Takeyu looked at what he had accomplished and sighed partly before brushing away the foliage he had covering his pack and putting it on and following Helen.

As he walked, he glanced down at his hand and flexed it before putting it down beside his pistol. He wanted to make certain it was within his reach in the event NMX came by, or perhaps any wild life.

Glancing occasionally over his shoulder; he kept a watchful eye for trouble.

Yaiba paused to consider the plight of the fallen soldier. Something must have happened on the ship for her to fallen out. After all a Geshrin would not think be able to fly so they would jump out.

"There is nothing we can do for her," She said looking at Ixta. She pulled out her phone and took an image of the fallen soldiers face. "At least we can show this to the others for identification."

Yaiba then heard drums in the distance. The sounded familiar. "Looks like the Star Army personnel found a way to signal without the Mishhu being able to intercept. Let's get there quickly." She said altering the groups path.

Mountain

The storm was moving in fast. A crack of thunder that happened synchronized with a drum beat acted as a signal to the clouds to begin releasing their payload. Large droplets of water began to hit the tree leaves with loud smacks, adding their own chorus to the loud drums and Neko shouts coming from the STV's speakers.

The image of the STV sat there with little crosshairs on it through the viewfinder of an olive-skinned, black-haired Nekovalkyrja wearing a khaki uniform and a shaggy ghillie cloak. "At clearing at the bottom of the mountain there is an STV. 1500 meters. It's Star Army blue."

"Got it," her sister said, one eye hidden by the scope of a large, shrouded olive drab rifle. She zoomed in on the driver's head. "She's stopped to blast music. Maybe she's a transferred Nepleslian."

"Star Army uniform?" the spotter Neko asked.

"Star Army uniform," the sniper confirmed. "Orange panels."

"Light her up."

"Engaging target."

Clearing

A sharp whizzing noise sliced through the air and Nika's head popped in a spray of red that was instantly coating the STV's interior and windshield. A moment later, a loud crack, easily mistakable for thunder, echoed through the forest below.

As the sound of thunder rumbled and the winds blew, Helen came to a sharp stop as her eyes narrowed. There was something off about the sound of thunder that she had heard as she put the sound through her Kessaku OS, referencing her memories of thunder claps and weapons fire... and drawing a conclusion as she held up her hand for the other two crew members to stop, then she lowered her hand down with an open palm as she knelt low to the ground.

"I think I heard weapons fire... stay low." Helen said at a whisper as she eased herself through the brush until she got a line of sight on the clearing, seeing the splash of red which coated the STV's windows. "Do not go out there, do not stand up, and only move as the foliage does. Keep your eyes open for anything that does not belong." She instructed as she peered off into the distance, using the control she had over her hemosynthetic body to alter the structure of one of her eyes to make her vision all the clearer and sharper as her skin seemed to become transparent to the other two crew members, until she faded from sight completely.

Where are you? Helen thought as she did not risk stepping out, for the sheer possibility that the gunner who got the STV driver had a sensor device on their weapon that could spot her. For the moment, she simply looked about with her sharpened gaze... though, she did also look at the splatter of blood, to see if there was any way to tell which way the shot came from... though, she knew that the shot could not have come from the front of the STV, or behind, since the window of the vehicle was not shattered from a round that either had to pass through it to get to the driver's head, or from a round that would have passed through the driver's head.

Yaiba lead her team towards the source of the drums. When she got close enough to recognize the spot, with the lightning and all, she recalled the last time she was here. The exploding vehicles and the artillery. But the most painful memory, was the sniper hit she took. This was a place Yaiba really did not want to return to. It was too open for her like, located on one of the roads. The roads that she and her friends avoided because they were monitored so heavily. She did not like the way the STV was sitting there.

"Ixta, I am going up to get a better view. Hold here and look for any sign of the Searchers." she said as she looked for a suitable tree. Once she found one that she liked and was clear of any boneshredder vines, she ascended silent as a ghost keeping the tree between her and the road. Once she was up in the bottom of the canopy she came around keeping low to the large branch. From there she looked around for anything that looked amiss, and for any sign of the search team.

As Helen peered about, she caught sight of something amiss... though, what she spotted most certainly was not a sniper... after all, there was no rifle. Thinking on how she could inform the survivor about the presence of her and the others without the sniper spotting her was a problem, but soon she had an idea. She waited for a moment before she pursed her lips and let out a series of sharp whistles before stopping and changing position by a few meters while remaining concealed.

I hope this person is not as dumb as that neko in the STV Helen mused as she brought her hologram-concealed LASR Mk II to her shoulder and began to peer through the scope at the mountains in the distance, and the tops of the treeline, ready to provide cover fire if the survivor did something rash... such as attempting to move too quickly, or if the sniper did something rash, such as taking a few potshots at the STV or the survivor. As she looked through the scope with one eye, she held up an un-gloved hand which she used to watch everything around her through her own skin while keeping that very flesh concealed behind her camouflage producing abilities.

Takeyu took cover behind some dense foliage, he was crouched down and his left hand now gripped his pistol tensely. Wide open area, yea.... bad spot to be in, but who the heck was in the STV? he thought but didn't bother to look around, he knew Helen had a better chance of spotting any enemies out there. He didn't need her to tell him what was possibly out there, he could figure that out on his own, which was why he kept a low profile and didn't move from his position.

While awaiting orders, he glanced around the area behind them, making certain nothing was sneaking up behind them.

Yaiba did not like what she saw from her vantage point. There was a lot of blood covering the STV. "Damn it, a sniper. There is no way it could be the same one again, could it?" she murmured to herself.

She turned her head when she heard whistling. Keeping herself low on the branch, she replied with her own whistle, the first five bars of the Yamatai Anthem.

On the ground below Dilka was making his way cautiously through the woods, trying to see who or what was making the shrill whistle.

The black-haired Nekovalkyrja spotter spotted Dilka, "We have movement along the edge of the clearing. Looks like it could be one of the natives with that dark skin. You want me to light him up for you?" she said to her sister.

"I will handle the shooting," the sniper reminded her overenthusiastic sister. "They will be pinned down by fear for a while. Let's slide back behind cover and you can get on the horn to base and let them know we have a hostile group in the forest here. They should be able to send a gunship and some Rippers."

"Understood," the spotter neko replied, slowly moving behind a nearby bush-covered rock. When she was behind cover she radioed the base...

There was a certain unfair nature Helen had to admit... an unfair nature in regard to the shell which her 'soul' was housed. There was more to her sight than what she had on her body as she 'listened' to the drones which still drifted about overhead... and through one of the drones she 'heard' the buzz of electronic chatter. That gave her a direction, and with that she peered through the optics of the other drone. She looked in that direction herself, and as she thought of the angle of the blood that splattered the STV, and the lack of bullet damage to the windows... she came to the conclusion of where her target was... through all of that, she heard the whistle from the survivor, and smiled.

With her LASR in semi-automatic, and a coating of metal soon oozing about her shoulder in which the butt of the rifle sat upon, Helen pulled the trigger of her LASR in a burst of fire which corresponded to the next few bars of the Yamataian anthem, which then gave way to another dozen shots. Granted, the shots were not at the full power of the weapon, but they tore through the space between Helen and the point which she strongly assumed was the target... or at least was the source of the electronic transmissions. Topping off the flurry with a few sprays of burst fire from her weapon in the direction of the suspected target, Helen then quickly ducked back into the bush and changed position. As she ran from a possible targeting based on her firing angle, she kept watch through the circling drones for any returned fire... and, even with all of that cold calculation and professionalism, she hissed a curse as her body ached from the recoil of the rifle.