Private Relapse

[Amani Serys]

Rahla Tis
Alliance Survey Vessel
Unknown Regions​

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"We just crossed into former Maw space."

"Good. Okay." Amani gazed out at the tunneling expanse of hyperspace through the bridge viewport. She'd been through this regions several times since the end of the Second Great Hyperspace War, but she was more aloof, more on edge this time.

A reformed settlement on one of the old maw worlds had sent concerning reports just a week ago, regarding an encroaching illness among its inhabitants. It had been noted by Alliance personnel, but tabled in the grand scheme of struggles throughout the Unknown Regions. Since then, communication with the settlement has abruptly gone dark.

A team of Alliance troops, surveyors, and Jedi had been dispatched to investigate the sector, and find out what happened. No one else on board seemed to treat it with the same sternness as Chief Healer Serys. There was something about it that made her hairs stand on end. That made the Force around her tremble in discomfort. Something dark, and familiar, even if she herself didn't realize just how true that was yet.

 

[Rahla Tis]

The Maw.

She didn't know them, not like so many of the New Jedi seemed to. Her time spent with the Silvers on the opposite side of the galaxy saw to that much. That, and her late Master had never wanted her to face them so early into her training. But now that they weren't as much of a threat, it was fine, right? Rahla let out a breath as she reached down to grip the pendant she had. The gem within had a comforting coolness. A familiar coolness.

"So.. We're going to try and find the source of the sickness to cut it off, right?"

Amani Serys

 

[Amani Serys]

Amani blinked, and glanced down toward the source of the voice. The mirialan didn't know much about this Rahla personally, but she had been assigned to this mission the same as her. And as with any padawan, Amani was quickly nurturing and protective. Such was her duty as a knight. She put on a reassuring smile, "Right. But first we'll need to find out just what this kind of sickness is, before we can try to treat it."

The hyperspace vortex dissipated into an overlook of a small agrarian planet, signaling their arrival. The ship crew pulled them into the landing coordinates, on the outskirts of a small town among fields of tilled soil. Amani gestured for Rahla to follow her to the ramp, "Just stay near me, and you'll do fine." She nodded, and exited the ship, stepping out into the dirt road.

"It's… quiet," The streets were empty. No chatter from the locals. No animals. Not even any plants. The plotted soil was all either empty, or full of dead, wilting crops, "Do you sense anything?"

Rahla Tis​

 

[Rahla Tis]

Treat it? Weren't there doctors for that? Rahla frowned just a little as she stared back out the viewport. That wasn't finding the source, was it? It didn't make a whole lot of sense to the Padawan, but she wasn't going voice anything. She was still the Padawan here. The learner.

So she'd learn.

Rahla glanced about as they walked, her frown worsening. It smelled like death here. Rot. Rot?

"Decay. Unnatural decay. The spirits don't like it."

Amani Serys

 

[Amani Serys]

"Spirits?" Amani asked idly. She wandered the silent streets, then turned a corner where she was taken aback by the sight of a villager. He was sat against a wall, dressed in rags. A beggar perhaps, or merely forced there by his current circumstances. She raised a hand to Rahla, "Don't get too close."

The man's extremities showed clear signs of disease and necrosis. The spread similar to that of something Amani recognized, "Have you ever seen this before?" She didn't expect Rahla to know, but asked anyway. Carefully, the healer reached towards the man for a better look. He was alive, his breathing haggard, but he seemed to pay them little heed.

Rahla Tis​

 

[Rahla Tis]

"Ah, I mean- The Force."

Right. Her Master used to call the Force spirits, and it seemed to rub off on her more than she thought. Rahla stayed back though, a frown on her face as she watched the man. He seemed dead already. How were they even going to be able to help some like this? She shook her head at the question before looking around. Were there others like this? .. No. But there was some weird red.. Something.

She stepped over to it, her eyes squinting. Living, red rock. She could feel life from it. But it was twisted and wrong.

"It's not just people who are infected, Chief Healer."

Amani Serys

 

[Amani Serys]

"Can you hear me?" Amani tried. The man seemed almost to register it in slow motion, his eyes slowly dragging over to meet hers. But he said nothing, "…We're here to help." She affirmed, nodding once before she stood up to get a lay of the land. If there were other people around, they were hidden away in homes.

"It's not just people who are infected, Chief Healer."

Amani felt her heart sink. She followed Rahla, and spotted the strange crimson blight. That confirmed the sinister feeling she had, "I know what this is." The healer reached into her bag, and walked back over to the man, "Don't touch any of it. It's highly contagious," She put on gloves, and went back to the man. Against her own advice, she then tried to pick him up, "…But I'm pretty sure I'm immune." After all the close encounters she had with Surea, not once had Amani ever been infected. Time to put it to the test once more. "We need somewhere we can monitor him. Not the ship. We can't risk contamination."

Rahla Tis​

 

[Rahla Tis]

"You.. What? I- Um. Oh."

She pulled back her hands, tried to keep them as close to herself as possible. Sickness like this was unnatural. She didn't like it. Not one bit. Less so when Amani just went to pick the sick man up. She immediately reached out, as if she could stop the Chief Healer. Oh. Immune. That was.. Interesting. As was her knowledge. There was something more here. Rahla just nodded as she looked around.

"What about there? I think it was a canteen. There's.. I don't feel much rot from it." She motioned ahead, towards the building in question. It was cleaner than the others, by all appearances. Hopefully it'd be safe.

Amani Serys

 

[Amani Serys]

Amani turned to where Rahla directed, and hauled the man towards the canteen. The door creaked open to reveal a disheveled, but largely uninfected space. She swept a few old cups off of a long table, and laid the man down. "Your senses were right. This disease is unnatural." The healer retrieved a number of tools from her bag, including a small mechanical device. "It's the work of a Sith Lord. But— She's supposed to be dead."

Amani had finished Surea off herself. She had to be dead, "…Some of her Rot must have continued to grow in pockets. Places where she'd been." There was a chance there was more of it was incubating around Maw space as they spoke. Waiting for an opportunity to spread again. "I tried multiple times to retrieve a blood sample. Something that would help me find a treatment. But she always thwarted it." The healer raised a small incising blade, "She's not here to stop me now." Then, she made a thin cut through the man's infected skin, letting the blood drip into a vial.

Rahla Tis​

 

[Rahla Tis]

A Sith Lord?

Rahla had been worried this might be a boring assignment, but didn't that put this into a realm far too above her? She visibly gulped as she followed the Knight into the room. Kept her distance as she watched the blood pour out, if it could even be called blood. It was red, but pale and thick. She grimaced.

"Can.. Is this even cureable?"

Amani Serys

 

[Amani Serys]

"That's what we're going to find out," Amani put a bandage over the cut, and capped the vial. All her attempts to study the rot before were thwarted. Now she had a chance, without Surea on her tail. She set the vial into the machine she had pulled out earlier, with then began to spin it around. "This centrifuge should distill the blood from the Rot. Make it easier to study its properties."

She stepped back, and waited, "When the Sith was alive, she was able to control and manipulate the Rot. Even use it to control and manipulate others."

Rahla Tis​