a hole, it might have been possible to see her peek her head out of it, as her head swiveled around, sighting Tarq almost as soon as he called out to her, "We're heading to the collapse!" Just in case //he// couldn't hear //her//, she waved an arm in the direction in which Leith was pulling her. She couldn't keep her feet and keep track of Tarq at the same time, and by the time she caught sight of the Kuati bon vivant once again, it was as he splattered himself on the pavement. Ow. Still keeping hold of Leith with one hand, lest they get separated, she tugged both of them toward Tarq to ty to help him up. Or tried to anyway. Tarq was much heavier than he looked, clearly. But she was trying. "Hadrix is he--?" And then she heard the mandalorian's dulcet tones at 150% volume. Hadrix was here. "We need to hurry!"
Perhaps it was the sound of Hadrix's voice. Perhaps it was the sight of a Mandalorian in full battle armor and armed with a weapon capable of cutting through soft, organic bodies. Perhaps it was sight of a droid which, at least in stories and holoreels, looked very much like an Imperial interrogation Droid. Whatever it was, the people stopped, shocked into some semblance of order, before they began to press forward, following his orders, seding a wave of able bodies down first, to assist those coming behind.
[ Leith (Le)]
"Yes but we want to be alive when we get there." Leith says keeping hold of the woman for a moment and not budging as she pulled. "Give folks a moment to clear. You're no good to him if you're dead anyway Tamsin." He seems to have his wits about him at the moment. "I don't see a way to him without going through that crowd." He wouldn't hold her against her will but he was trying to just keep her safe.
[ Hadrix Kora (Had)]
<"Steady"> Volume up again, externals engaged while Hadrix remains hovering where he is, the spear spun and tucked back on his hip just as it finishes retracting. There's little hesitation when his hand shoots out again begin grabbing some wavering at the idea of leaping with a descent line the only thing allowing for safe arrival to the ground.
He doesn't ask permission either, just a pair of arms with oil reflective purple plates grabbing people into the dust and chaos like the boogieman to bring them to the ground, calling out,
<<"I'll be back for more. Don't push or you'll get yourself killed!"> snarling the last half of that towards those at the opening and leaving Gripper to help manage the lot.
[ Tarq Najjic (T)]
As Tarq gets closer, he sees people trapped. His lips purse. "Cannot do anything for you," he mutters to one body that he assumed was dead, but then the protruding hand moves and there is some kind of sound from beneath the duracrete. "... but Doctor Cas can," he amends. Reaching down, he begins pulling out smaller chunks of rubble, then digging out further beneath the woman (it turns out) to give her room to move. "Get ready to shift. Grab ankle and /pull/." He crouches and taking a grip under the wall, shifts the wall slowly higher. He's growling at the effort involved, and as soon as the woman finishes pulling herself out from beneath it he lowers it back down. "Go if can walk," he commands, pointing towards the direction of the stairs. "Ko Hentota Clinic is hurt. If cannot walk-" He glances up at the unstable structure. "Crawl that way. Doctor is coming. Ugh, Tarq Najjic's back," he mutters.
[ Tamsin Cas (Cas)]
Tamsin, who was bound and determined to get to Tarq and where Tarq was going, which was towards Hadrix and the collapse, was, nevertheless, kept back by Leith. She did not, however, stop trying to move forward, especially once the crowd along the alley had slowed to a trickle and they could get through. She did stop though, as she caught sight of Tarq pulling a body from the rubble, and she tried to tug her hand free of Leith's, "I'll be alright, I'm going to go help. You get the Hadrix!"
As Tarq (and possibly Leith) made their way closer to the collapse, they would find more bodies under the rubble, most crushed, some still, possibly, salvageable. (Hadrix's Spot) The settling dust was still puffing in waves, which revealed more than the rubbling, which was ongoing, that the avalanche of rubble that had been the lower three floors of the building were shifting and unlikely to support the remaining floors for long.
In Hadrix's neck of the woods, the people were scrambling out, helped, sometimes, but also sometimes hindered by those on the shifting rubble who tried to hand down the ones who needed assistance. It was the sting on the tail of trying to help your fellow man. Thankfully, the building had either 1: not been packed with occupants, or 2: the majority of the population was already under the rubble.
[ Leith (Le)]
Leith let Tamsin go and nods, "I'll go help Hadrix." There's a grimness to his tone as the dust covered Wroonian makes his way towards the armored Mandolorian and his hole. Leith stepping and climbing through the debris, dead, and dying. Then he found himself in a position to slowly help those climbing out of the building and relaying them down to safety, "Make your way to the stairs, go to the clinic if you're hurt." He says as he works. Though in time he found himself near Hadrix, "Hadrix, what do you need?"
[ Hadrix Kora (Had)]
The shake and rumble of the Hadrix gives Gripper pause before he comments over the comm frequencies,
<<"Hadrix.">>
<<"Yeah.">>
<<"Thought you should know.">> the droid keeps moving from one to the next to put the drop clamp in their hands so that they can jump while she moves to the next. The big man lifting up on jets again, level to the hole in the wall, reaching out to grab more as he narrows the gap. Pausing at the sight of the blue skinned man, helmeted head jerking towards the lines. <"Get people on the down ropes, or if you're injured shimmy down and help them land.">
Looking to the rubble and back to those seeking to get to safety, <"Not much we can do for the rest here, so help who you can or yourself."> another pair tucked up and looking like children in the Massive Mandalorian's grip as he begins to descend again.
[ Tarq Najjic (T)]
Another two people have limbs protruding from underneath the next tipped-over wall. One even has a head. "Are alive, yes?" Tarq asks him. The fellow says something in Huttese, which he does not understand, but saying anything at all really counts as a 'yes.' "And you?" He listens next to rubble, but hears no response. "If are alive and cannot speak, is - lucky - day." He uses his arm to sweep some more detritus out of the way and scoop out room next to the two people, then braces and lifts with his knees, not his back - but not too far. He doesn't have power armor here, just old fashioned muscles.
When the man squeezes his way out from underneath, but the other person doesn't move, Tarq glances left, then right. Just refugees as far as the eye can see, except for Leith and Hadrix, who are busy. Who will believe these people if they see something crazy? Probably no one.
So, still holding up the wall, muscles starting to quiver, his eyes half-close, and the unconscious Duros is dragged out from underneath the wall by the left leg. There's just no one holding onto the left leg. Darndest thing. Tarq lets the wall drop.
[ Tamsin Cas (Cas)]
Tamsin, who had been left behind with the first of her patients, still kept a weather eye on the rescue that was being affected about half a block in her direction. With more people seeing someone who both looked like a doctor and was known to some of the residents, she soon had enough of a group around her that being able to detach herself was not possible. But Tamsin's vision was keen, and as she allowed her hands to do the task they had done for years, as she wrapped a bandage around the woman's leg, she stared off into the distance as the building began to tip, not forward, into the escapees, Hadrix, Gripper, and Leith, but left, as the rubble shifted on that side pushing it towards the building beside it.
From Hadrix and Leith's vantage point, they could see that they were down to the last dregs of the bodies needing to be rescued from the building. Likely for the best, as the rubble shifted and the building threatened to take its last gasp. Near Tarq, there was still the sounds of pain and distress. Still more under the rubble, still hoping for rescue, though the sound of the building was rising to a pitch which would make identifying more live targets that much more difficult.
[ Leith (Le)]
Leith was laser focused on his goal of getting the last of the peopel out. He's got not time fro this collapsing building, Hadrix, Gripper, or any of it. He's helping digging people out. "Go, there's a line. Get to it and ride it down." He picks up a dirty stuff squall and hands it to the mother and her child. "Please time is running out." He looks around and then seeing no one else, "I'm pulling out, Shell head. I think the wells went dry."
[ Hadrix Kora (Had)]
In all of that mess of saving people, with some of the last moving down the lines and Leith going with, Hadrix's left hand finally comes clear with just... the most ridiculous handgun. Even for the big man, the cylinders of the revolver being rotated into place with a quick run of them along one arm and while airborne the big man looks to a trio still on the lines.
<<"Really, Hadrix?">>
<<"Contract is a contract...">> the report of the handcannon a trio of bomb blasts that blow meat out the backs of a trio of the escapees, ruining their grip and casting them towards the rubble below while hunks of masonry falling around them and the big man drifting back to see how many, if any get up.
<"She's not around to keep me from shooting you, Blue-Boy, Watch it."> the last aimed at Leith.
[ Tarq Najjic (T)]
"Is falling over," Tarq calls over to Hadrix and Leith, in case they, busy being the most heroic of heroes, missed it. What he didn't miss was the Mandalorian shooting three people off the rescue line. "Wasteful, Hadrix. Could have just pushed them back into building, or told survivors would be safe only if left them inside." Tarq's expression and voice are wry. Then he points at Hadrix. "If is here with Tamsin, no - killing." Said sternly and firmly, like you might tell a cat not to do something, knowing it will probably ignore you.
To Leith, he says, "Time to avoid /becoming/ victim, yes?" He puts his back to the collapsing building and runs for the next alleyway, then darts to the next parallel one before dusting off his shirt and pants. It's a mostly useless effort; he doesn't even try to polish off his shoes. "Will need help bringing critical patients to clinic, if still - feeling - helpful." It's not clear whether Tarq is, though he is at least heading up the stairs, to where he will intersect with Tamsin's triage town sooner rather than later.
[ Tamsin Cas (Cas)]
The building had finally, perhaps thankfully, given up the ghost. It had done all that could be expected of it to do, and it could rest. As could the rest of the people who were now beneath the rest of the building and not just the first three stories. But, it many ways, it was still a win, as many had been rescued from the collapse by a concerted effort. All except the three which appear to have been the reason for the Mandalorian's foray into the Undercity. It was impossible to miss the sound of slugthrower fire. Even above the rumble of the building, it was a distinct and unmistakable sound. Tamsin, rising from where she stood among those who were now rushing away from her towards safer ground rather than crowing around her, could see the bodies moving, if vaguely, through the chaos, "Get clear, there's nothing more you can do here!" Tamsin was a logical woman to her core, and it was easy enough to put two and two together and extrapolate why Hadrix had been on the scene before anyone else was even able to process what was going on, "Leith, Tarq, get back to the stairs! Hadrix!" She could see the jets of his pack, he was well. But Tamsin called regardless.
[ Leith (Le)]
Leith nods to Tarq, "Sounds like a plan. I think we're done here." Then the Wroonian covered in dust makes his way to the line, "Yeah about that Shell head. She ain't around to stop me from telling you to go Kriff yourself." Rude gesture away and down the zipline Leith goes. Hey he might be an easy target himself.
[ Hadrix Kora (Had)]
<"I don't work for Tamsin, or you, Tarq. And I confirm my kills."> volume raised so he needn't have to show. Meanwhile the pistol is brought back and lazily puts a round in Leith's direction blowing masonry and duracrete dust in a geyser all around, <"And I don't break my contracts without good reason.">
Gripper likewise moving back to him and away from the collapsing building, the pair a testament to calm in the storm, while they continue to drift back from the dust and debris. <"Maybe I should fire off a rocket dart?"> looking to the droid as he continues to lift skyward,
<"Expensive to reload.">
<"True, not credits to satisfaction doesn't balance out."> the big man nods and turns so that Gripper can socket herself onto his back and the pair lift off to ascend through the mess of the undercity framework.
<"Thermal?">
<"Too many non-coms... and the Doc and Tarq.">
<"True"> the droid finally agreeing with the big man.
