Dark Secrets (Closed, Structured RP / Short Story Finale)

"Fair enough," Raiflaine said with a somewhat mischievous look in his eye. "You people might want to hold onto something."

"Cutting power to the hyperdrive in 3....2.....1!"

The Zenith lurched forward as it violently left hyperspace before it was due to do, the lights on board flickered off for less than a second and were quickly replaced by the deep red glow of auxiliary emergency lighting. As the shields, propulsion and weapons cut out the ship became almost silent, drifting gently on minimal life support, supposedly dead in space.

The silence was almost palpable as the crew looked at one another, none wishing to speak incase it might somehow blow their cover. Seconds passed, then moments.

Eventually after what seemed like an age Raiflaine leaned forward and pressed a few controls. After a couple of moments of checking readouts, he flicked a few switches and the full lighting returned, followed by the hum of several of the ships functions returning to life. The Bounty Hunter spun round on his chair to address the other crew members.

"Looks like we're in the clear. Good call."

Leaning back round in a slightly smug manner as if the whole plan were actually his idea, Raiflaine re-initialized the Hyperdrive sequence and this time The Zenith pulled into hyperspace smoothly as it was intended to do, causing no problems for any of the crew members.

"We should be at Rafa III in less than 5 standard minutes."

*************

RafaIII, The Rafa Sector, Outer Rim Territories

The Zenith exited Hyperspace on the opposite side of Rafa III than their original trajectory suggested, a plan Raiflaine had put into action working on the assumption there might be a welcoming committee awaiting their arrival.

He looked almost dissapointed to see nothing but the large planetoid hung silently in space, its gray-green surface surrounded by a thick, dark atmosphere.

"Huh." Raiflaine mummered to himself, obviously put out by this latest development.

((Upon dropping out of Hyperspace, both Nex Deus and Lilin suffer an intense headache as if they had just undergone a massive change in air pressure. Both sense a strong concentration of Dark Side energies coming from the planet...))

With a shrug, the Bounty Hunter pressed a few more buttons and brought up a holo-display of the planet, accessing the Galactic HoloNet database.

"Seems this place used to a mining colony a while back," He began. "Readings indicate there is minimal life on the surface, mostly vegetation and its sparse at best; looks like the place must have been strip-mined."

He turned to Creed and continued.

"Looks pretty dead overall now though, I'd say whoever was here has shipped out. I am picking up some energy readings, but they're a little on the faint side, I'd guess underground. There are some structures on the southern hemisphere which would tally up with a small mining colony, but there are strong admospheric shields in place making it difficult to take accurate readings. I can't even tell you for sure if there is anyone alive down there."
He looked almost annoyed as he continued.
"..best I am getting are some inconsistant 'blips'. Could be anything. Problem is the atmosphere down there is fragged, seems almost toxic. You're gonna need breathers and the visibility is not gonna be good. Would explain the strong shielding though, not many species would be able to safely walk on the surface."

Raiflaine turned round to begin the descent through the planets atmosphere and, guiding the ship expertly toward the planets mesosphere, said:

"Oh, by the way, no sign of our unexplained travelling companion either. Whatever that ship was, there's no sign of it anywhere near here."

Her senses were sent reeling as they exited hyperspace causing Lilin to make a sharp intake of breath. She struggled to quickly master her agitation. Raiflane was saying something about mining and she focussed her entire attention on the sound of his voice, the cadence of his baritone anchoring her to the here and now.
    Lilin shook her head as layers of stygian cloud enveloped the Zenth on it’s descent through the planet’s turbid atmosphere. ”It’s almost hypnotic, isn’t it? It shocked me from high orbit, but this…” The mists sliding over the small ship’s windows were mesmerising, a phenomenon for which she was pleased; it veiled the true reason behind her distraction. “Who would do such a thing? And on such a scale?”
    She turned in her chair and looking from one face to the next, ventured a guess. “The Hutts?”

Fuze nodded in response to Lilin's question.

“Such a thing is certainly possible. Its not unlike the Hutts to strip an entire world of its resources just for profit. Something about this seems....different though. Less methodical, more...I don't know. I'm struggling for the right word. 'Sinister', perhaps?”

If he was concerned by such a proclamation, Raiflaine wasn't showing it as he guided the ship through the oppressively-dense atmospheric clouds and began to bring the Zenith into land at the mining colony he'd mentioned from high orbit.

“Much as I like the possibility of a good fire-fight, I recommend I stay on the Zenith, chief.” The Bounty Hunter began. “I know how to pilot this baby and if things turn sour I can have her prep'd and ready for dust-off.” He looked slightly disappointed by the suggestion of not getting involved, but also resigned, aware of the fact he spoke the truth: if they needed a quick getaway, he would have to be ready.

Without mentioning anything but expecting he would be needed, Forge made his way silently beside Creed, assuming he would be leading the mission to the surface.

The Twi'lek looked around at the others and gave a little shrug.

“Raiflaine's right, and for the same reason I recommend I also remain here. My skills there would be of....limited use, but I too am a pilot and am fully trained in the use of the S-250 Chela-class starfighter. Should anything bad happen to Raiflaine here,” he said and suddenly realising how that might sound and be misunderstood by a human, corrected himself,
“Which it hopefully won't, of course; it would make sense that I take the form of a back-up.”

Much to his surprise, the Bounty Hunter did not get upset, despite his previous comments in general.
Instead he shrugged.

“Fine, I'll babysit. It'll give me someone to talk to.” Then with a sudden burst of life, he sat forward and became very animated.

“On one condition: I'll take Tail-head here, but you have to take Copper-top!” He said, motioning to Lilin.

“...and don't forget your Breathers, they're in a cabinet by the loading ramp.”

Creed gave the Twi'lek a long hard stare before responding to Raiflaine.
"Very well, Raif you stay here but by no means is the tail-head touching this ship, you got it?"
Grabbing Lilin tightly by the arm he lead the remaining away party toward the loading ramp.
"Sorry sugar, but you're coming with me."
The docking bay was cold and dark and he could barely see more than a foot away from himself due to the poor lighting. He started rummaging about near the loading ramp searching for the breathers.
"Right, I got 'em. You may find these will come in handy." He said sarcastically whilst tossing the breathing apparatus toward Nex and Lilin.
"Lower the ramp Raiflaine, we're all set."
The ramp slowly made it's slow descent to the planets surface and as it did so he caught his first glimpse of how desolate the planet truly was.
"Who would live on this rock?"
His voice sounded muffled with the breather encompassing his mouth.
"I guess you lead the way then bolts. I don't want any nasty surprises and no offence old pal but droids can be repaired."

Lilin felt Creed further loosen his grip allowing her to don the breather. When done she nodded to him she was ready. Confident he had accepted her capitulation, in a gentle easy movement she adjusted their contact so her hand rested in the crook of his arm as they waited for the ramp to complete it’s declension.
    She looked out over the ruined landscape. ”Lovely. You really push the boat out for a first date I see.” she grinned. About to say more, she lightly slapped her forehead with her free hand.
    ”My things!” She disengaged herself from Creed. ”Sorry, just one sec. My bag’s around here somewhere” She stalked the small ship, talking all the while (whether to Creed or herself was unclear). ”I don’t have much in the world, not any more, but there’re a few bits and pieces that might come in handy out there – you never know. Never underestimate a well stocked hand bag! And besides, your compatriot looks like the rummaging type.” She straightened and shot a dangerously arched eyebrow at Raiflaine. “Coppertop?
    ”Ah. Here we are.” Looping the satchel strap over her shoulder, Lilin returned to Creed’s side as the droid advanced down the ramp.

The Droid, Talortai and two Humans made their way across the gloomy, desolate surface of RafaIII. At times their pace was good, at others they were slowed by sudden freak dust-storms which would blast across their path and buffer them violently before vanishing just as suddenly leaving an eerie, almost sinister quiet.

Eventually the outhouse buildings of the small mining colony appeared, the only one on the planet and according to Forge's data banks, rather unimaginatively denoted as 'Rafa III Mining Colony'. Records stated that the majority of the complex was beneath the surface, that the buildings that surrounded the group as they approached where like the protruding cap of the proverbial iceberg.

As they approached the main double doors, the group had to take shelter from another sudden dust-storm, this time completely cutting their view off from The Zenith back on the horizon. The only one unaffected was of course Forge who studied the door for a moment and removed a small access panel near the entrance.

“One moment sirs....and miss,” he began as he worked to remove the panel and extended a long data-spike from the palm of his left hand and inserted it into a small circular receptacle among the wires of the access panel. “This should take me but a moment.”

True to his word the door hummed into life and opened with a swish as it slid aside to reveal a pitch-black corridor beyond. Lights slowly and in sequence automatically switched on one after another along the ceiling, snaking their way into the distance revealing their entranceway to not only be very long, but also rather uninteresting in that it was comprised of a gray material unlike anything found in modern habitats, almost featureless except for the odd pipe or indent. Purely functional and with no aesthetic qualities to speak of, it lead to another large set of double doors at the other end of the corridor.

“Fascinating,” commented the Droid who was blissfully unaware that he was the only one who considered his surroundings to be as such.

Blinking the grit out of her stinging eyes Lilin brushed past the droid, following a number of small swirling dust-devils dancing their way through the open doorway. Immediately moving far enough down the corridor to be free of the laden gusting wind she off-loaded her satchel and unbuttoning the top few buttons of her blouse and untucking it, tried to shake what felt like half the planet’s desiccated topsoil out of her clothes.
    Seemingly oblivious to how her jiggling must look to her companions she smiled a comic smile. ”Oh… That’s so much better. That’s been driving me mad” She turned to face the droid in the doorway. ”You’re a life-saver Mister Forge”
    Now more comfortable, Lilin scratched absently at her head and looked around her new surroundings with some curiosity.

Removing a small piece of cloth from his pocket Creed cleared his scarlet tinted goggles of the dust that encased them. The dank surroundings of the bunker were far from aesthetically pleasing and the long corridor looked as though it hadn't seen life in a very long time. The artificial lights that set off almost in unison stung his eyes as they slowly adapted to thier new surroundings.

Signalling to the others to keep silent he cautiously made his way down the corridor toward the double doors, blaster in hand.

Peering down the hallway and scratching at her scalp Lilin gave a snort of irritation. Planting her feet and bending slightly she flipped her russet hair forward and ruffled through the previously glossy locks with her fingers, combing out the grit. Straightening up with a toss of her head she caught Creed signalling for quiet and silently mouthed to him a "sorry".
    Creed's weapon was drawn and as he moved down the corridor Lilin scooped up her belongings and fell in beside him.
    "Are we expecting trouble?" she whispered. "What are we doing here anyway? And who is this Ree'tak? Is the droid hers?" The concept of a stealthy approach was clearly lost on her.

“I’m anxious to see what lies behind the other door.” Nex said to himself dragging his hand across the featureless wall and down the hall. “Welcome to paradise.”

Although walking through dust storms, the feeling of solid ground beneath Nex’s feet was a welcome relief after the problematic space flight. After slowly making his way down the hall he stopped and turned towards his companions.

Creed had signaled for everyone to remain silent, which Lilin seemed to have difficulty pulling off as she quietly assaulted Creed with questions. With a humored grunt and a nod he moved his hand to his belt and blended into the background as his stealth field activated.

“Right behind you.” Nex said positioning himself behind the group.

((Elsewhere in the Facility))

The mess hall held an erie silence broken continuously by the wailing siren calls of the duststorms raging against the walls, remnants of life where scattered everywhere data pads, pieces of clothing, trays and plates that had once contained food now covered in the remnants of long dead mold and funguses that had prospered on their surface.
The space distorted and something moved through the space in the dead room and then nothing.... it disappeared as soon as it had appeared, a load snap broke the silence, a spoon had been tore from its encrusted grave and it floated into the air, the air shivered and parted and a figure emerged from the void.
A tall Umbaran stood in the once empty space looking over the spoon with curiosity, draped in a hooded trenchcoat that matched the color of the terrain she looked distinctly out of place she began to examine the utensil with a pair of flat circular goggles that covered half her face, small traces of light came from them and weaved over it, they beeped and she pulled back looking at it confused.
Discarding it she turned around slowly and clumsily, the stealth generator was a cumbersome half suit that covered the back of her body, attached to her limbs it slowed her progress but offered much more cover then the standard belt model. The goggles light traces intensified and followed her gaze as she sweeped the room, again they gave a negatory beep, she let out and sigh and stood there for a few seconds defeated before snatching a data pad and pulling it into a power port she wore.
It flashed to life displaying whatever data it had once held, flicking through it she found what she was looking for, "Twelve years....." she breathed almost silently.
She stopped straight dropping the datapad, inside her goggles a red oblong began to flash, she tapped them and they immediately switched to the cameras she had set up in the corridor behind her, the streamed image showed of a strange assortment of Bipeds walking through the entrance, they couldn't be more than 60 feet from here position. She swore under her breath....

The following events occurred in real-time but felt to all parties, to be unfolding in slow-motion:

As the Umbaran woman realised her investigation of the long-since abandoned mess hall was about to be disturbed, one of three main doors in the room slid open automatically as sensors picked up approaching footfalls.
Two Humans and a Droid were revealed, a cloaked Talortai less than a foot behind them, hidden from view.

The individuals shared startled looks, unsure in the seconds that followed how to react, not knowing the best course of action. Flee? Communicate? Defend oneself?

The Galaxy it seemed had other ideas, removing their choice entirely and forcing them into action. Before an exchange of words or blows could be exchanged, one of the other doors – this time at the opposite end of the room, past the Umbaran woman – slid open to reveal three humanoids. Two Humans and a Wookie examined the intruders briefly, and in return they too were scrutinized: each was dressed in dark, drab colours, a mixture of blacks, greys and browns and each looked slightly unhealthy. The Humans had greying skin and sunken eyes, the Wookie's fur was greying and matted, bald in places where clumps of fur had fallen out. Each were carrying a heavy blaster pistol, even the Wookie whom were most commonly seen with Bowcasters.

To Creed and Nex Deus, they seemed reminiscent of the stranger who has spoken to Ree'tak the last time they had seen her, back in the Swollen Shaak Cantina on Coruscant.

Time began to drag itself out of slow motion and into normal momentum as one of the two Human men placed a hand to his ear, touching what looked like a small headset and spoke a word so quietly that it was inaudible at such distance.

Then the lights went out. The power shut down as the the hum of previously unnoticeable generators fell to silence, and everything fell into a dark panic.

Without warning three blaster bolts rang out, one narrowly missing the Umbaran woman who was already on the move, one scorching the wall mere inches from Lilin's head and the final one hitting Forge in the left arm causing him to spin from the impact and hit the floor...

”Frak me!” Lilin dove to the floor, the smell of ozone strong in her nostrils from the blaster bolt’s all too near miss. She landed with a crash knocking over and entangling herself in a pair of lightweight canteen chairs. Desperately blinking away the bright-on-black afterimage the bolt’s flare had burned into her retinas she blindly squirmed her way under the table, listening sharply to the sudden turmoil erupting in their midst.

“It’s about time.” Nex thought to himself as he leapt over Lilin, who had dropped to the floor, and landed away from the barrage of blaster fire that had begun to engulf the room.

Although his sight was limited, the quick flashes of blaster fire were enough for him to lock onto his target. Focusing his force ability into his legs he charged, sending the wookie stumbling away from his other two companions. With a few more quick movements the blaser was knocked from his hands.

The wookie let out a loud frustrated roar as Nex deactivated his stealth field and stood in front of him. With a respectful nod and still keeping what eye contact he could with the wookie, Nex hollered towards Creed.

“I want the wookie! The other two corpses are yours.”

Nex took his stance and shortly afterwards the two charged at each other and clashed in a test of hand-to-hand strength. Even though looking aged and dirty, the wookies strength was remarkable. The wookies claws ripped into Nex as the Talortai retaliated with a few quick jabs and kicks. Each fighter took turns throwing one another against anything and everything in the room, occasionally getting caught by the surrounding blaster fire.

Forced to keep his attention on the wookie, Nex was unaware what was happening with Lilin or Creed.

"You still alive over there Creed?"

Ril twisted so fast she felt liked she'd snap, pulling her goggles from her eyes she could see much more clearly Umbarens could see much better in the dark than the light, leaping through the space above the counter Ril found herself crashing into the kitchen opposite of the doors the new threat had entered from.
Bolts flew over her head and the once still room filled with smoke and derbies, she pressed her back against the bulk of the counter and she waited, absorbing the rhythm of the firelight she waited until it felt just right the fire....
Popping up she fired two shots straight through the Wookie's chest with her blaster, sporting a grin she fell back to take cover as his compatriots returned fire, she sat waiting for the thump of his large body as it hit the ground...... but none came, she hadn't even heard a yelp or a moan as she shot him and she could still hear 3 sets of blasters from the same direction
“I hit him!” she yelled angrily over the gunfire jumping up to shoot him again, sure enough he still stood there tall as before however with a new addition to his chest, 2 large burn marks dripping with some dark substance, Ril was momentarily shocked allowing the Wookie to turn and level his blaster …before it was blasted away by some unseen force.....

“I want the Wookie! The other two corpses are yours.”

….came a voice from within the room the Wookie had been pushed into, coming to her sense's she took aim on one of the two remaining humans, cold and grey they already looked dead, momentarily hidden form their view Rill aimed at the head of the closest one and fired

"Oh heck not these guys again!"
Creed's words were delivered quickly as the lights simmered down to almost inpenetrable darkness. Using what little vision he did have left he jumped sideways into a nearby table, firing at the source of the blaster fire as he skidded along it's surface on his side. Time seemed to slow down as he made his daring move across to the other side of the room. Reaching it's end he realised he wasn't alone. A slim tall female was taking cover and firing in what appeared to be the same direction as him.
"Hi" he spoke with a nervous boyish charm, not knowing what to expect from this new encounter.

In the chaos he could hear Nex calling out to him to check if he was still alive.
"I'm doing just great pal.....I think"
He checked to see if this mysterious female was comfortable with his last statement before taking another shot.

Shortly after things had gone dark, the room was semi-illuminated in an eerie red glow as the emergency lighting initiated, bathing the room in a blood-like ambiance.

As the Talortai and Wookie exchanged mêlée strikes Nex found himself sensing something peculiar yet elusive coming from his opponent, familiar yet somehow unknown. He fought with the ferociousness that all Wookies possessed but seemed somehow less guarded, almost as if the creature was not registering getting harmed. As they clashed a blaster bolt struck the Wookie from across the room, the beam cutting straight through the left shoulder and clean out the other side.
Immediately Nex knew something was wrong when his opponent not only ignored the shot and continued to fight without slowing, but that the hole left by the attack did not begin to bleed. In fact he could see no blood at all initially, but noticed as he changed his stance that congealed blood could be seen inside and around the wound, not consistent with a quarterized injury.

“I hit him!” came a shout from the other side of the room as the Wookie snarled and began to charge his opponent.

As the two other Humans fanned out around the side of the room, one taking one wall each in an attempt to box the others in, Forge struggled to get up after being hit by blaster fire.

“This is not right....malfunction....” it was saying to itself as it used the wall to prop its frame up. Glancing around, it saw the only sentient within earshot: the Human woman who had joined them on Coruscant.

“Miss, I seem to be malfunctioning...” it said as the redhead flung the droid a look but not engaging in conversation as she ducked down, dodging blaster fire.

Convinced that the mistress must be misinterpreting the communication as a complaint or request for help, it continued:

“Miss...either my sensors are malfunctioning or something is very wrong indeed. I am picking up the presence of only four life-forms in this room.”

The fight continued and blaster bolts rang loud in the enclosed space. Lilin wanted to stay where she was and hoped to remain hidden but the damned droid had betrayed her position.
     She looked towards Forge leaning shakily on the wall. “What the hell are you talking about, robot?” From under her table she quickly counted bodies in the dim red gloaming. One had locked arms with the bird-man and two were circling the perimeter. “I can see at least three hostiles! Are they droids, you’re saying?”
     She was thinking quickly now. The robot had probably done her a favour. It was important she gained Creed’s trust and proving she was useful in a tight spot was a good start. Spying a blaster on the canteen floor between herself and the droid she weighed up the odds. The lighting was poor and everyone’s eyes were hopefully locked on their attackers. It was still a small ways off from her trajectory but she could risk it in the confusion.
     Darting out from beneath the table directly at Forge, Lilin launched herself into a tight roll. Gaining her feet – weapon now in hand - blaster-fire surrounded her as she ploughed into the droid and dragged him back into the corridor from which they had entered, firing off some shots behind her to cover their retreat.
    She rammed the droid unceremoniously in the small area near the door which was screened from gunfire. ”Stay here!” she admonished before dashing to the corresponding corner opposite.
    Catching her breath in the cover, Lilin gritted her teeth, took aim and began blasting shots into the room.

The bolt smashed into the wall were the human had been standing, him and his partner had begun to fan out boxing her and the newcomers in and firing at them for both directions, Ril took cover again as bolts flew over her head, even with the lights out these humans could see unaided.

She turned to observe human that had just initiated contact with her, wearing googles and his face was covered in his long purple hair he looked distinctly unlike what she had expected to be guarding a weapons development site, neither did his comrades who looked equally inept, his cocky entrance at least had set her at ease, he was no threat.... well not yet,“Hi”, she offered him rather icily before firing off some more rounds.
The human absorbed them like a corpse the flesh flew apart in a distinctly odd way and he was seemingly unharmed, if she'd come prepared for a battle she could have blasted him apart with a small armament of weapons but as it was she was going have to try something else...
Ril turned to the human to her right, “Look I'm going to need a distraction......”

In one powerful motion, Nex threw his hand out and launched the wookie into the wall and onto the floor behind him.

With a short grunt Nex turned to see how the others were doing. “One near the door and two in the….” Nex’s concentration was broken as a pair of blaster bolts slammed into his chest.

Nex gasped for air as he dropped to his knees and pulled himself back together. The three were difficult to sense when not grouped together.

“Abominations.” Nex thought to himself as he made his way to the kitchen and leapt over he counter only to once again fall to his knees and collect himself due to his recent injuries. After spitting up a small amout of blood onto the floor next to him, he looked up to see Creed and a female exchanging words.

“They got lucky, it won’t happen again.” Nex said and coughed a couple more times as his implants and natural talent at healing tried to repair the damage.

“I believe these things have lived long enough.” He mumbled as he picked up a small piece of the debris that had been blasted out of the wall with one hand, and removed his lightsaber with the other.

“Keep your heads down…” He continued, hovering the debris in the air and sending it into the next room where it ignited shaking the room and devastating everything in its small blast radius. The power it took to form the blast fatigued Nex more than he thought but after a few moments he focused himself once more.

“Your turn.” Nex was refering to the pistol in Creed’s hands. He ignited his lightsaber with his right hand covering the nearby area with a blue glow and leapt back over the counter. Focusing on the blaster fire rather than the three figures now spread throughout the room.

“Keep your heads down…”, the Talortai exclaimed matter-of-factly before the spinning debris he'd use his Force powers to levitate suddenly exploded in a violent eruption of shrapnel and force. As Nex, Creed, Lilin and Rin all ducked down at their respective positions and shielded their eyes from the blast radius, none were fully prepared for the sight that awaited them when they once again dared to look.

The Wookie was no more, caught in the largest concentration of the blast radius he was little more than clumps of fur and gore splattered about the room. The two Humans who had not caught as much of the blast as their furred counterpart were still active, though it defied all the laws of nature that they should be so.
The Human who had been making his way around the left side of the room to where Lilin was and Forge had previously been was doing so with a considerable limp, not only in part due to the fact that his left foot was utterly missing and the man was seemingly ignoring the bone-crunching impact of his full body weight upon the stump as he walked, but also from the fact that a goodly portion of the left side of his torso was gone; parts of organs could be seen among shattered bone, large clumps of fleshly globules dropped from the hole and left a gruesome trail behind him. Still armed with his blaster pistol, he seemed utterly unaware of the injuries he had sustained and raised his pistol as he shambled, training it with difficulty upon the red-head who was mostly concealed behind furniture.
The second Human was similarly injured well beyond the point the human body could handle as he made his way toward the Human, Umbaran and Talortai. He did so from the floor, as his legs and much of his spinal column had been destroyed in the blast. Dragging himself across the floor using just his hands and upper-body strength, he had his vision fixed upon the three with a look of murder in his eyes. What was left of his face was a mess of lacerations and fractures, much of his lower jaw was simply falling away but none of this stopped him from dragging himself toward the three, intent on tearing them apart.

As with the Wookie before them, neither of the Humans seemed to bleed freely, their blood was not flowing out of their wounds but more oozed as if congealed, the colour a deep crimson, almost brown in its hue as if escaped their bodies from the exertion of movement.
Though slowed by the injuries, neither surviving assailants seemed in any way perturbed by the turn of events, they seemed almost mechanical in their relentlessness.

It was in the aftermath of the explosion that Nex and Lilin both simultaneously had the revelation of the eerie feeling they had sensed when the three newcomers first entered the room, and realised the form it took: None of the combatants could be sensed through the Force, as if they were disconnected from it. A disquieting concept to them both as all living things can be sensed through the Force, it flows through all life and permeates it and one never exists without the other. Such a lack of force sensitivity could normally only be equated with soulless things such as machines, so to have a sentient life-form with no connection to the force was disturbing and alien.

This realisation came from the fact that what was left of the Wookie seemed no different to these two attackers when examined by the Force. They felt nothing stopping them from sensing these beings using the Force, nothing blocking their talents, rather their was a simple absence of the Force, it simply wasn't there to begin with.

The three strangers were dead, and had been long before they even entered the room....

The beam of light emmiting from Nex's lightsaber added a much needed visibilty to the gloomy red room. Creed turned to woman by his side who although appeared to be cold at first still came across as friendly enough...for now. Realising that whatever his team was dealing with wasn't 'natural' he quickly devised a plan.

"We need to stop these 'things' in their tracks! Hey Cherry Red, on my command fire at the head!"

It had occured to him that at least one of these monstrosities was still moving upright toward Forge and Lilin with blaster in hand. Activating his stealth belt he ducked and rolled under the nearby table out of sight from approaching menace. Slowly he flanked the 'human' heading to the redheads position until he found himself completely behind it. Removing two small vibroblades from his jacket he jabbed as furiously as he could at both of it's knee pits in the hope that his actions would tear the limbs clean from their sockets. If his plan was to work he needed those head shots to be precise....

Taking her cue from Creed, Lilin took aim on the limping human’s head but held off pulling the trigger for his command; the goggle-wearing man-in-charge obviously had a plan. To anyone observing her it would seem she had somehow anticipated Creed’s optically camouflaged movements, that or perhaps she had incredibly acute eyesight and detected in the red gloom the almost imperceptible distortions generated by a stealth field. No sign of surprise registered on her face when the oozing enemy suddenly collapsed in front of her. She tracked her target on his way down and immediately upon his hitting the floor fired a shot which at such close range, and due probably to the man’s bizarre physiology, decimated the aberrant’s entire brainpan. Globs of sticky gore spattered around the corpse from the killing shot, confusingly inconsistent with the usually cauterised wound of a particle beam weapon.
     Bereft of her usual focus, Lilin, blaster still raised, looked quickly round the room for the locations of any other attackers.

As the still upright human took many well-placed slices to the backs of its knees from the unseen Agent, it began to collapse despite its will to continue on its current course of action. Its murderous intent was halted when the woman with flame-red hair put an end to its existence with a skilful blaster shot to the head and caused massive internal damage as it exited the back of his skull, narrowly missing Creed in the process. A less trained individual might have caught the residue of the shot at such close range but he was no amateur; the stealthed human moved in anticipation of the shot and was unharmed.
As the once-human assailant collapsed to the ground it did not spasm or show any other signs of such a violent and sudden disconnection from life, it simply stopped.

Across the hall however, the final combatant was far from still. Dragging itself across the floor using just its arms, it was moving at a steady pace but had seemed easily the least dangerous of the two remaining assailants. A tactical decision on the battlefield would be to take down the least injured party first, the individual or group most likely to cause immediate damage. A tried and tested tactic which had worked in wars and skirmishes since time immemorial. Sadly, such tactics were useless against such an unpredictable opponent.

With an incredible and unforeseeable burst of strength the remaining crawling enemy sprung from the floor and cleared the eight feet between itself and the Umbaran and Talortai. In a different situation it could have have been worth the noting that the strength needed to perform such a task was well above the human norm, but the situation did not allow for contemplation as the thing hurtled through the air and found its quarry: Nex Deus.

Slamming the injured Talortai to the floor the thing began pinning his windpipe with the palm of its hand while the other began to claw at his wounds which were currently trying to heal themselves. Caught unprepared for such an onslaught coupled with his recent injuries, the large jedi struggled under the fierce attack and a sudden oppressive wave of nausea from the thing being so close to him: dark side energies were emanating from it and it took all of his concentration to coordinate his force-abilities into blocking out the corruption while fending the thing off physically.

Ril slammed to the floor as a mass of foul smelling flesh pushed past her and collided with the Talortai in front of her, she had had no time to decide whether the large bird like being was friend or foe as it dropped down beside her before it had so dramatically taking events into its own.... hands.

Landing hard and heavily upon a number of metal utensils which now littered the floor she sat in shock at the sight before her, half a man lay across the large bird clawing ferociously at it, its body had been shredded its legs no more then a few tassels of soggy flesh with its spinal cord sickeningly jutting out.
Ril could only watch mesmerised at the sheer horror of the situation as it unfolded in front of her but at the same time was in awe of the sight, she never seen such technology before but knew what it must be, nanotechnology had always been impossible to perfect and incredibly dangerous to implement but here it was on a desolate world ready for the taking, so much more than what she was expecting.

The Talortai let out a roar as it tried to protect its wounds and fend off the creature at the same time, obviously this other group weren't part of the staff and this planet was too far out of the way for a Jedi and a group of Mercs to have stumbled across,....if she let this one die it'd certainly be easier to pick the other 3 off later on an exclusive on this technology would be priceless, sounds of damp flesh being torn filled the air and the Talortai let out another roar, Ril looked at it and made a decision.

She pulled her bulk out of the debris and strode towards the tussle, her stealth suit made her cumbersome and slow but it also gave her extra mass, not stopping she put her full weight into a powerful kick in the shattered man's ribs sending him sprawling in the centre of the floor.
It looked pitiful flailing its arms around searching for a grasp to right it self and make another attack, So rill aimed at its head and made it quick....