Sorry for the wait, but I was focused on my Power Rangers/MHA story the last few weeks. I was in a Power Rangers mood, so I can hope you can forgive me for keeping you all waiting.
Now, before we begin this chapter. I have a few things to say.
Star Wars: Ahsoka has been confirmed for a release date on August 23rd of this year, so save the date to memory. Also coming out is the Expendables Four on September 22nd, three days after my birthday so that is something I am looking forward to.
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts was awesome. I'm not a big Beast Wars fan, but after seeing that movie, I think it's time I watch the series, and Beast Machines. No spoilers for you all, especially if you've not seen the film yet but I will say this much, next movie, I want to see Powerglide, Warpath, the Aerial Bots and Jetfire.
For those of you who for some reason like those magical girl series, let me tell you that Magical Girl Spec-Ops Asuka is not like anything you've seen before. It's more violent, bloody, and gruesome than the likes of something like Sailor Moon. No, I don't watch Sailor Moon, but Spec-Ops, well since it's military, I watched it, and boy was it not like what I was expecting. Hoping for a second season, especially if one of the girls gets to use the Bushmaster ACR.
There will be no intro to this chapter, due to the nature of this chapter. After replaying Doom, Doom Eternal and the remake of Resident Evil 4, this chapter will be involving something that someone mentioned in a review several chapters back.
But first, onto the reviews.
Monster King: Thanks
Luffy L Deathwalker: Yep, a double rescue operation will be in order, in the future. Or will it be a triple rescue operation?
SunPhoenix90: Sounds like you put a lot of work into your OC. And I am really glad that it didn't happen at your school either.
Just a reader now a writer: What has happened to Raven you ask? Well, you'll be surprised to find out.
The first guest reviewer: Why thank you, I try my best with my writing.
The second guest reviewer: All the characters I have brought in are to give Remnant a fighting chance against the more technological advanced Empire. Sure, their weapons may not be effective, but with the right upgrades and improvements, they can stand against the Empire. Case in point, Stonehenge against enemy capital ships.
Silverfox3456: Thanks for sticking up for me. I appreciate it a lot and yes, the characters I add do make the story more exciting.
BlindFaunusGirl: Glad you liked that chapter and I do hope you are doing well.
No songs this chapter, due to its nature. Reader discretion is advised for those who don't like horror or monsters.
Disclaimers are the same as always, please enjoy.
Chapter 118: The Dead Planet
Nestled deep in the Outer Rim Territories, the planet Odacer-Faustin was considered little more than a insignificant world to the eyes of the Empire. A world of heavy snowstorms, constant high winds and rocky terrain made it inhospitable for settlements of any kind, save for one, an ancient academy belonging to the Sith that dated back over four thousand years ago.
No one knew what happened to the academy, other than the fact that it was abandoned three thousand years ago and everyone who was living there mysteriously disappeared with no trace ever being found. Those who dared to venture to this planet or those who were unfortunate enough to become stranded were also never seen again, leaving behind only abandoned starships covered in snow.
Near the abandoned academy, nestled in a valley was a crashed Star Destroyer of the Imperial Navy and a prison barge that were the newest wrecks on the planet. A snowstorm blew through the valley as an Imperial Snow Trooper tried to find his way through the storm, his blaster held at the ready and his arms shaking.
His landing craft was forced to make an emergency landing on the planet after the hyperdrive malfunctioned, possibly due to rebel sabotage. His commanding officer, who was none to please about the sudden landing ordered his men to disembark the craft and scour the derelict ships for any parts to fix the hyperdrive, resulting in the discovery of the academy and the imperial vessels. Half of the eighty-men aboard the shuttle went to investigate the academy, while the rest checked the ships for parts and the shuttle transmitted a distress signal.
The trooper was among those sent to investigate the academy and found that it had been abandoned for some time, long before the Empire. Evidence gathered by the troopers confirmed it belonged to an ancient order of Sith, who were wiped out years ago by the Jedi, but not one of the troopers saw any signs of a body of any kind.
Hours after their investigation began, they found a hidden temple underneath the library a few kilometers away from the academy, confirming that the structure did indeed belong to the Sith, dating back to the era of the Cold War. Within its vastness, were scores of ancient Sith Lore, dating back even farther than when the academy was first founded. It was at that moment when they lost contact with the troopers searching the ships for parts, then came under attack by unknown hostiles that seemed to appear out of thin air, as if they were waiting in the shadows, moaning, and groaning before striking.
Disorganized the moment their squad leader was taken into the shadows, the troopers began to panic, firing back at the shadows only to be taken by the unseen attackers. Screams echoed throughout the academy, temple and library as the surviving troopers tried to make a run back to their shuttle, only for their numbers to dwindle to almost nothing, save for the last trooper himself who ran out into the snowstorm.
Unable to see, the Trooper slowly trudged through the snow and wind to his ship, checking his surroundings for friend or foe. Snow crunched behind him, forcing the scared trooper to turn around and fire his blaster at his enemy, but saw no signs of hostile forces. Slowly, he backed away before he felt his back touching something and felt a saliva drip onto his helmet. Turning around slowly, he came face to face with the mysterious figure, only to scream in terror, which was then silenced as the wind howled around, silencing the screams.
Lightyears away on Remnant, the situation had taken a turn for the worse. After the recent attack by the White Fang and Empire, a massive full-frontal assault to retake the kingdom was launched under the orders of an arrogant colonel who knew nothing of the Empire's superior firepower and believing that the only threat they had to contend with was the drone fighters and the prototype S47 and S57's the White Fang had in their possession.
Against the advice of the Garuda Team and orders from Clover, a large strike package flown by the best pilots in the Atlas Air Force were launched to take back their kingdom, without any support from the air fleet. No less then three hours into their flight, the strike package was attacked by cruise missile fire from the Aigaion, resulting in the loss or capture of seventy-five percent of the Atlas pilots. The colonel who authorized the assault was reprimanded for his costly action, stripped of his rank and privilege in the Atlas armed forces, along with an honorable discharge. The surviving pilots from the assault were quick to chew out Clover, who they claim should have done more to stop the assault from being launched in the first place.
The negative emotions soon drew the Grimm to Khesed, giving the ground forces a major headache, especially from the more 'privileged' soldiers of the Atlas military who believed themselves to be above doing the kind of work of clearing the Grimm out, some of which even tried to 'get rid of' Sienna Khan, believing her to be a double agent and working with their enemies, despite the pardon she was given.
Even worse, more of the soldiers and pilots believed that it was Galen's fault that the Empire came to their planet and didn't even try to hide their hatred for the Jedi. Some of them tried to instigate fights between Galen and themselves, hoping that if Galen drew his weapon on them, it would give cause to put him down like an animal. Galen, however, ignored these actions and focused on training Ruby in the ways of the force and her silver eyes.
Standing in an empty hanger surrounded by Fives, Echo, Jesse, Hardcase, Kix, Hevy, Waxer, Boil, Rex and Cody, Ruby ignited her lightsaber, closed her eyes, and listened as the clones raised their weapons and fired stun shots at her. Sensing their intentions, Ruby spun around blocking the stun shots while Ahsoka, Galen, Oscar, and Ray watched from nearby. "So, Anakin did the same thing with you during the war?" Ray asked.
"He felt the battle simulations used by the Jedi were too simple and asked Rex and the boys to fire at me, so I could be ready to face large groups of enemies. It took me several tries before I finally got the hang of it. Saved my life many times during the war." Ahsoka answered.
Galen watched as Ruby deflected stun shot after stun shot, impressed that her skills had improved despite Ironwood's efforts to keep his 'ultimate weapon' safe from Salem. "Ruby's come a long way since she first started her training in the ways of a Jedi. She's learning the things you and I learned over the years in months, she's certainly determined to defeat Salem." Galen noted.
"Miss Rose is determined to defeat Salem. The fact that she knows her mother is alive, despite Salem's attempts to break her will to fight by claiming her mother is dead, is what drives her motivation to continue. She want's to be the daughter that Summer Rose can be proud of." Ozpin said, speaking through Oscar's body.
The last of the stun shots were deflected, but Ruby didn't let her guard down as Hevy fired a final shot, but Ruby sensed Hevy's intention to hit her and leaned backwards, avoiding the shot which nearly hit a certain brigadier general who was passing by to speak with Clover. "Good one, kid." Hevy praised.
"Thanks, Hevy." Ruby said with pride. "Though I don't think the general over there will see it that way, seeing as he almost got hit. Then again, considering the pickle we're in, the rescue of Bram and the others might be in jeopardy after the failed assault."
"Hunter, Boss, Darmen and their brothers are already scouting the enemy defenses on the coast. Once we know what the enemy has placed, we'll make sure we're prepared for them this time." Rex said, helmet in hand, before he ordered his brothers to disperse. "The Galm Team, Neo and Shamrock have recon duty later today, so if the enemy has anything ready for us, we'll know what's coming."
"Let's just hope it's not another swarm of suicide bombers." Ahsoka said in agreement. "I never thought anyone would be crazy enough to fly a plane into a ship, of any kind. Even if they were drones, it seems like a waste."
"That's the point of using the drones. They don't have to worry about replacing the pilots they lose, but to the Empire, the pilots are expendable and can easily be replaced by new recruits, eager to 'serve' the Empire." Galen said with disgust. It was just then that Proxy walked into the hanger.
"Master, pardon the interruption, but I've just received word from General Kota. It would appear that our ally, Hondo Ohnaka has picked up an imperial distress beacon coming from a planet in the outer rim. Hondo mentioned that it's a planet where hundreds of ships have disappeared over the years." The droid informed his master. "Based on the location of the distress beacon, the planet is Odacer-Faustin. Nothing is known about the planet, even in the files the Jedi Archives that Captain Fordo recovered the night of the Purge have no information about this planet. Rebel command believes that this is the Imperial Bioweapons project that one of the Rebellions spies reported."
"Imperial Bioweapons? What are we talking about something that can kill anyone of Mandalorian Blood or those with an aura? Something like that is far to dangerous to leave in the hands of the Empire." Ray questioned with a snarl.
"Unknown, but Rebel High Command requests that you take a small team and investigate the planet." Proxy answered.
"Rex, Ruby, Ray, and I will check it out. We take anyone else; we might attract some unwanted attention from those who might think we're running away." Galen said, then turned to Ahsoka. "Ahsoka, you think you can keep an eye on Ruby's team while we're away? I got a feeling that someone might send them out on a suicide mission in an effort to kill them."
"I'll keep a close eye on them." Ahsoka assured.
"Guess this means I get to try this bad boy out." Ray smirked, opening a weapons case, and pulled out the weapons inside it. "Built this thing with the help of Hondo and his crew. High quality Titanium Steel alloy to ensure maximum reliability, good rate of fire and raw strength, this shotgun's perfect for close quarters."
"Doesn't it use Dust ammo?" Ruby asked.
"Nope. It uses the same ammo as those Trandoshan Scatter guns. Built this thing after the incident on the Trandoshan Moon and let me tell you, it will take the limb off anything I hit, unless they are wearing Beskar." Ray answered, grabbing several handfuls of cartridges, several of which he loaded into his shotgun.
Placing his loaded shotgun down, he picked up the second weapon, which was a closed bolt, belt fed assault rifle that looked to be more on the lines of a heavy machine gun, equipped with a pair multi-chambered cylinders located under the primary barrel loaded with six whistling birds in each cylinder and a parallax compensation telescopic sight on top of the weapon. "And this thing. Oh, you should've seen the work I did in disassembling one of those lizard's machine guns and building this baby. Took me several months before I finally finished it and let me tell you, this thing is deadly on living targets, especially if they aren't wearing armor. Plus, it makes a good sniper rifle." Ray continued.
"Cool." Ruby said in awe as the group headed for the Rogue Shadow, boarded the vessel, and took off from the base. Once they broke through the atmosphere, the coordinates for the planet were inputted into the navi-computer and then the Rogue Shadow made the jump to hyperspace.
Hours later, the Rogue Shadow dropped out of hyperspace over the planet and descended towards the surface. Aboard the ship, Ruby had left Crescent Rose back on Remnant and held Crescent Rose 3.0 in her hands and had changed into her jacket, armor, boots, gloves, muffler and secondary cape, clothing which was also suited for colder climates. "So, is anyone else getting a really bad feeling about this planet? I'm feeling a bit cold here and we're not even in the snow yet." Ruby asked, adjusting her cape nervously as the Rogue Shadow flew over the snow-covered terrain.
"I sense it too. This planet is strong in the dark side." Galen concurred.
"Let's find a place to land and pick up the trail of the distress beacon. Whatever the Empire is doing on this rock, let's find it quick and get the hell out of here before we freeze to death." Rex said in agreement, also having changed into custom version of galactic marine armor, this one colored blue and white rather than maroon.
The ship soon landed on the snowy ground of a valley as a gust of wind blew snow off the top of valley, obscuring their view of the valley. "Any luck on pinpointing the source of the beacon?" Rex asked.
"No, something's interfering with sensors. Might be the wind or it could be something else, but I can't pinpoint the location." Galen answered as R4 rolled up to his master and looked at him. "R4, try and boost the sensor range of the Rogue Shadow and scan for lifeforms. I'm sensing something on this planet, and it doesn't seem to be friendly." He instructed.
As R4 was about to head to the cockpit, Ray came rushing into the cargo hold. "You guys might want to take a look at this." He said urgently.
The others followed Ray back into the cockpit and what they found was very alarming. The wind had finally died down and through the snow scattered all throughout the plateau at the valley exit were dozens if not hundreds of wrecked starships, covered in snow and ice. Most of the ships dated back to the period of galactic history known as the Cold War, while others looked to be fairly recent vessels, some of which dated back to the Clone Wars. "There are ships here from every era." Rex said in awe.
"I'm seeing a lot of civilian ships, probably refugee ships escaping from wars, but the amount of snow and frost on them, along with the rust, it's perplexing. Shouldn't someone have found these ships by now?" Ruby asked.
"I don't know." Galen answered. "Maybe something happened to the crews of the ships and their passengers."
"Maybe we get some information from that Jedi Cruiser over there." Ray suggested, pointing in the direction of a seemingly intact Venator Star Destroyer, with its nose partially buried in snow. "Maybe the ships command log might have recorded what happened when the ship crashed."
"It's worth a shot." Rex agreed, following the others as they headed into the inhospitable terrain, while R4 conducted his scan of the area.
The snow wasn't as deep as they thought it would be, but the cold wind continued to blow as the four of them trudged through the snow towards the down ship's starboard hanger. Calling on the force, Galen ripped the doors open, startling a flight of Mynocks flew out from the hanger, screeching loudly. "I hate Mynocks. Nasty things." Rex snarled.
"Keep the finger off the trigger, Rex. We don't know what we're going to encounter in this ship." Ray advised the clone captain, scanning the hanger with his shotgun. "Clear, nothing but a few wrecked V-19's, but I got something on my motion tracker."
Rex and Ruby raised their weapons and looked for any movement but found nothing moving. "Are you sure that motion tracker is working right?" Ruby asked.
"The motion tracker is working at one-hundred percent capacity, Miss Rose. I performed a diagnostic on the armors systems and have determined that they are operating at peak efficiency. Whatever it was, it was probably a small creature native to this planet." Amber said aloud.
"I almost forgot about you, Amber." Ray chuckled, feeling rather stupid he forgot about his AI partner. "Can you give us a direct route to the bridge?"
"I've already plotted the course to the bridge, but I should advise you that the turbo lifts are offline, you'll most likely have to climb the lifts in order to reach the bridge, if you can plug me into the ships systems, I can restore the lifts." Amber advised.
"Console is in the control room at the top of the hanger. If you've been on these ships as long as I have, then you'll know the layout like the back of your hand." Rex agreed, lowering his pistols but kept his guard up while Ruby and Galen illuminated the hanger bay with their lightsabers. "I don't want to think about what happened to all my brothers on this ship when it crashed. It's not a way for anyone of us to go."
Ruby understood Rex's feelings. She didn't want to think about what would happen if Yang or her team were killed, and she wasn't there to help them. Her thoughts were broken when she caught a whiff of a nasty scent that almost made her gag. "Anyone else smell something rotting?" she asked with her nose pinched.
"I smell it to." Galen agreed just as the emergency power was restored. The source of the smell was soon revealed when the lights came back on, and the sight made them sick to their stomachs.
The source of the smell was several dead Imperial Snow Troopers, all of which were violently torn apart, their stomachs ripped open, and their intestines strewn across the hanger floor. Arms and legs were ripped off, their armor torn apart like it was cheap plastic and their eyes filled with terror. "Oh god." Ruby muttered, trying to hold back her urge to vomit, but failed miserably and heaved. "This is worse than what Tyrian did to that girl in Mantle."
Ray soon rejoined them and picked up a fallen blaster rifle. "Whatever did this to these poor devils, I don't want to even think about where it went, but the bodies look fresh, like it was done recently." He also noticed the head of a trooper that was ripped off and sitting nearby. "Ok, anyone want to think that Salem might have done this and managed to get into space?"
"No. Salem didn't do this. Why would she leave Remnant and openly attack the galaxy when her goal is the relics? Something else did this and I have a feeling it's still here." Galen summarized. "We need to get to bridge and figure out what happened to check the command log."
Y-yeah, let's go before we start throwing up again." Ruby agreed with a stutter but took one last the bodies, thinking about the bodies they found at the Brunswick farm, before she followed after the others and boarded the turbo lift, just as something caused a few crates to topple over.
When they reached the bridge, they found it littered with fallen blasters, scattered helmets, and decomposed remains of several clones still on the bridge. Moving towards the central console, Ray plugged Amber into the Venators systems where she began to access the command log of the ship. Rex knelt down and picked up the fallen helmet of a dead trooper. "This is phase two armor. It's lighter and has stronger plating than the phase one armor. We started using this around the time of the Umbara campaign, but a lot of us didn't opt to use the new helmet, we preferred the Phase one helmet as it was a sign of our relation to the Mandalorian people, but we did use the new armor in place of the older and heavier phase one armor." Rex observed.
"Yet these guys have been dead for a long time. What killed them?" Galen asked.
"Hey, this might sound crazy, but doesn't that trooper look like he was bitten on the neck?" Ruby pointed out, noticing the bite marks on the dead trooper's neck.
"Those are bite marks alright." Rex confirmed, kneeling down, and inspecting the trooper's neck. "Looks like something ripped his jugular vein out and this trooper choked on his own blood. Animals do it, but these bite marks look like they were made by a set of human teeth."
"I've found something interesting." Amber reported as her holographic form appeared on the holo-table. "It appears that this ship was part of the Republic's illegal biological weapons program, created by the chancellor twenty-years ago. The goal was to create a biological weapon that could replace both clone troopers and their Jedi generals, to create a sort of super soldier. Such research and weapons were made illegal by the senate, but it seems the chancellor was continuing the program in secret, from the prying eyes of the Jedi and senate. This ship was used primarily as a mobile laboratory where these biological weapons were created, then tested in various scenarios. The troopers were not clones, rather a private military company that were given the armor and weapons of clone troopers as part of the deal they made with the chancellor. As for the ship, it was conducting research based on research recovered from ancient texts that were found at various Sith temples across the galaxy, texts that referred to a type of orchid found in the Murakami system." Amber began.
"A flower?" Ray asked.
"Not just any type of flower. According to the logs, the orchid is said to be alive and forms a bond with those with similar concentrations of mid-chlorian's, such as Jedi. The Jedi from three thousand years ago housed these plants on the planet of Marfa, in the care of the Agricultural Corps, but this in turn attracted the attention of the Sith. Based on the information, it appears that the orchid itself was used in a Sith as an ingredient in their quest for eternal life. That in turn failed as the pathogen transformed those who inhaled its airborne variant into undead creatures who seek out and consume the living, transforming them into undead. Being bitten or making contact with the fluid from the infected bodies results in immediate infection and those infected with the pathogen slowly descend into madness, followed by loss of all cognitive functions. Those who made contact with the airborne variant suffered from coughing, built up of mucus, fevers, hallucinations, gastrointestinal disturbances, internal bleeding, seizures, comas and cardiac arrest, eventually leading to necrosis on the targets flesh and tissue, death and then reanimation."
"You mean to tell me these men were killed by zombies?" Ray exclaimed.
"Unfortunately, yes. This ship was acquiring samples from this planet. It appears that the entire planet has been turned into ravenous monsters due to research conducted by the Sith at an academy that was abandoned after an outbreak. As for the ships, vessels have been disappearing around this planet for thousands of years and it appears that the fate of those on the crashed ships was that of becoming infected and later turning into undead monsters." Amber answered.
"Then why did the ship crash?" Rex asked.
"It appears that when one of the returning ships from the surface returned, one of the scientists was bitten and reportedly attacked the crew of the ship before it landed in the hanger, causing the tanks with the airborne samples of the virus, which spread throughout the entire ship infecting the entire crew save for a few dozen soldiers and scientists who were inoculated with a vaccine that prevented infection, created from the blood of the infected. However, the infected were quick to overwhelm the remaining uninfected personnel, resulting in the ship's reactor being destroyed and the ship crashing on the very planet it is on now. Searches for the ship weren't authorized, for it was feared that if the Republic and Senate learned about this research, they would vote to remove the Chancellor from power and that in turn would result in the failure of his plans to bring about the end of the Jedi and Republic." Amber continued.
"So, we're not only dealing with a biological weapon, but a biological weapon that turns people into undead monsters? It's like one of those horror movies Yang showed me when I was only ten years old! I could barely sleep after watching that movie!" Ruby groaned while Ray pulled Amber out of the Venators systems.
"Pardon my interruption, master." Came Proxy's voice over the commlink. "But I'm afraid R4 and I are forced to take the Rogue Shadow to a new landing zone. We are detecting multiple unknown lifeforms approaching the ship from the other end of the valley."
"Get the ship clear of the valley and send us the new location! We can't risk the infection leaving the planet!" Galen shouted into his commlink, running towards the turbo lift while grabbing a fallen carbine from one of the dead soldiers. He pressed the button and waited for the lift to arrive at the bridge, but when the doors open a Whiphid that was from one of the crashed ships lunged from the lift, grabbing Galen with his arms, and knocking him to the ground. "Get off of me!"
The Whiphid was already infected with the virus, so naturally its sole purpose was trying to infect Galen, who was trying his hardest to avoid getting saliva on him or bitten, before the infected creature was pulled off him by Ray who then blasted the creatures head off with his shotgun. "You good?"
"Yeah, I'm not bitten. We need those vaccines! I don't want to risk this infection spreading off world." Galen said, getting back to his feet.
"The vaccines are in the medical bay on sub deck fifteen. However, I am detecting multiple hostiles moving throughout the ship. I believe that we have company." Amber reported.
"Galen, Ruby. You two take point. The moment the lift stops at deck fifteen, blast the creatures out of the way with the Force. Ray and I will pick off the ones you miss from range. Remember, don't let them get close to you or else you'll get infected." Rex ordered.
"Guess that means we'll have to hold off on using Lightsabers then." Ruby groaned, boarding the turbo lift with the rest of the group. The doors slid shut and the lift descended to the lower sub decks while the group checked their weapons. "I sense them." Ruby said.
"So do I." Ray added, his shotgun in his hands and ready for action.
"Once we push them back, run like hell and don't look back." Galen told his girlfriend as the lift slowed to a stop and the doors slid open to reveal a horde of zombies consisting of humans, Wookies, Bothans, Twi'leks, Zabrak's, Ithorians and other species, some of which were holding blasters or metal pipes. One of the infected, a Wookie with its rib cage partially exposed spotted the group and let out a loud ear-piercing scream, alerting the rest of the horde to their presence and slowly shambled forwards towards them. Calling on the force, Ruby and Galen unleashed a powerful blast from their hands that pushed most of the horde out of the way while Ray and Rex picked off the rest of the horde with their ranged weapons. "Let's move!"
Running through the corridors of the derelict ship, Rex, Ray, Ruby, and Galen did their best to avoid any combat with the undead horde, firing their weapons only when they had to unless they wanted to risk the chance of infection. One of the zombies in clone armor was gunned down by Rex's pistols while a Rodian zombie had its head blown off by Ray's shotgun. "Medical Bay! Dead ahead!" Ray shouted.
"Do you have to say dead ahead!?" Ruby asked in annoyance, aiming Crescent Rose 3.0 at a zombie in their path and pulled the trigger, sending a blaster bolt into the creature's head and killed it. "Have you forgotten what we're fighting!?"
"Not now!" Ray shouted back, loading new cartridges into his shotgun as quick as he could before they came to a stop at the door to the medical bay. "Oh great! It's stuck!" he exclaimed when the door failed to open.
"Rex! Give me a hand!" Galen shouted, grabbing one side of the door with his hands while Rex grabbed the other side of the door and both of them pulled hard while Ruby and Ray focused on the horde of creatures coming towards them. Gunfire and blaster fire echoed throughout the corridor as undead creatures fell to the barrage of weapons fire, some of which were starting to shoot back with the blasters in their hands. "Almost got it!"
"Hurry up!" Ray shouted, shouldering his shotgun, and pulling out his heavy assault rifle and opened up, using it as a sniper rifle and firing at the heads of the zombies, destroying the brains of the undead with precision. "At least shooting them in the head kills them. Movies and games got that part right." A storm of bullets flew from his heavy rifle and ripped the limbs off several zombies while a few shots managed to hit the heads.
At last, the doors to the medical bay were finally pulled open. Rex and Galen were the first to enter the medical bay, followed by Ruby and finally Ray who fired the last dozen rounds from his rifle's magazine into the horde before they sealed the door. "Now I know how Cody felt when he and his squad were underground on Geonosis." Rex said with a sigh of relief, grabbing a medical kit that contained the vaccine which was marked by the word 'vaccine' in Aurebesh, but when he opened the kit there were only three vials of the vaccine while the fourth was destroyed. "We only got three vaccines and there's four of us."
"You, Ray and Ruby use the vaccines." Galen instructed, much to their surprise. "When that Whiphid had me pinned to the ground, some of its saliva managed to land on my skin, but I'm not changing. I think I might be immune to the virus."
"Even if you're immune, that doesn't mean you can't get killed by these monsters. If another outbreak occurs on another planet, we'll need to use your blood to make another vaccine." Ray pointed out, ejecting his rifles empty magazine for a newer one as the zombies began to bang on the door. "That door's not going to last long. We need a way off this bucket of bolts and fast!"
"We can get a hole through wall of the ship! I saw a few speeder bikes by the ship, probably dead troopers we found in the hanger bay. We need to get as far away from this ship before we vaccinate the rest of you." Galen said, his lightsaber ignited and started to cut through the wall.
The door to the medical bay was starting to give way as the horde of zombies continued to pound on it, forcing Rex, Ruby, and Ray to step back a few steps with their weapons raised and at the ready while Galen continued to cut through the wall. Eventually, the door gave way and the horde started to pour into the medical bay. Weapons fire lit up the medical bay as the horde stammered into the room before Galen finally finished cutting through the wall, then turned around and shot a torrent of lightning from his fingers at the undead, electrocuting the reanimated corpses before turning back to face the wall and grabbed the cut piece of the wall with the force and then flung it towards the horde, crushing several of the creatures. "Let's go!" he shouted and jumped out of the ship and landed on one of the speeder bikes, a BARC speeder bike that was in surprisingly good condition.
The others leapt out of the ship, with Rex being caught by Ruby using the force, powered up the speeder bike and drove away from the ship as hordes of zombies were starting to emerge from their hiding places amongst the ships, some of which were firing back at the group with the blasters in their hands, but all of their shots missed, allowing the four uninfected people to escape the area, just as a blizzard began to descend upon the area.
The blizzard may have only just started, but the wind was already making it difficult for Rex, Ruby, Ray, and Galen to see what was ahead of them or behind them. It came as a surprise when they soon heard the sound of speeder bikes from behind them and it was even a bigger surprise when they saw that some of the zombies were actually operating the vehicles. "Looks like that virus doesn't turn the dead into completely mindless monsters if they can operate speeder bikes." Ray exclaimed as the zombie speeder bikes of various models appeared behind them, some of them already firing on them.
Rex turned back and pulled out one of his pistols, firing at the zombie's and managed to hit a few of them, but the size of the horde was far larger than anything he had ever faced before, even during the Clone War. A few of the zombie-controlled speeder bikes were able to come up alongside their prey and tried to lunge at their victims or force them off their bikes.
One of the zombies tried to bite Ruby, but the young huntress maneuvered her bike just in time, then ignited her lightsaber and sliced off the steering vane of the speeder bike, sending it spinning out of control, then crashed into the ground in an explosion. "If they get in close, slice their steering controls! They can't recover from it!" Ruby shouted through the blizzard to her comrades.
Galen heard Ruby as two zombie speeders came up alongside him. Grabbing both his sabers, Galen ignited his own weapons and sliced the steering vane of both bikes, sending both zombies spinning out of control. "I'm not sure we're eliminating the horde, unless their brains are being crushed when they crash into the ground." Galen shouted as blaster fire from Ray's speeder destroyed two more zombie-controlled bikes.
"If we can slow them down, then that's good enough for me!" Ray shouted back, spinning his speeder bike a hundred and eighty-degrees and then opened up with his bike's blaster cannon, downing a few more speeders before he spun his speeder bike back around to the front and increased his speed. "Now I wish I had an assault rifle with a chainsaw bayonet. That would really come in handy right about now!"
"That is a game, Ray." Amber responded as the four-man squad sped over a narrow ice bridge. Some of the of the zombies managed to cross the ice bridge, but the rest of them plunged into the ravine below, the loud explosions causing the fragile ice bridge to shatter and collapse. "I have pinpointed the location of the Sith Academy. It is twenty kilometers away from our current location, thirty from the valley and the crashed ships." she reported.
"Copy that! Full throttle guys! We might be able to outrun them!" Ray shouted, pushing his controls forward and increased his speed, just as another zombie operated speeder bike came up along side him with every intention of biting him. The others followed suit just as the blizzard started to pick up, making it difficult to see anything. Eventually, their pursuers soon disappeared into the storm as quickly as they started to chase them. "Why'd they give up!? Zombies have one goal in mind, consuming the flesh of their victims and all that crap?" Ray asked.
"You're guess is as good as mine! I've got no clue!" Rex shouted as the storm continued to rage all around them, obscuring their view of the path ahead of them, at least until they spotted the remains of a massive stone statue. "I think we've reached the academy."
Pulling their speeder bikes to a stop, the four of them looked up to see the massive stone steps of the ancient Sith Academy, completely covered in frost and ice, the statues and parts of the building eroded after thousands of years and the smell of blood lingering in the air. "I guess this is the place." Ruby shrugged.
"Well, being as there's no other place around the place, I reckon this must be the place I reckon." Ray joked. "Yeah, not the best time to joke around. Let's at least get inside before the storm gets any worse." He said, this time seriously as he moved up the steps with his machine gun in hand, scanning for any zombies that might be waiting for them.
"Proxy, do you read me?" Galen said into the commlink, but only received static. "Proxy? R4? Do either of you copy? If you can hear me, we're taking shelter from the storm in the Sith Academy. Make for planetary orbit and warn any approaching ships to stay away from the planet. We can't risk this outbreak spreading to other planets. Inform Rebel command as well!" Galen shouted into the commlink as he climbed the steps, his blaster in hand and scanning for targets while Ray, Rex and Ruby injected themselves with the vaccine after they reached the top of the stairs.
The doors to the academy were already open, presumably by others who sought shelter from the storms the same as many other individuals who were forced to land on this planet, only to be killed and later reanimated into undead monsters. "We better barricade the doors, incase the horde from earlier manages to make it here." Galen suggested.
"I was thinking the same thing." Rex said in agreement, pushing several wrecked pieces of furniture in front of the door. As the clone captain barricaded the door, Ray plugged Amber into a still active console and brought up the academy logs and database, in an effort to determine the location of the flower that was used to create the virus.
"I've found something interesting." Amber said, catching the attention of the others who rejoined Ray at the terminal. "It appears that during the construction of this academy, Darth Drear, the Sith Lord who not only worked his students to death in constructing this place, and the one who first developed the virus as an elixir found ancient scriptures dating back to an ancient civilization and two relics. The language on these scriptures' pre-dates anything in our known galaxy, but from the few translated words, the scribes concluded that this civilization was wiped out in a great cataclysm and all traces of this civilization were wiped out. As for the relics, two sets of advanced armor were recovered and placed in the academy's vault for study."
"Maybe they found some Beskar armor from ancient Mandalorian's who died on this planet before the academy was even built." Ray suggested.
"The armor is not made of Beskar. Based on the tests, the material of the armor is not Beskar or even Cortosis, but of an unknown metal that is nearly impervious to any kind of damage, even a lightsaber. The armor also appears to feature advanced technology, a complex visor and other systems that make it superior to anything made by the 'savage Mandalorians'. All tests conducted on the armor to unlock its secrets resulted in failures, prompting the Sith Alchemists to abandon their research to recreate the armor for their disciples, for they believed it would give them an advantage in combat against the Jedi." Amber continued.
"I find the whole 'savage Mandalorian' part to be insulting to people of Mandalorian blood." Rex said.
"There is more. According to this, it appears that the armor remained locked in the vault when the outbreak occurred and has yet to be recovered. 'Intruders' the ones who were stranded on this planet attempted to gain access to the vault, but all attempts have failed, and it would seem that the Empire also failed to gain entrance into the vault." Amber finished.
"So, we grab the armor, find the flower that was used to make this damn virus and call Proxy for an extraction. Sounds like a good plan to me." Ray said, eager to leave the planet.
"No. We need to make sure everything about the virus is destroyed. The Empire might not have responded to the distress call, but when they do and they find the academy, they'll continue the biological weapons research the Emperor was conducting during the Clone War, and I don't even want to think about what Salem would do if she got her hands on this virus." Galen corrected.
"I'm with Starkiller on this. We can't let anything about this virus get off world. We have to destroy everything. We should consider glassing the planet, but that would require all the firepower in the Rebellion and Imperial Fleets. Chances are that won't be happening any time soon." Rex agreed, checking the blaster rifle he picked up from the crashed Venator.
"If it's a plant, we can burn it, right? Fire and plants don't mix well and that seems like the best plan." Ruby added. "Too bad Dust doesn't work anywhere else, but Remnant and I don't think anyone of us has a flamethrower."
"We'll figure out a way to destroy that plant, but first we need to find the vault and secure that armor." Galen assured Ruby. It was at that moment, the sound of moaning echoed from down the hall behind them and approaching them, shambling into the light were the zombified Snow Troopers, the reanimated corpses of the academy students and those who were died on this planet. "Looks like we've got a bit of a fight on our hands."
"Hey, Galen. You might need this." Ray said, handing Galen his shotgun. "I know you're immune to this virus and all, but you'll probably want to use this if you get up close and personal."
Galen pumped the shotgun, chambering a round into the weapons chamber as the horde of undead approached them, some of them with lightsabers and blasters in their hands. "Light 'em up!" Rex shouted, opening up with a burst from his blaster fire that nailed the frontmost zombies in the head, sending them tumbling forward to the ground.
Ruby followed up with Crescent Rose 3.0 in sniper mode, taking aim at some of the zombies in the rear with blasters and sniped them. One zombie fell, followed by several other zombies before she switched her weapon into its standard blaster mode and fired short-controlled bursts to conserve her ammo as much as possible. "They must have been hiding in the shadows." She shouted.
"And it looks like the Empire didn't bother to check their corners when they were searching around this academy." Ray added, firing the whistling birds from his machine guns side launchers which flew through the air and exploded, taking out a few zombies but the ones armed with lightsabers leapt over the horde and landed ahead of them, then charged towards the four of them. "Oh shit! Those one's with lightsabers are more agile!" he shouted, raising his left arm to block a strike from the zombie's lightsaber, which barely made a dent in his armor. Ray countered by grabbing the head of the zombie, then slammed the head into the ground where it shattered in bits of blood and bone.
Galen fired his borrowed shotgun, blowing the head off one of the zombies, pumped the weapon and then fired again, blowing another zombie's head into pieces of flesh and bone, then brought his hands together, concentrated and unleashed a massive cannonball like attack with the force that sent multiple zombies flying in the air, who landed and struggled to get up. "Let's go!" he shouted.
The others were quick to move further into the academy, firing at any zombies that got in their way, passing old sleeping quarters, courtyards, study halls, training rooms and other rooms, some where the zombies jumped out of the darkness at them and tried to infect them. One such zombie knocked Ruby to the ground and caused her to drop her weapon. Rolling from one side to another when the zombie tried to bite her, Ruby kicked the creature off her chest, ignited her lightsaber the moment she drew it and cut the arms off the zombie, then it's head which rolled along the floor. Extending her hand, she pulled her fallen weapon back to her, but stopped when it was just inches from her, raising her lightsaber to block the strike of a lightsaber armed zombie.
Despite its undead state, the zombie seemed to have memories of its past life when it came to lightsaber combat, which kept Ruby on the defensive and separating her from the group as it pushed her into a seemingly empty room, but was in fact filled with zombies that surrounded her. Seeing as she was surrounded, Ruby channeled the force energy around her and unleashed a force repulse that sent the undead flying back into the wall, slamming their heads into the wall, but didn't kill them. "Thank you, Galen." Ruby said to herself, sprinting out of the room, scooping up her weapon, then dashed towards the others with her lightsaber still ignited and took a few heads off.
"Glad you didn't end up zombie food." Galen said with relief as they approached the door to one of the courtyards that led to the library. The storm hadn't lessened while they were inside the academy, but Galen could feel the power of a holocron that was teeming with the dark side, guiding his companions and himself through the storm and to the library.
Smashing through the library doors, Galen, Ray, and Ruby were quick to move some of the wrecked bookshelves in front of doors as the horde moved through the storm and towards the library, some of the monsters firing their blasters with very poor accuracy. Rex on the other hand was anything but inaccurate and fired off rounds from his blaster rifle, keeping the horde at bay while the makeshift barricade was put into place. Pulling a grenade from his belt, he primed the explosive and tossed it towards the horde, blowing several limbs off the undead and forcing some of them to crawl, but hadn't succeeded in killing them. Finally, the barricade was finished, but the zombies were already at the door and banging on it. "Where's the vault?" he asked.
"The vault is one level below us. The orchid is also below us." Amber answered.
"Then let's get down there quick." Rex said, handing explosive charges to Ray, Ruby, and Galen while he held the last one in his hands and moved to the center of the library. "Place the charges here, here, and over here!" the captain shouted, placing the charge he had on the ground. The other three knew exactly what Rex had in mind and placed the charges on the ground in a circle and linked by several wires. Once the charges were in place, the four of them stood in the center of the charges which were then detonated by Rex, sending them falling through the floor and landing in the vault itself, behind the doors.
The vault was full of ancient Sith texts, various Sith Holocrons and other artifacts, but the ones that stood out the most were the sets of armor that stood in front of them. Both of them were rather bulky looking with mostly dark green, silver, black and bronze in color, with lighter colored legs and helmets, which covered the whole body. "I thought you said it was only one set of armor?" Ray asked his AI.
"It appears that I made a mistake. It appears that it was two sets of armor and not one." Amber said dismayed. "But it appears that the armor is far more complex than I originally thought. I believe they are in Galen and Ruby's sizes."
Galen moved towards one of the suits and the moment he touched it, his mind was flooded with visions of a dark place, shadowy creatures and an equally shadowy figure that stood over the creatures. "Ruby, get this armor on. We'll take them with us. They might be useful against Salem and her allies." Galen instructed, shaking off the visions he saw and quickly grabbed the armor that was his size which surprisingly shifted into a simple chest piece while the helmet remained intact.
Ruby did the same with the suit that was her size, and both of them were surprised to find out that the moment they put the chest plates on, the armor quickly covered their entire bodies in a matter of seconds, with only their lightsabers exposed. "Biometric data confirmed." A voice inside the helmet said as the two placed them on.
"Now you two look badass." Ray said with a smirk under his helmet, only to be interrupted when falling through the hole from above were the zombies that finally managed to break through the barricade. "Amber, plot us a course to orchid. We'll burn the damn thing along with this hell house."
"Understood." Amber replied just as the vault doors suddenly opened, allowing an even larger horde of zombies to shamble into the room. "I believe that this would be the appropriate time for Mr. Marek and Miss Rose to test their new armor."
"I was thinking the same thing." Galen said, tossing the shotgun back to Ray while he drew his lightsabers and ignited them, with Ruby following suit with her own lightsaber, separated into its individual hilts. Both of them looked at one another, nodded and then charged towards the horde of undead monsters.
Blue and green blades cut through the horde of zombies while Ray and Rex picked off the zombies from range. Raising his hands, Galen pulled a piece of the ceiling down on the horde, crushing several monsters with the stone slab, while Ruby threw one of her sabers and beheaded several zombies while parrying an attack from one of the infected that had a lightsaber in its hands.
Reconnecting her sabers into a staff, Ruby flung her saber towards the horde, decapitating more of the horde while bullets from behind Ray's machine gun picked off the ones she missed. Catching her saber with her hand, she sheathed it and went into a sort of berserker rage and ripped the head of one zombie in half, leaving it still attached to the body. Another zombie had a large hole punched through its head with its brain completely destroyed. Punching and kicking her way through the horde, Ruby ripped and teared zombie after zombie apart, leaving an impression on her companions.
Taking another grenade from his belt, Rex tossed his explosive towards the horde which ripped the legs off several monsters, forcing them to crawl towards their targets, only for some of them to get curb-stomped by Galen and Ruby. A final burst of rifle fire saw the end to a few zombies before the 501st captain tossed his rifle aside and pulled out his faithful pistols. "We need to get out of here!" Rex shouted.
"I'm almost out of ammo!" Ray shouted as well, loading another magazine into his heavy machine gun, then fired the last of his launchers whistling birds at the horde, taking out a few zombies. He watched as Galen and Ruby were eventually surrounded by the horde with their lightsabers continuously hacking off limbs and heads before finally, both of them unleashed a massive telekinetic explosion that disintegrated much of the horde. "Let's find that flower and burn it!"
It was then he felt his foot sink down into the floor and the sound of scraping rocks was heard. Turning around, he saw that a pedestal was emerging from below and on it was the orchid itself. "Burn you damn flower!" he exclaimed and raised his right hand, activating the flamethrower in his armors wrist and shot a stream of fire towards the flower which caught fire and caused the zombies to almost scream in pain as the flower blackened and slowly turned to ash as its petals fell one by one.
As the petals fell, the zombies started to freeze up before they finally fell to the ground, completely dead. All across the planet, the other zombies fell after the orchid that controlled them was destroyed. "Amber did that flower have the ability to control those infected from any manner of distance?" he asked.
"If the infected stray too far away from the plant, they will die and cease functioning all together. Hence the reason why the infection hadn't spread to the rest of the galaxy, however it appears that this plant was modified through the use of Sith Alchemy at some point when the infection first began, but I cannot be certain without analyzing the data. Something that I would rather not risk in the event that someone might try to recreate this project." Amber theorized.
"Well, at least the flower's gone, which means that those were infected can finally rest in peace." Ruby said, taking her helmet off. "Guess that means we can now leave."
"I agree, let's get off this rock." Galen agreed.
By the time they reached the surface, the blizzard had subsided, and the Rogue Shadow came in for a landing and picked up the four of them, then left the planet behind before jumping into hyperspace and headed back to Remnant.
When the Rogue Shadow landed at Khesed, Ruby, Galen, Ray, and Rex were greeted by a concerned Weiss, Yang, Blake, Ahsoka and Faye. "Guys, what's going on?" Ruby asked her teammates.
"Ruby." Yang began. "Salem took Oscar and Kara."
And done. Sorry for the delay, we lost the internet for a bit so, I couldn't access the information I needed when I was writing this chapter. Many of you will notice that I used the plot of Death Troopers and Red Harvest, the stories that featured zombies in our favorite space opera series, with a bit of touch of Doom.
If you couldn't tell, the heavy machine gun and shotgun that Trigger had were based on the weapons from Doom 2016, same goes for the armor Galen and Ruby have acquired being based on the Praetor suit from the game. No, there won't be any demons from hell in this story, but I can promise you that the armor will be seen again.
I saw Rise of the Beasts twice and I think it's safe to say that I want to start watching Beast Wars now. Sure, I was still a toddler when the show first came out and didn't really have an interest in it, but Transformers is Transformers in my opinion.
So, it looks like Salem managed to capture Oscar, but why did she take Kara? You'll have to wait and see until next time. So, please read and review and a Happy Forth of July to everyone.