RP: UCS Zenpyou [Mission 1] Blackened Wings

'I know it is, Natsu-chan.'

Ai blinked. An explosive device? Something was definitely wrong here. "Techard, Wavrian, just back off. I don't want you two getting hurt. Cross and Gin, hold your position. Techard and Wavrian will join you."

The sub-lieutenant figered she and Natsuko could cover the outside, while they went inside. An explosion would cause a commotion as well as alert whoever was in colony, whom, Ai had the suspicions, weren't the most friendly.

"Also, keep an eye out for any explosive devices. If they have one, there might be more."

Roken backed away from the explosive keeping an eye on Wavrian and his surroundings, he checked to see if there was another explosive set up near another building or at the town hall using his augmented eye. When this is over I need to get the other one fixed, he thought as he made his way to Zero and Karasu.

“Well, at least we know they're here....unless the colonists really did not like that building,” Roken said as he moved into a defensive position to cover Wavrian's retreat.

Wavrian, his mind made up by his superiors, backed away from the device alongside Roken. Now, however, he was completely on the alert. If that thing were a trap, there could very well be more. This whole place had become a ticking time bomb to the Azorean.

After briefly looking around there was one other spot that stuck out to Wavrian. It was a similar device and both were placed in locations that if they blew up the explosion would encompass the main street that the armored team had just walked down.

-------------------

As Karasu examined the panel everything appeared to be in working order. The logs weren't blocked and no entries were logged that showed modifications to the system in general. The equipment was in fine condition, as fine as could be expected from a combination of age and general wear and tear.

------------------

As Ai directed her fellow Peacekeepers, something caught her eye, a blip appeared and just as quickly disappeared on her radar. According to the radar it was far away, near one of the dome wall edges. From what scant sensor readings that the sensors had been able to piece together, which wasn't much, it came from near one of the buildings at the north edge of the dome.

"...Tenshi, put back that mark that was on the sensors a few minutes ago on an overlay and keep its position. Still, make sure to keep up updating if anything else is detected."

Ai glanced around. It seemed they weren't alone and there was something out there. It was just a matter of finding out what that other thing was and if it liked them or not.

"Be advised," she started to tell the others, "I detected... something... out there. I'll send it's location to your armors. It is now confirmed that we are not alone, so be vigilant."

After looking at the console indicators Karasu said, "Cross, do you see anything strange down there? The readouts up here appear normal."

After hearing the Sub-Lieutenant's warning about not being alone. So now we have a something? Karasu groaned mentally. So far since we left port, all we keep finding is more questions, and nothing that makes sense. There is no pattern to it all. She returned to keeping alert, it case whatever something was decided to be hostile.

Zero continued to examine the panel and the wiring and reached in with his Tenshi to very gently move the wires out of the way and look into the panel. But seeing nothing out of the ordinary he stood back up and looked at the location Ai had transmitted to them. "Yeah, I did...." He said and thought about it.

"I don't want to mess with it though, tech operation like this isn't my forte and I don't want to set off something," he said as he sent a message to the other two about the open panel, asking them to take a look at it while he and Karasu checked out the location that was being shown on the radar.

“Understood,” Roken said as he marked the location on his radar. He turned his attention back to the others for a moment as he thought about the bomb they discovered. “Whoever was there was watching, I think, but we should investigate that location.” He wanted to find out if the target may have been waiting for them to move in further.

As Zero moved the wiring around something caught Karasu's eye. It was just a flash but it looked like there might have been something large nestled in the wires near the back of the console.

------------------------------

Ai's armor did as she asked and overlayed the radar blip on her screen. After the brief moment of excitement an eerie silence filled the dome, only to be replaced shortly by a groaning noise that resonated throughout the dome. Like that of metal moving slowly. As time passed the noise got quieter and quieter though.

Karasu seeing the flash of something in the wiring that Zero had moved. "Wait. Hold on, what is that in the back?" She got down to better see into the open panel. She carefully moved the wires to see what got her attention.

Ai pondered for a moment. "Wavrian, Techard, you two stay here with Natsuko. I'm going to go see what that blip was, and a lone armor is less likely to draw attention."

'Natsu-chan, I'll be back in a bit. Make sure to not let them do anything stupid.'

Sure, she was an officer. But she still had that combat arms' need for excitement. Her Tenshi lifted off the ground and she headed off.

“And if it turns out to be more than one blip- a lone armor is less likely to hold out without backup,” Roken said as Ai lifted off. He just let out a sigh as he maintained a defensive post close to the others while he waited patiently while the others were inside the building doing whatever.

The one thing that pulled him away from his focus was the was the sound of the dome groaning. He looked up for a moment wondering if the whole colony was going to fall apart but the sound eventually subsided. “That was a bit odd.....last thing to worry about is the dome cracking,” He looked back at Wavrian. “From what you could see from the explosive, if we needed to, could you disable it?”

Zero shifted his position so he could see what Karasu did and noticed the large object hidden in the wiring. That could he be the source of their jamming but he didn't want to screw with it in case it was explosive or something. He was trained in technology operation but it wasn't his forte and he didn't want to mess with it. "I see it. It could be our source here but let's wait for one of the more technologically inclined people to show up. I don't want to mess with it and risk it detonating or something and destroying the equipment in here." He said and sent the request to the other teammates, explaining what they'd found. But sent it to Natsuko and Ai first.

"Hey. we found something concealed inside a panel concealed by wiring." Zero said over the communications channel to the team as a whole. "Requesting someone with techno skills to come examine it in case it's a detonator."

Gin's visor hid her smile at Zero's technologically inclined people comment. Guess he does not realize that I am a technician as well as. Well, since I'm supposed to watch his back, I guess we'll leave this for Wavarian to investigate. She walked around the room to see if anything else looked amiss. "Cross, guess we should be moving deeper into the building?"

Zero looked over at her and blinked a bit inside the helmet, pausing for a moment to call up the files on Karasu there. Getting the feeling that he was missing something here really, if he couldn't handle it maybe they'd know to pair him up with someone who could? It'd make sense right?

"We can, but you want to take a crack at figuring out what it could be?" he asked her.

Gin turned to Zero, "Well Cross, if you recall back onboard the Zen I was doing repairs on my Tenshi. I will take a moment to see if I can at least determine what the device may be. I will not attempt to remove it," She said as she moved back to the console, and carefully began to visually inspect the device, and determine what it was connected to inside the console.

As Gin looked over the device it became clear that it was wired into the power grid itself. It was done in such a haphazard method that undoing it would prove to be difficult unless one knew what was done to it in the first place. The closer that Jin and Cross got to the device, the stronger the jamming signal got though the Tenshi was still barely able to compensate for it.


-------------------------------

As Ai flew closer to the last known location of the blip the building that it had entered came into view. Because of the angle that Ai was flying, and the lack of a door on the building, Ai could see into it with little difficulty. There didn't seem to be any kind of flooring in the building, instead it seemed to be just plain old dirt. In about the center of the room though was a rather large square hole in the ground with cables hanging from above dropping into it. From the steel supports around it, it wouldn't be too hard to believe it was a crude elevator of sorts, though the carriage didn't seem to be present at the top.

-----------------------------

Natsuko was still 'holed' up at a location that gave her a decent vantage point but without the enhanced systems of the Tenshi she was unable to communicate via radio. "Techard, Wavrian, I'll be fine, go with Ai." Natsuko sent, forgetting to use Ai's rank and family name. "Be careful Ai." Natsuko sent to her friend, sending a brief bit of emotion along with her message. Natsuko then turned her attention to Zero and Karasu. "Is it possible to turn it off?" Natsuko sent to the pair.

Gin used her diagnostic probe and was able to confirm that this device was the source of the jamming to her satisfaction. She stood back up, "Okay, I've seen enough." She said to Zero. "Sub Lieutenants, We have located a jamming unit that's probably the source of the disruption of our systems. But I am unwilling to attempt to remove it at this time. The device was crudely installed, and without additional equipment removing it could cause a disruption of the power system, or worse."

Zero let Gin work and watched carefully, taking mental notes on what she was doing and how she was using her Tenshi to execute it. Later on down the road it might be useful, after all, he could play it back on his HUD as a tutorial perhaps. "So that's the source of the jamming, huh? Maybe there's a way to disable it without compromising the other systems? I imagine we'd have to see how it's wired up to do that," he sighed.

"Don't worry Natsu-chan. I will."

Ai touched down, in front of the hole. She switched her vision to infrared, and peered down, keeping her forearm weapons at the ready.