Post by veronw on Jan 29, 2024 18:20:35 GMT
Sheng [SD | VA] — 08/01/2023 12:58 PM
"My battle is lost, but they cannot hide this forever.
They do not come from here.
If anyone reads this, get to Namalsk. The answers are there, I know it.
I know it, because I am Namalsk survivor..."
Namalsk | Uncharted Planet south west of the Phasic Wastes | Potius Cras Corporate Property
The remains of an unknown experiment were all that was left, the surface of the planet was now composed of very strange landmasses, arctic islands surrounded by nothing but sea and ice. What they found however was that this planet had... "objects" that were hidden beneath vast underground tunnels. Everything seemed to be remarkably well preserved since the discovery of the planet, perhaps there could still even be survivors down below. After their first findings, however, their other objectives were postponed, and they moved all the technology onto the main island; Namalsk.
If we can discover what this strange complex of theirs is, it could be a milestone in discovering just what truly happened there. That was the mission, go to Namalsk, find out what they had done there, what had happened for these anomalies to occur, and perhaps even pick up where they left off and figure out the answer to whatever question they had been asking. But know this; Nothing is as it seems, do not trust what seems obvious for you know nothing of what you are getting into, the obvious no longer exists.
You are their last hope. Land on the Island of Namalsk, no more than 4 of you, and find out what the corporation was doing and come well equipped, you will face horrors beyond even your wildest nightmares and anomalies beyond even your most bizarre of sciences. Your choices have consequences, each step is monitored and each action will be answered, but you will never know until it is too late just what those answers will be.
Welcome to Namalsk.
Varen (Meta-Sax) — 08/06/2023 10:29 AM
Absu was specifically chosen because it was far away. Much farther away than most celestial structures in the main galactic disk, and far enough away that the "noise" of civilizations nearby would not disturb the tranquility of the Meta-Sax.
So when a distress call from the relatively nearby Phasic Wastes hits a beacon on the outskirts of the Wadyamin Nebula, the Saxheelians can't help but look into it. The phase rate and transmission decay all indicate it was fairly recent. The decision of the Consensus is to send a SAR cladeship, with a small expedition team to determine if there were people there in need of aid.
Lal Laha volunteers and the cladeship Iniy offers to transport them.
The journey there is swift - with no need to worry about outsider observations, none of the cladecraft feel particularly inclined to hold back. However, that is the only smooth part of any of this. Their arrival to Namalsk leaves the cladeship and Lal Laha confused, but curious.
Deciding in local consensus to go ahead with the dispatch of team Lal Laha to the surface, Iniy swoops down to deposit them in general expedition gear. Biosuits flow off from the skins of the vasudani group, rippling like water until it covered their forms.
Settling down on the island, they each silently observe their surroundings for a moment, adjusting their bodies internal composition for the gravity while extending their senses to each other.
"Everyone ready?" asks Kona Kel. The group resounds with their own acknowledgements.
Heys Hepa plucks a scout-drone from their back and tosses it onto the ground. The scale unfurls into a pair of brilliantly vibrant wings and leaps into the air, hovering in front of its creator, "Scout ahead for us will you?"
It zips off towards the lab while the rest of the Sax slowly follow behind it, scanning and assessing. He Ge and Isal Inta both use their tongues to sense scents in the air, their suits assessing photonic conditions.
Everything is by the book.
Sheng [SD | VA] — 08/06/2023 12:49 PM
A blizzard rages around them as they land on partially frozen grass, the planet's moon giving off a faint beacon of light behind the monochrome clouds above them. As soon as they're able to the sounds of Namalsk greet them, with the rageful whistling of high speed winds and the violent fluttering of snowflakes whisking all around them yet there was another sound. A very distant rumbling pulse that seemed to be emitted from all around them some ways off beyond the Island's shores every few minutes like a deep growl from beyond the dark veil of the storm itself, whatever it was? It couldn't be naturally occurring, not for it to be heard by them from how far away it sounded but that left a question; what exactly was it?
At the position they had landed in; a clearing in a foresty part of the Island north of the Sebjan Uranium Mine, they had a spruce-forest covered hill standing in-between them and the laboratory where the distress call had originated from. The scout would report little out of the ordinary: very human-appropriate atmospheric conditions hovering around 1002 milibars of pressure and an air temperature of -20 degrees Celsius. In higher altitudes there were significant deposits of snow and ice but at their current altitude [and where they were heading] there was surprisingly little snow, especially considering the blizzard raging around them, with the grass still retaining a pale green/white colour and being partially frozen yet still somehow alive. The trees around them, evergreens, appeared healthier then ever despite the deteriorated weather.
It was 1.6 kilometres to the laboratory from their current position and they could get there any number of ways. They could choose to go straight for it which would take them over the hill and take about only ten minutes of walking, or they could detour to go up the snowy mountain's surface and see if they could get a better vantage point on their immediate surroundings. Or if they wanted to take a less clutter route they could detour to their left and head down via the main road, which would take them past the Sebjan Uranium Mine which was attached to the main laboratory. Each route had its advantages and disadvantages, but before they could recall their scouting drone something mildly concerning would happen: They'd lose all contact with it with no prior warning. One second it'd be on approach to the laboratory but right before it came into view it'd just... disappear, as if it had never existed at all.
A few seconds after they had lost contact with it a bright blue flash would erupt from the clouds ahead of them where the laboratory is, followed a few seconds later by a distant boom of thunder... in a blizzard...
Something was not right here, and it looked like they wouldn't be getting anymore data from that drone either.
Varen (Meta-Sax) — 08/06/2023 2:51 PM
The loss of the drone caused the group to pause. Immediately, Heys Hepa attempts to reconnect with it, sending out scan lines and trying to figure out what could have transpired.
"Domain breach?"
"Possible space-time anomaly, not sure."
Isal Inta chimed in, "Ambiant is within norms. Bit cold for a human or near-human, but the wildlife - such as it is - appears curiously well adapted to it. I'd like to send a sampler out."
A quick consensus was reached and Isal Inta received collective permission to depot a small worm-like being into the snow. It was tasked with assessing the local flora - trees, grass, roots, any fungal lifeforms especially would be of interest.
"Iniy, can you triangulate from orbit? If it is a space-time event, we'll need to figure out the boundaries."
The cladeship high above acknowledged the request, dislodging a growth from its upper wing which peeled away and into a relative orbital position trailing after the team. It proceeded to send down light laser pulses to try to map out the disappearance edge while pumping LIDAR in a wide area. The great gleaming eye of the thing was unblinking in its task, while Iniy remained where it had been, maintaining connection with the greater Consensus to report on the results. A space-time event would be unexpected, but would explain how a drone could vanish without a trace.
"He Ge?"
Replying to the unspoken request from Kona Kel, He Ge nods, "If we can head to the top of the mountains here, it'll give us a better vantage point. I'd suggest using that space to setup additional ground-level organisms that can sample the region, determine precisely what boundary or event caused the drone to disappear. Historically, I don't believe it was an attack - it should have survived long enough to report as such."
Once more, collective consensus was reached - with Kona Kel adding, "Toss a snowball ten maters ahead of us. We'll keep pace. If we toss it and it vanishes, we know we've hit the boundary."
Sheng [SD | VA] — 08/06/2023 3:21 PM
All attempts to reconnect with the drone failed, as if blocked by some sort of screen that was for all intents and purposes; on top of them. We'll come back to that, in the meantime the small worm that had been dispatched to see what was up with the irregular flora reported fairly standard readings initially but with one glaring irregularity. All of the flora it examined had very heightened amounts of some sort of self-replicating artificial protein that boosted resistance to sub-zero temperatures, it seemed fairly primitive and almost naturally occurring but the slight differences in structure when compared to the other molecular components made it known that it was definitely a foreign introduction. Other then that there didn't appear to be any other irregularities in the surrounding plant-life except for this high quantity of foreign protein.
Now the entity that was dispatched from the Cladeship would find something much more... severe. As it examined the area the drone had inhabited they would indeed find a lingering presence of some sort of anomaly, as if something had opened up and swallowed the Drone before dissapearing once again with the only hint to it's existence being trace ripples in space time around the area where the drone dissapeared. Slight problem though, as it continued to scan it would continue to find these trace ripples but in much lower quantities.
And it kept finding them, even if it expanded it's search to encompass the entire island it would continue to find lingering ripples caused by whatever anomaly had caused them to lose contact with the Drone. Even out into the distant ice flats where it's intruments would then, in an even more concerning development, completely fail to perceive any sort of data from them. Like a storm surrounding Namalsk, a wave at the edges of the ice flats that just swallowed every form of viewable matter like a black hole, the only way to even know it existed was through visually seeing the rest of the arctic ocean and other smaller islands down on the planet below from orbit.
As the team continued to throw snowballs ahead of them, they'd find no resistance whatsoever and safely continue to advance up the mountain. As they reached a cracked and salt-stained dirt path they'd see a metal sign that was rusted and clearly having undergone years of neglect, the white paint which was written in the Reborn's slavic-like language chipped at the edges. There were three locations labeled on the road, with an arrow pointing forward next to the top entry, an arrow pointing behind next to the middle one and a circle symbol next to the bottom. The entries read as follows:
Научно-исследовательский институт ковчега [Ark Research Institution]
Урановый рудник Себьян [Sebjan Uranium Mine]
Норинская промышленная недвижимость (Р.А) [Norinsk Industrial Property (R. A)]
The road forked ahead of them, with A.R.I being straight ahead [as the sign had indicated]. Sebjan being behind them and Norinsk being... somewhere, must be a local symbol because it didn't match any of the Federal Progression Committee's legal signages. As they continued up they would spot an interesting sight which was a small pack of wolves, they'd raise their heads and howl at the Sax before scampering away towards the forest down below. It seemed that they were far from the only living things present, because none of the wolves looked to be under-fed.
Varen (Meta-Sax) — 08/06/2023 3:41 PM
Heys Hepa clicked a few times at the wolves howling, "Interesting."
Isal Inta nods in agreement, "I'd have expected the anomalies to have caused significant issues. Do you have a second one, Heys?"
Heys Hepa nods, plucked their second drone from their back. It left two deep imprints where the fleshy biosuit was, "Last one, but yeah. I take it you want them to be followed?"
"Yes. I have the suspicion that if the native life here is able to navigate the anomaly field, there is a reason for it. The protein structure is crude, but clearly causing some sort of adaptation that wasn't there prior."
Kona Kel hums softly to herself, "Up the hill? Or do we chart more of the anomaly field?"
Isal Inta scoops up their little friend and places them snuggly inside the biosuit to rest, "Afield, I believe. We know there isn't a specific concentration, outside of where the drone vanished."
In orbit, Iniy agree, "The statite is showing a clear randomness. Outside of an apparent barrier the lip of the region for reasons I've yet to determine." The SAR cladeship was equipped with a sophisticated network of sensors and sensitive equipment to help find survivors in the case of stellar disasters, but it was no DSRV. It lacked the dedicated facilities - and while it could grow them, it would take time.
He Ge speaks up, "We should proceed as planned; reach the top of the hill, chart any strange anomolous behavior. It isn't outside the realm of probability that the scans from the cladeship are being distorted by the planetary environment somehow."
"We should also consider that the researchers were tapping into something relating to the Phasic Wastes, some sort of spatial echo."
"It's outside of the scope of our abilities. If we locate such, we'll send a request to the Consensus for further aid."
Thus it was decided that they would reach the top of the hill - snowballing ahead, just in case the multiple layouts of sensing from space and on ground missed a wandering anomaly.
Sheng [SD | VA] — 08/06/2023 4:02 PM
The second drone would follow the pack of wolves unhindered, it seemed that the wolves definitely weren't running away from them due to their fairly lax attitude but they were definitely going somewhere. The drone had little trouble following them as they gently weaved in-between trees and frozen rocks, looks like this would be a game of cat and mouse for a little while whilst the drone followed the pack to where ever it was that they were heading.
However as our cast deliberated their next actions something transpired in the background; The distant rumbling pulse that had been happening would suddenly stop all together, leaving only the sounds of the natural world around them to entertain themselves. That was until the storm's ferocity suddenly dropped down several notches with it, going from a raging blizzard down to a gentle snow storm with snowflakes no longer whipping about but instead just gently floating down in the air. The fog that had accompanied the storm also began to quietly lift which slowly expanded their line of sight as they ascended the hill [the snowball method reporting no changes and no other events sticking out at them], by the time they had reached near the top they'd have practically horizon-lines of sight should they wish to look out into the distance for any reason.
And now they could see the laboratory; the supposedly labeled "Ark Research Institution" in the distance in front of them. You could see the rust from here, clearly having long since been neglected by any caring hands. If they had any optical equipment amongst them and zoomed in they'd see that it was practically fallen apart, with cracked exterior tiles and broken windows all around, rusted and destroyed cars still in the parking lot and a most curious sight in tandem.
Towards the checkpoint of the parking lot there was what appeared to be an old military vehicle of some sort, an IFV or similar with four big reinforced wheels on each side and some sort of autocannon turret on top near the front. It was completely rusted and likely would never function ever again, but why was that even there to begin with? However their attention would likely move onto another event that'd happen before their very eyes and ears as a distant thwump would echo out from the direction of the facility and a few seconds later a red flare would illuminate the very complex ahead of them. Something was very clearly active there, but what need was there for the flare? And who was it that was active there? This island was clearly abandoned...
Or was it?
Varen (Meta-Sax) — 08/06/2023 4:51 PM
The Saxheelians all peer at each other when the rhythmic rumble stopped.
"Iniy, can you confirm the vibrations ceased?"
Before they could get a report from the cladeship, He Ge pointed out the flare, "Look!"
"Survivors?"
"After this long, with so many anomalies around?"
"The wolves seem to have survived well enough, they don't look like they're desperate for food."
The collective debated briefly, "Should we retask the drone to see if it can map a way around the anomalies? I'd still be more comfortable making an approach to the facility if and only if we can confirm that Iniy is able to accurately determine anomaly locations."
It wasn't that Isal was untrusting of the cladeship, quite the opposite, but they were a determined mind that practiced caution and methodical science like a personal religion. Understand the area, figure out potential risks, assess for potential barriers, double check.
Kona Kel affirmed their support of this perspective, "Agreed. Given it either trapped or disabled a drone, I'd rather not take any risks with ourselves."
Scanning the horizon, the group setup a small portable sensor, combining biomass from all four of them to get it up and running. The device - if it could be called that - resembled a tripod like stick-bug, antenna wildly moving about as it oriented itself.
"Scan the area would you? Confirm with Iniy that readouts are aligned and oriented properly and give us a second scan on the facilities around us. We'll likely move to determine if anyone is alive first, so stay here."
The insectoid mushine sent a small acknowledgement ping to the four vasudani and went about its work.
Heys Hepa sighed, "Alright, so we're down to a handful of expedition equipment now. What do we need to get some more biomass?"
"Could eat a tree."
They collectively grimace, but given the unknowns, they decide it's probably best not to call down support from the cladeship. No need to risk a scarce resource like that unless necessary.
Sheng [SD | VA] — 08/06/2023 7:55 PM
That was when things started getting odd. As they went about what they were doing they would begin to hear things, things that they shouldn't that were so quiet they were just barely perceptible to them. Things that sounded like children laughing in the distance and the rumble of helicopter engines far away, yet neither of those were present. As they continued to deploy the new sensor device the sounds would only increase in volume until they were loud enough to be heard by all of them clearly in brief episodes... what the fuck was going on?!
Then, a tremendous boom sounded out all around them, the ground shaking as if a meteor had just hit some distance away and the sky suddenly took on a deep blood red colour whilst the strange sounds all ceased. Flashes of thunder and lightning suddenly started appearing around them whilst the snowfall soon also stopped as well, the clouds rumbling above them whilst flashes of amber lightning lit up the sky around them. The Sax vessel in orbit would also now see a very disturbing sight both through visual and instrumental means, as the sky around the island also started to slowly dye itself blood red up until there was a red splotch covering about 1/8th of the planet's visible surface.
All their instruments would get one last reading before receiving nothing but interference and errors: The anomaly had completely encompassed the entire island in a flash, rushing out from the edges like a nuclear shockwave.
Meanwhile on the ground, the lightning was rapidly intensified and another tremendous boom sounded out once more with the ground shaking even harder. They had to find shelter, immediately, and there was only one enclosed place nearby that would be the safest bet: The laboratory. Judging by the storm's growing intensity they likely had around eight minutes to book the remaining 380 metres to the closest building, that was if they didn't want to try and brave whatever strange anomaly they were experiencing.
Whatever they chose, as they went to enact it the drone operator would likely notice something strange in that this time their drone was completely unharmed. Having been ignored by the raging storm-like anomaly around them, how interesting. Another thing, if any of them had radiation-detecting capabilities then local levels would skyrocket. So much so that if there were any beings susceptible to it outside, judging by how the levels were rising in tandem with the storm's, they wouldn't be alive if they were still outside when whatever the storm was building too happened.
Varen (Meta-Sax) — 08/07/2023 11:53 AM
Every Sax present sensed the radiation levels increase right alongside the change in the sky. Indeed, it seemed that the area was deceptive in its tranquility and age - whatever happened here was still ongoing. Either triggered by their presence, or something else.
"Temporal anomaly?"
"Can't rule it out, but there does seem to be some indication that it's reactive to our presence. Hows stickman?"
Isal checked on the bug-like sensor, "Seems fine. We'll leave them here for now. If there's trouble, go into hibernation mode okay?"
The insectoid trilled a light acknowledgement and continued its sensing.
Curiously, the sound of children and the other noises appeared to be non-localized. It was almost convincing enough to make them think there was an intelligent actor at work. The sequence of events was similar enough to past experiences that it made them debate amongst themselves if it wouldn't be better to try to extricate.
And that was when Iniy informed them of the bubble dome and its sheer size.
"Definitely intelligent action of some kind. An eight of a planetary surface in an instant is no small affair."
"Hm, my drone is fine. No issues colliding with the anomalies."
He Ge spoke up, "Counting less than eight-minutes relative before the anomaly event reaches us."
"Likely to force action from us. Given that there is only the lab in close proximity, it seems plausible that if there is a guiding intelligence, it wants us to go there."
That came with its own set of worries and concerns. The radiation was a light snack for them, but the anomaly storms on the other hand would be extremely worrisome if they could induce a phase change state. Yet, it did nothing to the drone. Which, once again, implied intelligence: discerning between one object and another is not a normal reactive thing.
Looking at each other, they collectively decided that the lab would make the best bet. Thus, the four Meta-Sax exhaled the gas in their lungs, pulled deep from the power inside themselves, and sprinted at astonishing velocity towards the laboratory. As they reached hills and deeper inclines, they simply leapt like oversized ticks. With time of the essence, there was no sense waiting - even if someone was watching them.
Sheng [SD | VA] — 08/07/2023 5:00 PM
As the Sax deliberated amongst themselves the lightning continued to increase, red bolts now crackling amongst the clouds with sinister intent that occasionally struck down against the ground with resounding booms. On the adjacent hill behind the laboratory they were heading too a distant thump rang out once again and a few seconds later another flare illuminated the dark crimson sky, more thumps sounded off to their distant right and left and more flares started lighting up on the horizon. Clearly there was some sort of surviving population, even though it was likely minuscule. I mean what else could be sending up this many flares consecutively?
Now that they were just a ways away from the laboratory they’d get a clear view of the complex, which was two central buildings surrounded by what looked to be a concrete & razor wire tipped fence. At the checkpoint there were rusted tank stoppers placed onto the cracked and neglected road that led into the facility. There was a small sign before the collapsed metal pole that normally would have denied entry, requiring an employee to press a button inside of the guard house which would then raise the bar. As they proceeded in they’d see the main buildings on their right and left, both covered in cracked tiles and rust. The Potius Cras logo was hanging on by warped and torn cables, looking days away from falling off completely. As they proceeded they’d however suddenly be interrupted by the sounds of a rusted door opening to their right, two humanoid figures stood in the now opened door way and hastily waved at them to come in.
They were both female, with the one on the right wearing a thick plaid jacket and worn blue jeans stuffed into aged black combat boots that were quite scuffed and far from polished, a brown worn beanie and an opaque full-face gas mask that still looked functional but was clearly outdated, with long black and relatively clean hair hanging free down to her shoulders underneath the beanie. Interestingly enough there were also two small fuzzy black… canine ears? Something of that style sticking out from shoddily cut holes in said beanie. She had a hand extended out to them which was covered by a thick black leather glove that disappeared under her sleeve.
Meanwhile the one by her side was wearing a severely worn grey hoodie and arctic digital combat pants that had several signs of poorly stitched repair efforts and a few duct-tape covered tears. She had on a pair of winter hiking boots and woolen mittens with a similar opaque gas mask and her hood up, she had no "extra parts" or anything similar to that nature and instead of an out-reached arm she merely gestured to them again before shouting out them "Hurry up and get in damnit! I am NOT cleaning any more bodies off the ground today!"
Varen (Meta-Sax) — 08/07/2023 5:12 PM
All four Saxheelians paused for a brief moment to process the surprise at seeing a pair of near-humans in the area. They'd had little indication from their senses and other remote platforms of actual surviving people and were not prone to trusting external stimuli without a source.
So to see two there, waving frantically for them to enter a shed caused them to evaluate their situation once again.
Looking at each other, they sent simple messages back and forth using light waves that were invisible to most, "Should we?"
"It is likely to be a component of the overall experience. I suggest we do. It is possible, however remote, that this is genuine as well. They could be survivors."
"Of this level of anomaly?.."
"We are here, are we not?"
"Point taken."
To anyone staring at them without the proper equipment, it simply looked like they blinked at each other before nodding at the women and filing inside. The Saxheelians were all dressed in a combination of leathery looking suits and an oddly blending cluster of clothes, as though it merged directly into the skin. Their heads were covered in a semi-transparent membrane and though all simian-humanoid, they were very clearly alien beings.
That they would be invited in so readily, in the face of a massive storm like this and no doubt unknown conditions raised considerable suspicion among the group - though they kept this to themselves.
In orbit Iniy reported no change in conditions, only a gradual worsening. The Consensus connection was, mercifully clear. Should that be severed, they would be effectively braindead -- a thought that left the cladeship frantic to shore up that nodal point.
Once inside Kona Kel looked at the two women again, softly introducing themselves, "Hello. Thank you for your aid. I am Kona Kel, and these are my peers: Heys Hepa, He Ge, and Isal Inta. We are Saxheelians, from a nearby search and rescue mission. We detected the distress call and came to assist."
Sheng [SD | VA] — 08/07/2023 5:55 PM
The two hastily took off their gas masks, revealing human faces, and clipped the straps to karabiners on their belt before the one with the ears called out down the hallway "BUILDING CLOSED, BRACE FOR EMISSION!" and after a few seconds a male voice shouted back "WE'RE ALL GOOD HERE, TAKE COVER!"
They ignored the four Sax initially but rapidly motioned for them to take cover before they themselves dropped down onto the ground and put their hands over the ears, meanwhile a last rumble echoed outside and the ground started to shake. It was gentle at first but quickly built up to a medium sized earthquake until it all stopped, the storm, the shaking, the sounds, it was perfectly quiet.
One would think that storm had passed, until if they looked outside they'd see a massive shockwave hurtling towards them at supersonic speeds. It struck the complex like a truck, cracking some of the windows and blowing a few pieces of debris around as if they were leaves. It sounded like a nuke going off to those inside the building with a deep rumble echoing out for a few seconds afterwards, the two on the ground tensed up in fear after it was done. It seemed it still wasn't over, but if they'd look outside they'd suddenly be subjected to an intense blinding red light going off somewhere in the far distance followed by another shockwave that slammed into the complex, cracking the windows even more and shoving some of the rusted car wrecks a few inches inward.
The light began to fade in the distance, revealing a glowing orange/red mushroom-like cloud that was slowly rising up into the air. Sparks of red lightning appearing around it as the sky slowly started to return to it's normal nighttime configuration, the cloud having been cleared by the anomalous event to reveal quite a pretty nice sky. The two shakily pushed themselves up and a man came running in from the hallway, he had a black heavily worn plate carrier over a grey winter coat and snow-pants along with thick winter boots. He also had a ushanka-style hat on and had a black plastic holster laid over the plate carrier that had some sort of polymer pistol occupying it. He quickly rushed over and helped the two girls up onto their feet and saying hushed words before the three of them turned to look at the Sax with suspicious expressions.
After a minute the male extended a cautious hand towards Kona Kel and said "Call me Damien, one of Everett's inner circle at the Ranger Camp... Forgive me for saying but you four don't exactly look like you're from around here, are you Union? Capitol? Don't necessarily strike me as Tria-" He was cut off by the one with the ears smacking him lightly on the shoulder before saying "No Damien, they're Saxheelians. They picked up some sort of distress call and came down to see what was up."
Damien looked over at her and nodded before stepping back and resting his hands on his hips, the woman promptly stepped over and also extended her hand before introducing herself "You can call me Ms. Fortune, Mutant Hunter and part-time medic for the Rangers. We're glad you're here but... we never put out no distress call, hell I didn't even know it was possible for any signals to breach atmosphere... Not for lack of tryin' either.. Damien, you know who could have that kinda' capability?"
Damien reached up and scratched as his chin before he answered "Crow's been working on getting that big radio antenna working up at Tara Trader for the past few weeks, he might have finally gotten the damn thing running. There's also the V.S.S.R which have always claimed that they still have control over some of the derelict satellites that were in orbit before the breach- oh, yeah we're going to have to fill you four Sax in on the history here. That's gonna be a long conversation so I'm just gonna ask you all now, what do you wanna know?"
Varen (Meta-Sax) — 08/07/2023 6:20 PM
As Damien reaches up to scratch his chin, movement stalls, slows, grinds and finally appears trapped. The roar and thump of the anomaly and its storm is replaced by a different thumping. Eye muscles move minutely, sending pulses to their peers as the Saxheelians converse with themselves quickly in the short-wave light frequency.
"Survivors indeed."
"Alright, so clearly they presumed no signals could breech. We had clear contact with probes and data up until we passed a certain point, so I would assume we're in some subpocket. Perhaps a bubble inside a bubble."
"Right. Guess we work with the locals, gather data, figure out a solution and get them off world. Iniy?"
The cladeship reacts, "Yes, I follow. I'll prepare containment pods and medical vacuules for when the anomalies subside.*"
A hand reaches the chin at last as Kona Kel accepts the grip from both Damien and Ms. Fortune both. They measure their grip with some subtle twitch reactions, to gauge if they were really human and really here before letting go, "Of course, it's not a problem. We didn't know what to expect. The only message we received was that there was some sort of disaster, and that there were survivors."
"This area of space is remote, we weren't expecting to encounter anyone, so you'll forgive us our unusual appearances."
Diplomacy mostly done with, Heys Hepa puts his hands on his hips and nods, "Lets start with what was the first sign of trouble? Ah, and as a heads up, we didn't detect any satellites in orbit. But, that might be jumping ahead there, so why don't we start from the beginning?"
Sheng [SD | VA] — 08/07/2023 6:59 PM
Their grip was indeed normal for Humans and they were indeed there, in fact every sign available pointed to the fact that they were Human [or at least close enough of one in the case of the ears]. Damien nodded to what they said before looking around and spotting a half blown apart rusted barrel, pulling it over and sitting down before he looked at the two girls and motioned with his head towards the hall. They nodded before starting to walk away, Fortune however stopped and looked back at them before saying "We'll be on the second floor, you need anything just holler, m'k?" And then dissapeared around a corner.
Damien let out a sigh before beginning. "No one knows what truly happened, no one we encountered anyway. Most of us are expatriates from pretty much all walks of life, mostly Human or Human adjacent. All humanoid though, that was the Corporation's rule that they needed humanoid. We were told that we were just general staff for a new colony that was apparently being set up here but that was deduced as bullshit after a couple years. The 'Second Dawn' or whatever they were called kept showing up with navy ships and tanks and shit and taking deliveries from this here laboratory via convoy."
He reached out and slapped a gloved hand against the wall a few times to accentuate his point before continuing. "All the heavy lifting was done by the Potius Cras Namalsk Division, some sort of militant sub-faction of the Potius Cras Corporation. They ran the A-R-I, which is here, and the three 'A-Zones' which no one was allowed near. One day a really bad blizzard started up, went on for nearly a month straight before a massive explosion happened about five hundred metres north of here nestled in-between some hills at one of the 'A-Zones', A-One they called it. After that they shut down the lab and then all our communication got cut off. No ANC-net, no internet, nothing. Whole planet goes radio silent with the only things still working are actual radios."
He let out a sigh and shook his head "Then the first emission happened, or that's what we call it anyway. Destroyed a good bit of country and killed so... so many people. Anyone who was caught outside just started coughing up blood and seizing before they just... stopped. Then the weather worsened and the storm started, it stops and goes but it's constant out in the iceflats. We were completely cut off from the other islands, no one came down from space either. That's when the anarchy started, everything collapsed a month after that and it was every man for himself. That was fifteen years ago."
He let what he had just said sink in, that they had been enduring these frankly apocalyptic conditions for so long. Then he continued "Me, Everett and a few others built a scrap city on the western side of Tara Bridge. Made a community out of it and called it Ranger Camp during the first two years, but then the mutants came. Furless wolves, scaled deers with six eyes and the strength of a bear, people covered in black goo with tentacles for mouths, shit straight out of nightmares. Good people died in those years but we got things under wraps and formed the mutant hunters, people who were skilled in fighting that would hunt them y'know?"
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a flask, taking a sip before putting it back into his pocket and continuing "We got about ninety people at the Ranger Camp, but there are other communities out there. Vorkuta got a little community inside the city, die hard communists who call themselves the Vorkutan Socialist Survivor's Republic, or V-S-S-R. Good people, led by Yuri Oslov but a bit trigger happy Then there's the cultists south of Tara Bridge, they worship some sort of monument in the hills and live in the metro. They're bat-shit insane, they kill anyone who crosses into their territory and crucify them to trees on the edge to mark it. They're led by 'Nightshade' this- crazy fuck who wears a human skull mask and has a sword laced with some sort of poison. Then there's Tara Trader led by Crow, he used to be a Ranger but wanted to live a quieter life so he moved to Tara Hill and started a shop with this guy named Geo. They got a good thing going there now, they serve everyone equally and their prices are good. Even the cultists leave them alone, gotta get there ammo from somewhere right? Then there's the Reapers. Bunch of weird military-like guys who all wear skull masks, they do freelance security gigs and other crazy shit like that. We hire them from time to time to scout out a place before we go in looting. But then... then there's Blackout."
He shook his head with an aggravated expression before continuing "We don't know their actual name. Bunch of guys in black tactical gear that show up to places randomly every now and then, demanding blood samples and information. They got clean and barely worn equipment, uniform kit, they look professional and they don't fuck around. A few years back the V-S-S-R tried to hold them up for taking blood from one of their guys without asking, they came back with a fucking tank and blew one of their buildings down as a message. A tank, a fucking tank! The only working vehicles we got now are cheap diesel ones that survived the emissions and they had a working tank! Shit's crazy I tell you, there's something going on with them. We heard rumours a few days ago too, one of our patrols came back with a picture of a closed off unnamed city that had a building with lights on the top floor, working electricity is non-existent now so some of our guys are thinking it's where Blackout is based out of"
Varen (Meta-Sax) — 08/07/2023 7:23 PM
As Damien was speaking, Kona was relaying everything up to the cladeship.
"Can you confirm?"
"I cannot confirm any of this information with the sensor readouts that I have. The plant remains partially enshrouded, and what is not is as we found it. There is no evidence of a long-standing colony here."
In real-time, Isal spoke up, "That is quite a significant change in events. The fact that any of you have survived here with the rate of anomaly creation is nothing short of miraculous. We believe that you are trapped in some sort of bubble - the nature of it and its composition we cannot say, as our ship is unable to penetrate it."
"You said that these well-equipped individuals come demanding blood samples.. I'm a biologist and xenospecialist, would you mind if I examined your own blood? I won't need a sample, simply permission to look deeper."
"Despite the worm finding nothing unusual beyond the high jacket proteins, I suspect we may get more out of the humanoids. Though, I also worry this is a side effect of the larger anomaly. Turn on constant cell feedback and remain alert. We'll go into fin-mode as needed."
The rest of the team acknowledged Isal's suggestion while Heys leans against the wall, "By the by, you said that there were communists, cultists, and yourselves. What are you guys? Its our nature to try to piece things back together when they've been broken, and given that there's abominations running around, collective defense is rational."
He holds up a hand quickly, "With other rational people, of course. I don't mean the cultist guys or any crazy murderers. But why not collaborate more closely with the communists? Pool resources."
Sheng [SD | VA] — 08/07/2023 9:48 PM
Damien nodded along with what Isal was saying before tensing up at the question about his blood. Why did some Alien want to examine it? He stared at Isal inquisitively for a second before hesitantly answering "Perhaps in time, Blackout has committed some egregious things to get a hold of our blood and I'm not exactly comfortable with letting someone I don't know go poking around or inspecting it. No offense."
Damien then looked towards Heys before raising an eyebrow inquisitively, he had just answered his question... Was he not paying attention? Or was he merely misunderstanding. "We're Mutant Hunters and Scavengers... I already said that, we go out and clear out places of Mutants and take whatever's left. We keep some of it, then some goes to those in need and the rest usually goes to Tara Trader. And don't take this the wrong way but while it may be your guy's nature, us Humans aren't exactly good at the whole 'collective good' thing."
He reached up and scratched at his chin a little bit before answering him "They're not exactly good at keeping things mellow y'know. Like we're kind of friends and we don't fuck with each other but between all the random survivors and stuff like that we just don't really have the incentive too, if anything it'd cost more then we would gain from it."
It was at that moment that Fortune decided for some reason to return, knocking on the wall lightly to announce her presence before looking to Damien and saying "We got a problem, we were just on the radio with Everett and there was an incident with Jerry. Salem's been shot and one of Crow's guys just reported seeing a bunch of people in black tactical shit crossing the northern Tara land bridge, but he can't get close enough to confirm if it's blackout or not. Either way they all got rifles and armour and they're heading towards Tara."
Damien looked up at her before letting out a muffle "fuck..." and pushing himself up off of the barrel. He made to go to her before turning back towards the four Sax, staring at them hesitantly before reaching behind him to his backpack and pulling out a paper map. He approached them before unfolding it and holding it out to them and pointing at a spot on it and saying "This is Ranger Camp. When I get back I will let Everett know that you can be trusted with entry. I gotta go see what the fuck is up and about and none of you look ready to get involved. Best of luck to you four, I hope to see you again soon."
With that he approached Fortune and whispered something to her before they both nodded and split off, Fortune catching a radio that was tossed to her by someone in the stairwell who then stepped out to reveal themself as the other girl that they had met before they both proceeded across the hall and out of the other side's door. However before Damien joined them he looked back at them shouted "If you want to fix that equipment situation then head to B-K-L-oh-one! It's an abandoned military base on that mountain south of here, might find something useful. Though you may want to check other places out before that, it can be a bit of danger zone sometimes!"
Then with that he raced out to join with the other two, leaving the four Sax alone once more.
Varen (Meta-Sax) — 08/09/2023 10:05 AM
Left to themselves rather abruptly, the Sax turned to look at each other.
Heys shrugged, "Guess we don't come across as part of the family."
The comment made the others chuckle, for despite appearances, they were still cousins of humanity and could relate better than Damien suspected. However, despite that kinship, they were still Saxheelian first and foremost, and decided to assist the local community before settling into the more comfortable pattern of exploration and research.
"Iniy?"
Iniy pinged a response back, "Channels appear to be clear still across the Consensus. I'm creating additional buffers, in case you get cut off. It won't outright kill you if that happens, at least, not immediately.. I'm also sending a request for assistance from the hospital ship should that need present it."
A sobering thought, but a logical one. They'd protect each other as best they could in the community, with whatever resources that they had access to. That extended to these peoples here as well - and with that in mind, He Ge moved to the middle of the group.
"Shall we?"
Holding up her hand, fingers extended, she waited for the other three to connect their finger tips individually. Smiles spread across the team and the brief physical contact let them sense each others thoughts much more directly. They were of one mind on their decision to aid.
"B-K-L-oh-one. South of here he said."
"Right. There's some other locations on route as well."
"Think any are worth deviating to?"
"Possibly.. the lab here is still a good spot to investigate as well."
"Should we consider alternative attire?.."
"No, we don't want to be mistaken as locals."
Nodding together, they moved out of the building and decided to head in the southern direction. It was a surprise that Damien and the other humans expressed no concerns about the massive radiation spike, given that the southern direction where Ranger Camp was appeared to be close to the rad epicenter.
Varen (Meta-Sax) — 08/09/2023 10:14 AM
Isal made a mental note to cook up some additional anti-rad organisms to help anyone they came across if they showed sign of radiation poisoning.
Collectively, they were entirely unconcerned about the rad levels, the stuff served as food for them. Uranium cupcakes were, in fact, a favorite vasudani treat. A thought that caused a chuckle to ripple across the vasudani group as they each thought of that quirk in their own way.
"Supply depot?"
"Yeah."
Heys took point as the official Pathfinder of the group, scooping up snowballs as soon as they were out of the research compounds boundaries. They aimed for the hill they had arrived at previously, to rendevouz with their bug sensor and to have a good spot to do some protean shifting into new forms. Something more benign, unlikely to draw unwelcome attention, and a bit faster on their feet.
Those wolves had seemed reasonable enough, and given that Heys still had his drone following the original pack, it seemed logical.
Shifting new forms was something both pleasurable and an act of will - each vasudani dropped to all fours, quickly shifting their skin and muscle to suit their disguises. They shared the visual forms of the pack that Heys discovered and that would be sufficient for their deeper explorations into the area.
Sheng [SD | VA] — 08/09/2023 10:51 AM
Once they were outside they'd finally be treated to the beauty of Namalsk. With wisps of snow drifted across the ground as a few idle snowflakes continued to weave around them, but the sky was easily the most impressive. Completely clear almost like glass due to the lack of light pollution, with the galactic skybox open for all who looked up to see. This planet could have been a massive tourist attraction were it not for... well, unkind events. Not a cloud was in sight as they made their journey away from the laboratory, crossing the partially frozen landscape that was now kept in an almost ironic state of calm.
As made to retrieve their little sensor friend and shifted their forms, an even more beautiful sight would grace their presence; An aurora borealis. Out of seemingly nowhere, orange and green waves of light would suddenly materialize high up in the sky above them. Performing a slow methodical dance for the cold little island below, as if it were a cosmic apology for all the hardships those that still resided there had endured. Passing through a lightly bundled spruce forest due south, a massive radio antenna would reveal itself atop a snow-covered mountain in the distance: BK-L01.
Painted in a subtly maroon with white bands around it, likely to alert other aircraft of its existence, it stood out like an inverted icicle amongst the natural scenery around them. Portions of another concrete-like fence poked up above obscuring geography as they ascended toward it. As they did so, a significantly less welcoming sound would start rattling in the far, far distance beyond the supposedly abandoned military base. Distant cracks and booms of rifle fire graced their ears, an unsubtle reminder that despite its looks they were not in a pleasant place. It continued for around 5 minutes as they got closer to the peak of the mountain, the temperature dropping with every metre they ascended and the snow becoming harder and harder.
Eventually, the time between shots grew to the point it seemed like they had stopped altogether, and they did. Leaving the Sax to the sounds of nothing but nature around them once again, then finally did they crest the peak and finally get a good look at the military base ahead of them. A cracked and worn concrete fence surrounded it, with a singular paved road leading up to a checkpoint long since abandoned. This time a wire fence gate "blocked" their entry, but there was no one to stop them from simply sliding it open and entering themselves. Even the checkpoint looked unlocked with the door slightly ajar and the windows covered in dust and grime. Little was visible behind the metre-and-a-half concrete barrier that surrounded the base, they'd have to enter to see anything more.
Guess it was time to start looking or do whatever it was they had come there to do.
Varen (Meta-Sax) — 08/10/2023 8:42 PM
The wolves split up into pairs - He Ge and Heys Hepa went off to the opposite side of the fenced in area, sniffing around to see what they could detect regarding recent presence.
The other two simply hopped the fence. Something so simple was no barrier to them, nor did they believe that it would prove particular unusual for a pair of wolves to do so. They would maintain the guise among themselves until they'd found their quarry - the parts required to assist in repairs.
In addition, they would be searching for any unique clues in the depot. Some indication as to what these anomolies were occurring and what they could mean in the long run. It was unlikely that the planet had been abandoned completely all this time - the presence of the men in black was sufficient circumstantial evidence for them to conclude that there were actors still involved.
Within the Consensus, they communicated briefly.
"We'll need to be careful if the recent gunshots were anything to go by."
"Ballistics would only do superficial damage."
"Yet, that alone could result in escalation. Seeing a bullet pass through one of us may well do more damage to our credibility with the humans than simply falling over and playing dead."
Point conceded, Heys and He Ge continued their search inside.
Sheng [SD | VA] — 08/10/2023 9:23 PM
The first pair would find little in the ways of recent visitors, the scents that were present were easily a week old if not longer. As the second pair hopped the fence they'd be treated to a stark sight; a very destroyed and outdated model 65 Main Combat Vehicle. It was the Executive Protection Agencies first real breakthrough with a modern MBT that wasn't a pre-anc era holdover, twenty years ago they saw very heavy use by the Potius Cras Corporation in low-activity regions. It's presence only cementing what they already knew, hell even the pink triangle logo was still partially visible on the left side of the scorched to fuck hull.
Speaking of the damage, this thing had seen some action. Spent casings frozen to ground were littered all around, the same calibre as the broken top-mounted machine gun on the vehicle itself. There was a hole on the top right corner of the turret where it appeared that something had punched through and gone straight out the other side, the adjacent armoured corner and portion of tracks appearing to have been blown off by the projectiles exit. The rear doors which the crew could use to escape were left wide open but judging by the upper torso of a frozen skeleton with some pieces of charred fabric still clinging to the clearly aged bones, it was not quite used fast enough.
All around the base there were abandoned surplus EPA vehicles, though the rest were light transport cars that weren't even armoured. Merely resting in parking spaces having long since rusted past the point of wreckage, some having bullet holes sticking out of various points. As they looked around there'd be little worth scavenging, however near the checkpoint they'd find a black and slightly frost-burned plate carrier that still appeared serviceable, ripe for the taking. Inside the checkpoint itself they'd find a broken overtuned chair and a somehow still standing metal table, a field radio resting on top that was rusted and slightly dented from various impacts over the years. They found nothing of use.
Leaving the checkpoint and entering the main building they'd find more of the same; surplus military equipment long since having decayed past usefulness but if they opened some of the closed crates they'd find a few worn articles of camoflauged clothing that were still serviceable. There was enough for each of them to get a new outfit more in-tune with the local's dress and some light armour if they wanted. But it was what was downstairs that would likely peak their interest.
Down a flight of stairs in the centre building they'd be met with a vault door, heavily rusted but it still appeared to be firm on it's hinges and would likely open if unlocked, however the problem came in that it was very obviously frozen in place. It was no wonder it was untouched by those who came before, no ordinary Human had the strength to simply pry what had to be over a thousand kilogrammes of frozen armoured door open. However they were not normal people now were they? It'd take all four of them to get it open, two to see to the two valves on the top and bottom, one to break the ice and the last to open the door. There was also writing on the door in the Reborn's native language: "Реле стратегической связи: Только командный персонал, предъявите удостоверение личности контролеру дверей на контрольно-пропускном пункте Аскос, чтобы получить возможность входа."
On another note, there were crates that were locked in a similar style around them. These could be opened by a single of any of the sax and looked to be weapons crates, the contents were likely well preserved judging by how solidly sealed these crates were. There was also writing on the side of these as well which read out as "30 шт. Штурмовая винтовка модели КА-109. Требуются боеприпасы калибра 5,56x45. Магазин на 200 патронов на 30 патронов входит в комплект поставки. Ключ смотрите у оружейника."
Varen (Meta-Sax) — 08/13/2023 1:21 PM
Collecting themselves at the front of the vault, the group of Saxheelians looked at each other, communicating in the Consensus they'd established locally.
"So, this seems important."
"Mildly. Shall we open it?"
Kona debated briefly. The location clearly seemed to be abandoned, and there were no clear scents indicating recent interest or activity. It was likely that most had simply assumed the area was picked clean and never bothered. While the crates with their weapons would no doubt be helpful to the locals in their defense, Kona - and the rest - found the notion distasteful.
"While they will have utility for the humans, I do not desire to transport weapons for them. We can notify them of the location."
"They likely won't have the energy or peoples to spare towards the task, Kona Kel."
Isal's point stood unconstested for an awkward moment, then Heys spoke up, "I shall do it. We Pathfinders are trained for such things. Let us see to the door, and be mindful of whatever it was that tore through that tank."
Moving forms was a simple affair. All matter, all energy was simply an act of dynamis - of exerting will within a space constrained by nothing more than the boundaries of interactions of elementary material. A Saxheelians body was no different than a humans in that way. What mattered, rather, was the sheer precision of their control over themselves - the conscious component of it.
For each of them compelled cells, stoked fires of atomic transmutation, parted seals of newtonian fluids that served the purpose of blood. Minds untouched by every transformation thrummed the instrument of knowledge - recalling the particular notes that led the way to who they had been when they first landed on this strange world of strangers.
Wolves were not so distant from a human from to as require overly taxing efforts, and thus the shift back took only ten minutes in The Real. Once more humanity's cousins, they each gripped the vault door and pulled in unity.
Sheng [SD | VA] — 08/13/2023 6:18 PM
Once the door was opened the Sax would be treated to quite the interesting sight: A singular room about 6 metres by 6 metres that would be pitch black for normal humans due to the lack of light, however within a few seconds a lound clunking noise sounded from the roof and a yellow light flickered briefly before finally turning on and illuminating the room with a dim yellow glow and a quiet electric hum. Immediately revealed was the opposite end of the room which had servers on both corners and large outdated computes extended from the wall, the servers fans could be heard starting up as the screens blinked in and out of life for a few brief moments before they too switched on.
To their left were various pieces of remarkably well preserved field-radio equipment as well as what looked like map cases stuck in a four-door black grated locker. The batteries were probably dead but if they found some they might be able to power the equipment, meanwhile the maps would be outdated but should still serve the team remarkably well should they decide to take any of that with them. The right side however held another four door locker that was locked and filled with various chest rigs, helmets, night vision goggles and tactical overalls. Each piece of equipment had patches either sewn or sticked on of the Potius Cras logo, this type of equipment must have been priceless with the current situation on the island.
This kind of armour and technology? Judging by what they had seen and heard must have been absolutely unheard of. There were also clear glass vials filled with a subtly glowing white liquid, if any of the Sax were familiar with the Reborn then they'd know that these were coolant injections which served a similar function as epinephrine to them. However they'd be interrupted by a locked pod to the right of that locker that hummed briefly before the outer shell burst apart. Co2 ejecting from the newly opened space and obscuring the figure that stepped out, until it's head looked up and straight at them. A faint red dot coming from what appeared to be some sort of camera-eye, the gas dissipating as it revealed what looked to be an extremely primitive combat droid equipped with very light armour and tactical webbing.
The droid merely looked at them before tilting it's head in curiousity before beeping something out to them. Then shaking it's head and relaxing it's stance before beeping a few more times and turning back around and clambering back into it's now destroyed pod, resting it's head against the cushioned interior and seemingly just... standing there and ignoring them. How peculiar...
Varen (Meta-Sax) — 08/15/2023 8:43 PM
He Ge approaches the area where the droid waits, observing it at a fairly easy telescopic distance without putting herself in any imminent danger should the droid reactivate. Not that the thing seemed exactly dangerous, but one can never be too careful when such elements as these anomalies are in play.
"Seems fairly old."
She glances instinctively at the sound she already knows is Isal, nodding, "Yes, my guess is that it's pre-event. If Damien is anything to go by, that was some years ago relatively speaking. And the equipment," she points at the Potius crates, "imply that they are the ones who built or managed this place. Making our robotic friend here the closest thing to a potential living witness."
"...Which leads to our first problem."
Turning, she faces the others, "We're not exactly good with machines."
Kona Kel hums, "Perhaps, but this isn't Caretaker level technology by any means. May as well be clockwork."
Heys Hepa laughs a little as he shuffles up to stand next to He Ge. His eyes squint at the machine and he runs it through a simple set of spectrographic analysis and metallurgic analysis visually. His mind, a prodigious thing by any measure, rumbles through centuries of records stored in The Flow, piecing together analogous machines encountered over the millennia.
"Well. We're likely to not have a better opportunity to discover accurate intelligence on the nature of the event that happened here. Given it didn't attack us, it seems to be programmed for specific response situations."
Isal Inta raises a hand from the back as he lifts up one of the curious white liquid viles, "I'll assume that the vials here are related to the machines. We know that the people here are human, but Second Dawn citizens also count androids among their ranks."
Kona Kel, however, ignored most of that, focusing instead on the equipment. She looks at the map, memorizing it immediately before placing it inside a pouch that she conjured along her leg.
"Heys, see if you can juice the computers. Plug it in to an arterial and find a compatible pathway for the neotic induction."
Nodding, the Pathfinder walked over to the field-radio equipment, scanning them visually before moving on to the computers. While they were dead - likely from no power - the Saxheelians themselves could act as a battery in such an instance. Nuclear fusion was their cellular motif of choice, lending considerable quantities.
Touching the nearest one with a fingertip, Heys Hepa let himself slowly bleed into the machine. The tip of the finder melted like wax while individual cells migrated into the cracks of the device. With his mind, he controlled each and every one - guiding them towards circuits, conductors, paths, channels. Slowly, he'd work towards repowering and booting up the device, though he would be unable to move while doing so.
Kona Kel observed him for a moment then looked back at the other gear, "We should bring this with us to Damien and the others. Not only will it help them against the abominations, but it will increase our alien-cache-rate-positive."
The other two agreed, leading them to pack as much of the gear as they could in the available containers around the room. While they had the capacity to simply shed a ream of skin and use it as a tarp, they decided that might come across.. poorly.. with the locals.
Sheng [SD | VA] — 08/15/2023 9:39 PM
The computer’s screen flickered before lighting up and displaying a rather dated graphic of the Potius Cras logo with the name of the company written below in the Reborn’s native language. It played a little jingle before the computer then opened up a command window all by itself and code started pasting into the box. This continued for another few seconds before the screen suddenly started playing a video unprompted.
The video started showing what appeared to be a Reborn in a lab coat hastily typing at the keyboard and then backing away so that they were entirely in view. In the background, muffled shouting could be heard behind the vault door outside of the room and was quickly followed by automatic gunfire, the scientist flinching and looking back before returning his gaze to the camera. The Reborn adjusted their coat before they began to speak “Callsign is Artyom, Potius Cras Research Division working on the” and then the computer froze, seemingly about to crash before the video tab closed itself and suddenly two documents opened themselves and started slowly scrolling. At the bottom, a text bar appeared asking for confirmation and approval, perhaps before sending the orders out. Or maybe something else entirely. Nevertheless, the computer remained in this state, the documents free to interact with and examine for as long as the Sax wished.
Meanwhile, the Sax playing as movers did their job unhindered, all the gear they could carry was easily taken. However, their examinations of the droid proved to be quite interesting; its materials were standard metals and the circuity (while primitive) was fairly standard if not outdated in design. But the origin of the materials was from the Second Dawn’s core, specifically from the Ravine System due to the high amount of trace cosmoline-like residue on the surface of its exterior and inside the pod itself. The Droid completely ignored their presence although it did look towards the computer once it turned on, emitting a pleased beep before looking back forward and rendering itself immobile once more.
However before they had a chance to further interact with the droid, the radio equipment they couldn’t take suddenly crackled to life and a gruff Human voice spoke a few moments later: “This is Masking-Actual to High Tower, objective completed. Note; we have detected technological activity from B-Point Alpha, en route to investigate, E-T-A ten minutes.”
It seemed their poking about with the computers had not gone as unnoticed as one may have originally thought…
Varen (Meta-Sax) — 08/17/2023 9:40 AM
The sound coming from the radio equipment drew their attention immediately. Kona Kel stared at the console for a moment then turned to the others, "Well that ours deadline. We'll move a little slower than normal with the gear on it, best to remain bipedal. We can double time it to the main camp."
Heys Hepa pointed at the droid, "And our friend here?"
Kona Kel shrugs, "Ask it if it won't mind coming with us."
Heys Hepa nodded, taking a moment to copy the data from the computer terminal. While disappointed that the video recording appeared to be unsalvageable, they did at least have documents that gave them a better idea of what was going on. Whoever these people were, they seemed responsible for the catastrophe to some degree.
Sending the information to the others via the localized Consensus, he tapped the container the droid was in, "Hey, sleepy head, wanna come with us? The other folks heading over this way seem to hate technology a bit, I'd rather not see you scrapped. I can carry ya the whole way too."
"Hey bossgirl-"
"Don't call me that."
"-what if this little fella says no?"
"...Bring it anyways. This is our only living witness."
Decided on a course of action, the team swiftly begins removing indications of their presence. They only need to wait for a response from the droid, to see if it will affirm to coming with them voluntarily or if they'll need to bring it along in a stasis field.
"IRF for something so minor.."
"Don't complain."
"Alright, we have the gear? Good. Once our droid friend gives us an answer, we'll replace the door. Heys, recall your drone. Have it shift into a bird or something similar and stick it up in one of the nearby trees as lookout."
Heys Hepa nods, focusing inwardly on the magnetic wormhole connection to the drone. He sent a request to it, feeling a ping in response as it abruptly changed course from following the wolves. With at least some of the anomalies mapped, the hope was it could make it safely.
Sheng [SD | VA] — 08/17/2023 10:15 AM
The Droid suddenly looked to the one that spoke to it and seemingly just stared at it for a few seconds before it stepped out from the pod again, ignoring them all as it walked out of the room and to one of the crates containing that contained the weapons and reaching in, grabbing a hold of one and slinging it over it's back before reaching down and grabbing a handful of magazines. It then walked back into the room and reached into he containers the Sax were using and pulled out a compact webbing vest from it, slinging it over it's chest and slotting the magazines inside of it except for one.
It unslung the rifle and smoothly inserted the magazine and racked the bolt back before slinging the rifle back over it's shoulder and clicking it's heels together as it faced the four Sax, then speaking in a heavily robotic tone: "AX.10V Model 11 Tactical Unit reporting at full duty capacity. Contact with Corporate Command lost, defaulting to public-aide operations. Ready for service." It then gave an emotionless, crisp salute to them before promptly turning around and beginning to march out of the bunker and up the stairs to the main building. Looks like it would be coming along, then.
Meanwhile the Drone would make it almost more then halfway unhindered, though when it started coasting around the base of the mountain it would witness a concerning sight: Ten men in all-black tactical gear with gas masks on were jogging up the western face of the mountain towards the compound that they were presently in, assault rifles in hand. They had to leave the facility immediately if they wanted to avoid the contingent approaching them. The drone would not be spotted as it made the rest of the way back to the four Sax, allowing for safe recollection whenever they wished.
Cleaning the room of any evidence that they were there was also incredibly easy, no one had entered the room for quite some time so it was likely that those coming to investigate didn't even know what the interior of the room looked like anyway. No one would find any trace that they were even there. The Droid stood waiting for orders at the top of the stairs, a robotic hand holding the strap of it's rifle as it just stood there eerily. Definitely not the brightest bulb off the tree, I tell you that.
Varen (Meta-Sax) — 08/18/2023 9:23 PM
Heys Hepa laughs a bit as the droid just valiantly sallies forth, "Well, I guess that solves that dilemma for us."
His laughter ends, however, as the drone's report reaches him. Swiftly, he switches to Consensus communications for speed and informs the others of the rapid approach of unknown humanoids. They weren't particularly scared of having to deal with them, but the potential ramifications worried the group enough to make them commit to covering their tracks as much as possible.
Collectively, they exited the room and replaced the door, stuffing it back in place before rushing up the stairs to join the robot.
"Keep up!"
Quip given, the Saxheelians proceed into a quick sprint, leaping over the wall in the opposite direction and further down the mountainside. Deciding the best course of action would be to bring the supplies to Ranger, the group circled low and around south before moving for the settlement.
Heys Hepa kept his bird-drone tagging along the humanoids, but made sure it kept a safe distance. It would be good to figure out where they were from and what they might do when they arrived.
The droid, meanwhile, was sandwiched in the middle of their group. Anytime it fell behind or was too slow, it'd find itself plucked up from the ground and transported with the Saxheelians before being let back down to keep up.
"Think they'll like the presents?"
"One can hope. We'll need cache-positive here."
In orbit, the cladeship continued to monitor the situation. Experimentally, it decided to send a single very basic recon drone down towards the surface, to observe how it interacted with the potential waveforms that plagued nearly a quarter of the Reborn world.
Mentally, they also decided that they would return to this specific area upon conclusion of the resource drop. There was much to investigate, much indeed.
Sheng [SD | VA] — 09/03/2023 2:03 PM
As the Sax fled the mountain, the group of Humans continued to warily approach. As they approached the edge of the fence they raised their weapons and started methodically clearing the compound, checking each and every corner they found for possible activity. However once they approached the main building a sudden flash would be sent out from the facility, as lights slowly turned themselves back on with flickering sounds of dormant generators coming back online. The facility suddenly lit itself up as one of the dishes on the massive central antenna tower jittered before angling itself to a specific position up in the sky, where on of the derelict satellites was quietly floating far above.
The human group were snapping around looking for any potential source of the sudden power surge, but they saw none. There was no more activity to be found on the surface no matter how hard the militant group looked, even as they re-checked buildings they had already been through. But, there was activity in space...
The derelict satellite suddenly shifted, dormant solar panels suddenly auto-rotating towards the system's star as a large white plated box portion suddenly detached from the satellite. Then an antenna extended from the main satellite down towards the planet, angling towards the island. It sent a responding transmission, this time with a discernable message: Trespass by contaminated personnel recorded. Dispatching Antigen: PCNM-017, callsign "Deadfall"
Then the detached box suddenly flared to life, as miniature rocket engines suddenly ignited and started burning it down on a re-entry orbit towards the island. The satellites relatively low-orbit combined with it's position made for a rapid re-entry as it alighted with orange flames. It rocketed over the Sax group, one big bright orange ball of fire, before passing the mountain and impacting in the forest below opposite of the Sax. A flash of light illuminating the sky for a second before a loud thunderous boom rang out.
The group of Humans suddenly started gesturing eachother before forming up and beginning to sprint away from the facility, beginning a frantic retreat back down the mountain to wherever they originated from. The drone was able to watch the entirety of this unhindered and unspotted. The Sax were similarly ignored by all the events around them, the Rangers camp coming into view before them.
It was a scrap town surrounded by a wall made up of various scrap illuminated by a few dingy construction lights and from where they stood it seemed that they too had noticed the extraplanetary craft crash down, with a group of five stood outside the wall pointing at where the craft had landed. Others inside the camp were huddled around various fires going for warmth. No one had noticed the Sax and tag-along droid approaching.
The recon drone would also be able to enter the atmosphere unhindered, this time also unspotted due to the excitement caused by the previous vehicle re-entry drawing many eyes away from the skies. Though the anomaly would wreck havoc on it's sensors as it did so, rendering it unable to discern anything for a time. It would be a while before it cleared enough for it to get a good read.
Varen (Meta-Sax) — 09/17/2023 10:54 AM
Kona Kel sprouted an eye from behind her head to look up at the sky as the roaring fireball descended. The group did not stop in their pace to take a look at it, trusting in each other and in their information gathering abilities.
"Send the drone to check it out."
Heys Hepa sent an acknowledgement ping to her and redirected his bird-drone to recon the area where the object had crash landed. Iniy sent a communication down to them, informing them of the message, *"Not sure what it means, but 'Deadfall' doesn't exactly fill me with happy feelings. My drone just made it through atmosphere, but I'm having trouble receiving telemetry from it. It'll take some time to clear it up. How'd it go down there?"
Isal Inta filled the cladeship in while He Ge and Kona Kel took to the front of the group. They analyzed both the direction the humans came from and the direction they had fled towards, assessing the potential avenues for recon in case they needed to determine the point of origin. There was also growing concern about the intentions of the militants, and their capabilities.
Heys Hepa was the resident Pathfinder, the most experienced of the group, and what he'd observed through the drone had troubled him. There seemed to be ongoing protocols in place for containment and patrols, but they were either unaware of the facility's nature or unable to interact with it. Were they outsiders, simply here to take advantage of the situation?"
Or something worse.
Such thoughts and group-talk still, however, when they clear the ridge and see the town for the first time. Heys Hepa raises his hand sheepishly, "I volunteer as tribute."
Hey Ge and Isal Inta take a turn each to lightly punch his shoulders for the obtuse reference, which leads to the Saxheelian man grinning widely and heading down the hill. He waves his arms widely as he shouts, "HELLO THERE! WE WERE SENT BY DAMIEN! IS THIS RANGER CAMP?"
Sheng [SD | VA] — 09/17/2023 11:12 AM
The drone that was redirected to examine the recently landed object had no problems moving towards the forest, a mid-sized column of smoke rising up ahead with a scant few miniature fires dotted around. One the drone had visibility however, it saw something that would not inspire confidence in them. At all.
There was a line of disrupted soil leading to a small crater in the projected impact zone, the trees all around partially blown away with branches and needles stripped clean off. A cloud of smoke was covering the centre of the crater and a thick plume was rising from it but by the time the drone could see it, it was starting to dissipate.
And what was revealed was even worse. Hunkered in a compact crouch position was a rather large machine, covered in sharp black angular armour plates. It slowly stood up from a crouch before the drone, digitigrade legs ending in X shaped clawed feet stepped around slightly to give the entity better posture. As the dust finished clearing a massive autocannon with a belt of 20mm rounds was sticking out of its right arm, trailing up and looping into its back whilst it's left arm had a T shaped object with a very narrow rectangle poking forward. A blade suddenly shot forth from the rectangle and audibly locked into place, then a crackle sounded as flecks of blue lighting started racing along the blade's edge.
It's head was like a robots, with armoured plates covering three long optics with glaring red lights in the centre. It looked around briefly as the plates slowly tilted and turned into optimal defensive positions, then suddenly a tremendously loud robotic sounding horn blared out from it. Steam vented from concealed vents around it's joints and cleared the rest of the lingering smoke and dust. It was a Mech, a Combat Mech. But there was a highlighted engraving present on the centre chest; a star with each point half-coloured in with white paint and text in the Reborn's native language surrounding it in a circle. It read: "Executive Protection Agency Psionic Operations Division" And on the side of it's head was a smaller logo: The Potius Cras logo, with more engraved text that read "Potius Cras Mortem Squadron | Joint EPA-PCNM Forces". Judging by the Mech's weaponry and posture, it was not pleased with the situation it now found itself in.
In the meantime, Heys Hepa was spotted almost instantly by the five standing outside of the compound. A familiarly dressed man waved up at him before cupping around his mouth and shouting back "HEY! GLAD TO SEE YOU LOT DIDN'T END UP DEAD! IT'S ME DAMIEN, COME ON DOWN!"
Varen (Meta-Sax) — 09/25/2023 10:09 AM
Heys Hepa grinned and waved at Damien as the rest popped up and followed their fellow vasudani down the hill. His internal emotions were a bit of a jumble, however, as the sight of the mechanized unit had made him deeply worried.
Not only did they not want to scare the locals by conjuring up something capable of fighting it, but that would be antithesis towards their mission objective. Which meant that the locals would be forced to deal with it on their own terms. Something that he did not like the prospects of, given the survey of the area and people thus far.
Kona Kel sensed his concern through their shared Consensus link, "We'll worry about it when we can worry about it."
Heys Hepa took the lead as they and their droid companion arrived in front of Damien, "Hey there Damien, sorry it took so long. We checked out what looked like an ordinance compound over the hill there. It was mostly empty, save for a few packs of gear, some recordings, and this rather odd droid here. We've brought the supplies for you and yours."
Isal Inta and He Ge unloaded the vests and other gear for Damien to sift through. They weren't sure what was going to happen with the droid though, with a few small comments inside the Consensus about perhaps keeping it, in case it came in handy.
"The droid might act as a key to some other facilities. We're not sure on that front. There was also a research file that implied the anomalies are the result of some sort of experiment. What it was, we can't say."
"...And.. there's also some bad news. That craft that just landed was carrying a mecha of some sort, something aligned with the Potius Cras. Pretty heavily armed all things considered. We can likely formulate a strategy to disable it with some help."
Varen (Meta-Sax) — 10/28/2023 7:18 PM
Sheng [SD | VA] (coughcough)
Sheng [SD | VA] — 10/30/2023 6:07 PM
Damien nodded to two of the four other people with him, one of which was Ms. Fortune. Fortune and the other survivor reached down and looked through the assorted gear with surprised expressions, the other survivor lifting up one of the vests before turning back towards Damien and saying "Holy shit, this is old Agency gear. B Thirteens, we seen some of the security assets toting them before everything went to shit... They look to be in good quality too, we can outfit our security with a few and sell the rest off to Crow." Damien nodded and the two others moved to join them, with the four beginning to pick up and lug the gear back towards the camp whilst Damien stayed and listened to them talk.
By the end he had a moderately concerned expression etched across his face, he reached up and scratched at his chin before nodding and saying in a solemn tone "Yeah, the bot will serve you way better then it will us. I mean- we got some mechanics but... frankly that kind of shit is a little out of our paygrade, hell it looks like one of those pre-catastrophe types that the Corp' were advertising. In the last few weeks we even saw a couple taggin' along on Potius convoys." Damien stared at the robot for a few more seconds whilst the droid did nothing in response. He let out a sight before he continued.
"That mech though... not sure if we wanna get all involved up in that, I mean don't get me wrong something that falls out of the sky with Corporate markings ain't good but we've been tryna stay uninvolved with that sort of shit. C'mon let's take this inside, shouldn't be discussing this sort of thing out in the cold." With that Damien turned around and started heading to the scrap metal gate behind him where the four had lugged the supplies into, two humans on the top of it wearing mismatched tactical gear nodded down at him and after a few seconds the gate creaked before it slowly started to slide open with an annoying squeal.
And the interior of Ranger Station was then revealed: A line of scrap houses following a dirt road about 30 metres long, with more scrap shacks behind them. There were a few people scampering about doing various things, some were working on run-down weapons whilst others were cooking various items of food. Ms. Fortune stood outside of a church just inside the gate on the right and side and gave them a wave before pointing to Damien and then pointing into the church, to which Damien nodded and then motioned back for the Sax to follow.
Varen (Meta-Sax) — 11/06/2023 2:34 PM
The group followed, debating among themselves what the best course of action would be given that the machine was no doubt going to prove an obstacle in the near future.
We could attempt to disable it, recreate some hat giga kan perhaps?
There's no telling the time table for it. And without a larger injection of materials from the area or a drop from the cladeship in orbit, we don't have the equipment.
Working with the locals is the best option. It'll provide us intelligence and them the necessary moral boost to believe that they can overcome whatever strife has occurred here.
A reminder: this is a -rescue mission- first and foremost. We should endeavor to find a way to bring down the anomaly field preventing us from evacuating the planet.
It was mostly a series of urgent looks at one another and the occasional hand gesture to anyone bothering to observe their brief interactions while the group migrated inside the Station. The robot remaining in their care was a welcome addition to their little arsenal of tools, with Heys poking it, "Alright buddy, stick close to us okay? We're gunna have ya stay out of trouble."
The place-of-worshipping-ideas was utterly alien to them, though the nerdier one of the group, He Ge, recognized it from her studies of the galaxy, "A church? Odd."
Isal Inta held his burning desire to question Damiens words until they were inside, recognizing that the situation was too strained to openly air the arrival of a mechanized murder unit. He huffed softly under his breath in both disgust and distress - that there were entities who would summon such a thing in the midst of a crisis! Intolerable.
"My battle is lost, but they cannot hide this forever.
They do not come from here.
If anyone reads this, get to Namalsk. The answers are there, I know it.
I know it, because I am Namalsk survivor..."
Namalsk | Uncharted Planet south west of the Phasic Wastes | Potius Cras Corporate Property
The remains of an unknown experiment were all that was left, the surface of the planet was now composed of very strange landmasses, arctic islands surrounded by nothing but sea and ice. What they found however was that this planet had... "objects" that were hidden beneath vast underground tunnels. Everything seemed to be remarkably well preserved since the discovery of the planet, perhaps there could still even be survivors down below. After their first findings, however, their other objectives were postponed, and they moved all the technology onto the main island; Namalsk.
If we can discover what this strange complex of theirs is, it could be a milestone in discovering just what truly happened there. That was the mission, go to Namalsk, find out what they had done there, what had happened for these anomalies to occur, and perhaps even pick up where they left off and figure out the answer to whatever question they had been asking. But know this; Nothing is as it seems, do not trust what seems obvious for you know nothing of what you are getting into, the obvious no longer exists.
You are their last hope. Land on the Island of Namalsk, no more than 4 of you, and find out what the corporation was doing and come well equipped, you will face horrors beyond even your wildest nightmares and anomalies beyond even your most bizarre of sciences. Your choices have consequences, each step is monitored and each action will be answered, but you will never know until it is too late just what those answers will be.
Welcome to Namalsk.
Varen (Meta-Sax) — 08/06/2023 10:29 AM
Absu was specifically chosen because it was far away. Much farther away than most celestial structures in the main galactic disk, and far enough away that the "noise" of civilizations nearby would not disturb the tranquility of the Meta-Sax.
So when a distress call from the relatively nearby Phasic Wastes hits a beacon on the outskirts of the Wadyamin Nebula, the Saxheelians can't help but look into it. The phase rate and transmission decay all indicate it was fairly recent. The decision of the Consensus is to send a SAR cladeship, with a small expedition team to determine if there were people there in need of aid.
Lal Laha volunteers and the cladeship Iniy offers to transport them.
The journey there is swift - with no need to worry about outsider observations, none of the cladecraft feel particularly inclined to hold back. However, that is the only smooth part of any of this. Their arrival to Namalsk leaves the cladeship and Lal Laha confused, but curious.
Deciding in local consensus to go ahead with the dispatch of team Lal Laha to the surface, Iniy swoops down to deposit them in general expedition gear. Biosuits flow off from the skins of the vasudani group, rippling like water until it covered their forms.
Settling down on the island, they each silently observe their surroundings for a moment, adjusting their bodies internal composition for the gravity while extending their senses to each other.
"Everyone ready?" asks Kona Kel. The group resounds with their own acknowledgements.
Heys Hepa plucks a scout-drone from their back and tosses it onto the ground. The scale unfurls into a pair of brilliantly vibrant wings and leaps into the air, hovering in front of its creator, "Scout ahead for us will you?"
It zips off towards the lab while the rest of the Sax slowly follow behind it, scanning and assessing. He Ge and Isal Inta both use their tongues to sense scents in the air, their suits assessing photonic conditions.
Everything is by the book.
Sheng [SD | VA] — 08/06/2023 12:49 PM
A blizzard rages around them as they land on partially frozen grass, the planet's moon giving off a faint beacon of light behind the monochrome clouds above them. As soon as they're able to the sounds of Namalsk greet them, with the rageful whistling of high speed winds and the violent fluttering of snowflakes whisking all around them yet there was another sound. A very distant rumbling pulse that seemed to be emitted from all around them some ways off beyond the Island's shores every few minutes like a deep growl from beyond the dark veil of the storm itself, whatever it was? It couldn't be naturally occurring, not for it to be heard by them from how far away it sounded but that left a question; what exactly was it?
At the position they had landed in; a clearing in a foresty part of the Island north of the Sebjan Uranium Mine, they had a spruce-forest covered hill standing in-between them and the laboratory where the distress call had originated from. The scout would report little out of the ordinary: very human-appropriate atmospheric conditions hovering around 1002 milibars of pressure and an air temperature of -20 degrees Celsius. In higher altitudes there were significant deposits of snow and ice but at their current altitude [and where they were heading] there was surprisingly little snow, especially considering the blizzard raging around them, with the grass still retaining a pale green/white colour and being partially frozen yet still somehow alive. The trees around them, evergreens, appeared healthier then ever despite the deteriorated weather.
It was 1.6 kilometres to the laboratory from their current position and they could get there any number of ways. They could choose to go straight for it which would take them over the hill and take about only ten minutes of walking, or they could detour to go up the snowy mountain's surface and see if they could get a better vantage point on their immediate surroundings. Or if they wanted to take a less clutter route they could detour to their left and head down via the main road, which would take them past the Sebjan Uranium Mine which was attached to the main laboratory. Each route had its advantages and disadvantages, but before they could recall their scouting drone something mildly concerning would happen: They'd lose all contact with it with no prior warning. One second it'd be on approach to the laboratory but right before it came into view it'd just... disappear, as if it had never existed at all.
A few seconds after they had lost contact with it a bright blue flash would erupt from the clouds ahead of them where the laboratory is, followed a few seconds later by a distant boom of thunder... in a blizzard...
Something was not right here, and it looked like they wouldn't be getting anymore data from that drone either.
Varen (Meta-Sax) — 08/06/2023 2:51 PM
The loss of the drone caused the group to pause. Immediately, Heys Hepa attempts to reconnect with it, sending out scan lines and trying to figure out what could have transpired.
"Domain breach?"
"Possible space-time anomaly, not sure."
Isal Inta chimed in, "Ambiant is within norms. Bit cold for a human or near-human, but the wildlife - such as it is - appears curiously well adapted to it. I'd like to send a sampler out."
A quick consensus was reached and Isal Inta received collective permission to depot a small worm-like being into the snow. It was tasked with assessing the local flora - trees, grass, roots, any fungal lifeforms especially would be of interest.
"Iniy, can you triangulate from orbit? If it is a space-time event, we'll need to figure out the boundaries."
The cladeship high above acknowledged the request, dislodging a growth from its upper wing which peeled away and into a relative orbital position trailing after the team. It proceeded to send down light laser pulses to try to map out the disappearance edge while pumping LIDAR in a wide area. The great gleaming eye of the thing was unblinking in its task, while Iniy remained where it had been, maintaining connection with the greater Consensus to report on the results. A space-time event would be unexpected, but would explain how a drone could vanish without a trace.
"He Ge?"
Replying to the unspoken request from Kona Kel, He Ge nods, "If we can head to the top of the mountains here, it'll give us a better vantage point. I'd suggest using that space to setup additional ground-level organisms that can sample the region, determine precisely what boundary or event caused the drone to disappear. Historically, I don't believe it was an attack - it should have survived long enough to report as such."
Once more, collective consensus was reached - with Kona Kel adding, "Toss a snowball ten maters ahead of us. We'll keep pace. If we toss it and it vanishes, we know we've hit the boundary."
Sheng [SD | VA] — 08/06/2023 3:21 PM
All attempts to reconnect with the drone failed, as if blocked by some sort of screen that was for all intents and purposes; on top of them. We'll come back to that, in the meantime the small worm that had been dispatched to see what was up with the irregular flora reported fairly standard readings initially but with one glaring irregularity. All of the flora it examined had very heightened amounts of some sort of self-replicating artificial protein that boosted resistance to sub-zero temperatures, it seemed fairly primitive and almost naturally occurring but the slight differences in structure when compared to the other molecular components made it known that it was definitely a foreign introduction. Other then that there didn't appear to be any other irregularities in the surrounding plant-life except for this high quantity of foreign protein.
Now the entity that was dispatched from the Cladeship would find something much more... severe. As it examined the area the drone had inhabited they would indeed find a lingering presence of some sort of anomaly, as if something had opened up and swallowed the Drone before dissapearing once again with the only hint to it's existence being trace ripples in space time around the area where the drone dissapeared. Slight problem though, as it continued to scan it would continue to find these trace ripples but in much lower quantities.
And it kept finding them, even if it expanded it's search to encompass the entire island it would continue to find lingering ripples caused by whatever anomaly had caused them to lose contact with the Drone. Even out into the distant ice flats where it's intruments would then, in an even more concerning development, completely fail to perceive any sort of data from them. Like a storm surrounding Namalsk, a wave at the edges of the ice flats that just swallowed every form of viewable matter like a black hole, the only way to even know it existed was through visually seeing the rest of the arctic ocean and other smaller islands down on the planet below from orbit.
As the team continued to throw snowballs ahead of them, they'd find no resistance whatsoever and safely continue to advance up the mountain. As they reached a cracked and salt-stained dirt path they'd see a metal sign that was rusted and clearly having undergone years of neglect, the white paint which was written in the Reborn's slavic-like language chipped at the edges. There were three locations labeled on the road, with an arrow pointing forward next to the top entry, an arrow pointing behind next to the middle one and a circle symbol next to the bottom. The entries read as follows:
Научно-исследовательский институт ковчега [Ark Research Institution]
Урановый рудник Себьян [Sebjan Uranium Mine]
Норинская промышленная недвижимость (Р.А) [Norinsk Industrial Property (R. A)]
The road forked ahead of them, with A.R.I being straight ahead [as the sign had indicated]. Sebjan being behind them and Norinsk being... somewhere, must be a local symbol because it didn't match any of the Federal Progression Committee's legal signages. As they continued up they would spot an interesting sight which was a small pack of wolves, they'd raise their heads and howl at the Sax before scampering away towards the forest down below. It seemed that they were far from the only living things present, because none of the wolves looked to be under-fed.
Varen (Meta-Sax) — 08/06/2023 3:41 PM
Heys Hepa clicked a few times at the wolves howling, "Interesting."
Isal Inta nods in agreement, "I'd have expected the anomalies to have caused significant issues. Do you have a second one, Heys?"
Heys Hepa nods, plucked their second drone from their back. It left two deep imprints where the fleshy biosuit was, "Last one, but yeah. I take it you want them to be followed?"
"Yes. I have the suspicion that if the native life here is able to navigate the anomaly field, there is a reason for it. The protein structure is crude, but clearly causing some sort of adaptation that wasn't there prior."
Kona Kel hums softly to herself, "Up the hill? Or do we chart more of the anomaly field?"
Isal Inta scoops up their little friend and places them snuggly inside the biosuit to rest, "Afield, I believe. We know there isn't a specific concentration, outside of where the drone vanished."
In orbit, Iniy agree, "The statite is showing a clear randomness. Outside of an apparent barrier the lip of the region for reasons I've yet to determine." The SAR cladeship was equipped with a sophisticated network of sensors and sensitive equipment to help find survivors in the case of stellar disasters, but it was no DSRV. It lacked the dedicated facilities - and while it could grow them, it would take time.
He Ge speaks up, "We should proceed as planned; reach the top of the hill, chart any strange anomolous behavior. It isn't outside the realm of probability that the scans from the cladeship are being distorted by the planetary environment somehow."
"We should also consider that the researchers were tapping into something relating to the Phasic Wastes, some sort of spatial echo."
"It's outside of the scope of our abilities. If we locate such, we'll send a request to the Consensus for further aid."
Thus it was decided that they would reach the top of the hill - snowballing ahead, just in case the multiple layouts of sensing from space and on ground missed a wandering anomaly.
Sheng [SD | VA] — 08/06/2023 4:02 PM
The second drone would follow the pack of wolves unhindered, it seemed that the wolves definitely weren't running away from them due to their fairly lax attitude but they were definitely going somewhere. The drone had little trouble following them as they gently weaved in-between trees and frozen rocks, looks like this would be a game of cat and mouse for a little while whilst the drone followed the pack to where ever it was that they were heading.
However as our cast deliberated their next actions something transpired in the background; The distant rumbling pulse that had been happening would suddenly stop all together, leaving only the sounds of the natural world around them to entertain themselves. That was until the storm's ferocity suddenly dropped down several notches with it, going from a raging blizzard down to a gentle snow storm with snowflakes no longer whipping about but instead just gently floating down in the air. The fog that had accompanied the storm also began to quietly lift which slowly expanded their line of sight as they ascended the hill [the snowball method reporting no changes and no other events sticking out at them], by the time they had reached near the top they'd have practically horizon-lines of sight should they wish to look out into the distance for any reason.
And now they could see the laboratory; the supposedly labeled "Ark Research Institution" in the distance in front of them. You could see the rust from here, clearly having long since been neglected by any caring hands. If they had any optical equipment amongst them and zoomed in they'd see that it was practically fallen apart, with cracked exterior tiles and broken windows all around, rusted and destroyed cars still in the parking lot and a most curious sight in tandem.
Towards the checkpoint of the parking lot there was what appeared to be an old military vehicle of some sort, an IFV or similar with four big reinforced wheels on each side and some sort of autocannon turret on top near the front. It was completely rusted and likely would never function ever again, but why was that even there to begin with? However their attention would likely move onto another event that'd happen before their very eyes and ears as a distant thwump would echo out from the direction of the facility and a few seconds later a red flare would illuminate the very complex ahead of them. Something was very clearly active there, but what need was there for the flare? And who was it that was active there? This island was clearly abandoned...
Or was it?
Varen (Meta-Sax) — 08/06/2023 4:51 PM
The Saxheelians all peer at each other when the rhythmic rumble stopped.
"Iniy, can you confirm the vibrations ceased?"
Before they could get a report from the cladeship, He Ge pointed out the flare, "Look!"
"Survivors?"
"After this long, with so many anomalies around?"
"The wolves seem to have survived well enough, they don't look like they're desperate for food."
The collective debated briefly, "Should we retask the drone to see if it can map a way around the anomalies? I'd still be more comfortable making an approach to the facility if and only if we can confirm that Iniy is able to accurately determine anomaly locations."
It wasn't that Isal was untrusting of the cladeship, quite the opposite, but they were a determined mind that practiced caution and methodical science like a personal religion. Understand the area, figure out potential risks, assess for potential barriers, double check.
Kona Kel affirmed their support of this perspective, "Agreed. Given it either trapped or disabled a drone, I'd rather not take any risks with ourselves."
Scanning the horizon, the group setup a small portable sensor, combining biomass from all four of them to get it up and running. The device - if it could be called that - resembled a tripod like stick-bug, antenna wildly moving about as it oriented itself.
"Scan the area would you? Confirm with Iniy that readouts are aligned and oriented properly and give us a second scan on the facilities around us. We'll likely move to determine if anyone is alive first, so stay here."
The insectoid mushine sent a small acknowledgement ping to the four vasudani and went about its work.
Heys Hepa sighed, "Alright, so we're down to a handful of expedition equipment now. What do we need to get some more biomass?"
"Could eat a tree."
They collectively grimace, but given the unknowns, they decide it's probably best not to call down support from the cladeship. No need to risk a scarce resource like that unless necessary.
Sheng [SD | VA] — 08/06/2023 7:55 PM
That was when things started getting odd. As they went about what they were doing they would begin to hear things, things that they shouldn't that were so quiet they were just barely perceptible to them. Things that sounded like children laughing in the distance and the rumble of helicopter engines far away, yet neither of those were present. As they continued to deploy the new sensor device the sounds would only increase in volume until they were loud enough to be heard by all of them clearly in brief episodes... what the fuck was going on?!
Then, a tremendous boom sounded out all around them, the ground shaking as if a meteor had just hit some distance away and the sky suddenly took on a deep blood red colour whilst the strange sounds all ceased. Flashes of thunder and lightning suddenly started appearing around them whilst the snowfall soon also stopped as well, the clouds rumbling above them whilst flashes of amber lightning lit up the sky around them. The Sax vessel
All their instruments would get one last reading before receiving nothing but interference and errors: The anomaly had completely encompassed the entire island in a flash, rushing out from the edges like a nuclear shockwave.
Meanwhile on the ground, the lightning was rapidly intensified and another tremendous boom sounded out once more with the ground shaking even harder. They had to find shelter, immediately, and there was only one enclosed place nearby that would be the safest bet: The laboratory. Judging by the storm's growing intensity they likely had around eight minutes to book the remaining 380 metres to the closest building, that was if they didn't want to try and brave whatever strange anomaly they were experiencing.
Whatever they chose, as they went to enact it the drone operator would likely notice something strange in that this time their drone was completely unharmed. Having been ignored by the raging storm-like anomaly around them, how interesting. Another thing, if any of them had radiation-detecting capabilities then local levels would skyrocket. So much so that if there were any beings susceptible to it outside, judging by how the levels were rising in tandem with the storm's, they wouldn't be alive if they were still outside when whatever the storm was building too happened.
Varen (Meta-Sax) — 08/07/2023 11:53 AM
Every Sax present sensed the radiation levels increase right alongside the change in the sky. Indeed, it seemed that the area was deceptive in its tranquility and age - whatever happened here was still ongoing. Either triggered by their presence, or something else.
"Temporal anomaly?"
"Can't rule it out, but there does seem to be some indication that it's reactive to our presence. Hows stickman?"
Isal checked on the bug-like sensor, "Seems fine. We'll leave them here for now. If there's trouble, go into hibernation mode okay?"
The insectoid trilled a light acknowledgement and continued its sensing.
Curiously, the sound of children and the other noises appeared to be non-localized. It was almost convincing enough to make them think there was an intelligent actor at work. The sequence of events was similar enough to past experiences that it made them debate amongst themselves if it wouldn't be better to try to extricate.
And that was when Iniy informed them of the bubble dome and its sheer size.
"Definitely intelligent action of some kind. An eight of a planetary surface in an instant is no small affair."
"Hm, my drone is fine. No issues colliding with the anomalies."
He Ge spoke up, "Counting less than eight-minutes relative before the anomaly event reaches us."
"Likely to force action from us. Given that there is only the lab in close proximity, it seems plausible that if there is a guiding intelligence, it wants us to go there."
That came with its own set of worries and concerns. The radiation was a light snack for them, but the anomaly storms on the other hand would be extremely worrisome if they could induce a phase change state. Yet, it did nothing to the drone. Which, once again, implied intelligence: discerning between one object and another is not a normal reactive thing.
Looking at each other, they collectively decided that the lab would make the best bet. Thus, the four Meta-Sax exhaled the gas in their lungs, pulled deep from the power inside themselves, and sprinted at astonishing velocity towards the laboratory. As they reached hills and deeper inclines, they simply leapt like oversized ticks. With time of the essence, there was no sense waiting - even if someone was watching them.
Sheng [SD | VA] — 08/07/2023 5:00 PM
As the Sax deliberated amongst themselves the lightning continued to increase, red bolts now crackling amongst the clouds with sinister intent that occasionally struck down against the ground with resounding booms. On the adjacent hill behind the laboratory they were heading too a distant thump rang out once again and a few seconds later another flare illuminated the dark crimson sky, more thumps sounded off to their distant right and left and more flares started lighting up on the horizon. Clearly there was some sort of surviving population, even though it was likely minuscule. I mean what else could be sending up this many flares consecutively?
Now that they were just a ways away from the laboratory they’d get a clear view of the complex, which was two central buildings surrounded by what looked to be a concrete & razor wire tipped fence. At the checkpoint there were rusted tank stoppers placed onto the cracked and neglected road that led into the facility. There was a small sign before the collapsed metal pole that normally would have denied entry, requiring an employee to press a button inside of the guard house which would then raise the bar. As they proceeded in they’d see the main buildings on their right and left, both covered in cracked tiles and rust. The Potius Cras logo was hanging on by warped and torn cables, looking days away from falling off completely. As they proceeded they’d however suddenly be interrupted by the sounds of a rusted door opening to their right, two humanoid figures stood in the now opened door way and hastily waved at them to come in.
They were both female, with the one on the right wearing a thick plaid jacket and worn blue jeans stuffed into aged black combat boots that were quite scuffed and far from polished, a brown worn beanie and an opaque full-face gas mask that still looked functional but was clearly outdated, with long black and relatively clean hair hanging free down to her shoulders underneath the beanie. Interestingly enough there were also two small fuzzy black… canine ears? Something of that style sticking out from shoddily cut holes in said beanie. She had a hand extended out to them which was covered by a thick black leather glove that disappeared under her sleeve.
Meanwhile the one by her side was wearing a severely worn grey hoodie and arctic digital combat pants that had several signs of poorly stitched repair efforts and a few duct-tape covered tears. She had on a pair of winter hiking boots and woolen mittens with a similar opaque gas mask and her hood up, she had no "extra parts" or anything similar to that nature and instead of an out-reached arm she merely gestured to them again before shouting out them "Hurry up and get in damnit! I am NOT cleaning any more bodies off the ground today!"
Varen (Meta-Sax) — 08/07/2023 5:12 PM
All four Saxheelians paused for a brief moment to process the surprise at seeing a pair of near-humans in the area. They'd had little indication from their senses and other remote platforms of actual surviving people and were not prone to trusting external stimuli without a source.
So to see two there, waving frantically for them to enter a shed caused them to evaluate their situation once again.
Looking at each other, they sent simple messages back and forth using light waves that were invisible to most, "Should we?"
"It is likely to be a component of the overall experience. I suggest we do. It is possible, however remote, that this is genuine as well. They could be survivors."
"Of this level of anomaly?.."
"We are here, are we not?"
"Point taken."
To anyone staring at them without the proper equipment, it simply looked like they blinked at each other before nodding at the women and filing inside. The Saxheelians were all dressed in a combination of leathery looking suits and an oddly blending cluster of clothes, as though it merged directly into the skin. Their heads were covered in a semi-transparent membrane and though all simian-humanoid, they were very clearly alien beings.
That they would be invited in so readily, in the face of a massive storm like this and no doubt unknown conditions raised considerable suspicion among the group - though they kept this to themselves.
In orbit Iniy reported no change in conditions, only a gradual worsening. The Consensus connection was, mercifully clear. Should that be severed, they would be effectively braindead -- a thought that left the cladeship frantic to shore up that nodal point.
Once inside Kona Kel looked at the two women again, softly introducing themselves, "Hello. Thank you for your aid. I am Kona Kel, and these are my peers: Heys Hepa, He Ge, and Isal Inta. We are Saxheelians, from a nearby search and rescue mission. We detected the distress call and came to assist."
Sheng [SD | VA] — 08/07/2023 5:55 PM
The two hastily took off their gas masks, revealing human faces, and clipped the straps to karabiners on their belt before the one with the ears called out down the hallway "BUILDING CLOSED, BRACE FOR EMISSION!" and after a few seconds a male voice shouted back "WE'RE ALL GOOD HERE, TAKE COVER!"
They ignored the four Sax initially but rapidly motioned for them to take cover before they themselves dropped down onto the ground and put their hands over the ears, meanwhile a last rumble echoed outside and the ground started to shake. It was gentle at first but quickly built up to a medium sized earthquake until it all stopped, the storm, the shaking, the sounds, it was perfectly quiet.
One would think that storm had passed, until if they looked outside they'd see a massive shockwave hurtling towards them at supersonic speeds. It struck the complex like a truck, cracking some of the windows and blowing a few pieces of debris around as if they were leaves. It sounded like a nuke going off to those inside the building with a deep rumble echoing out for a few seconds afterwards, the two on the ground tensed up in fear after it was done. It seemed it still wasn't over, but if they'd look outside they'd suddenly be subjected to an intense blinding red light going off somewhere in the far distance followed by another shockwave that slammed into the complex, cracking the windows even more and shoving some of the rusted car wrecks a few inches inward.
The light began to fade in the distance, revealing a glowing orange/red mushroom-like cloud that was slowly rising up into the air. Sparks of red lightning appearing around it as the sky slowly started to return to it's normal nighttime configuration, the cloud having been cleared by the anomalous event to reveal quite a pretty nice sky. The two shakily pushed themselves up and a man came running in from the hallway, he had a black heavily worn plate carrier over a grey winter coat and snow-pants along with thick winter boots. He also had a ushanka-style hat on and had a black plastic holster laid over the plate carrier that had some sort of polymer pistol occupying it. He quickly rushed over and helped the two girls up onto their feet and saying hushed words before the three of them turned to look at the Sax with suspicious expressions.
After a minute the male extended a cautious hand towards Kona Kel and said "Call me Damien, one of Everett's inner circle at the Ranger Camp... Forgive me for saying but you four don't exactly look like you're from around here, are you Union? Capitol? Don't necessarily strike me as Tria-" He was cut off by the one with the ears smacking him lightly on the shoulder before saying "No Damien, they're Saxheelians. They picked up some sort of distress call and came down to see what was up."
Damien looked over at her and nodded before stepping back and resting his hands on his hips, the woman promptly stepped over and also extended her hand before introducing herself "You can call me Ms. Fortune, Mutant Hunter and part-time medic for the Rangers. We're glad you're here but... we never put out no distress call, hell I didn't even know it was possible for any signals to breach atmosphere... Not for lack of tryin' either.. Damien, you know who could have that kinda' capability?"
Damien reached up and scratched as his chin before he answered "Crow's been working on getting that big radio antenna working up at Tara Trader for the past few weeks, he might have finally gotten the damn thing running. There's also the V.S.S.R which have always claimed that they still have control over some of the derelict satellites that were in orbit before the breach- oh, yeah we're going to have to fill you four Sax in on the history here. That's gonna be a long conversation so I'm just gonna ask you all now, what do you wanna know?"
Varen (Meta-Sax) — 08/07/2023 6:20 PM
As Damien reaches up to scratch his chin, movement stalls, slows, grinds and finally appears trapped. The roar and thump of the anomaly and its storm is replaced by a different thumping. Eye muscles move minutely, sending pulses to their peers as the Saxheelians converse with themselves quickly in the short-wave light frequency.
"Survivors indeed."
"Alright, so clearly they presumed no signals could breech. We had clear contact with probes and data up until we passed a certain point, so I would assume we're in some subpocket. Perhaps a bubble inside a bubble."
"Right. Guess we work with the locals, gather data, figure out a solution and get them off world. Iniy?"
The cladeship reacts, "Yes, I follow. I'll prepare containment pods and medical vacuules for when the anomalies subside.*"
A hand reaches the chin at last as Kona Kel accepts the grip from both Damien and Ms. Fortune both. They measure their grip with some subtle twitch reactions, to gauge if they were really human and really here before letting go, "Of course, it's not a problem. We didn't know what to expect. The only message we received was that there was some sort of disaster, and that there were survivors."
"This area of space is remote, we weren't expecting to encounter anyone, so you'll forgive us our unusual appearances."
Diplomacy mostly done with, Heys Hepa puts his hands on his hips and nods, "Lets start with what was the first sign of trouble? Ah, and as a heads up, we didn't detect any satellites in orbit. But, that might be jumping ahead there, so why don't we start from the beginning?"
Sheng [SD | VA] — 08/07/2023 6:59 PM
Their grip was indeed normal for Humans and they were indeed there, in fact every sign available pointed to the fact that they were Human [or at least close enough of one in the case of the ears]. Damien nodded to what they said before looking around and spotting a half blown apart rusted barrel, pulling it over and sitting down before he looked at the two girls and motioned with his head towards the hall. They nodded before starting to walk away, Fortune however stopped and looked back at them before saying "We'll be on the second floor, you need anything just holler, m'k?" And then dissapeared around a corner.
Damien let out a sigh before beginning. "No one knows what truly happened, no one we encountered anyway. Most of us are expatriates from pretty much all walks of life, mostly Human or Human adjacent. All humanoid though, that was the Corporation's rule that they needed humanoid. We were told that we were just general staff for a new colony that was apparently being set up here but that was deduced as bullshit after a couple years. The 'Second Dawn' or whatever they were called kept showing up with navy ships and tanks and shit and taking deliveries from this here laboratory via convoy."
He reached out and slapped a gloved hand against the wall a few times to accentuate his point before continuing. "All the heavy lifting was done by the Potius Cras Namalsk Division, some sort of militant sub-faction of the Potius Cras Corporation. They ran the A-R-I, which is here, and the three 'A-Zones' which no one was allowed near. One day a really bad blizzard started up, went on for nearly a month straight before a massive explosion happened about five hundred metres north of here nestled in-between some hills at one of the 'A-Zones', A-One they called it. After that they shut down the lab and then all our communication got cut off. No ANC-net, no internet, nothing. Whole planet goes radio silent with the only things still working are actual radios."
He let out a sigh and shook his head "Then the first emission happened, or that's what we call it anyway. Destroyed a good bit of country and killed so... so many people. Anyone who was caught outside just started coughing up blood and seizing before they just... stopped. Then the weather worsened and the storm started, it stops and goes but it's constant out in the iceflats. We were completely cut off from the other islands, no one came down from space either. That's when the anarchy started, everything collapsed a month after that and it was every man for himself. That was fifteen years ago."
He let what he had just said sink in, that they had been enduring these frankly apocalyptic conditions for so long. Then he continued "Me, Everett and a few others built a scrap city on the western side of Tara Bridge. Made a community out of it and called it Ranger Camp during the first two years, but then the mutants came. Furless wolves, scaled deers with six eyes and the strength of a bear, people covered in black goo with tentacles for mouths, shit straight out of nightmares. Good people died in those years but we got things under wraps and formed the mutant hunters, people who were skilled in fighting that would hunt them y'know?"
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a flask, taking a sip before putting it back into his pocket and continuing "We got about ninety people at the Ranger Camp, but there are other communities out there. Vorkuta got a little community inside the city, die hard communists who call themselves the Vorkutan Socialist Survivor's Republic, or V-S-S-R. Good people, led by Yuri Oslov but a bit trigger happy Then there's the cultists south of Tara Bridge, they worship some sort of monument in the hills and live in the metro. They're bat-shit insane, they kill anyone who crosses into their territory and crucify them to trees on the edge to mark it. They're led by 'Nightshade' this- crazy fuck who wears a human skull mask and has a sword laced with some sort of poison. Then there's Tara Trader led by Crow, he used to be a Ranger but wanted to live a quieter life so he moved to Tara Hill and started a shop with this guy named Geo. They got a good thing going there now, they serve everyone equally and their prices are good. Even the cultists leave them alone, gotta get there ammo from somewhere right? Then there's the Reapers. Bunch of weird military-like guys who all wear skull masks, they do freelance security gigs and other crazy shit like that. We hire them from time to time to scout out a place before we go in looting. But then... then there's Blackout."
He shook his head with an aggravated expression before continuing "We don't know their actual name. Bunch of guys in black tactical gear that show up to places randomly every now and then, demanding blood samples and information. They got clean and barely worn equipment, uniform kit, they look professional and they don't fuck around. A few years back the V-S-S-R tried to hold them up for taking blood from one of their guys without asking, they came back with a fucking tank and blew one of their buildings down as a message. A tank, a fucking tank! The only working vehicles we got now are cheap diesel ones that survived the emissions and they had a working tank! Shit's crazy I tell you, there's something going on with them. We heard rumours a few days ago too, one of our patrols came back with a picture of a closed off unnamed city that had a building with lights on the top floor, working electricity is non-existent now so some of our guys are thinking it's where Blackout is based out of"
Varen (Meta-Sax) — 08/07/2023 7:23 PM
As Damien was speaking, Kona was relaying everything up to the cladeship.
"Can you confirm?"
"I cannot confirm any of this information with the sensor readouts that I have. The plant remains partially enshrouded, and what is not is as we found it. There is no evidence of a long-standing colony here."
In real-time, Isal spoke up, "That is quite a significant change in events. The fact that any of you have survived here with the rate of anomaly creation is nothing short of miraculous. We believe that you are trapped in some sort of bubble - the nature of it and its composition we cannot say, as our ship is unable to penetrate it."
"You said that these well-equipped individuals come demanding blood samples.. I'm a biologist and xenospecialist, would you mind if I examined your own blood? I won't need a sample, simply permission to look deeper."
"Despite the worm finding nothing unusual beyond the high jacket proteins, I suspect we may get more out of the humanoids. Though, I also worry this is a side effect of the larger anomaly. Turn on constant cell feedback and remain alert. We'll go into fin-mode as needed."
The rest of the team acknowledged Isal's suggestion while Heys leans against the wall, "By the by, you said that there were communists, cultists, and yourselves. What are you guys? Its our nature to try to piece things back together when they've been broken, and given that there's abominations running around, collective defense is rational."
He holds up a hand quickly, "With other rational people, of course. I don't mean the cultist guys or any crazy murderers. But why not collaborate more closely with the communists? Pool resources."
Sheng [SD | VA] — 08/07/2023 9:48 PM
Damien nodded along with what Isal was saying before tensing up at the question about his blood. Why did some Alien want to examine it? He stared at Isal inquisitively for a second before hesitantly answering "Perhaps in time, Blackout has committed some egregious things to get a hold of our blood and I'm not exactly comfortable with letting someone I don't know go poking around or inspecting it. No offense."
Damien then looked towards Heys before raising an eyebrow inquisitively, he had just answered his question... Was he not paying attention? Or was he merely misunderstanding. "We're Mutant Hunters and Scavengers... I already said that, we go out and clear out places of Mutants and take whatever's left. We keep some of it, then some goes to those in need and the rest usually goes to Tara Trader. And don't take this the wrong way but while it may be your guy's nature, us Humans aren't exactly good at the whole 'collective good' thing."
He reached up and scratched at his chin a little bit before answering him "They're not exactly good at keeping things mellow y'know. Like we're kind of friends and we don't fuck with each other but between all the random survivors and stuff like that we just don't really have the incentive too, if anything it'd cost more then we would gain from it."
It was at that moment that Fortune decided for some reason to return, knocking on the wall lightly to announce her presence before looking to Damien and saying "We got a problem, we were just on the radio with Everett and there was an incident with Jerry. Salem's been shot and one of Crow's guys just reported seeing a bunch of people in black tactical shit crossing the northern Tara land bridge, but he can't get close enough to confirm if it's blackout or not. Either way they all got rifles and armour and they're heading towards Tara."
Damien looked up at her before letting out a muffle "fuck..." and pushing himself up off of the barrel. He made to go to her before turning back towards the four Sax, staring at them hesitantly before reaching behind him to his backpack and pulling out a paper map. He approached them before unfolding it and holding it out to them and pointing at a spot on it and saying "This is Ranger Camp. When I get back I will let Everett know that you can be trusted with entry. I gotta go see what the fuck is up and about and none of you look ready to get involved. Best of luck to you four, I hope to see you again soon."
With that he approached Fortune and whispered something to her before they both nodded and split off, Fortune catching a radio that was tossed to her by someone in the stairwell who then stepped out to reveal themself as the other girl that they had met before they both proceeded across the hall and out of the other side's door. However before Damien joined them he looked back at them shouted "If you want to fix that equipment situation then head to B-K-L-oh-one! It's an abandoned military base on that mountain south of here, might find something useful. Though you may want to check other places out before that, it can be a bit of danger zone sometimes!"
Then with that he raced out to join with the other two, leaving the four Sax alone once more.
Varen (Meta-Sax) — 08/09/2023 10:05 AM
Left to themselves rather abruptly, the Sax turned to look at each other.
Heys shrugged, "Guess we don't come across as part of the family."
The comment made the others chuckle, for despite appearances, they were still cousins of humanity and could relate better than Damien suspected. However, despite that kinship, they were still Saxheelian first and foremost, and decided to assist the local community before settling into the more comfortable pattern of exploration and research.
"Iniy?"
Iniy pinged a response back, "Channels appear to be clear still across the Consensus. I'm creating additional buffers, in case you get cut off. It won't outright kill you if that happens, at least, not immediately.. I'm also sending a request for assistance from the hospital ship should that need present it."
A sobering thought, but a logical one. They'd protect each other as best they could in the community, with whatever resources that they had access to. That extended to these peoples here as well - and with that in mind, He Ge moved to the middle of the group.
"Shall we?"
Holding up her hand, fingers extended, she waited for the other three to connect their finger tips individually. Smiles spread across the team and the brief physical contact let them sense each others thoughts much more directly. They were of one mind on their decision to aid.
"B-K-L-oh-one. South of here he said."
"Right. There's some other locations on route as well."
"Think any are worth deviating to?"
"Possibly.. the lab here is still a good spot to investigate as well."
"Should we consider alternative attire?.."
"No, we don't want to be mistaken as locals."
Nodding together, they moved out of the building and decided to head in the southern direction. It was a surprise that Damien and the other humans expressed no concerns about the massive radiation spike, given that the southern direction where Ranger Camp was appeared to be close to the rad epicenter.
Varen (Meta-Sax) — 08/09/2023 10:14 AM
Isal made a mental note to cook up some additional anti-rad organisms to help anyone they came across if they showed sign of radiation poisoning.
Collectively, they were entirely unconcerned about the rad levels, the stuff served as food for them. Uranium cupcakes were, in fact, a favorite vasudani treat. A thought that caused a chuckle to ripple across the vasudani group as they each thought of that quirk in their own way.
"Supply depot?"
"Yeah."
Heys took point as the official Pathfinder of the group, scooping up snowballs as soon as they were out of the research compounds boundaries. They aimed for the hill they had arrived at previously, to rendevouz with their bug sensor and to have a good spot to do some protean shifting into new forms. Something more benign, unlikely to draw unwelcome attention, and a bit faster on their feet.
Those wolves had seemed reasonable enough, and given that Heys still had his drone following the original pack, it seemed logical.
Shifting new forms was something both pleasurable and an act of will - each vasudani dropped to all fours, quickly shifting their skin and muscle to suit their disguises. They shared the visual forms of the pack that Heys discovered and that would be sufficient for their deeper explorations into the area.
Sheng [SD | VA] — 08/09/2023 10:51 AM
Once they were outside they'd finally be treated to the beauty of Namalsk. With wisps of snow drifted across the ground as a few idle snowflakes continued to weave around them, but the sky was easily the most impressive. Completely clear almost like glass due to the lack of light pollution, with the galactic skybox open for all who looked up to see. This planet could have been a massive tourist attraction were it not for... well, unkind events. Not a cloud was in sight as they made their journey away from the laboratory, crossing the partially frozen landscape that was now kept in an almost ironic state of calm.
As made to retrieve their little sensor friend and shifted their forms, an even more beautiful sight would grace their presence; An aurora borealis. Out of seemingly nowhere, orange and green waves of light would suddenly materialize high up in the sky above them. Performing a slow methodical dance for the cold little island below, as if it were a cosmic apology for all the hardships those that still resided there had endured. Passing through a lightly bundled spruce forest due south, a massive radio antenna would reveal itself atop a snow-covered mountain in the distance: BK-L01.
Painted in a subtly maroon with white bands around it, likely to alert other aircraft of its existence, it stood out like an inverted icicle amongst the natural scenery around them. Portions of another concrete-like fence poked up above obscuring geography as they ascended toward it. As they did so, a significantly less welcoming sound would start rattling in the far, far distance beyond the supposedly abandoned military base. Distant cracks and booms of rifle fire graced their ears, an unsubtle reminder that despite its looks they were not in a pleasant place. It continued for around 5 minutes as they got closer to the peak of the mountain, the temperature dropping with every metre they ascended and the snow becoming harder and harder.
Eventually, the time between shots grew to the point it seemed like they had stopped altogether, and they did. Leaving the Sax to the sounds of nothing but nature around them once again, then finally did they crest the peak and finally get a good look at the military base ahead of them. A cracked and worn concrete fence surrounded it, with a singular paved road leading up to a checkpoint long since abandoned. This time a wire fence gate "blocked" their entry, but there was no one to stop them from simply sliding it open and entering themselves. Even the checkpoint looked unlocked with the door slightly ajar and the windows covered in dust and grime. Little was visible behind the metre-and-a-half concrete barrier that surrounded the base, they'd have to enter to see anything more.
Guess it was time to start looking or do whatever it was they had come there to do.
Varen (Meta-Sax) — 08/10/2023 8:42 PM
The wolves split up into pairs - He Ge and Heys Hepa went off to the opposite side of the fenced in area, sniffing around to see what they could detect regarding recent presence.
The other two simply hopped the fence. Something so simple was no barrier to them, nor did they believe that it would prove particular unusual for a pair of wolves to do so. They would maintain the guise among themselves until they'd found their quarry - the parts required to assist in repairs.
In addition, they would be searching for any unique clues in the depot. Some indication as to what these anomolies were occurring and what they could mean in the long run. It was unlikely that the planet had been abandoned completely all this time - the presence of the men in black was sufficient circumstantial evidence for them to conclude that there were actors still involved.
Within the Consensus, they communicated briefly.
"We'll need to be careful if the recent gunshots were anything to go by."
"Ballistics would only do superficial damage."
"Yet, that alone could result in escalation. Seeing a bullet pass through one of us may well do more damage to our credibility with the humans than simply falling over and playing dead."
Point conceded, Heys and He Ge continued their search inside.
Sheng [SD | VA] — 08/10/2023 9:23 PM
The first pair would find little in the ways of recent visitors, the scents that were present were easily a week old if not longer. As the second pair hopped the fence they'd be treated to a stark sight; a very destroyed and outdated model 65 Main Combat Vehicle. It was the Executive Protection Agencies first real breakthrough with a modern MBT that wasn't a pre-anc era holdover, twenty years ago they saw very heavy use by the Potius Cras Corporation in low-activity regions. It's presence only cementing what they already knew, hell even the pink triangle logo was still partially visible on the left side of the scorched to fuck hull.
Speaking of the damage, this thing had seen some action. Spent casings frozen to ground were littered all around, the same calibre as the broken top-mounted machine gun on the vehicle itself. There was a hole on the top right corner of the turret where it appeared that something had punched through and gone straight out the other side, the adjacent armoured corner and portion of tracks appearing to have been blown off by the projectiles exit. The rear doors which the crew could use to escape were left wide open but judging by the upper torso of a frozen skeleton with some pieces of charred fabric still clinging to the clearly aged bones, it was not quite used fast enough.
All around the base there were abandoned surplus EPA vehicles, though the rest were light transport cars that weren't even armoured. Merely resting in parking spaces having long since rusted past the point of wreckage, some having bullet holes sticking out of various points. As they looked around there'd be little worth scavenging, however near the checkpoint they'd find a black and slightly frost-burned plate carrier that still appeared serviceable, ripe for the taking. Inside the checkpoint itself they'd find a broken overtuned chair and a somehow still standing metal table, a field radio resting on top that was rusted and slightly dented from various impacts over the years. They found nothing of use.
Leaving the checkpoint and entering the main building they'd find more of the same; surplus military equipment long since having decayed past usefulness but if they opened some of the closed crates they'd find a few worn articles of camoflauged clothing that were still serviceable. There was enough for each of them to get a new outfit more in-tune with the local's dress and some light armour if they wanted. But it was what was downstairs that would likely peak their interest.
Down a flight of stairs in the centre building they'd be met with a vault door, heavily rusted but it still appeared to be firm on it's hinges and would likely open if unlocked, however the problem came in that it was very obviously frozen in place. It was no wonder it was untouched by those who came before, no ordinary Human had the strength to simply pry what had to be over a thousand kilogrammes of frozen armoured door open. However they were not normal people now were they? It'd take all four of them to get it open, two to see to the two valves on the top and bottom, one to break the ice and the last to open the door. There was also writing on the door in the Reborn's native language: "Реле стратегической связи: Только командный персонал, предъявите удостоверение личности контролеру дверей на контрольно-пропускном пункте Аскос, чтобы получить возможность входа."
On another note, there were crates that were locked in a similar style around them. These could be opened by a single of any of the sax and looked to be weapons crates, the contents were likely well preserved judging by how solidly sealed these crates were. There was also writing on the side of these as well which read out as "30 шт. Штурмовая винтовка модели КА-109. Требуются боеприпасы калибра 5,56x45. Магазин на 200 патронов на 30 патронов входит в комплект поставки. Ключ смотрите у оружейника."
Varen (Meta-Sax) — 08/13/2023 1:21 PM
Collecting themselves at the front of the vault, the group of Saxheelians looked at each other, communicating in the Consensus they'd established locally.
"So, this seems important."
"Mildly. Shall we open it?"
Kona debated briefly. The location clearly seemed to be abandoned, and there were no clear scents indicating recent interest or activity. It was likely that most had simply assumed the area was picked clean and never bothered. While the crates with their weapons would no doubt be helpful to the locals in their defense, Kona - and the rest - found the notion distasteful.
"While they will have utility for the humans, I do not desire to transport weapons for them. We can notify them of the location."
"They likely won't have the energy or peoples to spare towards the task, Kona Kel."
Isal's point stood unconstested for an awkward moment, then Heys spoke up, "I shall do it. We Pathfinders are trained for such things. Let us see to the door, and be mindful of whatever it was that tore through that tank."
Moving forms was a simple affair. All matter, all energy was simply an act of dynamis - of exerting will within a space constrained by nothing more than the boundaries of interactions of elementary material. A Saxheelians body was no different than a humans in that way. What mattered, rather, was the sheer precision of their control over themselves - the conscious component of it.
For each of them compelled cells, stoked fires of atomic transmutation, parted seals of newtonian fluids that served the purpose of blood. Minds untouched by every transformation thrummed the instrument of knowledge - recalling the particular notes that led the way to who they had been when they first landed on this strange world of strangers.
Wolves were not so distant from a human from to as require overly taxing efforts, and thus the shift back took only ten minutes in The Real. Once more humanity's cousins, they each gripped the vault door and pulled in unity.
Sheng [SD | VA] — 08/13/2023 6:18 PM
Once the door was opened the Sax would be treated to quite the interesting sight: A singular room about 6 metres by 6 metres that would be pitch black for normal humans due to the lack of light, however within a few seconds a lound clunking noise sounded from the roof and a yellow light flickered briefly before finally turning on and illuminating the room with a dim yellow glow and a quiet electric hum. Immediately revealed was the opposite end of the room which had servers on both corners and large outdated computes extended from the wall, the servers fans could be heard starting up as the screens blinked in and out of life for a few brief moments before they too switched on.
To their left were various pieces of remarkably well preserved field-radio equipment as well as what looked like map cases stuck in a four-door black grated locker. The batteries were probably dead but if they found some they might be able to power the equipment, meanwhile the maps would be outdated but should still serve the team remarkably well should they decide to take any of that with them. The right side however held another four door locker that was locked and filled with various chest rigs, helmets, night vision goggles and tactical overalls. Each piece of equipment had patches either sewn or sticked on of the Potius Cras logo, this type of equipment must have been priceless with the current situation on the island.
This kind of armour and technology? Judging by what they had seen and heard must have been absolutely unheard of. There were also clear glass vials filled with a subtly glowing white liquid, if any of the Sax were familiar with the Reborn then they'd know that these were coolant injections which served a similar function as epinephrine to them. However they'd be interrupted by a locked pod to the right of that locker that hummed briefly before the outer shell burst apart. Co2 ejecting from the newly opened space and obscuring the figure that stepped out, until it's head looked up and straight at them. A faint red dot coming from what appeared to be some sort of camera-eye, the gas dissipating as it revealed what looked to be an extremely primitive combat droid equipped with very light armour and tactical webbing.
The droid merely looked at them before tilting it's head in curiousity before beeping something out to them. Then shaking it's head and relaxing it's stance before beeping a few more times and turning back around and clambering back into it's now destroyed pod, resting it's head against the cushioned interior and seemingly just... standing there and ignoring them. How peculiar...
Varen (Meta-Sax) — 08/15/2023 8:43 PM
He Ge approaches the area where the droid waits, observing it at a fairly easy telescopic distance without putting herself in any imminent danger should the droid reactivate. Not that the thing seemed exactly dangerous, but one can never be too careful when such elements as these anomalies are in play.
"Seems fairly old."
She glances instinctively at the sound she already knows is Isal, nodding, "Yes, my guess is that it's pre-event. If Damien is anything to go by, that was some years ago relatively speaking. And the equipment," she points at the Potius crates, "imply that they are the ones who built or managed this place. Making our robotic friend here the closest thing to a potential living witness."
"...Which leads to our first problem."
Turning, she faces the others, "We're not exactly good with machines."
Kona Kel hums, "Perhaps, but this isn't Caretaker level technology by any means. May as well be clockwork."
Heys Hepa laughs a little as he shuffles up to stand next to He Ge. His eyes squint at the machine and he runs it through a simple set of spectrographic analysis and metallurgic analysis visually. His mind, a prodigious thing by any measure, rumbles through centuries of records stored in The Flow, piecing together analogous machines encountered over the millennia.
"Well. We're likely to not have a better opportunity to discover accurate intelligence on the nature of the event that happened here. Given it didn't attack us, it seems to be programmed for specific response situations."
Isal Inta raises a hand from the back as he lifts up one of the curious white liquid viles, "I'll assume that the vials here are related to the machines. We know that the people here are human, but Second Dawn citizens also count androids among their ranks."
Kona Kel, however, ignored most of that, focusing instead on the equipment. She looks at the map, memorizing it immediately before placing it inside a pouch that she conjured along her leg.
"Heys, see if you can juice the computers. Plug it in to an arterial and find a compatible pathway for the neotic induction."
Nodding, the Pathfinder walked over to the field-radio equipment, scanning them visually before moving on to the computers. While they were dead - likely from no power - the Saxheelians themselves could act as a battery in such an instance. Nuclear fusion was their cellular motif of choice, lending considerable quantities.
Touching the nearest one with a fingertip, Heys Hepa let himself slowly bleed into the machine. The tip of the finder melted like wax while individual cells migrated into the cracks of the device. With his mind, he controlled each and every one - guiding them towards circuits, conductors, paths, channels. Slowly, he'd work towards repowering and booting up the device, though he would be unable to move while doing so.
Kona Kel observed him for a moment then looked back at the other gear, "We should bring this with us to Damien and the others. Not only will it help them against the abominations, but it will increase our alien-cache-rate-positive."
The other two agreed, leading them to pack as much of the gear as they could in the available containers around the room. While they had the capacity to simply shed a ream of skin and use it as a tarp, they decided that might come across.. poorly.. with the locals.
Sheng [SD | VA] — 08/15/2023 9:39 PM
The computer’s screen flickered before lighting up and displaying a rather dated graphic of the Potius Cras logo with the name of the company written below in the Reborn’s native language. It played a little jingle before the computer then opened up a command window all by itself and code started pasting into the box. This continued for another few seconds before the screen suddenly started playing a video unprompted.
The video started showing what appeared to be a Reborn in a lab coat hastily typing at the keyboard and then backing away so that they were entirely in view. In the background, muffled shouting could be heard behind the vault door outside of the room and was quickly followed by automatic gunfire, the scientist flinching and looking back before returning his gaze to the camera. The Reborn adjusted their coat before they began to speak “Callsign is Artyom, Potius Cras Research Division working on the” and then the computer froze, seemingly about to crash before the video tab closed itself and suddenly two documents opened themselves and started slowly scrolling. At the bottom, a text bar appeared asking for confirmation and approval, perhaps before sending the orders out. Or maybe something else entirely. Nevertheless, the computer remained in this state, the documents free to interact with and examine for as long as the Sax wished.
Meanwhile, the Sax playing as movers did their job unhindered, all the gear they could carry was easily taken. However, their examinations of the droid proved to be quite interesting; its materials were standard metals and the circuity (while primitive) was fairly standard if not outdated in design. But the origin of the materials was from the Second Dawn’s core, specifically from the Ravine System due to the high amount of trace cosmoline-like residue on the surface of its exterior and inside the pod itself. The Droid completely ignored their presence although it did look towards the computer once it turned on, emitting a pleased beep before looking back forward and rendering itself immobile once more.
However before they had a chance to further interact with the droid, the radio equipment they couldn’t take suddenly crackled to life and a gruff Human voice spoke a few moments later: “This is Masking-Actual to High Tower, objective completed. Note; we have detected technological activity from B-Point Alpha, en route to investigate, E-T-A ten minutes.”
It seemed their poking about with the computers had not gone as unnoticed as one may have originally thought…
Varen (Meta-Sax) — 08/17/2023 9:40 AM
The sound coming from the radio equipment drew their attention immediately. Kona Kel stared at the console for a moment then turned to the others, "Well that ours deadline. We'll move a little slower than normal with the gear on it, best to remain bipedal. We can double time it to the main camp."
Heys Hepa pointed at the droid, "And our friend here?"
Kona Kel shrugs, "Ask it if it won't mind coming with us."
Heys Hepa nodded, taking a moment to copy the data from the computer terminal. While disappointed that the video recording appeared to be unsalvageable, they did at least have documents that gave them a better idea of what was going on. Whoever these people were, they seemed responsible for the catastrophe to some degree.
Sending the information to the others via the localized Consensus, he tapped the container the droid was in, "Hey, sleepy head, wanna come with us? The other folks heading over this way seem to hate technology a bit, I'd rather not see you scrapped. I can carry ya the whole way too."
"Hey bossgirl-"
"Don't call me that."
"-what if this little fella says no?"
"...Bring it anyways. This is our only living witness."
Decided on a course of action, the team swiftly begins removing indications of their presence. They only need to wait for a response from the droid, to see if it will affirm to coming with them voluntarily or if they'll need to bring it along in a stasis field.
"IRF for something so minor.."
"Don't complain."
"Alright, we have the gear? Good. Once our droid friend gives us an answer, we'll replace the door. Heys, recall your drone. Have it shift into a bird or something similar and stick it up in one of the nearby trees as lookout."
Heys Hepa nods, focusing inwardly on the magnetic wormhole connection to the drone. He sent a request to it, feeling a ping in response as it abruptly changed course from following the wolves. With at least some of the anomalies mapped, the hope was it could make it safely.
Sheng [SD | VA] — 08/17/2023 10:15 AM
The Droid suddenly looked to the one that spoke to it and seemingly just stared at it for a few seconds before it stepped out from the pod again, ignoring them all as it walked out of the room and to one of the crates containing that contained the weapons and reaching in, grabbing a hold of one and slinging it over it's back before reaching down and grabbing a handful of magazines. It then walked back into the room and reached into he containers the Sax were using and pulled out a compact webbing vest from it, slinging it over it's chest and slotting the magazines inside of it except for one.
It unslung the rifle and smoothly inserted the magazine and racked the bolt back before slinging the rifle back over it's shoulder and clicking it's heels together as it faced the four Sax, then speaking in a heavily robotic tone: "AX.10V Model 11 Tactical Unit reporting at full duty capacity. Contact with Corporate Command lost, defaulting to public-aide operations. Ready for service." It then gave an emotionless, crisp salute to them before promptly turning around and beginning to march out of the bunker and up the stairs to the main building. Looks like it would be coming along, then.
Meanwhile the Drone would make it almost more then halfway unhindered, though when it started coasting around the base of the mountain it would witness a concerning sight: Ten men in all-black tactical gear with gas masks on were jogging up the western face of the mountain towards the compound that they were presently in, assault rifles in hand. They had to leave the facility immediately if they wanted to avoid the contingent approaching them. The drone would not be spotted as it made the rest of the way back to the four Sax, allowing for safe recollection whenever they wished.
Cleaning the room of any evidence that they were there was also incredibly easy, no one had entered the room for quite some time so it was likely that those coming to investigate didn't even know what the interior of the room looked like anyway. No one would find any trace that they were even there. The Droid stood waiting for orders at the top of the stairs, a robotic hand holding the strap of it's rifle as it just stood there eerily. Definitely not the brightest bulb off the tree, I tell you that.
Varen (Meta-Sax) — 08/18/2023 9:23 PM
Heys Hepa laughs a bit as the droid just valiantly sallies forth, "Well, I guess that solves that dilemma for us."
His laughter ends, however, as the drone's report reaches him. Swiftly, he switches to Consensus communications for speed and informs the others of the rapid approach of unknown humanoids. They weren't particularly scared of having to deal with them, but the potential ramifications worried the group enough to make them commit to covering their tracks as much as possible.
Collectively, they exited the room and replaced the door, stuffing it back in place before rushing up the stairs to join the robot.
"Keep up!"
Quip given, the Saxheelians proceed into a quick sprint, leaping over the wall in the opposite direction and further down the mountainside. Deciding the best course of action would be to bring the supplies to Ranger, the group circled low and around south before moving for the settlement.
Heys Hepa kept his bird-drone tagging along the humanoids, but made sure it kept a safe distance. It would be good to figure out where they were from and what they might do when they arrived.
The droid, meanwhile, was sandwiched in the middle of their group. Anytime it fell behind or was too slow, it'd find itself plucked up from the ground and transported with the Saxheelians before being let back down to keep up.
"Think they'll like the presents?"
"One can hope. We'll need cache-positive here."
In orbit, the cladeship continued to monitor the situation. Experimentally, it decided to send a single very basic recon drone down towards the surface, to observe how it interacted with the potential waveforms that plagued nearly a quarter of the Reborn world.
Mentally, they also decided that they would return to this specific area upon conclusion of the resource drop. There was much to investigate, much indeed.
Sheng [SD | VA] — 09/03/2023 2:03 PM
As the Sax fled the mountain, the group of Humans continued to warily approach. As they approached the edge of the fence they raised their weapons and started methodically clearing the compound, checking each and every corner they found for possible activity. However once they approached the main building a sudden flash would be sent out from the facility, as lights slowly turned themselves back on with flickering sounds of dormant generators coming back online. The facility suddenly lit itself up as one of the dishes on the massive central antenna tower jittered before angling itself to a specific position up in the sky, where on of the derelict satellites was quietly floating far above.
The human group were snapping around looking for any potential source of the sudden power surge, but they saw none. There was no more activity to be found on the surface no matter how hard the militant group looked, even as they re-checked buildings they had already been through. But, there was activity in space...
The derelict satellite suddenly shifted, dormant solar panels suddenly auto-rotating towards the system's star as a large white plated box portion suddenly detached from the satellite. Then an antenna extended from the main satellite down towards the planet, angling towards the island. It sent a responding transmission, this time with a discernable message: Trespass by contaminated personnel recorded. Dispatching Antigen: PCNM-017, callsign "Deadfall"
Then the detached box suddenly flared to life, as miniature rocket engines suddenly ignited and started burning it down on a re-entry orbit towards the island. The satellites relatively low-orbit combined with it's position made for a rapid re-entry as it alighted with orange flames. It rocketed over the Sax group, one big bright orange ball of fire, before passing the mountain and impacting in the forest below opposite of the Sax. A flash of light illuminating the sky for a second before a loud thunderous boom rang out.
The group of Humans suddenly started gesturing eachother before forming up and beginning to sprint away from the facility, beginning a frantic retreat back down the mountain to wherever they originated from. The drone was able to watch the entirety of this unhindered and unspotted. The Sax were similarly ignored by all the events around them, the Rangers camp coming into view before them.
It was a scrap town surrounded by a wall made up of various scrap illuminated by a few dingy construction lights and from where they stood it seemed that they too had noticed the extraplanetary craft crash down, with a group of five stood outside the wall pointing at where the craft had landed. Others inside the camp were huddled around various fires going for warmth. No one had noticed the Sax and tag-along droid approaching.
The recon drone would also be able to enter the atmosphere unhindered, this time also unspotted due to the excitement caused by the previous vehicle re-entry drawing many eyes away from the skies. Though the anomaly would wreck havoc on it's sensors as it did so, rendering it unable to discern anything for a time. It would be a while before it cleared enough for it to get a good read.
Varen (Meta-Sax) — 09/17/2023 10:54 AM
Kona Kel sprouted an eye from behind her head to look up at the sky as the roaring fireball descended. The group did not stop in their pace to take a look at it, trusting in each other and in their information gathering abilities.
"Send the drone to check it out."
Heys Hepa sent an acknowledgement ping to her and redirected his bird-drone to recon the area where the object had crash landed. Iniy sent a communication down to them, informing them of the message, *"Not sure what it means, but 'Deadfall' doesn't exactly fill me with happy feelings. My drone just made it through atmosphere, but I'm having trouble receiving telemetry from it. It'll take some time to clear it up. How'd it go down there?"
Isal Inta filled the cladeship in while He Ge and Kona Kel took to the front of the group. They analyzed both the direction the humans came from and the direction they had fled towards, assessing the potential avenues for recon in case they needed to determine the point of origin. There was also growing concern about the intentions of the militants, and their capabilities.
Heys Hepa was the resident Pathfinder, the most experienced of the group, and what he'd observed through the drone had troubled him. There seemed to be ongoing protocols in place for containment and patrols, but they were either unaware of the facility's nature or unable to interact with it. Were they outsiders, simply here to take advantage of the situation?"
Or something worse.
Such thoughts and group-talk still, however, when they clear the ridge and see the town for the first time. Heys Hepa raises his hand sheepishly, "I volunteer as tribute."
Hey Ge and Isal Inta take a turn each to lightly punch his shoulders for the obtuse reference, which leads to the Saxheelian man grinning widely and heading down the hill. He waves his arms widely as he shouts, "HELLO THERE! WE WERE SENT BY DAMIEN! IS THIS RANGER CAMP?"
Sheng [SD | VA] — 09/17/2023 11:12 AM
The drone that was redirected to examine the recently landed object had no problems moving towards the forest, a mid-sized column of smoke rising up ahead with a scant few miniature fires dotted around. One the drone had visibility however, it saw something that would not inspire confidence in them. At all.
There was a line of disrupted soil leading to a small crater in the projected impact zone, the trees all around partially blown away with branches and needles stripped clean off. A cloud of smoke was covering the centre of the crater and a thick plume was rising from it but by the time the drone could see it, it was starting to dissipate.
And what was revealed was even worse. Hunkered in a compact crouch position was a rather large machine, covered in sharp black angular armour plates. It slowly stood up from a crouch before the drone, digitigrade legs ending in X shaped clawed feet stepped around slightly to give the entity better posture. As the dust finished clearing a massive autocannon with a belt of 20mm rounds was sticking out of its right arm, trailing up and looping into its back whilst it's left arm had a T shaped object with a very narrow rectangle poking forward. A blade suddenly shot forth from the rectangle and audibly locked into place, then a crackle sounded as flecks of blue lighting started racing along the blade's edge.
It's head was like a robots, with armoured plates covering three long optics with glaring red lights in the centre. It looked around briefly as the plates slowly tilted and turned into optimal defensive positions, then suddenly a tremendously loud robotic sounding horn blared out from it. Steam vented from concealed vents around it's joints and cleared the rest of the lingering smoke and dust. It was a Mech, a Combat Mech. But there was a highlighted engraving present on the centre chest; a star with each point half-coloured in with white paint and text in the Reborn's native language surrounding it in a circle. It read: "Executive Protection Agency Psionic Operations Division" And on the side of it's head was a smaller logo: The Potius Cras logo, with more engraved text that read "Potius Cras Mortem Squadron | Joint EPA-PCNM Forces". Judging by the Mech's weaponry and posture, it was not pleased with the situation it now found itself in.
In the meantime, Heys Hepa was spotted almost instantly by the five standing outside of the compound. A familiarly dressed man waved up at him before cupping around his mouth and shouting back "HEY! GLAD TO SEE YOU LOT DIDN'T END UP DEAD! IT'S ME DAMIEN, COME ON DOWN!"
Varen (Meta-Sax) — 09/25/2023 10:09 AM
Heys Hepa grinned and waved at Damien as the rest popped up and followed their fellow vasudani down the hill. His internal emotions were a bit of a jumble, however, as the sight of the mechanized unit had made him deeply worried.
Not only did they not want to scare the locals by conjuring up something capable of fighting it, but that would be antithesis towards their mission objective. Which meant that the locals would be forced to deal with it on their own terms. Something that he did not like the prospects of, given the survey of the area and people thus far.
Kona Kel sensed his concern through their shared Consensus link, "We'll worry about it when we can worry about it."
Heys Hepa took the lead as they and their droid companion arrived in front of Damien, "Hey there Damien, sorry it took so long. We checked out what looked like an ordinance compound over the hill there. It was mostly empty, save for a few packs of gear, some recordings, and this rather odd droid here. We've brought the supplies for you and yours."
Isal Inta and He Ge unloaded the vests and other gear for Damien to sift through. They weren't sure what was going to happen with the droid though, with a few small comments inside the Consensus about perhaps keeping it, in case it came in handy.
"The droid might act as a key to some other facilities. We're not sure on that front. There was also a research file that implied the anomalies are the result of some sort of experiment. What it was, we can't say."
"...And.. there's also some bad news. That craft that just landed was carrying a mecha of some sort, something aligned with the Potius Cras. Pretty heavily armed all things considered. We can likely formulate a strategy to disable it with some help."
Varen (Meta-Sax) — 10/28/2023 7:18 PM
Sheng [SD | VA] (coughcough)
Sheng [SD | VA] — 10/30/2023 6:07 PM
Damien nodded to two of the four other people with him, one of which was Ms. Fortune. Fortune and the other survivor reached down and looked through the assorted gear with surprised expressions, the other survivor lifting up one of the vests before turning back towards Damien and saying "Holy shit, this is old Agency gear. B Thirteens, we seen some of the security assets toting them before everything went to shit... They look to be in good quality too, we can outfit our security with a few and sell the rest off to Crow." Damien nodded and the two others moved to join them, with the four beginning to pick up and lug the gear back towards the camp whilst Damien stayed and listened to them talk.
By the end he had a moderately concerned expression etched across his face, he reached up and scratched at his chin before nodding and saying in a solemn tone "Yeah, the bot will serve you way better then it will us. I mean- we got some mechanics but... frankly that kind of shit is a little out of our paygrade, hell it looks like one of those pre-catastrophe types that the Corp' were advertising. In the last few weeks we even saw a couple taggin' along on Potius convoys." Damien stared at the robot for a few more seconds whilst the droid did nothing in response. He let out a sight before he continued.
"That mech though... not sure if we wanna get all involved up in that, I mean don't get me wrong something that falls out of the sky with Corporate markings ain't good but we've been tryna stay uninvolved with that sort of shit. C'mon let's take this inside, shouldn't be discussing this sort of thing out in the cold." With that Damien turned around and started heading to the scrap metal gate behind him where the four had lugged the supplies into, two humans on the top of it wearing mismatched tactical gear nodded down at him and after a few seconds the gate creaked before it slowly started to slide open with an annoying squeal.
And the interior of Ranger Station was then revealed: A line of scrap houses following a dirt road about 30 metres long, with more scrap shacks behind them. There were a few people scampering about doing various things, some were working on run-down weapons whilst others were cooking various items of food. Ms. Fortune stood outside of a church just inside the gate on the right and side and gave them a wave before pointing to Damien and then pointing into the church, to which Damien nodded and then motioned back for the Sax to follow.
Varen (Meta-Sax) — 11/06/2023 2:34 PM
The group followed, debating among themselves what the best course of action would be given that the machine was no doubt going to prove an obstacle in the near future.
We could attempt to disable it, recreate some hat giga kan perhaps?
There's no telling the time table for it. And without a larger injection of materials from the area or a drop from the cladeship in orbit, we don't have the equipment.
Working with the locals is the best option. It'll provide us intelligence and them the necessary moral boost to believe that they can overcome whatever strife has occurred here.
A reminder: this is a -rescue mission- first and foremost. We should endeavor to find a way to bring down the anomaly field preventing us from evacuating the planet.
It was mostly a series of urgent looks at one another and the occasional hand gesture to anyone bothering to observe their brief interactions while the group migrated inside the Station. The robot remaining in their care was a welcome addition to their little arsenal of tools, with Heys poking it, "Alright buddy, stick close to us okay? We're gunna have ya stay out of trouble."
The place-of-worshipping-ideas was utterly alien to them, though the nerdier one of the group, He Ge, recognized it from her studies of the galaxy, "A church? Odd."
Isal Inta held his burning desire to question Damiens words until they were inside, recognizing that the situation was too strained to openly air the arrival of a mechanized murder unit. He huffed softly under his breath in both disgust and distress - that there were entities who would summon such a thing in the midst of a crisis! Intolerable.