The Outbreak

[Glory]

[member="Tempest"], [member="Shamira Karuto"]


Freya took a timeout from glaring at the medic to spare the Apprentice a look. "Woman up," she grunted. She was conservative with words. Then she went back to shooting the medic increasingly irritated glares, while the poor fellow worked on her arm. Fortunately, he was used to it.

 

[Nima Tann]

Nima sighed in pain as one of the medics were treating her burn wounds caused by the several lightning bolts thrown at her.

"I'm sorry." The medic talked in a soft tone as she continued applying antibiotics to the wound. "I'm almost done though, just a couple more minutes."

Nima nodded. She was used to this, after all she always had a couple of wounds like this after a battle. She just had to endure the pain a little while longer. The thing that made her uncomfortable was the headache. She couldn't collect her thoughts, and it was difficult to focus. Not being in control of her own mind made the woman frustrated.

"Do you know if there is any news from [member="Tempest"] or the Firemane HQ?" She asked to the medic, her tone reflected how she felt right now. "Also, can you bring me some painkillers?"

[member="Kaida Taldir"]

 

[Kaida Taldir]

[member="Nima Tann"]


The gunship transporting Nima, Kaida and the surviving Angelii landed at the base. Awaiting them were Firemane soldiers and medics plus a few Angelii clad in scarlet armour and carrying halberds or lightsabres. They did not look friendly. Kavora did not meet her gaze when Kaida shoot her a look. "Get the heavily wounded to a medbay. They won't be able to make the trip," Kaida grunted, then walked towards the welcoming committee. "Seraph," she said flatly, addressing the officer in charge of the Eldorai posse.

"High Captain, by the orders of the Captain-General, you are to return to Tygara right away. Host Leader Kavora will be taking over effective immediately. You are to present yourself at the Citadel."

Kaida figured that she was supposed to show some sort of...reaction. But she was out of fraks to give. "In irons or without?"

"Without."

"For now," the one-eyed Ice Lady's intense, piercing stare seemed to make the lower-ranking officer a bit uncomfortable. "Well, don't just stand there on parade. Get a move on, girl," she ordered caustically, then spared Nima a glance. "You fought well," she said gruffly before being led away by the Seraph. The Angelii fell in step behind her, flanking the High Captain.

 

[Tempest]

[member="Laira Vereen"], [member="Nima Tann"], [member="Shamira Karuto"], [member="Maiev"], [member="Kaida Taldir"]

The ship landed near to the Firemane central base. All was in uproar as they were clearly on full alert still. Waiting for them was an entire squad of medics.

Tempest jumped down from the gunships and pointed in. “Get to work,” she ordered.

An aide appeared. “Lady Kerrigan’s compliments, Major, she would like to see you immediately.”
Tempest nodded. “Lead the way, Lieutenant.”

She turned to Shamira. “I’ll be back soon. See what you can do with the wounded and start compiling your report. We will debrief afterwards. Sergeant, carry on,” she ordered Freya.

Tempest did not have a chance to clean herself up, nor did she have any chance to rest. She’d be going to face the boss straight from the battlefield. She wondered the reception she’d get. Frosty, certainly, possibly angry. She could deal with that, she knew she’d done nothing wrong.

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Tempest"]


Tempest would be led to what passed for the base's command room. The entrance was guarded by two huge, stoic looking Kar'zun. Made of stone, they were clad in imposing power armour. One carried a massive war hammer, the other a halberd. Both had bolt pistols holstered.


"You may pass, Major," the first of them, a female called Kar’zakush, rumbled in a voice like the pounding of hammers. They stepped aside and the door was opened, granting Tempest entrance. Once she had crossed the threshold, it was closed again and they reassumed their original position. Aside from having the duty of protecting the Lady, they'd also make sure that unauthorised personnel would not eavesdrope or storm into the room. Like any decent military, Firemane had a chain of command.


Inside, Siobhan was seated in the inevitable elevated chair. She looked tired and stressed, but still managed to project a regal, commanding aura. She was clad in a black dress that made her look rather domineering. Sergeant Simoom and another Kar'zun stood sentinel. "Come closer, Major." She did not just say that for the sake of it. Siobhan had a bit of trouble hearing people at a distance. "I am glad you survived the battle," she paused for a moment. "Report. What happened on Serenade?" her tone was more than a little demanding. Her expression was frosty. Still, she had not begun the debriefing with a tirade.


xxx


Meanwhile, Nima got some painkillers. "Heard the Major's landed. Probably talking to the Boss. I'm happy that's above my paygrade," the medic said in response. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a lieutenant in a fancy uniform approach. "But apparently not above yours. Good luck with Her Royal Highness," she said in a slightly sarcastic tone.


[member="Nima Tann"]

 

[Nima Tann]

The ship has arrived to the base, and her treatment was about to end. "Thank you." Nima replied as the medic extended the container to her. Quickly taking one, she then turned her attention to the medic. It seemed that [member="Tempest"] also returned to the base safely, and was being debriefed by Sio right now. "I can imagine how angry she is, and she is right to feel that way. The mission wasn't our best work." She commented to her words. "I just hope that it doesn't affect her health." She was going to add afterwards, but she was distracted by the Firemane officer approaching.

"Master Tann." The lieutenant nodded to the woman briefly, and then continued. "Lady Kerrigan is expecting you. I'm here to escort you to her."

"Well, I'm also done here. Come to the medbay later, I'll prescribe you some medicine for an easier recovery." The medic said and quickly took her leave. Nima stood up as well, and smiled to the lieutenant. "Let's go then."

There was quite a commotion going on outside between the High Captain [member="Kaida Taldir"] and Angelii. Nima, trying to understand what's going on, came eye to eye with her for a second. After telling Nima that she fought well, the woman was led away by the welcoming committee, quite quickly, one might add.

"What was that all about?" Nima asked to the lieutenant confusedly. "I don't know." She answered. "Eldorai being Eldorai, I assume. Anyway, let us depart." Frowning to the slightly racist comment, Nima started following her. They soon arrived to the entrance, which the two Kar'zun were guarding. They stepped aside once they saw the Twi'lek, and the door was opened. She stepped in, seeing Sio and Tempest.

As expected, the atmosphere was quite cold. Hopefully, she wasn't late and interrupting the two.

 

[Tempest]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] [member="Nima Tann"]


Tempest saluted and stood at ease. She was about to begin when she saw Nima entered. She nodded to the Twi’lek with a small smile. She was glad to see the other woman was safe. It’d also help her debriefing to get information from the Angelii side of the battle.

“We were conducting live fire wargames on the Vexar Peninsula when we received word from General Devotion that Serenade was under attack and had gone dark. There was nothing to suggest an invasion, and aerial recon had not proven effective at determining anything further.”

“Mistress Tann was in the area, having heard about the disturbance herself. She contacted me that she would investigate, and I’ll let her take her side of the story from there.”

“I summoned my platoon, total of 36 all ranks and made my way to Serenade. We dismounted at the southern causeway and approached. As we did so one of the gunships came underfire from the anti-air defence towers, it was destroyed. By this stage we came under scattered fire from blasters. Hearing that High Captain Taldir was reporting the same, we moved in to ascertain the identity of the enemy.”

“We discovered that the enemy was numerous and well-coordinated though poorly armed. A zombie hive-mind had overwhelmed all the citizens of the town who were turned against us. Retreating was difficult die to enemy emerging from the water behind us, as well as fire from the AA tower. I went with Laira Darkhold to disable the tower whilst Sergeant Solveig held her ground at the mouth of the causeway. We encountered several unusual types of aberration and were able to overcome them, though with heavy losses.”

“The Hive-Mind attempted to seduce me with…visions…but I resisted and destroyed the main gun, using a lighter AP gun to hold off the enemy until an airstrike cleared our path. We were then able to extract ourselves from the battle with minimal further losses. I called in the airstrike on precise locations and returned here immediately.”

“Losses were 2 NCOs and 10 privates killed, three other privates wounded. Sergeant Solveig and eight others received minor injuries.”

That was the report, now came the opinion.
“It is my belief, ma’am, that we did not receive proper intel before being sent in. I believe a recon drone or gunship should have ascertained the status of the enemy before sending in infantry. We were wrong-footed by the enemy and suffered heavy losses due to this lack of intel. However, my troops performed well, though further training is required to deal with melee combatants and dealing with infectious enemies.”

Devotion was a fellow Dahomian, but she would not shield her if she thought things could have been done better.

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Tempest"], [member="Nima Tann"]


"As the officer given tactical command, it was within your ability to deploy proper recon assets before sending in your unit. Per the information I've received, you were given free reign to mobilise the assets you deemed necessary. Recon drones could have easily been deployed, even at the price of a delay. And an officer is expected to think for herself, and speak up when she is being given inadequate resources or an operational plan is flawed," Siobhan commented sternly. Of course, one could easily accuse her of being hypocritical. One also had to take into account the poor weather.


"General Devotion's responsibility ranks higher because as a general officer, she's expected to see the larger picture. The same applies to Colonel Kuwahara, for GRU failed in its duties to detect threats and provide actionable intel. There will be consequences due to this. But you acted impetuously. Given the circumstances, the bombardment was necessary. Caught in a cauldron, you and the troops performed well under fire. The loss of life is regrettable. We lost good soldiers and if there were any survivors, we were unable to rescue them. Did you manage to find out anything about the enemy, beyond it being a zombie hive-mind?" her tone was demanding. Her eyes fell upon Nima.

 

[Nima Tann]

Luckily, she wasn't interrupting.

After returning a smile to [member="Tempest"], she moved closer to the two. Shortly afterwards, Tempest started to talk about the events that transpired at her side. What happened at the Angelii side was similar, just a few details here and there that she was going to add when it was her turn to speak. Once Tempest was done with her report, Sio asked if they learned who was behind this attack and the question was, by her look, directed at Nima. She didn't have a definitive answer to that question, but had some theories. Clearing her throat, she started to talk.

"I don't have an exact answer, but some theories that we can use. The hivemind also tried to attack me mentally when I was in a weak state, but I managed to follow the link to find that all the links are connected to one mind. I attacked and managed to break its defences before I was dragged inside an illusion. It was kind of a paradise island, and the residents were the zombies before they got turned. In there, I was directly welcomed by the leader, in disguise of a little girl. I perfectly knew where I was, but I couldn't control myself.

Eventually I came to my senses and took the control back and I managed to stop the zombies only for a few seconds by cutting the link between the leader and the others, but it was quickly mended. The illusion world might be layered, considering what Tempest has gone through and the fact that she wasn't directly confronted by this leader, what she experienced would be the first layer. A distraction until one under the effect was infected and transferred to the second layer. The second layer, which I think that I was in, would be the hub, and it is how the leader is controlling the zombies. It would explain that by escaping this layer, I managed to stop the zombies for a short time. But not fully. Which makes me believe that there's a third layer, in which we can find who's behind this all. Creating more layers increases the effectiveness of the illusion and is a good defense mechanism against other mentalists. So, from this, I can say that what we are dealing with might be an experienced mentalist.

Secondly, the zombies had the basic knowledge of battle tactics. Using the environment very effectively, using the equipment quite well, surrounding us, ambushing us. Which brings me to a conclusion that the leader might have military experience.

And lastly, the leader hates the living. So, they might be a zombie themself. We have encountered zombies that can use the Force, so I didn't rule out that possibility. However, as I said, these are just theories. We'll need further investigation to determine who exactly this leader is."

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]

 

[Tempest]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] [member="Nima Tann"]

Tempest gave no sign as the critique came out. It was hard to take criticism, especially just after the gut-churning terror of battle. The key was being able to actually analyse what was useful there, learn from it, rather than defensively rejecting everything.

“You are correct, ma’am. The urgency conveyed from the orders I received, plus the delay in summoning additional resources made me move swiftly. I moved quicker than I see now was wise had I known all the facts…but as you say we did not have all the facts on hand. I will take this experience to heart and ensure our troops are better prepared next time for this form of enemy.”

She listened with interest to Nima’s words. “A powerful mentalist they were indeed if they were manipulating the Force to control hundreds of beings, plus mentally resist your and my attempts,” she said.

“Were you able to get any sense as to the gender, age, species of who they are or were? Do you believe that girl phantom was just a shape assumed or contained some truth? Once we’ve picked over the ruins we might find more clues, but I fear unless we know what we’re searching for it’ll be hard to know what we’ve found when we find it.”

 

[Nima Tann]

"Unfortunately, I have no idea. I believe the image that has been shown to me was not their true form, but something that would relate to me to increase the effect of the illusion." She answered [member="Tempest"]. The hivemind used a sister image, trying to exploit her feelings about her lost sisters. "We will need to interrogate one of the zombies and study the link further to be sure." She added.

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Tempest"], [member="Nima Tann"]


Siobhan gave Tempest a curt nod. "Good. Consider this a lesson." Then she moved on. "So we have intelligent zombies controlled by a hive mind entity that can mind frak Master-level Force-users by projecting a false utopia. Pity we can't just drop them off on a Sith or First Order planet to give the imperialists a taste of their own medicine," she said dryly, though her voice lacked mirth.


"If the hive mind is a single entity, taking out the hive queen should throw these creatures into disarray. But it may also be a true shared mind. Either way, mentalism wil be crucial in overcoming it. Droids, Kar'zun, Force Dead and soldiers conditioned against mentalism would be best equipped to resist the hive's influence," she spoke.


"We will find answers once live specimen have been suffered. Measures have been taken to contain them," she saw no need to elaborate further. "Once we have a lead, we will follow it to its source, and eradicate the hive. As I understand it, the Alderaanians recently had to deal with a similar outbreak. I will reach out to the Ranger Corps. You're dismissed for now. Mistress Tann, I will call upon your services once we have a specimen worth interrogating. Major, I expect a list of soldiers whose actions merit commendation or disciplinary action. Consult with your NCOs."


In Firemane, disciplinary action included deduction in pay for a certain time span, demotion, incarceration, menial labour, flogging or simply being dishonourably discharged. Mutineers, traitors and deserters were executed by firing squad. Lesser punishments could be awarded by a commanding officer at her or his discretion, but the most severe required the approval of Siobhan or a military tribunal. Unlike some armies, Firemane did not make its soldiers draw lots to decide who'd die. They simply executed the guilty, instead of indulging in meaningless sadism.