Futuristic Transsolar

[Dragongal]

Adira looked the map over before nodding. "Alright. There's seven of these, I have two, Woods has two, the other three are dispersed among the security team. Some of you will run out and cover the runers, some of you will stay back and snipe. We've gone over the plan, do it fast as possible, regroup back here. Woods and I take the farthest four, that'll be the longest run. Everyone covers everyone else's back.. Everyone take a minute to check over your armor and weaponry. Any issues, speak up." Adira glanced over her own uniform. Quite a few green or purple smears, but no damage. Her jacket was down still, more of a jacket form than a suit form, which provided more protection for her back since the thin armored plates were closer together. She switched her comm over to her private chat with Vince for a moment. "I hope you're ready for this. I am."

 

[BookWyrm]

Vince took a deep breath and steadied himself as he checked over his gear. Six primary mags, three secondary, reactiv armor still in shape, health is questionable. Sounds normal. For a few heartbeats Vince thought he could feel the ATTD slamming against the walls of his heart. They needed to get that thing out sometime soon. But...they were heading into a nest to destroy cocoons. Cocoons. Vince shuddered, shook his head as he dismissed the memories. Needless to say Adira's voice was a welcome distraction. "Last obstacle in the race before the finish line. Nothing more than one more bug to squash."

 

[Dragongal]

"A nest of bugs, actually." Adira switched back to the group comms. "Alright, if everyone's ready... go." Adira kept her phaser in her right hand as she ran, and held her incendiary charge in her left. Once activated and thrown, it would stick to the hive, then detonate moments after like a flare - no explosion, but lots of fire. Insects dove at the runners as they ran, but the snipers and others helped greatly. She still had to shoot some herself, but she was already halfway to the farthest nest. She glanced over her shoulder to check on Vince.

 

[BookWyrm]

Vince had kept his rifle in his right hand and pulled out the incendiary before taking off alongside Adira. Every now and then he needed to pop off a round or two, but for the most part the team had them covered. "Can't keep your eyes off of me there hon?", Vince asked as he walked up beside Adira. "I admit you are quite the looker yourself, though the armor doesn't exactly flatter your figure much." Battlefield banter seemed to keep the mind occupied, and for some reason Vince found himself needing it.

 

[Dragongal]

Adira chuckled and switched on her comm to Vnce. "Oh? Maybe I should change my priorities from not getting killed to looking nice." Adira looked ahead again. She was nearing her first target. "Alright, now the fun part." They had set the timers for slightly staggered times to try to keep to Saami's suggestion of the order of destruction, and she could hear one of the hives crackling in flames already. She ran to the side, away from Vince, and threw her first incendiary, which stuck, then she ran to her last target and threw the incendiary. When she truend around she was confronted by one or two of the very angry bugs, but those were no problem. Now where was Vince...?

 

[InsanEleven]

Saami did not hesitate, reacting the moment the go was given and he saw the incendiary bombs go off. Bugs immediately rose up, some on fire, but most just really, really angry. And he reacted, crouching into a low combat stand, a dangerous red glow rising up from behind his eyes. Switching his plasma guns to medium strength rounds, he finally came in his true element; speed. Cold, calculated agility. His computerized mind allowing for him to calculate targets, bullet ranges and motion paths. Using the full potential of the terrain he shot bug after bug, switching so fast between targets it looked like he was making fluid, preconceived motions to where he had to be. His mind was ahead of his shots by about three bugs, planning where to be to be the most deadly.


This didn't mean however, that he was invulnerable. For all his speed he still had limits and bounds; he could plan for empty packs, but the motion still took time, and not everything could be calculated. His resources were focussed solely on the bugs, little contingencies and unaccounted for environmental circumstances still slipped through. Yet that didn't mean the bugs were even close to getting to him, and he balanced out any slip ups quick enough. To normal eyes it looked very much like he was untouchable, and indeed no bugs had touched him... except for the one that had hugged his face earlier.


In a short moment where he got less crowded by bugs, he took an incendiary bomb from his own belt, timed it, and threw it over to the last hive. "All explosives are set Ma'am, tactical fall back requested." No need to stay around when things burned to the ground. The bugs would most likely disperse the moment their nests were ruined and gone in flames. It would be safer to get out of reach while they raged for a bit.

 

[BookWyrm]

The incendiaries in place meant that it was time to fall back. Vince pulled his rifle off of one more dropped bug and turned to get a line of sight back to the team when something collided with his reactiv armor. The second hit broke through and Vince felt something move between plates and dig into his flesh. A second later he was spinning and on the ground with a solid thud. Flecks of blood spattered his visor as the HUD displayed the breach point. He'd been stabbed in the abdomen, but the information was swept away when the warrior bug came back and pounced on him.


A sudden spike went through Vince's whole body. He heard ringing in his ears as he tasted a familiar metallic flavor in his mouth. Before he realized what was happening he had kicked the bug off of him and leapt onto it, driving his fists into the hardened chitinous exoskeleton. A chorus of crunch after sickening crunch echoed as each blow shattered the bugs armor. The beast cried out in possibly fury and fear, but nothing seemed to be getting through to the commander at the moment. All he saw was the Xyvir that took his arm. At the recollection Vince raised his right arm and just moments before bringing it down into the bug he felt something tear, and then there was greenish yellow spread across his visor. He could still hear the sticky sounds as he drove his fist into the bug's body. No....he wasn't punching it. The sensation felt...pointed, like he was stabbing the bastard with something sharp. Over, and over. And over. And over...

 

[Dragongal]

Adira found Woods after a few moments. She had to pause at what she saw. Vince, on the ground beating a dead bug to a mashed mess. With his fists of all things. Why would he do something like that... unless...? Why is the blood brownish their blood is green.... Oh shit it's his! Adira put on the comm to Vince. "Vince, please, you have to snap out of it right now! WOODS!" There were more bugs going for him, and with everyone in retreat.... A section of the hive had collapsed and separated her from Vince. Adira shot down some bugs, then hit a button on her wrist. It was almost like a bracelet built into her glove, but it controlled the settings for her suit. The tails of her jacket connected with her pants, providing more ease of movement and bone support. Without waiting for the confirmation notice to appear to her helmet, she leaped over the burning, collapsed bit of hive and followed through with a shoulder roll, before popping right back up into a shot at a bug headed for Vince.


Surprised was an understatement for what she saw when she looked at Vince. Yes he was wounded, and there was yellowish greenish blood all over his helmet so he couldn't possibly see, but there was also a ten-inch spike going through his hand. Going through, though? Or coming from? Adira moved next to him after taking out a few more bugs, and put her hand on his shoulder when she was sure she was at an angle where he couldn't get her. "Commander Woods, stop. Vince.... Vince, please come back to me."

 

[BookWyrm]

Over, and over, and over, and over again. At this point Vince wasn't even thinking, it was all reaction. Pure killing instinct driven into him time and time again by the Outliners and SIAD. They had wanted a killer, right? Well that was what he was fucking doing. Killing. Making sure that mother fucking bug wasn't getting up this time.


And then something touched his shoulder.


Vince froze, his right arm raised in the air as gore dripped from his hand and the spike that protruded from his wrist. Adira? Vince realized that he was heaving in each breath and that his visor was covered in blood. As his body relaxed the spike slowly retracted back into his arm. After wiping his visor off Vince realized where he was and what was going on. Slowly he stood on wobbling legs and turned only to fall against Adira. Fuck it all, they didn't have time for this. If they could get back to the team he could find out just how bad things were. "Go.", Vince growled, pushing Adira towards the team before following after her. He stumbled a few times for certain but he didn't stop until he was within the safety of the group. Vince slung his rifle around behind his back before almost falling into a tree, only to catch himself once more and push himself back to his feet as he examined his wound. It was low on his right, near the liver. No time. Plug it and go. Vince tapped his IFAK on his belt and pulled out a large, thick syringe looking device before jabbing it into the wound. He screamed at the top of his lungs as he depressed the plunger, filling the wound with a temporary sealant until they could reach the FOB. "Alright everyone let's stop window shopping and get back to the mission. We still have a path to clear."

 

[Dragongal]

Adira had been planning on assisting Vince back to the group, but she could tell by the way her growled that that wasn't an option. When they got to the safe zone, Adira was happy to see the number of bugs had lessened considerably. "Saami I want frequency of attacks to be at minimum a quarter of what they were, see to that." Adira switched her comm over so she could talk to Vince. "Oh no you don't, I let you give me an order back there but don't you think that means you're exempt from anything, including basic medical practices. We have time commander. Now take it easy for a few minutes before the bloodloss catches up to you." Adira walked over to him and took his hand in hers, though in no romantic manner. She held his hand up so he could see the rip in his glove from where the spike had torn through. Her voice was gentle as she said, "Do you... know what happened back there? I walk over and you're stabbing a bug with a spike grown from your wrist. "

 

[BookWyrm]

Vince had just stowed the syringe back in his IFAK when Adira walked over. He sighed and rolled his eyes at her comment and started to complain until she grabbed his hand. He finally got a good look at the glove now. Of course it was covered in gore and bug guts, but the spike had cut through it cleanly. It was honestly impressive. "I had a flashback. It was the...Xyvir all over again." He knew he didn't have to explain that story again. Vince looked from Adira down at his hand again. With a flex the first couple of inches of the spike slowly came back into view, but before they could do anything his arm twitched and it retracted once more. "I don't know. Some kind of development from you know what is my best guess. All I know right now is that I feel like hammered shit and could use some coffee." Vince flipped channels to the comms that he, Saami, and Adira were connected to. "Saami, how much further do we have to clear before going back?"

 

[Tarmagon]

Rae's scanning of the communications network had provided precious little information. There were several encrypted channels in use, which she presumed belonged to the security team. Only one transmission had been in the general comm channel, and it had been, perplexing.


"Yeah... I'm gonna have to pass on this one Cap'. The ol' TinCan ain't so good at parkour and to frank, I ain't too fond of leavin' him yet. I'll hold down the fort, you guys have fun scavenger hunting with the robot."


She had replayed the transmission in her mind several times, trying to understand the context but failing. She was fairly certain there were no autonomous robots down on the surface. In fact, aside from the ubiquitous repair 'bots that most ships relied upon, she had not noticed any on board the Lullaby. Strange.


Shrugging mentally, she decided to seek further information. A glance around the tent gave her little hope of... Wait. There. There was something about the female speaking quietly to a male that made her stand out. The air of no nonsense competence so unlike the rest of the 'specialists' milling about the tent. Rising, Rae picked her way closer to the pair. As the female finished a comment about a coffee being owed, Rae cleared her throat.


"Pardon me," she said diffidently. "Could you provide me with some information if my request lies within your purview?"

 

[InsanEleven]

Saami

​

A quarter? Did the captain think he was taking it easy rolling around in the dandelions before? "Understood ma'am." He wasn't quite sure how far he could bring down the numbers of bugs, or if it'd be close to a quarter, but for now she had practically given him leeway to go and exterminate everything moving. When retreating his eyes had turned back to their original blue, as his combat mode took a decent amount of his energy away, but with the new order they glowed red again. In between gunning down insects he answered Woods' question. "The foliage thins out past the stairs. After that it is another 50 metres away and half of the distance can be traversed relatively easily." They wouldn't need plasma cutters anymore at that point, except perhaps to get rid of some saplings. When the numbers of insects dwindled he took more time to think about the situating, glancing sideways to see how bad of a state the commander was in exactly. "If necessary it would be possible to return to base camp immediately."

Nadanya

​

"My pur-what?" Whomever this girl was, she seemed to have greatly overestimated Nadanya's literary skills. And her tolerance for people who used 'the smart words' in normal conversation, especially if they interrupted conversation. Raising an eyebrow at the woman she put her cup of coffee on a table beside her, leaning back against the glassfiber wall of the tent with her arms crossed. The only redeeming factor was that she sounded a bit timid, and that Nadanya was actually trying to earn some credit with the right gods. "Whatever. Just ask what you need to know."

 

[Unlimited]

JT gulpped at the thought of everyone dying here on this planet, a prospect that hadn't crossed his mind quiet yet. "Well, I do hope no one dies." Was about all he could think to say as he took another nervous sip of his coffee and looked up at the girl in confusion, how could he owe her a coffee when she approached him of her own free will and gave it to him? Deciding it wasn't a good idea to say no he obliged quietly. "I'll be sure to get you some better coffee when we are back on the ship. Maybe some lunch to go with it" Around the time he finished his sentence a strange woman had approached them asd ask aed a squestion using words even he had a hard time remembering their context and meaning. Since he wasn't addressed directly he opted not to aswer and minded his own business.

 

[Tarmagon]

"My pur-what?"


Rae noted the females response, as well as the closed off position she adopted as she leaned against the tent wall. She must have interrupted a significant social interaction.


"Thank you for your help," she said, and replayed the intercepted communication at a volume just loud enough for the female to hear. "I was unaware that there were autonomous robots deployed with the security teams. Could you direct me to the person in charge of the recognition codes, as I was not issued one upon my arrival. Then, please, resume your pre-mating rituals. I am sorry I interrupted, though this seems a strange place to be engaging in such rituals."

 

[Dragongal]

Adira waited a bit and checked the team over for injuries before she walked over to Saami. "Okay, there doesn't seem to be too many more left. At least, not too many that are actively trying to kill us. Let's finish this up, then head back to the scientists." She wanted to get Vince's wounds patched properly, and to get back to the ship as soon as possible. These bugs were becoming a nuisance, more than before.

 

[Anaxial]

Sitting on the burned Earth around the TinCan, Marshall gave a satisfied sigh as he watched the fuel gauge on the suit's arm slowly fill and become a vibrant orange. Once it was filled, the Mercenary jumped up and disconnected the refueling tube and patted the armor gently.


"I'll be back. Don't wander off." He said to the suit, clicking hi tongue and shifting his heels to walk away from the armor.


Maybe I should be more social... he thought as he made his way to the engineer's tent. He had a favor to ask Nadanya for an upgrade he planned for the Tin-Can. What he wandered into was the new E.T. saying something about mating rituals and Nadanya being none to thrilled about the suggestion.


Marshall had a sharp laugh but it was quick and he shook his head as he walked into the shit show.


"Yeah, we like to think we're all so intelligent and evolved, but nothing beats the deep rooted instinct for the ol' rumble tumble." He said coming up behind the E.T. naive people, E.T.'s or humans always came as easy targets for Marshall yet he couldn't help but relate this alien's nervous-friendly demeanor to that of Miss Attune's. He almost felt sad about it.


"That armor's pretty impressive, can't shake a dick at the Tin-Can but I'll give you props." He patted the alien on the shoulder as he walked by her and nodded at Nadanya. "Hey, I need a favor. I need some parts for an upgrade to the Tin-Can, you hook me up? "

 

[BookWyrm]

Vince weighed the options for a few moments. In truth it didn't really matter if they secured the last clip seeing as how they had pretty well destroyed an entire hive. The security team would be escorting the science team to the vent anyway, and they all needed to refill ammo. You also happen to have sprung a leak, Vince thought grimly. Knowing Adira she was probably wanting to get his hole patched ASAP, and coffee did sound nice. "Let's get back to the FOB for restock and rest. I'd say the bugs are pretty well scattered as is." It wasn't that walking around with a injury bothered him, but he also knew that most people weren't trained nor enhanced to survive and fight like he was.

 

[InsanEleven]

Nadanya

​

The girl was very, very lucky that Marshall had distracted Nadanya, otherwise it would have probably ended into a shouting match. Pointing a thumb towards Marshall, she replied: "That's the guy you want to talk about your little snitched piece of communications. But if you want a real autonomous robot to probe around in go see the autopilot." At least she could have some fun out of Miss Mating Ritual by having her annoy the head pilot, that would always go over well. Hopefully she'd be around when it happened.


For now she'd switch her attention to Marshall, and she'd never thought she'd appreciate his company more than any other human and non human being. "Hook you up? What do I look like, some shady Euphoria dealer? Though I could probably get you that too... in the right places." Nothing like Engineering school fun times, and Arid Harbour had a lot things worse going on than a few drugs here and there. She quickly returned to the matter at hand though, clearing her throat and nodding. "Yeah, I got some parts I can spare. They're back at engineering." Which meant she'd have to leave JT at the hands of the extraterrestrial. On the other hand, it meant she had to leave the ET. "I'll follow you up on that free lunch. Even if lunches are free anyway..." Not waiting for a response she continued on her way out of the tent.

Saami

​

The return was significantly easier than the way to get there. It seemed like most bugs had gotten the message, and stayed clear from the path of destruction leading straight through the jungle. Having switched back to his snipe rifle, he occasionally shot a bug charging for them, but most other things were taken care of. It was surprising how little distance there was between the base camp and the vent, now there was no foliage and bugs to hold them back. At least it was good to know that if something did happen, they could just make a run for it back to the camp.

 

[Dragongal]

When they got back to camp, Adira pulled out her tablet and went over all the departments. No complaints, no issues, no shortages, nothing. Good. Nothing was good. Now that they were safe she could return her jacket to its jacket form, which was considerably more comfortable. Adira sent a quick message off to Doc to tell her to clear out the tent or make some kind of private setup, then found Vince. "If your defense team can handle themselves, will you allow me to escort you to the medical tent?

 

[BookWyrm]

Vince held himself with the same posture as always on the way back, but there was a noticeable edge to him. A slight give on his right side as he walked, an almost defensive air about him if someone got too close. Once the team was back in camp Vince went about giving orders to the security team. "You know the rules. Half up on perimeter security while the other half gets some R and R. And would someone please get me a cup of coffee." Vince had made his way into his private tent before stripping his armor off to check his wound. The sealant held as it was supposed to, but it hurt like a mofo for damn sure. His coffee had just been delivered and the mug raised to his lips when Adira walked in. "The team knows their jobs too well, that is why I hired them." His voice was quiet and his appearance drained as if all of the fight had gone out of him. "In honest truth I'm not in the mood to deal with people poking around me, but I guess it'd be for the best." As Vince met Adira's gaze he noticed just how little she seemed bothered by the whole ordeal. Vince, of course, had obvious strain on him from the injury and his body reacting to it. After a moment he walked over, wrapped his free hand around Adira's waist, and rested his head against her shoulder with a heavy sigh. "I'm sorry about snapping at you earlier."

 

[Dragongal]

Adira didn't like how drained Vince seemed. It wasn't in his nature to have the fight taken out of him like that. On the walk back she had notices the slight... almost nervousness about his right side, whenever someone got too close. It had been concerning. After a few moments, Adira wrapped her arms around him and pulled him into a gentle hug. He seemed like he just needed to be able to drop any pretenses at the moment. "It's okay. I understand it was because you were in pain and stressed and everything."

 

[BookWyrm]

Vince surprisingly didn't tense up or buck away when Adira hugged him, instead he leaned against her and relaxed. "I didn't want to make a fuss about it, but my liver might have been nicked, and I'm pretty sure I've got some internal bleeding." Vince pulled away and took a sip from his coffee, grimacing as he swallowed the dark liquid. "If at all possible let me make it to the medical tent with my dignity intact."

 

[Dragongal]

"Alright. I already sent a notice to Doc, there'll be space cleared out. Come on, I'll walk with you in case you have trouble, but I'll make it seem like we're only talking." Adira didn't think that she had to say that she didn't intend to leave Vince; at this point he should have been able to assume that. Especially since someone needed to record Doc's findings on Vince's tablet.

 

[InsanEleven]

Saami sat down on the bunk in his tent, one he shared with a Navigation member. Even if they had to share, it was still rather spacious and private, with a divider running through the middle of the tent. He could hear someone rustling on the other side occasionally, but that was an inconvenience at most. Admittedly the furniture was more makeshift than on the ship and water and heating were to be used more sparsely, meaning it was now slightly chill inside and he'd have to take a shower at a separate tent. He felt quite indifferent to that though, in the first place because he wasn't supposed to even be able to complain, and even if he could he wasn't that whiny; having just survived a jungle full of bugs he was just glad that there were showers to begin with.


Taking off his protective armour, dried flakes of green blood fell off of him and little grains and slivers of exoskeleton came out from between the protective plates. He could probably fetch a few rugs of solar credits by selling his coat as an abstract art piece. It was only when he took off his helmet that the full gravity of it all hit him, his breath quivering for a moment as he looked at himself in the mirror. His skin was still slightly moist from the sweat and condense of being in the jungle, and his hair either stuck to his face or stood up in any and all directions, blatantly defying physics. Though his eyes were clear and chill as usual, there lingered the residue of his earlier predator disposition in them. When he removed the shoulder plates and unzipped the base layer of armour strange bruises around his neck revealed; where the bug from before had managed to creep it's tails and legs in. Leaving him with several purple and red fish-grate patterns swirling around his neck, fading into a greenish yellow which stood off fairly clear against his white skin. It hurt slightly, but he never showed.


A few odd glances and cautious looks were thrown in his direction when he went for a shower. Probably because despite him trying to thoroughly clean it, there were still faded smears of bug on his clothes, and when he took off his helmet inside the marks on his throat didn't help much either. Normally already an oddball, now the rumours about him being a killing machine were justified, giving all the conspiracy theorists on board more than enough fuel. Of course they never were altruistic enough to believe that he wasn't going to kill them, every rumour he heard it was always about how he worked for 'them' or the 'others'. They didn't bother to tell him to his face, but that wasn't going to help much when he could hear practically anything.


Maybe that was why he felt so relieved when he finally turned on the water and let it run over him; the clattering drowning out all other sounds. He pulled back slightly on instinct when the water fell on his bruises though, but biting back and swallowing any discomfort like he always did. Even if he was near untouchable in combat, his biggest enemy was his own body. The moment something, anything, managed to touch him it crumbled like porcelain. The only substantial bruise he had gotten from a hostile entity was on his neck, all the other purplish webbings and yellowed spots were simply from him coming into contact with the environment; landing a bit too hard, stumbling and so on and so forth.


Quietly he rested his head against the cold wall, contrasting with the warmth of the water. Before finally a sound broke through the clattering, his own low chuckle, followed by a exhausted sigh as he stood up straight again and cracked his shoulders. When he spoke it was little more than an internal mutter bubbling through the water; a deep thought that had crawled down so far it managed to fall out his mouth. "How about you stop being a whiny bitch? You don't really have the right to complain..."


Murderer.