Incident at Saris

Chapter Thirteen

Mining Platform One, Saris Prime, 2952

He heard a yelp from Ren then and said 'Ren!" kicking off his board and going after his brother "REN!!" images of his gentle brother running into a T'ron or something, filled his mind with fear, Ren wasn't helpless, but well....he was Ren!
"It's ok, Rik! I just fell off my board banking it too hard, and the grounds hot" Ren called back.
Ren was on his knees and was getting up, and he looked down at what looked like a hole that was still warm with jagged edges.
"Blast origin, or at least one of them," said Ren "it's why I fell off my board because I quickly banked it when I saw it almost a little too late".
Rik came over to join him and looked down "wow!"
Ren nodded " they started from the tubes, that is where they mine the gases from".
Rik said, " definitely worth tagging then".
Ren nodded " already done so," he got back on his board.
Rik frowned "I thought something had gotten you".
Ren chuckled "Nah just my clumsiness and stupidity".
"Don't do that!" Rik said.
Ok I'll try " said Ren "but Rik we can't always wrap each other in wool though, we are both going to hurt ourselves occasionally" he paused " we're Jedaini Knights, we do stuff, that places us both in harm's way!"
"I know," said Rik "but Ren....".
Ren said " look at it this way, if one of us gets taken out, so will the other may be, we'll both become part of the Way together! Or become Rikren again" he smiled "I'm fine" and then said, " come we need to see what is down here".
Rik nodded "Ok...I guess".
Ren said, "Rik and Ren forever together, Rikren....we can't change that but do be careful Rik, it goes down a long way!"
Rik said "It is why I'm sending Bob down" he turned to Bob and turned his camera on "think you can do that for us, Bob?"
Ren said " good idea!"
"It's probably too hot for either of us to do that," he said, "Bob can handle the heat, especially with the new heat shield I installed on him!"
Ren said, " so that's what you were doing?"
"Yep," said Rik.
"Ok good plan," said Ren he patted the little droid "be careful Bob" he was as fond of the tough little Mech as Rik was, Bob beeped.
"We need you to go down that shaft for us," Rik said, " and take photos for us".
The Droid beeped, and Rik nodded "yep, down you go Bob" the Droid beeped again and disappeared down the shaft, Rik and Ren both peered down.
"I hope he's going to be Ok," said Rik.
Ren said "Hmm... you stay here, Rik; I'll go see if there is anything else I can find".
Rik nodded " be careful Ren".
Ren nodded "I'm always careful, more or less, it is you who tends to forget that sometimes!"
Rik said " guess I do, huh?" he looked at Ren "just be careful though Ren".
Ren said, "I will be, don't worry, make sure Bob is Ok".
"Ok," said Rik as Ren floated off.
Rik said " Bob be careful though" a beep answered him.
Ren floated along on his hoverboard looking for any evidence of sabotage or invasion, the impressions he was getting were all leading to that conclusion, this had been no accident, he wondered how he could convince the investigations party of that.
Caught up in his thoughts, he didn't see the body till almost too late, as his hoverboard almost tipped up again when he hit it.
"Whoa!" said Ren banking the board so hard he almost tipped himself off again, but stopped in time, by grabbing the cord, making it stop "what the?" Ren said amazed getting off it and looking at the ground; there wasn't much light down here only the emergency lights so everything was bathed in a reddish glow.
Ren pulled out his single-bladed sword but didn't ignite it and looked around, but he appeared to be the only one here, although he thought he saw movement out of the corner of his eye.
"Hello?" he called, but he heard no answer, so he turned his attention to the body on the floor, it was burnt so bad he couldn't tell what race it had been at first, but then he realised it had been human or at least humanoid.
"99 dead," he said counting in the unborn baby "I will sing for them" this body was burnt so badly he couldn't tell whether it had been male or female, but he did notice that in the victim's hand was a burnt-out remote control.
"Our perpetrator perhaps?" Ren said "or maybe just another victim, hmm" he looked around, he had seen some dead bodies in his time, but this one... he then looked around why was the body here? Had they been part of it or were they trying to flee the scene?
Ren picked up his communicator and beeped the Major, when he answered Ren said, " Dr Ren here, I seem to have found another casualty....".
"Dead or alive?"
"Quite dead, I'm afraid and burnt beyond recognition," Ren said, "I will tag it so someone can come and get it, but may I have permission to examine it?"
"Consular Ren, you outrank me! Go for your life" he replied, "you're also a qualified Doctor so do what you wish".
Ren nodded "I will proceed to examine the body than in the best way I can, but it is very dark down here, the only lights are the emergency lights" using his Adept powers he enhanced the light and went to examine the body "possibly male I think and human I think, hard to tell, two arms, two legs" he frowned as he examined the head " now this is interesting...!"
"What is it?" asked the Major.
Ren started he had momentarily forgotten that he had left the Comm on, but recovered and replied: "I can't tell totally because of the burns, but it appears that something had gotten inside his head and in his brain".
"Brain Bug," said the Major " well that's what we call them, they burrow into a person's head and control them, we are not sure whether it's T'ron, Scorpionaid or any of the other races that had allied with them, does his head have a huge hole on one side?"
"Yes," said Ren "it's all burnt though, it is like his brain imploded or something, although extreme heat can do that to you too...it can also totally liquefy your brain".
"Hmm I have seen what a blast of this heat and intensity can do to you," he said, "you probably haven't been on the front line much, no insult intended Master Ren."
"I've done some time on the front line," Ren said, "but I admit, I probably haven't done as much as you Major....seeing I was CMO and all on the Justice".
"You outrank me!" he said " your bear the rank of Commander, don't you?"
"Only because I was CMO on the Justice...and I probably haven't earnt it" he replied "but you're right, I'm not a Marine or an army officer so no I probably haven't. But it looks like something was in this victims head" he paused steadying himself "I've tagged the body, I can't examine it properly in this light....I've had Forensics training as well, but I need better light and equipment" he hummed a little to calm himself and continued " do you want me to keep investigating? Rik's checking the blast shaft".
He was told "yes do what you can; we might as well use the advantage of having two medically trained Adepts Knights here while we can. Are you sure you don't want me to send a man down there though or at least a Bot? down there with you?"
"No I'm fine," said Ren " body's tagged so you can transport it out" he stood up and moved back, starting the board up again and floated further in as he became aware of lights and crackling wires and saw that wires were hanging from the walls and ceiling and he noticed the heat had cooled off, found another disabled charge and tagged it and while he was doing that he saw movement ahead.
"What the....?" He said.
"Consular Ren?" asked the Major.
"There's something alive down here, not T'ron though; it has a strong  signature, Scorpionoid I think," Ren said, pulling out his staff "permission to investigate and possibly engage?"
"Consular Ren, you outrank me!" said the Major "just be careful, I know how closely you Corran are linked to each other though" Ren smiled to himself noone understood the Corran.
"I will be," said Ren, making sure his sword was in easy reach but not pulling it out, he walked forward and peered around a corner, it was a Scorpionoid, one of the general troops possibly one of the saboteurs and it appeared to be wounded.
Ren paused a moment, Rik would have no hesitation in cutting it down, but Ren was a different matter, he pulled out his communicator and said: "there's a lone Scorp down here, it's wounded though".
"Ok if you can capture it, do so," said the Major.
Ren nodded "I will try" he paused and took a deep breath and walked forward "Ok," he said to himself "you're trained in this, don't freak out now!"
He stealthed and followed the Scorpionoid further into the area, hoping that he was quiet, he turned off the board and got down onto the floor, the floor was cool enough to walk on here and kept an eye on his quarry.
"Hmm, what are you doing?" he wondered quietly "up to no good, no doubt!" he paused for a moment, this wasn't what he had expected he had to admit.
Suddenly the Scorpion stopped, Ren hid behind a bulkhead, and it hissed and turned around, possibly sensing his presence, Ren saw it's cold eyes focus on his general direction, it raised its gun and fired at him, Ren ducked out of the way amazingly quick and agile, using the Way, that took a lot of people by surprise that Ren was as agile as he was and using the Way he slowed the ray.
Ren came up out of his dodge, unstealthing, and ignited his sword using his blade to repel the bolts, in double-bladed mode, the Scorpionoid reared up and pulled out a sword on its own, a wickedly curved thing, in its extra arms (legs?), but it wasn't a lightsabre, Ren ducked, hummed a little, put a shield up around himself and connected.
For a while, the two combatants fought fiercely, but the Scorpionoid was wounded, Ren was not.
Ren pulled off his cloak, revealing his whole form and jumped forward, using his martial arts (and the Way) to defend himself, he didn't flip around or anything, but Ren knew his Martials arts and was dam good at them, and he had developed his fighting style that suited his odd shape, standing up straight he proved that he could fight and rather well at that!
Ren dove at the Scorpionoid and landed on its back his blade flashing, using his tail and his powerful legs to their fullest advantage, he grabbed the Scorpionoids lower arms (legs?) and using both his strength and his enhanced powers, broke them, he ducked back and pulled out the two power knives he kept concealed under his robes and threw them, not aiming to kill but rather to cripple the Scorpion, with a cry he leapt into the air and landed on the Scorpions lower half, the part that was like a giant Scorpion and avoiding the stinger, he totally disabled it and then drove his sword into the Scorpions back part temporarily paralysing it and wounded it, it slumped unable to move, Ren then cut the end of the stinger off, avoiding the ichor and dove out of the way, knowing that it would eventually grow back but right now it was immobilised, wounded and harmless, it hissed at him.
"You're a Drone, aren't you?" Ren said then " a soldier?" lowering his blade.
The Scorpion hissed and yabbered at him, as it's translator was broken, Ren couldn't understand it, but it clearly could understand him.
Ren continued "you fought honourably, that is why I didn't kill you. Also, it is not in my nature to do so if I can avoid doing so. So I won't kill you, but I can't guarantee that others will not." the Scorpion picked up its sword again and made a feeble attack at him, Ren used the Way to pluck the sword out of its claws and caught it " disarmed and wounded as you are, you cannot harm anyone else" he concentrated and using his powers he disarmed the Scorpion of all its remaining weapons, it tried to fight back, but Ren was too strong for it in the Way.
Humming a little under his breath, Ren formed some psionic chains to immobilise it totally; it slumped unconscious as a blaster shot came from behind him "do not mess with a Jedaini Shadowblade and not expect to get burnt!" he added.
"Consular Ren!" said a voice.
"Ren!" said Rik "you alright!" Rik rushed up, concerned for his brother.
"Rik!" Ren said, "I'm fine!"
Rik grinned then "who says you can't fight?" he said, looking at the immobilised and unconscious Scorpionoid.
"I didn't shoot him," said Ren, going up and checking it, seeing it was only stunned.
"I did," said a voice and a female Marine came forward, probably from the boarding party "Major Levingston sent me down to find you Consular Ren, and Guardian Rik" she indicated the Scorpionoid "I have to say I'm most impressed with your fighting skills" as she eyed his still lighted Psiblade.
Ren discharged the sword and said " well what else did you expect? Corporal? I'm a Jedaini Shadowblade!"
"Yes, but...well, you're a Healer".
Ren said "Corporal yes, I'm peaceful mainly, I'm a Healer! But when I need to fight, I will!"
"Ren, you ok?" Rik asked.
"Yes Rik, he's not going anywhere! He's not dead, but he is helpless" Ren powered down his sabre and said, " all yours, although the body I would like to examine that, could you beam it to my ship?"
She nodded "that's the Justice, isn't it? It's currently docked here".
"No my ship is the Serendipity" Ren said ", we used to crew on the Justice, but we're recently gone freelance, the Serendipity is the Sunrise on Docking Ring four".
"Ok," she said, " and this fellow?"
"He's all yours," Ren said, " his translator is broken, so you will need someone who can understand their tongue to question him".
"Ok," said the Corporal, "the Major says we should all leave soon seeing the airs starting to go bad".
Ren nodded "yeah I noticed that" he then said "ok teleport the body to the Serendipity and take the Scorpionoid with you, he's wounded by not permanently and will heal...I think we can all conclude that this was a sabotage attempt and not an accident, now all we have to do, is find out why who, and how?"
"Ok," said the Corporal and spoke into her comms unit " Major we are ready to leave, but Consular Ren has asked if the body could be transported to his ship the Serendipity and that we can take the Scorpionoid prisoner".
The Major said, " ok permission granted Consular Ren".
"Thank you. I will see what I can find".
"Ok," he said.
"Me too," said Rik "I got some data from our Droid, you might be interested in seeing".
"Ok," said the Major " but come back up, and we'll call it a day, the airs starting to get bad, and we got some data that needs to be sifted through".
"Ok," said Ren.
"Permission to examine the data Major?" Rik asked then.
"Guardian Rik, like Consular Ren, you outrank me! So, examine all you want!"
"Ok thanks, Sir," said Rik, " and also permission to remain as part of the investigations?"
"Granted, your Jadaini Knights, you operate outside our rules," he said, " you always have".
"Thank you, sir" both said.