Futuristic Transsolar

[Dragongal]

Adira looked to Marshall, then to Lydia, then Woods. She took the moment to put on her helm to test the communication links. Everything seemed to have a green light, even the screen on the inside that allowed her to see video surveillance of other areas - of course, she could still only focus on one thing at a time. She could also see a terrain map and if needed could enable to computer to identify substances or people (if they were human and in the Science Divison's database. And, of course, a targeting system was a given. She stood up and stretched a bit. "We've got some time. Everyone got your communicators? I'll be using my helm, but I'll be able to hear all of your messages, and you can hear me. If I want you to. Remember - this is a preliminary exploration. You see something that's probably dangerous or would take a long time to deal with, we'll come back for it later. Don't do ajnything stupid or risky - any of you." This was more aimed at Lydia than anything.

 

[Luminescent]

Rea's heart raced as she heard the message over the intercom. She ran back to her room and quickly changed into the suit they had given her for landing. It was the typical suit that everyone else had gotten, with thinner gloves for easier examination of substances. As she was changing she heard a ding from her tablet. A message from the captain... She swore aloud, as she scurried to change. She didn't have time to respond.


She had trouble getting her suit on, making her embarrassingly late to the bridge. She arrived, obviously flustered. "Sorry I'm late. I had trouble getting this stupid suit on." She adjusted the tight suit, tugging on the middle, yet accomplishing nothing. "How long do we have?

 

[Anaxial]

It was hard to judge Marshall's response in that tank of a suit,but if you listened carefully you could hear a sharp breath escape the speaker, like a short laugh. He crossed his arms defiantly just as Rea entered and Marshall was silent for a minute. His voice was heard again, not through the speaker but now through the communication system, much easier to hear him now.


"You don't need to belittle me, Woods. I'm not a child." A finger was pointed at the scouting footage. "You see that? That is a world that resembles prehistoric Earth. If this intelligent life is indigenous, expect them to be big, ugly, and mean. That goes for whatever we find down there." His words were harsh but they brought some truth with them. His arm lowered and returned to his side as Marshall turned around to leave the control room. "We'll see when we go down. But I'm sure as hell not risking anyone's life because you want to play nice."

 

[Spazzycat101]

Lydia gave a humorous invisible pout as Adira mentioned doing stupid things, then pulled her own helmet over her head. From several missions ago, the gear had been fitted with a communication system, though the biochemist preferred to keep all the images hidden with a click of a dial. If someone messaged her, a tiny dot would appear with a small Bing! In the corner of her sight. Otherwise, her vision was completely clear, save for the discreet tint of the mask. She turned to see Rea scramble to join the small gathering on the bridge, complaining about her suit. Suddenly, Lydia had a feeling of thankfulness that she had brought her own equipment instead of having to be issued anything.

 

[InsanEleven]

Saami finished his last round of scouting, looking for whatever may have made those ruins. The thick layer of green below made it hard for him to spot anything happening on the ground, even with his eagle vision, infrared and ultraviolet sight and even heat sight didn't work as the temperatures were too high to make sense of anything. Just as he was about to turn around back to the ship he saw something that pulled his interest, and though he had already expected there to be, sighting a gigantic flying insect confirmed what he had already hypothesised.


"Saami to navigation. I can confirm the sighting of a large flying arthropod, no signs of other life."


"Navigation to Saami, you mean like insects?" The voice didn't sound very confident, and it had been the first time he had actually gotten a question back instead of a statement.


"Confirmed, I saw six legs and an exoskeleton. Probability of being an arthropod is 99.9%" His eyes didn't lie, and just to be sure he looked back on the stored memory, which confirmed it again. "I will return to the ship, please prepare the exploration team for departure."


A little while later he docked the plane to the SSE Lullaby again, immediately getting ready to board the bigger ship that would be able to get them to the surface. First things first he got into his suit, which was made to be more fitting for him. The helmet connected to his internal reserve oxygen systems, allowing him to restore oxygen to those if he needed, and the visor had no electronic systems instead being crystal clear so his visual systems wouldn't be limited. The fabric was more flexible, while still being slightly thicker to absorb blows, making sure he would be protected yet still able to move. He figured the government never really wanted to lose a valuable piece of equipment if it didn't need to, no he wasn't a human, but being a damn big investment sometimes had it's perks.

 

[Dragongal]

"Let's get to the hangar," Adira said to those assembled.


A few minutes later she was walking to the hangar, pulling on her padded gloves as she walked. The gloves were thin on her fingers, but padded on her knuckles and the backs of her fingers, with thin metal plates over the joints. She pressed a thin button in her coats collar, and the collar joined up seamlessly with her helmet, the cuffs of the jacket joined with her gloves, the zipper for her jacket disappeared and the tails of her jacket jointed with her boots, making a seamless suit that was perfect for exploring or going into the void. "Only attack if they're hostile first. A lot of species are harmless until you mess with them. Try not to let them think We're gods. Don't mess with their development too much either."

 

[Anaxial]

It wasn't moments after Marshall stormed from the Control room that his chest began to tighten and he couldn't fight the crushing feeling that he'd done something wrong, again.


Dammit Garrett, you said you'd try to change not twenty-four fucking hours ago. What the hell was that?! he thought to himself as he managed to manuever the armor through the halls of the Lullaby. A heavy sigh creeped its way out of his lungs and joined his team in the hangar, 6 men total including Woods and Marshall, took on the role of a direct leader to the four remaining people on the security team. Woods obviously had total control over them, but a bit of micromanaging sometimes was good.


Marshall cleared the viewport of it's tint, allowing the men to see his face as he eyeballed the quad of soldiers as they inspected their gear. Three lights and a heavy to work with Marshall himself, though their armor wasn't nearly as cumbersome as the immense power armor that surrounded Marshall's body.


"Alright, ears open." Marshall said after a moment, realizing they were only pretending to inspect their gear, as if waiting for Marshall to go away. "The standing order from the Captain and Commander Woods is; 'watch your fire.'" He explained, his voice being emitted from the speaker on the armor's chest. "We can't determine what's going to be friendly and whats more hungry than it is open for a dialogue. I'm not going to tell you to disobey orders, but please follow them smartly." He said a bit of a nod. "If something starts gnashing teeth or you suspect you're in danger; I want warning shots, I want those shots to be annoucned after you've fired them, and I want casings counted. What you're leaving with is what you're coming back with, lose a shell and I personally will boot you back for the uglies." Marshall smiled at his own banter before continuing. "That being said, no one is allowed to die or lose a limb without MY permission, understand?" Marshall received a rousing; 'AYE-AYE, SIR' from the team before they began to don their gear and ran buddy checks on one another.


Is was just about then that the Captain herself came down and addressed the crew. Marshall listened quietly, patiently waiting for her to finish before calling out over the comm system;


"YOU HEARD THE LADY AND YOU KNOW THE DRILL, MOVE IT OUT. SARDINE UP!" The Security team jogged in synchronization as they marched onto the landing craft followed by the noisy stamps from Marshall's heavy mech suit. Marshall boarded in the back, where a vehicle would normally be held and commed the Captain and Woods.


"Team's loaded and ready, get us low enough and we'll rappel down. My plan was to secure a permanant LZ for the transport and then have the rest of the crew move in, you two alright with that?" Marshall had an excitement to his voice, this was a man who enjoyed his job. Most surprisingly however was the tone of his voice, no longer sarcastic and rude, but one of dedication and focus. This is why the Empire had hired him.


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Anu was preparing in own special way for the journey planetside. When signs of intelligent life were confirmed, Anu happily activated the floating khaki plates around his body that would serve as armor and his weapons. Most importantly however, was the plate jut above the crest on his head, a faint blue light emitting from it. The N'thagn collective would be very interested in seeing how humans would handle themselves among new species, not to mention he'd need to record everything later for his own species' archive.


Six plates hovered 6inches away from Anu's chest, giving a imitation of abs on a creature that had transparent skin and no muscles. A single plate overed above his right shoulder and a plate no bigger than a belt buckle was above his right wrist. Between the plates, a faint red mesh could be seen glimmering above his body, the plates generating a sort of energy shield around the gaps in their formation, essentially giving Anu a full curias and barbute shaped helm of red energized weave.


Anu joined the gathering in the Hangar and happily stood there, still as a statue as he watched the humans scurry about to prepare for the journey planetside. The alien didn't seem to be wearing any sort of spacesuit however, the only thing different being the khaki plates that now guarded his body and the energy shield that covered the gaps between them.

 

[BookWyrm]

Woods had watched and listened to Marshall's debriefing of the security team and found himself rather impressed. It would seem that Marshall could reign in his mouth and attitude. Don't get too comfortable, you still haven't worked with him yet. When asked about the plan Woods gave a slow nod. "We will secure the LZ before moving out and assessing a suitable position for our FOB." Woods turned back to Adira and extended his hand. "I'm going down with the team Sir. First one on, last one off. I'll contact you and Saami both when we have secured the LZ and surrounding perimeter."

 

[Dragongal]

Adira smiled, though he couldn't see it, and shook his hand. "Excellent. Well all be ready when you return. Keep us up to date on any developments or anything you find that is odd. Good luck."

 

[BookWyrm]

Woods' helmet closed in around his head before he nodded, pulling his hand up to salute the Captain before joining the security team. The loading ramp into the carrier closed, triggering the interior lights to flicker on as Woods walked through and checked over his team, starting with Marshall. "Final checks." His HUD switched over to scan through the power armor, coming back clear before he went hands on, running over the power armor carefully. It had clearly seen use many times before. He walked around, checking everything in detail to get an understanding of the suit. Woods took his job personally, and being familiar with every single one of his team mattered. If something happened he wanted to know what it was, how it affected them, and what could be done in that situation. Woods made it back around to the front before stepping up onto one of the suits knees to check the upper area around Marshall's head. "All clear Marshall.", he held a thumbs up in front of the massive helmet before stepping back and moving to the next in line.


When he had checked and cleared the rest of his team he took his place back near Marshall before contacting the others. "Final checks confirmed, Security Team is prepped and ready to go."

 

[Anaxial]

The black tint of Marshall's own face plate returned to conceal the sly grin Marshall had on his face as Woods tried to make sense of the armor and inspected it for it's journey. Among the usual scorch marks from plasma and lasers, the dents created by bullets as the impacted the composite material, he found that much of the suit was mismatched, likely constructed by hand from pieces of different machinery and different armor suits perhaps. Overall it was an impressive feat for Marshall to pull and one that he seemed to take much pride in as the interior, the guts of the Power Armor were spotless, proving that it's ramshackle appearance was a ruse to make people think it wasn't as capable as it actually was.


When Woods gave him the a-ok, Marshall pitched in;


"The ol' Tin Can's been loyal to me in the past. Do me a favor though, the left leg Actuator has been acting up." He said doing his best to twist the mechanical arm to point towards a complex rotary gear along the inner knee. "Just give it a good kick, sometimes the belts come loose, just need to weld in a belt guard when I get the chance. Shouldn't affect anything other than how tired my legs will be when this is all over."

 

[BookWyrm]

Woods looked at the area Marshall had motioned towards and focused his HUD. He found the Actuator, noting that it could use some work like he said. Woods nodded slightly before squaring his body up to draw his right arm back. The blow was hard enough to echo through the bay, causing each team member to look towards their commander in surprise, just as Woods had planned. Of course the strike wouldn't do damage to the armor, it had been perfectly tailored to adjust the Actuator like Marshall had asked, but Woods did add in a little extra oomph just to show off a bit and break any rust loose. "That should keep it warm for a while. Once we have the FOB set up you can take the time to mend it. I'd rather not have any system failures until we know what we're in for on this planet."

 

[Spazzycat101]

Lydia followed Adira to the hangar, fiddling with the suit and her helmet then glancing about with an expectant kind of expression, though invisible behind the mask. Were there any air tanks..? Her own helmet wasn't fitted to convert air right from a hostile atmosphere, but had a valve to connect to a compressed tank. Forgetting that her face was shadowed by her visor, tried to make the fact discreet that she was searching for equipment that was a little less modernized. She noted none of what she was searching for, though the thought of her original objective left her mind quickly. Instead she spied a small collection of a similar kind of equipment, though far better than a simple air tank. Upon glancing around to ensure that nobody was talking directly to her, Lydia wandered off to the cluster of external atmospheric converters. They were not unlike the feature in Adira's helmet, though this had to be connected to a helmet by a small pressure valve like the one that corresponded with her own equipment. Securing the small backpack-like arrangement with a quite satisfied grin, she drifted back toward the people whom she had only known for about a day or two in waking hours and with whom she was supposed to land in an environment completely unexplored by humans and apparently yielding intelligent life that may or may not be hostile. A bit of an unnerving thought.

 

[InsanEleven]

Saami entered the cockpit of the ship, now fitted with the right equipment. If everything was alright, which he had been told it was, everyone would be inside and ready to go.


"Take off will commence within several moments. All doors are now locked, and your seat secured. If you suspect you are not secured correctly press the red button above your head." He doubted anyone wouldn't be secure, but you'd never know, mistakes like that were made easily. Meanwhile he ran down the checklist, making sure all systems were still in order. It would definitely be harder to fly a larger ship across the surface, so to keep the stress on the ship as minimal as possible he'd only get close to the surface once they were nearing the LZ. After that he'd scout the area for the team on the ground.


"We will take-off in 3. 2. 1." He switched around a few buttons and felt the ship smoothly come loose from the SSE Lullaby, the lights dimming to preserve energy and allow less distractions for him as he was flying. This was it. Even he got nervous butterflies in his stomach, knowing on the return he might not have some of these people on board. It was a very sobering thought.

 

[Anaxial]

When the echo of the kick had settled down and Woods had said his piece, Marshall lifted an arm adjusted the torso to get a look at the leg. A few quick high-knees and rotating the knee, the armor was good to go. Adjusting himself to look at Woods Marshall gave the armor a good smack on the chest.


"Damn Woods, not the first time you've wanted to kick me, huh?" Marshall joked, his genuine smile hidden under the tinted face piece but it was a good sign. If he could behave himself, swallow down his urge to defy any sort of leadership, he may be able to turn himself around... Become a better man.


"You got it. FOB established, new guard welded on ASAP."


Following Saami's arrival, Marshall locked the legs in place and anchored the armor to the floor of the ship. He wouldn't be tumbling around when the ship takes off, arguably it was more comfortable too, if a bit strange not being able to move your legs at all.


"I'm locked in place, ready when you are."

 

[BookWyrm]

Woods chuckled slightly. "I have some experience knocking tin cans around." Woods adjusted his position as the ship began it's descent towards the surface of the planet. He closed his eyes as his body relaxed into his normal routine for a drop. He'd always found these few moments between loading and first stepping foot onto the ground to be very serene, even peaceful. "We will use channel 0-4 for team communication. I will keep a direct line with the rest of the drop team as well as one direct to Saami. When we get set to fast rope in nix the personal chatter over the comms until both the LZ and the FOB are secure and set. Marshall, anything to add?"

 

[InsanEleven]

The flight didn't take long, about 15 minutes at most. It was however a tenacious undertaking for Saami, who had to do his best to navigate through the high pillar like mountains, without being thrown about by the turbulence. Occasionally a red light started beeping when he got slightly too close to the rocks, but they made it in one piece.


"We are nearing the landing zone, get ready to rappel down in one minute. I will remain in the vicinity to watch for any possible hostile activity until I get the all clear to retrieve the scientists." As he talked he activated his visual systems, the blue glowing circuits in his eyes enhancing everything he saw. It was easier to land this way, and to scout out any danger before they landed. In the minute he had left, he decided to test his direct connection to Woods. "This is a test, please confirm if you are able to hear me on this frequency Sir."

 

[BookWyrm]

The HUD in Woods' visor highlighted the comms frequency, displaying the connection before stowing it. "Saami, Woods. You are coming in Lima Charlie." The lights in the bay flicked from the normal white to red as Woods gave the hand signal to link up. "The team is set to drop. Awaiting your mark."

 

[InsanEleven]

"Understood, I am manoeuvring into the correct position now." They had reached the landing zone, and as soon as he flew over it, snow was blown off of the top of the pillar, leaving nothing but a smooth stone surface. About fifteen feet above the pillar he had reached the lowest he could go without being in significant danger, occasionally eyeing the ruined stairs that led down from the top to see if there wasn't perhaps an alien race alerted by their arrival. "I can not go any lower without compromising safety. You and your team are ready to rappel down Sir."

 

[BookWyrm]

The lights flashed green as the floor dropped out from under the team. Woods was the first to touch down and instantly drew his rifle up and panned through his sector. All around him the team fell into position. "Saami, Woods, team has touched down and cleared the ropes. Moving to secure LZ now." Woods flashed a hand signal and the team moved into action, searching and securing the LZ. Woods panned around, slicing the corner of a pillar in his normal precise manner. "Clear." All in all the team took less than five minutes to secure the LZ before rallying up again. "Saami, Woods. The LZ is clear, you are set to drop the team. We will hold our POS until you return."

 

[Anaxial]

When the floor dropped from under them, Marshall would need no rope as the Power Armor would sustain the fall. The heavy suit came crashing down and slammed against ground with a thunderous boom, if stealth was their objective it was ruined as the noisy armor came to life and whirred with mechanical excitement. Marshall wrenched the legs free of the ground that had swallowed them from the impact and his left hand clicked together to form a small nozzle, a flame forming on the end. The right hand remained empty, ready to grab or punch at whatever exposed itself.


"Dammit could that have been fucking louder?" Marshall grumbled in frustration as he too, panned the area over. "Jesus Christ my ears are still ringing... Looks like their's a hole in the sound proof foam on the helmet..." He followed through, showing it was his intention to be loud, he just wasn't expecting to hear it himself.


A ten foot hulking suit of steel and composites made for an intimidating site even for the modern man, one could only wonder what a primitive tribal alien may think of the suit, or it's capabilities.

 

[InsanEleven]

Saami heard Woods' confirmation. "Understood sir, I will notify you when I have picked up the team and when I am in range of the LZ." With that he left, turning the ship around and flying back to the ship. This time he flew slightly faster, as he didn't have to account in a whole bunch of other people who probably didn't like being thrown about from left to right even if they were strapped in. Once he was in sight of the SSE Lullaby he switched his radio frequency to that of Captain Adira. "This is Saami, I am about to arrive, please get the scientific team ready for departure."


Not too long after the ship docked safely, opening up again to allow the next set of people in.

 

[Dragongal]

Adira stepped forward, turning around while she had the whole group behind her. "Alright, many of you have at some point gone on a drop like this. For those of you who haven't, and those who don't know my rules, we go down, stay in the Landing zone perimeter unless you are given explicit permission by myself or Woods. You go off and get in trouble, we'll save your ass, but we'll take our sweet time getting there. No shooting unless it is absolutely necessary or authorized. There's risk of death going down. If you accept all of this, get on. If you don't, stay."

 

[Spazzycat101]

Though she was listening to Adira's warning, behind the tinted shield of her helmet, Lydia's eyes were glancing anxiously at the ship they would board. As her Captain finished speaking, she found herself giving a small, quick nod. She heeded her words about the authorization of firing a weapon, or straying from the site and took a moment to enforce them into her own mind, she was sure that the precaution would probably find a way to slip her mind later. Either way, the biochemist was absolutely anxious to arrive to the planet. Wandering or not, there was probably at least a few things to sample at the landing zone. At least, if there weren't, she'd be pestering Adira for authorization to leave and go find something. Her impatience was subtly visible in the form of a restlessly twitching hand.

 

[Anaxial]

With the Captain's order given, Anu excitedly boarded the vessel and nuzzled himself down into one of the seats, hunching awkwardly in order to fit in the human-sized ship. His black eyes scanned over the others and he nudged Lydia playfully with two long fingers.


"Quite exciting isn't it! I have studied so many new species in my time, but never have I set out to discover them! I feel strange... excited yet fearful... Anxious, I think is appropriate. Are you anxious as well?" Speaking fast as ever, Anu took total concentration to understand. Even still, he hardly waited for Lydia's response as he began nudging and bugging others about their opinion of the whole ordeal.