Near the Planet Meglumine - Aboard the Rogue Explorer

As soon as they had dropped out of hyperspace, the three young Jedi had sensed it - a great disturbance in the force. For over a minute, they contemplated, reaching out to the force in an attempt to glean more information. It was a rare thing for things to be so simple when it came to the force, however and Wade asked, "Do you sense that?"

"Sense what?" asked Keyan in a low voice.

"I don't know. It's very... creepy. Something just feels... wrong and... tainted. You don't feel it?"

"Oh no, I can feel it;" assured Keyan, "I just couldn't quite put words to it. Wrong and tainted are perfect though. Hey, look! Our buddies showed up;" and he pointed towards a cluster of ships - Mon Cal cruisers, light cruisers and assault frigates in a holding pattern away from the planet and the Imperial facility.

"Well" said Nisotsa, "let's head over and get this going. I have a feeling that the sooner we get this all out of the way, the better."

Two grunts of agreement were her only responses. Wade angled them towards the command ship and it was only a few minutes before the comms were chirping. Nisotsa slapped the receiver button. "Rogue Explorer, this is the Mon Calamari Cruiser Defiance; are you receiving?"

"We are, Defiance;" replied Nisotsa, "where would you like us?"

"The main hanger in slot thirty-six, Rogue Explorer. We'll be awaiting you in the briefing room right off the main hanger;" the voice didn't sound like a Mon Calamari and the three Jedi glanced at each other and shrugged.

"Understood, Defiance; we'll see you there."

They signed off and Wade commented, "That sounded like a Rodian, didn't it? We have a few of those in the New Republic military, or course, but I didn't know of any that commanded a capital ship, much less a task force. Either of you two know this individual?"

Both Nisotsa and Keyan shook their heads. "Are you sure you don't want me to bring the ship in?" asked Keyan, attempting to sound casual about it. Wade didn't bother to answer with more than a laugh as he eased the ship through the magnetic barrier and over to its designated landing slot. His two fellows were surprised as he set the ship down with a barely noticeable bump.

Keyan was at the boarding ramp with his gear in moments, much to the amusement of his two friends. As they reached the bottom of the ramp, a Rodian in an Admiral's uniform greeted them along with a tall man in a generic combat uniform. "Jedi, it's an honor to meet you. I am Admiral Yat-De Viedas and this is New Republic Intelligence Agent Mat Reinhardt. General Cracken has assigned him to us due to his previous experiences. If you'll follow me, we will establish a plan for this operation."

As they followed, Keyan strode up next to the two New Republic Officers. "Excuse me, Admiral, but isn't the plan to board the facility, discovered what happened to the Low Tide and the Star Scavenger and rescue who we can?"

"Those are the objectives, Jedi Farlander, yes;" replied Agent Reinhardt with a broad and genial smile. "Or at least part of them. We also need to decide what to do with the facility, the ships around it and so on. It holds the potential to add numerous war ships to the New Republic, not to mention the two highly advanced space stations. We still need an ironed out plan to complete those objectives."

"Right;" chuckled Keyan ruefully. "I see your point, Agent. I'm assuming you've received all known and pertinent information thus far, then?"

"Indeed, Commander;" he replied, "and we think we may have a little more. Please, come in, grab a cup of caf and make yourselves comfortable. We will be beginning shortly."

Aside from several other squadron commanders and marine officers, there were a dozen tough looking men who wore the same non-descript fatigues that Reinhardt sported. Admiral Viedas and Agent Reinhardt strode up to the holo projector and the human agent gave a sharp whistle. "Attention please, ladies and gentlemen. This operation is going to be a first for all of us."

Using a datapad that had been plugged into the projector, Agent Reinhardt conjured an image of the Imperial facility just out the viewport. "We don't know the name of this facility yet but what we can assume is that it is some kind of research facility the Empire is using, likely of biological or viral weapons. From the images we all saw from initial contact between New Republic marine teams, we have identified what appear to be cells to hold research subjects. Furthermore, all three of the marine teams experience signs of respiratory irritation and infection very shortly after entering the stations or the destroyer. None of them had any evidence or display of it before boarding. It holds a lot of characteristics of an outbreak that occurred on the planet Dathomir some years back - between the battle of Yavin and the Battle of Hoth if my memories serves me."

Wade lifted a hand and, upon receiving a nod from the agent, asked, "I don't remember anyone ever mentioning a battle or outbreak or anything on Dathomir during the height of the rebellion. In fact, I thought that the planet was pretty well discovered to the New Republic just recently."

"You aren't completely incorrect, Jedi Vox;" replied Reinhardt. "The Alliance or New Republic has never had any actions on the planet until fairly recently. My men and I all served in the Empire during the time as special Naval Commandos. We defected shortly there-after. Now;" and he faced the gathering more generally, "I have a few recommendations for how we proceed and I am quite interested in hearing what our Jedi comrades think of it."

The image of the facility changed. Instead of showing only the twin stations and the Star Destroyer, it also showed dozens of ships docked to its outer ports. One of the ships docked with one of the stations at an exterior hatch was a Mon Calamari Light Cruiser. "This is one of our missing ships - Low Tide. We cannot contact it or tell if there are any survivors with sensors as it seems that the stations and the destroyer have coms jammers and sensor scramblers activated, not to mention tractor beams. To make things even more complicated, we discovered upon entering system that the stations also each have a gravity well generator and it is also powered up."

Wade was leaning forward with great interest while Keyan and Nisotsa both shared expressions of apprehension. This whole situation seemed to be like a massive insect trap - two stations that somehow drew ships to them and then entrapped them with comms jammers, grav well generators and tractor beams. "This means," continued Reinhardt, "that we cannot leave until we disable the stations grav well generators and tractor beams. Furthermore, we must eliminate the jamming and scrambling to communicate with this fleet and possibly with any survivors aboard the destroyer and the other station. My recommendation is that, given our experience, my men and I board the station along with our Jedi friends and eliminate them all. From there, we can make contact, conduct extraction as needed and assess the rest of the facility. Does anyone have any considerations?"

Keyan lifted a hand. "What do we do about the virus or pathogen or whatever it is aboard the stations and destroyer? It alone seemed to be enough to weaken the marines significantly within an hour or less."

"We hope that we have the solution for that;" replied Reinhardt. "You see, after the Dathomir outbreak and after hearing about this, I was able to make contact with a couple civilians who had developed a vaccine for this particular sickness, assuming it's the same one or similar."

"How are you so sure that it is?" asked Nisotsa. "No offence, Agent, but there are lots of illnesses that produce congestions, respiratory discomfort or irritation and so on."

"You are correct, or course," replied the agent, "however, none of them causes the patient to deteriorate so quickly. They usually take several hours to become as severe as this one does in less than an hour. Trust me, if I'm correct, you will want this vaccine."

The three Jedi looked at one another skeptically but did not argue. "Do you think it a good start for a course of action, Jedi?" asked Admiral Viedas.

After another round of brief looks, they nodded. "It seems like a sound plan, Agent."

"Are you picking anything up from the force? I've never worked with Jedi before, so please forgive my ignorance in asking."

The three of them looked at each other and closed their eyes, stretching out with their feelings. They sensed each other and the other beings in the room around. The lives in the cruiser and the accompanying ships and beyond until their minds touched the Imperial facility. Immediately, they sensed far more strongly the sense of toxicity and wrongness. Pulling back to themselves, Nisotsa, Wade and Keyan glanced at one another before the youngest of them said, "We think the plan is sound but we must take great care. There is something very wrong with that facility."

The mood in the room suddenly became sober and even slightly grim. "We will proceed with the greatest caution then;" replied Reinhardt. "We will take one of our dropships to the hanger that the marines entered through. From there, we will make our way to the operations and control center of the facility and shut down the systems necessary. We will then contact the ship and have it begin to scan the facility. We will also use our comms to attempt to contact any survivors as well. From there, we will most likely need to reevaluate our situation and plan from there."

Keyan winced, wishing there was a way to make a more surer plan. Given the situation, however, it wasn't really possible with the information they had. Nisotsa nodded and said, "That's the best we can do for the moment, Agent. Let's load up and head out."

Wade sat between Keyan and Nisotsa as the drop ship took off and eased through the magnetic field. Agent Reinhardt was considering them contemplatively. After a few moments, he said, "I've always been fascinated by stories of the Jedi. When I had heard that General Skywalker was beginning to rebuild the Order, I was hoping for this opportunity. However, I had hoped it would have been a more routine mission."

"What do you consider a routine mission, Agent?" asked Nisotsa, a look of mild amusement on her lovely face. "Seems to me that every mission has a plan - one that tends to burn with the first volleys of blaster fire."

Reinhardt laughed quietly and nodded his head in concession. "That's fair, of course, Master Jedi. I guess I mean a standard combat mission. We need to retrieve this item or piece of information or eliminate that target. You know, the kinds of missions that the New Republic generally sends its more elite units on. This-" and he shook his head, "This is filled with so many unknowns. Too many to plan enough steps ahead for my comfort."

Keyan chuckled. "I'm a snub jock, Agent. There is rarely ever time for planning ahead in my arena. Becoming a Jedi helped with that but even so, you learn to be flexible and adaptable."

"Well then we'll definitely value your level head, Commander Farlander;" replied Reinhardt.

Suddenly, the dropship shuddered and changed trajectory ever so slightly. Wade sighed and said, "Past the point of no return now - the tractor beam has us."

The pilot announced the same over the intercom and all the special intelligence operatives stood and readied weapons. Wade unclipped his lightsaber and headed towards the front of the ramp. Nisotsa and Keyan stopped up beside him. As soon as they felt the jolt that announced their landing, a green lightsaber, a blue lightsaber and a bronze lightsaber leapt to life with the familiar snap-hiss. The ramp dropped slowly and they rushed out, ready to catch blaster fire or whatever the Imperial facility had in store for them. But there was nothing there. The hanger was empty of beings, though it appeared that their ship had taken the very last spot left to land in the hanger. All around them were freighters, fighters, yachts, drop ships and shuttles of numerous different kinds. TIE fighters hung on racks above them as well. Agent Reinhardt, carrying an E-11 blaster, strode up to them and his operatives quickly filtered out and formed a tights perimeter. "Well that was anti-climactic; not that I'm complaining. Let's-" but he was interrupted when one of the freighters, and old CT-900, dropped it's ramp. A New Republic marine can down and yelled. "All of you, get over here - NOW!"

Without arguing, the Jedi ran over, followed with only a bare moment's hesitation by the Intelligence team. When the ramp had been raised, the rescue part found themselves face to face with those they had been looking to rescue - four New Republic marines, one shuttle pilot and three civilians. "I recognize you;" said Wade to the corpsman. "You were part of Marine Team 1. What the hell happened?"

"You're all going to want to have a seat because this is going to get pretty wild;" said the civilian woman. "I'm Kordi Freemaker, by the way. These are my brothers - Zander and Rowen."

One of them, Zander, could have been the same age as Kordi but the other, Rowen, was quite young - probably no older than eighteen. "Nice to meet you all;" said Keyan as sat down on a crate. "I'm Commander and Jedi Apprentice Keyan Farlander. That's Tech Sergeant and Jedi Apprentice Wade Vox and that's..." and he paused, glancing at Nisotsa. "What is your military rank anyway, Nis?"

She chuckled and picked up where he had dropped off. "I'm Captain and Jedi Apprentice Nisotsa - just Nisotsa, by the way. I gave up my surname millennia ago - literally but that's another story. Time for yours. We really need to know what happened?"

Kordi jerked a thumb towards the four marines. "Let them tell you first. It will make more sense that way."

The corpsman, a beautiful green-skinned Twi'lek woman, leaned back and crossed her legs. "Well we came here on that lambda you saw over there next to your ship. We weren't actually expecting trouble because, when we got there, the station was totally inactive. There were no jammers or scramblers, no tractor beams and no grav well generators. That is, none of them were on at least. We were making our way around when we got attacked by the crew of this station. Riggo, tell them what you found after you decrypted the information you downloaded."

A tall, lean young man pulled out a datapad and explained, "I got this from what appeared to be a research area with transparasteel cells with all the equipment of a quarantine ward. From a computer console in the office, I found out what these stations were for - the destroyer too. The Star Destroyer is a mark-1 Imp star called the Vector and it was commissioned by Darth Vader himself to be a mobile research facility for Imperial Bioweapons project I71A, code named Blackwing. Somewhere on the edge of Wild Space, it got stuck according to the automated ships logs, due to an outbreak that wiped out the vast majority of the crew of the Vector. The prison barge you surely saw on the way in found it first and the population followed the destroyer's crew - all dead as near as we can tell, though the ship's doctor and three of the inmates on the roster were not found on either the destroyer or the barge. Either way, essentially everyone died. At some point, it would seem that Darth Vader reacquired his project and had it moved here to this station and that was about six years ago."

"Wait, wait, wait;" said Keyan, lifting his hands. "Let's skip to the important parts - like what attacked you? What is Blackwing exactly? Where did it come from and so on."

"We were attacked by the reanimated corpses of the crew of this station;" said the corpsman, her voice so matter-of-fact and serious, Wade couldn't laugh. Instead, he just staired in shock. Nisotsa's blue eyes widened. "You may want to run that by me again."

"That's what Blackwing does. It's a virus that somehow reanimates a body even after it should, by every right, be dead. The virus keeps the most primitive part of the brain alive - that which drives hunger and need to continue the species. Only these things can't reproduce conventionally - they do it through the transmission of the virus. That's either biting or infecting and open injury or orifice with blood or bodily fluid of some other kind. According to the files, Vader and the Empire wanted to use the virus to infect battle fields and essentially make unkillable soldiers. Anyone who died would rise again and attack the remaining living soldiers of both sides. If the Empire couldn't take a world or ship or what have you with tactics and weapons, the virus would be deployed and the enemy would be fighting their own dead and the Empire's within hours - those that the virus did not kill outright."

The three Jedi sat in silence, digesting the information. It sounded utterly absurd and at the same time, almost too much so to be a story made up. Wade cleared his very dry throat and asked, "May I see that datapad, Marine?"

Riggo tossed it over. Nisotsa and Keyan watched uneasily as Wade's ruddy face began to pale as he read. After several minutes he tossed the pad back and said, "This is crazy. It's all true, but it's still crazy. I knew that the Empire had no scruples about dealing in weapons of mass or even planetary destruction, but this is a level of madness that I thought was even beyond them."

Reinhardt rubbed his temples and said, "Alright; how do we proceed from here? We still have a mission to complete. Even with this information, the fact is that we can't leave until we eliminate the tractor beam, grav well generators and jammers."

"You're right, of course;" said Nisotsa, "we need to get moving soon. I am curious though; how did you survive for two weeks? The crew of an Imp star one, coupled with the two stations - that's totals close to a hundred thousand or more beings that are now undead monsters to contend with."

"We stayed aboard this ship, mostly. On occasion, one or more of use would hustle to another of the ships to gather supplies but we were never out for longer than a half hour and, every time we did, we would hear them outside shortly after we loaded back aboard. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if a fair number of them appeared outside here soon, given the arrival of another ship."

They all stayed silent but couldn't hear anything until Wade was about to ask another question. Nisotsa clamped a hand on his shoulder and shushed him. Then they all heard it. The shuffling sound of many feet and a low moaning noise was heard. Quickly, they moved to the viewports, though there wasn't much to see. Wade was glancing around as best he could. "I don't see anything;" he whispered.

"I do;" said Keyan, his voice a trembling croak. "Take a look at this."

Wade stepped over and saw two figures in the low light. One was wearing a TIE Pilot uniform and the other, and Naval Commando uniform. The unsettling thing was that they were slumped and swaying awkwardly and when one went to move, he had a stilted, unsteady gate. Another in a medical officer's uniform staggered over and stopped for a moment. Then, slowly, it turned and looked up into the viewport. Wade gasped and staggered back. "That thing looked right at me!"

"That's not possible, Kid;" said Kordi Freemaker. "It's to dark out their and too dark in here."

"You sure about that?" muttered Keyan. The other two were also looking up at them, standing perfectly still. No one responded as they watched the silent, stilted watchers outside. Suddenly, there was a banging and the sound of blaster fire on the airlock, causing them all to jump.

"Blast!" snapped Zander Freemaker. "Haven't I been recommending a belly gun of some kind for years now?"

"Yes, those just grow on trees, don't they Zander?" Kordi hissed back as they went to the door.

Anxiously, they all watched before the Jedi and marines relaxed. "They're using hand blasters - nothing larger than a carbine. No way it could get through that airlock;" said the corpsman. "They'll figure out that it won't work. I'm guessing that out there are some folks who haven't been in the hanger area while there was a ship full of living people."

The three Jedi turned and looked at her questioningly. "They learn;" she explained. "Riggo, where's that- oh the Jedi has it. Read up, Handsome; it's some weird stuff."

Wade continued to peruse the datapad and his already pale face seemed to grow even more so. Finally, he went over to a table, dropped the datapad onto it, dropped down onto a chair and sighed, rubbing his eyes. "Alright, so when those things outside leave, we make a break for the bridge, right?"

"That seems like our only hope at this point;" said Agent Reinhardt. "How will we know when they're gone?"

The marine corpsman shook her head. "Won't work; they'll be staying close for hours. Best thing we can do is find a way to draw attention while a small team sneaks away. At least those who are heading to the bridge won't be attacked immediately."

"Okay;" said Keyan, "how is that going to work?"

"Me and my marines will go over to one of the Imperial dropship transports and we'll start lighting up any shambling corpses in the area. The Freemakers should be ready to take off at a moments notice. Once the tractor beams go down and the jamming goes down, they'll take off. We marines will hold the drop ship for the Jedi and NRI agents."

Reinhardt nodded slowly before looking at his men. "Tyrus, you'll take three and go with them to provide extra fire support in securing the ride and distracting the undead freaks in the area. I'll go with the Jedi and we'll make sure the necessary systems are shut down."

They all looked at each other and nodded. Wade stood and stretched. "When do we move?"