RP: The Wayward Distant Memories (Ep. 2.0)

Ana had climbed up into the chassis of the truck, keeping away from anything that could harm her if they had to move, but keeping her protected from underneath. She knew she was the team's weakest link when it comes to combat, so she figured it would be better for her to stay well out of the way. At least she had the presence of mind not to run into the forest where the other wolves were.

Breathe...just breathe, she thought to herself as she waited it out. She had just enough room to keep hold of the knife and, if absolutely necessary, use it to attack anything that came under the truck...though she doubted it would happen. She was ready just the same.

However, as she heard the blasts, she whimpered to herself in fear, glad that her comm unit wasn't transmitting. She would just listen for a sign that all was clear for her to emerge.

Two more of the wolf like creatures leaped out of the tree line once more, the injured one from the passenger side along with one from the driver side. The two creatures made their rush at the same time, forcing the team to divert their attention as they quickly closed the distance, leaving the tree line only about four meters from the group. The charge only took a split second for them to be on top of the group with the passenger side beast lunging at Hugar and managing to drag it's claws against his unarmored chest as he stumbled away to dodge. Tanja caught flat footed as well by the second creature, barely managing to get her rifle up in time to hold it against the open maw to keep it form biting her, this didn't stop hit's claws from swiping at her but her armor kept her from any heavy injuries.

There were now two creatures in close proximity to the group and through their methods of tracking them, Hugar, Quinn, and Nan all saw that two more were coming in, one from each side as well. Now that they had distracted the two with teh largest sticks, they were going to go in for the kill.

Hugar tosses his rifle into the truck and steps back pulling off his back a small pole that then extends into a large spear, he rubbed his chest for a moment before holding the spear with both hands and extended towards the wolves, in one quick strike he slips the pole of the spear further through his hand to send it barreling towards the wolf that had scratched him. In the same movement, his thumb hits a switch which lights the spear up with electricity which only serves to damage the wolf more or at least shock it and scare it away if the strike misses or grazes. In the same movement he pushes his torso back, and once the strike goes through grips the pole, pushing off of his leg to sending him jumping back to get some distance from the incoming wolves from the sides.

"Quinn, Nan, get the two wolves coming from the sides, I'll attempt to cover us with my spear as it can attack multiples in a single swing. Stick close together, and do not let them surround us to the point our backs are exposed. So place your backs together, on the double!" He gets back in a ready stance, ready to fight the wolves. "Tanja! Status report!"

Reed wasted no time in emptying the last 7 shots in his pistol at the incoming wolf on the left. Confident that the wolf would be down for the count, he glanced over his shoulder to see Tanja struggling with another wolf. Not wanting to risk friendly fire, Reed quickly shoved his gun into its holster and drew his vial. In one fluid motion, he stepped closer and swung the weapon at the wolf on Tanja as the nanobots formed a katana-like blade.

"Tanja, duck!"

Nan beamed at the praise from Reed and although the drones can be costly, he was proud he could help. Tracking the beasts through his camera drones he saw that they were making their moves. "Tanja, Hugar look out," Nan called out too late! The beasts moving faster than he expected in their attack. That's when he saw the two others coming from each side. Hearing Hugar's advice, Nan scooped up his Energy Pistol that was on the truck hood beside him and faced towards the side with no particular defender. His position on top of the truck afforded him a good vantage point and angle to shoot.

He knew that the beast could easily get to the truck and get to Ana underneath and that was not something he would allow. His hands shaking as he holds the pistol. This will be his first time shooting it at a moving target. It can't be that hard though right? It's all angles and math and velocity. The proper algorithms should see the energy beam intercept the beast moving at a deduced speed, taking into account the ground grade in its path allowing it to maneuver out of the way. Simple right?

Nan fires at the approaching beast knowing that his calculations are true.

Hugar's spear pierced through the wolf's shoulder which wasn't enough to stop it at first, but then it suddenly spasmed form the electricity and went limp. It seemed like enough though the outside was tough the inside wasn't as much. As for Reed quickly emptying his magazine into one of the approaching wolves put it down, though a few shots did miss. Tanja hear his call and ducked as best she could, there wasn't much separation though with her still holding the beast back with her rifle, however it was enough for Reed to graze the beast, causing it to pull back and howl in pain.

The injured wolf was not alone though the one from the passenger side that had survived joined it. The wolves were quickly realizing though that they could not survive going in waves so the remaining three moved and the group encircled the truck with the larger 'alpha' in the back. The pack growled keeping a little distance, waiting for someone to make a move and expose themselves to attack.

"This is bad....everyone grab onto the truck. We need to get out of here for now." Her voice was still calm and strong like always but she knew the risk of fishing with all the creatures so close "We need to make sure our non combatants are safe."

Ana heard Tanja say that they needed to move. She quickly got out from under the truck, though stayed right by it, and climbed back up into the back. She knew better than to stay where she was if the truck was moving. Through it all, she still had the knife in hand.

Nan, seeing as his pistol shot had missed, was worried that their little foray wasn't going so well. He saw the battle playing around him and didn't like the odds. At first he was hesitant to use too many of his blister drones but it will either give the group time to retreat or swing things in their favor.

This was the time to show his worth. He knew life in space wouldn't always be hacking and partying. He reached into his bag withdrawing 3 of his last 4 suicide drones. Tossing them up to hover status he turned back to his Holo computer. He took control over the three drones and manually propelled them towards the Alpha.

Lacking any knowledge in beastial mentality but understanding the basic leadership concepts of the military he felt that with the Alpha taken down things may change. The mini fragmentation and flashbang grenades sped off at Nan's manipulations.

Hugar climbs onto the side of the truck lifting Ana up with one hand and putting her inside the truck in one movement in the process. He motioned and looked towards the others his spear held at the ready to get any who came in for a quick nibble. "You heard the lady, into or onto the truck, double time." He stated with a firm voice, but he remained calm as well.

Quinn hopped up into the back of the truck, stepping up beside Ana and tucking his gun away. He gently took a hold of her shoulder with one hand and held tight to the top of the truck with the other. "I'm pretty sure shit's about to get bumpy." He mused, quite calm sounding. He glanced sideways and down to make sure she still had his knife and he pulled the second one from a pocket. If they were jumped it'd be at close range, close enough to stab with a knife that could really be considered a small short sword by any other person, or at least Ana.

Ana sat in the truck, shaking. She knew she should be alert for if those beasts attack, but for a moment, she was just trying not to freak out any more than she already was. It wouldn't be good for the team. She swallowed and looked up at Quinn, nodding a bit. She still had the knife in hand, never having let it go, and would defend herself should the need arise.

The pedal was pressed and the tires on the truck spun for a moment before catching traction and sending the truck forward, Tanja grabbing on and climbing inside just as it started forward. The wolf like creatures in front not foolish enough to stand in front of something larger them them that was moving, jumped out of the way to avoid being crushed. However they did not just let the truck get away, quickly giving chase to the vehicle.

Though there were a few close calls with the wolf like creatures jumping at the truck and snapping with their jaws, they could not reach anyone inside before the truck got out of reach. The truck did not head for the ruined structure like some might have expected, instead it veered to the side and drove off, heading in a different direction.

"Those things were tougher than expected...are we going to see more things like that?" Tanja leaned forward speaking to Rulloo from the open window.

"I am not sssure but it would be sssafe to asssume there are more troublesome creaturesss about." Spoke Rulloo in return, sounding a bit frustrated himself.

Tanja gave a nod and then turned her attention back to her group. "Okay first, Quinn I need you to start patching up Hugar before he bleeds out. We're going to have to decide how we go about this. Generally speaking we can either try to route the beast there again, or we can see if there are any other signs of past architecture and head there, hope that it's not surrounded by wild animals. Either way I'm open to ideas."

Quinn glanced over to Hugar and wrinkled his nose and then down to Ana. "I'm going to need your hands." He told her. She'd done well enough helping him with his own wound back in the ship and trying to stitch someone up two handed in a moving vehicle wasn't going to work too well. "Hugar," He nodded towards the truck bed at his feet. "Make yourself comfortable." He tucked his knife away in his boot and moved to carefully find things in his medical kit purely by feel.

Ana was just sitting there in the back of the truck, looking blindly at the other side. She didn't snap out of it until she heard Quinn's voice saying that he needed her hands. My hands? She looked down at her hands and saw that they still held the knife. Not quite sure what to do with the thing, she set it aside in as safe a place as she could find and then looked around, noting that Quinn was getting stuff out of his medical bag. She was still a bit confused as to why Quinn needed her hands, until she saw Hugar and how hurt he was. Having something else to focus on, Ana moved to help Hugar get settled and then looked to Quinn. "What do you want me to do?"

Reed had been in the process of clipping his Vial back on to his belt when Tanja had given the order to get in the truck. Quickly realizing that the wolves were about charge, he dove into the back of the truck where he landed uncomfortably with a view of the wolves as the truck sped away.

Now that the wolves were gone, Reed sat up carefully, hands still gripping the side of the truck. He turned to face Tanja. "There is an Onset Shuttle in the Anbruch. It's armed and I should be able to use it to pick off,” he paused and cast a glance toward Anise “or scare away the wolves.” Surely plasma bolts falling from the sky would be enough deter any aggressive predators. "We just need to get back to the Anbruch without getting eaten."

Ana heard Reed and looked at him as she said softly, "Kill if you must. I know you'd only do so if absolutely necessary."

Quinn tapped Ana's head to bring her focus back to Hugar and then he set her up to pinch the wounds shut as he went about cleaning, stitching, applying medicine and bandaging Hugar up. A cocktail of antibiotics and painkillers and he was done. "Just...try not to tear them please." Quinn said gently, cleaning his hands off as best he could and doing a bit better to clean Ana's hands since he was fairly certain she didn't want blood on them. "Thank you." He murmured to Ana and then he twisted around a little. "Hugar's patched up Capt'n!"

Hugar takes a breath and nods towards Quinn and Ana. "...Thanks." He gave them both pats on the shoulders before taking a breath. "I'll try not to move to much but if you guys are in danger I'll do my best and damndest to protect you all..." He looks towards Tanja a moment and looks her over. "Are you alright, Tanja?" He knew she had armor, but part of him demanded he ask anyway. "As for ideas...I think it would be better if we try to move around them, we're not equipped to handle a pack of wolves like that. We have civilian grade fighters with us as well, which leads to us getting distracted trying to protect them, and possibly getting hurt."

Tanja stroked her chin in thought a moment at Reed's suggestion. "Hmm that might be best...alright this is what we're going to do. We'll head back to the ship and split up, those who don't want to fight stay at the Anbruch and help get repairs finished faster. The rest will get in the shuttle and clear the area and see if we can bring anything back to be investigated." She then leaned forward and spoke with Embel informing here of where they were going and without much delay the truck turned and began heading back, trying to avoid the wolves.

The drive was a bit longer than before but the crew safely made it back to the ship without too many problems. There were a few moments where they were almost spotted by packs of other animals but they made it through. One thing was clear though there was plenty of wildlife on this planet even if there wasn't any sentient life.

"Alright everyone who wants to head out again get into the shuttle." Tanja spoke as the truck drove up the cargo ramp back into the Henkei class ship.

Ana jumped out of the truck once it had stopped and shook her head as she quickly made her way back to the engine room. She would rather work on what she knew than deal with what she didn't. She wasn't a fighter, not by a long shot. She didn't even wait for anyone else, for she was more worried about the engines and how bad they were from the crash than even what was happening outside the ship.