Incident at Saris

Chapter Twelve

Mining Platform One, Saris Prime, 2952

The first thing that struck Ren when they landed on the destroyed mining platform was the silence....it was almost deafening, it was scary, he'd been to the mining platforms around Saris Prime before, and there was always background noise of the machinery, and that, but this was dead silent.
"We're got life support back on, but it is damaged, most we can stay here is three or four hours before the air starts to get bad," said the Leader of the team, he was one of the Sarisian militia, a Major by his badge, he issued all of them monitors and a mask "there are areas that are still burning and active wires, so be careful, these monitors will tell you when the air Is getting bad".
Rik nodded, and Ren listened, bad air they had found took longer to affect them both, they assumed it was because of what they once were, it would affect them eventually but not as quickly as it affected everyone else, they barely remembered that but it seemed to be some of the remaining after-effects of the Celestial being they had once been, it gave them a slight advantage over some things.
It was the silence that bothered Ren the most, he decided, he'd been here before in his duties as a Doctor, and it made him sad, all those voices silenced at once, the place felt empty, a husk of what it once was, and like Rik he knew that there were no more survivors, he often wondered if that was another thing left over from what they once were?
"Our people they are not meant to be alone," he said softly.
"Ren?" Rik asked.
"Sorry," said Ren " just feeling a little overwhelmed by it all".
Rik nodded " same here this place it shouldn't be so silent; it is almost deafening" Ren looked at Rik "you've always been better at hiding stuff like that".
Rik nodded " I guess".
Ren nodded and maintained his professionalism, he used it as a shield, crying he might be inside, but he wouldn't let it show or get in the way of his professionalism, Rik did it too, although he sometimes came across as blunt, Ren always managed to come across as compassionate and caring, and people tended to trust him more, they both used it as a shield, but it showed in different ways.
Ren said, "So where do you want us to start?"
The Team leader said " start with the general areas, kitchen, canteen, that sort of thing, try to stay away from the more damaged areas that have been sealed off with forcefields, let the emergency services people tackle those, they are used to that type of thing. What we want you to do is see if you can find any more survivors or at least bodies and we would like to borrow your engineer if we may?"
"Ok," said Ren "Kimmie go with the team".
Kimmie nodded "Ok but did you want my droid?"
"No, we have Bob," said Rik "yours may be more useful by the investigative team".
"Ok," she said.
"I thought you were linked to the Justice," the leader said to Rik and Ren "that is where I know you from now, a Corran Pair is rare enough, let alone a Jedaini one! So you stood out".
"We're gone freelance," said Rik " we can always go back to the Justice if we want, but we needed the well....break I guess you could say, especially with our apprentice and all".
"Our apprentice will do better with just us," said Ren "besides with our own ship we can go places and do things we couldn't help with the Justice, stuff like this".
He nodded " weren't you CMO though?"
"Yes," said Ren "but I gave it all up as there is a time in everyone's life when you need to find your way and it was mine" he paused " we will try and see what we can do, but I think the chances of there been survivors is now pretty low".
"I know," he said, "but we will still try".
Ren nodded "yes", and the team broke up and Rik and Ren wandered in the general direction they had been told to.
"There will be no survivors," Ren said, "you know that as well as I Rik".
Rik nodded "yes" he looked at Ren "sure you're alright, Ren?"
Ren nodded " the silence...it bothers me; there is something not right about it".
"The mining platform is badly damaged," said Rik "they're going to have to rebuild".
"There still should be some machinery going," Ren said he looked around " are you getting the impressions I'm getting" he paused "those, not Force-sensitive can't see it".
Rik said " you mean the afterimages on the walls of the people that were incinerated, yes I can see them; they are not ghosts just the impressions left behind" he indicated the walls which were scorched and pitted ' this is where the fireballs ripped through".
Ren nodded "it was so hot they all died instantly, not even leaving ashes behind, this is what bothers me, Rik, 90 people died here instantly, it shouldn't be this silent!"
Rik suddenly realised what his counterpart was getting at "you think they were silenced BEFORE the fireball ripped through?"
Ren nodded "this was sabotage, Rik. I think they were gassed or controlled before the explosion; everything was turned off, life support, everything this was an inside job" he paused "we know the T'ron are shapeshifters".
"A smart bomb," said Rik "placed by infiltrators".
Ren nodded "they were let in Rik, we know the T'ron have ways of controlling people, we're seen it before, they were let in Rik this was no unfortunate accident".
"Ouch," said Rik "this wall is hot, err sorry Ren."
"Didn't feel it, " said Ren " we don't share everything, Rik, not anymore.".
"Oh Ok, it's just that I know we also still share a lot of things".
Ren said, "we have given each other enough scars for a lifetime Rik".
"More than enough" he and Ren had matching burn scars on their bodies not to mention a various amount of others, the two of them had given each other scars over the years, and they often joked that they had given each other enough scars for a lifetime.
"This wall is still hot?" Ren said, pulling out a tool and scanning "do you think there is a fire on the other side? The fires as far as we know were put out by the emergency crews last night, what's behind this wall?"
Rik took out the 3D map that they had been given "I dunno, looks like a bulkhead or something, possibly one of the maintenance tubes".
Ren pulled out his power staff. It unfolded and knocked on the wall as Adepts were also trained in the use of a special kind of martial staff, called a Powerstaff, it wasn't the weapon they were known for, but they all knew how to use one.
"Hollow," said Ren "that needs checking to see if there is still fire within it, I think there still is, you can feel the heat, tag it, Rik, we'll tell the emergency crews about it".
Rik nodded and tagged it, they had been given a tagger for things like that, unsafe areas and such, fires and for any bodies, they might find.
Rik said "wonder how far down it is" they wandered further in " so you think that it is sabotage?"
Ren nodded "they were let in Rik, we felt them die, they were let in, and it happened so fast....".
"Well it was quite sudden," Rik said " and there was a storm" he frowned " I see your point though Ren the saboteurs quite possibly used the storm as a cover to come aboard, we may have to mention that possibility to the team".
Ren nodded "there is a war on Rik, stuff like this is not unknown if the T'ron take, out the mining platforms, they could cripple us for weeks!"
"I was thinking the same thing and mentioned that to Kayla," he said as he looked around "you are right though, the silence...it is deafening" he frowned "there should be some background noise! Even if a lot of the systems are dead, but there is only silence. That is a little alarming" he paused and looked at Ren " can you feel the Way?"
Ren said, "that is something else I noted like it is muted.....".
Ren nodded "look I admit I don't spend as much time contemplating it as you do, but I know I have it and can use it, so I do, but even I can tell that it is muted...that it is not right. This soon after a disaster like this. It should be well a lot more active! It is like it is frozen or something".
"Like a hole..." said Ren " which suggests that it wasn't an unfortunate accident, the T'ron, they have that ability....like the Dorenganza they are elusive".
Rik said, "and they can blanket it, this wasn't an accident Ren....this was sabotage".
Ren nodded "yes, we have to tell the team, I think there might be T'ron involved".
Rik nodded and touched another wall "think this one is connected to the other one it is hot too".
Ren looked at it and nodded "the mining equipment is ahead, but it might be unstable and dangerous".
Rik looked thoughtful and then grinned " and since when has that stopped you and me?"
Ren said "point. And they do need someone to investigate...".
They looked at each other, and Rik said: " and since when have Jadaini obeyed orders, especially from the military if we think something should be looked into, its why we work under our own Charter?"
"Hmm..." said Ren as he and Rik looked at each other.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Rik said, smiling toothily at his counterpart and winking.
"Yes," said Ren " let's investigate!"
"That's my Brother!" said Rik laughing and clasping hands with his Counterpart, their hands glowed, reacting to each other's touch.
Ren said, "you win, but it was our curiosity, that got us split up in the first place!"
"And our perchance to blow things up! So?" Rik said with a shrug.
Ren said, "you are right though, we should investigate".
Rik grinned, Ren loved a mystery! He loved solving them as well!
"Rik and Ren are on the case!" Rik teased.
Ren rolled his eyes and smiled "yeah".
"Well, let's go, huh?" said Rik " let's conduct our own investigation! We're Jedai! They won't question it so much!"
"No they probably won't," said Ren, he looked at Rik " that heat signature though... it is worrying, if there are fires they haven't been able to find or get to there will be trouble".
"Well, let's find it then and see if there is anything we can do about it or at least tag its position," said Rik.
Ren nodded " this floor is getting hot! There is a fire that has been unfound".
Rik nodded "yeah".
"We need to find it and tag it," said Ren than he looked at Rik " do you remember how to float?"
"Err, it's been a while," said Rik.
Ren nodded " for both of us" and then took Rik's arm " this way," he said softly "it has been a while since we did it".
Rik nodded "yeah".
Their hands glowed as they linked up and Ren said " concentrate", and he did and they both floated off the ground, using a combination of their powers and something else.
"Whoa!" said Rik "forgot how this felt!" he clung to Ren.
"Relax and feel the Way," said Ren "trust in it, it has been a while since we tried this".
"I know," said Rik "I will try and relax".
"I could try singing" Ren offered.
"No way! You'll probably hold me in place!" Rik said.
"I haven't done that in years!" Ren said with a smile.
"No, but you can, and you know it".
"Relax Rik," said Ren " and I can only do that because I'm the other half of you, although admittingly I sometimes extend that....temporarily, it has never been my strong point".
"You can still do it," said Rik " you can straighten the ship or steady it".
"Only because it is Psionically sensitive and small, I can only do it on stuff like that, my shuttle, your starfighter, Serendipity is probably the largest I can do".
"You impressed River with it," he said with a chuckle "whoa! Think I'm ok now Ren" he pulled out his tagger " we need to tag this area" he drifted forward a bit getting his balance back, even extending his vestigial 'wings' a bit (they weren't much good for anything else, but he could glide with them) but they had discovered some time ago that they could still float although it took some concentration to get it off, once they did they were able to use it fairly well, it was an ability they rarely used though but they could do it if needed.
Ren thought it was part of who they once were and their Force training combined, and it seemed an offshoot of their original powers.
Rik grinned and spun around happily "forgot how good this felt!" he said.
"Rik! We need to concentrate!" Ren groaned.
Rik said " oh come on! We're one of the few of the Order who can do anything like this!"
Ren said, "I know, but our Corran powers, they probably make us unique".
Rik said, " such as they are".
Ren said, " you start on the other side, we need to find where the fires are and tagged them seeing it seems to have been left unchecked, things could get a lot worse if they don't contain it".
Rik nodded and floated down one side, Ren's Communicator beeped, he pulled it out and checked it and saw that it was the Investigative team leader.
"Hello? Dr Ren here, what's up?" Ren asked, " is there a medical emergency?"
"No" came the reply " just checking in, why are you and Dr Rik down near the restricted areas?"
Ren said, " Rik and I, we're found an unchecked fire down here, we can't see it, so we think it is in a maintenance tube or something, we're down here tagging it".
"Serious?"
"Yes," Ren said " you may need to send some of the emergency service Bots in to put it out. Also, we're um...sensing I guess you could say that something else is down here" he paused "trust us on this one Major, I know it is a lot to ask by just us 'sensing' something but trust us".
He paused and then said " I have worked with a lot of Jedaini in my time Dr Ren, so I trust your judgement and feelings... just be careful, alright? We don't know the full extent of the structural damage yet, especially down where you two are. It is one of the areas where the blast originated from that was why I was wondering why the two of you were down there."
Ren nodded "understood, but as I said there is an unchecked fire down here the whole corridor is hot, we're tagging it so you can find it".
"Ok," he said " um do you need some hoverboards then?" as Hoverboards as they were colloquially called (they were standard-issue anti-grav one person means of transport) were often used in places where the ground was too hot to walk on.
"We can handle it with our Adept abilities," said Ren " but a couple would not go astray if you want us to investigate further".
"Ok, I'll send two down for you.....I don't like you been down there, but you are probably the best ones for it, especially if you find survivors, bolted up or something if you were anyone else I would order you to come back now and send some of my people and emergency Bots down there. I have a 'duty of care' to Protect Civilians, and you are technically that. But you are Jedaini Knights, and you have always worked under your own rules. But, do you want me to send one of my people down there as well or one of the emergency services crew? Or at least a service Bot of some sort?"
Ren said, " we have a Droid, so just send down the boards, no reason to risk one of your people as well".
"Ok," he said, "will do so, out".
Rik and Ren floated down and looked around, and Ren said, "the fire it is like a living thing, it will spread if they don't contain it and soon" he banged on another wall and tagged it and said, "tagged".
Rik said, "um Ren....come over here".
"What is it?" Ren asked drifting over.
Rik pointed to a wall and said: " err is that what I think it is?"
Ren looked and nodded " proof of our theories then of sabotage, although this one was found and didn't go off" as he and Ren were looking at what looked like a T'ron or Scorpion bomb, it wasn't active and was burnt as if hit by blaster fire.
"Someone tried to stop it; they saw it probably just before the rest went off and fired on it," Rik said as a two 'hoverboards' appeared via transmat, Ren took one and Rik took the other, and stood on it and started them up, they were easier than floating, and they weren't sure how long they could keep that up anyway as they were somewhat out of practice.
"Bob, will you look at this?" Rik said to their Bot, who floated up and Rik pulled out a device out of his Droids storage compartment.
Bob looked like a tin can and had seen better days, Rik had found him on the scrapheap on Saris 4 and had rebuilt the tough and battered little Mech, people thought he belonged to the Justice, but he was Rik's.
Rik and Ren were both very fond of the little Droid, and Rik spent hours fiddling with him and like, as they often said, RikRen had not been a model Healers apprentice, they had been overly curious, inclined to be mechanically minded, and had a bad habit of blowing things up, and it was probably why he and Ren were more likely to blow something up! It was how they had ended up here in the first place!
He'd been experimenting with something he probably shouldn't have been, and it had blown up, Rik had gotten most of their technical knowledge although Ren was no dud himself when it came to stuff like that, it was just that Rik was better at it, he had a natural knack for it.
"Think you can tell us whether it is still dangerous?" Rik continued.
The Droid gave a couple of electronic beeps and clicks, and Rik said, " not advisable, huh?"
"Nope," Ren said.
"Do you mean it is still dangerous as in it could still blow up, or do you mean it is no longer dangerous?" Rik asked there were a couple of electronic beeps and his lights flashed.
"Ok," said Rik " let's tag it then, need a bomb expert down here then".
"It's active?" Ren asked.
"No it's currently disabled, but if not handled right it could still go off, we need an expert to come down here and disable it," Rik said, "it is not about to go off, but if we try to move it or disarm it ourselves because it is damaged, it could still prove a threat".
Ren chuckled then "Us pulling anything explosive to bits without knowledge could prove a threat!" he nodded and then added " tag it and report it, I'm going to go see if there are anymore" he made his board move forward.
"Too right!" Rik said with a chuckle "come on Bob lets follow Ren's example they are relying on us upstairs to find something".