You take a few frantic steps backwards as you spray a barrage of blaster fire at the charging Rakghoul. Many of the blaster bolts hit its arms, legs, and body, but it doesn't even seem phased by them as it continues to charge at you, roaring with fury.
"It ain't stoppin'!" Applejack screams.
Out of the corner of your eye, you see her turn around into a full-on sprint away from it. Fluttershy shrieks in terror behind you somewhere.
Once it gets close enough, the Rakghoul leaps into the air in a pounce directly toward you. You stop firing and dive out of the way just in time, feeling your foot bump against its body in the process. As you hit the ground, you hear the familiar roar of engines behind you. Sunset utilizes her jetpack and begins firing at the beast from the air.
The Rakghoul gets to its feet and growls at Sunset before crying out in pain as more bolts hit its body and it collapses onto its back. The fury from its sudden transformation must've died down. You get to your feet and sprint over to it, spraying more blaster bolts at it the whole time. Giving a war cry, you raise your rifle and smash the butt stock into its head.
You hammer your weapon against it again and again and again, effectively crushing its skull before slowly standing back up, panting as you stare down at its now lifeless body. You keep your blaster trained on it though, just in case. You don't want to lower it.
"It's... It's dead..." You pant.
You notice that a few drops of blood have splashed onto your visor, and you quickly wipe it clean.
Sunset lands beside you and keeps her weapon trained on it as well. "That was... That was the most horrifying thing I've ever seen in my life..."
You look at her and holster your rifle after a few long moments. You both take another look at the body before Applejack comes up to you, looking worried.
"Is it dead?" She asks.
You nod slowly. "Yeah..." She gives a relieved sigh and covers her mouth as she looks at the body. "Where's Fluttershy?" You ask.
"She's with Big Mac." She doesn't stop looking at the Rakghoul.
From behind, Maud asks. "Is everyone alright?"
You all turn around to see her walking toward you with Fluttershy huddled close behind and Big Mac with her as well, his minigun at the ready.
You nod at her. "We're a little spooked, but we're fine."
She looks at the body and pauses for a moment. "I sense great fear and anger here... There are more of them on board this ship... Many more..."
You all wait in silence as Maud closes her eyes and uses the Force to search the ship. Fluttershy softly clears her throat. "Um... Master Maud? I-Is Twilight alive?"
Maud closes her eyes and takes a slow, deep breath. After about ten seconds, she speaks. "...Yes."
Fluttershy and Applejack both audibly sigh. "Thank goodness..."
Maud continues. "She's scared, but she's alive... The Wookie is alive as well..."
Angel.
"Where are they?" You ask.
She pauses again, visibly trying to concentrate. "I'm... I'm not sure... There is too much discord and panic all over the ship. I cannot sense where they are exactly..."
"Damn it..." You whisper and take a deep breath. "Well, Fluttershy said the medical bay was where she was likely holed up. We might as well-"
Just then, a sudden noise to your right that cuts you off. You and Sunset immediately raise your weapons in its direction and brace yourselves for another fight. It's quiet though...
You hear the noise again a moment later. It sounds like the faint crackling you'd hear on an old comlink. It pops and whirs softly. It's coming from the door on the far side of the hangar. You look harder and see a small intercom box on the right side of it.
It pops and cracks before you hear a faint voice echo through the large empty room. "H-Hello?! Hello?! Is anyone there?! Please! Help us!"
Fluttershy gasps. "Oh my gosh!"
"That's Twilight's voice!" Applejack exclaims. The both of them take off running toward the door.
"Wait!" You shout.
There could be more Rakghouls hiding in here! They're going to get themselves killed! They don't slow down at your cautionary tone though, so you, Sunset, and Big Mac head after them, your eyes scanning the darkened area ahead, ready for anything.
As you all approach the door, the girl continues begging for help. "Whoever you are, please! I am Professor Twilight Sparkle! We're trapped and in desperate need of assistance!"
Applejack runs up to the door and frantically presses a few buttons on the keypad. "Twilight! Twilight, it's Applejack! We're here!"
"Applejack?! Oh thank the Force it's you!" Twilight exclaims.
Applejack nods. "Big Mac and Master Maud are here too! Fluttershy said that you were in trouble. She's here too and we brought some extra help!"
Twilight sounds hysterically grateful on the intercom. "Oh Fluttershy, thank you! Thank you so much!"
The two girls break out into relieved nervous laughter with Twilight over the intercom.
You catch up to them and move in front of Applejack to speak into the intercom. "Twilight Sparkle, my name is Anon. I'm with Applejack."
"He's a Mandalorian, Twilight." Applejack adds.
She's silent for a second. "A... A Mandalorian? The Mandalorians are helping the Republic?"
"Let's not get political right now. This little out-of-control science experiment you have here is a threat to my planet." You explain. "This agreement we have is only temporary. Leave the questions to me, alright? Where are you, exactly?"
"Uhm... H-Hang on..." You hear some clattering on the other side of the intercom followed by some footsteps. She's whispering now. "...Are they still out there?..." Someone else is in there with her. "...Okay... Uh, we're in engineering. Near the rear of the ship."
You nod. "Give me a very brief explanation of what happened here."
"Uh, okay." Twilight gulps. "I was doing something in one of the auxiliary science labs when I heard a commotion. I headed back to the medical bay by the bridge when a few members of the crew came storming around the corner followed by one of the Rakghouls. I ran away as fast as I could... I heard them screaming and I looked back to see the Rakghoul biting and clawing someone... It was horrible..." You hear her voice crack a bit as she speaks. "I ran away with a few others as fast as I could, but the safe room was on the other side of the Rakghoul... I couldn't get- WAAAH!"
Twilight is cut off by the sounds of her screaming along with other people and a few roars accompanied by blaster fire. Applejack pushes you aside and leans against the intercom. "Twilight! Twilight, what's wrong?!"
You hear Twilight scream again and run somewhere. "Run! Get away from there!... Applejack, they just got through the doors!... No! No, get back here! We need to close the-" The intercom cuts and all you hear is static.
Applejack frantically bangs on the intercom as she tries to get it back on. "Twilight! TWILIGHT!"
Oh no.
Fluttershy whimpers behind you and you turn to Sunset. You can't see her face behind her helmet, but her posture is enough to tell you that she's worried. You turn around to see Fluttershy grabbing Big Mac's arm and sobbing into it while Maud stares at you with a small hint of worry on her face as well.
Applejack is on the verge of tears as well as she breathes heavily while attempting to bring the intercom back online. "Come on... Come on! Work, dammit! TWILIGHT!"
She resorts to just hitting and kicking the intercom and wall out of frustration and fear. "Applejack, knock it off!" You command. She ignores you and starts sobbing uncontrollably as she's on the verge of destroying the intercom.
Suddenly, Maud perks up and rushes to pull Applejack away.
"No! Get off me! I gotta-" Applejack squirms and fights against her.
Maud easily restrains her and covers her mouth before speaking in a hushed tone. "Silence! There are more of them approaching us from the hallway just outside the door! They can hear you!"
Applejack immediately stops fighting and you hear a muffled roar on the other side of the door, making you and Sunset ready your weapons and take a few steps backwards. Maud activates her lightsaber behind you and the small space around you lights up in a lightish-blue glow. If you weren't on edge before, you sure as hell are now. Any second now, Rakghouls will come through that door.
A thought pops into your head. You're all in one place. It will be easier for them to charge you. You need to surround them from all sides; overwhelm them.
"Everyone, disperse! Now!" You command. "Surround the door! Fluttershy, get back to the ship!"
You activate your jetpack and fly over to the right side of the door. Sunset follows your lead and flies to the left. Big Mac moves over to the right side of the door, but distances himself from it. Applejack takes Fluttershy and runs halfway to the ship before running back adjacent to Big Mac on the left with her pistols drawn to the door. Maud stays in the middle of you all and moves away, still facing the door with her lightsaber raised and ready for combat in the Soresu stance.
The monstrous roars grow in volume until you hear a loud bang on the other side of the door and it slides open. Three Rakghouls come bounding out on all fours, snarling wildly.
"Shoot them!" You shout as you open fire.
You and Sunset strafe around either side of the group of monsters and blast at them all from above. Big Mac's minigun whirs to life and he begins to spray them and close in. Applejack is taking small, yet precise shots at them from the left.
The monsters seem taken back, stunned by the sudden wall of firepower and begin to run around in circles, as if completely unsure of what to do. Maud begins to move slowly from side to side, playing crowd control. There's too much blaster fire within the group of monsters right now for her to get involved. All three of the Rakghouls shriek and whine as they take more damage.
After a few seconds, two of them fall. There's just one more. Your combined concentrated fire is borderline overkill as it falls in a lifeless heap seconds later.
You cease fire and descend to the ground with Sunset. Just as you both touch down, you hear another roar from the hallway and a final Rakghoul comes charging into the hangar. It bounds in a zigzag movement toward Maud.
It's only now that you notice that, unlike the rest of you, she hasn't dropped her guard at all since the initial attack started. She knew about this one.
As the Rakghoul closes in, it pounces at her. She immediately reacts by leaping into the air on the monster's left and twirling her whole body. It's almost graceful. With her lightsaber activated, she becomes a living saw blade as she cuts through the monster a few times before landing on her feet behind it. She moves her left hand down and back and you hear a sound like thunder echo through the hangar as the Rakghoul's body goes flying toward the wall behind her.
She stands up straight and shuts off her lightsaber before slowly walking toward you. You and Sunset both just stand there, bewildered just a bit. "That was impressive, Master Jedi." You comment.
Applejack runs back to the door as Maud clips her lightsaber onto her belt before stopping just in front of you and Sunset. "I will keep Fluttershy and Nurse Redheart safe from the Rakghouls, Anonymous."
You nod at her. You're confident in her abilities. Fluttershy is a hysteric mess right now. No doubt she'd slow you down, if you took her. Still, you'll need her help navigating your way through the ship.
"There's a comlink in one of the compartments on the wall next to the computer in the main hold." You say. "Tell Fluttershy we'll be in touch. Let us know if you can sense anything happening with Twilight."
She nods her head and walks back toward your ship. "Very well. May the Force be with you, Anonymous."
You say nothing as you watch her leave for a second before turning around and heading back to the door. Applejack is trying to get the intercom operational again while Big Mac is covering the open door that leads into the darkened hallway from where the Rakghouls emerged.
You join his side while Sunset goes with Applejack. "Here, let me take a look."
She taps the small intercom box on the sides a few times before opening it up to look at the hardware inside. You can hear the speaker crack and pop as she works with the wires.
She leans back and stares at the box after a few moments. "Okay, the intercom itself is fine. This one is, at least. Something is wrong with the signal."
You press a button on your gauntlet and scan for a communications signal on your HUD. With the exception of your ship, you're picking up nothing reliable, but there is one very weak signal coming from the rear of the cruiser. That must have been where Twilight was broadcasting from. There are no other short or long range signals at all from anywhere else in the ship though. They must've been deactivated during the outbreak.
You'd like to be able to stay in contact with Twilight, but you have no time to turn the cruiser's connections back on. Maybe you can use your ship's sensors to intercept and boost the cruiser's signal though.
"Sunset, see if you can open a wireless connection to our ship. I'm going to try and use our sensors as a relay for Twilight's signal." She goes back to tinkering with the intercom while you run back to your ship. As you get aboard, you see Maud sitting on the ground with her legs crossed and her eyes closed. Probably meditating or whatever. You run into the cockpit and activate the computer. "How we looking, Sunset?"
You hear her voice in your ear as you find your communications menu. "It looks like I can reprogram it, but I need a source frequency."
"Hang on." You navigate through the computer until you find the comms scanner.
You send out a signal and find one just outside the ship a few moments later. It's the intercom where Sunset is at.
"Almost got it... Aaaand, we're connected." She says. "Good thinking, Anon."
You press a button on your gauntlet and sync with the ship's computer. Since you're now connected with the intercom's radio frequency, and the intercom is connected to the rest of the cruiser, you now have control over the cruiser's speaker systems. You bring up the communications on your HUD and search for the nearest access point; the intercom just outside.
"Can you guys hear me?" You ask.
"Loud and clear." Sunset replies.
"Excellent." You say. "I'll be right there."
You head back into the main hold and pass Fluttershy. "A-Anon? What is it?"
"We've got a way to contact Twilight. You'll be able to hear everything on that comlink." You say as you point to the device in her hand.
She gasps with relief and covers her mouth, but you don't stick around to hear what else she has to say. As you head back to the group, you scan the cruiser for an intercom box near the weak signal's location you saw before. You find it, along with all the others throughout the ship. You've programmed the display on your HUD to have a top-down view, so all these access points together create a very simple map. Too simple to be of any significant benefit though.
"Twilight. Twilight Sparkle, can you hear me?" The comms go silent as you wait for a response. "Professor Twilight Sparkle, can you hear me?" Again, the comms go silent.
After a few seconds, you press a few buttons on your gauntlet and override the intercom's default security settings to activate her microphone. Over your speakers, you hear some disorganized growling and banging. Rakghouls, obviously, but they don't sound as ferocious as they did when they were attacking you. They're there though.
"Sunset, you hearing this?" You ask.
"Yeah I am." She nods.
You regroup with her, Applejack and Big Mac while you wait for a response. Applejack looks to you for hope. "Did ya find her?"
"Not exactly..." You reply. "Fluttershy, where's engineering?"
You hear her voice a second later. "Uh, it's toward the back of the ship... On the lower levels..."
Just double-checking. That's where the signal is coming from. The bridge is in the opposite direction though. That's your primary objective. Still, if all these access points say anything to you, it's that this cruiser's layout is like a labyrinth.
"Anon, I have an idea." Sunset says.
You keep looking at the access points on your HUD. "What is it?"
"Remember our one recon drone that I set up on Malastare?" She begins. "What if we used their proximity sensors kind of like a sonar? They can go through the whole cruiser and chart its layout."
You look at her. "Would that work?"
She shrugs. "I don't see why not. We can program them to continuously send their info to the ship. As long as we're synced, we'll be able to stay updated too."
Sunset, you are the best.
"That is a brilliant idea." You reply. "Do it. We'll go inside with the droids at the same time."
She presses a few buttons on her gauntlet and you mark the access point on your HUD. You walk to the open door beside Big Mac and Applejack. "Alright, we have a direction to go. Stay with me and Sunset. We'll keep trying to reach Twilight as we walk, but be on the lookout for survivors and Rakghouls alike."
"What if we find someone infected, but hasn't turned yet? Do we save 'em?" Applejack asks.
You look at her and pause. "Yeah. Save them from a fate worse than death and put a blaster bolt in their head." She gasps and Big Mac looks over at you. You motion toward the dead Rakghouls behind you. "I promise you, you'll be doing them a favor."
She shakes her head worryingly. "I-I don't wanna kill 'em if we can save 'em..."
Oh good hell, why is she being like this?
You give an exasperated sigh. "Then point him out to me, and I'll kill him! There's no cure for this, so I've got no problem with killing people who are already dead!"
Applejack looks down in shame as you yell at her.
Fluttershy starts talking in your ear. "Um, actually Anon, there is a Rakghoul serum."
Applejack looks back up at you. You pause for a moment, staring at her with a spiteful look that she can't see before turning your attention to Fluttershy on your comms. "Where?"
She replies. "Um, there are a few vials of it in a safe in the medical bay."
Right next to the bridge, if you've been paying attention. That's convenient.
"Huh..." You reply. "Well then in that case, we should head there first. Just in case Twilight is already infected by the time we get there."
Applejack cringes at that. "P-Please don't say that, Anon... I'm already worried as it is..."
You may have said that a bit harsher than you meant to.
"Yeah, right. Sorry..." You turn your attention back to Fluttershy. "I'll check in with you once we reach the medical bay."
As you deactivate your comms, you hear the familiar whirring of the recon drones behind you. All four of them float past your group and head through the door that leads deeper into the cruiser. One by one, they each activate a small flashlight and disperse down an individual hallway as they reach them. On your HUD, you see their little blips spread out through the ship, highlighting different corridors and hallways as they reach them.
"It's working." You look at Sunset and give a small grin under your helmet. "Have I ever told you how much I love you?"
She gives a forced chuckle as she grabs her rifle. "It couldn't hurt for you to say it a little more."
You chuckle back at her and take a deep breath.
You deactivate your HUD, and stand beside Big Mac at the entrance. "We goin'?" He asks.
"Yeah..." You activate your comms and connect to the access points at the rear of the cruiser. "To everyone who can hear this. If you are able, fight the Rakghouls off to the best of your ability. If you can't, find a place to hide and we'll deal with them when we get there. We are here to rescue you, so just sit tight. We're on our way."
You deactivate the comms and look back at Sunset and Applejack behind you. Sunset nods once at you and they both raise their guns. They're ready.
"From here on in, if we have to talk, keep it quiet." You say cautiously.
You turn back to the open doorway and take a deep breath as you get your first actual look inside. It's empty. Completely devoid of life, which is unsettling.
A few emergency backup lights illuminate the top of the hallways, so it's not dark enough that you can't see, but you might have trouble seeing anything too detailed. Below a set of flickering lights, you can make out torn up floors, scratched walls, some metal debris, and some macabre smears of blood on various surfaces. The only sound you hear within is the constant low hum of the ship's power generators and an occasional clang or distant low rumble.
A monstrous roar bellows out from somewhere deep within the cruiser, but it's too distant for you to feel too alarmed. You don't think there's anything else still alive directly ahead, but you're not letting your guard down. Not even for a little bit.
You take a deep breath. "Let's go."
You take your first step through the doorway and lead your party inside, a chilling sense of dread suddenly coming over you.