Star Trek: Starbase 777

The settlement continued all the way down to a river. More damage could be seen here - many houses lacked roofs and walls, looking much more approachable for inspection than the northern part. Walking further in, the team would find a plaza, once used as a gathering place. The black burn marks seemed to concentrate here the most.

Thal, who had grown bored while everyone was talking about how sus the Bolian was, arrived here first. Looking around, they noted the burn marks and absent roofs. "Some of you could probably investigate those roofless buildings," they said. (edited)

"Take note if you see anything with a name on it. That could be sent to relatives of the deceased, if there are any." He approached a house that had no roof or wall, combing through the rubble.

"Something tells me that this was where the majority of the casualties were made." Bellona noted grimly. She walked towards one of the empty buildings in silence while simultaneously monitoring the floor - hopefully there weren't some nasty little 'surprises' waiting for them to find. After all, for them to be vaporized by a thalaron explosion would be pretty bad...

Vara'l moved along with the rest of the team and watched for anything odd that might have indicated unwelcome company. When the buildings were then pointed out, he nodded slightly and commented. "..That sounds like a plan." He then moved with Lieutenant K'Tann toward the same house that had no roof or one of the walls. As he did so and noticed how the burn marks seemed to concentrate here, a thought struck him and he moved to tap his combadge. "Seems so." He mused before he proceeded to tap his combadge and sent his query.

Kya stepped in to look around the plaza, she got in the middle and stood as overwatch in the large plaza. She was not much of a fan of how open it was. “Keep an eye out for any dangers please, this spot is very open.”

Having remained with the group up until now, Dagis immediately began approaching the houses and pulled out a tricorder. “Before anyone tries to enter these houses I’d like to scan them for structural stability.” She called out to the group, approaching one carefully to see if it was, in fact, in any way stable. Engineer or not, she knew structural stability or a lack thereof from her emergency response training should, you know, anything bad happen to the starbase. Granted, these houses were made out of completely different materials, but structural stability was still structural stability.

Vara'l, having already been keeping a eye out, turned a bit to the Lieutenant commander. Given they had a point, he glanced about the place as he came to a stop just outside of the house he and the Lieutenant had been about to approach following Lieutenant Dagis's words. "Any officers with Phaser rifles, can we get you dispersing amongst the group please, it'll be best if we've rifle armed personnel on different sections of the permitter while the search continues especially as that is a valid point.. it is a bit open here." He paused before he then said. "..And as to structural stability..it does look like this might have been a focus of some of the hostilities and such." (edited)

"Oh that's me, I have the weapons," Lama the security officer raised his hand. Even though he had pretty bad aim, no one would be down for you like Lama was. He was a reliable dude even if his actual skills were questionable. "I gotchu guys covered, detective Lama, body guard , luxurious like an s-class, best of the best I'm first class!" He said with a wink and a cheesy smile.

Lama if anything improved Vara'ls mood with that. Something that might have if anything been more evident to any empaths that were anywhere near him. This had..brought back some memories for the Romulan and well, Lama's comment helped and was something he smiled at a bit while he checked his tricorder's scan for lifesigns once more.

Kya giggled as she listened to Lama. “Well, I can’t claim to be all of that, but I can certainly help with the perimeter.” She said as she moved to take position around the perimeter with her rifle drawn.

"I was trained by the best, schooled in what is it, hard.. hard something. I'm hardcore," Was Lama referring to Alyssa's training or the Tal Shiar? It remained unknown. And the word he was looking for was school of hard knocks, he was close.

Dagis was successful in noting down three approachable houses. Exploration time?

Five poked over her boss' shoulder to take a look, which wasn't hard considering how tiny she was. Looks like it was exploration time indeed.

Checking her readings over, she turned to face the others before speaking, eyeing the Chief briefly with professional fondness as she did. “The houses are stable. Just don’t go punching any walls or shooting any floors and they’ll be fine.”

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“Noted!” She yelled over to Dagis, given she was one of the people with the heavy weapon she wanted to note that she was not going to do that!

"There goes my afternoon plans," Five said completely deadpan, before shifting their tools to their other hand. "Let's take a look, then. And yeah, an eye out for personal belongings.."

He started sploring, looking for any items with names and generally trying to make himself useful.

As Vara'l waited for any response to his com message and watched the permitter with the others from his position near the house Lieutenant K'Tann was near, he checked his tricorder once more. After he'd finished that check, he then scanned the houses as well, not for a structural analysis, he wasn't really well versed in that sort of stuff, but for tactical reasons. He scanned them closer as he checked to ensure nothing nasty had been left behind during the attack. That or after it to surprise investigators.

Kya maintained her position, guarding the plaza as the others went into the houses. They had no confirmation of Tal Shiar here, but the name being brought up left her slightly uneasy. “Be careful in there!”

Dagis couldn’t help but lightly chuckle in response to Five’s deadpan joke. Despite how horrific their surrounding were right now, their Chief’s humour was greatly appreciated. Heading into the house she was next to, the Ferengi started cautiously looking around for anything of interest.

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While it was probably unlikely considering how fire damage worked, Allan was more specifically looking for things that might be left over of any electronics lying around, anything that might contain some sort of electronic traces of identity or other information. So, metal that wasn't obvious furniture, really.

Having until this point silently tagged along with the group, T’Kastrir entered one of the nearby houses once it was deemed safe to do so and began both looking and scanning for anything of interest.

Bellona did the same, cautiously combing through one of the empty houses in search for any artefacts or signs of what might've happened. Journals, writing, any accounts would've been great.

No lifesigns still. As for the people checking the area, discerning trash from personal items was quite a challenge - especially inside of the houses, where grime, soot, and dust have been accumulating for a decade. Eshen would find an abandoned toy, shaped into something vaguely cat-like. "Lalun t'Hauna" was scribbled messily on it's foot. Bellona would find an overturned box of jewelry, half of it's contents missing, the other spilled like guts all over the floor, some melted to it. Allan would find a couple of broken down electronics like tablets, personal computers, and bigger electronic devices, all fried - he could try and search for something in them, but was it even worth it?..

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Not to be deterred, Bellona began to sift through the contents of the box. Perhaps there might be something in the bottom?

Only a small local spider that immediately panicked and fled the box.

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Of course it was worth it to a computer nerd to look into a computer, especially for a purpose like this one. After all, he'd adamantly checked every computer chip in Elwyn's memory storage when they'd been practically blown to smithereens - sometimes there was a chance, and he was a person who was always going to take it, so.. he took one of the tablets and started taking it apart while the others explored, and when he found the computer chips inside - because there was surely no chance for the battery in fire damage, but if it was a well-constructed tablet, maybe the chips could have.. - if they weren't completely smashed - he'd take them. Or maybe they'd have been better protected in one of the personal computers, actually..

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Undeterred still, Bellona continued to look through any cupboards in the house in search of any books or writing.

Five followed Allan into the house. It was pretty easy to figure out what he was up to, so without a word, she knelt down at his side to lend a hand. She wasn't as technologically adept as he was, not by a long shot, but anything that'd lend a hand.

"If we find anything, is there any chance we can lift DNA off of it? To be returned to the victims or their families, if they're still..." Rehszan swallowed his words. "Interested in it all."

The Engineering-Operations team up would soon discover chips that seemed to be in better condition - protected by the hardy cases of the computers. It wasn't much, but it was something - perhaps upon analysis, they could find names, giving back identities for people that once were here... For Bellona, finding places in the house untouched by fire was a hard task, but not an impossible one. Books and journals would eventually be pulled out, covered in soot and burns, the latter written in delicate Rihannsu script. Something to be translated later?..

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"Good idea, Lieutenant," Saren replied to Rehszan, getting up from collecting a sample from the scorch mark. He then moved to one of the houses marked as unstable, not to go inside, but rather to look if there was anything of interest behind it by it's ruined wall, hidden away from the team because of it's angle. The glass and debris crunched under his heels as he went, still talking, eventually disappearing behind the house's corner: "We can hope that some of the colonists of Ishai V had survived, and--" The sounds of his voice and footsteps came to an abrupt stop, save for a soft inhale.

"Hmm?" Rehszan followed behind, concern and curiosity taking over. If something needed to be moved, he could assist— he was very strong, after all. "Did you find something...?"

The little cat toy gave him some emotions he had to thoroughly compartmentalise and deal with later. There. Surak'd away. The name, too, put away to remember later. Lalun t'Hauna. Then, hearing that inhale, he darted over to where Saren was. Was there a survivor? Danger?

"You could try lifting it off the screen of the tablets and the computers, we've left those untouched," Allan noted, after all, the computer chips were all in the back of the devices - which, upon noticing some of them were salvageable with Five, he was putting carefully into his bag to analyze later, noting which devices they belonged to in case that DNA off the screens would match up with anything. "There's something on these chips, probably - whether it's useful or not, but.. some of them look like they'll still plug." He said, still working with one of the tablets as he idly followed Saren's voice, still keeping close to the man- and didn't look up until he heard his speech stop.

"No, don't-- it's a body," came a rushed reply, a warning really, "an old one, but-- ah, fuck." He stepped out, backwards, still looking at whatever it was behind the corner with wide eyes, before turning his head towards the people rushing closer: "It's-- the uniform. It's in uniform."

Kya gasped out as she rushed over to the sounds of Saren. “Oh my stars, are you okay Lt?” She asked softly.

"Let me see," he advised quietly, gently scooting past if he was allowed. Bodies were unsafe and unsanitary to be around, it was best if he took a look.

He put a hand on Saren's shoulder. "What kind of uniform?" He asked.

Unperturbed by the sight of dead bodies (and properly warned that it would be there), they approached where Saren had just gone to investigate the body.

"I'm fine, I just didn't, uh-- I didn't expect such rendezvous," he nodded towards Kya and gave her what he hoped was a reassuring smile. He then looked at Eshen: "Good news - it's not Starfleet, and we may have just found a vital piece of evidence. Bad news - it's confirming that Tal Shiar was here."

Kya returned the smile and nod. “Take deep breaths, you’ll be all right.” She then turned to look at the body and leave Saren in the rather large embrace of his lover. “Hm, but then why is the Tal Shiar agent dead I wonder. Maybe it was some kind of internal battle? Or the colonists rebelled? Perhaps they were caught in the crossfire.”

"The colonists got a little payback, I'd like to think." Go down fighting. A warrior's decree. "Well, at least we know for sure now." He hadn't been embracing Saren, but he was rubbing his shoulder with his thumb unconsciously.

Bellona wasted no further time packing up the written accounts into a box and bringing them out of the house. Seeing the rest gathered around something, though, she walked over to investigate. What she saw made her expression darken. "Perhaps these might give us a better clue as to what happened." She suggested, holding up the small box she carried.

TW: semi-detailed description of a skeletal body Time and weather were never kind to the dead. By now, what was left was more of a skeleton than a corpse, slumped into the half-ruined wall, head still turned to the side. The skull appeared almost Vulcan, with the sharper than human teeth and different proportions, yet twin ridges on the forehead were especially pronounced on this one. By one of the hands laid their disruptor. What was left of the uniform was monochrome in it's colors, with what looked like black pants and grey patterned jacket on top, their feet still covered in leather boots. Perhaps it would be hard to identify the uniform for non-Romulans, but on their chest, held in place by twin straps, was the metallic raptor. Wings spread out ominously, the emblem of the Empire was frozen in it's attacking posture, twin planets clutched in it's claws.

Rehszan moved to scan the body. A sickening reaffirmation of their prior suspicions... He wished they had a medical officer present to investigate further, but he hoped his look would do.

Romulan, estimated to be around 80 years old, death by a disruptor shot taken to the chest and abdomen area.

They hadn't bothered scanning the body with their tricorder, considering Rehszan was already doing it, so they looked to him and asked, "What did it say?"

"They're Romulan, and were around... eighty. The cause of death was a disruptor shot around here." Rehszan pointed, but didn't touch the body.

If Timi were more comfortable with any of these people, he'd have offered to establish a telepathic connection to share his thoughts more easily, but as it was, he didn't know whether anyone would accept it, so he stuck to his PADD, typing as Rehszan and Thalass were investigating. "Probably arrived after the orbital strike. Kill any survivors, take anything of worth. Survivors were found," his PADD declared. There was no good alternative reason for Tal Shiar to be planetside around a massive attack like this, especially since it was left here to rot. If it was significantly before the attack, the body would have been cleaned up by colonists who had issue with the stench of a corpse.

They studied the corpse, thinking about how strange it was to see a Tal Shiar agent as rotten and dead as everyone else would eventually become. There was probably something deeper to be said about that. "Hmmm. Maybe one of the colonists stole a disruptor." Then he listened to Timi('s PADD). "That makes sense, actually."

"It would be a logical course of action to take if your home was under attack. It is natural to find the nearest weapon with the greatest chance of saving your life." T'Kastrir commented plainly, having not spoken a word since he first arrived on the planet's surface until this point. He had been trained to only speak when necessary. That was the Vulcan Expeditionary Group's way of being efficiant.

"This solidifies further that the Tal Shiar were here, like Lieutenant Morvar said. I need to know why we weren't told about this. Something about that officer is really bothering me," Rehszan said quietly, lights of his eyes flickering.

Kya nodded. “Yeah, I figure they were caught off guard by one the colonists. They probably went guerrilla rather than a straight fight.” She noted.

"No, I mean.. the person who briefed us. We should've been informed, and yet.." His tail twitched. "Nevermind."

"It is suspicious. I would prefer if we dealt with it when we got back to the ship, however." They narrowed their eyes at the body, searching for anything else of interest, then lost interest and turned away. "I really would like to get to the river. I would be more useful there."

Kya turned to Rehszan. “Oh no, I’m sorry! I was replying to the others talking about the Tal Shiar, yes you are quite right about the officer who briefed us. He couldn’t be Tal Shiar could he? Do they recruit non-Romulans for work?”

"Sure. It's an easy infiltration method, Starfleet Intelligence uses it too. I can't imagine an Intelligence service that doesn't," Timi's PADD responded after a while, addressing Kya's question. Paying people from other factions to work for you was relatively cheap, compared to more involved missions, and the only hard work you had to do yourself was actually finding the right person whose loyalty to buy.

She nodded along as she listened to Timi’s explanation. “Ah! Thank you for the explanation. Then I suppose that is the most likely thing then.”

Timi nodded once to Kya to acknowledge her thanks, even if he disagreed with her assessment. The easiest and most likely explanation was simply that it was forgotten, or that the information that it was the Tal Shiar seemed such a given that it was felt it didn't warrant repeating. Still, it was cause for an investigation, and at least a reprimand for improper performance of duty, which was still a blemish on the Bolian's record.

Vara'l continued to watch what was going on and also continued to monitor the permitter especially now his player was properly here again. Having noticed that they'd located a skeleton but appeared to not have anyone with medical experience currently with the team bar Matryx who he'd lost in the crowd, Vara'l made a mental note to point out what he'd overheard to them when he saw them. A skeleton seemed more like their sort of thing to look over, theirs or a science officers. He'd then looked to Timi and Kya briefly as he idly signed and audibly said. "Could have slipped their mind, briefing seemed..rushed a tad, thats also a possibility."

They left the area with the corpse and went into the larger area, looking at Bellona. "We can look at those later. We should move on now," he said, looking toward the river and the mill.

Ever tempted by the shape of water, Thalass and anyone following them would move on to #the-river.

Vara'l turned and followed the other members of fthe group who headed with Thalass toward the river. "I'll follow along with the people who headed to the river, if people are remaining here to search, can we have a rifle person or two staying with them." He requested as he moved.

Saren looked at the skeletal remains once more. Someone's child, perhaps even a sibling, or partner. He could almost imagine the snarl of pain on their lips as they fell, head thrown back from the force of the blast as Death would take them immediately. Was it a mistake? Did someone fight back? Was this a loyal dog of the regime, or someone who had suddenly changed their mind and paid the price for their insubordination? They might never know. "I hope whoever they are, now they are in the right place," he stated quietly to no one in particular. "It feels... wrong, to leave a body like this. Even if it may have belonged to a terrible person."

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"We...could bury it," Rehszan offered quietly, still lingering behind. He didn't have the same emotional connection to this as Saren seemed to, but he knew empathy.. "Since we've gotten all the information we can. Once we've concluded the investigation." He wouldn't mind coming back for that.

He nodded, stuck in place as he still stared at the body. "I don't know if there would be a family on Mol'Rihan that would be searching for them, but I can't shake that possibility off of my mind. Gods... maybe we should follow our people to the river?"

Having overheard what the Lieutenant had said as he'd started to move, Vara'l had slowed as he'd moved. It already looked like a member of tactical had accompanied the other personnel along after all. That was as they appeared to not be..here. So while words escaped him as to what to say, Vara'l elected to stay put for now. Though he elected to not get involved in the conversation he occasionally overheard. It felt..private, between those two.

"I'll walk with you." Rehszan placed a hand on Saren's shoulder briefly, as if trying to prompt him to move. "We'll see if we can't find anything."

He looked between him, Saren, and the giant Gorndroid. "We're quite a strong group, I think, so if you want us to bury him, I don't think it'll be too hard." At the same time Rehszan put his hand in Saren's shoulder, Eshen put his hand on Saren's waist.

"I will help too," Timi's PADD declared, before he put it in his bag to follow the rest of the crew. He'd stayed largely quiet until now, preferring to use his time and effort investigating his surroundings, but he felt it was necessary to voice his support for the young Romulan. He could understand why all of this hit close to home.

Having come up blank in his searches, T'Kastrir exited the house he was in and made his way over to the others, keeping himself to himself as he continued to scan and log his surroundings. He'd rather not get split up from them.

Dagis, with a sigh, exited the house she had been in and made her way back to the group, glad to have been thus far useful enough to confirm the structures stable if nothing else. Deciding to see what the others were doing, having seen them head off, she wandered on down to the river.

"As can I, if another hand to help out with that could be of use." Vara'l chimed in from his position keeping watch on the perimeter as he once again scanned their surroundings for life signs other than the away teams. He thought the help should be offered... after all, as far as he'd observed so far, this seemed to have rather impacted the other Romulan. This observation occurring around the same time he proceeded to push down and surpress any reaction of his own to these things. While.. this happened to be quite a lot, he was here to do a job. To him that meant processing those..things later.

Touch was grounding. People being here was grounding. Saren nodded, adding a "let's go, then," for a good measure, needing to leave and go look at the water or focus on scanning something else.

Vara'l followed the others as they departed. As he followed the others, he continued to occasionally check his tricorder and occasionally visually sweep his surroundings.

"I'll handle the actual body itself, so you don't have to," Rehszan said, his shovel over his shoulder. "Oh, maybe we'll see some worms or maggots.."

Kya laughed. “I’m glad that’s a good thing for you, and thank you kindly.” She said with a kind smile.

He hummed, sticking the shovel in the dirt. "Let's get this over with, shall we?"

Kya returned the hum as she stuck her own shovel in the ground. “Yes, lets.” She said with a nod. “I can’t say I’m entirely comfortable burying a member of a fascist organization, but without context I can’t deny them that.” She said as she got to digging.

Vara'l arrived part way through their speech. His jaw hardened a bit with what he heard though he elected to not speak. He had his opinion about such things,the other tactical officer had hers. He might have disagreed to a degree...but he wasnt disposed to say anything about that. "Do you need assistance with the digging?"

"No, Commander, I think we'll manage just fine between the two of us. It shouldn't take long," he responded cheerfully. "Ah.. I understand the sentiment, sir. I think this is the least we can do for now."

Kya nodded in agreement. “Oh yes of course Lieutenant, I’m not saying we don’t bury them just…feelings. Especially in a place like this.” She touched her earring softly before getting back to digging.

Vara'l nodded once as he moved to keep watch. As he did, he silently mulled over the words of two old prayers he'd re-learnt. One for a unknown soldier. Another for a lost soul. He wasnt sure which seemed appropriate for this. He..reckoned he had known once. But that data had been deemed to be irrelevant for a tactical drone.

"The three of us! Or four of us?" Eshen said, who had been hanging out with Saren and Rehszan the whole time. "Anyway, I'll be helping."

"Of course. Especially considering the tragedy that's struck, it's only expected that you'd feel...odd, about such a thing." The Tal Shiar wiping out a whole colony was unforgivable, to say the very least. Oh— Eshen didn't even give them any time to protest. "Very well, then!"

She smiled as she looked to the science officer. “My mother always told me, when she was in her cell in the Bajoran resistance, they would dig graves for the foot soldiers they killed. They were just following orders, and no matter the issue with that entire concept, they deserved more then what the Gul’s and Legate’s were giving them. I suppose that soft spot for some Cardassian’s was why she gave my father a chance when he came to DS9 as a refugee.” She hummed.

"Ah.. I see. My parents are - were engineers. They're all retired now." They were likely making pretty decent progress, by the looks of it. "Sorry, that wasn't your point. I just was trying to find something to relate it back to.."

Kya smiled. “No no! Hearing about people’s past is lovely, and distracting me from the ah, smell.” She laughed. “My father is a cook on DS9, my mother is a Bajoran security officer on the station still. She’s served there since before I was born.”

Vara'ls grey eyes flicked to focus on Kya and Rehszan for a moment then. There conversation once again..felt private so he remained silent as he didn't want to interrupt it. No instead his eyes flicked down to look at the grave taking shape, to consider the skeleton and the past of the person it'd once been. Had they been evil, or had they tried to run or to fight against what happened? Part of him suspected they might never know for sure. Though from what he'd observed of the colony and such..he had honestly found himself doubting the colonists had been able to mount any sort of defence when they'd been attacked. Soldiers would have struggled, under the sort of bombardment this had seemed to be like, at least without some form of shield. Civilians? This had been a slaughter. Had they fallen to a civilian's personal weapon, if they had why had they been left? Or..had they been shot down after trying to save at least someone..and left to the elements, a traitor in the Tal'Shiar's eyes. Who knows, he certainly didn't. Either way..they'd been a soldier, it looked like. One in a evil organization. But..still. So after a moment, he decided to just..choose a prayer and allowed the words of a old Romulan prayer for a lost soul to form in his mind. Not voiced..but silently run through and considered as his eyes flicked back to the area around them as he continued to keep watch.

Coming up the rear, having been scanning (and keeping an eye out for anything useful), T'Kastrir finally put his tricorder to one side and grabbed a shovel, before silently moving over to help dig the hole. After a moment, though, he spoke up. "Despite what we can presume transpired here, and despite the uniform this individual is wearing, it is illogical to assume anything. The deceased, no matter their actions in life, deserve basic dignity." He stated in his usual monotone voice.

Vara'l nodded slightly when the Lieutenant arrived, grabbed a shovel and moved to help the others. "Agreed." He then said as he continued to keep watch, one phaser rifle held one handed as he once again checked his tricorders scans. Satisfied so far with what he saw, he'd then adjusted the tricorders settings do it chimed if it detected anything lifesigns wise or otherwise abnormal that wasn't the away team before he slipped it back into its holster. Rifle once again then held two handed, he continued to keep watch.

"I think that's right, but it's not...a necessarily terrible thing to feel a little bit conflicted on the subject. We're executing the right decision, but after all, the Tal Shiar destroyed this place," Rehzan reasoned (try saying that five times fast). Four sets of hands meant they were about at a good place to stop. Rehszan dropped his shovel. "Stand back from the grave, please."

Vara'l moved a bit further away from the grave as the Lieutenant asked that. A good spot to watch their surroundings while keeping track of what was going on located, he settled into position there and continued his watch. While it seemed like they were alone..he wasn't inclined to trust that entirely, especially when the people who carried..this out were the Tal Shiar.

Kya nodded as she backed away from the grave. “Yes, it’s the least we can do.” She said before muttering a funeral prayer for the deceased.

Vara'l noted the Funeral prayer, noted it and decided to be more open with his own. While he didn't want to.. interrupt what they were doing, Vara'l allowed himself to hold the rifle one handed as he mouthed a prayer of his own. Mouthed it and signed it. It was brief and simple, a Romulan prayer, one that might once have found a home where he first lived amongst that colony's traditions. Might still have, he didn't know either way. His family lived on Mol'Rihan now.

Being able to flip off his sense of smell at will, it was only wise that Rehszan was the one to move the body to the grave. He carried no such religion to pray for, nor did he believe in an afterlife. He felt ..indifferent. Covering the corpse was easier than digging it. "Alright," he said when they finished, "let's go back to the away team, then prepare to get back to the Eventide."

He narrowed his eyes at the rotten fruits of their labour, an old dead danger buried deep in the soil. His heart was bitter, knowing that this person, if encountering their bodies, would absolutely not have granted them the same right to a proper burial. "Indeed. Let's be off."

Kya nodded, she felt much the same as Eshen. She stood over the grave, quietly muttering to herself. “Enjoy the fruits of our labour, butcher.” She said before heading back to the rest of the away team.

He left with Kya, offering the butcher no prayers.

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Vara'l idled near the grave for a moment longer, a urge to glance at the Lieutenant commander surpressed. Instead, as he looked to the grave, Vara'l signed what he said rather than speaking it. A effort in a way to keep what he 'uttered' somewhat more private. "If you were a butcher, by this we show you a kindness you wouldn't have shown us, if you weren't..by this we show you a kindness others didn't or..couldn't show you before." He paused then, grey eyes considering what he beheld. "Elements guide you to whatever fate your actions secured you." Vara'l then turned and walked to join the rest of the away team.

Rehszan cast Vara'l a glance, but nothing more, moving on. Time to depart, it seemed.

Silently following the group, T'Kastrir mentally logged the fact he'd meditate this off when he got back on the ship and his job was complete. Corpses were never a pleasant sight.

Returning back here for the corpse felt... heavy. Funerals were a process Saren was familiar since childhood - both from experience, and from his own inquiries in such practices. Now, hearing people murmur and exchange their concerns for burying such a man... he understood and empathised and to some extent, agreed. Gods knew, if this was Irok lying before him, he would not be so gracious. "Whoever they were in life, whatever reasons they had for wearing this uniform, we may never known," he uttered. "A man... a man I know, who is a Republic soldier, I remember asking him about this, about what they do with the bodies. " He remembered that talk well. His uncle had taken him to one of the Flotilla ships, one that served as a food court, and while watching the soldiers pass by as they ate, Saren questioned him out of the blue - just something that was on his mind. Rojin's odd-eyed gaze was frustratingly unreadable. "It's a question of dignity, really. One last proof to the Tal Shiar that we are more humane than they, or the image they tried to create of us, ever were. Proving them wrong, in a way. But... a body is a body, and putting it in a hole in the ground barely counts for something proper. Either they are already in Vorta Vor for their bravery, or we just put them six feet closer to Hell. " He then stayed mostly silent through the burial process, to then follow his group to the Eventide - away.

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