Crashed Ship - Katsuko, Yingzi, and Mikael
Katsuko adjusted her Mindy 1H's helmet as she embarked on this mission with a Shoi she didn't know well. She responded to Akina's farewell with a casual "Love you too." They moved away from the bridge and proceeded down the ship's central corridor. The upper decks seemed relatively intact, but the lower levels were heavily damaged. Katsuko suspected they might have missed something crucial down there, but it was challenging to conduct a thorough scan with the lingering threat of plasma fires that had yet to be extinguished. Fortunately, the carbon dioxide-rich atmosphere leaking into the ship was gradually dealing with that problem.
As they walked, Katsuko couldn't help but comment on the sight of a pair of Mishhu corpses. "It's bittersweet to find Mishhu here, yet oddly fitting," she remarked loudly enough for both the Shoi and Mikael to hear.
Their journey led them to a sealed door, which Katsuko approached. The door assembly was displaced from its track, so she used her Mindy to forcefully push it inward, creating a loud crash. "We're close to the bridge, so this might be the Captain's Quarters," she explained. Her Mindy's light illuminated the dimly lit cabin as she stepped inside, making way for the others. "See if you can locate a log or something resembling a family photo; it would be nice to know who these people were," she suggested.
The cabin was a chaotic scene. The desk console, once attached to the wall perpendicular to the door, was now partially broken, with data chips scattered across the floor. Each chip had a different color, and the writing on them was as perplexing as the ship's unfamiliar programming language. "What a mess," Katsuko remarked. On the other side of the room, a bed had its mattress flipped over, concealing items that had shifted during the crash. Yingzi's sensor readouts fluctuated and malfunctioned as radiation levels in the room increased slightly. "Mikael, see if you can help move some of this furniture," she suggested.
Crashed Ship - Tachiko and Makoto
The ship's control systems were severely damaged, and many were experiencing ongoing system failures. Despite successfully restoring power to the ship, it remained evident that just a few hours earlier, it had plummeted from orbit to the planet with the intensity of a runaway train. Amid the wreckage, a glimmer of light pierced through a broken bulkhead into an adjacent compartment near the bridge, suggesting that something inside was still operational. It wasn't the distress signal; that had ceased transmitting on its own during their journey to the wreck. On the opposite side of the bulkhead, multiple energy signatures were detected, all possessing an aetheric quality, though scans couldn't distinguish their specific sources. To access this area, they would need to find a way inside, but the broken door was currently supporting a fallen beam, and attempting to force it open might trigger a collapse.
Field Laboratory - Ayano
The female aquatic alien lay on the table within Ayano's reach. Her upper body appeared mostly human, except for scattered patches of scales on her skin. Her lower half resembled that of a fish, with a scaled tail adorned with long, luxurious silky fins that would resemble expensive tapestries if she were submerged in water. Initial scans revealed that the unusual spines and crowns on her body resembled cartilage structures found in Chondrichthyes on planets like Jiyuu and Yamatai.
Along the creature's fins, there were patches of glowing particles, although the scans couldn't provide a definitive explanation, only confirming that it was caused by some type of bacterium.
The creature seemed fragile, not just due to its rapid decay, which was notably faster in the fish-like portion than the humanoid part. It emitted a strong odor of sulfur and rotting fish, a smell that would make any Yamataian recoil, given the importance of fresh seafood in their culture. The female appeared malnourished, and there was something peculiar about her gills on the neck and hips; they appeared pale with strange black bulges. Further examination and extraction would be necessary to understand this anomaly. To gain a deeper understanding, Ayano realized that she would need more than the scanner; this was an entirely unprecedented encounter, challenging even their advanced medical technology to identify some of the creature's organs.
Mindy and Shuttle en route to YSS Mazu via Atmosphere - Akina and Alina / Second Shuttle - Morris and Diasuke / Everyone, including Iron Company Units not with Morris and Daisuke - Incoming Storm
As Akina embarked on her ascent in her Mindy, and the shuttles took off into the sky, ominous changes unfolded in the atmosphere. Thick clouds began to gather, accompanied by a strengthening wind, and bursts of ionized energy streaked across the sky amidst the cloud formations. Instead of conventional rain, a deluge resembling a monsoon ensued. However, it wasn't ordinary water that poured down; rather, it was liquid hydrogen cyanide. This transformation occurred due to chemical reactions within the clouds, originating from the previously detected cyanide pockets.
The toxicity of this liquid was a significant concern, but there were other worries as well. The corrosive nature of the substance might not pose a threat to the Mindy or the shuttles, which were likely made of resilient materials like durandium. The real problem arose when another surge of ionized energy traversed the sky, causing the hydrogen cyanide to ignite explosively, setting the entire sky ablaze. This fiery tempest descended towards the saturated sands below, endangering the crafts in the sky, disrupting their sensors, and wreaking havoc on their systems. Surviving this ordeal seemed almost miraculous, and they might be compelled to make further decisions leading into the unknown.
The storm itself was colossal, spanning nearly a thousand kilometers in diameter, with winds gusting at speeds exceeding three hundred kilometers per hour, carrying flames and corrosive liquid through the atmosphere. Materials made of durandium and other less resilient metals would likely suffer damage from prolonged exposure. The Iron Company, in particular, would be severely affected, and anyone with exposed skin would feel the burning agony of the corrosive rain. Combustion engines faced the risk of explosion, and the planet had transformed into a nightmarish landscape in a matter of moments.
Inside the wrecked ship, the corrosive and flammable rain seeped through cracks and breaches, triggering plasma fires that roared through various sections of the deck. Fortunately, most of the exposed areas had already been sealed off by bulkheads during the crash, but there were still places where the corrosive substance dripped and pooled, posing ongoing hazards.
YSS Mazu - Kaoru, Minato, Mazumi
Bridge
Minato picked up one of the crackers and started eating it. After a few bites, she commented, "These crackers are amazing. Whoever made them must be really skilled and mysterious." She continued to snack on a few more bites but suddenly looked surprised as she heard an alarming notification sound. Turning her attention to Kaoru, she reported, "We've got a rapidly forming storm down there, and I've never seen one develop this quickly." She switched the main screen of the Mazu to display a massive storm, even larger than the typhoons on Jiyuu and possibly more dangerous than those on Jiyuu IV.
"There's a lot of heavy ionization in the atmosphere. It's like a swirling battery down there, and that rain... it's hydrogen cyanide," she explained to Tasia.
Over the communication channel, Kaoru addressed the away team, saying, "YSS Mazu here. We've detected some extremely severe weather conditions down there. Is everyone and everything okay?" She expressed her concern for their well-being.
