GOOD-FOR-NOTHING

After nearly 4 days, they finally exit hyper space, the clones are met with a small green and yellow planet. Taking a pass over the crash site, it’s massive and wildly overgrown. The largest part is jammed into the ground with the thrusters fully visible, you can still see red paint on some panels. In front of it is a long black cylinder broken in half, the two pieces are far from each other but it’s clear they went together, smoke pours out of both of them. The piece farther away has large scaffolding jutting up and out the side with what looks like golden solar panels, or what’s left of them. The last piece was large and doughnut shaped but it’s now in three mangled pieces. The shine off a few unbroken windows can be seen briefly.

“I’ve never seen a ship like this before.” Echo remarks. Responding Tech says “I, also, have never seen a ship like that. I will see what I can find in the empire’s archives.” “What’s it matter if you’ve never seen one of these before?” Wrecker chimes as he puts Gonky down. “Knowing the inside layout of an unknown ship is extremely beneficial in any scouting mission.” Tech says as the Marauder touches down on the hostile world. The closest large clearing is in the crash path left behind the mystery ship.

Omega hops up from the Nav station chair “I can’t wait to see it up close!” Grabbing her bow blaster, Hunter stops her “Actually, Omega, you’re gonna have to stay with the ship.” he kneels down to her eye level placing his hands on her shoulders. “There are too many unknowns on this planet. This time it’s way too dangerous for you to come.” Behind Hunter the rest of the batch gear up and leave the ship. “But Hunter-“ “No buts Omega. I’m sorry, but you have to stay. Okay?” He stands and grabs his helmet from the floor. “Okay..” Omega responds, defeated. Stopping at the exit Hunter turns “Keep the door closed, no matter what. I’ll com you when we get to the ship.” Omega nods and he steps out with the rest of his brothers, closing the gangplank.

“Alright, boys, let’s get this done.” Hunter orders, taking the lead. Echo, Tech, then Wrecker file close behind. “I would advise we return to the Marauder before sunset. The more aggressive predators become active in the dark. It seems that the few creatures from Iacon to be recorded and studied-“ “No one cares, Tech!” Wrecker shouts. Hunter is about to speak when a loud and gravely bellow is heard from far in the distance. “Let’s hurry this ups.” Hunter says, paying attention to everything, he gestures for the group to start running.

Breaking just barely into the tree line the batch’s advance is slowed by shadowed woods. The forest floor is shrouded in a grey fog and chittering can be heard, seemingly, from everywhere. “Let’s keep it close” Hunter turns on his flashlight, the others following suit, “And be ready for anything.” Continuing quietly for a few minutes, a disgusting crunch can be heard. Wrecker has stepped on a very large isopod. “Aww gross!” Wrecker picks up his foot looking at the smashed bug. Echo is so viscerally disgusted he involuntary calls out “Uugh!” The plant life starts to rustle and the chittering gets louder, shining their lights around, they are surrounded by 3foot long centipede like isopods. On all the trees and all over the ground, the bugs start trying to pile on to the troopers. “Keep moving and just kill the damn things!” Hunter orders kicking them off his legs and shooting one, it bursts into a sickly yellow goo. “I believe we have come to close to a nest!” Tech notes, putting his datapad away and drawing his weapons. “That’s just great.” Hunter huffs as he turns and shoots more of them. Tech turns his head to the left just in time to see two, much larger, isopods.

One is an oily purple and the other is shiny blue. They have both reared up to attack, Echo is the unlucky one they are facing. Pulling off, from his head, and throwing two bugs to the ground, Wrecker lunges forward “Hrraah!” and tackles the blue one to the ground, using his momentum to roll over it and on to his feet. Echo swiftly doges the other, shooting more incoming isopods. It’s front rises again as it turns back to clones. The chittering sound is cacophonous now, Tech turns his focus to the purple isopod, shooting its underside as it rises, he yells out “We need to focus on the two large ones, perhaps killing them will cause the others to retreat!” Three shots land, two in the belly and one in the eye, it lets out a skree, and it falters slightly. “You heard him!” Hunter has to shout to be heard over the chittering, joining his focus with Wrecker’s on the blue bug.

The purple bug is close to death, it hunkers close to the ground and the smaller ones start to quickly swarm over it. The pile of insects is quickly becoming too thick for blaster fire to make it through. “We need a grenade!” Echo calls out to Tech. “That’s what I’m doing!” He retorts, pulling out a grenade, arming it, and rolling right into the big bug pile. The explosion is dulled by the amount of isopods in the pile, but it still does it’s job. BOOMF! Turning the purple isopod in chunky goo and tossing the smaller ones everywhere. Killing it seems to have enraged the giant blue bug, it lets out a loud skree, and it rushes Tech. Wrecker grabs its back end before it can get far and throws it as hard as he can against a nearby tree. With a crack it bursts open as it hits the tree, throwing its insides everywhere.

The chittering quiets, the isopods furthest away retreat and scuttle back into to underbrush. Finishing off the few that aren’t retreating, the clones regroup falling back into line. After trekking through darkness and fending off huge, aggressive bugs, the thick forest opens up into a small clearing. They stay to the right hand side, keeping and eye on the large bird creatures that circle above. “I still have yet to find anything regarding a ship of this type.” Tech blurts, “So we’re going in blind?” Echo questions and sounds noticeably more worried. “It would appear so… hmm.. this is highly unusual.” Tech mumbles “Ah! So what! we’ve done missions with less info before!”Wrecker’s confidence hasn’t waned since they set off. Hunter stops in his tracks. He holds his hand up to stop the others. Echo questions “What is it, Hunter?” Their leader takes a moment, “The air. It’s starting to smell like poison. We need to hurry though here.” The batch continue their advance with a much quicker pace. Pushing the very plants making the poison out of their way. Though their helmets keep the poison out, the smell of the plants still seeps inside. “T’bad these flowers are poisonous, they sure are pretty.” Wrecker notes, “There are many things in this galaxy that are beautiful but deadly, and these flowers are certainly very ‘pretty’.” Tech retorts, wishing he could take a sample but also not willing to risk his family’s health. “They stink like hell though!” Echo’s face is contorting underneath his helmet. Hunter chuckles at his brother’s disgusted remark, saying “Keep the chatter to a minimum, we need to stay aware. I don’t want to deal with anymore giant bugs.” As they progress through miasma they see all kinds of animals, living in the poisoned air, thankfully none have any interest in the group of clones.

With the way the terrain goes it causes their path forward to go up and down and twist and turn, it takes 20 minutes to clear the massive patch of poisonous plants. The mystery ship is in full view now and it’s gargantuan. Stopping several hundred yards away, the bad batch visually scans the ship for entry points. Wrecker is the one to spot it. A hole in the hull at ground level. Pointing it out to the others, Hunter nods and they move forward again.

“Come in, Omega.” “Hunter! You’ve made it to the ship? You guys have been gone for a long time.” Omega sounds slightly scared. Hunter responds as they enter the blast hole into the ship “Yea, we’re entering through the side now… is everything ok back there?” “Yeah. I’m ok, the sounds outside are just loud and scary.” They enter into what seems like a maintenance hallway. It’s thin, tall, and crowded with exposed wires. “It’s ok, Omega, I’ll let you know when we’re on our way back.” “Okay, good luck”. “Seems like we ain’t the first ones here. Explosion that made that hole was definitely on the outside” the explosives expert, Wrecker, remarks. “I noticed that as well, but the only life signs I’m picking up seem to be the resident animals.” With his face in his datapad, Tech still doesn’t miss a beat, he is noting all relevant visual information. The batch begins to move down the slanted hallway. At nearly at 45• angle, they must be careful.

A short way in they are able to find a partially open lift door. the lights are on in the shaft, some flickering, others steady. “What are you getting Tech, why are the lights on?” Hunter says pulling open the door with Wreckers help. “I am picking up a small but stable nuclear power source below us. There is also a noticeable increase in background radiation, that would suggest the main engines were also nuclear powered. I know of very few starships that use nuclear power, and certainly now. It’s a rather archaic form of power generation.” Looking into the lift shaft, Hunter thinks for a moment “hmm… our suits may keep us safe from the rads to a point, but keep an eye on it, Tech.” “Right.” “Good, let’s keep moving.” Hunter enters the shaft first heading downward. Carefully Echo follows close behind his brother, Tech enters next having no problem with the slope. Wrecker enters last, not happy with the sharp angle.

Slowly they slide down the lift shaft, they are heading towards the top of the large piece of the mystery ship that’s jammed into the ground. “I can’t interface with the ship’s systems. It’s like they don’t exist, I’ve never encountered this before.” Tech seems concerned “I won’t be able to get any of these doors open. It’ll be up to you, Wrecker.” “Yeah! Leave it to me!” He gestures with an enthusiastic fist pump but almost falls, he quickly crouches down. Only a few of the doors they pass are able to open. Not wanting to wander far from their best source of light in an unknown and unmapped place, they are only willing to explore the closest rooms. Splitting into two teams the bad batch enter adjacent rooms.

Echo and Hunter go to left, dropping down into the room. It seems like a large kitchen with an attached cafeteria, both areas are a mess. “So the ship had enough crew to need something like this? I see blood stains but I don’t see any bodies” Echo states, looking around and moving behind a counter, looking for anything. “Yeah. No bodies is strange. The crash site is still smoking, so this couldn’t have happened that long ago. You’d think we’d see at least one or two, but none? I don’t like that at all.” Hunter is bristling more and more. Like they aren’t alone, he’s not quite sure yet. “I don’t think there’s anything worth it in here, let’s get back up, Echo.”

Tech and Wrecker go right, climbing up into their chosen room. It’s caved in about half way through, but it’s obvious to Tech what this room was. Looking up, he remarks “Ah, hydroponics, it seems like whatever these people were growing has gotten out and is running rampant.” “Hydro what? They were growing plants in here?” Examining a nearby flower, Tech rolls his eyes, “Precisely, perhaps it was food. Or maybe experimental plants.” Walking along the wall Wrecker looks straight up, to what was the right of the ship, he sees what looks like fruit. But it’s not like any he’s seen, though he hasn’t seen a lot of different fruits. Tech plucks the strange flower and tucks it into one of his many pouches “Come on, Wrecker. There’s nothing worth our time in here.”

Meeting back up in the lift shaft, the four of them move further down to another door. “I got this!” It’s open just enough to get his fingers through, Wrecker begins to pry open the next door. Hunter senses something, turning to look up the shaft. Wrecker has it half way open then stops “uhh.. I don’t think this is a good one.” Tech is right behind him “What? Why? What could possibly-““Get ready!” Hunter orders. loud bangs echo through the hull. “I think it’s a nest, guys.” Wrecker whispers, Tech peeks past the door as Echo and Hunter ready their weapons, facing where they entered from. Wrecker is right, a large nest in another hydroponics room. Clang! Clang! Clang! A low, but intense, rumbling call fills the lift shaft. The clones can feel the sound down to their bones. “Wrecker! See if you can get the hatch at the bottom open. This thing is bigger than what we wanna mess with in here.” Hunter orders. Tech squeezes into the hydroponics room, hoping to figure out what kind creature this thing is. Wrecker slides down to the bottom of the shaft and begins pulling open the final door. Clang! Clang! “Wrecker! Hurry up!” Their leader barks.

Tech gets close to the nest, close enough to see lots of egg shells. “Hmm… perhaps it’s reptilian..” he notices a familiar shape in the plants used to make this nest. He leans in closer, It’s a human skull. Startled slightly he pulls back several steps. The nest seems to be half plant life and half bones. He looks closely at the bones he can see. They are all human. Maybe the crew? Maybe the people that made the hole in hull? Clang! He rushes back to the half open door to his brothers firing at something at the top of the shaft. He squeezes back out, draws his weapons, and joins. At the top of the shaft is a large, brightly colored, feathered, bird faced creature with massive teeth. It’s eyes are set forward, looking right at them. Wreckers got the door open now but it’s not enough yet. Five bolts hit the creature in quick succession, it reels back and let’s out a piercing screech. It causes the coms in their helmets to ring, loud. It’s long front limbs start reaching out and the creature moves fast down the shaft. Even with non stop blaster fire, this thing is not pulling back.

The entire batch is now at the very bottom of the shaft. The door is open just enough now. “Hurry! Guys, c’mon!!” Wrecker shouts moving to the side, letting his brothers go in before him. Echo goes in first, Wrecker throws a smoke bomb up the shaft. Tech is next in, the smoke bomb goes off in front of the creature. Slightly slowing its advance. Hunter drops in with the others. Wrecker doesn’t quite make it in on time. The creature burst from the smoke and hits him, smacking him right through the open door. He lands on his back after about a 15foot fall. “Ohh.. owww.. ugh..”. The creature’s head slams through the doorway, trying it’s best to get to the brothers. Thankfully it’s far too large and the door is only open a little more than half way. “Wrecker!” Tech calls out “Are you injured!? Do you require assistance!?” “Argghu..” he responds, giving a thumbs up. Using the displaced cargo crates, Tech makes his way down as Hunter and Echo continue to shoot at the creature.

The thing shrieks again, piercing, loud, and painful. After a few more bolts make contact with its face, it pulls back. The clones hear it retreat back up the lift shaft. Silence takes over. Tech helps Wrecker up while the other two maneuver down to the floor. Hunter, concerned for his brother, says “You all right? Seemed like that thing got you good?” Wrecker is holding his head as he sits up “Yeah, yeah I’m ok, just knocked the wind outta me.” Once they are all settled a small noise can be heard coming from above them. BeepBeep BeepBeep BeepBeep. As Wrecker stands they all look up. There is a crate magnetized to what was once the floor of this cargo hold. “That sounds like a heart monitor.” Tech remarks taking out his datapad “I’m getting a life sign, something is alive in there?” It surprises all of them. “Should we get it down?” Echo turns to Hunter “If it’s got a life sign, we should check it out. Wrecker see if you can grab it.”

Wrecker positions himself on the higher end of the room, and with one good jump he’s able to grab on. He swings back and forth trying to use his own weight to disconnect the crate. It takes a few minutes but he’s able to wrench the crate from its place and land on his feet. The angle causes him to slip a little, and accidentally slam the crate on the floor. “Wrecker, you need to be careful!” Tech states firmly, examining the crate. It’s a medium sized grey metal crate, with a vitals readout popped out of the side set at an upward angle, and the top of it is marked with a strange emblem. Two half circles over one another and a smaller circle underneath both. Even through Tech’s gloves the crate is ice cold, much colder than the room is. “What is that symbol? Think it might be a corporation?” Echo questions pointing with his scomp, Hunter is looking back through the door and up the lift shaft. He doesn’t sense anything but his brothers “Perhaps, but not one I am familiar with. I believe we should take this with us, Hunter.” Tech states as he rises, facing his older brother. They all look to Hunter, “I agree. Let’s get it back to the ship and go from there. Wrecker, give us a boost” One at a time, they stand on Wrecker’s shoulders, pulling themselves up back into the lift shaft. “What about me!?” The giant clone exasperates, looking up at his brothers. “Wrap this around yourself!” Tech throws down his grappling hook.

It takes all three clones to pull Wrecker and the crate up. “I hope whatever’s in here is worth it.” Wreckers says setting it down gently, this time, “We should return to the ship quickly, we don’t have much daylight left.” Tech states, face in his datapad again. “Agreed, but how much time do we have?” Their leader questions. “One hour twelve minutes. We’ll need to take the most direct route back, as it took us two hours to get here.” “Then let’s get goin!”Wrecker picks the crate up again, planning to simply walk back up, but gravity and the slope of the shaft have other ideas. As soon as he stands at full height he starts to quickly lean back, against his will. He quickly slams the crate back down! BANG! “Wrecker!” Tech chastises “Ahhh, sorry.” Wrecker bows his head. “You need to be careful, you might damage whatever is inside!” “Alright. Keep it down.” Hunter interjects “Let’s try sliding it up on the lift rail.” Echo points with his scomp to rail at their feet.

Gently replacing the crate on the rail, Wrecker begins to push and the crate moves smoothly up. The quiet and guarded walk up was filled with the sound of the crate’s heart monitor. “Omega, come in.” “Hunter! Thank goodness, you’re all headed back now right? I’m getting really scared.” “You’re ok, Omega, we’re headed back out and to the ship now. Hold on for just a little longer, ok? You’re completely safe on the Marauder.” “Alright… get back safely.” Quickly making their way back outside, they follow along the wreckage around to the very back. “Hmm” Hunter can sense something following them. “Keep it close and keep it quiet. That thing is stalking us.” Doing as their Sargent says, the boys fall in line behind him. They make their way down the slope of the crash path to the least wooded area. “Easy now, Wrecker.” Echo encourages his brother not to drop the crate as they slide down the embankment. Hunter is at the bottom of the slope, on guard, looking around. With Tech’s help, Wrecker and the crate make it safely down. “With how cold this crate is I suspect it might be some type of cyrostasis unit.” Tech states. The very middle of the crash path has the least dense foliage, they have a 14foot wide path with little to no shrubbery all the way back to the edge of the clearing where the Marauder is. “Well, whatever it is, it’s freezin my hands!” “Keep it down.” Hunter reminds the large clone.

The sun is low in the sky as they make their way back. “This is a very patient animal. It’s been nearly 30 minutes and it’s only slowly getting closer.” Hunter informs the others. Their pace is brisk, three out of the four brothers have weapons drawn. As they draw closer to the ship, the creature draws closer to them, but then it stops suddenly. “It’s running off. After all that time?” their leader questions. Finally the batch break into the clearing holding the Marauder. “Ha! I bet it got scared!” “I highly doubt that, Wrecker. I was able to find an entry on this creature on the holonet. It’s called a Karaka, a highly intelligent, highly territorial, terrestrial avian. It’s able to remember the faces of other species and can hold grudges.” “Great.” Echo huffs. “They lay clutches of up to 30 eggs. A full grown karaka can become 15feet from tip to tail -““Alright! Enough, Tech!” Wrecker has had enough. His hands are ice cold and it’s starting to get to him. “Keep it together, we’re almost—“ Hunter is interrupted by the very creature Tech it’s telling them about. They are 300 paces from the ship and the karaka jumps onto the front of the Marauder, It’s at least 9feet in length, from the opposite side rocking the ship. It tilts its head back and bellows. Hunter shouts out an order “We need to get it away from the ship!”

Inside, Omega waits patiently. Now playing with lula and her trooper doll “How much longer do you think they’ll be, Gonky?” “Gonk Gonk.” “I hope it’s not to much longer, it’s getting dark.” “Gonk Gonk!” Suddenly the Marauder rocks from side to side. The movement knocks Gonky on his side, his little legs kicking, causing panicked sounds to come from the droid. From the outside Omega hears the most dreadful sound she’s heard yet. She covers her ears and shoves herself under the nav station. “Hunter! I need help!” “We’re here Omega! We’ll get it off the ship, don’t worry!” She feels the ship rock again accompanied by a harsh scraping noise. She can hear he brothers shouting to each other, “Wrecker, get on the rear gun!” she rushes to her room. Peeking out to see Hunter, Echo, and Tech engaged with a large monster. As Omega pulls her self up she hears the gangplank open. She looks back and sees Wrecker with a crate. Over Wrecker’s com she hears Tech “It’s in position now! Wrecker, shoot it!” “I’m doing it!” The large clone rushes to the rear gun getting up with ease. “Omega! What are you doin?” “Wrecker, focus!” Tech shouts over the com. Wrecker gets into the seat and tries to grab the gun controls. His hands are too cold to clench, his fingers are barely moving. “Uh oh.” He thinks for a spilt second “kid, come here I need you to pull the trigger!” “What!” “Come on hurry!” Omega hops into Wreckers place and grabs the controls, with his hands on the back of the seat Wrecker says, “Just put the red square over the target and pull the trigger. You can do this!” She looks to the square, then to her brothers outside, then to the karaka. Carefully she aims and pulls the trigger. Omega hits her mark, knocking it over. It lets out another screech, longer this time. The troopers rush to gangplank and inside, Tech and Echo go right to the cockpit. Hunter goes right to Omega. “Wrecker, what were you thinking!?” “Uhh… that my hands are too cold to close.” He holds up his hands to his older brother and tries closing them, they don’t close. “Hunter, it’s ok! I’m ok! Just like you said.” The ship lifts off the ground, but before it rises very far, it jerks one side lowering. Another piercing screech can be heard along with loud scraping.