Futuristic Transsolar

[Dragongal]

Adira turned around, surprised to see Lydia. "Lydia, what the hell?! You were to remain in the tunnel until we gave you the all clear, like the rest of them! Now that you're here, we have to protect you. Dammit!" Adira sighed, her anger clearly showing. One crewman had already been taken, now Lydia comes along! Adira didn't care what kind of experience the girl had with guns, she was yet another potential liability. But sending her back was potentially a suicide mission. "I swear on my life, if you touch one of these fucking eggs, I will toss you off my ship. Are we clear?"

 

[Anaxial]

"Hey, hey! She has a light... Something the rest of us seem to be missing." Marshall said as he seemed to let go of Wood's shoulder. He took in a few deep breathes and skulked a little closer to Lydia than everyone else. "If you ask me, she's a whole helluva lot smarter than any of us."

 

[InsanEleven]

The voices echoed through the caves, slowly, hushed by the webs but not silenced. Sets of long, segmented legs stirred again deep in the darkness as the webbing beneath their legs ever so slightly hummed from sound. They did not hear, they did not see... they only hungered. And now their first prey had been secured the hunt was on again.


From deep within the tunnels a clicking sound resonated, followed by the tapping of sharp legs and the hissing of air being squeezed out between tough, organic armour.

 

[Dragongal]

"Marshall, my helm has a night-vision setting. I was never walking blind." Adira sighed in anger, until she heard the clicking. She renewed her grip on her phaser, and drew her photon blade. "Get ready, here they come."

 

[BookWyrm]

Woods had almost protested about the light, but decided against it when Adira commented about her helmet. His audio sensors picked up the sounds of the spiders returning right about the time Adira noted their return. Woods spun on his heel, his HUD finding one of the spiders as he flipped the safety off. Targeting the leg joints, or what appeared to the be joints anyway, Woods fired two rounds systematically at the approaching arachnid. Woods activated his reactive armor as he continued to fire at the spider. "Aim for the joints."

 

[Dragongal]

Adira was determined to get Rea back, nearly desperate, in honesty. But she didn't let that phase her as she prepared to shoot. She had promised Rea she'd make sure the girl would get out okay. She'd liked the lass, very innocent, nice, nearly naive... Adira had been planning on asking her about Earth culture, figuring she would know. And now the lass was taken, possibly dead. Adira aimed with an almost scary tranquility and began firing. Left arm or not, she knew her phaser well enough to be a spot-on target. She couldn't hit long distance with her left, not that her phaser allowed for much range, but short distance, she was absolutely lethal.

 

[Spazzycat101]

The one energized weapon that occupied her right hand gave a quiet whirr, and the other gave a distinct few clicks as the safety was turned off. Lydia muttered 'Spare a sample!' And took her aim, firing several ordinary shots alongside ones that gave small bursts of electricity upon contact with her target. She was stone-like, neat and quick again, having been removed from her small daydream. Between each bang of gunfire, she was speaking under her breath.


'Lend... me... a parachute...'


Her mind was taking note of the severity of the reaction from each kind of gunfire... As expected, a more aggressive hiss came as a reply to the bullets that showered small clouds of sparks.


As one of the creatures didn't fall after the fifth or so bullet, the biochemist's eyes narrowed dangerously. Weak spots... Joints, immobilizing but difficult to hit... Eyes, probably extremely-- wait, did these things even have eyes? Lydia couldn't quite tell even with the glaring light from her helmet. She was searching for a reflection (eight, actually), but was having difficulty determining if one was even there or not. Perhaps it was the fact that she had to leave her glasses behind on the ship, they didn't fit well with the helmet.


That must be it.


Ah, what a perfect refresher for those occasional nightmares about specimens that were supposed to be dead suddenly springing to life in her hands-- her subconscious was running out of material.

 

[InsanEleven]

Spiders flowed into the chamber, their bodies the exact size to fit through the tunnels. Their abdomen was an odd, pointy shape, and could move up or down due to layers of the exoskeleton lapping over eachother. They had no eyes, instead sunken into their heads were deep holes, twelve in total, that lead to an intricate system of smell combined with the ability to sense motion in the air. Instead of seeing they smelt and felt where their prey was going.


Black, needle like fangs clicked together, and as soon as they found their prey they raised their abdomen in a threatening motion. There were many of themselves, and few of the others, but it would make a meal. However, just when they nearly had their prey, shrill, high pitched sound was made that vibrated through the webs and left an odd scent like that of vinegar mixed with sugar. The spiders couldn't hear it, but they could feel it and smell it. It was a call to return deeper into the mountains, to the matriarch.

 

[BookWyrm]

"I don't like the sounds of that.", Woods growled as the shriek echoed through the caverns. But when he saw the spiders retreating he pressed the advantage and took several shots into the group. "Press on or fall back ourselves? Your call Sir." Woods looked to Adira, waiting for her orders.

 

[Dragongal]

Adira growled quietly before letting out a hiss of anger. "We have to fall back. I don't want to - I hate to - but we're outnumbered, and that screech means there's more... we'll lose more than just Rea if we pursue." Adira closed her eyes, and finally said, "Fall back. Seal up the tunnels once we're through." Sorry, lass....

 

[BookWyrm]

"You heard the Captain. Fall back, now!" Woods pulled rear security as the group ran for the tunnel entrance. Along the way he through out an occasional charge along support structures and along weak points and faults in the stone. Once they had made it out of the tunnel Woods pulled out the detonator before hitting it. A series of explosions shook the ground as the tunnel collapsed in upon itself.

 

[InsanEleven]

Spoiler

3487/12/05 21:43:25 SST = Standard Solar Time


On planet time indications will be put in a spoiler with the Solar Time indicated as the Lullaby is set to said time. (Earth days basically)


Night on the Lullaby does not have to correspond to night on the planet


There is currently 02:34:14 hours of daylight left. Nighttime will last 29:56:38 hours (A moon will move behind its planet at regular intervals)


Finally the storms cleared out, the winds were still heavy and nowhere near safe, but Saami started to hear the crackling of the comms again. Immediately he stopped cleaning his gun, which at this point couldn't get any more sparkly anyway, and went to check on them.


"Test message. This is Saami, do you copy Captain? Repeat. This is Saami do you copy?" His voice wasn't excited or worried, speaking with the usual dullness in his voice again. That didn't mean he wasn't feeling anything on the inside though, a mixture of curiosity filled with nervosity. For hours he'd been waiting for any sort of sign from the crew, and he sincerely hoped everything was in order so he could come and get them.

 

[Anaxial]

In the dark, the skittering sound of giant alien spiders was a terrifying sound but soon they were illuminated by the flash of gunfire, their horrible sound drowned by the scream of firearms. The creatures spilled through like an ocean of twisted legs and faces, Marshall wasted not a single moment and took a firing stance, his strong leg back, supporting his weight as he leveled the pistol on the first of the spiders he could see. With a surprisingly loud crack! Marshall's gun spit a projectile out that slammed dead center into one of the spider's faces. The round exploded as it made impact and instantly reduced the spider to a twitching mass of legs curling up on the cave floor.


"Goddammit! Are you serious?!" Marshalled called over the gunfire, he let out another shot and impact a spider along it's side, the round blowing a hole in it's side and spilling it's alien entrails before the body followed and slapped against a floor wet with alien blood. He stood his ground for a moment, increasing his rate of fire until the others had fallen back far enough and his pistol clicked empty.


"Son of a..." His heart raced, sweat poured down his face, yet his hands were steady as he swapped magazines and instantly began depressing the trigger. With each pull, another spider fell and joined the ever rising pile that formed on the cavern floor. It was only once the light had left him that he turned and retreated with the others.


As the group ran into the open temple, Marshall quite literally jumped into the Tin-Can and holstered the pistol inside the cabin. He threw his arms inside the suit and immediately it roared to life. The explosions from the charges rattled the cave and covered their exit just as Marshall trained the flamethrower on the Tin-Can on the cavern. He stared at the cave-in for a good long while before anger began to well up inside him. He let out a single furious shout and closed the Tin-Can's torso before immolating the cave-in with fire, illuminating all others still inside the temple as he blasted the still settling rocks with a liquid magma..


"Are you fucking kidding me?! WE LEAVE?!" he shouted over the communications system as he turned around and leveled the Flamethrower on Adira and Woods. "What the FUCK. You sons of bitches you'll just leave her there to get fucking... EATEN?!" The Tin-Can took a braced stance as if he was about to Immolate Adira and Woods but inside it whipped around fired more liquid fire against the walls of the temple and illuminated the entire entrance.


Marshall pointed a finger at Adira and shut off the flame-unit in his opposite hand.


"You fucking killed her. You're responsible for that." Though he wasn't yelling, this was the most bitter thing he'd said yet... He didn't wait for Woods or Adira to even try to chastise him. His communication signal immediately cut off after that and the Tin-Can stormed out of the old ruins, into the open air. When he was a good distance away from them he opened the torso and pulled his arms free and sucked in the pure, cool air outside the stuffy cave. Wiping sweat from his forehead and eyes was a consistent process as his body begged to be cooled, all the while he continued to silently swear to himself.

 

[Dragongal]

Rea had to have heard those blasts... if she's not already dead, she knows we've forsaken her.... Adira's thought were interrupted by Marshall's yelling at her. She sheathed her blade and holstered her phaser, resisting the urge to shoot out one of the wires or tubes on the Tin Can. She was not in the mood to deal with that. Had Marshall not walked off, she'd have given him a piece of her mind - after all, wasn't a good leader supposed to explain their choices when questioned? The fact that she wanted to yell at him with a few choice words didn't change that it was an explanation. Still simmering, she looked over to Woods, very quietly asking, "Does he think I don't know that?" She could have gone on and explained how they were outnumbered, how there were obviously more as they were recalled by something, how much she hated killing, especially her crewmen in any way, and especially someone as innocent as Rea. But, she didn't - because she knew that would risk her losing her temper.


With a heavy sigh that barely covered her anger, she turned to Lydia. "You were supposed to be by the entrance, with the rest of them. We didn't need something to map with since it was a single tunnel with very few off-shoots. Your light you were flashing around, could have gotten us killed if those insects were attracted to light - which a lot are. You walked into that chamber, and you just stared at the eggs and everything else - that could have gotten you killed, or us. There's a time and a place to question your orders - it's after you message us and receive confirmation. This was not the time to ignore orders. I'm not going to punish you, but if you ever risk someone else's life, or recklessly endanger your own, or just stand there in the middle of a high-risk area staring at shit, I will punish you. Go rejoin the group."





Adira turned on her comm, hearing Saami questioning her. "Saami. These ruins aren't uninhabited - parts we blocked off had giant arachnids. They got Rea. We pursued. We failed. Captain Rik out." After that, Adira just turned off her comm. She could hear him if she spoke, but she didn't feel like responding. She just felt... tired.

 

[BookWyrm]

Woods had stood by quietly during the whole confrontation with Marshall, though when he had turned the Tin Can towards them Woods had kept the safety off of his rifle, only just clicking it back on when he walked away. "I'll see that Marshall learns his place. I think a solid week of leave with curfew and restrictions, as well as gradual return to access, will put him in his place." Woods tightened down his rifle sling before walking over and standing in front of Adira, gently laying his hands on her shoulder before retracting his helmet. "You made the right call. It was a shitty situation, but you made the right call. Rea knew the risks, and despite them she still chose to do her job. I understand this is not how we wanted to begin this mission, but we have to deal with the hand dealt to us." Woods kept his voice calm and quiet, even sympathetic.

 

[Dragongal]

Adira glanced up at Woods, then unhlostered her phaser and pointed it to the wall to their side without looking. For some reason, that always made her feel better. But that, combined with Woods' words, changed her anger to just being upset. Not necessarily guilty, just... upset. She holstered her phaser. "Facts don't tend to make me feel too much better after something like this, I'm afraid. Don't punish Marshall. Not like that, anyway. It's understandable to be a bit upset after something like this. Thank you, though." Adira sighed. "I can't help but want to go back there with a bigger gun and fuck those spiders up. Get Rea's corpse, at the least, give her a proper funeral."

 

[BookWyrm]

Woods stood quietly for a few moments before scratching at the back of his neck as he sighed. "It wouldn't be the worst thing I've ever done, but I won't have you going back in there." Woods held up his hand before continuing. "I don't want you seeing her like that, not to mention, I don't think Rea would want any of us putting ourselves in harms way to get her back even for a proper funeral." Woods looked at Adira for a few moments, trying to gauge what she was thinking. "What do you say we get back to safety and then, maybe tonight we just forget it all at the bottom of a bottle? Best option on my mind right now."

 

[Dragongal]

Adira looked at Woods for a few moments. "I don't want you seeing her like that"... he doesn't know. I've seen far, far worse done to people. She took off her helmet and sighed. "I wasn't about to actually suggest we go back in there. I just... want to." After thinking for a few seconds, Adira added, "I don't drink. Normally. But synthehol sounds good." A bit more expensive, synthehol was alcohol that didn't leave you with a hangover the next morning. She pulled out her communicator. "Saami, ETA for pickup?"

 

[Spazzycat101]

Once they retreated down the tunnel, Lydia was more or less sulking despite the sample of dusty-looking web she had managed to snatch. She had turned off the light and was fiddling aimlessly with one of her guns. Her mind was rather active, trying to build some kind of scenario where all hope of their teammate's life was not lost. She heard the conversation between Woods and Adira, but didn't listen to a word. Her helmeted gaze was fixed on a single point on the ground, unfocused.


'It's a temple, the first tunnel doesn't necessarily lead to everything. Sonar would show other ways, potential hollows, empty spots, we could carve a secondary tunnel back?' Lydia's thoughts were looking something remotely plausible, anything possible to reopen another point of entry into that cavern... She was speaking quietly, little more than muttering under her breath. A moment later, almost like a very delayed reaction, she lifted her head and turned, somewhat puzzled, to face her captain.


'Blind animals can't be attracted to light...'

 

[Dragongal]

Adira looked to Lydia, a bit surprised that she hadn't left to rejoin the group like she'd been told to. She took a breath to keep herself from snapping at the scientist, before saying as calmly as she could, "We didn't know they were blind at that point. We didn't see them except for their legs when they grabbed Rea and stabbed me. We only saw their faces once they turned to attack all of us. We kept the things in sight as we ran, so we knew where they were going. And nobody on my crew is going near that cavern, different pathway or not. Those beasts are in there, and there's too many." That was when Adira noticed the webbing in Lydia's hand. "Did you follow us just for samples? Is that why you paused in the cavern...?" For fucking samples!? Rea is dead, and this girl follows us into a cavern full of beasts with a taste for humans, and looks for samples!? She's absolutely obsessed! She doesn't care about herself or anyone else if there's a chance that she could get samples! Normally Adira wouldn't have made so many assumptions, but she wasn't at her best.

 

[BookWyrm]

Woods put the scene together and quickly stepped between Lydia and Adira. "Lydia, get out of this cave, now." His voice was stern and his posture on the more intimidating side to help add emphasis. Of course he couldn't give her a direct order, but he figured that the scientist could take a hint. Besides that, Adira looked like she was fixing to snap on the girl. Sure, she had foolish followed them, defying a direct order at that, and put her life and the lives of everyone else on the line just for a sample, but now was not the time to deal with her.

 

[Spazzycat101]

Lydia returned to the entrance of the cave, where the plant samples were still suspended between two different styles of organization. She seemed to take almost no notice, and instead carefully bagged the shred of web. If she could pull any DNA from it, anything at all, perhaps she could find some kind of chemical with Anu's help that would fight them with more ferocioucity than bullets. Perhaps a virus could be engineered? One that would target something of Arthropoda, not Chordata. They could eliminate the spiders, then still safely search for Rea. Would Adira even let her?


Probably not.


Was there some way she could circumvent the Captain's words, or would she just have to straight-out disregard them..?

 

[Dragongal]

Adira looked at Woods for a few moments after Lydia left, then nodded slightly. It probably was best if Lydia was gone at the moment. Adira sighed. "Sometimes I hate the rules, especially the one that says we can't kill an entire species. The minute Saami is ready to take us away from here, we leave. We have enough information to give the Division."

 

[InsanEleven]

Saami heard the distinct soundlessness of a communications line being manually muted. Seemed like she wasn't in the mood to be told anything, but that didn't mean he didn't anyway, fearful as always to break protocol. Actually he was nearly glad she couldn't hear him offer his condolences, as they weren't as empty as they should be. Hadn't he been the one who in the beginning thought that it would be important to preserve an innocence such as Rea's? Perhaps the only person to ever offer him friendliness despite being told it wouldn't matter, just out of the grounds of her heart, not ignorance or plain politeness. And as uncomfortable he had felt being confronted with such out of there kindness, he had liked her. Which was perhaps a terrible thing to admit, because he wasn't supposed to. Now he was sad and frustrated, disappointed in everything, and now he could once more understand why they hadn't wanted him to feel anything. He didn't really want to feel it himself.


Still he knew too that he could only feel sad if he had actually felt something good to begin with, so instead he decided to focus on that. It was easier when he hadn't been there to witness her death, so the only memory he had of Rea was one in a far happier state. Happy to be there, and wouldn't it betray that happiness for him to let his mission shoot by? Even more so knowing that this could have happened. The worst manner to corrupt a good memory was to do something stupid because of it.


After offering his unheard condolences, he put his emotions outside again. Out of mind and out of heart, and so out of the mission. Without missing a beat he launched the ship again, ready to get the rest of the crew out of that cavern, though he still had to do something related to Rea. "Saami to Navigation. The communications have been restored according to the systems. I will proceed to recover the remaining crew. Current headcount is 11, excluding myself."

 

[Marianne]

Sandy was toying with the short strands of the fringe above her forehead, majority of the crew on the Lullaby went away for a meal leaving two to stay and chat idly at the other side of the room. Sandy was just about to get up and go find something to eat, just to pass time, before an unsettling sound greeted her ears. Grimacing, the woman sat up straighter before the communication lines began to properly function. "Hello?" She tested, adjusting the volume as her ruby eyes looked around. The other two were so caught up in themselves, perhaps flirting that she would've been too busy studying them to realize the voice on the other line; it wasn't clear until she heard, ". . . Navigation. The communications. . . restored according to the systems. I will proceed to recover the remaining crew. Current headcount is 11, excluding myself." Sandy's brows furrowed in confusion as she fixed her on nothing in particular, focusing more on Saami's voice as she gingerly asked for him to repeat the last line once again. And so he did, and that caused her to wonder who it was that they had lost because she was positive that there was thirteen of them that dispatched, including Saami. With a firm voice, Sandy went on with her job and disguised the emotional turmoil in her heart, and the curiosity in her mind.

"Saami, it is safe for travel; please be wary of the wind currents, for I am not quite sure how rough they may actually be. Though the storm is passing, your safety is top priority, second to the ship," while saying this, Sandy stood to stretch her limbs, glancing at the monitors in her receptacle. Squinting, she continued on in uncertainty, "Um. . something. . it's interfering with the mapping of wind currents. Please, tell me what you see other than what is on the screen now, that is strange to you, so I may correctly identify the issue. If any colors like a violet pops up, it is most like unsafe. A soft blue says otherwise, and you may proceed for a safe travel." Running a dainty hand through her velvet-textured, indigo hair, Sandy exhaled. Closing her eyes as she thought:​

I care for a stranger, may whomever has passed travel safely to the river of new beginnings.

​