Their Blood Runs Black

[Bradshaw Ku]

His mad, suicidal bull-rush worked. That wasn’t necessarily good for him.

Wide, fearful eyes full of regret stared down at the Controlled One as the man accelerated away from him, down the darkening shaft. The abyss was down there. It swallowed the other man hungrily and it would devour him too.

He watched as the man flailed, but Bradshaw was too shocked to do the same. Distressed waves flowed out from him through the Force, they were rough, violent, reflecting an ocean of emotion as it tore through and away from him, out into the galaxy.

Even now, only moments after pure anger compelled him to act out the unthinkable, it left him. In its leaving, paralyzing dread took hold. Sadness too. A profound sadness.

Defeat in victory.

He’d vanquished his foe, but at what cost? What deal had he made, what bargain with the devil?

They say your life flashes before you moments before death but he saw nothing. Only the growing darkness. Why would he? What had he accomplished in his short time? A long string of failures, that was all. He couldn’t make it as a smuggler or pilot for higher, and he hadn’t had the dedication or work ethic to become a true Jedi. To top it off, he made for a laughably bad Prince.

Halfway down the reactor shaft, a thin, durasteel maintenance walk spanning two sides of the tunnel, off to one side, rushed toward him.

He cried out a wet, curdling yell. It was a sickening, peculiar sound created as the durasteel walk forced his lungs empty of air, followed by the sticky warmth of blood. His ribs cracked and splintered. One pierced his left lung. Shards of bone shattered through other internal tissues like a shotgun blast. The momentum of his fall dragged him quickly toward the end of the walk and over the side.

Somehow, he managed to grasp at the diamond patterned open durasteel flooring. Fingers finding painful purchase just as the rest of him fell over the side. His right hand’s grip slipped on the blood sprayed across the flooring and fell hopelessly to his side.

No screaming.

Only shallow gasps filled with sharp, useless breaths rattling with blood. The pain threatened to overtake him. He almost let it. For a moment, he wondered if he’d be better off if he just let go. If everyone else would be better too.

No…

His mother was pregnant and the galaxy was a relentlessly dangerous, violent, and horrible place. Maybe he could never be of any real use to his unborn brother or sister, or his mother, but he couldn’t selfishly leave another sibling the way he’d left his younger sister years ago.

He knew his mother loved him. He knew what his death would do to her.

The Force began flowing through him. This wasn’t the side of that mysterious power which had helped get him into this position. It was soothing, hopeful, and full of life. He owed it to his late father’s sacrifice, to his mother, and to [member="Veiere Arenais"], to struggle against the dying of the light. Hell, how could he give up now when he’d even just met, [member="Silfe Sosuri"], the first woman he genuinely wanted to know better?

It just figured. Even now, he couldn’t help but think of women. But, it was different this time.

Through sheer will of the Force, he found just enough strength to swing his right hand back up to grip the walk. More through the Force than any amount of muscular effort, he crawled slowly up. His body dragged uselessly along the open durasteel flooring.

Fully broken and thoroughly exhausted in every way, he reached out using the connection between parent and child to find his mother.

Help…​

He had nothing left to stave off the darkness closing in at the edges of his vision. He accepted the merciful embrace of unconsciousness.

- [member="Lady Kay"] - [member="Arabi Cordelle"] - [member="Sol Damerin"] - [member="Xaedrin Vondiranach"] - [member="Jak Sandrow"] - [member="Kirie Ito"] - [member="Arix Valen"] -​

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay looked up to [member="Arabi Cordelle"] as her hand was placed on top of her own. She felt the Force flowing through her, flowing through them both and radiating warmth and hope into [member="Kirie Ito"] . There was respect in the Cathar's eyes, no anger at the learning of her secret. It was as though it was business as usual, and that was a good thing.

Her eyes drifted then to the blackened stumps that were her assistant's legs, now shifting and rippling as the black substance pooled out of them as though it was dying. But really it was just losing it's sentient control, becoming no more lifelike than a black glob of paint.

A sudden cry for help caught Kay's mind, causing her to slip her hand out from under Arabi's and to let go of Kirie's hand. It was [member="Bradshaw Ku"] calling to her, his voice pained. Flashes of images came to her mind of where he had fallen, his body feeling broken as he slipped out of consciousness. She looked to Arabi. "I need to get my son. He's taking too long. I need to bring him here."

There was no time for her to come up with a cover story that would do a far better job than her words just did asshe quickly turned and almost ran to the door. Freeosk was right there moving to stop her. "I need you to come with me, now!!"

The look of shock on Freeosk's face to the sudden commanding outburst from the tiny human was laughable on any other day but today. He let himself be pushed aside by her and then promptly took up pace behind her, his eyes ever watchful for threats.

~Brad I'm coming~ Kay quickened her pace, using the connection that she shared with her son to guide her steps. From the images sent to her, she knew where he was, just not on which floor. Hopefully they'd get there in time.

*******************​

Even though Kay had asked for communications to be silent, that didn't seem to matter as the situation on the station became more dire. Tomson was one of the station's engineers. As alarms rang out, he had quickly made his way to the control room. Sparks spewed out from the damaged control panel rendering it useless. A cold wind blew from the hole in the transparisteel, clearly indicating a fight had occured. Tomson moved towards it and gingerly looked down, not wanting to lose his balance and fall. At first he saw nothing, but then he saw him. A body of a man lying on one of the platforms 15 stories down. He brought his commlink up and signalled the emergency frequency which would go to all the commlinks of those in control of the maintenance of the station, and including Kay's.

~This is Tomson in the control room! There's heavy damage in here and a casualty in the exhaust shaft down below! Other than that there's no one! The heating system is offline and I'm going to try to bypass and redirect it's systems or this station will become a floating popsicle in less than an hour! Any available personnel get over here quickly! Tomson out!~

*********************​

[member="Sol Damerin"] 's silence and lack of action was not met with the exact same response. Instead of more words, the Iron Knight still standing rushed forward, moving past his fallen comrade and straight to Sol. It swung it's lightsaber with it's left hand in an uppercut motion, not intending for a death blow in any way, but as another taunt, and a distraction.

The fallen Knight watched the two momentarily, but then turned it's attention to the lightsaber just beyond it's reach on the floor. Utilizing the robotic 'muscles' of it's upper body, the Knight slowly moved itself towards the blade. There was only a few feet to move, but to something that could only move an inch at a time due to it's limitations, that few feet might as well have been a kilometre.

[member="Xaedrin Vondiranach"] [member="Jak Sandrow"] [member="Arix Valen"]

 

[Sol Damerin]

The Iron Knight comes towards Sol with a vicious uppercut of a blow. The old mercenary though wasn't taken in by the feint. Soresu was one of three styles of combat he could claim mastery of and it emphasized bare minimum movements for the best defence. Leaning back just a bit as the blow comes towards him he dodges it by the barest of margins. Then he shifts his momentum circling to his left, the Iron Knight's right. Keeping his right-hand saber in position to ward off an attack, right arm cocked slightly at about mid height. He sends his left-hand saber in to lick at the Iron Knight's leg. A testing blow but with enough commitment of tear a decent size hole in the appendage should the knight not move.

[member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Kirie]

[SIZE=13pt]Whatever it was that [member="Lady Kay"] and [member="Arabi Cordelle"] were doing, it had done the job. Her mind was clearer than it had been in hours, and the voices had faded. From her legs, and the various knocks and bumps she'd received in her brief fights, pain began to radiate. The strength given to her by the substance had dissipated along with its influence. Now, a rising discomfort began to hit, increasing second by second until she was in complete agony. The tiny movements of her stump legs against the gurney sent waves of fiery pain through her damaged nerves, electrifying her brain. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=13pt]She sat up as far as she could with the restraints on her chest, and vomited dark liquid, it covered her, but didn't writhe, the evil substance no longer moved with a life of its own. She continued to vomit, her body ejecting as much of the foreign goo as possible. A minute later she was done, and she laid back, chest heaving.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=13pt]The pain continued its assault. Minutes ago, she could hear the sounds of the room perfectly, the substance repairing the scarred tissue, and preventing any further damage. Now, with the substance all but eliminated, she only heard a dull ringing, which grew fainter and fainter as time went on.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=13pt]Fresh tears came to her eyes, and she was racked with sobs. She just wished this nightmare would end.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=13pt][member="Sol Damerin"] | [member="Lady Kay"] | [member="Bradshaw Ku"] | [member="Arabi Cordelle"] | [member="Xaedrin Vondiranach"] | [member="Jak Sandrow"] | [member="Arix Valen"] |[/SIZE]​

 

[Arabi Cordelle]

Her eyes looked up sharply at [member="Lady Kay"], feeling something through the Force, a connection, pain. She did not personally know much about Kay or her son [member="Bradshaw Ku"] but She knew Kay would not leave Kirie's side unless it were important. She merely nodded to the woman. Kay was a force user but she was untrained in healing. Compared to Arabi, she was a Padawan at best. It had been enough to find out what they needed to do to rid these people of the control the Iron Knights held on them. That in and of itself would do great things. Arabi was hardly the only healer Jedi.

She turned back to her patient and assisted the girl in sitting up to vomit out the substance. She continued to pour her healing light into the small woman, but even she knew she could not do what the black substance had done and return hearing and legs to her. She felt for the girl who would have physical and emotional scars from this encounter. She could sense the girls distress as her hearing faded, a beautiful gift torn away.

The sobs tore her own heart, but she had a duty. The physical pain would soon be overwhelming the poor girl. Arabi changed her healing light and added an element of soothing sleepiness. The Cathar would reinforce it with drugs in a moment so she could work on the injuries as best she could in this environment. Hopefully the Iron Knights would be defeated and they could get [member="Kirie Ito"] to a bacta tank and surgical wing of a proper medical facility.

Her hand gently stroked Kirie's hair and she purred softly, the vibrations translating probably more than the sound by now if she was calculating her regression correctly. She honestly had no way to know. *Sleep child. And dream of nothing. Sleep.*

 

[Jak Sandrow]

Jak burst into the control room, weapon drawn. When he saw no one but the engineers there, he put his gun down, and announced himself, "My name is Jak; I'm here to assist you guys in bringing the heating back on. And, whatever else you may need me to do. I have some technical expertise, but not a lot. What can I help with?" He jogged closer, his gun holstered, and his palms raised to show that he was unarmed and benign. "Have you guys tried a manual reboot of the..." He looked towards the trashed console. "... Ah. Uhm... hm." His eyes drew to the large whistling hole in the transparisteel. "... Hm. Uhhhh..." He scratched his head for a second before snapping his fingers. "This is a big station - is there a greenhouse anywhere onboard? Trust me, this is critical. If I had some plants, I will be able to help you guys out a lot better."

[member="Lady Kay"]
[member="Bradshaw Ku"]
[member="Xaedrin Vondiranach"]

 

[Xaedrin Vondiranach]

The first shred of consciousness was curiosity. Curiosity as to what that incessant ringing was. It started quietly, but quickly grew to a deafening roar. Xaedrin's mind clawed at it, a primal need to escape the overpowering noise. Sentience returned next, as he realized the sound came from inside his head, and not outside. His head was swimming, it felt as though the whole universe were rolling down a hill. With effort, he forced his eyes partially open. Everything was blurry as he pressed up onto hands and knees. Even his arms in front of him were non-distinct blurs. Pressing, he leaned back, sitting on his legs behind him. Pain wracked his body, seeming as if each and every nerve was firing off constant alarm impulses. He could feel the black substance coursing through his veins doing its work, repairing his extensive injuries. He had no doubt that without it, he would be dead. Instead, he lived.

His head was clearing, and he noticed for the first time that the clarity he felt went far beyond anything he'd experienced in days. He couldn't hear the voice of Onyx. He was disconnected from the great Nexus, alone once more. Part of him grieved the loss, but part of him rejoiced as well. He smiled, leaning his head back and staring upward into the reactor shaft. Blood dripped down his face - no longer jet black, but of a far deeper crimson than it should have been; as if the black blood that had been controlling him had somehow merged with his own blood. He laughed - a short, barked laugh of one who had just escaped an inescapable prison. It was excruciating.

He knew who he was again. Not a scared youth, forgotten in the bowels of Coruscant. He remembered everything. He remembered all of his training under previous masters of the Sith arts; Illuminus, Xaxas, Starkiller - he remembered everything they'd taught him and everything he'd done in their names. He remembered their disappearance and his own rise to power. He remembered his own defeat at the hands of a group of Jedi marauders, and their sentence upon him that was crueler than death. They had blocked his memory, used the Force to create powerful mental barriers that would keep him from knowing himself or pursuing his destiny. But now they were gone. He was free. He was himself again.

Drawing the Force into himself, he brought himself to his feet. The pain was nearly unbearable, black voids pressed on his peripheral vision as unconsciousness threatened to take him. A powerful wave of nausea swept through him, triggered by the brokenness of his body. He closed his eyes and pressed the Force into service, using it to strengthen himself. Quickly, he assessed the obvious injuries. His right femur was probably broken, several bones in his left arm were clearly fractured, swelling and discoloration making that clear. He could feel broken ribs, and the blood that had pooled at the corner of his mouth told him that he had at least one punctured lung. Strangely, he could breathe better now - residual effects of Onyx' gift to him, he knew.

With a groan, he started to walk, making his way out of the reactor shaft to find a ship. His body shook from the cold - the station was cooling rapidly. He had to escape. He would escape.

Lord Atreus had returned.

[Xaedrin Out]​

 

[Kay-Larr]

As Kay overheard Tomson, she quickened her pace to a run. It had to be [member="Bradshaw Ku"] that he was talking about. Freeosk followed her, his lumbering steps thudding loudly on the durasteel floor. Her heart pounded in her chest, both from the running, as well as from fear of losing her son. She knew the layout of the station well enough to find the exhaust shaft access doors on the level she was on. The code was punched in, causing the door to slide open. Kay just didn't think that it opened quick enough, so she slipped through as soon as the opening was large enough for her. She stepped onto platform and peered over the railing. "There!!" Feeeosk looked down, following where her hand pointed about eight stories down. Without hesitation, the behemoth jumped over the railing and controlled his fall by manipulating his massive arms until he landed with a crouch and roll along the walkway to lessen the momentum of the impact. After a second or two, he got to his feet and reached Brad's side, picking up the man as though he were a baby. Kay just watched the spectacle, the seconds nearly feeling like hours. "Get him back to the observation deck! Quickly Freeosk!" Going to the medical wing would be futile, given that Freeosk didn't know the layout of Kwenn Station at all. Her orders were followed and she hurried back to follow.

***********************​

Meanwhile Tomson just stared at [member="Jak Sandrow"] as he asked about a greenhouse. Was he for real?? "You're kidding me, right? A greenhouse? There's none here. Only on Kwenn itself. And there's no time to fetch them. The only plants you'll find here are for food. We have to get the heating fixed or everyone dies!"

Tomson hurried to the destroyed control panel and studied it. He used a screw driver and opened the paneling to the side, surveying the damage from that end. Most of the wires were melted, though some were missed. He narrowed his eyes. He had to make a decision and quickly. Yet so many lives could be lost. But it wasn't quite his decision to make. He was just an engineer. So he took out his commlink and asked to be patched through to Kay. ~This is Tomson. I'm just an engineer. If you didn't already hear, the heat has been shut off and the control panel destroyed. Some of the wiring was missed. I can bypass it and bring the heating back online, but just to a few floors only going from the Observation deck and down two more. Anyone not on those floors will freeze to death. But if I don't do it, we'll all freeze. What do you want me to do?~

It took 30 seconds before he heard a response. ~Briadcast an emergency message. Give everyone 10 minutes to move to those floors before you bypass it, if we have that time. Anyone that can't make it....~

~Understood...Tomson out.~ With a sigh he gave himself a moment before relaying the orders and broadcasting them out on all frequencies.

**********************​

The Iron Knight would've elbowed [member="Sol Damerin"] in the ribs, were it not for his lightsaber already in position to stop him from doing so. With it's blade already in the air, he didn't have the time to block left saber from it's swing. It shuffled it's feet in a bid to dodge the swing, but still managed to get a gash on it's leg, the metal melting around it. The Iron Knight felt no pain, but it was still hampered. Yet it pivoted on it's undamaged foot and brought it's saber around to strike across Sol's middle.

[member="Kirie Ito"] [member="Arix Valen"] [member="Arabi Cordelle"]

 

[Jak Sandrow]

Jak wished for the umpteenth time that more space stations put living plants on board. But wishing wouldn't help them here and now - they needed something to patch that hole, or all the warmth would just bleed away regardless.

"Alright, plants are a no. Is there any way I can manually get the heat running again? Some large override switch or redundant control panel anywhere?" He kept an eye out - that black goo, whatever it was, couldn't be done with them already. And he doubted that the once-mute girl was the only carrier.


[member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Sol Damerin]

Catching the Iron Knights saber with his own his right Sol deflects it down to scour the floor. At the same time, he brings his left saber up underneath the Iron Knights arm cutting it neatly in two at the elbow. The droid reacts swiftly driving its fist into his stomach once more. Damn it hurt to take a blow in the same place again. This pushes Sol back and puts him in the line of sight of the Iron Knight still on the ground. The still mobile one hadn't planned on taking as much damage as he had, the human was more skilled than he'd given them credit for. However, this was their plan force him in position as the one on the floor finally grabs its dropped saber and throws.

The blade comes humming for Sol's back in a spinning blade of instant death aimed right at his neck. Sol who had been expecting this final attack, ducks. He feels hot plasma singe through a few of the hairs on the back of his head, he'd almost been too slow. The saber sails past him to cut into the last standing Iron Knight. Like his brother, he is sliced in two though closer to the shoulders than the middle.

Knowing he had only seconds to act before they decided to activate their self-destruct he pounces. A jump and a quick clean cut to the neck, another jump, another cut. Not trusting them to stay down he drags them towards the blast doors and hammers on the override. There is a sudden explosive burst of decompression as air is sucked into the section of hallway that was now a vacuum. The Iron Knights are dragged forward, with a little help from force push. Right before he closes the blast door Sol chucks a thermal detonator into the room and at the small hole that Xaerdin had made early. The door slams shut and a second later there is a boom. The small hole is suddenly a lot wider and the two Iron Knights are soon sucked out into the void.

Slumping against the wall and falling down onto his ass Sol lets out an explosive sigh. He tired, his stomach hurt, and he wasn't sure he had the strength to get up and head to a higher level. So he was really hoping he wasn't on one of the levels that was going to wind up freezing to death. Shifting he concentrates on the ring on his hand. "Never mind [member="Lady Kay"], I handled it. Threats eliminated" He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. Inhale, Exhale.