RP: YSS Eucharis [Mission 19.2B] Clues (HX-12 II Crashed Ship)

[Wes]

Surface of HX-12 II

When Natsumi landed the Golden Apple, there was a crunchy sound and the craft slid on the unstable soil a little until it hit a rock that halted it. A cloud of fine red dust briefly enveloped the landing site, a clearing covered in loose rocks and gravel that was surrounded by spikes of teal fungus that resembled painted ceramic artwork.

Outside the shuttle, the team would be greeted by heavy gravity and a thick, toxic atmosphere. A grimy layer of teal fungal spores and red dust settled down on the shuttle's exterior, partially obscuring the windows. Ahead of the shuttle was a large, steep ridge with the old antenna site on top of it, and below it, at the bottom of a cliff and mostly buried under a sand bank, was the faint shape of some old cargo spacecraft.

 

[Floodwaters]

As the giant reddish-teal planet started to dominate the outside view of the shuttle as it entered the atmosphere, Sienna thought at first that she was having a hard time getting comfortable in her seat due to the buffetting and shaking of atmospheric entry. As the shuttle penetrated further towards the surface of the massive world, however, she found it increasingly difficult to find a way to shift her weight that she could stand to remain in for long. She felt herself pushed more and more firmly against her harness as the shuttle decelerated steadily, like it was trying to push through sludge rather than air.

By the time they came within sight of their landing zone, Sienna felt like she was wearing a shirt made of lead. She was pressed hard into her seat as if she'd gained half again her body weight, which she surmised that in a sense, she actually had. The gravity on this planet was uncomfortably strong. She couldn't do something as simple as lifting her arm without gritting her teeth a little from the unusual amount of effort it took, and she was even vividly aware of things like her heartbeat and breathing, as each breath she took made her chest feel like a small person was sitting on it.

She watched as Natsumi and Takeyu, through interactions with a spread of volumetric displays and interfaces before them, guided the shuttle down to the surface. If she was concerned before, she was almost regretting coming along now. Not only was she the only one whose movements would not be mechancially assisted by power armor in this oppressive gravity, she had spent four years on a relatively low gravity world and was even less accustomed to this extra weight than the Star Army soldiers. She truly hoped she was being paranoid, but if Hanako had wanted to dispose of her, this would as perfect an opportunity as there was, with a more than satisfactory excuse to maintain her image and a minimal chance of collateral damage. She was very much regretting not having paid attention to what she was getting into over breakfast.

Still, nothing to do about it now but ride it out. It was still a thrilling opportunity for her, but she would have to work to balance her curiosity about this derelict and her caution. She drew another breath, grimacing a little, trying to adjust to the extra effort it took to do anything.

As the shuttle touched down, she felt a tickle in her core, and her eyes went wide as she felt the ship slip unevenly beneath them. She gripped the arms of her seat, watching the two Yamataians in alarm. Surely they felt that?

The ship slipped again, and there was a loud bang as it was stopped by something solid. What had they landed on?

 

[Kyle]

"Good landing," muttered Takeyu as he undid his restraints and got up out of the co-pilots chair. He walked into the back and looked over at Sienna with a smile. "You doing ok?" he asked while unshouldering his rifle and doing a quick check on it before shouldering it.

"Let's get outside, do a cursory search of the area just in case anyone's been here before us. Natsumi, is it possible to take the shuttle directly to the derelict?" he asked, although he his gut was telling him that they'd have to huff it.

 

[Gabriel]

Ramiro gripped the edges of his chair as he felt the shuttle begin to slide. He knew the feeling all too well from the couple of times that the Eucharis had to undergo a rough landing. He simply didn't like the idea of being thrown around in his restraints and referred to hold himself down. Once the shuttle slid to a halt he glanced out a window at the surface, just to make sure they were on fairly stable ground.

"Good enough for me," he said as he undid his restraints and stood, cracking his back after the ride to the surface. Walking over to the cockpit, he took a look towards the cargo ship barely visible under the sand.

"I wouldn't count on it sir. Uneven ground," he said as he pointed towards the cargo ship. "Plus it looks really sandy, you don't want to land on anything but the flattest, never know when the bottom part of a hill will decide to slide out from under you and roll the shuttle."

Taking another look around, he took a deep sigh. "It's definitely more...buried than it was the last time we were here. Any ideas on how to get in?"

 

[Gunsight1]

Natsumi frowned as the shuttle slid as it settled onto the sandy ground then came to a stop with a thud. "Hey at least we're in one piece" she said, then undid her restraints.

She leaned closer to her volumetric displays, looking over the terrain data they had gathered on their flight over. "No, I don't think we will, the terrain all around that ship is pretty ugly. There really isn't a good spot to set the shuttle down, unless you want me to wedge it between some of those spikes?" she asked with a bit of a grin.

Natsumi got out of the pilots seat and double checked the seals on her MINDY, then checked her rifle to make sure it was all ready before slinging it over her shoulder.

"Well, shall we get going and see what we can find?"

 

[Kyle]

"I think it's best we keep the shuttle here, I'd rather not anger the Shosho by wedging it between two spikes and ending up getting stuck and requiring help..." the Taii said with a slight frown on his face, he wasn't at all liking the idea of possibly keeping the shuttle unattended but they couldn't exactly leave one person behind.

"Let's go ahead and scout the area, find a path down. Juni, do you remember anything from the first time you were here that could help us?" asked Takeyu, who curiously looked over at his companion while making his way off the shuttle.

 

[Gabriel]

Ramiro closed his eyes as a strained look appeared on face. After a moment he shook his head, "No, nothing of use." He sighed with frustration as he looked back up at the others. "We weren't here for very long. Enough time to swoop down, grab Yarani, pop back up, and speed off to the North Gate. There were more pressing matters, as you can imagine."

Double checking that all of his PA systems were still operational, he turned towards the rear of the shuttle. "By your leave, sir."

 

[Gunsight1]

Natsumi exited the shuttle with the others, "We can put the shuttle on auto pilot and have it orbit the area until we call it back down" she suggested. "We did that last mission and it worked out pretty well keeping people from messing with the shuttle"

 

[Floodwaters]

"Peachy," Sienna replied to Takeyu as she unfastened her harness once she had firmly conviced herself that the ship was not going to slip again on the evidently unstable ground. She said nothing as the others had their discussion, simply watching the group with a mixture of curiosity and wary, suspicious caution. Pulling herself to a stand was like trying to stand up with her posterior glued firmly to the seat and a medium-sized adult stubbornly sitting on her lap. Shoving off of the armrests, she got herself on her feet and waited for the rest of the soldiers to file out the back before she followed at a moderate distance.

Stepping through the rear containment field, the young woman looked around at the expanse of alien landscape before her. Rust colored dirt, accented by towering, weird-looking conical mounds that looked vaguely organic spread out in every direction before them. Other than that, however, the landscape looked quite monotonous. She didn't notice any apparent fauna or much biodiversity at all; the only signs of life were those vibrantly colored spikes, and she wasn't even completely sure they were alive either. A huge yellow-white sun loomed over them in the bright sky, giving the ominous impression that it was hanging close enough over them to drop down from the heavens at any moment. Its light diffused rapidly through the thick atmosphere, lighting everything in a pinkish-brown haze. When Sienna lifted her hand to shield her eyes from the harsh light, she immediately noticed that in addition to the heavy gravity on this world, the air was so thick that it felt like she was moving through soup. It was a strange sensation, not quite thin enough to move through it without noticing, and not quite thick enough to feel like she could jump up and swim through it if she so desired. This was going to be an exhausting trip.

A thin film of dust of some kind was beginning to settle on her faceplate. With her gloved hand she wiped it clear, leaving a few grimy streaks; whatever was in that dust was certainly organic. With a touch of uncertainly, she did a quick once-over of her suit, checking for anything out of the ordinary or unwelcome trying to hitch a ride on her leg.

Looking ahead, she noted the old antenna and steep cliff. She didn't make a move to look over its edge yet, instead electing to hang behind the group, keeping them all in her sight, and waiting for them to decide what to do now.

 

[Wes]

The thick, forceful winds continued to press on Sienna and the shuttle, creating a low, monotonous howl as they shuffled around the dust. The fields of fungal spikes seemed to disapprovingly yet impassively watch the visitors with their glazed teal faces, casting faint reflections of the shuttle. Looking down there were no signs of life in the dirt, just rocks and little fungal spores. Ahead, the terrain was uneven with wind-smoothed rocks and sinkholes of red or yellow sand forming a sort of natural path (or perhaps more of a horizontal rock climb) through the teal spikes that lead to the base of the cliff where the cargo ship had ended up. Perhaps the wind had brought it here.

The ship itself was heavily damaged, with support framing visible in one of the sections not covered by sand. It appeared to be somewhat cylindrical in shape and the stress-warped remains of old engine cones were visible in the protruding section.

 

[Kyle]

"Do it Natsumi, but monitor the shuttle closely, I don't want us to risk losing the poor girl," said Takeyu as he took a few steps forward and peered over toward the derelict ship. "Damned wind, can't use our drones currently with this. Everyone, keep your eyes peeled, let's get ourselves to that derelict and inside."

 

[Gunsight1]

Natsumi looked out upon the strange and alien landscape. The barren terrain with its green spikes and the clouds of spores kicked up by the strong winds howling across the land.

"What a strange place" she said, admiring the desolate beauty of the place. She had never seen anything like it before.

Then as Takeyu replied she nodded. "Right" she said and sealed up the shuttle and programmed it to take off and orbit until summoned.

Once done she stepped back and watched as their small ship lifted off the soft ground, hovered, then casually climbed away to orbit high above.

Natsumi turned her attention to the ruined ship below. There didn't appear to be a whole lot left of it. What there was was pretty well trashed.

As they started off she glanced at Sienna, "Hows the high gravity treating you?" She asked, a little concerned for their new friend. She lacked the engineered tolerances, gravity manipulationed and power armor augmented strength the rest of them had.

 

[Floodwaters]

Hearing the dull k-thunks of the shuttle's hatches sealing shut, Sienna turned to look as her only means of a quick escape, should it become necessary, lifted off of the ground and started to climb. Instinctively she heaved one of her arms up to shield her face from the dust blowing in the howling, thick wind and getting kicked up by the shuttle's launch, before she realized what she was doing and let it drop; her faceplate was doing that job. Her heart sank a little as she watched the shuttle ascend higher into the sickly pinkish sky. Taking a breath, she turned to face the rest of the team, seeing that they were preparing to descend the rocky ridge down to the wreck below. Moving to follow them, she plodded along to keep pace while keeping a conspicuous distance between her and the power-armored soldiers, each of her steps feeling like she was stomping.

She glanced briefly at Natsumi when she heard her address her through the speakers set inside her helmet. "Fine," she replied simply as she trudged forward through the soft dust and gravel. She didn't want to let on that she was having a hard time with suddenly being three times heavier than she had grown accustomed to being, though she suspected that it was fairly obvious to the others. "Just an exercise regimen, huh?" she added, deadpan. "Let's go see what we can find in that scrap heap."

 

[Wes]

Ahead, as Sienna lead the two Star Army soldiers, she passed some of the fungal life and more unsteady rocks and sand that seemed to be only held against the earth by the oppressive gravitational pull. Finally she reached the other side of a rocky hill. As she rounded the top she began to slide down the wind-smoothed face of the other side, accelerating faster than she would have in normal gravity. She was able to keep herself from tumbling but still hit the bottom hard, plowing into the base of a large sand dune that was covering the wreck.

 

[Floodwaters]

By the time Sienna realized she had lost her footing, it was too late. She landed hard on her backside as the ground beneath her gave way, and careened down the hillside feet-first. Managing to somehow maintain some degree of awkward control over her descent like a drunken luge, she found herself on reflex slapping her hands frantically on either side of her body, both to keep her oriented to absorb the inevitable impact on her legs and to hopefully find something by accident to grab hold of and stop her fall. Just as soon as it started, she hit something solid and her legs crumpled as she came to a jolting halt, and sand and grit thrown up from the impact showered down over her suit and faceplate.

She lay there on her back for a few seconds, catching her breath and trying to coax her heartrate back down. The fall had felt almost assisted in this heavy gravity, almost like she'd been violently thrown down the slope rather than having nearly tumbled on her own. With a groan, she dropped the back of her head onto the inside of her helmet and took a deep breath, calming herself as she closed her eyes momentarily. After a beat, she brushed the dust and sand off of her faceplate and sat up, looking at what she'd hit. It looked like a sand dune. Just above and behind it she could see the topmost parts of the wreck poking out from its shallow grave, reaching up for the sky, pleading for help amid the howling winds.

Well, that's one way to get down, she thought to herself as she sat up further, testing her knees. They ached a little bit from the landing, but it wasn't anything she couldn't walk off in a minute or two. She was grateful the barrier that broke her fall was relatively soft.

 

[Kyle]

The Taii moved, when he saw Sienna slip he tried to grab her but he wasn't fast enough; with a growl he engaged his Mindy's CFS and began to float down the side of the hill, although he kept a small bit of distance between him and Sienna so that the CFS wouldn't potentially injure her.

"Everyone down!" shouted the Taii to Ramiro and Natsumi. When his feet touched the ground he waited for a moment before heading over to Sienna. "You ok?" asked a concerned Takeyu.

 

[Gunsight1]

Natsumi saw Sienna go slipping down the slope, voom she was gone sand skiing down to the wreck. She was about to jet after her when Takeyu yelled for them to drop.

Natsumi face planted in the sand just before his CFS kicked in and took him flying off.

"Oh fun" she muttered, then quickly scrambled to her feet as soon as Takeyu was clear and rushed down after them.

 

[Floodwaters]

"Yeah, I'm all right," Sienna replied as she tucked her feet beneath her, struggling to stand up. With several grunts of effort, she managed to hoist herself back to her feet, all the while cursing the massive planet's gravity under her breath. Brushing the dust from her shoulders, arms, and backside, she glanced up at Takeyu, then up at Ramiro and Natsumi who were floating down the hill after them. The soldiers didn't seem to be having near the same trouble with the extra weight as she was, not that they should, since each of them was encased in cutting-edge armor that mechanically augmented their every move, not to mention their apparently innate ability to manipulate the force of gravity on their own bodies at will. She envied them. She turned her eyes back on Takeyu. "Figured I may as well sled down and save my energy for the hike back up," she added wryly.

Oddly, watching their reactions after her fall started to put her a bit more at ease. If they indeed were simply looking for a way to dispose of her, they'd have simply shot her and dumped her body in this wasteland. They didn't stand to gain anything by drawing it out this way, or checking to see if she was unharmed after a slip. She still couldn't let her guard down completely, but she did find at least some peace of mind in that revelation.

 

[Gabriel]

It wasn't too unusual getting used to the gravity. Ramiro had been on many planets with a varying degree of sizes and had gotten used to changes like this. It actually reminded him of his days as an instructor at Fort Ready since the gravity on UX-13 II was 1.2g and he had spent several months there. He followed the others, taking the rear of the group and keeping an eye on their six. When he saw Sienna fall he didn't react much, he simply jumped, activated his thrusters, and floated his way down behind the group. Dropping into a soft landing he gestured forward.

"She'll be fine. We should keep moving, sir."

 

[Wes]

The dune of sand piling up against the cliff face was almost to the upper edge of the spaceship hulk but if they were able to get there, there was enough space to crawl though a broken area of the hull and into the dark interior spaces. Meanwhile, the wind was picking up more than before and becoming increasingly hazy as a dust storm began to roll in on the team.