RP: Galactic Horizon [HEF] First Expediton - Fresh Coat of Paint

The AI, that Phreaker now knew as Dawn, rattled off a lot of information, technical information pertaining to it, this base, and his job as it were. He filed it all way for later perusal.

"Thank you Dawn." he replied, and he set about familiarizing himself with the systems and controls. The aspect of combat did not exactly excite him, but the fact that he could sit in here protected and just blast away helped to calm him down a bit.

Ursa Interior

"The most interesting people always have so much to say." Trash mused to himself, Dodging children and errant employees as he found a comfortable, Unmarked crate with netting securing it to scale and set himself upon. There certainly wouldn't be any shortage of entertainment or topics to discuss he decided as the uncomfortably energetic child from before join in a quick melee against their armored security. He wasnt the best judge of strength but from the recoil of the two he surmised that he should be grateful she didnt get her hand on him.

Not that it mattered. Trash was an ideal model when it came to interacting with children, Sooner or later they would come within proximity again and make a report. He had, After all. Been the star of a childrens network show once upon a time as a furry mascot, And there where many instances of those too young to understand their limits with others...

Someone else had taken his attention relatively close to him as another young girl, Or perhaps just shorter in stature like himself seemed to be arguing away on link with someone unseen, The Horizon AI if he could make any guess from some of the frustration people seemed to get trying to connect to it.

"Ah, Yes. Excuse me?" He leaned forward on the edge of his new, Temporary seat. "Did you perhaps say, Thorn Irornhart? Can you, By any chance help me remember where I've heard your name before, Miss?"

"Well then I shan't keep you any longer, go get settled in and don't hesitate to let me know if you guys get any flak in there," Terrins replied, giving the family a curt nod before he went back to his final rounds - a hand unintentionally gripping the Xiphos at his side to quiet his movements. There were some habits you just can't shake.

The armoured man watched as the crew hauled the last few sets of equipment in like ants to a nest, he tuned in to the Ursa's systems and pinged Dawn once. "Dawn, would you be so kind as to bring up the systems report for me? cheers honey" he asked as though the AI were some bouncy administration worker, he knew that politeness wasn't needed yet artificial or not the system was intelligent enough to run everything they couldn't and he respected that.

Click to expand...

78 began moving to where she had been directed to go; toward the cargo ramp. Her mechanical legs pounding the ground as she darted off. Titan, being attached to her by lead and having no other choice, ran ahead of her by quite a distance but stopped when the chain began to lose slack. This in itself was rather impressive, not just keeping up with but surpassing a six legged machine. 78's husband however, was not so fortunate and did not seem to enjoy the exercise as much. He power walked behind them, but did not make much of an effort to stay with them and instead trailed behind. He had likely experienced many scenarios similar to this one and has probably given up trying to compete in speed and endurance at this point.

It was odd watching him walk. He hobbled slightly, likely because his cybernetic leg had a much different method of stepping than his natural one. Yet, somehow, they paced together with enough efficiency to be in working condition.

Ursa Interior

A short, androgynous Iromakaunhe clad in nice, well-tailored clothing draped under a lab coat strode up to the designated meeting area from inside the cargo bay, tapping at a personal device, oblivious to the outside world. They stopped in place and turned slowly to face the rest of the assembly, after nearly walking into a crate. After two full minutes, they finally switched off the device and stowed it away, looking up to see the others arriving. They gave a small smile and wave to each one, taking every individual in with their shimmering blue Iroma eyes. He, or she, opened their mouth to offer a greeting, but the sound was cut short by a sudden, worried frown. After a moment of thought, they just smiled again and stood silently.

"Correct" Dawn replied to Thorn, she had indeed read up on the Ironharts and was mildly interested in assessing a Giest for the chance to gather information on it's function. "The systems are wireless yes, according to the schematics they were designed so that augmented users such as yourself could interface with them. If you connect via your Giest may I inspect your hardware for data collection?" It asked Thorn, the personality module showing itself as the AI became more curious.

"Of course Terrins, it should be on your HUD now, the engineers and driver have successfully ignited the Phoenix and the vehicle is operating correctly. Weapons systems are functional and the targeting has been adjusted after the simulation shots earlier, I believe we are ready to leave now as the cargo has also been loaded, and you Redback has been prepared." Dawn replied, giving a basic rundown for the security officer to save him reading every small detail before displaying the systems check of his Redback in a side section of the HUD so he could confirm for himself.

"You are most welcome, please summon me if you are ever in need of assistance in future." Dawn replied courteously to Phreaker before shifting locations to inform Brin that the preparations had been completed and they were almost ready to leave.


Brin received the notification from Dawn and thanked her before motioning to the last few members of security around the vehicle to load up, the sandstorm was on top of them already but the enviro-shield of the GH HQ deployed to prevent damage to the buildings, keeping the URSA safe for now as well. The two other Redback pilots had already clambered into their small vehicles, each clad in an ORC suit in case they had to disembark at any point within the storm. "Alright all Redback pilots, you know the plan. Stick with the URSA until cleared to move ahead, after that keep formation and track each others signals we don't want you getting lost before we clear this storm which could be a couple hours at top speed." Brin spoke into a direct comm link with the two pilots as well as Terrins who was ay Dawn's comment.

The senior officer made his way inside the URSA and up to the cabin nodding in greeting to the two weapons operators as he took a seat beside the driver, he wouldn't be the secondary driver by any means but while they were occupied getting things confirmed with engineering he would be giving out orders to the small expedition. He picked up the intercom and addressed the crew, "Listen up everyone, we are about to head off and directly into a sandstorm which we are expected to clear within 3 hours if all goes according to plan and we maintain speed. During that time all doors will be sealed and everyone should stay in the cabins or rec room as a group, we don't need any accidents happening right out the gate." Bring switched off the intercom and contacted Terrins, "You have 5 minutes to grab an ORC before ramp is closed, and get the guys to clear a spot for the Faulkners in the cargo area in case they don't want to move Titan into a crowded area."

The URSA rumbled as the Phoenix engine was fired up, the mighty machine coming to life as all the interior lights lit up, the two side doors hissing shut and sealing to prevent any sand and grit from getting inside. The lights in the cargo bay began to flash red slowly indicating the ramp would be closing soon. Atop the vehicle both weapon platforms automatically swiveled to face forwards and their shields deployed, protecting the barrels and mechanisms from the storm. The two other Redback pilots closed their cockpits and powered up their small vehicles, moving into position behind the URSA, intending to use it as a guide for direction.

Ursa Interior

The Iroma looked up at the sound of the intercom, seeming puzzled. They finally spoke up in a voice that did nothing to identify their gender, but with a thick, sometimes halting accent. "Ahh? I thought there was to be meeting? Did I miss this? I did not think me so late." They looked between the others here with a shrug. "So, we go to this... 'wreck room?' This sounds like a not-pleasant place... Can one lead me?"

URSA Exterior

Terrins took a moment to check the information out for himself, eyes quickly scanning over each line of text and fortunately enough not finding any red flags. Kind thoughts akin to a pat on the back were sent back to the AI before Brin's voice came through loud and clear with an update, to which the younger security officer replied with "Affirmative sir, I'll get them to clear some space but I think I'll be sticking with the EMmA for the time being - greater optical capabilities and much lighter"

URSA Interior

He moved up the back ramp where the Faulkner family had entered, letting out a small sigh at the relatively unorganised manner the cargo bay had been arranged in. Terrins keyed into the room's speaker system thanks to his security clearance and began to speak "We have guests onboard, people, try to clean up a bit and make it possible to walk through rather than climb - thank you." He ignored the few disgruntled noises and opened a case, removing two metal cylinders from the foam lining and stuffed them into the pack on his lower back before shutting the case and moving to his assigned redback. The man paused as he heard a confused voice amongst the sea of people, he couldn't quite gauge the owner's gender from here so his reply was "Apologies but I don't know your name yet Iroma, up a deck and to the rear, if you hit the bunks then you've gone a room too far" he spoke through the speaker of the intercomm near the lost figure before exiting once again.

URSA Exterior

The vehicle's hover skids fired up as the pilot walked closer, one might think it was sensing his presence but truth be told it just recognised his digital footprint and he assumed Dawn did the rest - Terrins climbed aboard and secured his weapon to the Redback's side, leaning back to speak to the two other, more heavily armoured, pilots.

"I'm going to assume you two know what to do when shit hits the fan?" he asked them both, resting his legs up on the scout-vehicle's steering mechanism.

He heard the intercom go off as the isntructions to prepare were sent. It seemed that they were finally going to get this show on the road.

"3 hours to cross a storm?" Phreaker said to the compartment out loud, as he cracked his neck. The storm would probably mess with sensors and targeting systems. There probably wouldn't be much for him to do til they were out of the storm. "Well, wake me up if something interesting happens." He leaned back and closed his eyes.

Thorn looked up momentarily from the contrls in front of her, having found her conn chair fairly easily. "Dawn, I'm going in. I'll try to go easy on you your first time."

And so she sat down, closed her eyes, and focused. Lines of data started linking up, the parallel communications channels growing until for a very breif distance, she ate the entire broadband capability of the switch behind her console. Figuring this should be enough, her Geist shunted Thorn's being into the computer, leaving her body on standby as her brain's processing capabilities were used to assist the simple electronics in supporting her. Crushing her way past firewalls and simple defenses more designed for viruses than a being her power, Thorn took up residence in the portion of Dawn's system in charge of point defense weapons. Their eyes were her eyes, their triggers in her hands and their motors her body, for now. She knew that they weren't meant to network like that, but with her twisted around like this, she could easily link them together and stay out of Dawn's way.

"Hey, sorry about the breaches, I kind of had to move around a bit to fit, and these computers were safety firewalled off from each other. On the other hand, your point defense turrets are now networked to a single control algorithm distributed process across their internal computers. Should acquire targets and lay down suppressive fire a little faster if I'm not in here."

Once inside, The Faulkner's settled into a corner of the cargo bay near the now closed ramp. It was intended as temporary, yet they did establish there to an extent. Since there weren't people in all directions anymore, it was difficult not to relax for just a few seconds.

"Teyg!" The man shouted assertively towards Titan.

The mere moment he did, she stood up as straight as a needle, not moving an inch. Then, Freethinker 78 passed Titan's leash to him and swiveled her torso around with her mechanical lower body staying in place. A compartment opened in it and she pulled out a small Helashio plush with pink hair and button eyes from it. 78 held it in front of Titan for a moment, who's face lit up with excitement despite staying still as a statue.

"Do not unhand her, do not leave her anywhere. Entrust her back to me when you have concluded your use of her." Freethinker ordered Titan.

"...And don't touch anyone." Her husband added.

Titan seemed to absorb this information in a very similar way to how she did when Terrins was talking to her. She didn't move much and instead of confirming their orders, simply stared at her superiors blankly. A brief silence among the three occurred before 78 gave Titan the doll.

His next command to her was soft but just as clear and sharp as the first, "At ease."

With that, Titan sat down with her doll and began playing with it energetically. When she was occupied she was far less unwieldy, though no one would had blamed Fleshmender 40 for maintaining a tight grip on the chain fastened to her neck. Which he did.

URSA Interior - Cargo Bay

Farah started at the voice from the intercom directing them to their destination. They blinked once, then beamed and looked up and around, waving in general as they didn't know who or where the speaker was. "Ah, I get this! Thanks to you!" The chipper Iroma began walking again, following the directions to...

URSA Interior - Rec Room

Farah entered the room, eyeing the place quizzically. This was the 'wreck room?' They expected piles of debris and salvage, or damaged vehicles in need of repair. This looked like a lounge area for crew to relax in and play games. They wondered where the name came from, then. Perhaps these aliens considered themselves 'wrecked' when they were overworked. Yes, that made some sense.

The scientist found a comfortable place to sit and waited patiently, examining all the objects in the room from a distance.

As he sat in the rec room, Andrew Wilson watched the rag tag team of mercenaries file in. He glanced across them, seeing many races and types of people. Andrew quietly picked up the wrench that never left his side and moved towards the rear of the vehicle, stepping down the stairs into the cargo bay. As he glanced at the people moving boxes around in compliance with Terrins' orders, he approached the engine room door. He pushed it open and was met with the familiar smell of oil and grease. He sat at the bench and began reading the Ursa's manual, which had been conveniently been left there. As one of GH's newest engineer's, Andrew wasn't sure what to expect from being assigned to HEF.

URSA EXT

It was in fact, not Dawn that had activated the spindly legged speeder but the second of the duo, Dusk. The first of the other pilots replied to Terrins, "Don't worry sir we know the drill, follow the URSA through the storm then we break off and scout ahead." The surprisingly feminine voice came through his headpiece confirming their basic outline of a plan. "Hope you don't run into any trouble in the storm with that suit on sir, you'll be kicking sand out of your boots for the rest of the mission." Came the voice of the second pilot, also a female. While it might seem strange to any outside the company Terrins would recognise the two voices of Anna and Bella, the twins who had recently joined up for the express desire to field test Horizon equipment and found they were pretty good with the Redbacks.

After the two had spoken to Terrins they got back to focusing for the task soon at hand, the vehicles were only small and could be blown away if they weren't careful, for that reason they would be keeping pace using the legs to provide a contact point to the ground. As they each went through and tested to ensure the legs worked as intended and there was no issues in their vehicles Dusk piped up in Terrins' helmet next, his more masculine tone distinguishable from Dawns. "Right then Sir, Redback is all in working condition and ready to roll, I'll be making sure you and the two lassies don't stray from the course if you lose visual of the big truck. Anything else you need done just gimme a shout and I'll be ready to go. Of course I've been told to stop you from making silly movements that might result in a crash... but I think it'd be fun to watch."

URSA INT

Dawn did the equivalent of a a shrug, what little holes the apparently primitive form of neural linking had caused were almost instantly repaired and the system was adapted to work around this inefficiently large presence in the system. "Those breaches were of no major significance or issue and have been dealt with, I am more concerned with any lingering effects from your presence here as it seems inefficient to have such a large amount of your mind within the system when there are other known methods." Dawn replied, not in a hostile or insulting way but as a simple observation she made about the function of the hardware. As the AI inspected the brief handiwork of Thorn within her system the AI paused, she wasn't supposed to be allowing such modifications to the programming of the vehicle but at the same time this, while small change, provided some benefits with no downside it was simply more efficient. "Thank you for the slight update on the systems, I shall take the liberty of going over it to ensure it is properly implemented and then apply something similar to the other console."

Brin chuckled hearing Phreakers casual dismissal of the storm, it was a refreshing change of pace to the usual statistics filled garble he was used to when talking to engineers and technology consultants. "Yes indeed 3 hours Phreaker, hope you don't mind if I call you that but you are definitely new to USO soil, or rather sand. These bad boys often last for months at a time and cover entire regions at once." Brin explained casually, keeping an eye on the driver who was making the final adjustments before they left. It was that moment when a deep rumble emanated from all through the vehicle signalling the large cargo ramp was closing. "And don't worry I think you'd be awake before I even tried to let you know if something was going down."

As Andrew entered the engineering area the other engineer on the vehicle darted over to him, a rather short man at 5'2 with oil-black looking hair possibly from occupation and a face that looked like it belonged to a mercenary. "Ah you must be the new un, name's Ivan and I worked on building this here beauty." He said tapping the containment unit for the Phoenix Fusion Engine. "Hope yur ready to deal with the pressure of maintaining a small star in a box, otherwise we're goin downhill pretty quick."

With a long, low groan the wheels shifted, some sand flowing off that had settled on them while the URSA had been stationary. The second driver came back into the cabin and took his seat, the combined station of navigation driving and communications as Brin moved to stand behind the two and held onto a rail on the ceiling. With a little more flaring from the Phoenix and a rising tone the engine was fully engaged and the vehicle moved forwards with more purpose, picking up speed slowly. Within moments it had cleared the barrier protecting Horizon HQ and was buffeted by the sandstorm with the mighty machine barely able to keep the front window clear enough to see. The route to leave through and clear the storm had been mapped already and was displayed over the window in augmented reality form. The pilot flashed Brin a thumbs up before kicking the URSA into top gear, the vehicle groaning forwards as it aimed to reach its top speed, wheels churning up the sand in its wake.

Anna and Bella let out a short whoop of adrenaline as they leapt forwards in their Redbacks in pursuit of the trundling beast ahead of them, being sure to avoid its sand tracks while completely ignoring the fact that the storm they were in was dangerous and performing all manner of leaps and spins as they moved. Meanwhile the rest of the Horizon employed team sat by in the rec room chatting idly and messing around with several of the entertainment options available to them, they were in for the long haul and were getting comfortable it seemed.

URSA EXT

Terrins shook his head as the twins piped up, one with more sass than the other, causing to scoff and shake his head as he manually went over some quick pre-flight tests just to make sure the instruments were telling the AI the same things they told him. "Thank you Dusk, I'll be sure to let you know if I start feeling the need to show off," he mentally pinged the construct before sealing up his cockpit and firing up the engines with a mighty ionic roar.

His Redback shifted forwards to catch up with the twins before he eased off of the throttle and kept speed with them, shaking his helmeted head at their antics. "Keep your minds out of the gutter ladies, or I'll come over there and fill your cockpits with sand myself - we'll see who is laughing then." his voice rang out through their comms systems, the tone had been joking yet it was still a threat he would carry out if he had to. For now however, he settled in for the long-haul.

URSA Interior - Engine Room

"Hi, Ivan. Name's Andrew, newest member of the Galactic Horizon engineer team." He shook Ivan's hand and turned around to look at the Machine. "So, this is the fabled Phoenix Fusion Generator. Can't wait to learn the ropes of this Puppy." He smiled and took a seat, strapping in as he felt the URSA move off from it's stationary position .

URSA INT

The mood seemed to change with the egress of the redback riders wooping and riding off willingly into a sandstorm. Trash could admire their tenacity and professionalism in the face of such a challenge. Needing to stay within proximity of the URSA while not losing themselves or accidentally ending up under their escorting vic.

A moment of hindsight passed the raccoon as he regretted not attempting to tag along. Torrid highstorms and volatile was nothing new to an adventurer like himself, But never a sandstorm in its fullest!

He would have to accompany the riders at some point in the future anyway, He digressed. Likely needing them quite commonly in the future to ferry him to landmarks and elevations for cartographic reasons. For now, However, He would be content.

With this in mind he carefully scaled down his perch and back onto the floor just barely missing the passage of yet another member of the team. Was that an iroma? Such an interesting expedition indeed!

Careful of errant children and spacers large enough to crush him without notice he tracked down their leader, Chatting with such members of the free folk. Trash patiently waited for a moment to speak, Tapping a casual claw against the mans armor to get his attention before clearing his throat.

"Pardon my intrusion." He offered a curt nod "There's quite some time to wait, By any chance would you mind if we discussed some of the finer details about the expedition, Such as the prospected area of operations we will be venturing and what we should be expecting?"

URSA EXT

"Minds in the gutter?"
"Us?"
"You must be going crazy in your old age sir, we'd never say such things."
"Although it might be kinda funny watching you try to keep up with us if you attempted it!"
Anna and Bella giggled and performed a final switch each to end up how they had started before settling into the proper speed and position, each of the girls taking a flank of the URSA and monitoring the storm with the Redback's sensors.

URSA Interior - Engine Room

"Nice ta meet ya Andrew, you'll be workin with me on a lotta stuff from now on so hope yur ready t'learn." The shorter man said once more, adjusting several knobs and dials while keeping an eye on several monitors that displayed various statuses for the engine which was humming away at a moderate level. "First thing t'know about workin on a Phoenix, these things can and will hurt ya if yur not careful. Make sure you know the ins and outs of the casing before even trying to work on stabilising duty." He said, a bit more seriously than he'd been before as he gestured to several points on the outside of the engine.

URSA INT

Brin turned to greet the small creature with a hearty smile, "Ah you'd like to know about the expedition, sure. There's a fair bit to discuss as it seems you're pretty keen on the fine details, I'll be giving a briefing when we clear the storm too so if you miss anything from our chat you can always ask after that too." Brin said moving to stand and face Trash.
"Ask away my friend."

As the crew made themselves at home for the journey the storm raged on outside, blackening windows and creating a veritable howl outside the large vehicle, but they pushed on not faltering for anything. After only minutes within the storm there was several large bumps sending anything flying that wasn't tied down or a person. "Sorry about that folks, just ran over rather large plant or something, consider the seatbelt sign on for now and get any loose items stored." Came the voice of the driver over the intercom giving a brief update.

URSA INT - Engine Room

"Alright Ivan, if you don't mind, wanna give me a tour and show me what i need to know?" Asked Andrew, rubbing his hands together in anticipation. He'd heard a lot about the Phoenix Fusion Gen and couldn't wait to hear more. As he glanced around the room, he began to notice very many dials with lots of information on them. Glancing at one of the monitors Ivan was monitoring, he noted that the temperature and pressure of the system were being carefully monitored and that Ivan didn't dare take his eyes off them for a second.

The Faulkner's, 78 subtracted, unexpectedly showed up entering the rec room. Fleshmender 40 was holding Titan's leash this time, who cautiously stepped inside. Titan not so cautiously bolted into the room. As she did the URSA ran over a particularly invidious bump, causing her to stumble and drop her doll. A loud gasp projected itself from Titan throughout the room while she effortlessly regained her balance, leaped forward, grabbed the doll mid air and landed on her toes with her free hand touching the ground. After which she immediately took off for unknown reasons towards the other side of the room. 40 was not swayed whatsoever by what had just happened and hardly seemed to notice as Titan lost all slack on the leash and rebounded off of the taut of it. What he did notice however, was the tremendous amount of force that sent his robotic foot grinding against the floor and his other one awkwardly stepping behind.

After the clement crisis Titan stood up straight and turned to Fleshmender 40 who simply gave her a reassuring pat on the head.

URSA INT

Phreakers eyes flew open and his hands flung out as he tried to grab on to anything that would stop him from falling out of his chair. He was partially unsuccessful as he found himself half on the chair, half on the floor. He cursed to himself and picked himself up.

"No one saw that." He said out loud, making a joke about the situation. "I guess sleeping is out of the question. But that must have been a damn large plant."

He accessed the sensors through his interfaces, not expecting much, but wanting to see what they picked up out in the storm, now that he was awake for good and curious.