RP: Elysia [Elysia] ECV Raven, Mission 1 - Catching the Scent

Sofiel kneeled down next to Senna and gave the other bird a quizzical little look, wondering why the archeologist hadn't used her own helmet's light but not saying anything on the matter as they observed the well-lit floor hatch. The dove-winged engineer tapped a thoughtful finger against her helmet a few times as her golden eyes squinted at the small, unmarked mechanism.

She squinted harder, moving to detach her plasma cutter power-cable and compare the end of it to the small section of exposed pins. There was an idea, it may not have been right but it seemed plausible.

Alexia clambered up the other Elysian being careful to avoid kicking her in the face or anywhere for that matter. “It looks the same as the other door from what I can tell, even has the markings on it like the bottom one.” While still perched on the other Elysian's shoulders, Alexia swiveled her head scanning the floor but saw nothing else of notable interest.

As Sofiel compared the two, both plug and her power cable matched in size and shape.

Meanwhile Vex watched the group attempting to solve the first issue on their journey, how to get into the ship. The little FARS recorded everything about the room and the doors for later use, and inspected Sofiel as she tried to figure out what the final unmarked part of the door was for.

The dove bit her lower lip as she began moving the cable forward, slowly connecting the cable to the section of pins and letting out a small sigh of relief as nothing exploded. Inner tension began building up again however, manifesting in Sofiel's bottom lip being bitten rather roughly as a hand snaked over to the power pack's on/off switch.

"Might want to stand back," was all the warning she gave before flipping the switch, her heart dropping in anticipation of something bad happening.

Despite the tension of the situation, sending a charge into the door of a millennia old ship there was no explosion or immanent self destruct warning.

A small green light slowly came to life behind the door, giving the barest of glimpses into the space behind it through a small porthole at the top of the door which, without light behind it, had not stood out as a viewport until now. The tiny green light, as anyone craning their neck to peer through would notice, was built into a console on the other side of the door, its dim light barely illuminating the corridor around it enough to show that the only way to progress was to keep descending. For the Raven crew this final puzzle piece would confirm any suspicions started by the floor and ceiling doors, the Empyrean was vertical.

While it may not have been the biggest shock of the century it did mean the team would have to rappel down in the dark for a while longer.

Alexia's face spelled out her shock perfectly, she clearly hadn't been expecting to see through the door anytime soon and the sudden appearance of the green light was enough to send her tumbling from the shoulders of Meissa with a grunt as she hit the floor. "What did you do!? How did that light come on suddenly?" The raven sister started quickly before noticing the power cable connected to the door. Composing herself a little better she scrambled over to the door in the floor to get a better look alongside the other two. "Ok better question, why hasn't anyone updated the power connection type in over 4000 years? Is it just me or does it seem weird that this, did something?" She asked cautiously, suddenly deciding she didn't want to be crouched on a door that could open at any moment.

All the while the small light continued to slowly come on and fade off, over and over as though it was waiting for something else to happen. Despite its appearance the door itself hadn't budged, there was no auidable signals to indicate the mechanism was moving either.

Sofiel let out an adorable little eep as her plan worked... somewhat, the celebration was premature but it was half-deserved at least as the door gave some kind of response. The Dove was surprised however when she found out that she wasn't standing nice and pretty on the top of the ship, but rather on it's side - she turned back around to face the other birds with a look of worry from her golden eyes.

"People still walk and it works for them but bad news... we're going to open the door and - and rappel down a hallway... that now looks more like a sheer drop..." Sofiel began informing people to bring everybody up to date as she moved back from the hatch that suddenly seemed a whole lot less sturdy than it has a few seconds ago.

Irrational fears wouldn't get the best of her, Sofiel liked cramped spaces!... this one just threatened to kill he- NO! she'd done it once so gosh darn she could do it again. Thankful that need hadn't risen up just yet - the door remained shut for now, something she had to overcome. The light seemed a bit too dull to her, indication lights were meant to grab your attention and this one appeared to be functioning below it's potential Lumen.

The Dove-winged engineer popped the side panel off of her homemade plasma cutter's power supply and found a safety dial, slowly increasing the power her back was outputting and hoping for some kind of positive result. She brought two spares on her anyway - so if it did nothing then she'd more or less have her ass covered for later on.

"I mean...you come up with a better way to transmit power." Meissa replied to the leader. "And I'm pretty sure CFS kills you. But I'm not an engineer."

"Shut up." Corvina replied to Meissa and just anyone else in general who was talking.

Procedure first. Always test how far the hole goes down before you actually rappel. Enough trainees have gotten career-ending injuries because they were too stupid to check before they hopped, and instincts always told them they could fly. Well, they couldn't fly here.

"I'll test the height of the drop."

The speed of sound is...343 meters per second. Corvina drew her gun.

Senna, who had completley forgotten she had her own light, stepped back and got to her feet with a soft breath. Looking at the rest of them. She wasn't too taken by shock that the ship was vertically placed. And that they were walking the walls of the ship, rather than the intended floors. She glanced over her shoulder, before opening her book. Ready to scribble the fact down. Right up untill she paled when Corvina drew a gun.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Senna called out to the soldier, dropping her book, which smacked down to her side again. Pushing the charcoal in her coat again. "Who knows what you'll hit," the auburn girl moved next to Corvina. "Find a metal pipe or something, we both know the gravity acceleration of this place," she snorted. "And you'll hear that as well, y'silly goose."

Empyrean Ruins - Airlock Chamber

Alexia only watched on as Corvina drew her gun and was confronted by Senna, she was still getting over the strange orientation of the ship. Of course looking back on it the whole thing seemed obvious but the thought of rappelling down a hallway had her on edge, as well as the darkness and the irrational fear of zombies or ghosts. The raven sister cautiously moved back over to the group, despite the rather rude comment provided by Meissa who she was already starting to dislike, she wasn't the only one who'd been in the military and in this situation it was hardly the most useful skill. It was people like Sofiel and Senna who would be doing most of the real work for this little expedition, after all they could understand the ship and the technology better than the rest of them who just knew how to fight well and use a gun.

"She has a point, who knows what might happen discharging a weapon in this relic of a starship, if it somehow caused a cave in..." The elysian trailed off realising she probably should have kept that fear to herself to avoid potentially spreading paranoia through the group.

While the group were occupied with the gun Sofiel's logical idea paid off, the light stopped fading and instead remained firmly and quite brightly green with no other obvious movement or change. Unknown to the team due to the natural sound proofing of the door, several mechanisms were slowly coming to life on the other side preparing to open the long sealed ship.

ECV Raven - Bridge

Icarus had been running over some paperwork and documents while he waited for the next update for the team before finding something very peculiar, an extra set of names on the manifest which he couldn't for the life of him remember ever having seen prior. "Vex, I need that shuttle headed to this spaceport please, it seems we missed someone..." The captain made a mental not to question the senator responsible for this expedition afterwards as he spied the 'officially assigned' marker on their files. Seems people were already keeping things from him, either that or miscommunication was performing at its finest.

Space Port - Private Dock

The shuttle touched down soon after Icarus gave the order, since it was already on the planet the trip had been quick aided by the VIP status which had been applied to the shuttle registration number giving it preference in airspace. Setting down with a loud thunk the small shuttle opened its side passenger access and an automatic voice signaled that boarding was now permitted.

As soon as Raduriel and Corial entered the shuttle the door would shut and takeoff initiated, Vex wasn't wasting time when Icarus had made it clear this was to be done ASAP and the boss' word was law. "Welcome aboard newbies, the captain apologises for the slight delay in retrieving you, something about an admin issue on their part but anywho. Let's get you down to those ruins with the rest of em." The AI piped from the ships speakers as the shuttle zoomed off to return to the building that hid the silently waiting ship below.

Empyrean Ruins - Airlock Chamber

"All members be aware, you have two new comrades en route, some sort of issue somewhere in the chain of paper lead to them being delayed so for the time being hold position until they reach you." Icarus' voice filtered through each of their helmets as his brief message played informing them of the new events.


Meanwhile the door had finally prepared itself some few minutes later and made itself known rather indiscreetly. The green light suddenly switched to a brilliant red that filled the small porthole obscuring the view of the other side. Another moment later a loud alarm started up, before choking and becoming more and more distorted, it seemed not everything had survived the march of time. With a soft hiss the door locks disengaged and the seal that hadn't been broken for over 4000 years opened. the door itself didn't open but rather shifted slightly up form its position signaling it was now able to be opened manually.

Airlock Chamber

“Fair enough.” Corvina replied, putting away the gun. “But, a steel pipe probably won’t make enough noise for us to hear it on the way up if it’s that deep-“

“Hey, watch out.” Meissa called as the door began to open. Wow, this was some damn old technology, and judging by the sounds of it...not much had changed in all the mechanisms! Yay, technological progress.

The two Elysians stepped away for a second, only to watch the door anticlimatically fail. They were both silent for a bit upon this realization.

“Well...I’ll go grab some more scrap to hold the door up.” Meissa offered.

Shuttle Interior

As Raduriel Hayyel sat in the shuttle, she wondered what sort of bureaucratic nonsense had caused them to forget her.

'Well, I'm not offended.' She muttered to herself. She sat back and waited for the journey to end

Empyrean Ruins - Airlock Chamber
As the shuttle touched down, Raduriel heard the clanging of metal door on the outside of the shuttle. As she stood, she stretched her wings and her arms and legs, stepping out of the shuttle.

'Hi Everyone, Raduriel Hayyel, Systems Manager and your new techie' she said, trying to fain excitement and hide the internal fear inside her. 'Sorry, about my late arrival, some bureaucratic stuff up at HQ or something, would anyone like to fill me in on what i missed?'

Empyrean Ruins - Airlock Chamber

The fact her idea and her idea alone caused the ancient door to open, even slightly, lifted the Caelisolan's spirits enough to almost make her forget the fact they lead to a seemingly bottomless pit of bone-shattering and very painful death. Although the fact still floated at the edges of her mind, so Sofiel anchored her AUG's line on to what looked like it was once part of the docking mechanism - it looked sturdy enough, especially if it survived all this time mostly intact.

"Hey it's better than nothiEEK-" the Dove gave a little cry of pain as the battery pack began searing in to her hand, dropping it for a second as the heatsink-laden thing began rapidly cooling itself to compensate for the stress it had just been put through. She was probably okay though, it more surprised her than anything.

The new voice came over her headset as the latest addition announced herself to them, "Aww, one little door and I've been made redundant?" she joked over comms, giving a slight chuckle before continuing. "Hiya, I'm Sofiel - the team's engie - and you showed up just in time to help us get this thing open, our brooding team here should patent their new door-opening method but nonetheless, welcome!" the Dove finished introducing herself with a gesture to Corvina and Meissa before reaching down to retrieve the now-cooled component as her oversized wings gave a little flutter.

Shuttle Interior

Corial was silent for the duration of the trip, her fingers nervously digging into her seat as she gripped it tightly. She wasn't as worried about the paperwork delay. This was her first time working out in the field, and all the things that could go wrong played in her head like a bad, overly-violent disaster movie. When the craft settled onto the LZ and the doors opened, it took her several long seconds to pull herself to her feet and head outside.

Empyrean Ruins - Airlock Chamber

... Where she then had to rappel down an elevator shaft. Awesome. That process brought on yet more hesitation, but she eventually made her way down, gradually and carefully, her wings spread wide to slow her descent in case she lost her grip. After finally reaching the others, she wobbled up to them on shaky legs and forced a smile. "Hey there. I'm Dr. Corial. Uh... I don't think I'll be much help with the door, but if you break an arm getting it open, I can do something about that." She found a wall to lean against and took some deep, calming breaths. As much as she liked exciting new things, this was out of her element.

Empyrean Ruins - Airlock Chamber

Meissa would have to venture back to the ruined elevator if she wanted to find any scrap, as the team had previously discovered the airlock chamber was completely empty save for the doors at either end, although there was plenty of chunks and twisted lengths lying around the smashed passenger compartment. For those trying to lift the door and open it the task was somewhat difficult, it hadn't been unsealed in millennia and was quite stiff just to lift out of its seal. Since the seal had broken the air within was now mixing with the outside air, each of the Raven members had been alerted to this fact as their HUD flashed red to draw their attention to the atmospheric gauge which was now displaying a high concentration of carbon dioxide. It didn't last long as the gas devoid of oxygen quickly mixed with the planets atmosphere, but was enough to trigger the helmets of their AUG to supply backup oxygen for a moment.

The bright green light remained solid, mocking them as though it thought they'd never get the door open. Another light further down the corridor blinked several times but remained off for the most part, it was roughly another 20m down and did nothing to give insight on to how much deeper in went. It wasn't a small indicator light however and rather was just a broken ceiling light with clear signs of damage and a broken glass panel which had once protected it. If anyone had looked up at the door in the ceiling they wouldn't notice any changes, it appeared they two doors acted independently even if one opened.

Alexia moved over to help open up the door alongside the others while Meissa went to grab some scrap, the raven sister gave a smile and a wave to the two newcomers, "Hi, I'm Alexia. My brother is the grouch sitting up on the ship who you probably spoke to when you were assigned to this mission, glad to see you made it, he told us there was some admin issue that almost meant you were left behind." She said, crouching down to try and find a grip on the door, even just testing it she could tell it would take a few of them to lift the heavy thing enough to slip through.

Meanwhile Meissa would have her work cut out trying to scavenge some scraps, while there was plenty of metal bits lying around most of the easily accessible stuff was way to small to prop open a door but could easily be used in place of a bullet to test the length of the corridor.

Empyrean Ruins - Airlock Chamber

Sofiel gave a little sniff as she tasted the differences each time the air quality changed, she felt a tickle in her nose but a few seconds passed and nothing came of it as she diverted her golden eyes back to their latest crew members - it must have been one hell of an admin issue but at least they still had their identities, that would have been nasty...

After she had introduced herself, the dove bounced up to the new doctor with her wings tucked in tight as she tried to not bump anyone in the small space that was becoming crowded as time went by,."It's not quite a broken arm but do you have anything for my hand? I burnt it just now and I was just wondering if you hand anything to make the annoying climb down any less annoying," Sofiel admitted with a small chuckle and a warm smile before she began peeling off the lightly damage glove, wincing as the patch of red raw skin was exposed - it wasn't anything too nasty but it was uncomfortable and she offered the limb to Dr. Corial.

Empyrean Ruins - Airlock Chamber

Corial's only response to Alexia was a tiny wave as she continued inhaling enough oxygen to calm her nerves. By the time Sofiel approached her, she was able to stand steadily, and greeted the girl with a more genuine smile this time. "Ah, of course. Let me take a look."

She gingerly took hold of the other woman's wrist and tilted her head slowly from side to side, examining the wound closely. "This should heal quickly, but I bet it stings pretty bad. Here..." She released her grasp on the offered limb and opened a pack at her hip, retrieving a roll of gauze and a package of some sort of ointment. "This is a topical anesthetic. It should numb the pain for a while. Just be careful with it. It's fairly powerful stuff, you won't feel much of anything there for a while." If allowed, she opened the package and gently began to massage the liquid contents onto Sofiel's hand with both of her own, then wrapped the site with the gauze while leaving her fingers free to move with little resistance. The gel would take effect quickly, causing a cool, tingly sensation that eventually faded into complete numbness.

Empyrean ruins - Airlock chamber

Senna was far more preoccupied with the army birds and the hatch into nothingness that had opened up to them. Letting out a soft breath as she looked down, before taking a step back from the edge, glancing at Sofiel. "Hey, good job," she answered, before fully turning on her feet and moving to the newcomers. Giving them a little wave. "Senna Damoscles," she introduced herself with a gentle smile. "Archeologist, navigator and mapkeeper, a pleasure to meet you." She added, a hand on the tome. Before she opened it up. Opting to check the aforementioned map. Seemingly lost in though. There was an easier way to find out how deep the drop was. After all, she knew how long the ship was. And she knew where they were. It just needed a bit of calculation.

“Oh, so we do have a map.” Corvina observed, putting away the gun. “Well, there’s that map you can’t live with...”

Yamatai loaded up their soldiers with too much technology at the start of the wars far back, and it seemed like they still hadn’t dropped that trend. All that technology...made their soldiers a little soft.

Though in the era of power armor it didn’t matter. Not that much, anyways.


“So what model of ship is it, then?” the other owl asked. More importantly why was it...stuck face-first into the ground? Normally ships ran linearly, front to back. It helped with crew flow. Sure, technically Yamataian ships could just be cubes in cubes with how they could hover around everywhere...thankfully they weren’t.

As far as history was concerned, at least in Sennas tome, the Empyrean was a 1 off expedition model with very tightly guarded details. There was no information on how to operate most of its systems above the level of doors and airlocks which was almost useless in itself. Physical information was also limited, no numbers given on rooms, personnel, weapons but it did include basic dimensions, with the ship running from front to back being little over 600m.

From the basic information provided as well as the appearance of the airlock chamber they were standing in, it was clear the team was entering from the front of the Empyrean, with the engineering area and subsequently the power systems and main engine being located in the middle of the ship with no exact location specified. Medical division was even further back than that and the bridge was 8 decks above the one they were standing on, overall pointing to a lot of walking and rappelling to get anywhere near finding out why there was now activity in a long dead carcass of a ship.

Airlock Chamber

Alexia continued to peer into the depths trying to get any idea of how far down it may be, they also needed to make sure this door wouldn't close on them after they entered either, but leaving someone to stay behind was out of the question. "Anyone got a torch or a glow stick? We might be able to check by dropping it down..." The raven sister noticed the conversation with Senna and decided to listen in, if that book had information on the ship then maybe they wouldn't have too waste supplies!

Hopping up from her crouched position she moved over to get involved, "So, does it say anything?"

Sofiel allowed the doctor to tend to her very minor wound, after all she assumed the doctor knew what she was doing - otherwise why would she be a doctor?

"Thanks Doc, I owe you one," the Dove responded with a smile that turned into a look of fascination as she wiggled her numbed digits, it was a bit odd but she preferred it to the slight pain - so the engineer re-gloved her hand and stuck it out for Corial to shake.

"I don't suppose you brought a hydraulic jack or anything like that with you by any chance?" the white-haired woman asked from behind her protective mask, she very much doubted the answer would be yes - in fact she was betting on it, but it never hurt to ask.

"There isn't much, at all I can say about it," Senna retorted with a murmur. "It has red tape all over it, but I know it's an expedition ship, and that it's six hundred meters," she glanced up at the rest of the group. "Give or take." She took a deep breath and flipped through a few pages, before humming to herself and closing the tome again. "Not enough for me to know how long the drop exactly is. Where eight decks under the bridge, so I'm making an educated guess here," she frowned. Once more sinking into thought.