RP: LSDF Val'ta [Expedition 1] - One from Another

In response to J’ann, Elm shrugged, snow slipping off her camouflage-treated shoulder.

She noticed the snowball’s path from the corner of her eye and wondered, suddenly, if there were going to be any sort of reprisals handed out today. Fortunately, Ghost considered herself a very small target, both for snowballs and for Porrim's ire.

LSDF Val'ta Launch Deck -> Tange IV, Misato City, Wrecked Town Square

Last to make her way onto the catapult having remained behind in the unlikely event that one of Pitch's cages tore free during launch, Mirage did a final check, signalling to the launch crew, before being propelled out into space to begin her measured descent toward their LZ. Falling into place easily on the First Lieutenant's left as ordered Mirage kept her eyes on her instruments rather than the play of the atmosphere against the Whirlwind's shields visible through the optics. Re-entry was always a stressful time, so much could go wrong, and the nature of it hampered visibility especially when one didn't want to cook ground assets or provide too much of a signature.

Thankfully the descent through the cold atmosphere proved tedious rather than eventful and soon enough most of the assets had touched down in the snowy square of Misato City. Notable only to Mirage for Pitch's slight unsteadiness on landing, something that the other pilot thankfully corrected in short order. As the First Lieutenant gave her orders, Mirage found herself responding over the line, "Acknowledged. Permission to remain in the air and provide over watch with the increased sensor range and resolution?"

So far as she knew, Mirage wasn't required on the ground, and keeping an eye out for Points of Interest or potential developments was a more interesting task than idling on the ground while Command decided their orders.

Tange IV, Misato City, Wrecked Town Square

Ash was watching everything she possibly could without compromising her attention too much to the point of distraction. The snowfall seemed to slowly stick to her armor in places as she remained immobile. Akemi's antics drew her attention and made her sigh quietly as she reached out an arm in an attempt to smack him firmly, yet gently, upside the head while hissing softly, "Knock it off, before the whole ship decides all of us ought be spaced." It didn't matter if she hit him, she was starting to think being too near him may be hazardous to her health soon.

Activating her suits camo systems she'd slowly slink off to find a nice spot far, far away from Akemi.

Tange IV, Misato City, Wrecked Town Square

Akemi didn't mind the slap much. He wasn't going to let some worrywarts get him down. He highly doubted the entire crew would be against him. Nepleslians in general could certainly handle a snowball, a little goofing around and some inappropriate remarks. Boy was he glad he started his company in their stretch of territory.

Tange IV, Misato City, Wrecked Town Square

Aran'ya took a hit from the powdery projectile hurled her way, the Neko's alpha strike leaving a splotch of white falling off her stonethread hood and seeming to bleed into her shoulders and chest as her WIND suit started adapting to the cold stuff resting there. She grumbled a bit and wanted to retaliate immediately, but her quick wits decided to devise a cover story first to explain away the brief snowball fight. The communication system registered her sarcastic-toned broadcast to the team: "Aw, thanks Akemi! I missed that spot. Here... let me help get your WIND's adaptive camouflage up to speed, too."

Soon, the Medic's own reserved chunk of snow was flung in his direction... after all, it was for his own good.

Tange IV, Misato City, Wrecked Town Square

"No problem buddy!" the elfin eared chucklefuck responded emphatically. "Man, we're totes on the same wavelength and you're not even a New Tur'lista. I was gonna use the exact same excuse, er, reason!" Being ever so perpetually helpful Akemi scooped up another fistful of snow and threw it at her backside given that it was such an easy target and could thus really use the coverage.

Tange IV, Misato City, Wrecked Town Square

Aran'ya recoiled a bit as she got rear ended by the snowball quite literally, shaking off the powder from her WIND with a huff. "Eh... just where are you aiming at, wiseguy?" the medic responded with a bit of sass to the chuckling Akemi, "That's enough help for now, thank you." No more white projectiles were hurled his way for now, but you never know when she might sneak up on him.

The Trooper got down to business, activating her wraparound HUD inside of the helmet and made sure the map data of their location and the potential points of interest were indicated. With no clear leads on where a certain individual on the science team might be hiding, Widow's attention was drawn first to the places that seemed inhabited -- signs of life meant likely a medical need was also present. "Captain," she asked the expedition leader Porrim, who seemed as yet indecisive on their direction, "If you're still deciding on our primary objective, then from a medical standpoint I'd suggest either the city park lands or the shacks in the ruined carpark. There's likely to be survivors that require some type of medical attention."

New Tange IV, Misato City, Wrecked Town Square

Menelik couldn't believe he was doing this, and he knew just hos bad of an idea it was what he was doing. But he also wanted to do something useful instead of sitting around and watching people bicker, or frown disapprovingly at the lovely couple busy having a snowfight. So the Nepleslian stepped forward, actually, and shyly, raising his hand before clearing his throat.

"Sir? Captain Porrim? I agree with Trooper Lycosa, but its not my place to advise." His posture shifted uneasily before he stood up straighter, towering over even the tall captain in his armor. "I could easily make it to the collapsed skyscraper about 5 km yonder in a few minutes and stay in contact with the rest of the team. I'd be able to get in and search for anything of interest there, and if there isn't anything or anyone worth looking for I can just as easily make my way back to rendezvous with whoever you want me to." He finished and then, after a second of thinking, saluted. "Sir."

Tange IV, Misato City, Wrecked Town Square
The warm bootprints and condensing breath filling the air were the signs of life in this town square, aside from the greenery Porrim had bent down to inspect, rubbing the stem of a delicate flower with petals arrayed as bells, a lightly transparent and icy hue. She nearly leapt out of her skin and crushed the flower when she heard a park bench go crunch under the foot of Ny'za's Whirlwind, looking over her shoulder and trying to look through her wings at the large frame. "Do watch your step!" She called out to them over radio. "Can't have the rest of the-"

She saw a snowball whip past her and heard it splatter against Aran'ya with a quiet paf noise. Then another in return, and one more. Feeling cheeky, Porrim knelt down and picked up a handful of snow, grinning, turning around to look at her soldiers and look for someone who needed some extra coverage on their camouflage. A sly grin came across her face as she decided to lob a snowball at J'ann, aiming for his hips. When it connected and she scanned the horizon, she noticed Ashlinn slinking off. "Ah ah ah, hang on Soldier." She pointed her out. "I need to assign groups."

When things calmed down after the initial wonderment of the wintery plaza, Porrim cleared her throat and addressed Aran'ya and Menelik first. "I had intentions to look for the survivors first." She said, dusting the snow powder from her fingers as she looked between the medic and the marine. "Forecasts indicate a very cold, and heavy winter storm in a few days time, and if we left any survivors behind, they'd probably not have long afterwards."

She looked around to the others. "To that end, in such hostile conditions, I think it is better that we stay in two large groups, with one medic each." She started dividing the groups, taking the less experienced personnel under her wings, while the more competent veterans were for themselves, with Er'red being their unofficial leader by rank.

The first squad was composed of Porrim, J'ann, Akemi, Aiesu, Aran'ya, and Elm, who refused to go to the other group. Watching over Porrim's group was Ny'za's frame. The other group, by elimination, consisted of Er'red taking the lead as the most senior ranking officer, Ix'ion sharing the duties, JiJi, Ashlinn, and Menelik while Mirage kept an eye on this team. It was My'ean's duty meanwhile to provide overwatch and recon with the shuttles.

"My team is going to investigate the farm. Er'red, you've got the parking lot. We'll meet under the strange radio signal, and move together towards the skyscraper." She started drawing something on a digital sheet of paper. Though, even as digital paper, it couldn't make up for the haste of the diagram she made. Maybe after a few passes by the Frame Team they'd get a clearer picture downloaded to them.



"I anticipate well all move at least twenty kilometres or so in this trip - short journey if it weren't for all the urban decay actually." Porrim observed as she looked around all the decay, then scratched her chin, looking at the ground for a moment. "Say, My'ean, give the Skyscraper a deep scan, look for signs of life when you do a pass, will you? It may not be worth investigating if there's nothing there after all."

Whether or not they agreed, Porrim nodded. "Alright. Follow the streets, watch for signs of life, avoid decayed buildings, and stay close to the walls and blend in if possible." Porrim stomped her boot down. "Begin marching!" She ordered, pointing her team North-North-West. down a main street which was overgrown with vegetation and snowed in. Er'red's team was faced with another main street, with bumper to bumper traffic in the streets - numerous nooks and crannies between the lanes and stopped traffic.

Tange IV, Misato City, Wrecked Town Square

"I was just protecting your very valuable assets," Akemi answered coolly. "I didn't want to leave such a large target exposed, especially when it might help raise morale and aid in diplomacy with survivors." The Neko went right to the front of his group, activated his camouflage for the first time and took a substantial lead. He followed Porrim's orders and cautiously moved from one piece of cover to another, keeping a low profile while secretly hoping something exciting would happen making sneaking around pointless.

Tange IV, Misato City, Wrecked Town Square

Menelik watched the other team go, already glad that his request had been ignored and that he wouldn't be on the spot under the captain's watchful eye. As they went, he turned towards his team- technically Er'red's and Ix'ion's, but he was still a part of it- and then at their path. Underneath his armor's helmet his expression quirked as he thought about the best way to handle this and the team's makeup: He was sure of his own and Ashlinn's reliability to a certain extent, and was fairly sure that Ix'ion knew what he'd be doing. That left Er'red, the Fyunnen who still seemed a bit twitchy to Mene's eyes. But the Cap'n had put him in command, so that was that. All that was left to consider was... the tiny, fuzzy-eared elephant in the room.

For not the first time today, Menelik was happy that no-one could see under his helmet, the white and grey camouflaged Hostile doing wonders to obscure his reaction to Jiji's presence on his team: She was a friendly face sure, but he didn't want to worry about what would happen if they were ambushed. So he didn't worry, pushing it out of his head and shifting the grip of his HPAR in both hands. Er'red and Ix'ion could worry about the engineer's safety.

"So, Sirs," The single eye of the Hostile focused on Er'red and then Ix'ion, "How do you want to do this? I can take point if you want- any ambushes or booby traps should come up on my suit's sensors before I trip them."

Er'red looked about awkwardly as he was suddenly put in charge, and then straightened and tried to look like he owned the place. Er'red looked at the armored Nepleslian and thought about it. Most expendable member of unit. Check. Most heavily armored. Check. Willing to go into certain do-danger. Check.

"Good idea, Nepleslian Playboy. Go ahead and set off the tr-uh, be in front for us." Er'red ordered.

He turned to the rest of his small group. "Sentinel, you're second. You must be Ji'xa, yes? Only one person with that condition on the ship. You're in the middle. I'll bring up the rear. Should any of you require orders I will be right behind you. Mirage, please go look at this carpark the captain is interested in, I'm pretty sure the scout drone was scared of it for some reason. Then return to us."

He nodded authoritatively.

Tange IV, Misato City, Wrecked Town Square

If she were on foot Ny'za would have moved over towards the captain, but for now she held her position since she was in a large machine. Here eagerness did not stay hidden however as she spoke over the communication network. "We get to head towards the farm? Do you think there will be any animals there? Maybe possibly some that have mutated due to Mishhuvurthyar influence?" As she spoke she checked the hip compartments on the Whirlwind, she had them specially modified so that they could have life support running in them individually for animal storage when she left the atmosphere, so she wanted to make sure everything was running right before putting anything inside.

Tange IV, Misato City, Wrecked Town Square

Aran'ya raised an eyebrow at Akemi beneath her obscuring facemask when he alluded the 'assets' he wished to protect. She didn't especially flaunt this aspect of her anatomy, though her animal bond did factor into it being a little more prominent than it would otherwise have been. A slight snicker followed, along with a little jab. "Aiding in diplomacy, you say? Guess you won't be the only one talking out of your assets, then."

When she heard she was to be on the Captain's team, Aran'ya soon formed up more protectively around the expedition leader and her entourage, although she sighed a bit when this also meant that now she had to directly work with the Neko. At least he seemed to be moving stealthily for now, so maybe he wasn't half bad when he was actually focusing on his job instead of her ample backside?

Before she set out behind Akemi, the medic spared a moment's glance at the Helashio scout that was following Porrim closely. Widow also knew this person from that time long ago on the Akahar. "So, it's Ghost now, eh?" Aran'ya questioned of her new moniker in passing, before commenting sagely, "Better a silent specter than a soul-less number." Yes, she hadn't forgotten Four-Six.

Aiesu clung to Porrim -- not literally, though she refused to leave the taller woman's side. She tapped at her data-slate, wrinkling her nose with something of a frown as she patched into the communications and began listening to the little group conversations that evolved amongst those around her and in the other groups.

She thought it was all pretty inconsequential. Peons, plebians and commoners making up most of the ranks - the common salt of their respective worlds still just that: salt.

"Soo..." she began, eyeing the captain. "We actually scouted a lot of potential leaders for this deployment" she said in that froggish tone, rubbing her own arm. "If you don't mind me asking, what's so exceptional about you in your own words? You seem... Well, sort of twinkly-eyed. Beyond your profile and our interviews, I don't actually know that much about you" she frowned, flipflopping between male and female pronouns - still unsure which she should use referring to Porrim.

Above, My'en watched the horizon-line, clicking her tongue thoughtfully - the waist of her large bipedal tank of a frame traversing nearly a full half-circle, fingers working heavy banks of comms switches in the cockpit before reclining in the shaped cockpit fitting. Shoulders, rising and falling.

In her mind, this was cushy work.It probably wasn't always going to be but My'ean decided to enjoy it while she could.

Tange IV, Misato City, Wrecked Town Square

Everyone having assembled and orders issued, Ix'ion found himself a bit relieved that Porrim decided to split into two groups with a more senior ranked member in charge and yet a small part of him really hoped she'd left him in charge of the infantry element. Of course, with his behavior on the Launch Deck, it wasn't exactly difficult to figure out why the Captain decided to go the course she chose.

With the given commands from Er'red, Ix'ion nodded and responded with a quick "Yes sir," falling behind Menelik. All systems were nominal for his GUST enhanced WIND suit, HUD and advanced sighting up displaying in his helmet. "You will have point as Er'red assigned you, I will follow close behind. I would imagine you Marines refer to this as basic fireteam structure, yes?"

Tange IV, Misato City, Wrecked Town Square

Ash froze when Porrim singled her out, she paused where she was on the perimiter of the group, camo'd, nearly invisible and crouched atop a ground car for better visibility, She sounded a little chastised as she responded, "Jus' staying outta the snow, ma'am."

As the groups were divvied up and orders were handed out she started to slink back toward her group, and found she must be the odd one out as she hadn't been assigned a particular position, odd. Watching the group on sensors she picked a spot in the rear near the edge where the teams heavy weapon gunner or support would normally occupy, out all on her lonesome. Her systems checks kept returning green across the board and her sensors would ping Mirage every few seconds, just a small handshake for extended sensor data and better image of the area. Beyond that, the pint sized can of axe crazy was keeping her curiosity firmly contained, she had no intentions of proving old nursery rhymes true.

Tange IV, Misato City, Wrecked Town Square

Not getting a response from the First Lieutenant, Mirage decided to handle herself and remained airborne while the others settled, passive and low power active scans covering their surroundings filling out her own digital map and making sure that their LZ was secure. So far things had been quiet, a nice way to open the mission and hopefully a sample of how their tour aboard the Val'ta would go.

Assigned to a group commanded by Cadet Nny'ust, Mirage found herself acting as active over-watch, and curiously forward observations according to the Cadet's orders. Rolling her shoulders Mirage coaxed the Whirlwind toward the designated location, a car park, and queued up a detailed scan. Well before the ground team arrived she'd have a good idea of what they were looking at, and using the data they could decide what to do.

Tange IV, Misato City, Porrim's Group
"I think there could be animals, and I don't think the mee-shoo keep paddocks." Porrim disagreed with Ny'za's observation as she started walking up the street, across a broken road. "They're more the sort to keep rows of incubators... at least that's what Aiesu told me." She looked ahead and found that a large tangle of vegetation was blocking her way further ahead. "Around the corner..." she mumbled as she peeked.

Feeling a little nervous, she revealed the weapon she'd elected to beam herself down with: A HHG, Nepleslian sidearm. She flicked the cylinder open and made a quick double check for ammunition, satisfied with all eight bullets present, and started moving around the corner eastwards, taking point despite having the least armour. "Can't say I go to the mountains that often, but I don't usually see that when I do."

She motioned to a further tangle of overgrown vines and greenery stemming from, with a small road providing safe passage. "Hum. It should've spread to the road. Maybe someone's been cutting it." She wondered, stepping closer and looking at the dense winter foliage, inspecting it with her hands. "Aha. Cut marks." She looked over to the left, looking between two buildings and towards the park. Unfortunately, the way was blocked, and it looked like she had to dogleg it through this cut path.

"Perhaps we should be thankful someone's trying to trim the hedge here..." She looked about herself at the empty windows and empty spaces. The Yamataians loved to keep a bit of open space in their cities, and the Nepleslians loved graffiti. The team could see the two intermingling with signs of bright graffiti hiding under greens.

Ny'za could see their destination though, and the ruined Origin Courier 2A which had landed on a road which meandered through the park, and a shack erected next to it with a radio antenna transmitting the SOS. Looking a little closer and by lakeside, there was clear-cut land with room for animals, and some ungulate shaped creatures moving around and foraging peacefully. According to Misato's civic records there used to be a lot more forest just southeast of that wrecked ship.


Tange IV, Misato City, Er'red's Group
As Er'red begun leading his team West and through the cars and between a pair of intact buildings with ground-level shopping, they found themselves face to face with a large plant between a pair of a ruined buildings. The buildings looked to have been reduced to rubble by combat damage, either by insurgent detonation or space artillery. Er'red had a couple of choices spring to mind. Try and climb through the thick plants, clamber through the wreckage, clear the brush with weaponry, or try his luck at finding another way around.

Above them, Mirage's Whirlwind got a closer look at the carpark. There was a small park just outside and one of the trees had overgrown its boundaries and its branches were sticking into an office block for a tax accountant. The lawn looked unruly and some signs of litter and disrepair. Looking into the car park's stratum levels, there were visible heat signals on the sensors. Fire? Fire definitely couldn't survive long without supervision, so someone intelligent had taken up residence. There were irregular wooden structures walling off parts of the car park's exterior from the elements.

Looking up top, she could see four junkyard-assembled shacks of some sort, with no particular style evident due to the scrappiness of the materials. Tin roofs, wooden walls, and smoke rising from metal chimneys. A few cars were also left behind on the top of the car park, stripped down for parts and their chassis resting on bricks while the bodywork was appropriated into their homes and furniture.

Then Mirage saw someone emerge from one of the huts on the top of the building, looking out across the horizon, and spotting Mirage's silhouette. They put a hand over their brow to combat the white shine of the snow and ice in the air. When they identified the Mecha, they disappeared into their shack immediately, somewhat startled. Why, though? Surprised? Relieved? Outgunned? Mirage saw they had Nekovalkyrja's ears just before they disappeared, but their clothing wasn't recognisable, too laden with junk and stained to tell.

---
To both teams, a rough map of Misato's surrounds, gathered from civic data and updated with photographs and My'ean's observation data was now available, with the Val'ta's designated areas of interest highlighted in red circles.

Tange IV, Misato City, Porrim's Group

Eager to see something interesting Akemi decided he'd hurry on over to the shack and the ship. In order to avoid looking bad he made sure to turn this way and that using whatever sensors his suit had available to look for anything of note that might be a possible threat like a trap or anyone waiting for them. Being thorough he looked up and down each building he passed in case there was anything watching them from above. Assuming nothing warranted stopping he intended to steal the opportunity to greet whoever might be in the radio shack by giving its front door a gentle rap and then moving out of the way in case someone answered with a gunshot.