The Night is Full of Terrors

[Eldaah Aderyn]

[member="Connor Harrison"]

"I'm Eldaah Aderyn, the assistant to the Doctor of Virology here, Doctor Morlin," she answered the Jedi. "I guess you could call this our last refuge. Those monsters have been attacking everything outside for two nights now, but they haven't forced their way in here yet. As for what they are ... follow me."

She would lead the Jedi to the doctor's office where the mutagenic virus was on display on the monitors.

"They're a manufactured strain of the rakghoul virus, according to the doctor," she said. Was she enjoying this little game? Yes. Did she mind revealing what all this was? No. It made the game that much more interesting. He had no idea he was talking with the person who had caused all of this. "Highly modified. The doctor and security were actually able to capture a specimen and keep it in a containment field in the lab. I didn't want to let anyone downstairs know about it. They might react adversely if they knew we were studying one of them up here. The doctor is trying to find a cure or vaccine or something that could help us make it to the Holonet hub in the center of town. They have evac shuttles there and a way to contact your Silver Sanctum to inform them of what has happened. Do you think they will help?"

 

[Connor Harrison]

Following the doctor, Connor paid little attention to anything or anyone else, and straight away took to inspecting the monitors. He took note of what he could in regards to the chemical and biological read-outs, the breakdowns of cells and other information. He was no scientist, but wanted to look interested.

"We may have certain facilities to lend you aid, being so close to Sanctum space. Of course it would depend on the severity of this virus, the containment of it and other factors. We can’t risk an epidemic now, can we.”

He leaned a little closer to the monitor.

"Can I speak to your Doctor Morlin?”

[member="Eldaah Aderyn"]

 

[Eldaah Aderyn]

[member="Connor Harrison"]

"Severity of the virus?" she asked incredulously. "It wiped out the vast majority of a town of 20,000 in two nights! Two! The planet is lucky we're so isolated from the rest of Kulthis there is no way it could spread to other towns right now. Otherwise, the entire planet would be those monsters! We have no idea how it got here, but maybe Doctor Morlin does have an idea. Come with me."

She would lead him upstairs to the lab, where he would find the Doctor and several other technicians performing tests on one of the rakghouls inside a containment field. Droids kept trying to get close to stick needles or scalpels into the skin, but they would just break before the creature destroyed the droids. However, one spot of the skin looked burnt and not as a protective as the rest.

"Doctor, we have a guest," she said. "A Jedi from the Silver Sanctum must have received the mayor's distress message before he turned. He wanted to know more about these rakghouls."

"Ah yes, welcome Master Jedi," Morlin said. "How can I help you?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~​

​

In the basement of the facility, a single probe droid activated and began to fly over to where the power generators for the entire complex were. Specifically, the one for the doors to E Wing and the containment fields...

 

[Connor Harrison]

Connor glanced to the girl with her voice taking a rather brash turn. He was only asking questions as an outsider. Still, she took him to the upper level of the med center. He noticed more boarded windows, signs of distress. The introductions were made.

"Doctor Morlin - Connor Harrison, a pleasure.”

He nodded with a taught smile.

"Doctor, Miss Aderyn was telling me of the situation. Can you elaborate how it took a week for the virus to wipe out a town? Is it contagious? Does it thrive on anything in particular? Force sensitivity or specific biology?”

[member="Eldaah Aderyn"]

 

[Eldaah Aderyn]

[member="Connor Harrison"]

"It didn't take a week Master Harrison," Doctor Morlin said. "We're on night two of the viral outbreak. Judging by your questions, you aren't all that familiar with rakghouls. I only know about them because we are trained on all epidemic level plagues in the doctorate program on Tion. A brief overview is that, yes, the plague is incredibly contagious. A single scratch or bite and you have a few hours at most before you turn into one of those monsters yourself. We were never able to figure out how it is so mutagenic, but some of my colleagues theorized that the plague was first created by the ancient Sith."

Looking at the monster in the containment field for a moment, he continued.

"It was originally only able to be passed among humans, but the subject in front of you used to be a Twi'lek," Morlin said. "Whoever engineered this virus knew what they were doing as they jumped the species to species boundary. I'm not sure how many sentients could be vulnerable to infection. On a slightly brighter side, we discovered that fire weakens their hide enough for damage to occur and I'm assuming your lightsaber is able to cut them easily enough. We also..."

"We also have a theory that they are susceptible to ultraviolet rays," she said, jumping into the conversation. "They only came out at night and they avoid daylight at all costs from what we observed through out cameras."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~​

​

The probe was in position, now it only needed to wait the requisite time before disabling the facilities power. Three minutes began to tick down on the droid's internal computer. Once the time elapse, no one in the facility would be safe as all security measures would deactivate and the rakghouls on E-Wing would be able to break down the door ... and the barricades would go down on half the windows.

 

[Connor Harrison]

Looking at the subject in question, Connor was fascinated by the effects of the virus, and how prehistoric it was. He pointed to the specimen, turning his head slightly to the doctors.

"If this originated from the Sith, supposedly, how did it get to a planet so far from their space, and so near the Sanctum, and then spread so fast with all the right measures to contain it and research it so quickly?”

Connor looked at the girl and tapped his fingers on his arms, now folded.

"Sounds to me like this virus was brought here intentionally for experimentation.”

[member="Eldaah Aderyn"]

 

[Eldaah Aderyn]

[member="Connor Harrison"]

"You think someone is deliberately doing this?" she asked, showing a look of incredulity. "What sort of person essentially kills off an entire town to test something like this?"

"No, Master Harrison might be onto something," Morlin said. "I might find this all abhorrent, but we are the perfect location for such an ... experiment. Isolated location, large enough cross-section of the population to see if there are any immunity to the virus and if it will jump to different species, medical facilities to see if someone might be able to create a cure or vaccine. We even have one of the planet's Holonet relays here to call for help, so whoever is testing this can watch reaction times from planetary authorities or even major galactic powers or even wait to see if Jedi come into a crisis. We are the perfect testing location for whoever this monster is."

"Then we need to get out of here," she said. "There should be a hanger with a transport at the Holonet relay station. The mayor seemed to be paranoid about having to run so it was common knowledge he kept a ship there in case of emergency. We just need to wait until its day and the creatures are hiding or whatever it is they are doing when they can't emerge."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~​

​

Three... two... one... the countdown hit zero and the droid started to fire its blaster into the power generators. Sparks and an acrid smell filled the air as the generators started to blow, the power across the facility failing. Even the backup generators were targeted and destroyed by the probe droid, its master desiring that everything be taken down. The emergency lights started to come on, their power drawn from the city power grid itself... but everything else... the door to E-Wing unsealed itself... and the screeches and shrieks from inside and outside began.

 

[Connor Harrison]

Connor just watched Eldaah as the good Doctor Morlin narrated the obvious, and the reason things were happening. At one time, coincidence was a surprising thing. Now, it was NEVER a thing.

As if on cue, the lights went out for a few seconds, and a low hum kicked in under them and back-up lighting came up, a little dimmer. A few others gasped, cried out, looked around and huddled together. Some ran to the monitors for answers.

"Let me guess – power’s gone and the back-up generator is kicking in, but all defences are now rendered useless?”

Connor just looked at Eldaah. She wasn't even breaking a sweat.

"What a coincidence.”

[member="Eldaah Aderyn"]

 

[Eldaah Aderyn]

[member="Connor Harrison"]

"What are you looking at me for?" she asked and then was promptly interrupted by a screech from the rakghoul that they had had in the containment field. The containment field that had just shutdown when the power dropped. Two scientists that had been observing through the containment field never had a chance as the creature's claws swept left and right, tearing large infected wounds into them.

Then it turned its attention to her and leapt at her and Doctor Morlin, and she promptly screamed... for good effect of course. Deep down, she wasn't worried about the rakghouls. They couldn't truly attack her, as they obeyed her commands, but the Jedi didn't know that. He was going to rush to save her, as all Jedi were want to do.

 

[Connor Harrison]

Before he could answer, the rakghoul let out a cry of freedom, taking down the two researches and bounding out. Connor ducked and scrambled low towards a line of cupboards, knowing what he had to do first.

He simply looked to the floor as he repeated the act he carried out earlier – the hilt to the chest and sending his blue blade searing through them both. Their life would have been over the second the infected beast hit them.

Spinning on his knee, blade activated, Connor watched, torn between what to do – compassion had done nothing but cause him pain, and those he felt for had let him down and pushed him further and further away. They wanted a knight in shining armour? Connor wasn't one of those. He was transfixed on the beast now before the two doctors, and he watched, knelt down and not daring to move.

Millions may be at risk, so a contained situation within the med centre that Connor could control was essential – the lives of many outweigh the lives of few, and right now he needed to see whose life was worth saving or not.

[member="Eldaah Aderyn"]

 

[Eldaah Aderyn]

[member="Connor Harrison"]

The Jedi mercy killed the two infected scientists, but the escaped rakghoul was still leaping through the air to attack her and Doctor Morlin. Before she could do anything, Morlin had tossed her aside and taken the full brunt of the creature's attack, the rakghoul biting into the side of his neck and leaving long gashes on the doctor.

Scrambling back in pretend panic, the creature regarded her with blind eyes and she stopped moving. It gave a shriek and leapt towards another member of the team while Morlin started to go into convulsions. He had been infected with a heavy dose of the virus, but he was still trying to save people.

"Get... the data to the Silvers... run... runahhhhhhh!" and he started to transform, the wounds sealing and leaving scars as his body paled and all the other changes began. She looked over at the Jedi and she was trying to figure out why he wasn't stopping the rakghoul from infecting or killing everyone else here.

From downstairs, they could hear screams echoing up as the monsters from E-Wing and from outside broke into the reception area, the pings of blasters going off as security tried to bring down the monsters. The transformed Morlin slowly got to his feet, giving a screech as it heard the sounds from below.

 

[Connor Harrison]

Connor watched, and observed, and acted. As the mutated good doctor Morlin rose in his new form, his body shook as a violent blue lightsaber was impaled through the chest. From across the other side of the room, Connor’s outstretched arm and splayed hand called the blade back, tearing through the muscle and bone on the return to its owner. The first rakghoul has scurried a little deeper into the centre, still on their floor.

He killed the blade and fixed it to his side and walked over to Eldaah, suddenly feeling he wasn’t going to die here tonight.

"Why didn’t that thing attack you?”

He reached and gripped her arm, tight, holding her in place. The shouts from below along with the blaster fire could be heard.

"Tell me the truth.”

[member="Eldaah Aderyn"]

 

[Eldaah Aderyn]

[member="Connor Harrison"]

"Because I stopped moving," she responded, wrenching her arm out of his grip and giving him a glare. "They're blind, if you couldn't tell by the white eyes. They sense movement and sound so if you stop moving, they ignore you. Were you implying I had something to do with this?"

She added that question with a look of outrage and her voice was laced with incredulity. How dare he accuse her of something like that ... even if it was true, but he certainly wouldn't know that.

"We do need to get out of here," she said, going over to rummage in the security desk for a the holdout pistol there. "With those monsters inside, this place is a death trap and I don't intend on dying or changing into those things here today, do you?" Taking the pistol, she quickly went over and copied the data onto a datachip as the computers were also on the backup generator. "For a Jedi, you're awfully quick to accuse people."

 

[Connor Harrison]

Stepping back, trying to suss the doctor, she at least was right about the blindness, as he found out in the house. He watched her go and get her weapon and sort the data while staking her innocence and frustration.

"I find I live longer that way.”

Walking over, he held out his hand.

"I’ll take that back with me and get it inspected and have our top minds look into the biology of it.”

A loud bang turned his head – were things shorting and starting to rupture?

[member="Eldaah Aderyn"]

 

[Eldaah Aderyn]

[member="Connor Harrison"]

"Fine," she said, turning around as there was a loud bang. Giving him a datachip, she looked up at where the disturbance had come from. "That was the security shutters being destroyed. Those monsters probably were drawn here by all the screaming from the refugees. Although... it's awfully quiet now. You and I are probably the last two unchanged or alive people in the entire town now."

Peeking out of the door, she could see two of the rakghouls slowly stalking through the hallway outside.

"Do you have anyway out of the town? A ship maybe?" she whispered, being careful to not make much sound or movement until the monsters had passed.

 

[Connor Harrison]

"How convenient,” he muttered to himself as he stood behind.

Looking past her shoulder through the door, he saw the two beasts stalking like abnormal security guards; agile, jumpy and horrifyingly human.

"I’ve a ship outside town, pretty much out of here and straight back down over the clearings, near a clump of trees. Past the little house on the outskirts, whatever that was.”

He continued to watch them, both Jedi and doctor alike holding their breath and not flinching in unison to talk without attracting attention.

"Where are you based out of – I’ll take you there.”

[member="Eldaah Aderyn"]

 

[Eldaah Aderyn]

[member="Connor Harrison"]

"Well it was here," she muttered. "Used all my life savings to purchase an apartment here in town. Don't think I'll be going back there. So guess if we get out of this alive, I'll go wherever you think I might be able to make a fresh start. I don't see any of those rakghouls, so we might have a straight shot to the fire escape stairs in the east corner. Those should take us right down to street level."

There was a flicker in the confidence she had been showing to the Jedi, a flicker of fear in her eyes. It was all fake, but the Jedi wouldn't know that as she kept her Force presence artificially in line with her acting. Plus, who wouldn't be feeling a little fear when they were trying to fool an enemy and observe how they handled themselves in such a situation.

"Um... maybe you should go first since you have the lightsaber and all that," she said uneasily.

 

[Connor Harrison]

Nodding, he span the hilt in his palm, a little nervous tick, ready for igniting.

"Ok. Stay close. I’ll get you out to a safe system and you can rendezvous you’re your people.”

He stepped forward, steadily and slowly, letting his senses build a picture of the floor they were on, trying to reach around corners and feel any Force auras of natural life. It was deathly quiet and his heart thumped in his chest – give him an enemy he could see any day. All this creepy sneaking around wasn’t in his comfort zone.

Indicating with his hand to carry on across the corridor, he hopped to a fire door and pushed down on the lever as slow as he could to avoid making a bang, and eased the door open to another small corridor and a side stairwell.

"Chandaar. I’ll take you to Chandaar. You’ll be able to use the public route across the Mara Corridor across the Mid-Rim. Away from the Sith, too. You may be able to find a place to set up your research again, or find your network.”

Letting the doctor through, he overtook and made his way down the stairs, hugging the wall, and stopping now and then as it sounded like the building itself was creaking and howling.

"I would advise making a run, but I think we need to move out slowly and steadily if their sight is their handicap.”

Touching down to what seemed like a few floors below where he came in, this must be street level, or as low as they could get, which meant they would have a lot more cover to work through than outside on the incline.

[member="Eldaah Aderyn"]

 

[Eldaah Aderyn]

[member="Connor Harrison"]

"All my people are screeching monsters now," she replied. "I literally saved up everything I had to work here, and now... but I guess Chandarr sounds like a place to get a fresh start." As they crept down the stairwell to the street level emergency exit, she discreetly pinged her probe droids by 'accidentally' bumping her comlink against the stair railing. They would know to collect her helmet and any other pertinent data she didn't have on the real datachip that was concealed on her person.

"Shh," she whispered. From the other side of the door, she could distinctly hear movement and the sounds of something being torn apart. Some poor helpless soul that hadn't changed fast enough had probably fallen victim to that base instinct of all creatures. Find food. Very carefully pushing the door open, she could see three of the rakghouls clustered around a body on the street.

"Three of them, maybe twenty meters away," she added in a whisper. Her grip on the blaster in her hand tightened, to give that added effect of her being nervous about possibly confronting those things outside.

 

[Connor Harrison]

Peering around, Connor saw them tucking into their "meal".

"I see 'em. Stick to the wall, nice and slow, but don't look at them. Follow me.”

He slid out of the door into the dark, feeling a chill in the air and hearing the sickly sounds of carnivore's eating fresh meat and flesh. He stuck to the wall, one hand on it to feel for any crevices, and moved quickly but carefully. Occasionally he turned to make sure Eldaah was following.

There was no use in talking or risking being heard, they just had to keep their heads down to clear the street and out to the outer city, and then it would have to be a run through open space to the clearing and his ship.

Out in the street, the beasts were oblivious to the duo passing them across the way now parallel with them. So far, so good.

[member="Eldaah Aderyn"]