soft epilogue
T H E __ R A G N A R __ S Y N D I C A T E
ALLIES:
THE OATHSWORN // 104th BATTALION 'WOLFPACK' // RAGNAR SYNDICATE // MANDA'YAIM // Rynn Vizsla // Lucien Dooku //Maynard Treicolt
ENEMIES:
THE SITH EMPIRE // THE RANCIDIOUS ORDER // THE MANDALORIAN UNION
ENGAGING:
x12 10 NPC INFECTED //
Darth Assimilus
//
Ra's
// OPEN
THE OATHSWORN // 104th BATTALION 'WOLFPACK' // RAGNAR SYNDICATE // MANDA'YAIM // Rynn Vizsla // Lucien Dooku //Maynard Treicolt
ENEMIES:
THE SITH EMPIRE // THE RANCIDIOUS ORDER // THE MANDALORIAN UNION
ENGAGING:
x
Rolling shadows took the shape of bodies and grew and thrashed below. It was noisy and distressing. The undead didn’t seem to know basic, only communicating in gestures, groans, shrieks and rolling sounds that started somewhere in their bodies and purveyed the immediately surrounding area. In her helm, it sounded of conflicting static, like channels colliding over shared frequencies and loud white noise. It squealed loudly, chattering nonsensically and she turned down the external volume feed.
Maybe somewhere, coded in the neurons there was still grammar and language programs from the former soldiers the virus had attached itself to or eaten. Eaten, but not destroyed. Those that had found temporary solace in death were reainimated. And as decayed and mutilated as the figures were, they were still distinctly humanoid.
And humanoids were still flammable.
<"We're gonna move to envelop the horde...and we're gonna burn 'em out. All of them.">
Loske should have anticipated that sort of approach. It was effectively saying do both. They’d get to the source by reducing the perimeter so narrowly that anything that remained would only be credited to either their aptitude for survival, or the sheer power and influence over the horde. Beyond the vague modulations of his tone through his helmet, there was an irrefutable will behind his words. Thinly constrained fury for all the emotions this sector brought with it. Everything tied to the past and the future. As toxic as the tether could be if she gave it too much presence on her psyche, she borrowed the irrefutable purpose only.
At the General’s command, the outline of the encampment ignited in angry spouts of tunnelled orange, yellow and red. Superheated blasts channelled at the rotting flesh of the diseased. Rifles shaped like villainous metal equipped in the hands of the dedicated soldiers made their presence known in a spectacle of pyro prowess. The flames caught and leapt from body to body. Shadows consumed by the flames twisted and writhed, screaming in unaware agony while the fire consumed the bodies.
Companion to the flames, the Mandalorian legions commanded hellfire from above. Concentrated streams torn asunder through the undead army, scorching the earth beneath.
Far from the flames, deeper in the encampment, Loske’s HUD politely outlined a shape. The leader –– the thing from out in the vast dark –– seemed to brandish a single crimson saber, like a beacon. Then it disappeared, swallowed by the hilt and too, the owner managed to be overwhelmed by it’s companions. Despite reducing the volume on her receptors there was a distinct scream that unified from the throats of the creatures below,
There seemed to be a level of organization to them, maneuvering and pushing their ways in coordinated directions. Their musculatures compelled them to follow the directives of other infected soldiers.
Just short of closing her eyes, the Jedi paused her approach to get a feel for the virus’ reaction to the heat. A traditional method of extermination for eliminating unwanted pathogens. Tradition would have limited success here. While the rest of the soldiers pressed in to apply pressure to the rotting wound that was the encampment. She stretched into the invisible current of The Force and all it touched. There was a rage below them. A fury that belonged not to the horde, but to the infection itself. It went beyond the encampment, somewhere in the soil. Tunnels or other means of underground travel, she couldn’t decipher. Horrified, Loske realized there was a level of sentience in the reproductive plague. She dared forward, still keeping the concentration on the anatomic level of the plague. It wasn’t aware of her, it wasn’t that smart.
With the flames operating as a covering shield, she remained directly un-engaged and took the opportunity to immerse further. Even when she began to stretch out, plucking and picking at the atoms one by one and impelling an acceleration to her machinations, the virus seemed not to notice. Until she managed to understand it, and took a first stab at restricting its atrocious necessity to grow. In the physical world, it looked as though she might have been pushing together two sides of a small box, forcing the sides together fingertip by fingertip until they met. A small glow gathering around her hands, combining the purity of light and the ferocity of art of the small. In the metaphysical realm, it was forcing life against death in a peculiar twist of the light and affecting the growth patterns. Until she could figure out how they matched, all the cells tessellated and murky with desolation.
Beyond the wall of fire, two undead soldiers that were pressing in their direction dropped. Just dead. The aware pathogen vanquished. There was no look of triumph splattering across her face beneath her helm, just more concentration. The virus did not know basic, it did not follow the same levels of grammatical conduct as the woman who’d intervened with its build. But it did whisper. This small, surrounded by its structure, she could see it pulsing and permeating a message of warning through the infected. It felt urgent, angry. Deeply hostile. The muted soundwaves raced and travelled, and a part of the Jedi extended herself to latch on to them, as if riding the wave would direct her to the nucleus of control; if an origin or chain of command was possible to exist in this realm. If there was, she’d find and destroy it.
Beyond the typical onslaught of salvo after salvo, there was a disruption in their proximity. A large rumbling, intimidating creature grounded with a cacophonous orchestra of debris, groaning, and alarmed sounds. Around the same time, the Force swelled darkly. Where she’d detected the one Sith, there were now two. And one of their allies was in the sea of death below. Not just an ally, but armour she’d seen operating in reports on behalf of The Alliance before as well.
Altruism begged her attention, clawing to drag her into the infested area to protect and assist. She took in a long breath, and sharply exhaled to keep herself focused. If she pulled out now, she might lose the trace she'd detected. Stop the plague. Reduce it until there was nothing left to spread would be her objective.
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