RP: SNV Gam'trosha [Chapter 3.3] Away Team - Cave Exploration

Kil'nda's line remained full of static, with a burst of static happening every so often; as if someone was trying to speak on the other end. The static was to the point where the helmet actually had to tone down the volume in order to protect the soldiers ears, to prevent any damage from occuring.

The inside of the cave would light up again, as if in response to what was going on with the transmission, but then would settle back down and fade out of existence. From where the away team was, the mouth of the cave did have the appearance of having once been lined with stone or marble of some kind, given that there were decaying blocks on the ground - some of which appeared to be in such an advanced stage of decay that they didn't even resemble blocks anymore.

Several kilometers north of the away team

It had taken only a few minutes for Shim'motos team to run across the first booster, which had been set in the ground along a path whose plants and bushes had been ground in by threads, the booster gave off a gentle 'hum' and pulsed light that meant it was active, another pulse could be seen in the distance.

"Damn it!" Kil'nda said placing down his receiver. His tail not free in the seat to move around and adequately show his frustration. "Alright." he said easily calming himself. "Well It's some kind of outside interference then. Either by design or something about the planet. With out comms boosters this tank should easily reach into orbit with it's vox so it'snot our equipment." he said with a sigh. He began to turn the power back to normal and this time began to check the tanks sensors to see if he could locate the cause of the interference.

Ross didn't deign to respond to Vik. The other Youth soldier knew enough to at least follow orders, even if the reasons weren't immediately clear. I'll lay it on nice and simple, the young noble didn't want to get shot in the face just yet. With Vik on higher ground, he could mitigate the chances of that happening outside of the cave. Ross slid into a crouch next to Def'leor, still keeping his energy bow trained on the cave. He took a moment to look at the bricks on the ground inside of the cave. Perhaps they had given off an image of grandeur and prestige before. The young chap focused more so on any movement inside of the cave. His ear flicked in his helmet at the sound of Def'leor's voice. "Do you think they might have something to do with our apparent interference?"

Def'leor looked at the cave entrance, and decided to move cautiously closer. This cave was evidence along with the structures behind them of prior habitation. The question of course was who were they, and what were they like. She surmised that the creature was probably some sort of defense drone. The technicians back on the Gam'trosha would be the ones who would make the full determination.

"Its a possibility. My comm unit is dead, but listening to the surge. I would say its related. So we need to take a step inside and see if we can determine the origin of the interference." Def'leor said.

She walked up to the entrance and wondered at the stones. How much time would it take for simple meteorological events to cause this. Or was this place attacked by yet another group and these were but ruins from it. She pondered.

Ross nodded at Def'leor's response. "Understood, I'll take point." He stood up and looked back to Vik's position. He gestured for his retainer to come down to the cave before turning back around to advance. He placed his energy bow on his back in favor of his sword, judging from the close quarters fashion that caves sometimes adopted. He kept to the sides of the cave to take advantage of any missing patches of wall or surplus of rock in the event of an ambush. The noble made sure to keep himself at a distance of three meters ahead of Def'leor in case an anti-personnel mine was used.

Vik caught the signal from Ross when his attention drifted back to the forward group he was watching over. He'd let his eyes drift from one flank to the next in detail, searching for any sign of a yet to be seen threat. With his position of strength, Vik took another quick look before he climbed out of the window he was observing through before picking up the pace to a run.

Reaching the cave, the retainer made a brief nod of acknowledgement to Def'leor before taking a position at the two o' clock of Ross at around the same spacing the swordmaster kept from Def'leor. The swordrifle Vik relied on turned with his gaze as he took in slow breaths to lower his pulse. Though the run from before was a bad idea, he was at least glad he wasn't the only target within a ten meter radios anymore. "Lemme know when and where we're goin'. I've got your blind spots. You think these things in the wall make tunnels? Would be absolutely wonderful if we got squished from a cave-in."

North of the away team.

Shim'moto had gotten off his bike to inspect the booster, seeing it was active reassured him that he was leading his team the right way. Another pulse of light could be seen not to far off. He pointed towards the pulse. "We're on the right track He returned to his own bike ," before turning to the two on his left. "I want you two to take the lead, keep your eyes peeled, we'll bring the rear in support.." He said, with his instructions relayed they were back on their bikes speeding off in the direction of the pulsing light of the booster.

As Kil'nda continued his scans he received an alarming single. Multiple objects were closing in fast on their location. He turned the tank's turret around to the direction that the objects were coming in from. He turned on the tank's A.I. so that it could help to identify the objects as they approached. Kil'nda began to flip open to the comm channels that were used for grounds teams in attempt to contact the new comers. "This is C'Baruce Limr'viad Kil'nda." He said. "Identify your selves or we will be forced to treat you as hostels." he commanded. "I repeat, identify your selves or we will be forced to treat you as hostiles." he said trying to give out as much of a warning as he could to the oncomming newcomers.

Si'hen squad were closing in on the next comm booster, and hopefully the away team, when their comms picked up on a message; directed at them. "This is C'Baruce Alis'tar Shim'moto of Si'hen Squad, sent to provide support." He answered the demand for identification, rising a hand to his squad to have them slow down. "We're to report to the XO for orders." This would be a waiting game now, hopefully not a long one. They were not far from the away team now; traveling at a much slower pace, and away from the thicker parts of the brush so as to be directly in the open. It was much easier to appear non-hostile when you could be picked off at a distance.

Kil'nda sighed as it was in fact friendlies. "Alright.." came his voice over Si'hen's comms. "We're just a bit ahead of you, We've already encountered hostiles so be careful getting here in case their more." he said "In the mean time though we seem to be unable to contact the ships. There seems to be some interference coming from nearby ruins." he said. He'd keep track of the new friendly forces approaching but switched over to Def'leor's channel. "A'Fuereb Vail'ant, we have reinforcements inbound." he reported to her.

Kil'nda would get no reply to their message from Def'leor. This was not because she was ignoring Kil'nda, but her comm systems were non-function from the earlier event that slagged it.

Def'leor meanwhile motioned to Vik and Ross to advance slowly from their positions while she moved in from hers. "Look, Don't Touch. We have no idea what this equipment does. " she called out. She then cautiously stepped over the remnants of the wall. Once over she held her position and looked above and too the sides.

"Understood," Alis'tar said over the comm before signaling to his squad to pick up the pace, with the knowledge of hostiles already being encountered knowing this he redirected his team; a spread formation. giving a small amount of distance between each bike in case of encountering any hostile activities. It wouldn't be good if they all rushed towards death; even if the away team wasn't far away, there was no telling what they could encounter along the way. The one thing that was confusing for the kit was the interference causing ruins. What could the away team have possibly found that could cause interference like that? He figured he'd just have to find out when he got there; hopefully in one piece.

Upon arrival with the away team, Alis'tar took a moment to gather himself. He had spent most of the ride thinking over the ruins and the link to the interference. Once his team had gathered their gear and such from their bikes. Alis'tar began to study the landscape, taking in the views of the brush and such looking for any irregularities. He'd have reached out on comms but he figured being within close proximity of the tank, it was unnecessary, at least for the current time.

Kil'nda flipped the comm switches around a few ties trying to reach the A'Fuereb unknowing that her comm system had been damaged. He flipped over to Ross's comms hoping to get though to him. He repeated the same message from before, reinforcements were inbound

Kil'nda watched on the monitors as the new back up team arrived. Out of precaution he scanned them as they arrived as the vehicles and the Kits all came up as being Neshaten. He popped open the hatch and rose from the tank. " C'Baruce Limr'viad Kil'nda." He introduced himself once more. The rest of the team ins in those ruins." he explained. There seems to be a huge power crystal in there from what I hear. Careful going in there, one wayward bolt and we'll all be turned to glass." he said. "Do the comms work back where you guys came from?" he asked hopeful. "If so we need to let command know about the crystal. We also recovered the body of an alien hostel." he said mentioning the dead corpse strapped to the tank

Alis'tar bowed his head in greeting when Kil'nda introduced himself again, listening to what he had to say about the ruins and the hostile before turning his attention to the question he had been asked. "When you contacted us the first time, there was quite a bit of static and cut-outs.." He pointed out his ears twitching some as he thought. "Though as we came closer, the comms were much clearer.." He turned his attention to the entrance to the cave. His mind swirling with the possibilities of what was going here. "Even with the comm boosters, the comms were iffy at range; but the closer we are the better the quality is." He turned back to Kil'nda, "Have they been in the ruins long?" it wouldn't be smart if he came stomping into the cave if they had already been exploring it for a good amount of time. Alis'tar figured it'd be best if he waited here with his squad, learning more of the situation. "How long ago; was this hostile encountered; and how many were there?"

Kil'nda looked behind him at the ruins. "They've only been in since right before I contacted you the first time." he said to the Kit. "Therre's a small team of three inside already and I can't seem to reach the A'Fuereb on comms." He said to Alis'tar. "As far as the hostile is concerned: I arrived after the engament so I only know so much. They were ingaged in a fire-fight with this, and two others. My understanding is they managed to down all three and that this was the most intact one they could find. I'm choosing to stay out here with the tank, hopefully I can keep any more away from the ruins and the rest of the team."

"Yes Ma'am." Vik replied to the orders given from Def'leor as he took a moment to take steps toward the darkness that was due to the absence of the blinding sun he was used to hiding away from. To lower his silhouette again, Vik took a knee with the swordrifle pressed against his left shoulder still. Though he wanted to ask about how far the three of them should go, he kept himself silent as he didn't want his voice to compromise his location or that of his commander or the Sword master he was supposed to be guarding. Due to the excellent low-light vision of the Neshaten, Vik noted that the odd glowing worm-like creatures in the wall seemed to have varied density along the walls as though small communities were what he was witnessing. In awe, but not distracted by the sights, Vik refocused his attention to the weapon sight of the swordrifle.

Cave

As the away team began to explore the cave, their feet would ocassionally give the sound of something squishy; a thin layer of viny like bush covered some of the caves surface and was also growing up the side of the walls, and hanging down from the top. This ground bush also had larger plants growing out of it, some almost two feet tall and with flowers and roses blooming on them, it was a bit silent as they went... until Def'leors foot came down on something soft that gave off a rather loud crushing sound. Whatever it was, had been hidden by the flora.

Cave

Def'leor froze when she heard the sound and looked around. When nothing seemed amiss she leaned down to see what she had stepped on. The dense vegetation resisted her initial attempts to move it. This was because of how interwoven the plants and their tendrils were. Finally after a applying some extra force she was able to pull away a section of the plant. Def'leor gasped when she saw what she had stepped on. It was bones, more precisely a thorax of a Daur. Looking around she did not find anymore of this hapless individual. "What where you step. There are remains hidden under the foliage. I found a partial skeleton, no way to tell how it died. Fan out and see what you can find." She called out to those with her, she then turned towards the entrance. "We need a few more people in here to help locate remains."

Ross for one moment thought that said crunch was a mine. He was about to tackle Def'leor and cover her up with as much of his body as possible when he noted something. "That sounded too hollow to be a metallic object like an AP mine." He thought. He walked to the A'freueb's side, crouching down to examine the bones in morbid interest. "Hm... Interesting." He murmured. He stood back up quickly when Def'leor spoke. "Yes, mah." The swordmaster replied. He gestured to Vik to look on the left side of the cave while he went right. He strutted off, sword in hand, eyes darting from side to side, top to bottom, scanning the area. Ross was sub-consciously looking for mines as much as remains. The remains, however, was at the forefront of his mind, wild theories flying through his head. "Perhaps this is the work of the terrorists. It's a Daur after all. No no, that's preposterous without the appropriate evidence." That was the most logical theory he had in that mind of his.

Alis'tar turned his full attention to Kil'nda, as he spoke of how long the rest of the team had been in the cave; and what he knew of their encounter with the hostiles. Though he had already thought to stay out here, it seems that maybe his presence would be beneficial for the rest of the team. He took a moment to look at the entrance to the cave, his ears perking from curiosity. "Well, with that knowledge, I should probably go on in, and help with their investigation of the cave."

Cave
He paused at the entrance to the cave for a moment, just staring inside. He exhaled slowly, taking his time on entering the cave, making his way slowly inside, to catch the tail end of a statement made, about finding more remains, thankfully the one who said it had been facing the entrance at the same time; so at least he wouldn't be surprising anyone, hopefully. "C'Baruce Alis'tar Shim'moto, I'm part of the relief squad sent from the SNV Gam'trosha." He introduced himself, bowing somewhat. "We were sent to hopefully find out what was causing the lack of communication." He began his own observation of the surrounding, studying the large brush, and such. Three unknown hostiles, partial remains, and something in this ruin-like cave that caused interference and static over long range communications; several theories came to mind but none that were of any use with out every bit of information that could be learned. A weary hand moved to the hilt of his sword; He didn't much like the fact that they had all but stumbled into a make-shift grave now, but they had a mission. He was sure he'd be asked to also take part in the search of the cave, but he wasn't sure if there would be any questions he'd need to answer before hand; so patiently waiting was what seemed to be his current plan.