Beasts

[Nan'eth'illa]

The Csen'ai liked to push too. She pushed Filiae in ways most citizens of the Empire could not imagine in their worst nightmares. It was what had shaped the Chiss in many ways. Some would say unsuccessfully, Ophidia would call it a work in progress: A program still working out its glitches. Nethil had yet to pick up the unblemished demeanour of her master.

Filiae listened intently as Skai listed off what she had founf: A keypad - One could do much with such a tool. Skai probably knew the codes of the facility and Filiae's expertise could help giving them access to whatever else.

"And I assume our masters are down there, in the deepest, darkest pit of this place."

She brushed off her knees and reached out her fleshy hand. Her senses extended with it; through it; past it and out into the room like a torch. Slowly, she turned, feeling the floor, the corners, the lower part of the floor. Then she raised her hand and did so one more time, sensing the ceiling and upper corners. She mapped the sensations in her mind, creating a "copy" of the room to explore.

Her right eye shifted again and again as she moved around in the room, changing between modes of visual input. For the most part, the room was cleaned out in the sense of possibly useful items, but-

Her hand extended towards a tile in the ceiling. "It's hollow. Give me a boost"

[member="Skai"]

 

[Thaddeus Wyse]

[member="Darth Filiae"]

Skai looked at the ceiling with something of skepticism.

Another glance over her shoulder showed that the undead animals were still clinging to the viewports, trying to get through, trying to get to their pound of meat for the day. But for the moment the reinforced glass was holding and if it would break? They'd have plenty of forewarning. It also helped that they were shambling more than anything else.

Plenty of time to get out, if necessary.

"Can." Walking over Skai dropped to one knee and made a howled-out pit out of her hands, perfect for Filiae to place her foot and use as a first measure of support.

Filiae used her hands as a ramp, followed by Skai slowly raising and the Chiss settling herself down on her shoulders. Thighs wrapped tightly around her neck, curve of her backside pressing against her shoulders and back. The Chiss wasn't as heavy as she had expected, especially with all the cybernetics being carried around.

"Anything?"

Behind them the undead started to become agitated, their fists slamming against the reinforced glass.

 

[Nan'eth'illa]

Filiae had not expected to end up sitting on her shoulders. She intended to jump up and catch herself, but placed her weight wrong. In a quick and clearly successful attempt at rescuing her dignity, she had turned it into a shoulder-sitting. Now, she reached up and pushed up against the portion of the ceiling. Her fingers probed it, traced out edges, then found a button.

"Anything?" "Patience."

She felt it with the Force, seeking its connections: Not trapped. Not directly anyway - Click - A moment of tension, then a breath of relief. She inched it open and felt something move on top: It rolled. Nethil let it drop out and into her hand.

An orb of black metal - Or was it ceramic? Uncertain. She held it in her hand while looking up into the emptiness above. There were no more things, but a dark path followed above. It went upwards.

"Just this. Let's go."

First she leaned forward, then shifted her legs and then - Slip - She rolled out of Skai's grip, off her shoulders, then caught herself on her feet. It looked easy when she did it.

[member="Skai"]

 

[Thaddeus Wyse]

[member="Darth Filiae"]

She looked at it for a moment.

Sphere.

Black.

Pebble.

Mysterious.

It didn't really look like it could do anything for them, but Skai did wonder what the nether it was doing there. It was way too high for one of the guards to have placed it there... wasn't it? They probably could have done the same thing as they just had, but it was strange. Why would they have it in the first place?

"Wonder what the feth it is." Skai mumbled, before turning around and peering through the viewport again. The undead had calmed down once she stepped away, but restarted their efforts once she closed in again. "I think their eyes are karked, can't see past a certain point anymore." The stimuli wasn't enough, as she noticed while stepping back and forth to test her territory.

Each time Skai stepped back a few steps they stopped trying to get into the room.

"Also means they are operating on direct stimuli only and got no memory procession anymore."

 

[Nan'eth'illa]

Nethil rolled the sphere between her fingers, considering its purpose. Was it placed there from underneath or above? She had not seen the far end of the open space, after all. Perhaps- No, they had to move on soon. The undead were, wait, they were not pressing against the glass. She let Skai do her measurements while she further inspected the orb, herself.

It was not perfectly smooth, there was a subtle pattern in the right light - a shift of texture.

"Come on, we should go."

Nethil moved to where Skai previously had indicated the elevator was located. The orb was pocketed and the orange keypad fetched. Filiae took a moment, delving into the secrets of Mechu-Deru to understand the object in her hands, it keys, functions and some of its secrets. Her blue hand hovered over the keypad, eyes growing distant for a moment. Then a quick succession of presses - a pause. Click.

"Blast door, engaging." "Open"

It was not slicing this time, but a sneakier piece of "cheating" the system. Hopefully, Cerbera did not have contingencies against it as well. As the blast door opened, Skai and Filiae moved through and onto the enormous platform, descending then into the depths of the facility.

[member="Skai"]

 

[Thaddeus Wyse]

[member="Darth Filiae"]

Both of them were frozen in place for a few seconds.

Waiting, listening, holding their breath while hoping that DOOM wouldn't suddenly fall over them, because of Filiae's trick. After a moment it did not seem to be the case and they stepped into the elevator. There were still equipment scattered around here and there, a half-finished Forge that was checked for recycling, some more complicated medical gear, then the corpses spread around- even here the personnel had not been safe from the onslaught of demons.

Skai was just happy there weren't any here in the moment.

It took them a few minutes, but eventually the lift settled down. The hisss of the heavy bulkdoors disengaging, air and gas spilling out with decontamination procedures automatically ensuing.

"Uh oh." Skai mumbled as the doors slid open and showed what was on the other side. Somehow... something had warped the entirety of the corridor and by the looks of it? It ran even further down. Metal was replaced by pulsating organic tissue. Red, bloody, stepping on it felt squishy and very strange, but they didn't really have a different option.

All of the surfaces were brushed with it.

No metal remained.

"Let's go. We take that corner, down the hallway and the second door to the right- that is another security junction. We will be able to get access to... camera. feeds." Skai just realized that there weren't any cameras anymore. All of that had been covered and wrecked and replaced by this strange fleshy crap.

"Feth. Okay, straight to the bio-labs then. We will need to go through the Mechanical Labs- it's where the Master tinkered with more scientific engineering designs."

 

[Nan'eth'illa]

A wall-to-everything cover of flesh, it made Darth Filiae more than a little uncomfortable as they stepped into what looked eerily like the inside of someone's digestive track while Skai and she were pieces of nutrition being processed: A couple of little chits.

When Skai mentioned cameras, Nethil looked around to see where they would have likely stood. They would not have surveillance to lean on.

"Sounds like a plan."

Skai knew these halls better than Filiae could hope to. It made sense to let her lay the plans, but she could perhaps try to aid.

"Do you use droids to clean this place?" "If so, I may be able to extract a mirror of the last thing they saw. Assuming their memory banks haven't also turned to... Whatever." "Assuming we could dig one out."

She lightly punted a protruding piece of the fleshy substance for emphasis.

This place really gave her the creeps

[member="Skai"]