Futuristic Unto A Domain of Graves

[ChasmOfOrganicMatter]

Spoiler: Overture - Antiquus - Eleutheria

Antediluvian Marches System
Uncolonized Planet: Designation "Eleutheria"
March 18th, 4237 - 9:40 AM Local Time​

"So you're the problem solving crew huh? Not sure if there's a theme going on here other than FleetCom scraping together bumfuck whatever, but you know what, I'll take it. I'm grateful enough to be standing here rather than in a Carnazir trenchline. So you all like, ex-military or something? I'm just a boring deserter who didn't have the guts to pick up the rifle and say the oath, but yeah, who are you guys?"

The dropship rattled as it descended through the inner layers of the planet's atmosphere, having had the luxury of deploying from one of the many smaller merchant vessels that had been converted into smaller corvettes. They could still see a few of these oddly retrofitted, lightly armed vessels hovering above the ever-distancing clouds, as if they watched over their descent to the overgrown jungle below.

The pilot sounded human, even if he was a voidhanger. Some could feel it; the way that strange chill that exited the cockpit door graced their flesh, going past the armor they wore straight to the skin beneath and the essence beneath it. His cocky, laid back tone hid it but he was nervous. The cameras that sat in the corners of the troop bay followed their movement.

"Like, no offence but you kinda look like mercs. As a group, I mean. Some of you look like you got a couple of medals and some of you I think I would have seen on one of those Voice of the Resolute newcasts. Something something, enemies of the people, League saboteurs, security camera footage recovered from a destroyed civilian settlement etcetera etcetera. Any of you from the Graveyard? I hope I'm not sounding like the Weird Foreign Guy Who Doesn't Realize How Unusual He Is."

Soon, the dense clouds broke and before them, an expanse of wild jungle and looming mountains emerging jagged from the earth as if rows of teeth. Through the viewing ports, winged forms stingray like an iridescent glided over the thinning clouds in long chains of syncopated motion. Some passed by the windows of the craft, their dense central bodies thinning out across their four overlapped wings and a four pronged, trailing set of tails blurring the air behind it suggesting some sort of ethereal source of propulsion. Slits like slash marks from bladed weaponry lined the sides just behind their flap-like mandibles.

"Been on a few flights back and forth, curious little buggers. No idea if they think they could take us but they haven't tried, not yet. Installed a shock projector just in case. Y'all like... acclimated right? Like they put you in that huge emptied out cargo area, put in all those weird gas canisters and filters, give you your rebreather masks, and then have you just sit and stew in there until your body's used to the atmosphere."

Structures were coming into view with a distinct white with yellow bands that did not exactly camouflage with the verdant greens below. Steel grating, a few tarped crates, and even some cargo-hauling automata could be seen.

Spoiler: The (Overgrown) Jungle Base

"Yeah, sorry that it looks like a gardening project gone wrong but my paycheck is moving the gardeners, not actually dealing with all this damn plantlife. I swear a day passes and this green shit is all over the place. Aight, hold on, bit of turbulence as I slow this thing for descent..."

---

The dropship's doors opened and the crew within would see a rather lush site. Rapidly constructable, likely even prefabricated structures in their starkly geometric, utilitarian shapes often seen used for wilderness missions and deployment to isolated locations. The main difference was that they were unintentionally very well camouflaged, maybe too much. Hovering disc-shaped robots with numerous long multi-jointed limbs were rapidly snipping away at vines and bramble, contributing to a concerningly large pile of discarded plant matter gathering at the bases of many of the structures. Loader robots, blocky in their bodies and holding huge, empty dark iron containers with their clawed hands kneeled down as various human, scielto, tarrhaidim, and celaderaka tossed loads of the dense foliage into them.

A few more personnel could be seen milling about; some of them had combat fatigues and others in full body blue-yellow jumpsuits, metallic pill-shaped pods sticking out of a few - cooling units for those who didn't have them integrated into their own bodies. The temperature while fairly warm wasn't quite as humid as one initially might have thought or at least this relatively colonized section of the wilderness would appear.

A tall figure figure in full combat gear approaching the team, a pair of red-eyed drones hovering just above their head. The digitigrade legs and long limbs made them appear almost lanky but up close, they were easily more powerfully built than most of the bipeds in the area. A compact rifle lay in their arms loosely as they waited for the personnel on the transport to fully disembark.

Spoiler: Gealtirocht Commander Appearance

"Just in time; the help we were requested. I take it you were told I'd be briefing you?" The gealtirocht's voice blared out through the speakers, distorted into a militant bark. It seemed to be a female of their species based on that but any particular features were hidden under her armor as the 7''1 alien strode their way. "Siolaine Lagreine, reconaissance and reconnoitering, a pleasure to meet another mismatched squad of problem solvers."

She raised her head and rapidfire clicked her mouthparts, hissing at the end as if air was rushing through holes in her throat. Hostile and harsh as it sounded, this was a common greeting amongst these high tech heathens. By the tone of her voice and the distortion filtering it, it was difficult to tell if it was a hearty welcome or a taunting sarcasm. Hearty and proud as the gealtirocht were, even if they couldn't necessarily "see" with their third eyes many often seemed to stare into the soul and mind of those they encountered.

"As you can see, I'm dressed for the occasion, namely a bit of exploration out in this lush sea of green. Yet this is not a hunting stroll and I do not think our paths will be converging. Truthfully, you're here to deal with something that's more of an annoyance than some great pressing issue vital to the beginning of the very colony you see around you... well part of it. This is a forward base for jungle exploration, but they might be converting it into a settlement area. Some tarrhaidim spore-forger claims that their biovessels can simply detach their habitation pods, drop them down here, all but integrate the local flora into some fresh hab-units."

She paused for a second as she looked over her shoulder. A few more of her kind of similar build and height ambled about, long accelerator rifles slung over their shoulders. One of them shouted something in their native tongue in a series of rasping, gruff tones.

Spoiler: Translated Dialogue

"The wildlife's anxious and so are we! You can practice your pitch for elections after we get a taste of these woods!"

"What's that those humans do when someone's being a rude, nosy spawnling? Oh right," Siolaine swung one of her seven fingered hands back and one of her middle two digits (she had three opposing fingers) swung up. A series of laughs, sounding like coughing rasps, responded along with some sort of vulgar chatter. "Petulant overgrown juveniles aside, I need you all to basically be good hunting pets and retrieve a little something we dropped."

Reaching behind her camo cloak, she pulled out a dense data-pad and handed it forward.

"Open it up and you'll see a sattelite map of the area, extending to roughly where a surveillance drone dropped. We're not sure why; no warning message or signs of trauma from its recovered camera footage. Just dropped dead around an area of dense foliage, well denser than all this green nonsense. It's a damn good drone too, aye, paid a pretty sum to kit it out for this environment. You saw those fluttering multi-tailed... things on your way down yes? Betting one of those thought it might be a friend and knocked it out of synch. It was recording and identifying ambient energy readings, irregularities in terrain, all kinds of boring stuff you can chug through if you're some homeworm doesn't get enough sun on their tails and scales."

"Or would-be matriachs on your-"

The gealtrocht spun fast enough her cape sounded almost like a knife swinging. Something small and black flew at lightning fast speed, audibly panging off the helmet of whoever was about to make a questionable comment about courtship habits, causing the gealtirocht she'd hit to stumble back and its friends to laugh.

"NOW THEN, I have some whitefins to teach a thing or two about proper operational procedure. I'm going to assume unlike me, you're all functioning adults who might have some questions, yes?"

 

[Worthlessplebian]

Ruairi Wolshi
Antediluvian Marches System
Uncolonized Planet: Designation "Eleutheria"
March 18th, 4237 - 9:40 AM Local Time

​

The incredibly large, pillar-like Gealtirocht stood at attention as the dropship carried this motley crew of "problem solvers." As the pilot so aptly stated. Over his shoulder, the Gealtirocht—the others will come to know as Ruairi Wolshi, carried a tough-looking object. Rectangular in shape, white over the top with a black layer underneath. It appears to be made of poly-plastic and silicone materials, adding durability and sponginess for compressibility. Ruairi's stance even aboard the confines of the ship is confident, awe-inducing from his immensity. The pilot continued to speak which undoubtedly irritated Ruairi. "Why does every pilot always insist on talking," He commented while rubbing the optical-viewing lens of his helmet. " If you're truly so starved for information. I'm a certified combat medic and fully-licensed doctor, second I volunteered. Needed a change of pace..." The self-identified Doctor trailed off, after having answered the pilot's incessant need for dialogue and conversation.

The jade forest had caught Ruairi's gaze. Truly captivating. An ocean of greenery broken up by islands of brown, jagged mountains. It might not be much to others, but Ruairi appreciates the natural beauty that this planet houses. Even if the unforgiving nature attempts to kill them. Though, the stingrays did not evoke such strong emotions within him. Reality returned when the sight of their base came into view. Ruairi had almost sighed, indicated by the flappy clicking of his mouthparts.

Once they landed, Ruairi stepped out to see the pre-fabbed structure glare down at them. Echoing sentiments of difficulty, travesty, and betrayal. But that is yet to come and they are only one footstep in this. They were approached by the resident hard-a** or so Ruairi figured. They were always the ones to debrief new arrivals, uncomfortably reminding him of yesteryears in the army. Though he did feel a familiarity with her as she was a member of his race. A proper greeting was released by the woman to which Ruairi responded in kind. She explained or alluded to their first task/role in this facility. That being a specialised hunting party. Before he could ask any questions, a rambunctious group of young hunters hollered and roared in the background. Naturally, Ruairi was put off by this. "As always, the young ones are restless, He directed that to the very air.

Receiving the datapad from Siolaine, Ruairi's dexterous fingers tapped away to reveal the satellite map that Siolaine mentioned. Turning halfway, Ruairi spoke. " Whoever has the most experience with jungle combat or hunting should take this." Not that Ruairi couldn't use the map, but his particular talents wouldn't benefit from holding onto the device.

"If you'd be so kind as to direct me to the infirmary, I'll need to settle down before I go on this... Scavenger hunt."

ChasmOfOrganicMatter Huntertabbysandshark3 CelticHero37 Dr.Sturgeon Surgeon

 

[CelticHero37]

Blytzen
Synthetic Cyborg, Unknown Wanderer
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
​

The turbulence experienced by the descending dropship didn't phase Blytzen despite the fact that she was leaning against the inner hull of the ship. She was curled up on a ledge with her head resting against a porthole as she stared blankly at the clouds below. Her posture and expression resembling that of someone who was lost and vulnerable. This was in stark contrast to her body, which would be clearly recognized as an integrated war-frame -- a sort of combat body modification that included musculoskeletal support among other things. Yet possibly the strangest thing about her was the fact that her tech didn't come from any of the recognizable powers in the galaxy. Nor was it aftermarket patchwork. There were no brands, no rank symbols, no faction insignias, no markings of any kind save for a serial ID imprinted on her shoulder; BLZN.

Blytzen jolted in surprise when the pilot's voice speared the silence. The edge quickly wore off though and she relaxed again. She didn't understand how she ended up in this situation, but she was content that for once she was around life forms that weren't trying to kill her. It felt surreal, yet the break had given time for her mind to start wandering and asking all sorts of questions. Consciously, she knew almost nothing and she had a hard time keeping up with everything going on. Yet there were also times when she would remember something important that she didn't remember learning. This data never seemed to answer any of her lasting questions, though. Who... or rather, what was she? Where did she come from? Where was she going? What was she supposed to do? Was she on the right path? Questions like these seemed to haunt her whenever she got a chance to breathe. She took a mental note that this was problably the reason she had volunteered to be part of the first mission she could go on. At least when there was a problem to solve, her mind was clear. At least she had an immediate purpose.

She had zoned out the conversation that was going on. After all, it wasn't like she could answer any of their questions anyway. Her mind was finally purged of the questions when the clouds cleared and she found a creature staring back at her. She'd never seen anything like it before and her mind was filled with awe and wonder. Her demeanor brightened up a bit as she watched the being's flight. Her attention first focussed on the blur of tails. Something seemed odd about it, yet somehow she felt it was familiar. She felt a vibration in her chest and a flash of warmth swept over her. If anyone had been looking in her direction, they may have noticed her seem to blend into the wall for just a moment as if she were some sort of chameleon being. However, her attention was soon drawn elsewhere.

Something in Blytzen's eye flashed as her optics focused in on something even more unusual. One of these flying animals had visible gashes on its side near its mandibles. She took a mental snapshot of this. The wounds were clean, clearly made by some sort of weapon as opposed to natural means. At first she thought these were signs of an attack. She wondered how anyone could do such a thing to a majestic animal like that. However, as she began to take stock of the whole situation, she leaned back from the port window. The position of the slashes were no coincidence. Those could have been defense wounds. Perhaps those creatures weren't as peaceful as they appeared.

Once the dropship had landed, Blytzen closed her eyes and took in a deep breath before exiting, taking up the rear of the group. It took a moment for her eyes to acclimate to the light, but eventually she was graced with a breathtaking view. She hadn't really noticed before, but this planet seemed to be covered in some sort of green growth. She'd never seen anything like it before. It was as if the planet itself were alive. That's why a concerned look came over her when she noticed the workers filling crates full of such green matter. It seemed as if the planet were trying to swallow up the base and in return they were fighting back by hacking away at it. She wondered if they were really meant to be there, yet she didn't say anything. After all, she realistically didn't have the first clue about what was going on.

Despite being bombarded by so much mental stimuli, Blytzen snapped to attention when authoritative voice addressed them. The briefing seemed to ramble on for a while, and she didn't understand why they seemed to be having a casual conversation when there was a problem that needed solving., but she was patient. Eventually they were given the information they needed, as well as a map to their objective. When the doctor asked for someone else to take it, Blytzen took a step forward and started to speak. Unfortunately, no sound came out at first and she had to clear her throat lightly before finally speaking out, "Ahem... u-um... do you mind if I have a look at that map?"

 

[Dr.Sturgeon Surgeon]

Aarif was trying to take a nap leaning against the wall when the pilot decided it would be a good time to try and make small talk. He glared at one of the cameras before trying to go back to sleep, but of course the guy just continued talking. Finally, Aarif sighed and reactivated the senser patches on his armors face plate bringing back the view of the interior of the transport and his new 'teammates' and Tim was on the wall curiously watching the others. Apparently the Gealtirocht was apparently a medic so at least if one of them got injured they weren't totally screwed. "Demoman and crowd control. If you want a bunch of something gone, I'm your guy." He said as he patted checked his bio spitter to make sure it was fueled and working properly before he stood up and put it back on. It's tank connected to his back with a click as his armor and it locked together. He went through a quick check of his other equipment and nodded as he was made sure nothing would malfunction and explode......yet.

As he finished with his gear check they had finally landed. He called Tim down to him the little wasp like creature flew down and landed on one of his shoulder spikes. "Welp buddy, let's see what kind of shit show we've got ourselves into this time." He said as they walked out and was greeted by yet another Gealtirocht, who from what he could tell was who they were reporting to. He watched as she and her men seemed to give each other a hard time. He was struck with a wave of bitter sweet nostalgia as there antics brought back memories of his old team. He shook his head to clear it of those thoughts. "Well seems like a pretty simple retrieval mission. We go wherever that data points kill everything in our way grab the drone and kill anything that didn't learn it's lesson the first time, easy."

 

[Huntertabbysandshark3]

BRIG​

the rather large and.. odd looking thing that somewhat resembled a human aside form their height the many sets of horns perched upon there head and the almost reptilian additional arms and carrying a lot of seemingly rathern heavy duty looking energy weapons. looking up from the maintenance hatch that he’d opened up on one of the larger lasweapons at towards the pilot that was trying to make small talk with the crew. “Aah well my old unit used to say that most problems are solved by a big gun, but that’s beside the point“ Brig said cheerfully. “And yeah acclimatised and all that fun little thing tho boring as hell most of the time“ Brig again commented tho sparsely to their rather chatty pilot boy.


after a while the little oddball of a team eventually landed on the planet's surface jungles.. to Brig, he knew them better as tinderboxes, a stray las-bolt off into the distance could easily spark a fire in the underbrush. “oh well this is gonna be an interesting time hope we arn’t shooting animals honestly“ he’d muse to himself. Tho their job was soon made abundantly clear, find a missing drone after something knocked it out. “Aah rightio can do sir, I mean what could possibly go wrong hey guys?, but yes in regards to question what the status on the wildlife how hostile is it exactly? because unlike our trigger happy friend here" Brig pointed at Aarif "id rather like to know what exactly we might need to be shoot at and if they're gonna be anyone else out there rather avoid any friendly fire incidence easy to occur in dense foliage? id rather have a few more details" Brig asked straightening his stance up to look more official now.

 

[ChasmOfOrganicMatter]

"The day's been long, cut me some slack. There's only so many times I can stare slack-jawed at a forest and those scar-eyed flappers. C'mon, everyone's got a story right? But a combat medic huh? I can only imagine the war stories you got, the medals too. If they have medals, for like, gealtirocht I mean. No idea about that, don't wanna make weird assumptions about your clan or anything man."

The cameras swivelled about as their sight travelled between the group, almost like a pair of large frog-like eyes watching each one closely. The lens focused on his weapon, attempting to get a better view of it as the ship began to shake in its descent. It didn't interfere with their view of the humanoid teenager; a machine in actuality from what the pilot could make out. They seemed a little... young for this kind of mission to say the least, but the readings she gave off to his ethereal senses was something deeper and more cryptic than her standard faire humanoid frame seemed to suggest. Maybe she was just a refugee who had a specific set of skills; it wasn't uncommon to find those who in spite of trying to avoid a life built around violence were called upon to provide their skills once more. Not for the sake of conquering and planetary security, but a future brighter than whatever their home systems could offer.

Maybe she fell into that noble category.

For some reason he had the distinct feeling Aarif might be of a more checkered past. Something about his ominous, impassive appearance radiated a sense of warning that even most of the vrexul or even occultist tarrhaidim he had met did not. He would describe as a bad omen in sapient form and quietly hoped he wouldn't answer. Something told him his words would bite as hard as whatever calibre weaponry he was packing. He sure seemed rather cocky about using his launcher; he was around military figures frequently but something about him didn't scream highly decorated officer that left due to some deep seated trauma forced upon him by his command chain. Maybe he had seen too many holofilms with cliche plots.

"Horns, they don't pay you to be much of a theorist huh? Then again, most problems are probably solved when got enough RPM to debate an entire platoon." The pilot chuckled, clapping his own thighs. The pulse of ethere fluctuated from the slight chill to a comfortin warmth; it seemed for all his friendliness, he was clumsy when it came to concealing his own unearthly aura. "Though I ain't seeing if there's any aircraft for you to gun down. Hey, I ain't complaining if we get attacked by guerillas cuz that hellspitter of yours probably scares off even low orbit craft."

---

"If this was a clan world, I'd be teaching them a thing or two about staff fighting," She growled under her breath, accepting Ruari's greeting with a nod. "But we're with some proper rank and file and they do not appear to be Assembly. At the very least, they seem to know what they're doing, even if I don't know if I can say the same for the rest of the heads of this joint fleet. Either way, beat being stuck back at home. One insurrection too many."

"I was thinking that would be one of you. We requested a second team to take care of that task. At least one of you has some experience in such an environment right? Treasure hunt it may be, all your stumbling and mucking about in that wilderness will be useful - gives the brainiacs over at the fleet an idea of what this world is like." At his request to see the infirmary, her speakers abruptly cut off and she looked away before turning back to him. "Are you in need of a dump or something? Look I know my squad's being juvenile, but we were hoping to start this immediately."

She had noticed the relativle diminuitive humanoid (emphasis on -oid) near the male gealtirocht, motioning to Ruari to pass her the datapad with the map. Her own on-board systems attempted to scan her but something kept coming up - error messages, not as if she was being jammed but as if her own systems could not quite identify her capabilities and mechanical composition.

"You some spook?" She asked off-handedly, narrowing her eyes behind her helmet. "Highland Tyrant power armor systems aren't something you can just casually block from scanning. Lemme guess, you're League right? Joint Intelligence Network, human infiltrator, Graveyard duty or something? They let high end models like yours do all kinds of fun things over there."

A few of the squadmates took notice, murmuing among themsleves in their native tongue. Their voices were hushed but Blytzen might be able to use audio-enhancing to pick it up.

Spoiler: Translated Dialogue

"Cripes, we already got some classified high end bot on us now? Shades of JIN tactics anyone?"

"Something like that just doesn't casually land in an exile fleet. Does high com know?"

"Or do you think some of those 'fallen' corpo pricks are in on it?"

"And right by our squad? Must be one of the old traitor houses, probably mad some gealtirocht made the grand logical leap that serfdom wasn't so great."

"Ruari doesn't look or sound League to me but..."

Siolaine however now turned her attention to the tarrhaidim, quite large for his kind and looking powerful enough to be match for any of the gealtirocht. That was good; more problems for anything that came their way.

"As much as I'd love to see what game lives around here, don't go around sounding like it's Solar Independence Day. We have no idea what's in these woods and besides, you really want to catch flak from some of those esotericists worm-sects?'

She stopped just short of actually saying "tarrhaidim cult", pausing for a moment perhaps to reconsider. It was no secret that cultist groups were a not insignificant part of the civilian colonization though there were whispers some of them were of less than scrupulous origins and intent.

"Clumsy of me, my mistake and apolgoies. But the fleet is a little tight and taut right now. A lot of people wanted an immediate drop but we're trying to figure out of this area is at the very least, not full of hidden celaderakan guerillas from one of those juntas. Or worse, our bio-sensors pick up some sort of pathogens acclimatization can't adapt us for. If you make less of a mess for yourselves, it makes my job easier."

She raised an eyebrow (an expression they shared with humans) at the horned one's question.

"Hey, maybe they pay you to shoot more than to think cuz I felt I made it clear that we don't know jack shit. Not a great answer, but the best I can give you. Most I can say is that we've seen some movement in the woods that was for some animals at least six to seven feet long, maybe a little taller than a human's heels, four limbs at least. Didn't seem predatory; not clever enough, skittery, and seemed to be chasing something around on the forest floor."

She made a very audible, deliberate, sigh - for her kind, like compressed gas going through a wide-mouthed pipe.

"Look, I know some of you are used to playing commando, but we recommend you only start shooting if you really don't have another option. I really hope this isn't your first recon jaunt. Trust me, wildlife nine out of ten times isn't like it is in those old human made digi-games; you aren't going to be jumped by wild snawls or lrabbids... look, I probably butchered their names, but you get the idea."

 

[Worthlessplebian]

Ruairi Wolshi
​

When the tiny (relatively to Ruairi) synthoid piped up about wanting to take the datapad off of him, Ruairi could do nothing but comply. His eyes momentarily trailed downwards when the humanoid's equally small digits grasped the digital map. He is not deceived by her frailty or by the reactions of the people around her presence. It is undeniably clear from the start that this automaton mustn't be trusted. And yet there is no palpable fear from the giant anguilliform. His lack of fear does not stem from any perceived physical advantage, nor does it stem from innate instinct but amongst all present here, including the reconnaissance specialist Siolaine, Ruairi fully knows what to expect from the robot. Applying the saying you can anticipate a liar to lie, but you cannot fathom the honest man lying.

Then the doctor's opinion of the recon specialist dropped off a cliff. A low, almost inaudible grunt came out of Ruairi. She ascertains that her troopers are juvenile yet she spouts the same tiresome, grating attitude of the hard-arse. A behavioural pattern that Ruairi is quite familiar with, having spent his own time in the military. His whole body turns to face his "superior" and anybody close enough could tell—without the aid of a speirfhaire, psychic powers, or mind reading device—that the Doctor was not at all pleased with Siolaine's response. A blank glare was shot then the Doctor spoke. "Yes, I do need to dump," A layer of smarminess emanated from Ruairi as he swung his arm bearing the box-like object to the forefront between him and Siolaine. "This." You could tell that Ruairi, even beneath the black sheen of the mirror-like visor, had cocked his eyebrow and creaked one side of his mouth upwards as if asking the recon specialist "Do you really wish to start things off like this?"

His next motion involved relaxing his fingers and dropping the "box", producing a hefty thud followed by an almost imperceptible sound of click-clacking glassware inside. Kneeling down, he opened the container and retrieved a satchel-like item that appeared contrary to the outer shell. It appeared flexible but resistant to tearing from stretches or cuts. It had a red symbol on it that resembled the galactic sign for protection and treatment of wounded or ill souls. He then hailed one of human deck workers to come over and to which she did. "Hello, I am Doctor Ruairi Wolshi," He slung the field kit over his left shoulder, leaving it to dangle on his right side. Proceeding to close the container and handing it over to the messy worker. "Put this in storage or the infirmary." He turned to Commander Siolaine and spoke. "Recon leads the way." A saying that he picked up from his time in the military, he knew full well that their goals are different and won't be following the same path even if they briefly intersect. But he meant it in earnestness and a sign of good luck, being a doctor does endow him with the knowledge of clinical psychology thus understands how patients would react upon his body language, choice of words, etc etc.

Patients. A nagging feeling that Ruairi might be doing some triage or proper surgeries on these blokes later. These types of commanders usually produced one or two injured soldiers. They do say that a juvenile's beliefs and opinions are informed from their parent. Also he does find it incredibly hypocritical to warn them of being trigger happy while just moments ago, her troops shouted like blasted idiots about having a taste of the jungle. The presence of the unknown pathogen also worried Ruairi, perhaps he'll also have to provide treatment for this condition. Which also begs the question of what are the supposed brainiacs doing, fleet-bound or otherwise, that they still don't have anything concrete. He'll chalk that up to benign incompetence, rather than malicious subterfuge.

ChasmOfOrganicMatter Huntertabbysandshark3 CelticHero37 Dr.Sturgeon Surgeon

 

[Dr.Sturgeon Surgeon]

Aarif shook his head as he watched the scene in front of him unfold. It seemed his earlier remark was correct, this really was a shit show. Not only did they not know what was out there but from the way the doc acted it seemed boss lady rubbed him the wrong way. It was never a good sign when the people in charge and those that kept you alive decided to have a pissing match. It usually, in his experience, ended up with one of them either dead or missing organs. He shook his head as he absent mindedly reached up and scratched Tim between his antenna as she explained that they basically knew nothing, at least nothing they were willing to share. She continued on that they should probably keep things non-violent, if possible, though that part seemed more targeted at him. "No promises, if something or someone gets in the way...well you can do the math, I'm pretty sure your smart enough." He said as he patted his bio spitter. It was at this point the commander decided to bring up the, as she put it 'worm-sects' though it seemed as if she had been about to call it something else, and he had a pretty good idea what. She was at least quick to apologize for the slip. "None taken...for now." He said with a deep rumbling growl, one of the more common ways his people showed there annoyance. This wasn't the first time someone had spoken ill about his people's beliefs, and it certainly wouldn't be the last. He turned without a word and walked over to the small cyborg and asked. "So, you figure out where we're headed pip-squeak? Cause seems I'd really prefer to get this op on the way."

 

[Huntertabbysandshark3]

BRIG​

well I was deployed on a few jungle and forest world a few years ago my own skills are rusty at best but frankly I was the gun maintance guy morso then the one dealing with the jungle" Brig commented when the mention of experience with this sorta situation was uttered. Brig's question being answered with a response that while it would certainly piss off others just made the multilimbed humanoid laugh stretching his top most set of arms upwards. "Well if I where to answer honestly then yes frankly my whole damn biology designed for shooting first ask questions later. But yeah good to know wasn't planning on firing on anything anyway" he'd reply with a small smile upon his face.

"But what's his name again...Aarif? Yeah right got anything yet?" Brigs commented mostly towards in cyborg, frankly he could smell the poorly handled situation form a mile away this wasn't gonna be easy the easy job tended to turn into month long firelights or ambushes as much as he was trying to get away form combat he had just this itching feeling it was probobly best he'd brought all his gear along with him.

 

[CelticHero37]

Blytzen
Synthetic Cyborg, Unknown Wanderer
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
​

Taking a step forward, Blytzen extended her right hand and gently accepted the datapad, her fingers gripping the side with a faint clack. Her brow furrowed and there was another flash as she took a second mental snapshot. Reaching her left hand up, she pointed her forefinger and was about to pop it open to insert a data transfer jack into the console to see if there was any metadata. However, when Siolaine seemingly directed a comment towards her, Blytzen froze. Looking up, she blushed lightly and responded, "N-no. I don't know who Spook is, but my serial is BLZN." She then moved her pointed finger up toward her shoulder to indicate the ID etched onto her shoulder. Unfortunately, it seemed the gealtirocht wasn't finished. The second part of the statement drew a confused expression from Blytzen. Then for a moment, her eyes took on a blank stare as if she had suddenly astral projected across the galaxy.

Moments later she blinked, straightened up, and rolled her shoulders back. A concerned look came over her and she shook her head, "I don't believe so... I'm not a spy, if that's what your men are worried about. What made you think that I am? Is... are they here?!" The datapad fell from Blytzen's hand and she crouched into a battle position. Her chest started to take on a red glow, but only got a moment. Closing her eyes, Blytzen took a deep breath, and then reached for the datapad as if her crouch had been intended for that the entire time. "I'm sorry... no. I'm not one of them," she stated. This time with more confidence.

The level of doubt that came from not only the soldiers, but her own group as well was not lost on her. Blytzen didn't quite understand why, but then she didn't entirely trust herself either. These doubts were purged from her mind when the others looked to her for information. She nodded with a smile. "I've got it all right up here," she said, tapping her temple. She opted to skip searching for metadata at the moment. She figured she might be able to make a wireless connection at some point. Another thing bothered her, though. The mission seemed pretty straightforward. No reason to bring a whole squad on a search. There was something more to this mission that they weren't being told, at least that's what she felt.

 

[ChasmOfOrganicMatter]

"You aren't clan are you? You took that joke harder than a League MBT took our particle gun volleys."

Siolaine chuckled with a dry rasp-hiss; it was not difficult to read him. She had the feeling even from his armor type he might be from one of the feudalists or other League associated factions. The was an inevitable part of working with such wide umbrella coalitions.

The scruffy human, brushing bits of vegetation out of his hair and wiping his hand with an anti-bacterial wipe, grabbed the bag and walked back quickly. The rest of the workers could tell some sort of intra-gealtirocht tension had been raised. Perhaps they had seen this sort of conflict happen before. Perhaps some had found themselves participants.

"We'll be in radio range. I suppose you lot with your fancy android toy won't need it. Though if you encounter any sign of other sapients on the planet, the higher ups want us to disseminate this information as fast as possible. We've got a long range com system put into our armor so we can beam it back to base without much trouble. Though with that launcher your friend has, if something goes wrong I'm sure we'll hear and see it first."

A few of the gealtirocht looked at Aarif rather cautiously, the audio systems muting as they spoke on a closed channel. Was he some Arkradian ex-military, Assembly guerilla, maybe with the Carnazir? Something about his presence didn't rub them the right way, not like how others of his kind might.

"That's what any spy says," Siolaine spoke, her head turning to the humanoid. "But I'll stop my ribbing if you stop your glowing. You aren't the first flesh-metal thing I have seen here. If the others haven't suddenly started uploading malware into any old War-era Assembly tech we have, you know what, I'm going to assume you aren't planning the same either with all the opportunities you've had."

She emphasized the last part of that sentence, turning her head to her squad causing them to sharpen up and immediately cut whatever conversation they were having.

"If that's all, then let's be on our merry ways, shall we?"

---

​

The jungles of Eleutheria proved itself to be a challenging environment to navigate. If it had felt the touch of civilization, it did not show. There were no real paths through the mess of roots, bramble, and vegetation. At most, they might come upon passages that had been travelled frequently but by lifeforms that were nowhere near as large as they were. As if they were not so much paths but areas where the sun barely pierced through the foliage and little life could grow. Yet it was clear the jungle was alive and it had taken note of the foreign presence.

Leaves with blood vessel veins shuddered and recoiled away as they neared, letting sunlight bathe among them. Clusters of holes lining what appeared to be dying vegetation and tress "blinked" as they passed, whatever life that dwelt within fearing these alien visitors. In the corners of their eyes, leaf litter and stones twitched and shuffled across the floor, always making sure they were not within their primary vision cones before doing so. For those with sharper sense or augmented HUD's, life forms could be seen hugging branches and tree bark above; blending in and staying still to avoid catching their attention.

All while cacophony clicks, twitters, chirps, and the symphony of life primordial echoed around them.

They had gone just far enough that the forward base was not even a distant speck in their sight. It was here that the sounds of the jungle could be heard and its reclusive denizens not quite seen as much as heard, felt, and smelled, or otherwise sensed. The difficulty of the terrain belied the otherwise straightforward path towards the swamp where the drone had fallen. It wasn't a particularly long walk but the terrain was sloping erratically as if a hundred dislocated, bent spines were hidden beneath the dirt.

The path of land they were walking across was hilly with great piles of dirt out of which the tall, densely rooted trees emerged and which created these twisted, zig-zagging paths. If one wanted to avoid constantly stepping into piles of leaves between these small hills and whatever unpleasant surprises they could possibly contain, it was over bridges of roots connecting the hills and the flatter, eroded formations they would have to go.

A pattern was starting to form however. The pointman for the squad would likely first notice what appeared to be gashes along some of the trees over which an orange-splatter lined the wounds. No veins or vital internals were visible in spite of these inches-deep marks though clumps of dried out, sap-like fluid could be seen along with what appeared to be a vine-like plant attempting to grow itself over these wounds.

At first it would appear random but the scratch marks extended to the ground, the root bridges, and also the dirt floor if they poked around closely enough. Something had been moving around here and damaging these trees but it was hard to tell how large it was, if it was still here, and if it was nearby. Yet it had left may signs.

Signs that dotted their travel path through this hilly region. It seemed they were following a well trodden path, even if unintentionally.

 

[Worthlessplebian]

Ruairi Wolshi
​

Upon the Commander's rebuttal, the Doctor could not help but roll his eyes. Was it not for the fact of personal ethics (and the fleet's potential abhorrence), Ruairi would have shot the 'joking' commander. He rightfully assumes that she thinks she could read him as if guessing that he isn't clan from the armour or attitude was hard. His experience with clan gealtirocht were positive, it helped there was no shortage of cretins that believe defending themselves with the notion of presuming hilarity could be found on both sides. Despite the exchange, Ruairi continued to listen to the commander. It could contain an important detail.

---

The jungle had certainly proved challenging. The combination of vegetation, animals and natural phenomena had clearly affected the environment. Ruairi did not particularly find it difficult, though the thought that if he hadn't served with military forces then that Ruairi would certainly be complaining is present in his mind. It had also dawned on him that the distinct colouration of his armour did not lend itself well to the greenish-brown surroundings, stuck out like a sore thumb. His LEO-E pistol remained at the ready, but Ruairi was not jumpy. The risk of panic firing could disturb bigger predators than whatever unintentionally frightened him.

Though as Ruairi led the team, the irritable feeling of observance began to creep upon him. It was not the others, whose gazes pointed in other directions or never truly focused on him. The alien greenery had evidently been sapient which feared and saw them as potential threats, or animals were stalking them through the trees, or both. The winding roots that peeked from the ground were beginning to grate on Ruairi as constantly having to watch his steps quickly became tiring.

An interesting fact that Ruairi spotted. Some of the trees... Were damaged? It seems as though gashes had been formed that stretched down to the sapwood of the trees which released the internal fluids of the plant then hardened when exposed to air. There is also another organism, another weed that parasitically or symbiotically grew over the wounds. These wounds appear accidentally made, possibly from a creature's very movements. Ruairi did not know if the creature were still here, but better safe than sorry. He extended his hand to the side then motioned for the group to reduce their speed by moving his arm down. And activating his speirfhaire to scan the area.

ChasmOfOrganicMatter Dr.Sturgeon Surgeon Huntertabbysandshark3 CelticHero37

 

[Dr.Sturgeon Surgeon]

Aarif hated jungles, they were hard to navigate, you never knew if something or someone was about to ambush you, and he always came back with some new rash or parasite despite his armors blood scrubbers. He especially hated this Jungle as it was one of the densest he'd been in and he got the feeling he was constantly being watched, which they probably were. The only question was is it was a predator, an enemy combatant, or just a curious critter. He had been busy scanning their flank for anything when the doc suddenly motioned for them to slow down. That was when he noticed the damage to the trees. "Dame, looks like we ain't the only ones using this path. Though I guess it was foolish to think so." He spoke quietly, just loud enough for the others to hear over the background noise of the jungle. "We should be ready in case whatever made those is still around and either hungry or territorial." He tightened his grip on his bio spitter and continued to watch the surroundings. Tim sensing Aarif's discomfort leapt from his shoulder and began making a lazy circle three feet above the group, keeping an eye out for trouble just like his master. "Horns you cover pip squeak I'll cover doc. That way if whatever made those marks is here and is looking for trouble we got a heavy hitter with each of the squishy ones."