Doom Eternal's plot summarized:
"NOOOO! You can't just kill the Hell Priests and stop our invasion of Earth! NOOOOOOOO!"

"haha chainsaw go VRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR"

Good game.

Read and review.

Nax, Kyra, and Lexi quietly stood by as Sidewinder plugged himself in to the ship's systems, transferring everything he had downloaded from the Pather computers. Nevda and Kelah were both watching with great intent, amazed at their find. "Look at all of this intel!" Nevda exclaimed, her expression continuing to widen with glee as the files scrolled by on the screen. "Cell locations, patrols, raids, recordings of destroyed tech - it's like if Kuat left all of their ship design blueprints on a damned mouse droid!" she continued.

Kelah, however, was far more reserved in her reaction, having her arms crossed, but taking everything in just as fast as Nevda was. A file rolled across the screen, standing out from the others with its red text. "Stop." Kelah ordered, and the dataflow ceased as she approached the monitor. The file was marked 'Project Mau-Sanir', and seemed to be a top-priority file, with access codes likely assigned to the absolute top of whatever hierarchy the Path had, including the Arch-Canon. "Transfer that file to my neural lace, Sidewinder." she requested, and Sidewinder complied, letting off a shrill 'dwaaa' in response.

"You got something in mind, Kel?" Nevda mused while Sidewinder resumed the upload.

Kelah pursed her lips, before glancing over at Nevda. "Something's telling me that shutting down Mau-Sanir should be our main objective right now." she replied, turning an unsure gaze outside the cockpit. "Moreso than destroying the Path itself."

"Why's that?" Nevda asked.

Nax stepped in now. "Mau-Sanir is apparently being headed by Amhe Rest, a Givin virologist with ties to Nuvo Vindi." he said, causing Nevda to step back in surprise.

"You mean that Separatist scientist that brought back Blue Shadow?" Nevda questioned. Nax and Kelah nodded.

"You and I are both old enough to remember the scare that caused, Nevda." Kelah said as Sidewinder detached himself from the console, having finished his upload. "Vindi and Rest are possibly still working together – they let a new strain of brainrot out onto Onderon a year or so ago, so if Rest is working for the Path, I would be willing to bet that Vindi isn't too far behind."

Lexi finally piped up as a few LAATs converted for firefighting shot over the ship, alongside a medical transport. "…So, any ideas for how we're going to take down this whole Pather project?"

Kelah sighed as she stepped back from the console. "First things first, I'll need to slice this file wide open. With any luck, they'll have everything about Mau-Sanir in there, or at the very least, wherever they're working on it." she answered, pulling her hood back up.

"Question," Kyra said, and everyone looked over at her. "What do we do if there's nothing on the file?"

Kelah paused to think of a response, before shrugging in a nonchalant manner. "If that's the case, then I'd say we're out of luck." she responded, although her expression showed she was still wracking her thoughts for possibly solutions. "I mean, we did just steal what I can only assume is the entire Pather database, so if there's nothing about Mau-Sanir there, then our only other option would be torturing it out of someone on the command hierarchy, like the Arch-Canon, or maybe that woman Nax saw enter." Kelah continued, gesturing over to Nax. "But if that's what we're left with, then I'd say you'd have better luck doing blind jumps in the Unknown Regions trying to find the Katana fleet and not dying. Coruscant is just about the worst possible place to find a small handful of people with no way of tracking them."

The group collectively took this in, at least, until Nevda coughed. "…I'm pretty sure we should all be reporting to our superiors, so if you'd be so kind as to leave us be…?" she said, quietly gesturing to the cockpit door.

Nax, Kyra, and Lexi nodded, leaving to go report to Vopa. Once they were out, Nevda shut and sealed the cockpit door while Kelah sat down in the communications console chair, sliding the headset under her hood. "Set up a line to the Grand Ascendant, Sidewinder." Kelah requested, and the droid let out a questioning 'dwee-dwoo-dwaa?' in regard to comm security. "Then sandbox the call and purge it when we're done if you're so damned sure the ship is bugged."

The droid let out an affirmative chirp as he plugged into the console, and the call opened to the Grand Ascendant. "Voto – what news do you bring me?" he asked, his tone as calm and collected as ever.

"Much." Kelah replied, echoing the same kind of calm that the Ascendant was. "To begin, I've uncovered a rather decently sized cache of information that points towards the Anzat killer being Caliban Bullen."

The calm in the Ascendant's voice slowly faded away. "Bullen?" he said, his surprise ringing through his vocoder. "Fascinating – that would explain the large gaps between Bullen's pieces." the Ascendant noted, sounding rather excited at the prospect of uncovering the identity of Bullen, even if it was only at a superficial level. "What else have you found?"

Kelah cleared her throat and moved her bangs out of the way. "We found Bullen's apartment, and while he wasn't there, we did take every single datapad we could find. Most were unfinished novels, but we did find the location of a Pather cell." she exposited, avoiding going into any sort of real detail unless it was requested of her. "From there, we downloaded what I can only assume is the entire Pather database, and also discovered something called Mau-Sanir, a Pather research project headed by the Givin virologist, Amhe Rest, associate to Nuvo Vindi. Our current objective has changed from eliminating the Pather hierarchy to stopping Rest before anything happens."

The Ascendant audibly swallowed, and let out a low hum in binary. "…I see." he simply stated as the sounds of metal plates shifting echoed through the comms. "When, exactly, do you intend on sending these files to us, Voto?"

"As soon as Rest has been handled, Grand Ascendant. I want to minimize leaks as much as possible." Kelah curtly replied, glancing over to Nevda, who had an effectively neutral look on her face, with only the vaguest hint of a small cropping up. "I'd also like to note that Nax, the Coru-Hiver mark, has been rather helpful in my investigation. He…" Kelah hesitated for a moment. "…he and his group were doing their own investigation on the Path, it seems, and he has saved my life on several occasions. I have complete confidence and trust in his abilities and his loyalties, Grand Ascendant."

The Grand Ascendant made several noises of consideration through the comms. "…Noted. Perhaps we can foster some sort of alliance with the Hivers after all is said and done." he proposed, before his vocoder let out an electronic sigh. "I appreciate the work you're putting into this assignment, Voto. These circumstances are most certainly dire – and given your skillset, you are the one I trust most to handle it."

Kelah remained quiet for a moment. "…Thank you, Grand Ascendant. You humble me." she said in a much quieter tone of voice, and the comms cut themselves out. A quick technical check from Sidewinder's end confirmed that the cut came from the Ascendant's end.

Nax walked through the corridors of the ship in utter silence, simply taking the time to consider the vessel as a whole. Finding a 1300 that was completely stock save for the hyperdrive, and to get it so cheap and have it be in such great condition – Nax had already counted his blessings. The old starfighter he had planned to get originally seemed like such a poor choice compared to the ship he owned now.

Yet, Nax couldn't help but feel that something was off about the ship. Unmodified 1300s were veering on the edge of extinction, a trait they shared with the CloakShape. The 'drive being brought down to class one was proof enough that someone had at least tinkered with the ship, which helped fuel Nax's suspicions that there was more to the ship than meets the eye. Perhaps Avadi had missed a spot check?

Nax's suspicions eventually proved themselves correct – near the cockpit corridor, one of the seemingly infinite wall panels appeared to be loose. Kneeling over and examining it, Nax wiggled it, prying it loose, revealing a small smuggler's compartment. Inside were a scant few power packs that seemed to belong to an E-11, but the important thing was that there, indeed, were modifications beyond just the hyperdrive.

Re-inserting the panel into its socket, Nax stood back up and continued his walk. While the contents of that compartment were effectively useless to him and the others, there could be more valuable goodies hidden around the ship, but he would have to find them later, if he didn't stumble across them, that was.

Nax happened upon Zeethree, who immediately turned his attention to him. "Ah, Master Strag," the droid greeted in his usual chipper tone. "Master Kyra and Master Sapphyra are in the crew lounge, if you were looking for them. Something seems to be bothering the both of them."

Nodding his head once as he walked, Nax proceeded into the lounge to find Lexi and Kyra, both sitting at the deactivated holotable. Kyra was wearing the undersuit of her armor, while the detached pieces were strewn about, some having been repainted a brighter shade of gray, almost appearing like chromium, while others were the original muted gray. However, the helmet had some rather noteworthy changes.

The first thing Nax had noticed was that Kyra had added two chalk-white tally marks on the left cheek of the helmet, likely to represent claimed bounties. Then, there was a heavily stylized skull crossed out in red that bore significant resemblance to Lostur – that had been placed just in front of the right-side attachment hardpoint. The skull looked almost like shrunken down street art, similar to the kind they usually came across in alleyways and other areas off of the main streets of Coruscant's underworld. Finally, on the forehead of the helmet, Kyra had added a white blade flanked by two claw-like weapons, their weapon tips all pointing to an apex.

Aside from what Kyra had done to the helmet, Lexi had Thel's blaster out. A couple of the internals had been taken out and rendered inert for the time being, and Lexi had parts from what seemed to be a CR-2. Thinking about it briefly, Nax mused that converting that thing for automatic fire might not be a terrible idea.

Finally done musing on what the two were doing, Nax spoke up. "Hey," he greeted, and the two of them turned their attention to him. "You two doing alright?"

Lexi gave a somewhat pained smile to try and assuage Nax's thoughts. "…We're just trying to keep busy." she answered.

"Still thinking about Markan?"

Lexi paused her work for a moment, before setting the blaster down. "…Yeah." she responded in a deadpan tone, staring blankly ahead. "I mean, how can I not?" she continued, turning that blank stare directly to Nax. "I know we've talked about this over and over, Nax, but I just can't get it off my damn mind."

Kyra, who had been completely silent until now, suddenly spoke. "…Having your entire perception of someone you've been raised by get shattered in an instant tends to do that to people, Lexi." she said in a dry voice.

"I know that, but I've only ever seen it from an outside view." Lexi pointed out, leaning back in her seat. "It's never registered for me just how awful this feels to experience. I hate it, and there's nothing I can do about it!" she ranted, banging her head against the seat to drive the point home.

"…Maybe you can." Nax said, and Lexi's blank look went away, replaced by one of cautious curiosity. "You only saw Markan for a few minutes at best before he shot himself in the foot. It might be better if we took you to him and let you vent all this out to him. If anything, you'll at least get it out of your system."

Lexi bobbed her head lightly, as if she were literally rolling the idea around in her head. She remained silent for several seconds, before giving Nax an unsure glance. "…You know what? As much as I think this is a terrible idea, something's telling me that I should really let him have it. Bastard deserves it, at the very least." she said, albeit reluctantly. Lexi then went back to her work on Thel's blaster.

Nax crossed his arms as he leaned on the archway. "We'll make time for that, but for now," he trailed, practically hovering over the table. "What, exactly, are you two doing?"

Kyra perked up. "Oh! I'm repainting my armor to look brighter. I like the general color scheme, but it's a bit… I don't know, dull?" she answered, gleaming up at Nax, her eyes shining with an unnatural brightness, and her expression filled with glee. "So I've decided to make it my own. Lexi even gave me the idea of adding little victory marks to the helmet." she continued, pulling Lexi into a cheeky hug with her free arm, much to the Zeltron's surprise.

"I didn't draw them for her, though." Lexi added, and Kyra released her, returning her focus to Nax.

"Nope, it's all me!" Kyra said proudly "One thing I've noticed is that I can draw like it's just second nature. I've tried drawing a bunch of different styles – I've got the slate around here somewhere, but for whatever reason, I keep defaulting to this kind of graffiti look." Kyra noted, tapping on the skull of Lostur.

Nax finally had the good sense to sit down across from the girls. "Interesting." he responded, throwing his right leg up over his left and leaning forward onto the table. "Sounds like before you were captured, you were some kind of artist, or at the very least, you knew how to draw."

Kyra shrugged, unsure of what to make of Nax's observation. "I don't know about being an artist, but it is nice being able to just do this stuff from what feels like should be memory."

Nax then glanced over to Lexi working on Thel's blaster. "Now, what are you doing?" he questioned, raising an eyebrow. "And furthermore, how'd you even get hold of that? I'd thought it was lost when Lostur took our gear."

Lexi sat the firing assembly for the CR-2 down and looked to Nax. "To answer your first question, I'm modding Thel's blaster to be automatic. To the second, they'd thrown it in the armory. I took it during the fighting and put it in one of the boxes when we were going to Mos Espa. Forgot about it until just now." she answered. With that, she picked the firing assembly back up and examined it, trying to figure out how to fit it into the pistol.

Now that he had a better, refreshed look at the blaster's internals, alongside what Lexi was planning to do with it, he knew this actually probably was a poor idea. Well, poorer of an idea than cramming a DL-44's capacitor into a Clone Wars-era blaster produced in limited numbers, anyways. "That'll probably blow up the second you try and fire it full auto, Lexi. Not to mention, you can't even rig the firing assembly in." Nax advised, causing Lexi to stop all work and set the two disassembled weapons down.

She rested her head on her palm, giving Nax a half-annoyed look. "Then what, might I ask, do you suggest I do to it?" she asked in a kind of teasing tone.

"Rig a Blurrg's assembly in instead." Nax responded, and Lexi stopped moving, all expression and emotion drained from her face in an instant. "It'll be safer and easier to rig either a two or five shot Blurrg's assembly in instead of a whole CR-2 assembly." he continued, idly tapping his fingers against the table. "Plus, it won't instantly drain the ammo, and it'll be more controllable."

Lexi stayed still for a few seconds, before turning to normal, sitting back in the seat. "Do we have a Blurrg?" she asked, before pulling the parts for the CR-2 together and reassembling it in what must have been record time.

"I'll have to check the parts bin in the hold." he answered. Just then, Arfive and Katy came in. While Arfive strolled up to Lexi and delivered her datapad to her, and was promptly rewarded with a few pats on the head.

Katy, however, noted the respraying tools on the table, and looked up to Kyra with an expectant stare, letting out a series of high pitched chirps that sounded more like annoyed threats than anything else. "I'll paint you when I'm done with my gear, alright?" Kyra said, exasperated at Katy's nagging. Nax and Lexi simply chuckled at Kyra's frustration, earning Lexi a joking slap and Nax an empty can thrown in his general direction, which bounced harmlessly off of his chestplate and onto the floor.

Now that he thought about it, now was probably a good time to do a full gear check on his armor. Sure, he had the basics down, like the grappling hook, but it never hurt to know just what exactly had been done to the suit. Right as Nax pulled back his sleeve, Lexi's datapad began to blast whatever music she had on it, starting with Sugaan Essena.

Finally bothering to take a close, in-depth look at his gear, Nax realized that what he had initially believed to be part of the grappling hook system was, in fact, a concussion rocket, linked to an autoloader, with presumably a second rocket collapsed into the wristplate. He was tempted to figure out how to fire it, but shooting it in the ship wasn't exactly a great idea. Turning the wristplate over, Nax noticed a hidden knife, concealed in a small slot at the end of the plate. Briefly fiddling with the suit's controls to unsheathe it, Nax saw that it long enough to be able to use it as an escape tool for rope bindings and the like, but too short to make a valid replacement for the knife he currently had on him.

Shifting his attention over to the other wristplate, Nax found a matching knife sheath, alongside an identical control scheme. Maybe dad'd been tied up one too many times. Continuing to mess with the control panel, Nax revealed two more hidden parts on the right wristplate, one was a flame projector that dripped some kind of black, viscous liquid onto the floor, apparently having accidentally been fired, only to be totally empty. On the side of the barrel were the words CZERKA ARMS MANUFACTURE, written in bold script. The other thing that Nax had inadvertently revealed was a shock caster, with two buttons on the side of the actual caste, one marked with shock, and the other, stun.

Checking the rest of his armor and finding nothing else of note, as well as seeing as he almost set the entire lounge on fire, Nax decided that he had enough. Getting up, Nax headed for the hold. Going in and moving some boxes aside to get at his parts bin, he picked up on Kelah's lighter-than-normal footsteps, something he had unconsciously trained himself to do after having been around her for only a few days, not to mention him basically hosting her on his ship. "Hey, Kel." Nax casually greeted, as he began to rummage through the bin.

"Hello, Nax," Kelah greeted back, her tone rather serious. "I've come to ask you about something that's rather… important to me." she hesitantly said, but managing to keep her thoughts in order. "I need you to be absolutely honest with me."

"Sure. Shoot." Nax said as he pulled out the pistol grip for an old slug pistol Thel had tossed his way.

Kelah hesitated again, but steeled herself regardless. "…How much do you know about Vark Rurmiid?" she questioned.

Subconsciously, Nax had known this question would be coming at some point. Maybe not specifically about Vark, but it would have been regarding Nax's involvement with the Imperials in general. "…I know he had a bounty on his head for around ten thousand." Nax simply answered, avoiding the truth that he had a gut feeling Kelah already knew.

"…Interesting." Kelah replied, before moving to Nax while he sifted through the bin, getting so close to his ear that he could practically hear her breathing down his neck. "Because I have a file from the Mos Eisley Imperial garrison that specifically names you as the bounty hunter that brought Vark in. One of the camp's spies brought this information to us, and I made a local copy. I've only had the sense to look at it now." she continued. "When we springed Vark, we just so happened to find out that he had a tracking beacon on him, which lead the Empire straight to the compound to wipe us out. So, what do you have to say to this?" Kelah questioned, and Nax could hear her arm blades slowly revealing themselves, hopefully just to expedite a response.

Nax stopped his rummaging through the bin and froze up like he'd just been frozen in carbonite. "…Are you going to kill me? To get some kind of revenge for everyone at the base?" he asked, his voice almost completely stone cold and emotionless compared to just moments ago. "I was hired to do a job, and I did it. That's what mercenaries do – we don't attach ourselves to causes or sides, just whoever's paying us."

Kelah kept quiet, taking Nax's words into consideration, but she was still hovering behind him. "…Had I found this out before I rejoined the Ascendancy, Nax, I'd have slaughtered you on the spot." she said with a cold ruthlessness that Nax hadn't seen before. Her blades began to slowly sheathe. "…However, under the Ascendancy, I've learned to… control myself, for lack of a better word."

Nax remained frozen in place "…Do you hate me?"

Kelah's response sounded surprised. "Hate you?" she said with a slightly incredulous tone of voice. "I don't hate you, Nax. Not once, both here and on Tatooine, have I ever suspected you would betray anyone, and I still don't." Kelah answered, which resulted in Nax being quietly surprised. "The Ascendancy subscribes to the belief of predestination. To put it simply, certain roles in the galaxy will always be filled by others, whether it's a poor moisture farmer on some backwater world, power hungry Hutts and Moffs, or guns for hire. You were simply fulfilling your role in the galaxy, and I can't bring myself to hate you over something you had little control over." she continued, finally stepping back and letting Nax have some breathing room. "However, I know your true loyalty isn't to your employer and their credits, but to your friends. I've seen the way you walk around with Kyra and Lexi, Nax. How you three talk together like you've been friends since childhood. They trust you with their lives implicitly. Nobody would single-handedly take down a chicken walker for people he barely knew if he wasn't loyal to the only friend of his in danger, or would help others in killing some monstrous alien shapeshifter to save a friend's life."

Kelah crossed her arms and breathed out. "So, to answer your question, no, I don't hate you, and I won't kill you. You were not the ultimate cause for why the compound and cell were destroyed. Had it not been you, it would have been someone else. We just took the bait." she continued.

Nax stood up and slowly turned to face Kelah. To an outsider, the very idea that someone as tall as Nax, with all of his weaponry and armor, could be threatened by someone so short was laughable, yet the two of them treated each other as equals here. "Your die-hard loyalty to those you trust is an admirable trait, Nax, but there are those that would seek to manipulate that trust for their own benefit. Mind yourself." Kelah finished, before reaching into her jacket and producing a lightly damaged Blurrg, pushing it into Nax's palms. "I'll be in the cockpit if you need me."

With that, Kelah took her leave, leaving Nax alone in the hold, clutching the Blurrg. He always had a sneaking suspicion that she knew, but he honestly didn't expect her to let him live. Regaining his faculties, he held the Blurrg by the barrel and returned to the lounge, sitting himself next to Lexi. She took one glance at the blaster, and was halfway done disassembling it by the time Nax had realized it wasn't in his hands anymore.

Once the Blurrg had been laid bare, Lexi pulled the dust cover off of Thel's blaster, revealing the complex work that had been done to it. The two of them scanned the weapon for the heter valve, and eventually found a likely suspect, rigged to the '44's capacitor. Lexi carefully detached the link between the valve and the capacitor, and then removed the valve itself, setting it aside. Grabbing the firing assembly for the Blurrg, she removed the heter valve and then inserted it onto where the presumably original one was. After failing to initially re-attach it, with the connector coming loose, Lexi ran the connector into the frame of the blaster, looped it around a part of the frame once, and then reconnected it. This time, it actually stayed in place.

Having waited long enough for the blaster to not explode as a result of her admittedly haphazard modification, she removed the internal power pack and clicked the blaster on. Pointing it at a wall opposite the table and away from everyone, she pulled the trigger. There was no explosion or lost hands, just two very satisfying clicks coming from an empty weapon. Satisfied with her handiwork, she clicked the blaster back off and reattached the power pack, before sliding the dust cover back on and clicking it into place. Turning the blaster back on for a second and final time, the whole thing seemed to work as intended. Pleased with herself, Lexi turned it off, before running her hand alongside the barrel, no doubt thinking of more ways to modify the weapon.

However, for the time being, at least, Lexi slid the blaster into Thel's holster, resting rather comfortably against her stomach. Grabbing a case from underneath the table, she packed the remaining parts on the table into it, before standing up and sliding over Nax to get out of the seat.

Carefully, Nax touched the ship down just outside the facility Markan was being held in, with minimal assistance from Arfive and Nevda, the latter of whom gave him a joking slap on the back. "There you go, you're learning!" she teased, before unplugging her scomp link and kicking back in the copilot's seat.

Nax shot her an annoyed, but playful look. "Flying a full sized freighter isn't exactly like flying a T-16, Nevda." he replied, causing her to throw her head back in laughter.

"My ass it isn't!" Nevda shot back. "I bet you I could make this ship turn on a dime better than an Actis!" she continued. Nax turned the chair around, all the while giving her a confused look. Arfive took note of this, and gurgled out a brief explanation. "Yeah, they're old interceptors. Nice ships, but they're death traps if you don't know what the hell you're doing." she added, pausing for a second, and the blue fragments in her eyes suddenly spread out in sudden realization of something as she shot forward in her seat. "I just remembered – I probably could make this thing turn on a dime. There was some guy I met once at the Wheel – Grishak, I think his name was. He modded out his Y-8 so much that it could out-turn any snubfighter in the sector."

Nax gave her a surprised look. "A Y-8? You mean one of those big mining ships?" he said in disbelief.

Nevda nodded. "Yeah, and just to prove it, he ran the damned thing through every opening on the Wheel's hull. Security couldn't keep up with the thing, but they caught him eventually. The fine was huge, but I think everyone dumping their credsticks on Grishak was enough for him to make a nice profit, especially for almost blowing the damn place up."

Moving over to Arfive, Nax rested his arm on the droid's head, much to his displeasure. "You know, Nevda, that sounds like a load of bantha fodder." he opined, causing Arfive to suddenly spring to life, burbling something about Nax being wrong. "Prove it." Nax responded, and Arfive froze up for several seconds, his internals clicking and whirring, before his holoprojector turned on, showing a video from a ship near the Wheel of a Y-8 buzzing the hull, with several V-Wings chasing after it, and more than a few of them overshooting their turns.

A small smirk of smug satisfaction began to show itself on Nevda's face. "Told you." Nevda said, before turning her attention to Arfive. "Where'd you get that video, anyways? There were only a few ships near the Wheel when this happened." she asked, and Arfive gurgled out the honest truth that he was on the Cranky Bantha. Nevda gave him a surprised look in response. "Wait, you were on the Bantha?" she questioned again, and Arfive repeated his answer, confirming what she had just asked. "Wow, then I guess you're not as much of a junk droid as I thought, huh?" she joked.

That set Arfive off, and he produced his stun prod, sending electric shocks at the copilot seat. "Hey, hey!" Nax shouted, intervening and turning the droid away as he threw a temper tantrum. "Don't use your shock prod in the cockpit!" he chastised, trying to wrangle the angry droid, much to Nevda's amusement.

"Not my fault your line was trash!" Nevda continued to prod, clearly enjoying the fight between Nax and Arfive, as Arfive's resistance to Nax was only intensifying.

Forcibly locking Arfive in place with arms, Nax glanced at Nevda over his shoulder. "You keep poking at him, Nevda, and I swear to the Suns I'll jam my knee so far up your ass it'll come out of your mouth." he threatened in an almost deadpan, but definitely angry tone.

Smiling and shaking her head, Nevda let it go. "Fine, fine, I'll let him go." she relented, eyeing the droid with a satisfied smirk. "You two'd better get going, now, though. I don't expect Lexi to keep going with this for long."

Releasing Arfive, Nax stood straight up. "Right. See you in a bit." he responded, motioning for Arfive to follow him to the boarding ramp, where they met with Kyra and Lexi, who were both dressed in their regular gear, although Kyra had simply opted for the chestplate instead of the full suit like Nax.

As Nax moved to drop the boarding ramp, Kyra reached out and grabbed Lexi's shoulder. "Hey, Lex?" she asked, sounding concerned for her friend. "Do you still want to go through with this?"

That caused Nax to hesitate as he waited on her answer. "…Honestly? No." Lexi replied in a flat tone, before sucking air in through her teeth. "…But I do need to make a point to my dad, and I can't get this off my chest otherwise." she continued, before shifting her look at Nax, who was halfway between the corridor and the ramp room. "Drop the ramp."

Nax did as she asked, hitting the button, and the boarding ramp fell forwards, hitting the duracrete ground with a heavy thud. "Whoops." Nax remarked casually. "Looks like the ramp elevator needs tightening."

The group headed down the ramp, and right as they were physically off the ship, a man came running out from the building Markan was in. "Hey!" he shouted out. "Which one of you is Strag?" the man asked, and Nax raised his hand, before pointing at himself. "Vopa called ahead and told us he had a gift for you – just arrived yesterday. Carbonite freezing bricks, three of 'em. Said you might need them for future jobs."

Nax smiled and stepped aside, gesturing to the boarding ramp. "Load them up on a sled and set them in the hold." he ordered, and the man nodded, turning to head back into the building. "Hey!" Nax shouted out, and the man turned, giving him a half-cocked look. "Markan's doing fine, right?"

"Yeah!" the man shouted back. "Our CMO dipped him in a bacta/kolto mix and fed him a line of nutrient paste for a day or so while he was in the tank. He's still pretty lean, but he's not a skeleton anymore." the man finally finished, before heading inside.

A kind of quiet trepidation fell across the group as they headed towards the building, which looked to have been some sort of hab complex before being converted to a back-alley clinic operated by the Hivers. Nax noticed Lexi's expression as she inched a bit closer to him. "Having second thoughts?" he questioned.

"…Maybe." Lexi replied, sticking her hands in her coat's pockets. "I'd like to just pack up in the ship and go back to the apartment, honest, but I'm never going to get this off my mind if I back out now." she continued, giving a blank stare forward. "I need closure."

"You want to vent to him alone, or do you want us with you?" Kyra asked, tilting her head forward and turning it to Lexi.

Lexi deliberated over her answer. "I…" Lexi stumbled, both verbally and physically, managing to catch herself before she hit the floor. "…I think I'd prefer if you two were with me." she continued, unabated by her near fall. "You don't have to say anything, I'd just rather have you two close by."

"Sure thing, Lex." Nax responded.

The group finally headed inside, being greeted with a rather unorthodox look for a medical facility. There was tacky wallpaper that seemed to be peeling off the walls, and a rug that looked like it had come from an exotic animal. The lighting was also rather dim, but pulsed softly with a pinkish tone. You would easily be forgiven for thinking this was some sort of brothel, rather than a hospital. Granted, it was run by a gang of smugglers, but the point remained. When they approached the reception desk, the Twi'lek woman hopped off her communicator for what was probably the first time that day. "You Strag?" she asked, and when Nax nodded, she pointed to the hall on her right with . "Markan's in the third room on the right. He's awake, last I checked."

Lexi responded with a simple nod, and took the lead of the group, heading down the hall and going straight for the room Markan was in. She reached for the door handle, visibly hesitating as Nax and the others followed behind her. She took several deep breaths, regained her composure, and then pushed the handle down, walking inside, the rest of the group in tow.

There was actually a Trandoshan medic they bumped into who was just leaving Markan's room. He took one whiff of Lexi. "Your kin isss doing fine." he hissed out, before leaving them alone and heading to a room further up the hall to tend to another patient. Finally left to themselves, the group turned in and looked at the bedridden Markan, who was staring intently at them. Nax, Kyra, and Arfive refused to speak, leaving Lexi to say whatever she felt was necessary.

Markan and Lexi both stared at each other, the two of them waiting for the other to say the first word. Markan took his chance, and spoke first. "…I'm sure you have questions, Lexi." he said softly, trying to make himself appear worthy of his daughter's mercy.

Lexi scowled. "That's one hell of a way to put it." she said with an angry sneer as she walked to Markan's bedside. "But sure, let's start with that. Do you have any, and I mean any idea what you put me through by leaving?" she continued, and Markan opened his mouth to speak, but Lexi cut him off. "First off, right when you left, I almost got myself sold into slavery, until Eath and his old bodyguard found me about to walk onto their freighter, thank the stars for that. Then, to make ends meet for myself, I started stealing and slicing – you know, typical things well-adjusted preteens will do for themselves." she went on, venom pouring from her voice.

Markan adopted a look of discomfort with what his daughter was saying, but he otherwise remained silent. "When I turned fifteen, I moved to Taris, where I almost got turned into a Rakghoul on several occasions and had to fight to get by between Imperial aid packages." Lexi continued, angrily counting her hardships out on her fingers for emphasis. "I was seventeen, I hopped on a shuttle to Nar Shaddaa, where I couldn't walk a city block without having to deck some sleazeball producer who asked me to star in their garbage porn holos. There, I learned how to become a weaponsmith, and just over half a year ago, I was taken to a weapons expo by my trainer, where the station was attacked, my handler and best friend were both killed, and I was captured and enslaved for the next six months of my life. I had to endure torture and anguish far worse than whatever the Empire puts prisoners through, on top of everything else, all because you racked up one too many bar tabs because mom died!" Lexi finished finally losing her temper and shouting at Markan.

His face had changed from one of discomfort to one of disbelief. "…Tortured?" he parroted, not believing his own words.

"Yes, tortured, and I have the scars to prove it." Lexi angrily stated, before reaching for her right sleeve and yanking it up to her shoulder, revealing multiple faded whip lashes, knife scars, and bruises, plus more than a few claw marks. "This is what your little alcohol binge cost me." she chided with hatred and grief in her voice, before she looked over to Nax and Kyra. "…To be honest, I wouldn't even be alive to tell you this if it weren't for these two." Lexi went on, changing her tone to sound a bit more grateful, before switching back to her hateful one. "So, dad, tell me, can you possibly think of a way to justify what your bar spree cost me? Having my own future taken from me in an instant?"

Markan didn't offer an immediate response. His expression told all that needed to be said, though, as now he was nothing short of mortified. "…Lexi…" he said weakly, as tears began to show their marks on his face, before he sniffled and wiped his eyes. "…Oh, Star Angel…" he wept.

Lexi sneered at him again. "You don't deserve to call me that, after everything you've done." she snapped angrily.

"I-" Markan started before catching himself. "Lexi, I had no idea-"

"Of course you didn't!" Lexi interjected. "You were only thinking about yourself, not about me, or anyone else around you. When mom died, you saw a burning coaxium chamber and went "Hmm, how can this benefit me?", and proceeded to throw rod after rod of coaxium and impalium into the chamber to make it worse!" she shouted again, with everyone in the room easily understanding her metaphor. "It's like you've lost your damned mind!" Lexi ranted, throwing her arm in Markan's general direction, before straightening herself out. "…Or maybe you've always been this way, and mom was just keeping you in check." she mumbled, half under her breath.

Markan took on a look of offense, and now had finally been given a chance to speak under Lexi's verbal onslaught. "…Lexi…" he said calmly. "I never intended to abandon you-"

Lexi rolled her eyes in response. "Yet you did, anyways. Here I am, a broken mess of a woman with a dozen different illegal skills and other problems, because YOU walked out on me when I needed you the most!" Lexi raved in anger, stopping just short of punching a hole in the wall.

Trying to ease her rage, Nax placed his hand on her shoulder and gave her a calm, stern look. Lexi glanced over her shoulder, took note of this, and then took a few deep breaths to calm herself. "I've had ten years to think about what I'd say to you, dad. I always wanted this to go smoothly so that we'd be a family again, but the more you try and defend leaving me over you drinking too much booze, the more I hate you, so I'm going to say my piece, and then hopefully never have to think about you again." she said in a much calmer voice, but her eyes were now filled with a silent, seething hatred for Markan. "You are one of the worst people I have ever met, and you're an even worse father. I hate you for who you are, and for what you've done to me, and I want nothing more than to have you out of my life forever. Don't ever talk to me or try to find me again." she remarked with acidic intensity, finally letting out a sigh she had been holding in and heading for the door. She opened it, and gave one look at Markan. "Go to hell." she finally finished, walking out and presumably heading back towards the ship.

Kyra awkwardly held her finger up. "I'll… go with her." she hesitantly said, before leaving the room and following Lexi to wherever she was going.

"I'll catch up with you two in a minute." Nax said with a half glance as Kyra was already halfway through the door. When she shut it, Nax turned his attention to Markan, but said nothing.

Markan was, well, stunned, to say the least. "I… thought she and I were going to talk…?" he said in disbelief, staring through Nax, like he wasn't even there.

Huffing, Nax crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. "There was never going to be a talk, Markan." he said plainly. "Lexi hates you too much for that. She needed to vent ten years' worth of anger at you." he continued, shifting his gaze to the hazy window by Markan.

Markan sunk into his bed, staring out that same window, a broken look adorning his face. Rain quietly began to patter against the glass. "…I know that, but…" he mumbled, tuning himself out from the outside world. "…I don't know what to do, honestly."

Nax detached himself from the wall. "Here's a thought, Markan;" he responded, arms still crossed. "When my mom died, my dad didn't abandon me and my brother on Tatooine like you left Lexi here. He took care of us as best he could. Now, you'll never make up for the lost years, but you can start trying to patch things up with her." Nax went on. "The best time was immediately after you left – the second best is now."

Receiving no response, only an upset look from Markan, Nax decided to head out and go back to the ship. He quickly caught up with Kyra and Lexi, and they all walked back together, the only sound being that of the rain drizzling against the ground. Lexi in particular was unusually stoic, especially given her outburst of rage just a few minutes ago.

Once they had boarded the ship and closed the ramp, though, that completely changed. Lexi collapsed into a crying mess before they even entered the ring corridor of the ship. "Sithspit!" Lexi cursed as she fell to the floor, banging her head against the interior plating. "Fragging pile of kriffing bantha fodder sleemo garbage!" she shouted out between tears, throwing every insult she could think of in her blind rage at her dad. Nax and Kyra immediately got down on the floor with her to comfort her, with Nax rubbing her shoulder, and Kyra putting her in a gentle embrace. "I went to vent everything he's done to me and get it out of my system, but now I'm even more angry about it, for Zeli's sake!" she blathered as she buried her face behind her long bangs. "I'm so angry that if we were on Zeltros I'd have every damn Zeltron on the planet jumping down my throat about it! Shes'han!" she cursed again, this time in what Nax and Kyra could only assume was the Zeltron language.

Nax gently squeezed her shoulder. "Being angry about this is natural, Lexi. Stop beating yourself up over it so much." he reasoned, before moving his hand to stroke her hair.

Lexi suddenly snapped her head to look at him, causing him to recoil his hand back. "You don't understand, Nax! Zeltrons aren't supposed to ever be angry like this over anything! We're a race of stars-be-damned thrill seekers and hedonists – we live in the moment, we're not supposed to get caught on things like this!" she shouted again, burying her head in her knees.

Kyra and Nax exchanged glances, before they both turned back to looking at Lexi. "Lexi, I want you to answer this for me – why do you feel like you've got to stick to some asinine social norm that nobody on this ship sticks to?" she asked, sitting down crosslegged next to Lexi. "We're not Zeltrons, Lex. We're your friends, and we accept you just as you are."

Lexi curled deeper into a fetal position, but lifted her head, showing her flushed face and tired eyes. "I know that, Ky, but neither of you can possibly understand how I feel." she murmured, before pulling her leg back to rest her chin on it. "Whenever you feel like, I don't know, like you want to break something or knock something over? That feeling for me gets amplified like I want to punch a damned hole in the walls, and right now, I feel like I could blow the whole ship up. It's awful." she whimpered, raising her arms and covering her face with them.

Kyra reached out and rubbed Lexi's back in an attempt to comfort her. "You wanna try and do something to get your mind off your dad?" she offered, and Lexi glanced at her from behind her bangs.

"…Sure." Lexi muttered, and Kyra helped her up, jokingly brushing Lexi's clothes off with her hand. "Let's try that one holotable game, uh, Galactic Battlegrounds, right?"

Nax smirked as they headed to the lounge. "Want me to bust out the drinks?" he offered, earning a cheerful look from Lexi, and an excited one from Kyra. "Guess that's a yes, then." he said with a chuckle.

The night had gone by practically in a blur, the three of them having played Battlegrounds well past their usual sleeping hours, so when they inevitably woke up in the lounge, they'd be in for one hell of a hangover. A couple cases of alcohol had been drunk, but the three of them had a blast just being able to forget their responsibilities and what laid before them, if only for a few hours. As Nax's eyes fluttered under his immense headache, he felt something warm surrounding him. After managing to keep his eyes open for more than a few seconds, he looked down to see both of the girls, snuggled up to him and blissfully passed out.

Struggling to remember what exactly happened last night, it eventually came to Nax that they played a few practice rounds, where Nax was using a bunch of oddball cards of mercenaries and criminals, Kyra threw around some Imperials, and Lexi played with the CIS. Arfive also came in around halfway into their practice matches, and played the Republic, before leaving after Katy needed him for something. The drinks hadn't been busted out quite yet, but they were still having a grand time regardless.

Once they were done learning the game and goofing off, the drinking game began. Take a shot every time you get hit by a crit, take a shot for missing point-blank shots, down the whole bottle for getting your squad wiped, and so on. As the night progressed, their plays became increasingly nonsensical, even comedic, like Lexi using an MTT to breach a single floor home, wiping out half of her squad on accident, or Kyra accidentally calling in orbital support on her own troops, prematurely kicking her out of the game, and Nax repeatedly trying to bribe his own troops.

Lexi slowly stirred in Nax's arm, raising herself to sit straight up, before yawning, her eyes still shut. When she fluttered them open, Nax elbowed her lightly. "Sleep well?" he asked, and she glanced at him with a smile.

"Mhm." she replied, stretching her arms behind her head. "You know, for basically being a wall of muscle under all your gear, you're surprisingly comfortable to sleep on." Lexi rambled, evidently still tired. "…Then again, I think I say that about everyone that I like."

Right as Nax was about to respond to her, Kyra began to stir. Instead of yawning or stretching, or even saying good morning, she instead lurched forward onto the holotable, holding her head. "…Suns, that's one killer headache." she muttered.

Lexi chuckled and half raised her arm to point at Kyra. "Hah, you're a lightweight!" she teased, and Kyra lazily swatted her hand at Lexi out of frustration.

"Not my fault I don't have two livers, Lex." Kyra snapped back, still holding her head.

Nax sidled his way out of the seat and headed over to the conservator, grabbing out a bottle of water. "Here, catch." he said, throwing the bottle underhanded at her, which Kyra caught with surprisingly little issue, given her hangover. To Nax, it almost seemed like the bottle drifted into her hand, but he dismissed it as his eyes playing tricks on him, which wouldn't be too far-fetched, given that he had his own little hangover that he needed to nurse, and that thought reminded him to grab his own bottle.

Just then, Kelah poked her head into the lounge. "Oh, you three are up?" she said, sounding a little bit surprised. "From how much I saw you three drinking, I thought you'd be out until way later." she went on, a hint of disdain coming from her at the mention of them drinking.

"And a good morning to you too, Kelah." Nax snarked as he uncapped his bottle and drank, before putting the cap back on and sitting back in the lounge seat next to Lexi.

Kelah rolled her eyes at Nax's comment, and came out of the archway fully. "Sorry, I'm supposed to abstain from alcohol, Nax." she retorted, before finally dropping the snark. "Anyways, I've cracked the file wide open."

"The one on Mau-Sanir?" Kyra questioned after putting her bottle down mid drink.

Kelah nodded. "Yeah – we've got the short end of the stick, but it's enough to make a move on their project." she briefly explained, before looking over at Nax. "Come see me in the cockpit once you've all eaten, and we'll get something sorted." she finished, before heading back down the corridor.

As if serving to make him sitting back down utterly pointless, Nax's stomach grumbled at the mere suggestion of eating, so he got up and headed over to the galley. "Eopie omelets, anyone?" he offered.

"I'll take some hash with mine, thanks." Kyra said, brushing her bangs out of her face.

"Gimme nerf grits!" Lexi ordered, practically demanding Nax to do as she asked.

"Coming right up." Nax said as he reached into the conservator and pulled the ingredients out.

As he reached into one of the cabinets to grab some pans, Lexi suddenly spoke after everyone had been staying quiet. "Hey, uh…" she stumbled, causing Kyra and Nax to both look at her, the latter over his shoulder. "…I appreciate what you guys did last night. I just – I really needed something to take my mind off my dad. I'm mad as hell at him, but I don't hate him. I... shouldn't have said that to him."

Kyra threw her hand over Lexi's shoulder and jokingly nudged her. "Any time, Lex." she said, sounding appreciative of what Lexi thought of her and Nax's admittedly meager effort.

Nax cracked the first of several eggs over the pan. "Yeah, any time." he echoed, before firing the stovetop up. "We could maybe do with a little less booze, though."

Lexi shot forward in her seat. "What?! The booze was the best part!" she protested, and Nax gave her an incredulous look. "Hell, I have a few ideas for how we can add some Zeltron flavor into the mix." she added on suggestively, causing Nax to burst into laughter.

"Suns, Lexi, you might as well just say orgy and have that be the end of it!" he joked, causing Lexi to mock offense.

"Hey, we aren't all like that!" Lexi retorted, faking anger. Nax burst out into laughter again.

"Sure, you might not be, but I'm pretty sure most Zeltrons are!" he snapped back as he made the omelets. "I can't count on both hands how many times I heard about Zeltrons getting arrested in Mos Eisley for exactly that!"

Lexi mimicked frustration and huffed, sticking her nose up in the air and puffing out her cheeks. Kyra jokingly elbowed Lexi again. "I mean, to be fair, you have been hitting on the both of us, Lexi." she added on, causing Lexi to huff at her, too.

"Have not!" Lexi retorted.

Nax raised a finger to interject. "Actually, you have. You called the both of us cuties when you introduced us to Eath." he pointed out. Just then, Arfive came into the lounge and, overhearing the conversation, immediately replayed their introduction with Eath, causing Lexi to whack him, earning her a shrill series of chatters from the droid. "I also seem to remember you snuggling up against me and flirting the other day." he tacked on as Lexi rubbed her hand and wrist.

Kyra leaned back with a smug look on her face. "So, you ready to admit it?" she teased as Lexi crossed her arms in defeat.

Giving Kyra a playful scowl, Lexi puffed her cheeks. "Fine!" Lexi pouted, keeping her scowl up. "Yeah, I think you're both attractive, that doesn't mean I want us all to throw rings on our fingers!" she finished.

"Suuure." Kyra said, drawing her voice out playfully. Lexi gave her an elbow in response, causing Kyra and Nax to both laugh at Lexi's frustration with their teasing.

The three of them entered the cockpit to be greeted with Nevda and Kelah sitting in the pilot and copilot chairs, likely having been discussing something before they came in. "What've we got, Kelah?" Nax asked, and wordlessly, Kyra produced a pocket-sized holoprojector, which produced a scan of yet another warehouse, or at least something that looked like one.

"Not much." Kelah said, a hint of disappointment echoing in her tone. "We've only got an address and a blueprint – 45 Lampway, on level 1309." she stated, before hopping out of the seat and moving to set the hologram in the center of the room Kelah traced her finger along a stairwell that was directly left of what looked like the main entrance. "Best guess? This is where they're working on Mau-Sanir. It's obviously some kind of virus, given Rest's line of work, so we need to be extra sure we don't contaminate ourselves with whatever they're working on."

Nax crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. "Any idea on how much security is gonna be there?" he asked.

Kelah shifted her gaze to him. "Judging by what few images of the place I could find on the holonet, not much. There's two door guards outside, but inside there's probably more. Pack an extra power pack or two."

Not moving an inch, Nax kept his eyes focused on Kelah. "We got an entry plan?" he asked, before finally looking over the hologram.

"The front door." Kelah answered, utterly deadpan. Before anyone could protest, though, Kelah tapped the upper corners of several of the rooms. "These are all ventilation shafts, from what my lace is telling me, and they're all too small to fit any of us, so we've only got the front door."

"No fire exit?" Lexi chimed in.

"Bold of you to assume they built this place to code." Nevda suddenly quipped, before returning to her self-imposed silence.

After waiting a moment for anyone else to get their smart comments out of the way, Kelah resumed. "So, once we're inside, we're heading directly into the basement. Nax, Kyra, and I will clear the basement, while Lexi pulls up the rear. Any questions?" she asked, and waiting for a response. Kelah clasped her hands together. "Then we're leaving now."

Reika slowly descended a rope hanging over the side of the Mare's Leg Cantina. In her pack was a single modified detpack, ready with what Rest had cooked up for every damned butcher and technological abomination on this hellworld. Her chest was tight from the anticipation – so much so that she could probably choke herself on it.

Retrieving her screwdriver as she came down to a ventilation hatch, Reika stabilized herself against the duct, and removed the top two screws, catching them and pocketing them, before pulling the hatch down and out. She also pocketed her screwdriver, before taking her backpack off and reaching in, grabbing the detpack.

Clutching her backpack with her legs, Reika carefully put the detpack inside of the duct and engaged the maglocks, securing it to the vent. She then entered the passkey and swiped a keycard, finally confirming the charge had been armed and was now ticking down to detonation.

Suddenly feeling an urge to get out of the area, Reika pulled back, flipped the vent hatch back up, and returned the top two screws to their original positions, before storing her screwdriver, throwing her pack back on, and climbing the rope up. Hoisting herself up over the edge, she pulled the rope up with her, unwrapped it from its post, and then put it in her pack.

Reika pressed down on her commlink as she moved across the rooftops to the extraction. "This is Reika – the charge has been planted. Heading to extract now." she reported. As expected, she received no reply.

The old comm encryption had most likely been compromised, and to safeguard their actions, the Arch-Canon had implemented strict one-way communications between him and Reika.

The end was near for the abominations.

Nax kept his eyes trained on the main entrance through the rangefinder. "Coast is clear." he reported calmly. "No sign of any door guards, looks abandoned."

After injecting a fresh shot of nupoz into her arm, Kelah poked her head around the corner, using her mask's built in macrobinoculars to check for herself. "Confirmed, the guards are gone." she said, before glancing at Sidewinder perched on her shoulder. "Move up and scan pulse the building." Kelah ordered, and Sidewinder floated up, doing exactly as told, before letting off a scan pulse. The building showed up completely on Kelah's visor. "The whole place is empty. I've got a bad feeling about this." she mumbled as the four of them approached the entrance, Kelah leading the group, with Nax following her, and Kyra between him and Lexi, all with their weapons out.

They split and stacked up against the door, and after counting down from five, Kelah opened the door, each of them swiftly moving in and setting up potential crossfire zones in the pitch-black room. Switching her mask into low light mode, she flipped a light switch, revealing a massed pile of bodies in varying states of decomposition, but they were all piled neatly into a sort of spire, earning shocked gasps from Kyra and Lexi as they stepped back in horror. Nax and Kelah, though, made no sound.

Out of a sickened curiosity, Kyra moved to get a closer look, but Nax quickly yanked her back by the arm. "Don't touch that, Kyra." he ordered, glancing from her and then to the bodies. "Rest might've contaminated them."

Kelah half-circled the bodies from a safe distance, observing them. "They're all wearing Pather gear." she noted, pointing at their robes. "No wounds, but they're bleeding from every part of their bodies. Why?"

Lexi took a look at the bodies herself, and noticed something off about the exposed arm of a young woman. "Wait, look, this one's got surgical scarring on her arm." she said, and Kelah rushed over to confirm.

"…Those aren't just surgical scars, those look like the kind you'd see after getting a fresh aug." Kelah realized, before turning to her droid. "Sidewinder, scan the bodies. Check for enhancements." she ordered, and Sidewinder did so, maintaining a short distance from the bodies as he scanned. Each body added more and more augmentations to the list that Sidewinder had put on her HUD – muscle strengtheners, neural laces, artificial lungs and the like. It was like a little treasure trove for Harvesters, but the fact remained that these were Pathers, not Synthskins, Harvesters, or even regular laborers. The Path being hypocritical would be almost amusing to her, if the idea of the Path forcibly augmenting its people weren't so disconcerting. "…Let's get a move on. Don't touch anything if you can help it."

The group proceeded down into the basement, finding the lights on, but dimmed, despite the basement's unusually advanced look given that this was supposed to be a Pather base. Perhaps Rest had funded this, perhaps not. Regardless, the basement consisted of a long hallway that led out into five rooms, four on the side, and one at the very end. "Split up and check the rooms. Lexi, you're with me." Kelah ordered, and Lexi nodded, falling in behind her while she checked the first room on the left. The story was the same as the basement hall – completely abandoned and barren of any sign of habitation. It looked like there used to be cabinets and equipment in here, but they looked like they had been recently torn out. After quickly clearing the room to confirm that it was empty, Kelah and Lexi moved to the next room right as Nax and Kyra did. "Find anything?" she asked.

"Nope. You?" Nax answered.

"Nada. Check these last two rooms anyways." Kelah said, and then the two groups moved up to their respective doors. Carefully opening the door with her free hand, Kelah poked the barrel of her bryar pistol inside as she opened it, with Lexi covering her back. Again, the room had been recently abandoned, but this one wasn't empty – there was a large pile of nupoz pill bottles and autoinjectors lying on the center countertop. Carefully approaching them, Kelah quickly realized that they were all empty, which only served to add to her discontentment and concern. A quick sweep found nothing else of note, so she returned to the hall. "Found some empty nupoz, but that was it." Kelah reported as she shut the door behind her.

"That room was empty, too." Nax said, pointing behind him with his thumb. "So, last room?" he said with a shrug, stacking up against the last door regardless. Kyra quickly followed behind him, her '44 raised and ready.

"Last room." Kelah echoed, repeating the maneuver with Lexi. Counting down from five, Lexi pulled back and kicked the door off of its hinges, sending it to the floor like dead weight. The four of them quickly filtered in, took stock of the room, and formed a firing line.

Nax gave Kelah a side glance. "You're scary, you know that, right?" he quipped.

She smirked behind her mask. "Stealth is good and all, but nothing beats a little shock and awe." she replied, before giving a hand motion to move up. "Come on." she ordered, and the group advanced the narrow hall, opening into some sort of lab. Once again, the equipment had been stripped, but there was still some stuff that had been left behind, namely a hazmat suit and some handheld decontamination equipment.

Once they entered the actual lab part of the room, a hologram lit up in the center. It was none other than Amhe Rest, dressed in a simple labcoat and carrying a medium-sized vial of… something. "Greetings." he said calmly. "You all almost certainly know who I am and what I do, and, seeing as you will all likely be dead within a few days, I'll skip the formalities." he continued with a polite malice.

Kelah stepped forward. "Why are you working with the Path?!" she said in an accusing tone.

Rest simply laughed with an unearthly echo. "…I do not work for the Path. I simply provide my services to those with the capital to back my work." he explained as he cradled the vial like a baby. "…Although I consider my work important scientific research, sowing anarchy and chaos is rather fun benefit of the job." he said, sounding bored with himself. Lexi finally had enough, and started to approach the holoprojector, pulling her slicing gear out and getting to work on tracing the broadcast.

Rest ran his fingers along the vial. "That said, in the few cases where your crowd of bounty hunters and mercenaries get close to me, I sometimes like to play a little game with them." he continued, before holding the vial out in both hands. "This is the antidote to Mau-Sanir – if you can find me, it's yours. If."

Kyra scratched her head in confusion. "What even is Mau-Sanir?" she asked, and Rest's gaze fell upon her.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Rest replied, before he gave as sly of a smile as a Givin could. "That's the surprise. Now, if you aren't all dead soon, I bid you good luc-" he said, being cut off as the hologram glitched out.

Lexi stood up, holding her datapad in her arms as she stashed her slicing gear. "Traced his signal." she said, half mumbling, before looking up at Nax, and then back to her datapad. "Looks like it came from an asteroid base in the belt around Fusu."

"Fusu?" Nax and Kyra said in unison.

"Gas giant in the outer reaches of the system. The base'll probably be a bitch to find, given the size of the belt." Lexi explained, looking closely at her datapad. "…Buuuut, I think with some simple math, we'll be able to find it faster than without what I've just swiped from his signal."

Kelah quickly pushed past the holoprojector and scanned the lab, before turning back to the group after having found nothing else of note. "Then what are we waiting for? Let's get a move on!" she said, eagerly heading for the exit.

Nax held out a hand to stop her. "Easy there, Kel. Let's plan this out rationally." he cautiously said, before looking to Lexi. "You said it was an asteroid base, right?" he questioned, and Lexi nodded to confirm. "Then in that case, our boss might have something to help with that. Come on, let's pay him a visit."

Nax, Kyra, and Lexi rounded the street corner that led to the Mare's Leg, idly chatting amongst themselves. Kelah and Nevda had also decided to tag along, mostly to assess whether Vopa would be a threat to the Ascendancy or not.

Kyra sprinted ahead of the group, turned around, and walked backwards to get a look at the group. "So," she said, clasping her hands together. "Any votes on what Mau-Sanir is?"

Kelah moved her hand under her hood and scratched the base of her neck. "Some sort of anti-aug and anti-borg virus is my guess." she posited. "Those bodies we found in the lab, they weren't wounded from the outside, it looked like they bled out internally, and seeing as how I found a stockpile of empty nupoz injectors and bottles, I'm going with contaminating the supplies of nupoz."

Nevda threw her hand around Kelah's shoulder, accidentally bumping Sidewinder in the process. "I'm going with what she said." she said with a cheeky grin.

Kyra looked over to Nax and Lexi. "What about you two?"

Nax shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine, Kyra."

Lexi leaned forward and acknowledged Kyra's question, but said nothing else, causing Kyra to turn back around. Even outside, they could hear the patrons inside the cantina, and it sounded packed. "Sheesh, sounds like Eath's swamped." Lexi noted.

Just as they were about to cross the windows of the cantina, an explosion rocked the area, and a massive plume of fire burst from the windows of the cantina, sending glass shards and shrapnel flying out onto the street, immediately killing traffic.

The five of them had been knocked flat on their backs from the shockwave, and they taken some time to recover. Once their senses returned to them, a faint pink mist had settled over the area, and most pedestrians were slowly backing away, and although a brave few were trying to get inside, they were unfortunately blocked by a large chunk of debris. The group ran over, and Kelah shoved her way through the crowd at the door. "Move it, I'll clear the way!" she shouted as she pushed through a Rodian and a Twi'lek.

As soon as she was at the front of the crowd, Kelah grabbed the middle support bar of the door, and, fighting through the searing sensation, ripped it from its hinges. Throwing it over her head and onto the street, she slid in under the rubble and braced herself against the wall, summoning every bit of strength to push the chunk of duracrete out of the way. Nax and Kyra pushed their way through to give her a hand as she struggled, and, together, they finally managed to clear the debris.

Their group was the first inside the burning cantina, and the very first sign of anyone moving was Vopa carrying Eath over his shoulders. Vopa had a piece of rebar lodged in his lower abdomen, while Eath was missing his left leg and had a piece of shrapnel jabbed in his middle eye. Nax and Lexi immediately ran over to help the two out onto the street. "Your timing's about as good as your dad's, kid!" Vopa hacked out in gratitude as the pedestrians cleared the way for them.

Eath had been drifting in and out of consciousness from the shock, but finally managed to become lucid enough to notice Lexi. "Lexi!" he choked out to get her attention, spitting blood onto the pavement. "Lexi, your dad's still in there!"

Lexi shot him a horrified look. "Where?!" she demanded to know, but Eath had already slipped back into unconsciousness.

Setyani suddenly came over, apparently no worse for wear. He slipped his arm under Eath's and pointed back into the cantina. "I've got the boss. You go and find your dad."

Lexi didn't need to hear anything else, and immediately let go of Eath, barreling through the crowd with no concern. She immediately started scanning the bar for any sign of her dad, but could barely see through the smoke. Stepping aside for a Devaronian carrying two people out, Lexi vaulted over the counter, and, looking towards the back room of the cantina, spotted a small pile of rubble, with a vaguely purple hand sticking out. Vaulting the counter once again, Lexi rushed over and started trying to remove the rubble.

Kelah and Nevda came from the back room carrying a burly Sullustan, but once she noticed Lexi's struggling, Kelah handed her place off to Kyra and moved to Lexi, helping her tear the rubble off, gradually revealing Markan, scorched with burn marks and impaled on several pieces of rebar, bleeding heavily. The rebar was mostly in his abdomen, but a few pieces were lodged in his upper chest. His left arm had also been severed at the shoulder, leaving only a bloody stump. He turned a pained look to Lexi, hacking up blood, but otherwise saying nothing.

Kelah looked his body over. "He's bleeding pretty bad." she stated, trying to find a way to remove him from the rebar. "Lexi, if we take him off this rebar, we need to get him bandaged fast, otherwise, there's no guarantee he won't bleed out."

Lexi wordlessly knelt down, and Markan stared her in the eyes. "Do it." he said through gritted teeth. Breathing in, Lexi mentally braced herself, and she reached under Markan's back with Kelah. Holding her right hand out, Kelah counted down from five. As soon as she hit one, the two women lifted Markan with every bit of strength they had, and he howled like an animal being skinned alive, from both the pain of having the rebar inside of him, and from the searing heat of the metal. Blood painted itself along the rebar as they lifted him, and once they finally pulled him off, came gushing in a torrent from his opened wounds.

The pair quickly went to support him and moved as fast as they could in getting him out and onto the street. They managed to find a clear space to lie him down, and once they did, they both started trying to apply pressure to his wounds. Sirens echoed in the distance, and before long, emergency speeders pulled up. Two mixed squads of Underworld cops and Stormtroopers dismounted and dispersed the pedestrians, setting up a perimeter around the wounded. Two more speeders pulled up, one unloading several medics, and another unloading firefighting droids, who immediately set to work in quelling the blaze.

One of the medics noticed Lexi and Kelah and immediately ran over to them, hand halfway inside of his bags. Kelah moved aside for him, and the medic immediately set to work on bandaging Markan's stump of an arm. "Hang in there, man, you're gonna be alright!" the medic said in an encouraging voice as he dressed the wound. Markan's head began to drip and his skin started to pale, and Lexi held his head up. "Hey! Talk to me, man. Where're you from, huh? What's your name?" the medic tried to ask in an attempt to keep Markan focused and awake.

Blood spilled from Markan's mouth. "I… I'm Markan. Markan Sapphyra." he choked out, raising his free hand to cup Lexi's face. "…And this… is my daughter, Lexi." he continued, his voice getting more distant, even as Lexi began to silently cry. His breathing had begun to slow. "…Lexi, do you remember what you wanted to be when you grew up?"

Lexi put her hand over his to try and hold him close. "I… wanted to play the xantha. Lead player in a band between all my friends." she answered after some rumination.

Markan gave a weak chuckle as he stroked her face. "…That's right, honey. Do you remember where we used to live?"

Lexi struggled to think through her tears. "…In the Ranha district, twenty-nine Amplight lane, fifth house on the left when coming from the market, right?"

Chuckling again, Markan patted Lexi's face. "…That's right, Star Angel." he said, before hacking up more blood. "When you can, I want you to go there and check your old room. Okay?" he requested, grabbing Lexi with what little strength he had and shaking her.

Lexi swallowed and wiped the tears from her face. "Okay, dad. I will." she said, choking herself on her words. "…I love you, dad."

Markan's face lit up as he stroked the side of her face. "I love you too, Star Angel. I always have." he finished, his voice now barely above a whisper.

The light quickly faded from Markan's eyes, and he slumped back, his hand falling from Lexi's face. "Dad?!" Lexi cried out suddenly, and she wrapped her other arm around him, pulling his lifeless body into a hug. Lexi started to weep over her dad, and the medic only gave a token 'I'm sorry'', before he left to tend to other wounded. Gradually, the others came over to console her.

As Lexi mourned, an INN speeder pulled up, and the news crew immediately dismounted. "How's my hair?" they heard a vaguely familiar voice ask. "Good, rolling in three, two-" the voice continued, before interrupting herself. "This is Fay Tultra with INN, live at the Mare's Leg cantina after an explosion rocked the local neighborhood from inside the cantina." she said, identifying herself. Fay stepped aside to allow the cameras an unblocked view of the bodies in the street. "While the total number of casualties is currently unconfirmed, the number appears to be somewhere in the double digits." Fay continued, before the camera focused specifically on their little group. "Many in the community have likely lost friends and loved ones, such as this young woman." she went on, likely trying to stretch this for as long as possible. Fay leaned over the group. "Excuse me," she said, adopting a more polite tone. "Who was this man to you?"

Lexi didn't respond to Fay's question, instead, she continued to mourn. However, everyone else turned their angry gazes to Fay, and Nax was the only one to actually get up and approach Fay, who hesitantly offered her mic to Nax. "That's my friend, and she just lost her dad, so I'd appreciate it if you assholes got the hell out of her face and let her mourn." he angrily said.

"Real friendly, aren't you?" the cameraman snarked, and Nax turned his attention to him.

"You want me to shove that thing up your ass?" Nax threatened, and the cameraman immediately backed off. Fay had a bewildered look on her face at just how freely he was swearing.

Before the altercation could continue, an Underworld cop rushed over. "Get back outside the perimeter! Now!" he ordered to the INN crew, and they quickly complied, leaving Nax and the others alone. "Sorry about that." the officer apologized. "Fraggin' hate newspeople. They don't know when to give people space."

Nax simply nodded, and the officer returned to his position. Eventually, another transport came and took Markan away.

Before Vopa had been loaded into a medical speeder, he handed off a datacard to Nax and told him that what he needed was on that card. As it turned out, the datacard contained the location of a storehouse on 1310 that the Hivers used to store smuggled weaponry. One of the officers in charge of handling the warehouse had already known they were coming, and handed off a crate full of proton torpedo warheads to them, alongside a detpack and detonator to go with.

At the moment, they were exiting Coruscant's atmosphere, while Nevda and Arfive were charting their course to Fusu. Jumping at Fusu within the system was out of the question, so that meant they had to go at sublight, which would take around eight to twelve hours, given that Fusu was near the edge of the system. As they received clearance to leave the planet from Star Control, Nax left the pilot's seat to go to the lounge where Kelah, Kyra, and Lexi were.

Nevda coughed.

That's it for this chapter.

I'm pissed at myself for missing my March deadline and instead posting this in April, but whatever, curse of being lazy, I guess.

I can't believe the fucking odds of me writing a virus plot into a story right around the time there's a global pandemic. Jesus Christ.

Anyways, the rewrite of the early chapters is still going on, but a bit slower since I wanted to get this chapter out of the way. We're coming up on the end of the Coruscant chapters, unless I change my mind and go with a minor arc I've already created a character for.

Until next time, and remember, STAY THE FUCK INSIDE!

-Tweak