I can't tell one from another
I find you, or you find me?
There was a time before we were born
If someone asks, this is where I'll be, where I'll be
Talking Heads - Naive Melody (This must be the place)
LSDF Val'ta, Deck Two, Bridge, On Approach to Tange System in ten minutes
All was well on the Bridge. They passed through two nebulae between Kotoku and their destination. The view in particular was quite pleasing, with Porrim taking photographs from the Observation Bar when she was taking a break.
"We're not far from Tange, now, Captain," Jil'ha helpfully pointed out as she drummed her fingers on the desk. "Got a team assembled for the expedition?"
The Captain was sitting in her chair in the centre of the room, legs crossed as she was already dressed to explore, donning heavy looking winter fatigues. "I want to know what our landing options are, first," Porrim said, inspecting some crampons, "its the middle of winter on Tange, and local infrastructure's fried last time I checked, I doubt there's a safe landing place, especially if there's Mishhuvurthyar-" the word never quite got off the Lorath tongue correctly "-remnants."
She found the crampons to her liking. Another member of the bridge crew, a New Tur'listan man with a short mowhawk cut and spectacles. "We'll have to do a pass for distress beacons, focussing on Misato City near the equator," he said, spitting a duq seed out of his mouth and into a tray, "pretty sure we'll find something."
Also to note was that Porrim was free of chemicals at the moment, having purged them earlier to clear her head for the task before the first expeditionary team she'd be leading. "What's our vehicle pool?" Porrim asked.
"We've got eight Whirlwinds on hand, ma'am." The New Tur'listan replied, sipping at some coffee. "I believe we have a professional pilot on hand who'd be a perfect fit for leading the Frame team."
Porrim found her crampons satisfactory, and clicked her tongue, smiling at the news. Good that we have some people with a sterling record. She contemplated before making further inquiry, "and for our troops?"
"We have six Wayfarers. They're armed, and they can hold four, maybe five people each, six if you feel mean." The New Tur'listan turned around. They had an elaborate tattoo on their throat and a dismissive, perhaps apathetic sneer. Then again, with how jubilant the Captain was, even people merely not engaged looked deathly bored compared to her. "If we weren't expecting resistance, we'd be using Journeys. We have four of them, not armed."
"Excellent." Porrim clapped her hands. She then summoned a personnel screen and started looking at potential applicants for the mission. "I'll start putting a team together and inform the crew..." Her initial selections and designations included:
"I have sent a message to those I have selected to come with me on the expedition. Please prepare yourselves for cold weather - its the middle of winter planetside." "The Armoury will provide you with weapons and equipment necessary." She was now truly satisfied with her crampons. "Meet me on the Launch Deck in forty minutes for a full briefing. The Val'ta will have to do a pass of Tange and launch a probe at the planet we're exploring too, to find points of interest, and distress beacons."
Tange System, Tange IV, Misato City
The winter mornings were cold around here, especially without people to populate the streets, and utilities to keep them clean. Throughout the courses of summers and winters, the pavement had steadily cracked apart and from it, hardy greenery had crept throughout the metropolis, layered in powdery white and glimmering ice.
Stores and malls once full of bright and happy people, only host to swathes of snow which had blown in, wooden floors rotten, stone stained, every light snuffed out and the walls painted with creeping vines that'd escaped the cold and draped themselves on the ceiling, trailing down.
All the animals, small rather than great, were huddled away into hibernation, stowing themselves away from the cold. Some of them used to be pets, others had moved in when the humans moved out a few years ago in a very large and confusing incident.
Some larger animals, cervine in look were roaming through main street. They didn't know that things like a better life in the Outer Colony, the latest Kawaii, and Aoi Tanaka's brand new YE34 album with remixes by String Smasher were being advertised to them from behind a crust of grime. They were snouting through the snow at the grass, chewing on it.
Ever present though was the threat of what had been left behind. There was still a possibility that in some dark corner where the light didn't see, the ones responsible for tearing this planet's happy people apart were lurking, waiting for the next people to show up. Or could they have been stranded here themselves, with nowhere else to go now that the war was well and truly over, and their resources were expended?
If they were and they had a working music player, they could enjoy some good music - all those vintage CDs just sitting out there in the open in one of the malls down the street and past the collapsed bridge, facing north. A collector's paradise amongst the swirling chill! Though there were very few people amongst this place, it was still very alive, and the items within quite valuable to those who saw it, with the spectre of danger ever present.
I find you, or you find me?
There was a time before we were born
If someone asks, this is where I'll be, where I'll be
Talking Heads - Naive Melody (This must be the place)
LSDF Val'ta, Deck Two, Bridge, On Approach to Tange System in ten minutes
All was well on the Bridge. They passed through two nebulae between Kotoku and their destination. The view in particular was quite pleasing, with Porrim taking photographs from the Observation Bar when she was taking a break.
"We're not far from Tange, now, Captain," Jil'ha helpfully pointed out as she drummed her fingers on the desk. "Got a team assembled for the expedition?"
The Captain was sitting in her chair in the centre of the room, legs crossed as she was already dressed to explore, donning heavy looking winter fatigues. "I want to know what our landing options are, first," Porrim said, inspecting some crampons, "its the middle of winter on Tange, and local infrastructure's fried last time I checked, I doubt there's a safe landing place, especially if there's Mishhuvurthyar-" the word never quite got off the Lorath tongue correctly "-remnants."
She found the crampons to her liking. Another member of the bridge crew, a New Tur'listan man with a short mowhawk cut and spectacles. "We'll have to do a pass for distress beacons, focussing on Misato City near the equator," he said, spitting a duq seed out of his mouth and into a tray, "pretty sure we'll find something."
Also to note was that Porrim was free of chemicals at the moment, having purged them earlier to clear her head for the task before the first expeditionary team she'd be leading. "What's our vehicle pool?" Porrim asked.
"We've got eight Whirlwinds on hand, ma'am." The New Tur'listan replied, sipping at some coffee. "I believe we have a professional pilot on hand who'd be a perfect fit for leading the Frame team."
Porrim found her crampons satisfactory, and clicked her tongue, smiling at the news. Good that we have some people with a sterling record. She contemplated before making further inquiry, "and for our troops?"
"We have six Wayfarers. They're armed, and they can hold four, maybe five people each, six if you feel mean." The New Tur'listan turned around. They had an elaborate tattoo on their throat and a dismissive, perhaps apathetic sneer. Then again, with how jubilant the Captain was, even people merely not engaged looked deathly bored compared to her. "If we weren't expecting resistance, we'd be using Journeys. We have four of them, not armed."
"Excellent." Porrim clapped her hands. She then summoned a personnel screen and started looking at potential applicants for the mission. "I'll start putting a team together and inform the crew..." Her initial selections and designations included:
- Vehicles and Frames
- My'ean "Blackwolf" Idoqu Fyunnen - Frame Team Leader, Second-in-Command
- Nien'isha "Mirage" Rhos'vol Fyunnen - Frame Team
- Ny'za "Pitch" Hasti Lmanel - Frame Team, Animal Biologist
- My'ean "Blackwolf" Idoqu Fyunnen - Frame Team Leader, Second-in-Command
- Wayfarer Shuttle 1 - Specialists
- Aran'ya "Widow" Lycosa Lmanel - Combat Medic
- Er'red Nny'ust "Cous" Fyunnen - Combat Medic
- Ji'xa "Bright" Seurik Lmanel - Combat Engineer
- (Free space)
- Wayfarer Shuttle 2 - General Infantry
- Ix'ion "Sentinel" A'kai'nan Fyunnen - Infantry
- Ashlinn Freyja Sarn - Infantry
- Koga Akemi - Infantry
- Menelik Berhane - Infantry
- Ix'ion "Sentinel" A'kai'nan Fyunnen - Infantry
- Wayfarer Shuttle 3 - Command
- Myself
- Elm "Ghost" Petra - Scout
- (Free space)
- (Free space)
- Myself
"I have sent a message to those I have selected to come with me on the expedition. Please prepare yourselves for cold weather - its the middle of winter planetside." "The Armoury will provide you with weapons and equipment necessary." She was now truly satisfied with her crampons. "Meet me on the Launch Deck in forty minutes for a full briefing. The Val'ta will have to do a pass of Tange and launch a probe at the planet we're exploring too, to find points of interest, and distress beacons."
Tange System, Tange IV, Misato City
The winter mornings were cold around here, especially without people to populate the streets, and utilities to keep them clean. Throughout the courses of summers and winters, the pavement had steadily cracked apart and from it, hardy greenery had crept throughout the metropolis, layered in powdery white and glimmering ice.
Stores and malls once full of bright and happy people, only host to swathes of snow which had blown in, wooden floors rotten, stone stained, every light snuffed out and the walls painted with creeping vines that'd escaped the cold and draped themselves on the ceiling, trailing down.
All the animals, small rather than great, were huddled away into hibernation, stowing themselves away from the cold. Some of them used to be pets, others had moved in when the humans moved out a few years ago in a very large and confusing incident.
Some larger animals, cervine in look were roaming through main street. They didn't know that things like a better life in the Outer Colony, the latest Kawaii, and Aoi Tanaka's brand new YE34 album with remixes by String Smasher were being advertised to them from behind a crust of grime. They were snouting through the snow at the grass, chewing on it.
Ever present though was the threat of what had been left behind. There was still a possibility that in some dark corner where the light didn't see, the ones responsible for tearing this planet's happy people apart were lurking, waiting for the next people to show up. Or could they have been stranded here themselves, with nowhere else to go now that the war was well and truly over, and their resources were expended?
If they were and they had a working music player, they could enjoy some good music - all those vintage CDs just sitting out there in the open in one of the malls down the street and past the collapsed bridge, facing north. A collector's paradise amongst the swirling chill! Though there were very few people amongst this place, it was still very alive, and the items within quite valuable to those who saw it, with the spectre of danger ever present.