Into The Night Run-on

Welcome to the current House Cestus fiction development compeition. This even is in the form of a run-on with a few ground rules:

1. If you claim a post spot, you have 1 hour to post or you will forfeit your spot in queue.

2. You are free to take liberty with your character, however any "GOD" complex posts will be edited.

3. Have fun.

Malice.

Anger.

The emotions flowed freely through the dark halls of the Cestus complex, permeating the entire facility. All manner of indigenous creatures and undead residents were affected, flocking in droves through the dank hallways towards the central chamber. There she waited, drawing upon eons of fury and desire for vindication to fuel the tumult of energy and rage flowing like a tidal whirlpool throughout the chamber, ebbing and breaking off the circular walls. It flowed over the Aptrgangr like liquid, flowing in waves over everything. The chamber began to shake violently, a tremor spreading down the main corridors into the rest of the complex...

*

Walking down the central corridor of the Corsair, datapad in hand and face glued to datapad screen, Huldrych was suddenly and quite brutally flung across the hallway, where he slammed into a bulkhead face-first. Clattering in frustration, Huldrych began to right himself before the entire ship continued its violent shake, sending both Jedi and and non-Jedi running for cover as lighting fixtures, signage, and computer terminals were thrown from walls and torn from ceilings, smashing against the floor and sending shards of transparisteel flying in all directions.

Tearing his comlink off of his belt, Huldrych was already yelling into it before he'd even fully depressed the button. "Bridge, report!"

"We're reading some pretty major seismic activity below the crust, sir. It seems to be affecting most of the continent."

"What's the status of the Corsair's hull?" Huldrych queried.

"Uh, one moment sir," the tech answered. "We're reading several tears along the ventral seam as well as a pretty serious rupture in between the starboard, dorsal turbolaser batteries. We've dispatched security teams to all the breaches and Sato is on his way to the bridge to coordinate the threat deterrence."

"Roger that, bridge. I'm on my way to the dorsal rupture to survey the damage. Have we had any disruptions in the reactors?"

"Minimal. Several control terminals were shaken loose but there's been little power fluctua..."

The corridor lights suddenly cut out, leaving Huldrych in darkness. Judging by the bridge officer's reaction, the same thing must be happening there as well.

"What's going on, bridge?"

"We've just lost power, sir. Total reactor failure. The bridge is running off backup, old-fashioned generators but we're going to need to get those reactors back online and fast."

"I understand the situation, bridge. Thank you," Huldrych replied sarcastically. "I'll head to the reactor room and see what I can do. Huldrych out."

With that he stuffed his comlink into his pocket and fled down the corridor at full speed. Without power the automated defenses would be offline and there would only be the members of House Cestus and the crew of the Corsair to hold the undead at bay.

I think we're in trouble

Ma`ar awoke suddenly to violent shaking, as his hand grabbed the bed rail the siren in his room wailed loudly.
Reaching for his comm. Unit, the Kaleesh shook the nights sleep from his eyes. All that could be heard was a loud wailing from the outside hallway, footsteps outside were numerous only indicating that some major emergency was present.

“Apprentice, care to explain this disturbance?” The Sith exclaimed with ire in his voice.

No word was uttered back, and no returned communication either, this angered the Battle master.

“Enough, of this.” Ma’ar spoke to himself.

The Kaleesh got his robes and saber and proceeded out the door into a busy hallway. Grabbing the first steward that came his way, Ma`ar glared at the human and uttered “Care to explain what is going on?”

“Yes sir, there has been a seismic activity that has damaged the hull to the Corsair the proper teams have been dispatched and the Aedile is on his way. Generators are also effected.” The steward spoke shaking at the site of the Kaleesh.

“Really the generators are offline? I didn’t notice……So where is the Aedile currently?”
Ma`ar scoffed and began to walk down the corridor.

“Sir hes heading towards the Generator room, to ummmm check on things, Sir.”

“Thank you” Ma`ar shouted sarcastically as he walked further down the corridor heading towards the Generator room.

Ga-Tir passed the Kazarelth’s chamber with a certain gusto that marked his immense displeasure at the whole scenario. He paused for a moment as he sensed the Knight meditating amidst the quaking hull. A moment was not wasted as he crashed inside the room and dragged him away from his room.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” Kazarelth howled at the Sith.

“Saving your life. There’s an earthquake, power’s out.” Ma’ar replied tersely.

“Tyrius, I know how to fend for myself. My chamber is well protected… as is this ship. If the power is out, it just means that there has been a temporary surge. Now if you would please stop dragging me.” The Omwati’s irate tone could not be missed. His teal eyes savagely rained down upon the Kaleesh.

“I have reason to believe that we will be required in the reactor room. You have experience with this ship, and a couple more. It would be helpful.”

“I think my experience just spoke; the earthquake could have ruptured a cable or something and there might have been a surge in the reactor. It’s temporary. And thank you very much for saving my life O great Battlemaster.” He smiled condescendingly at the Battlemaster, who scowled in return.

The quaking stopped abruptly, leaving the cold, musty smell of twisted hull to pierce the dark silence about them. The emergency lamps dimmed as the main lights returned.

“I told you, Tyrius. There was no need to worry.” Talismarr smiled again, his lips betraying some mockery that he bore towards the Kaleesh.

“I sensed my apprentice’s urgency at the whole situation…” Ma’ar’s voice trailed off.

“Your Verpine overreacts to an abrupt static in holo communications.” Kazarelth’s lips curled in disgust as he spoke, “I’d hope later we’d be doing drills for removing other insects off our toes as part of our daily routine. Now, if you will please excuse me.”

Ma’ar watched with surprise in his eyes as the Krath Knight walked back towards his chamber. He had not known when he was mocked by a Knight before, and when he had let such mockery go past him. He shook his head and walked towards the bridge.

No sooner had the Omwati opened the door than the quake returned with renewed zeal. The Corsair shook as if it was suffering an ague of paroxysm. Its very being shuddered and groaned, and under its ‘foundations’, the living dead moaned with the ache. The Star Destroyer seemed to be the epicenter of the quake, leaving the sands around it in sufferance of its epileptic fit.
The power went off again; this time for good. Kazarelth sourly went inside to get his datapad and came out. The emergency lights were not glowing. He frowned for a moment, and decided to go to the bridge to know just what was happening.

--

A lot was happening in the bridge. Huldrych’s head was fine, but his mind was not. He was lumbering towards the reactor room. His brain could process the fact that this was not a normal earthquake. It could not have done so much damage to the shielded Corsair. Perhaps the epicenter was below the Victory-class, yet its shields could sustain the damage.
The Verpine had called his Master for help; Ma’ar had broken off from the direction to the bridge and ran off towards his apprentice, yet he was too far away now to accompany the Verpine.
Suddenly, Huldrych stopped when seemingly the power returned. A synapse rippled from its brain to all its tensed muscles, and they relaxed.
However, it was short-lived. The lights flickered and died, along with the emergency lamps. Huldrych blinked, with a certain incomprehensible wave of loneliness drowning him. He wished for a moment that there would be someone who would be there beside him - even the Omwati who was disgusted by his presence. (The Verpine somehow still managed to bear his insolent and insulting tone, and had quite liked trying to break into Kazarelth’s quarters occasionally to steam off the loneliness that held vigil over him)
He held up his datapad, satisfied by that train of thought. Moreover, Talismarr was the only person apart from him who constantly kept his datapad by his side. He also knew the Corsair’s systems fairly well. The only problem was that he hated Huldrych. That will have to be forgotten for now.

“Report to the reactor room. Unusual earthquake has done massive damage. Your knowledge could be useful.” He typed in tersely. His insectoid mind processed another piece of information as he added “Please”, hoping it would do the trick.
His eyes were still on the corridors, and he tried to push away the fear tightly holding on to him like a ghoul by running faster and faster towards the reactor room. Sadly, at his racial pace, even a feather’s barbs could hold on tight to his shoulder.

“Damage control teams to all previously affected sectors,” Sato was issuing commands at a loud, but controlled tone of voice to all of his command staff officers. The Quaestor was obviously in charge and in control, and it gave strength to those members of the crew who had otherwise been shaken up by this apparently devastating, and highly out-of-place earthquake. “The lights may be out, ladies and gents, but we still have a job to do, and glow rods to do them with if nothing else.”

“The damage is not as bad as sensors indicated, Quaestor.”

Sato didn’t need a light to know the man who had spoken to him. The Sith Master had been a friend and leader of the great Clan of Tarentum for so long, there were few who did not instantly recognize the presence of Sith Bloodfyre. The Sith Battlemaster turned in the direction of the Shaevalian, who was striding slowly towards the Quaestor with those same calm, measured footsteps that Bloodfyre seemed to take everywhere he went that was not a “true” emergency.

“How do you know, Sith? Sensors had indicated quite a bit of damage, and the quake itself was enough to be easily noticed,” Sato explained. “Damage crews have yet to fill us in on everything, but we are preparing for the worst, my friend.”

“And you are smart to do so, my Quaestor,” Bloodfyre nodded slowly. “But you know as well as I do, this ship was the flagship of the Clan, and withstood many battles throughout the years without suffering many scars at all. When we planted this ship on the surface of this moon, it withstood the impact quite well. The damage will not be as severe as you are planning for. And I can also tell you, that quake was not natural. Koros has always been a very stable moon.”

“So you’re saying something is afoot.” Sato was often quite the deductive thinker, and it was rather easy to see the gears in his head spinning and turning the situation over in his mind just from the look in his eyes. “Any chance this is the work of whatever Draugr or Aptrgangr are left underground, if any survived at all?”

“The Draugr, smart and powerful though they are, are incapable of this, Sato,” Sith answered, shaking his head to indicate a negative. “This cannot be the work of whatever wayward children may have been left over from the destruction of the old complex. Whatever the cause of this event is, I highly doubt any of our Clan’s creations initiated it.”

Sato stared at the Sith Master for a few minutes longer and then nodded. No more was left to be said. Sato had an incident to command, and the Shaevalian was needed elsewhere. Though the damage was sure to be lighter than anticipated, the reactors going out was cause for enough alarm and suspicion to suspect a possible saboteur. The Sith Master headed away from the bridge towards other areas of the Corsair complex to seek out clues as to the real nature of this problem.


* * * * *


“Bloodfyre thinks this isn’t a natural quake?”

“Yes, Talismarr,” Huldrych replied, “and he told Sato to stop worrying about the cleanup and start concentrating on finding out what is really going on.”

“Bloodfyre said that?” Kazarelth looked somewhat skeptical at what the Verpine Aedile was saying.

“That seemed to be his mindset, at least, from what Sato told me.” It was no secret that the Verpine and Shaevalian sometimes had misunderstandings between them. But it was also well-known that Bloodfyre had been known to have misunderstandings with many people throughout the Brotherhood, and relations between the two had improved greatly in the time they had been a part of Cestus and become ready allies. “I don’t think he’s saying we’re running around on a fool’s errand, but I don’t know how he can just readily dismiss this quake as a minor irritation in the long run.”

“I don’t know if he’s dismissing it, or just saying don’t get caught up in it,” Saitou had come to help his apprentice and the Aedile in taking control of the reactor situation. “It’s best not to get our blinders on and look straight ahead, to the exclusion of what is happening to our right and left.

“Wise counsel, to be sure,” Kazarelth nodded.

“Then the question is, what could be causing the seismic activity that isn’t natural, and that would be of more concern to us?” the Verpine queried his companions.

“Telekinetic powers?” Kazarelth offered.

“Hmm. I wonder if Bloodfye could bring in an expert on the subject,” Saitou thought for a moment. “He does have a long-time friend who knows a good deal about telekinesis.”

“Who?” Kazarelth was genuinely interested.

“A thunder dragon.” Saitou had a slight smirk on his face.


* * * * *


The tides of darkness and the Force rippled across every river and lake in existence, and made marks upon the surface of its flow that were not always easily washed away by the flow of life. Those members of Cestus who could reach out to the Force with any degree of competency could feel the ripples of this event hanging around them, and rolling them along with new, unfeeling currents that went against and altered the normal flow of existence. To a Clan whose powers offered insight into the planes of life, death and beyond, new ripples and undiscovered changes in the tides often caused them some concern and an even greater interest in finding a new threat and either absorbing its powers, or eliminating it completely.

And Tarentum’s House Cestus was not the only group of individuals who could feel these ripples. Throughout the Yridian system, and perhaps even throughout the greater vastness of the Force, the growing ripples were beginning to cause others to take notice…

The hull of the Corsair was designed to withstand turbolasers and ion cannons but neither its shield-profile nor its thick plating could withstand the turbulence taking place beneath the surface of the planet, deep in the complex. The ship was rolled back and forth, twisted side to side, and eventually ruptured down the ventral hull. The tear stretched from the starboard ion cannons to the reactor core in the aft of the ship, causing power to fluctuate and eventually shut off completely. The planet swelled and broke outside the ship as the beings within were thrown from side to side and the canyons forming between the broken tectonic plates threatened to swallow the ship as if it were an inconsequential insect.

*

"Sir, the hull has been breached and we're venting atmosphere!" shouted the distraught bridge-engineer.

With a calm voice in stark contrast to the panicked atmosphere of the bridge Sato responded, "Calm down, ensign. Seal off the breached decks and get the engineering crews down there to erect a magcon field. We'll need to get down there in enviro-suits to initiate repairs. Communications, set off a call to Yridia alerting them to our situation but belay the requests for help. We'll be fine as long as things don't worsen."

Sato pulled his comlink from his robes and queried his Aedile's comm, "Huldrych, report."

"My Lord, the reactor has failed completely. We've got backup power online but we only have enough to power the bridge, life support, and the emergency lights in the reactor room. We have the doors magsealed but we're entirely cut off from the rest of the ship and expect sabotage. There are several major conduits which have been severed in at least 5 places beneath the wall and we're having trouble locating them," the Verpine mechanic replied.

*

Sparks poured from sections of the reactor the crew was working tirelessly on. Under the direction of the Aedile they were attempting make-shift repairs upon the massive piece of technology. In spite of their experience and natural affinity for repairs they were failing. Whoever had sabotaged the reactor had done one heck of a job destroying it. Conduits were shredded to pieces, the coolant reserves were gone and the main coolant had been drained all over the floor of the room, at least 10 centimeters deep. The room was bathed in a dull red glow, the emergency lights, sparks, and intermittent fires being the only source of light.

"Get the rest of those glowsticks in place!" shouted Huldrych, struggling to be heard over the clamor of the failing reactor and wails of distraught technicians.

"Yessir, we're unloading the last of the crates now and the rods should be in pos-." The tech's voice was suddenly cut off as the door buckled inwards. Powerful hands on the other side slamming the metal and causing it to dent inwards towards the reactor room suddenly brought the attention of all the engineers to the door.

"Open the weapons safe, everyone arm yourselves!" shouted Huldrych.

"Sir, the bulkhead should hold them," responded a young technician.

"If they're already at the door then it means they're probing for other ways into the room and when they find them we'd better be ready with bulkhead seals and weapons or we'll never salvage the reactor and possibly lose the Corsair."

Darkness was everywhere as the Kaleesh was quickly making his way down corridor after corridor and through access panels and bulkheads of the Corsair.
Ma`ar could sense something wasn’t right with the situation knowing that the Star Destroyer was old, but no that old to be broke in half. Surrounded by people everywhere carrying glow rods, Ma`ar sensed his apprentice was in a bit of trouble and not like the kind he was normally up to.

Coming to the room, adjacent to the Reactor room Ma`ar could hear the clawing noises already. Lockers being opened and closed suddenly and safeties were being taken off of weapons.

“Master Ga-Tir, glad you could join us.” Huldrych replied as his eyes made contact with the Battle Lord.

The Kaleesh nodded, and walked around some large crates drawing his saber.

“So what do we know about are unwelcomed quest’s?” Ma`ar spoke keeping his eyes on the door.

“Not much Master, whatever it is wants its way into this room.” Huldrych replied.

Slamming harder into the bulkhead shook the room, as the door seemed to move slightly with each smack.
Whatever was on the other side made it known that it was coming through at any costs.

With barely restrained fury, Sato slammed his fist into a communications console, just as the unit flickered off for the last time. The emergency power reserves, had fallen to dangerously low levels mere hours after the seismic shift. The Quaestor, never a paranoid man began to have his doubts about the random occurence of a seismic quake on a moon which had long been classfied as geostable.

"My lord," an isistent voice called to him, pulling the Sith out of his suprisingly deep reverie. It was not like the young Battlemaster to be so easily distracted.

"What is it Lieutenant?" Sato queried.

"Sir just before internal communications and sensors were knocked offline, acoustic sensors detected an abnormal audio register along the lower hull. The sound registered as those infected with," Before the crewman could finish his sentence, Sato froze the man with a malevolent stare, which cut through the dark.

"Aptrgangr," the voice said softly in the cold dark. "I want everyone on this bridge armed and ready to move out in force in ten minutes. If there are any hull breaches we shall have to deal with them at the source."

“Bloody Aptrgangr”, Kazarelth spat viciously at the door. His enhanced vision could make out the sea of grey whose breakers struck vehemently at the durasteel door.
His lightsaber was at the ready in his hand, while his master was steadily making the dented door withstand the powerful breakers from the Restless.
One of the engineers quailed at the onslaught, though he knew the magseals would hold anything.

Then, She struck again. The Corsair shivered and trembled, and a wave of pulsating Force roared out from the epicentre of the quake. The wavefront flattened and hit the full ship with the energy of a tidal wave. The Dark Jedi were thrown off bodily by the explosive power of the energy. The magnetic seals on the doors shuddered, and slowly died away, as suddenly as the Aptrgangr stopped their wails.

Then. Silence. The dented and unwholesome looking door still looked marginally capable of surviving another onslaught. Kazarelth and Huldrych opened their eyes gradually.
“So, Bloodfyre was right.” The Omwati agreed, nursing a bruise on his shoulder. His vision could see the undead lolling around just an inch behind the door, seemingly waiting for orders. Unnervingly, he looked across the room, and saw Saitou lying prone at an odd angle against a column. The Pontifex had taken the brunt. Even so, he was still not badly harmed.
“Saitou?” Kazarelth spoke in an effort to wake him up.

At that moment, the order was given. The slaves set up to their task and used their rotting arms, feet, and heads to crunch open the steel door. The heavy hands stung at the door, and soon the dents became thin slits through which one could make out the torn, decaying sheath that was the undeads’ skin. The intense cold that rushed from the narrow opening made Huldrych’s chitin harden slightly. He twitched a bit, and saw the Krath Knight in an awkward pose, with what seemed like a cold blue sheath covering his figure. He spoke a few words under his breath, his hands pointing at the door. As he did so, the room’s temperature decreased, and the Verpine felt his breath being taken away. He shook his head and looked again at the Omwati. He was visibly exhausted, while the sheath covering him had disappeared.

Kazarelth looked at Saitou again, who was stirring. He walked over to him, and softly spoke again. “Sero, wake up. We’re leaving.”
Huldrych looked at him ridiculously as Kazarelth repeated it to an engineer.
“You there, start exiting. We need to retreat.” The Omwati’s tone hardened as he addressed a techie.
“No way are they leaving, Kazarelth.” Huldrych looked at his teal eyes with a glint of authority flashing in them. His antennae twitched as he pointed towards the reactor. “The reactor has to be repaired.”
“We are lost here. For now. There are too many. Retreat now.”
“We can hold them! We need the repairs!” Huldrych’s voice seemed pained. His essence quivered as every bang on the door shook the room.
“Then stay and complete your precious repairs.” Kazarelth snarled. His anger boiled as his mind focused the door and he let out a thundering blast of telekinetic prowess at the never-ending sea of grey. He opened the door to the exit, as the rumbling ceased momentarily.
“We’re leaving!”
The two of them stormed out of the room.

--

“That was not natural at all.” Sato murmured to himself. The young Battlemaster was reorganising the bridge when the surf of energy flattened him and everyone else in the room.
“There is a powerful entity behind this.” Sith spoke in his disquieting voice. “I can feel it.”
“They are holding out at the reactor room, Sith. I don’t think they can hold on much longer.”

--

"He's there, Tyrius. Try and save him." Kazarelth pointed towards the reactor room. Ma'ar was almost out of breath, yet he snarled at the young Krath and ran towards his apprentice.
"Well. He seems pretty interested in the insect." Saitou said slowly as he watched the Kaleesh disappear.
"I am not. I'd rather like to see it die than give orders to me." He made a face, as he continued, "Did you hear the disembodied voice, by any chance? The one that told me to stay away from the 'children'?"
"No..." The Pontifex prodded his apprentice's brain.
"Funny."

--

‘Another time has this one tried to modify the Life around him. Another wound in my womb. I cannot bear this any more. Go forth, my children. Go and feast on the normal ones. Leave those arrogant souls to me. Go, my children.’

Action VI “Wanderlust”

The chamber was dimly lit and the air had that typical smell of an air filter unit.
Yet, the person in the middle seemed unconcerned about smell and light.
The door into the chamber opened, fresh air blew in along with the smell of sweat and the sound of people working in the hallway. An occasional flash showed the use of a welding torch in the hallway.
“Oi, we are 15 minutes from our destination away. You better wake up, we’re not gonna stay long for ya!” the Second Officer yelled into the chamber.
“I know” replied the person.
“Good.” Answered the Second Officer, withdrew his head from the chamber and the door closed behind him.
The person opened his eyes and got up in a fluent motion.
He got into his flight suit, threw a little package over his shoulder and left the chamber.
The crew of the Action VI freighter was busy with maintenance work, after all the ship wasn’t much more than a flying antique and it seemed to be a race against time with the freighter falling literally apart and the crew trying to keep it together with little more than just good will. Unfortunately, the freighter seemed to win this fight.
He made his way into one of the cargo holds and closed the airlock behind him.
After a deep breath he looked at the sleek fighter in the cargo hold, gleaming in the light of the light spots and showing some red alliance symbols in rows on the side underneath the cockpit window shield. He approached the Tie Advanced with slow paces and reached out to it, with something that could be described as a deep affection, something that you only build up after a long period and after you’ve been through a lot of things together. The fighter seemed to be something like a trusted friend.
He walked slowly around it, inspecting the shield projecting lenses, the rocket launcher tubes, the laser emitter nuzzles and the twin ionic engine exhausts.
After an approving nod he climbed onto the top of the fighter and got into it, closing the hatch behind him.
The pre-flight check went without any incidents and when he turned on the reactor a familiar “hum” and vibration made him ease up.
He buckled himself into the crash couch and took the helmet from behind him, putting it on.
“Wanderlust Control for Inferno Alpha, can you read me?” he asked.
“Loud and Clear Colonel.” The controller answered.
He smiled at this reply.
“Wanderlust Control, I’m ready for take off, please give me time and vector for re-entry into normal space.” He requested.
“Inferno Alpha, re-entry in 3 minutes, Vector is 23-189-34 at 18 MGLT.” The Controller replied.
“Acknowledged Wanderlust, request countdown at ETA minus 30 seconds.” He said.
The controller acknowledged the request and he could lean back in his couch.
He had used his old privileges as Lieutenant Colonel of the Imperial Starfighter Corps. Actually, he hadn’t really used his privileges; he had used his still active used security codes to gain access to some low security databases and issued a transfer order that had given him the access to the cargo hold and the chamber aboard the Action VI freighter. His Tie Advanced would have made the trip too, but he would have been awful low on fuel when he arrived and he didn’t want to take any risks.
The Controllers voice took him back into the present and the countdown showed on his HUD.
When the timer reached 10, he gave some energy into the repulsorlifts that lifted his Tie Advanced a few meters over deck plates. He also started to charge his weapons and brought them online, along with the missile launchers.
Then the countdown reached 0 and started to count upwards.
“Inferno Alpha, we have reached the destination, opening the cargo hold now. Good Luck Colonel.” The controller said and a moment later the cargo hold opened, blasting a bit of air into the vacuum. As soon as it was wide enough open he gave thrust to the engines and left the cargohold. When he was clear and a good two klicks away from the freighter, it jumped into hyper again.
He was alone again, like many times before, but maybe, maybe this time it was different.


Yridia Space - Koros

He accelerated his Tie Advanced and sped forward. The Tie Advance’s sensors were running overtime on the Yridia System.
It looked still the same, but seemed so oddly silent. He couldn’t find any active signals.
A slight pressure in the back of his skull told him that someone was still outside and it was strong in the force.
He took a deep breath and opened himself to the force, but only enough to get an idea where he had to look for what he came for.
An internal course indicator showed him not Yridia itself, but to its moon, Koros.
He aimed his sensors onto Koros and soon afterwards he saw the Corsair, the famous VSD, on the surface.
“By Palpatines black bones! What did they do to the ship?!” he gasped.
He checked his Comm-Board for any open channels still shaking his head in disbelief but there was no carrier signal, nothing, as if all communication was either blocked or the Corsair before him had no energy to its systems which he couldn’t believe.
He opened himself fully in the force and felt that the ship was occupied and that the crew was under stress.
When he opened himself fully to the force he made himself also known to other force users on the ship and there seemed to be plenty. He smiled.
A moment later when he was initiating his landing sequence on the outside hull of th Corsair his comlink channel blinked.
He opened the channel.
“Unknown Force User, identify yourself.” A calm voice inquired.
“This is Epis Frey Gallandro, I have been summoned by the Force.” He replied.
“Where are you?” the voice asked.
“I’m approaching the Corsair and will enter the ship through airlock starboard 21-34.” He said, checking the landing place with the schematics of the ship.
“Enter the ship at the airlock and remain there, I will send someone. Have your lightsaber ready all the time, we have some minor problems here.” The voice said and a second later the channel was closed.
Frey landed his ship and secured it, taking his Lightsaber and his bag to make his way out of the fighter and into the airlock.
After he entered the airlock he waited there, when the ship suddenly shock violently.

Sato grunted in exertion as his sabre traced an intricate pattern of crimson death through the darkness, cleaving through cold flesh. Early on seeing the futility of defending the command bridge against attack, the Quaestor had ordered his personnel to sally forth the Darksiders in pairs and the mundane crew in larger groups, with orders to link up at pre-arranged locations in the vital areas of the ship. It did not take long for the parties to encounter massive resistance.

Immersed at an early age in the necromancy of Tarentum, the Battlemaster had dealt with Aptrgangr on several occassions in the past, under the watchful eye of his master. This situation seemed subtly different to the Sith. The current of the Force, usually awash with ever changing ripples and eddies coalesced congruently around each of the unnatural creatures, directing them as if they were puppets.

Sato's reverie was interrupted as he felt a buzz of dark energy between his shoulder blades, warning him of danger. Guided by the Force, the Quaestor hurled his lightsaber into an on-coming creature whilst throwing himself forward in a somersault beneath a lateral slash from the darkness to his left. Righting himself, Sato lashed out with the Force with great percision, crushing the monster's knee caps and other vital joints. With a twist of his hand, the monster's neck broke and he hurled the carcass into the next oncoming monstrosity. Another tendril of Force power brought his lightsaber to hand and the Sith launched himself at his enemies, drawing upon his own anger to channel the awesome power at his command.

After a few more moments of savage fighting, the corridor that led to lower deck 2 was cleared of moving targets. Sato toggled his crimson blade off, bathing the Sith in perfect darkness. His companion, a young Jedi Hunter lay crumpled in a dishelved pile, disembowled by their attackers. Giving no further thought to the young man, Sato jogged into the pregnant darkness, determined to regain control of his fragmented House.

The Verpine stared in absolute disbelief as Kazarelth and his master abandoned the most vital point of the ship. He never could figure out human thought patterns, much less those of the bastard offshoots of humanity. Were the reactor room to fail there would be extremely minimal power provided to the rest of the ship. Life support could possibly fail, there would be minimal lighting--giving the Aptrgangr a dangerous advantage over the non Force-users aboard-ship--, vital doors would likely cease to function, and security systems and ship surveillance will be offline. If they did not cease their hive-endangering actions Huldrych would have to break them.

Fools

Ga-Tir arrived in the room just as the first Aptrgangr began to work their way into the room. His lightsaber ignited at the exact same moment that the Engineering crew opened fire with an assortment of slugthrowers and blasters. Fire poured against the door, battering the first several undead back into the hallway, blasting fist-sized chunks out of their disheveled robes and the flesh beneath.

"Open the rear doors!" Huldrych shouted to the head engineer as Marius charged forth into the fray, deftly taking the heads off a pair of Aptrgangr as atmosphere, laser-blasts and slugs the size of a finger flew past his head.

"But sir! That could decompress the entire deck!"

"Do it now! It will buy us time to get these doors closed and make it more difficult for the scum to get through!"

The young officer quickly complied, and the doors to the rest of the deck opened behind him, pulling the atmosphere faster through the room and threatening to pull Marius out with it, but the Aptrgangr were having a pretty severe time struggling against both the sustained fire from the crew (themselves hidden behind consoles and secured against the rushing atmosphere) and the air streaming out of the room. The maintenance crew was already standing close by with durasteel weld-plates to resecure the doors.

All that was left to do was force the enemy back.

Surging forward like a beast of war, Huldrych charged directly into the fray as an Aptrgangr brutally tore the head off of a crewman armed with a vibroblade. Huldrych could barely see the light of his master's blade through the massive crowd of undead pushing their way into the room. Grabbing the Aptrgangr from behind Huldrych raised the flailing undead above his head, taking a number of painful body-blows against his carapace from other enemies as he smashed the thing against the wall, crushing its head down into its torso.

Grabbing the striking hand of another undead, Huldrych let out an inhuman roar as he tore the beasts arm off and leapt atop it, crushing it beneath his half a ton of carapace and interior muscle and shredding its with his mandibles, digging each bony, facial appendage deep into its head before tearing it's face off.

Suddenly Huldrych felt a vibroshiv being driven slowly into the small of his back, eliciting a roar of pain from the insect. The knife pushed forcibly through his carapace and into the softer meat beneath. Leaping to his feet Huldrych jumped backward, smashing his assailant into the wall as foes continued to rain blows upon him, taking a toll on his constitution.

Without warning a console was torn loose from its holdings, both it and the engineer behind it flying uncontrollably towards the exit. Standing directly in the way, Huldrych was able to grab the engineer by the wrist and redirect him towards the bulkhead flanking the door, giving him something to grab on to.

Ga-Tir agilely ducked out of the way of the console, taking off an assailants head as he leapt to the side. Huldrych, however, was not so dexterous and was smashed head on by the console, breaking his force concentration and, thus, sending him flying out the door alongside the large portion of Aptrgangr. As Huldrych was sucked towards the gash in the ship and towards the decompressed Koros Complex he could see Ga-Tir--through the door--finishing off the last few Aptrgangr as the maintenance crews welded the plates over the empty doors. No matter, Huldrych would have done the same thing to protect the hive were it demanded of him.

He flew past Aptrgangr, stuck to the floor and walls through sheer strength as he reached out with a massive clawed arm and tore at the bulkhead to slow himself before finally coming to a stop as the air rushing past him diminished slightly. He knew he had only seconds. The engineers were surely welding the last plate in place by now and then the minimal atmosphere in the hallway would be entirely gone.

Shearing through the metal with his claw, he brutally kicked an Aptrgangr rushing towards him as he scurried through the rip in the wall against the atmosphere rushing out, making it inside just as the room's massive desk sailed towards the opening, smashing against it and sealing the hole. Once inside the room, a dingy engineer's quarters, he immediately set to work looking for a maintenance hatch.

Huldrych felt the voice instead of hearing it...

Insect...

She was near. Huldrych had no idea who she was... but he could suddenly feel her overwhelming presence in the force... a presence permeating the air around it... enough to fill only an entire room, probably to keep itself isolated from the rest of us as much as possible, Huldrych thought. Unfortunately for me, if that's the case and it's so strong a signal...

Huldrych turned slowly, hand reaching subtly for the rifle slung over his back....

Frey waited for a few minutes but nobody came to pick him up and he grew impatient.
Something seemed oddly wrong about this place and it appeared to be far more than just a VSD on the moon instead in its orbit and he still couldn’t believe it.
The lights in the corridor ahead of him were out and the air had a stale taste to him.
He wasn’t sure if he should advance into the ship it was a long time ago that he had set a foot onto the deck of a VSD after all.
It had been a different time back then and he wasn’t sure if he was really welcome here.
He shrugged the old memories away, took his glowrod from his utility belt, activated it and marched forward. He kept his right hand over his lightsaber to have it ready if needed.
While walking down the corridor he tried to remember the way to the bridge from where he was but the exact way didn’t come up in his mind. He therefore settled to walk to the next main corridor and see if he could make his way to the control room from there.
His steps echoed in the corridor dull and lifeless.
He began to feel uncomfortable, as if something was lurking in the shadows waiting only for him. The feeling increased with every step he made forward and his hand finally took the grip of his lightsaber on its own. He unbuckled his weapon and kept it at his side, deactivated.
Every step felt wrong to him and adrenalin began to rush through his veins, anticipating a conflict that he could feel but yet not see.
He refrained from opening himself fully to the force, instead he relied on his senses and when he held the glowrod in front of him he caught a movement.
An instant later his lightsaber was activated and he held it in front of him in a defensive stance.
He wanted to demand the identification of the person in the shadow in the very moment the thing from the shadow attacked.
The lightsaber acted with a will of its own and Frey added no conscious thought to his defensive move.
A splinter of a second later it was already over. The glowrod still in the other hand a different scent has mixed into the air that of a deceasing body.
He illuminated the thing that had attacked him and anger rose in him boiling through his internal barriers.
“Aptrgangr!“ He said and spit onto the once human body in front of him.
Suddenly he realised what must have happened to the lights and the guide who was coming to escort him and his face turned into a mask of anger.
He abandoned the plan to make it to the bridge and opted to make it to the machine room instead. If the lights were out and no emergency lights were on it meant that the situation down there must be indeed serious.
He reached the main corridor and increased his pace, opening himself now fully to the force and expanding his awareness in all directions.
In the back of his mind the puzzling call of the force that summoned him to this place must have come from here or from what once was Cestus Base and was now covered by the Corsair. He would have to find out and if it meant to dig his way through the ship into the old Cestus base, then so be it.

Cripple

The word was a soft ripple in the otherwise seamless infinity of the dark side, an intangible whisper in the darkness. Sato's mind reeled at the caress of a foreign presence in the sanctum of his own mind. The Sith staggered in his tracks, cognizant of the power behind the subtle touch. His Force connection momentairly severed, Sato's limp and the pain it brought returned in a wave of sensation.

Be made whole

Again the soft voice whispered directly into his mind, attempting to entice him with subconcious visions and yearning of being made physically whole. For an entire second, the Sith examined temptation laid out before him...and considered. With a growl and vigorous shake of his head, he cleared his mind and re-established his force connection. Igniting his lightsaber to sever the arm of yet another of the undead creatures which lunged at him, he muttered, "I have no idea who you are woman, but when I'm finished with you, you'll wished you had not meddled in our affairs."