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

club24

Everything Is Magical
It’d been several weeks since Icarus had met with Barachiel and been informed of his new position as captain of the ECV Raven, in that time the Raven winged Elysian had seen to finding a suitable crew for his ship. While there was no public announcement of the ship and its mission word still managed to spread leading to multiple applications for positions, these were sifted through and only the best were accepted to meet and discuss their position on board. After the crew was assembled and brought on board the small retrofitted scout-class ship they headed up into orbit around Elysia Novus and awaited their first orders, it wasn’t long before their captain explained their first task.

Orbit of Elysia Novus
ECV Raven

The Retrofitted Scout-Class ship drifted aimlessly in orbit, through the many windows the crew would see the swirling clouds, vast oceans and sprawling landmasses, the ships interior was neatly organised and everything had been stowed away before take-off. The crew had been given a bunk and personal locker for storing their few personal effects while any large equipment and other items are stored in the shuttle bay or storage area.

Icarus stood on the bridge watching a few traders and civilian ships coming and going as they passed them by without so much as flinching in their course, the Raven-winged captain stood with his hands clasped behind his back as he collected himself. The Elysian had already spoken to Barachiel about the mission details and exactly what their mission would be now he only had to find an easy way to relay the large amount of info he’d been given.

“Attention crew members of the Raven, as many of you well know I am Icarus Asellio the captain of this ship and former officer of the Star Army. Recently I was reassigned from my post on board the Wyvern and brought back home to serve Elysia once again, this as you can see was not a military posting but rather a discharge from the navy in light of some recent events which drew the attention of the senate.” The Elysian spoke as the intercom played his voice across the whole ship.

He paused for a moment as he put together the short speech in his head hoping he was right to choose the crew that he did, most of them had family back home and while he wasn’t expecting any trouble he really didn’t want to have to visit any of them on a rainy day. Flicking the ship-wide intercom back on he continued.

“As I explained to all of you, the purpose of this ship is to investigate the recent activity from beneath Empyrean which is believed to be linked to the ancient starship stored away there, this information is highly classified for the time being and should any of you be found to be distributing it there will be severe reprimands. Now our mission regarding Empyrean is to descend into the old ship and find out what is only now generating these electronic signals, you’ve all been provided with a standard uniform which is only compulsory when we need to look like a team, in other words when I say and a set of Adrenaline Utility Gear. We are not a military vessel and therefore are confined to civilian grade equipment, not that we really need power armour for this kind of thing and the AUG should provide you with all the tools you need, each of you can find it in your locker.”

“The landing shuttle will be departing in an hour from the shuttle bay, make sure you are all on board as it won’t be waiting for stragglers. In the meantime I suggest trying to get to know one another, you’ll be working as a team with only each other to count on out there so I don’t want to see any fights, which brings me to the final item of the briefing. Everyone on this ship, regardless of prior occupation or status is an equal and should be treated as you would a friend or family member, we have no ranks and we have no distinguishable leader, I may be the captain but I am by no means your commander and as such I expect you all to be competent in making your own decisions, should you have any questions see me on the bridge.” Satisfied that he’d covered all the important parts Icarus finished the impromptu briefing and finally finished pacing across the room moving to sit in the captains’ chair as his gaze returned to the various other craft outside.

As the intercom switched off Alexia had already retrieved her own gear from the locker and started heading to the shuttle bay to check it over and hopefully meet some of her crew mates. The second Asellio strolled down to the shuttle at a leisurely pace with the AUG pieces under each arm humming a faint tune as she went, before long she entered the bay and admired the small landing shuttle they’d been generously gifted. The Velcior sat silently with its passenger airlocks opened near the front of the ship, stepping on board she found that it had been outfitted with enough spaces for the whole crew as well as cargo space left over at the rear.

"wonder who's gonna get here next then, and knowing my brother this hour will be as precise as a laser etched signature so for their sake I hope they take him seriously." She thought to herself setting up her AUG and checking it against her frame, adjusting various straps until it sat comfortably on her. "And here I was thinking his fashion sense was wrecked by all those years as an officer but this is kinda cool."
 
On a pile of crates near the shuttle there was a white haired, white winged Elysian who was excitedly pulling herself into the AUG suit, she had rushed to the shuttle bay and started donning it from the moment she heard the voice of the captain boom throughout the pressurised canister that had lugged them through space. Sofiel was almost bursting at the seams, she had packed her bag last night and was at a loss as what to do, so she unpacked it and packed it again... and then again until she was 100% positive it was as well packed as it could ever be.

The engineer then spent another hour or so ensuring her plasma cutter would be on it's best behaviour - Yes she was told to stow it away in the cargo bay with the rest of the equipment but she classed this as a personal effect and so it stayed with her, but it managed to fit at the bottom of 'her side' of the wardrobe with very little issues.

"So wow, he are actually going to do this" Sofiel began speaking to the other people in the vicinity of the shuttle as she continued to don the gear with it's various buckles and fastening methods. "I know we still have an hour until it actually happens and we are plummeting through the atmosphere together but just...." She paused for a moment and stood up from the pile of crates, before running her hand over the smooth hull of the shuttle..

"I don't really have the words for it if I'm being quite frank here, It's like we're badasses I guess is accurate" she spoke in a light hearted tone before moving back to where her gear was situated, watching it like a hawk as she continued fastening everything, thinking about how it seemed the captain liked to re-affirm everything constantly.

It was a good practice on paper but eesh, it was a little bland.
 
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Alexia heard the voice of another from outside the shuttle and stuck her head out to see who it was, seeing the white winged engineer the raven sister grinned and waved to her from the shuttle. "Yeah I guess it does feel that way a bit doesn't it? I'm Alexia by the way, younger sister to the captain in case he failed to mention he actually had one when he interviewed you. From your looks you fit the description of Sofiel is that correct? I don't mean to be intrusive at all but, 'we have been ordered by his royal majesty to interact with one another'" She said putting on a stereotypical high class English accent clearly referring to Icarus' words moments ago.
 
Why was she assigned here of all places? This was the question burning in Corvina's mind as she took her seat in the ship, sitting with an air of calculating gracefulness. Surely she wasn't necessary here. There were other very capable people on this mission. Especially that one owl-winged girl with a mop of brown hair sitting on the other side of the room, looking quite aimlessly lazy.

Perhaps it was to make sure all of them were loyal and would stay as such. Although, she heavily doubted it. All of them had reason to stay loyal to Elysia. Strong reasons, too. Perhaps it was that they feared interference and wanted her to run counter-intelligence. That was much more likely, as Yamataian territory was always a bit of a scary area. Although deploying her of all people? That only gave Yamatai more reason to watch them. Or maybe it was an analytical experiment. Yes, that seemed in character for Barachiel and Antoni, didn't it? Remove her as a factor for now, and see if new crime control implementations could in fact function successfully without her continually patrolling. Or maybe it was to document everything about said ancient starship. But then again, other options were avaliable. Or maybe it was her...

Whatever. She was here, although she didn't think she should be. But she was here, alright. She pulled out her Sersis and started polishing it, the black gleam shining in the ship's light.

For Meissa, the owl-winged girl in question, it would be a nice little excursion. Being cooped up in a garrison was not very fun for her. It wasn't very conductive for the wings, and she swore she probably gained a little weight just because of how annoyingly little activity she was actually doing. At least here she would be doing something. An ancient starship sounded cool, although Meissa doubted it would even work in the first place. Still, she remembered stories of Elysia's legendary old grand starships.

"Well, let's do this." she replied to the captain. Meissa glanced around. A handful of researchers, really. There were only at most three fighters on board including herself. If they got jumped, she would have to take charge.
 
Sofiel chuckled at the little joke, she may have shared a lot of physical similarities with the captain but it seemed that they were two very different people. "Indeed M'lady" She responded with an equally cheesy accent, "Great to meet you, I'm the sparky of this lot but you probably already know that". Normally she would've waved back but she was too busy moving her armful of shite into the shuttle, giving a curt nod to the people inside who were probably doing pre-flight checks or some such.

Sofiel came out of the ship again and wiped her hands together more just to give them something to do than to clean them ,before she swung her head around to Alexia. "So, what is it you do around here if you don't mind me asking?"
 
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Hmph.

For a captain, calling this ship's personnel 'rankless' was... counterintuitive? Egregious? ...Stupid? There were most definitely ranks aboard this ship, civilian or not. Many of its crew were former military personnel, and far fewer actual researchers. The complete lack of ranks would be jarring and likely bring nothing but conflict on 'who has the last words' in each and every order. A hierarchy is essential to get anything and everything done.

A small F.A.R.S. unit, a civilian model clearly modified, slowly hovered through the ship, towards the shuttle. The shining silver casing had been preserved quite well, with few marks along the surface to speak of. As it arrived to the shuttle, silent and watchful, the shuttle's cockpit lights turned on and switches began flipping themselves, as if an invisible pilot had just entered.
 
Alexia nodded hopping out of the shuttle herself with the gear strapped on and ready to go as she was finishing slipping on the bulky yet light boots. "Well he brought me along since I couldn't find a job yet having left the military posting we were on originally and as a bit of extra precaution I guess. Our father died during the Second Elysian War and never got to even see us, my brother basically became the man of the house and did everything he could to protect me and our mother so that he wouldn't lose anyone else."

Alexia smiled sadly remembering her childhood as a slight shiver went through her body, "Ever since then he's done everything to protect those he served with and commanded and only recently has he trusted me and my skills enough to not spend 5 minutes checking my gear for me so I suppose my being here is his way of protecting the crew as best he can." The raven sister noticed the FARS drone floating into the cockpit and begin the startup checks on the Velcior and wondered if they would be having this small drone flying them around, not that it was much different from the Star Army warships with the pilot AI's.

"While I may have been his choice as 'security' those other two in the shuttle," Alexia poked a thumb towards the shuttle, "Both of them are involved with military affairs too but I have no idea to what extent he wouldn't say anything other than they were ordered to be here. Regardless it's great to meet you and I hope we can get along well, and wow I love your wings! Been a while since I saw such lovely white ones as those." She stuck out her hand to seal the deal and gave Sofiel an adventurous grin.
 
"Wow" Sofiel let out, she wasn't expecting an autobiographical recall of somebody's life to be one of the first things she came across but nonetheless it was what happened.
"I'm just some nerd in a family of nerds, I hope this isn't me speaking out of line but your life sounds... intense..."

Quickly wanting to shift the conversation away from graves, Sofiel extended her maybe-too-large-for-her-body dove wings, it felt good to stretch them. "you like them? they were uh... a birthday present from my parents, same as my name" she responded with jokingly before returning the hand shake as she retracted her wings again.
 
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A soft breath came from Senna as she moved through the hallways. One hand resting on the massive tome clipped to her belt. The back screwed into a heavy duty metal plate with, as you guessed, heavy duty screws. It seemed heavy, bulky. Yet the small Elysian had the book hitched to her belt and moved on like it was nothing. A typical outback type. Lots of layered clothing, a parka covering her left arm. And her right hand clearly covered in some sort of bandaging. Red eyes examined the entire hallway, before settling on the blast door, which slid open with a soft whir. Allowing her access to the shuttle bay.

The hand that was formerly resting on the book now moved down to adjust the way it hung from her belt, before resting back on the back of the leatherbound tome. She glanced around, seeing how there were other Elysians present and deciding to cross the small distance between herself and the shuttle. She looked at both Sofiel and Alexia, giving them a curt nod. "Good," she frowned momentarily. "Day, according to space-time," the frown softened. A small smile forming on the Caesolian's lips. Auburn wings slowly raising as Senna heaved a deep breath. She wasn't all too good at social interactions.
 
Alexia beamed at her, "Yeah being born into a military family was a little intense but we've lived with it and made the best that we can and yeah I love those wings." Alexia spoke in awe before turning to look at her own raven black wings as she stretched them out as well shaking them slightly and letting out a sigh. "There is so many black or dark coloured wings out there, you must feel so special with those beautiful wings Im so jealous." She laughed folding her wings away.

Seeing the arival of the next member Alexia gave her a wave and nodded, "A good day it is indeed! Come join us we've just been talki About wings and yours are quite something I wanna hear the story!" With a sudden thought she popped her head into the shuttle and eyed the two sitting across from each other silentl. "Hey there, not sure what your reason for being here is since Icarus didn't say but instead of sitting around looking mean come out and talk with us, best way to calm nerves before a job in my experience."
 
Sofiel's heart began to flutter a bit with anxiety, she didn't really know how to react to all this praise for simply carrying her parents genes that caused her to have white wings, sure it was a bit on the rare side but it was just a colour but she guessed that maybe she had just gotten too used to them.

"Yeah uh, thanks..." she said before another entered the fray, an archaic book hanging from her hip is what caught the engineer's attention before anything else, it was old-fashioned and not at all what she was used to but she'd be lying if she said it didn't have a certain charm to it.

But as usual, more people meant more opportunities for her to slip up and be socially awkward so while she maybe only looked to be in a minor state of panic, she was essentially screaming internally. "play it cool" she thought to herself "as long everybody doesn't suddenly want to know your life story then it'd be fine... probably"

"Hi there, I'm Sofiel Castien, I fix your shit when it breaks, although that book there looks pretty sturdy" she greeted the newcomer with an awkward smile before mentally screaming at herself "what the hell, why did you say that, that was too informal"
 
"Hey, I wasn't ordered. I was requested." Meissa retorted. "Welcome aboard. You don't share your life, I don't share mine. Shit dies, I get it. We're not a bunch of Nekos sitting around in armors with new bodies to cycle in at the push of a button. Also expect to fix my shit a lot. SOFT Demolitionist, Joto Hei, Star Army of Yamatai."

Meissa decided to leave out quite a bit of information. Including but not limited to her award cabinet, since she didn't want to give off the impression she was trying to show anyone up. Or that intelligence operative sitting across from her was gonna probably rattle off on statistic after statistic of her own and make her look like a conscript who has only ever held a gun in a video game. She had to save some pride.

Corvina didn't want to share her life story either. Though, Corvina noted that Meissa was...well, she expected very little, and was still disappointed. "I most definitely was ordered to be here." the intelligence personnel spoke. "And I will try not to break things, I assure you. What will be the arrival time at the drop zone, captain?"
 
"Story?" The auburn Elysian felt a twitch going through her wings. And she rubbed the back of her neck with an awkward smile. The bandaged fingers visible now. "I was just born that way, no story here," she stated with a faint chuckle. Her gaze moved from Alexia to Sofiel. A soft nod coming from her. "Senna," she answered with a curt nod, but the same warm smile on her lips. "I'll be... Well, I'm supposed to be our resident archeologist," she answered, before smirking. "Thanks for offering to fix my... shit," a soft chuckle followed.

"I'm not too good at all the electronical bussiness and such," she adjusted the book on her belt slightly, a soft grunt following suit. "Don't worry about this thing, though. I'll take care of it."
 
Alexia was a little taken aback at the sudden hostility from Meissa but simply nodded, "Well, I'm sorry for asking I'll leave you be." her tone had wavered slightly from the usual happy as she appologised and left the shuttle to go back to the other two outside. Her gaze was drawn to the large book having never see anyone carry such a thing around, although for an archeologist perhaps it was standard? The raven sister had hoped the team would communicate a little more with each other before their first task but she knew it would take some time before they were used to each other.

Hearing the Intelligence officer asking about the mission start time as she pulled her head out of the shuttle entrance Alexia spoke over her shoulder, "Well unless you're using the comms in the helmet he probably didn't hear that, last I recall he wanted us on the ground by 10:00 so we have time to prepare and then the rest of the day to spend there if needed, hope that helps." Moving up to the cockpit of the shuttle she looked around for their pilot who happened to be an AI of unknown origin but despite her own doubts Icarus had chosen them so she trusted his judgement. "Everything going well up here? Don't want any issues when we haven't even begun." She joked.
 
The FARS unit, which had mainly been apathetically listening into the conversations rather than actually doing its job, suddenly turned on a dime while it hovered above the cockpit's seat. "Everything is going wonderfully!" The drone replied in a chipper female voice, making a few happy beeps. "We're heading to the surface at 9:45! Is it 9:45? My clocks have not been properly adjusted! Are we late? I would hope we aren't late, I'd have to blame it on someone!" The drone rattled on, losing focus as the shuttle whirred to life, more lights turning on and a display reaching the viewport.
 
Alexia giggled at the hurried words of the little drone as it floated about the cockpit, "No it's only 9:30, still got 15 minutes to prep so don't start flying out of here without us just yet ok?" The elysian gave the little drone an awkward pat not really sure what else she could do when it didn't have a physical body, "You're Vex right? Alexia, nice to meet you and I hope we get along well!"
 
"I guess I should meet our pilot-" Sofiel began speaking as she moved into the ship, having heard the voice within she assumed it was some kind of biological being but it made sense to have a computer flying, a lot of them were built for that express purpose after all.

"Oh cool, a FARS unit, I'd offer to shake your hand... but... yeah" the dove-winged engineer's voice trailed off a little before she continued speaking. "Anyhow I'm Sofiel, need any tune ups and I'm the gal for the job" she finished, one hand on her hip and the other pointing a thumb toward herself.
 
Senna took a deep breath, she turned on her feet and moved into the shuttle, following the rest. Raising a hand in silent greeting to the rest of the Elysians, as well as the FARS unit. "Hi," she croaked, before frowning and scraping her croak. "Wow, dang throat, hi," she retried with a soft smirk, rubbing the back of her head. "Nice to meet those I haven't met yet, Senna Damoscles." Her hand lowered again and she rolled her shoulders, one hand going to rest on the book.
 
"Alexia, Sofiel, Senna Damoscles," the FARS unit repeated, its feminine voice seeming hyper and energetic as it flew towards the forming group. "It's a pleasure to meet you all! I am you designated pilot 13-0112-9932, but I have collected data from my personality files and dictionary to form the alias of 'Vex,' as Alexia pointed out. I may not be Elysian but I am happy to serve!"

Floating her way towards the cockpit's front seats, she continued. "I will be managing and piloting the landing shuttle for the duration of our mission, as well as assuming control of particular ship components when necessary, as it does contain my tertiary and quaternary memory banks, and they would be quite a hassle to lose, I assure you."
 
"Oh, so that's why we have a FARS." Meissa replied to Vex. "Why would the government employ a FARS, though? I figured they'd-"

"-want to keep Yamatai out of this as much as possible." Corvina interjected. "A sound observation, especially given recent motions in the Senate. Very astute. However, the greater anomaly is: How did a FARS...'defect' from Yamatai to here? Certainly the Senate would not allow SAINT to peep in on our movements, unless if some sort of deal happened, which I find very unlikely...given many circumstances."

It was about time for Corvina to make her move. While Meissa did show a good first impression, Corvina would much enjoy it if she let everyone know who the one with the longest-standing record was, with the skills to back it up. Not through the blunt, record-waving, no; although award cabinets looked nice, there were some professions that went beyond award cabinets.

"I can, of course, assume defection occured since the regular process of letting an artificial intelligence be discharged from the Star Army would be to grant them the latest civillian model of Nekovalkyria body." she continued. "Unless if you are some sort of special case, which is not unheard of but uncommon nonetheless."
 
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