RP: YSS Heartbreaker [Mission 1] Promises Better Left Unsaid

Kourui

The First Officer regarded the mini-Neko floating there with her arms crossed giving a sidelong glance. "True enough. It probably is best that you remain inside at the outset of the expedition. We'll need someone to coordinate communications, especially if we get separated."

It was then that the scenery came into view, Rin's icy eyes peering out at the scene laid out before the away team. Darren was probably correct in his assumptions -- it had all the trappings of a very hot crash landing of a shuttlecraft from Uesu's fleet. The location of the distress beacon being displaced also lent more credence to a possible survivor situation being in the mix.

The teal-haired Minkan arose from her seat and prepared her gear, as she cast a slightly displeased glare at Darren, focused on his disregard of the order not to use an AMES. "I'm in agreement with the... overdressed Hei's assessment of the situation." Rin let the little reminder sink in a moment that she would be sure to include this in her report later, before continuing to the matter at hand. "We need to get our boots on the ground and investigate the crash site. First priority is to identify and assess the condition of the shuttlecraft. Its residual energy signatures should enable us to get a good idea of how long it has been here and match to our expected time frames."

She glanced at Masashiga-hei as she brought up the issue of survivors, taking out her Science Scanner from the utility belt and affixing a small green Ke-G1-E3100 Life Form scanning attachment to the expansion slot. "Locating traces of survivors and where they may have headed, and with what is also vital. I suggest we calibrate our scanners to filter out non-Nekovalkyrja or Geshrin life signs and, working in tandem with the beacon signal, it may be able to triangulate and get a good idea of where they could have ended up and if they are still alive."

Kourui

Kayoko gently pushed Skade back out of the cockpit by the shoulder as she leaned in to smush her face up against the window at the front of the Kuma. She gave the oddly colored Neko a firm look, before returning her attention to the controls. Maybe she should have closed and locked that door, but she thought the others might have appreciated the view, as long as they stayed back in the main area. The shuttle was settled on the clearest patch of the blasted ground, giant trees looming above. The main chunk of wreckage was still visible straight ahead through the main window.

Since the atmosphere was breathable and pressure similar enough, the airlock wasn't necessary, much like when they'd entered the shuttle. The inner, then outer door unlocked, ready to dispense the crew to the surface. Miho noticed a ping from the Heartbreaker on her communications equipment, as their connection was tested and double-checked. The idea that their captain would contact the shuttle to return without them hung over the crew's head, as heavy, oppressive and ever-present as the planet's canopy.

Miho gave a few tenative ping/pongs on the communications to start, and then switched to a once-every-thirty-seconds pattern once it was established. It was a safe way to maintain consistent comms as well as make sure that they're up consistently and not, say, jammed for an unknown reason.

"A further possibility has occurred to me. There seems to be a time gap in my noted records between Uesu's departure and the beacon's time signature, and given the state of this site, I have come to the possibility that this crash was from a group leaving Uesu. Several years seems like too big of a time gap to have a massive fleet stationed just outside of most territories, so it'd be somewhat unlikely that it was from the fleet traveling out. Of course, this is an unfounded theory and should be taken lightly," she broadcast to Rin, running sensor sweeps from the parked shuttle.

Kourui, Surface of 'Owan to Tama'

Rin took an experimental gulp of the planet's air into her synthetic body's lungs from the open hatch of the shuttle she was close to, testing its breath-ability. It seemed sufficient enough in oxygen content though the humidity made it heavier than she would have liked. Not to mention the telltale smells of the exotic jungles carried on the wind mixed with the tinny hints of the crash site.

She had just made landfall into the torn up earth with her boots, when the teal-haired officer got the expected carrier signal pattern from Miho still inside, followed by her information. She slipped the grey communicator from her utility belt and slid it open, checking the transmission strength in return. "I read you clearly, Nakamaru-hei. So, you think there is a chance it was piloted by a band of deserters? Either that, or missing in action combat personnel could also be on the table, if the apparent damage is from a space battle."

Of course, Rin had her rifle and scanner at the ready and didn't wish to be waiting around long for the others to debark to start testing their hypotheses. Besides, seeing the Kourui right now reminded her of the Captain's very serious threats to abandon them if things went awry. Once again the Minkan was seemingly throwing herself into the mission at hand in order to deal with the ever-present tensions at the command level of the scout ship...

Kourui, Surface of "Owan to Tama'

Darren, clad in the more substantial AMES albeit without the helmet, made landfall roughly a second of so after Rin with Sandra already at the ready. He may have seemed relaxed and calm, but the truth was that the man was inwardly anxious of the possibility of seeing real combat. Of course he couldn't let that show, so he hid it with a smile as he glanced around. He focused his eyes on the ground occasionally, trying to see if there was anything at a glance that'd let him know if any large creatures - Nekovalkyrja counted as "large creatures" - had been through here recently. But mostly he scanned the surroundings warily, ready to fire upon any ambushing enemy or hungry predator.

He was silent, of course. Darren would mouth off and make a fool of himself when on the ship and not in battle, but in a situation like this? He was playing it by the book, not talking unless he had something important to say or was spoken too. Especially if there was a risk that the Captain would actually take off and leave him here.

Surface of 'Owan to Tama'

The oppressive heat hit Rin and Darren in the face like a slap. Thick, humid air pushing against them, already slipping past and into the shuttle. Miho could feel the temperature rising subtly as their Pilot frowned at the inconvenience. Thankfully it didn't take long for everyone to pile out and get their feet dirty. There were several yards of open space between the rear of their shuttle and the encroaching forest, the crash site a few feet lower than the surrounding area, although the sides of the crater had somewhat smoothed out over the years.

The twin suns of this mysteriously named system beamed down on the away team. Without the cover of the canopy, they had no shade to protect them. It was scorching, sweat starting to appear on foreheads and...other areas. So far Rin's scanner showed so life signs of the type she was searching for, although it did pick up the hint of background radiation. Nothing dangerous for the crew after all these years, although it might have explained how barren the patch of land was, and the fact that any local wildlife seemed to be giving it a wide berth. Whether it was from damage to the old shuttle or the weapons that caused it was unclear at this point.

The stubby 'wings' had been shorn off the sides, but it was easy for the older crew members to identify the Fox T4 shuttle as the group approached it. Some of the metal chunks dug into the ground nearby obviously belonged to it, while others did not fit at all. The origin of those pieces were impossible to guess without a closer look. Curiously, several smaller craters and dents in the area clearly once held bits of metal and debris, which had been removed at some point.

As the shuttle itself was examined, there was a noise behind the group. The door to their own shuttle had been firmly shut and latched, Kayoko giving Miho a look before settling back into her chair to wait for orders. The door to the Fox was noticeably missing, showing off some of the interior. Badly damaged before the crash and further ruined during, there was very little chance any of the systems had survived. There were no power readings, and the few controls viewable from this distance were smashed, blasted or busted open. Rain had poured inside often enough, from signs of rot and mold on some of the furnishings, and some sort of particularly curious wildlife had investigated at some point, from scratch marks, bites and droppings. Those might be somewhat familiar to Darren, if he got a closer look, and their scanners could definitely tell them more. It would take a proper investigation to reveal more information to the team...

Kourui

Skade muttered as she was pushed out of the cockpit. I wish they would put more windows in these things. Sure, we have all of this fancy equipment, but it is no replacement for the Mark One eyeball.

Surface of "Owan to Tama'

The Neko gulped as the door of the shuttle shut, Saber-Rifle in hand as she looked at the tree line. How are we supposed to know when something is dangerous or not in there? Anything nasty out there doesn't know that I'm nutritionally worthless to it. And then there might be SMX or rogue Nekos out there laying a trap for us and the heaviest armor someone has is an AMES suit?

Skade took a deep breath, then slowly let it out. Calm down, girl. You got a good team of veterans behind you…and a gun nut who looks like he knows how to kill things. You'll be fine. Slightly more confident from the internal pep talk, she looked at the obsolete shuttle with a bemused expression. So, this is what we used to fly around in? I do like the stubby little wings. She took care not to get far from the group until Rin gave further orders.

UX-HB-1 I, 'Owan to Tama'

Sayoko was among the first to advance out of the Kourui, ignoring the planet's assault on her senses (via the discomfort of the rampant humidity and the plethora of sights, sounds, and smells bombarding her) while holding her Type 33 Rifle at the ready as she scanned the surrounding environment for hostiles, Mishu or otherwise. Finding none, the SAINT agent relaxed ever-so-slightly, taking out her Type 36 Communicator, responding to her superior's communications check with a terse "Inukai-Hei copies, over."


That done, Sayoko took another glance at the clearing's other occupant - and promptly tensed up as her comrades advanced on the wreckage, blithely ignoring the risk of anti-personnel minds. By the time she was able to react, however, the danger had passed, as evidenced by the lack of explosions; thus, Inukai proceeded to investigate things a bit more thoroughly. Ke-T4-1a Combat Aeroshuttle; preliminary investigation indicates severe damage (internal/external); salvage probability (low). High probability of trap emplacement; proceeding with caution. Possibility of flight capability (low).

Her brief mental summary concluded, Sayoko copied the "thought," and glanced at Rin, sending the message via telepathy - as such a transmission medium was, of the options available to her, the choice with the lowest probability of interception by enemy forces.


With the message sent, Sayoko performed one last check to ensure that the video/audio-recording function of her bracelet was functional; following that, the Nekovalkyrja at long last allowed herself to take notice of the vibrant biome around her while scanning the area in the vicinity of the crash site, feeling a touch of nostalgia as she did so - for the over-jungled environment brought back numerous memories of the SAINT agent's training, when things were so much simpler...

Surface of 'Owan to Tama'

Rin kept a brave face and a closed lip amidst the already sweltering weather on the planet, not one to usually voice complaints about the mission environs so readily. They were here with a job to do, after all, and focusing overmuch on the inconveniences would just cause one to get distracted and miss the details in front of their faces. She would happily go to the hellish depths of the stars themselves for her beloved Empire, and to solve the burning question in her mind.

The teal-haired First Officer took in the crash site with a keen eye, and was pleased that Inukai-hei took the initiative to begin her own reports on the shuttlecraft. A physical nod and mental acknowledgement greeted the Neko's digital mind personally, before the officer allowed herself a few seconds of nostalgia to set in. It was definitely an old T4, or what was left of it... a familiar sight to one that had been in the service long enough to remember when they used to be the workhorse of the shuttle fleet before the advent of the newer T8. By the looks of things it had certainly seen it's fair share of action, and the dissimilar debris piqued her interest -- perhaps it was engaged with something else when it crashed, and the damage was a result of that rather than the hard re-entry it no doubt also suffered. The background radiation was also telling.

Rin broadcasted to the group, "It looks like this was more than a simple crash. Inukai-hei, get a closer look at the debris field and see if you can identify the several fragments that display a different composition and type than our shuttle." There was a brief pause, as the SAINT agent's digital brain received an encrypted download of the older Fox T4 Combat Aeroshuttle's schematic and parts breakdown from Hoshitomo-shoi's saved mental archives, just incase she needed a refresher from the veteran tech sentry. She then turned her icy gaze to the similarly blue hued Skade, waving her forward towards the open door of the weather-beaten, vintage craft. "Masashiga-hei, you and I will investigate the aeroshuttle more closely. Stay alert, step carefully. We can't assume it is not trapped... and there's a good chance the superstructure is degraded from exposure as well."

Surface of 'Owan to Tama'

Bringing up his lack of orders being a thing that probably would've gotten him in trouble, Darren took the initiative on his own. They needed to know what kind of nasty critters could give them trouble while they were down here on this rock, and hopefully if he could figure that out he'd be able to give an estimate on the chances of survival for any of the shuttle's former occupants. Plus it was always good to keep busy in a situation like this and not think about the fact that they were on a hostile world and walking into what could very well be an ambush without a single suit of power armor between them.

Darren advanced alongside the other members of the Away Team before peeling off, scanning the ground for anything that could give him any signs of recent activity by a large animal... or human. He followed that up by moving towards the shuttle and examining it. He could leave the actual shuttle itself to people who knew about technology, he was more interested in claw marks and scratches and the like!

Surface of 'Owan to Tama'

Skade nodded when she received her orders from the XO. Yes ma’am, Rin-shoi,she broadcasted back. I’ll keep an eye out for traps and any part of the shuttle that looks ready for collapse. The bonus is that they might as well be the same thing, the Neko thought as she approached the craft. Do you want me to stand guard, Rin-shoi, or should I holster my weapon and start scanning?

Surface of 'Owan to Tama'

Rin watched as Darren advanced on his own initiative, his skillset with tracking coming to the fore to find evidence of the creatures that inhabited this jungle world. She figured as much -- her lack of clear orders for the former Nepleslian was intentional, to observe what his strengths and weaknesses were and how to best apply them in this situation that was still very tense, even if the shuttle crash site was not immediately a trap.

As Skade sent a telepathic message in return, the short teal-haired officer advanced alongside her and replied. "We have the infantry for that. I require your technical expertise, Santo Hei. Even if you are a 99'er." This was a reference to the fact that the Nekovalkyrja was fresh off the assembly line so to speak, and she immediately noticed the same download schematic of the T4 Rin sent to the intelligence agent was made available to the red-paneled soldier as well. Just in case her tutors had decided the aged craft was no longer relevant in basic technician training.

Surface

Although the immediate area was barren, the surrounding jungle promised activity. It had taken a few moments for the local wildlife to recover from the sudden noisy intrusion of the shuttle, but the crew could hear things returning to life as they began their investigation. The background noise of rustling vegetation was joined by squawks and soft trumpets, bleats and tweets. Scanning the trees, Sayako spotted a flock of what looked like fat snakes with leathery wings taking off in a hurry, moving from one group of trees to another. A straggler was plucked out of the air by some sort of long, clawed limb, letting out a final honk of distress before it was yanked back into the foliage.

The crash site, while entirely free from vegetation and currently unoccupied, did have some traces of visitation after the landing. Darren and Sayako both noticed several spots on the crater's rim that were a bit broken or smoothed out. Trips in and out by something, or someone. There didn't seem to be any sort of tracks visible at the moment. If the latest visit hadn't been very recent, the frequent rains the jungle planet likely experienced would have erased most evidence. Darren did spot a few markings that seemed familiar...droppings from some sort of flying creature, splattered, dried and not yet washed away. Similar enough at a glance to some spotted inside the shuttle that Rin and Skade were currently peering inside.

The only scratches and damage to the structure of the craft were from the crash and whatever caused it. The animal activity inside had mostly torn up seats, gnawed at rubber or plastic and nipped at dead wires. Along with the mess, and the smell, of course. The Technician noted that the main door had been intact, and removed rather than torn or blasted off. Inside there were signs that some parts of the shuttle had similarly been detached and possibly salvaged rather than destroyed. Considering the large size of the remaining chunks in the crater, the smaller debris that was obviously absent might have suffered the same fate.

Nearby, Yumi stood watch as Sayoko began her inspection of the debris that Rin had ordered. The large, purplish piece of metal was quickly identified as Zanarium by her scans, some parts featuring a diamond coating. It was thick and heavy, almost a meter on the longest side, and promised to be cumbersome enough to require three or four people to move, even with enhanced strength. The design seemed somehow familiar, but it was definitely nothing she'd seen in person before.

"Hm."

The tiny voice of Miho vocally mused as she thought of a good use of her time. And a thought occurred to her.

"We need to figure out where that signal is coming from."

The minute neko, with the assistance of the shuttle pilot, pulled up the previous scans from the Heartbreaker, and then matched it to a map with a general location of where the signal was from. Then, she took a measure of signal strength from in orbit - and compared it with the signal strength and direction now. It wasn't necessarily triangulation, more accurate estimate based on ping times.

"I've come up with a much smaller region that the signal is coming from," Miho messaged Rin, sending the limited map data to her brain. "Find anything of note with the shuttle?"

UX-HB-1 I, 'Owan to Tama' - Surface

Sayoko nodded upon receiving the XO's praise, mildly surprised (considering that she - in her own opinion - had merely carrying out her orders); after pausing momentarily to process the technical schematics transmitted by Rin, the SAINT Neko replied (via wireless) to the former's orders with a message of her own - as she wasn't entirely certain that her soft-spoken voice would be able to cut through the now-lively background ambiance of the surrounding jungle.

Hoshitomo-Shoi,

Acknowledged.

Inukai-Hei

Click to expand...

With that, Sayoko spent a few moments staring at the fuchsia-hued metallic debris, then proceeded to take out her Scanner, insert the Ke-G1-E3103 module, and (as one might expect) scan the aforementioned piece of metal. Once the device had announced the completion of its task with a faint boop!, the Santô Hei took note of the scanner's findings with an almost imperceptible frown - for they indicated that the fragment was composed of zanarium with a thick coating of diamond, a combination that sounded familiar (yet maddeningly unknown) to Sayoko. Peculiar...where would I have come across such information....ah, yes. The weekly Star Army Intelligence Update Digest.

Said updates - essentially massive, information-laden news bulletins - were frequently ignored by Sayoko's peers, simply due to the sheer volume (and triviality) of their contents.

Said updates were also still in existence because of the wealth of knowledge (albeit poorly-organized) contained within their pages - and for the occasional gem or two that found its way in.

After another few moments of near-stillness spent searching her digital mind, Sayoko finally discovered what she had been looking for.

Ah. "Possible Correlation Discovered Between Nepleslian Manufacturer's Zanarium Sales and Increase in Raids Conducted By Mishhuvurthyar Remnants."

The SAINT Agent's elation at this discovery, however, was short-lived - for upon reading the article's contents, Sayoko was dismayed to find that it neglected to mention any details as to what the Zanarium had been used in. Unfortunate, but still of potential value. Perhaps other members of the crew with combat experience, such as Hoshitomo-Shoi (according to her personnel file), would possess further information.

Turning towards said officer, Sayoko composed another polite-yet-terse message, and sent it.

Hoshitomo-Shoi,

The object appears to be primarily composed of a dense Zanarium alloy, with several areas featuring an additional diamond coating.

Though I believe the object to be Mishhuvurthyar in origin, I cannot say for certain due to a lack of further information; would an officer as experienced as yourself in combating the Mishhuvurthyar have any suggestions?

Inukai-Hei

Click to expand...

Surface of 'Owan to Tama'

Darren'd seen enough from his scanning around. At least, around the shuttle, there wasn't anything dangerous that had taken up residence or frequented the area. That didn't mean that the jungle outside the crash site was safe, but going off on a jaunt to see if there were any big nasty critters around would probably be a mistake. Oh well, he might as well give Rin his input. Now how'd this telepathy thing work again? Oh right, that's how, he just had to think and it worked.

Err, Hoshimoto-Shoi. I'm pretty sure that there aren't any dangerous critters in the crash site itself, but we should still be on guard when we move into the brush. As for where the signal is probably coming from? If I were whoever was stranded here, I'd leave it out in an relatively open area that I could get a good ambush on if whoever came investigating wasn't so friendly, but still close enough to my shelter. I'd reckon that we should be on guard when heading to check it out, but not as such to make ourselves look dangerous. I could maybe take point, seeing as how the NMX tended not to use people like me as standard infantry.

Click to expand...

Surface of 'Owan to Tama'

As the First Officer picked through the remains of the shuttle, she ran a hand across the hinge of the door that had been removed, seemingly only one of many things that were missing from a quick visual inventory the experienced tech sentry made without thinking. A flurry of communication chatter rippled through her mind as well from the fellow searchers, as bits and pieces of a picture were beginning to emerge slowly from the many perspectives on the evidence at hand before them all.

Sayoko's broadcast caught her attention first, the teal-haired Minkan intimately familiar with what the agent was describing of the foreign wreckage. Her response was swift over wireless.

Inukai-hei,

Hai, I know exactly what that is. Diamond plates over Zanarium sheet metal... this combination was the standard armor of the Type 26 Whifgurflumik & Frasworstch Battle Pods that were the bane of many PA spacey infantry and scoutships during the First Mishhuvurthyar War. Damage from such an encounter could explain why this shuttle lost its wings and had to make a crash landing, along with persistent radiation in the area I am picking up on scanners that could be residue from their positronic weaponry.

Click to expand...

This line of thinking validated her earlier musings about a battle, and she now took a step back to inspect the T4's exterior more closely for signs of holes created by the effects of positron tunneling cannon fire. This was done at the same time that Miho's map information was flagged for download and Rin studied the display before composing her reply.

Nakamaru-hei,

Good work narrowing down the area; the more direction we have when entering the brush the better. As for the shuttle, it's completely gutted and even the door is missing, but this likely shows salvaging by survivors of the crash. The theory that a battle took place looks likely, as we have uncovered diamond plated Zanarium armor fragments scattered about consistent with that of Type 26 Mishhu battle pods, as well as trace amounts of radiation.

Click to expand...

That update sent, she glanced at Darren with an icy eye, whose projected thoughts in text received a reply in kind:

Leverton-hei,

Nakamaru-hei has narrowed down the search area for the beacon, and the shuttle definitely indicates signs the survivors must have come back here several times to salvage materials, possibly for a shelter as you say. We need to investigate further, so your suggestion to take point is noted. Thank you for volunteering, Santo Hei.

Click to expand...

The way Rin phrased the final part made it sound that rather than a genuine thank you it was more like she already was going to say exactly that, and he had saved her the trouble.

Surface

With the old style Battle Pod identified, the picture was becoming clearer. Several other chunks of debris seemed to belong with it, other oddly colored hunks of metal and sections of pipe that might be cannons. One, possibly two of the things, from the evidence Sayako and Rin found. Now that she knew what to look for, the First Officer noticed the signs of the attack, holes and pockmarks gouged into the hull, several focused on the ruined engine area.

Inside the shuttle, their Engineer had made several peculiar discoveries of her own. While the engine, weapons and computers were destroyed in the attack or the crash, some of the damage inside had been more purposeful. Instead of being smashed, a smaller power supply had been removed entirely. While some displays were smashed and lights broken, others had been carefully detached, leaving empty sockets instead of damaged remains. More evidence that anything useful had been salvaged, as Rin suggested.

Miho combined the Heartbreaker's scans of the surface, its latest ping from the continuing distress beacon, and the transmission their own shuttle was currently picking up. It gave them a direction and a rough distance, estimating where it should be within a hundred meters or so. Looking that direction, one of the signs of reentry that Darren had spotted was nearby, giving them some hope they were on the right path. Of course, there wasn't actually much of a path to follow...the trees just a bit more open there for a few meters, before tuning to an apparently solid wall of green (and purple, and some blues) once again.

Surface

Being that this was a search & recover mission, Hoshitomo-shoi discerned that there was relatively little left for the team at the crash site outside of what was already obvious. Brushing a bit of her short teal hair out of one eye, the veteran headed step by step to the wall of green, blue, and purple trees and brush as she transmitted to the team: "We've got all the clues we can get here. Beacon's a hundred meters this way... so we either find a trail, or make one."

With that the XO carefully unsheathed her 'makeshift' machete -- in actuality a detached Aether Beam Saber Rifle blade with a handle hastily formed out of wrapped Molecure Tape -- and took a testing whack at the barrier of dense foliage in their way. It wasn't pretty to look at, but it got the job done.

UX-HB-1 I, 'Owan to Tama' - Surface

Sayoko blinked a few times at the XO's extraordinarily unstealthy means of traversing through the undergrowth, then shrugged; after a few moments spent staring blankly at the veritable wall of organic material in front of her, the SAINT Neko began stealthily creeping through the underbrush, acting as the party's forward scout as she weaved in and out of the overgrown jungle, seemingly drifting from cover to cover without so much as a sound.

Had her instructors from Black Sands been present, however, they would've noticed something...off about Sayoko's otherwise-stellar performance - for her thoughts, despite the Santô Hei's best efforts, kept drifting back to what Rin had said as the former attempted to determine how the latter had learned of such things.

An audio log of my initial briefing? False; nothing of that nature was spoken. A physical copy of the mission dossier given to me? False; the dossier's container was unopened. A leak by whomever prepared the dossier? Unlik-correction, false...