RP: YSS Eucharis [Mission 21.1] Return to Ether - Planetside Thread

[Wes]

OOC: This thread is for posts that take place on Ether's surface and is here for the away team training mission led by Minato. It takes place 3 days after the events of the Mission 21 thread, where the team prepped their armor and conducted mind backups, due to the need for travel time. This places is somewhere around the morning of January 5, YE 36.



Ether

An wispy fog of ice rapidly gusted across the barren, frozen wastelands of planet Ether, a landscape of brightly-reflecting white ice and jagged, threatening black rocks. Three years had passed since the majority of the fighting here and the planet had returned to a mostly-peaceful state, although half-buried Nekovalkyrja and Gartagen corpses still littered parts of the surface, frozen in the places they fell.

Two years ago in YE 34, the Eucharis had planted a small base on the surface. It was here that the Eucharis away team would stop first. The base was composed mostly of Quonset huts and Collapsible Rapid Deployment Modules. Waiting for the away team was a primitive shuttle landing pad composed of a flat patch of gravel surrounded by metal signposts sticking out of the ground with with strands of old yule celebration lights hanging between them.

 

[Yoshi]

Misato stood stock still at the rear of the cargo bay. The huge door open with the atmosphere shielding up. She looked back at the rest of the team getting ready. Each was doing their own thing as they made their last minute adjustments and rituals. She was itching to get out the door. Waling around she checked on the Tank to make sure the drop chute straps were ready, tugging and pulling at various points she walked away satisfied. The tank was also bring down the cold weather gear and the survival, so it has to be secured right.

"OK PEOPLE LETS GET READY LINE UP FOR FINAL INSPECTIONS." She called out as she walked over to Bors.

"Ol' man you ready for this? You got the second team, and running the tank. Once we hit the deck I want you to take your team out and secure the area for where we will be spending the night and doing range training." She spoke to her second... Or who she thought as her second. Even with Takeyu coming she was planning to run the operation without having the Taii having to do anything more then his specialization.

 

[BionicSamurai]

Chieko ran through her checklist one more time to make sure she had everything packed: two spare uniforms, science scanner, communicator, NSP, spare batteries, survival kit, rice cake. She then went over what she had on her Mindy: LASR-SLAG (with smoke grenades for training and HE for anything real), Teleportation Unit, Gauss Cannon, Countermeasure Augmentation Pods. The science adviser did not want to be caught screwed in the snow; so with the cold weather gear that she recalled Misato packing for the group and her own equipment, she figured she ought to be alright.

After a second run through of the list, the academic nodded to herself and closed distance to the open door; but not so much that she could accidentally fall out. From there she looked over at Suzume and awaited the signal to go. Chieko was ready for this.

 

[Riko]

"Ready as I'll ever be." Bors said taking a look at the frozen tundra laid out before him. He didn't really like the planet to much the first time he was here, and doubted that this time would be any better, hopefully the Gargants took care of the NMX that were on the planet the last time they were here. "If not one owes me a new heart and chest."he thought to himself before turning around and making his way towards the tank.

It didn't take long for the big nepleslian to bound up the Troll's side to get up next to the cockpit hatch, which opened with ease. Sliding down into the drivers chair he looked around for the activation switch and thumbed it on. As the Tank roared to life Bors couldn't help but smile as he flexed his fingers over the steering yoke. "Alright baby lets see what you can do." he said to himself as he eased on the accelerator and lurched forward and began to slowly drive forward. Once he was next to Misato he popped out of the hatch and looked down at her, "I'll be doing a quick once over on all this things systems, last thing we want is to have to push this back to the ship when were in the middle of a winter wonderland. Let me know who's on my team, tell them they'll be getting a lift once we hit the ground."

With that Bors sat idlely by as the engine idled.

 

[Kyoshiro9]

Asami looked out at the frozen world beyond the open hatch at the rear of the drop ship. Oddly enough seeing all the snow brought a small smile to her face. She was probably the only one on the ship who actually didn't mind being there and was actually looking forward to going out to the tundra. It reminded her of her days as a trainee at the Samurai House. Back then her sensei subjugated her to all sort of intensive training exercises. One of them was a month long survival and combat course on a snow planet very similar to Ether. It was hard to be sure, yet she became stronger for it. If Asami peered even deeper into the blasted white expanse she could almost make out the stern brow and the overly critical look in the eyes of her sensei. The memories on that thought become bitter sweet. She was a different person back then....with different goals.

Asami snapped out of her day dream as Misato began to give her orders to the team. She watched as the rest of the team got ready. Asami oddly enough wasn't officially assigned to any team. She wasn't even sure exactly why she was here, it seemed everyone glazed over that fact. She assumed her role was to be more of an observational one and to assist Misato in her training exercises in any way possible. Asami formed up with the rest of the squad next to Takeyu-Taii.

 

[Reynolds]

Shuttle Bay

Mitsuko was once again sitting in the pilot seat of a T7 shuttle, ready to leave the Eucharis and land on the surface of Ether. This time would be different, though. She'd already improved her odds by getting the chance to wear her Mindy, a balanced load selected this time. The offensively focused setup from their last mission had been discarded. Hopefully that sort of overkill wouldn't be needed for training. She shivered at the memory, and the possibilities it made her think up.

The Raccoon shuttle was loaded with the sets of cold weather gear, medical kits and other survival items Misato had requested. This was just training. She'd land near their drop site, they'd complete some maneuvers and tests, and hopefully spend a boring night being really cold. Then she could take them all back home. That was the plan, at least...

 

[Kyle]

Shuttle Bay

Takeyu had his arms folded over his chest, and was resting up against the tank. Although his eyes were closed, his suits helmet was keeping him well appraised of everything going on within the bay and of the fact that they'd arrived at their destination. When he saw the bright light of Ether flash into his visor, he looked up and toward the atmospheric shield, opening one eye and peering toward it.

After a moment he checked to ensure that his helmet was recording this operation, for later review when the training was over, he wouldn't provide Misato much in terms of input - only advice if a reason came up.

 

[Zain Snowpaw]

Cargo Bay

Kale shrugged slightly. He was unused to constantly being within the battle suit though he was adjusting well enough. Apart from the semi disaster upon the last planet the Eucharis had landed on this was his first actual operation and the technician couldn't help but fidget slightly in apprehension. Given certain past incidents within the last few days Kale couldn't help but feel somewhat fragile in the belief of his own skills.

'What if I don't measure up to expectations' he wondered.

Kale was startled out of his thoughts by Misato's voice. Not having been aware of his surroundings the sudden shock did nothing for his anxiety. Taking a couple of deep breaths the armoured tech-head tried and failed to calm himself before falling in with the others.

 

[Yoshi]

"Well As you can see we are nearing the drop zone." Misato pointed out the opened cargo do at the void and the planet below, "This is how things will go, Combat drop to the LZ, the Team Bravo, led by Bors will secure the area and use the tank to help with that, Akiane will be driving Bors your shooting, Kale, Izzokia will also be part of Team brave."

"Team Alpha lead by me will be the rest of you, Taii, Koizumi, Asami, Will join me in the drop and we will be joined by Murakami once she has brought the shuttle down behind us. We will help secure the area then proceed to some live fire operations. Followed by all of you learning how to spend the night on a ice ball with out your PAs to keep you warm." She smiled before glancing at her crono.

"Welp, unless you have a note from the doctor, Line up and out the door." She counted down off the crono then started calling out, "Go.. Go.. Go.."

 

[Kyle]

Takeyu casually walked over to the edge of the bay and knelt down, peering down toward the dropzone. His HUD brightened a bit, calculating possible drop location and the speed at which he'd need to slow down in order to avoid injury to himself and damage to his armor. "See you on the ground," he said, standing up, turning one eighty, and then falling backwards out of the cargobay. He plummeting through the air head first for a few moments before he rightened himself, bringing his head upward so he could stare up at the Eucharis, then looked down toward the LZ.

He listened as the air whizzed by him, his eyes closed once more as he listened to his armor count down on his altitude. "Five...... four..... three.... two..... one...." once he counted down to one he engaged his suits flight mechanic and began to slow his rapid descent, the speed at which he was falling was rapidly decreasing and soon he would be able to land without injury or damage. After several more moments he found himself plowing through a tree - breaking several of its limbs before he landed smoothly on the ground in a crouched position, he rifle whipped outward and his eyes slowly scanning the area. Now, he had to wait for the others.

 

[BionicSamurai]

On Misato's command, Chieko gripped her LASR and took a running jump off the cargo ramp with a somersault. She allowed herself to fall head down at first, closing her eyes for a few seconds before opening her eyes in time to see the altitude she wanted. Righting herself, the scientist waited through the buffer zone she had given herself before engaging the flight systems on her suit to slow her down.

It was a nice view, for a land covered in cold and white. This was definitely not her natural environment to say the least; however tonight would also not be her first slumber party in the snow. Soon the thoughts needed to be put away though, as the academic noted her third altitude marker. She quickly took stock of where everyone else on the team was and braced herself for impact.

The young Minkan felt groundside soon enough and let the knees of her PA take some more of the remaining energy from her fall. She found herself singing up to three feet before actually hitting hard dirt, and almost wondered if she were about to sink more; but thankfully she didn't. Once erect again, Chieko scanned around her, LASR up to see how clear her immediate surroundings were before gradually making her way to meet up with the others of her team.

 

[Kyoshiro9]

Asami watched as the first two people jumped. With them both being from two different teams it seemed like the jump order didn't matter. Stepping up to the opening of the drop ship she peered out at the tundra below. Her head cocking up to see Misato standing by the opening, she gave the Heisho a nod before stepping forward. The heels of the power armor caught the lip of the launch door, swinging her downwards like a pendulum. Once she was about 180 degrees from her starting position she crouched her legs and sprang off of the door.

The samurai shot down through the sky like a bullet. The world opened up beneath her, a mass of brilliant white, the surface shining like multitude of diamonds. As she continued downwards she passed through a few low hanging clouds, their light bodies wisping and separating at her passing. She look forward for the target she was looking for.

She spotted Takeyu-Taii on the ground, having safely landed. Using the Sarah's targeting system to mark him she began to run the calculations she was going to need for her landing. Once she was sure she had the right angle and calculated the right approach she engaged the Sarah's CFS in order to make an FTL jump. This was a dangerous and yet common maneuver when Ketsurui Samurai were dropped into a combat zone with the M7 Sarahs. By calculating the safe landing of one individual of the team the others were able to make a jump and land close to their compatriot. This kept the team together as well prevented many of them from being exposed to surface to air retaliation from the enemy.

One moment Asami was falling through the air, the next she disappeared in a flash. She appeared once again in a flash both ten feet away from and ten feet above were Takeyu landed. Landing in a crouch, Asami drew her aether beam rifle out and assumed a covering position for Takeyu.

 

[Reynolds]

Shuttle Bay

Mitsuko listened to Misato's instructions as she prepped and double-checked the shuttle. The members of the away team were steadily dropping to the planet's icy surface without any complications. So far. Bors and that tank were her main concern at the moment. She was keeping a close eye on it as best she could from her current location. Murakami didn't want any harm to come to any of the vehicles or other equipment under her care. She'd also prefer Riko return unharmed, too, but that rarely happened. The Neko just waited for her cue to launch the ship, wanting clear skies and eyes on the ground before she headed out.

 

[Wes]

Ether Surface

The temperature on the surface was surprisingly warm for Ether...but still below freezing. An intermittent light snowfall made it difficult to see more than 100 meters, and the wind was strong and gusty. Thankfully, their suits protected them from the weather. The landing site was in an open, flat area, but around them, there were vast jagged mountains to the North and South, and in one direction (beyond sight) was the tiny Star Army fort and in the other direction, also quite a ways off, was the NMX Nekovalkyrja factory the Eucharis had unsuccessfully attacked two years ago.

Shuttle Bay

"The team is exiting the ship and you are cleared to launch," Hanako's voice timefully chimed in Mitsuko's shuttle cockpit. "Once you leave, we will be heading back into space and the team will be on its own."

 

[Riko]

Bors had a small frown on his face when he said he was supposed to be gunner, he liked driving but either way he still was in a tank. Shifting over to the gunnery controls, Bors gave Akiane a pat on the shoulder as he passed her saying "Try not to have to much fun driving this thing." before strapping himself in and giving her the go ahead nod to get off the ship.

Free falling in a tank was a bit different than doing so in just a set of power armor. The fact that he couldn't see anything flying by him made him a bit nervous, a flying rocket could just pluck him out of the sky and he wouldn't know what was coming scared him a bit. However he was happy that he wasn't on the roof so at least they hadn't started to tumble. The sudden jerk of the parachutes being deployed brought him back to reality, bracing himself for impact as soon as the tank hit the snowy ground.

Even though it was slowed by parachutes, the tank still hit the ground pretty hard making a small tank shaped crater and kicking up a puff of snow. Once he was satisfied they wern't going anywhere, Bors detached the parachutes with a flick of a switch before opening the hatch and popping out. "Forgot how cold this place was.." He muttered to himself before putting on his helmet and surveying around him, making a mental count of all the neko's he saw. "So Princess Heisho, where we setting this range up? I'd like to get a move on, less time on this ice ball the better I say."

 

[Yoshi]

Once the last of the teams were out Misato waved at Mitsuko and with a shudder she stepped out of the ship back wards. As she fell she quickly brought up the coordenets for the LZ and hit the transport systems.
ZAP POOF!

She came out 10 meters above the deck coming in hot and slammed into the snowy ice, lauching a powered fog of snow up around her. She came out with her weapon up and scanning around. "Team Bravo! Secure the Area. Team Alpha On Me"

 

[BionicSamurai]

Surface

Chieko had tagged Takeyu and Asami and was on her way to them when her sensors registered a thermal energy spike behind her with a seismic one following right after. Of course anything hitting the ground would register compared to the excessively cold background, but this had some decent energy to the impact. The young scientist turned around and looked to see what it could have been when Misato's marker and voice came up.

"You hit the ground pretty good, Heisho," the academic commented before moving in accordance to her orders, "Normally one tries to avoid those sorts of impact energies, unless it is directed at the enemy."

The Minkan made her way over at a decent pace - not too rushed, not too lazy - while keeping her gun up and sweeping. She had heard her sempais talk about how the NMX should have been routed; however she also keenly understood their skepticism, and thus erred on the side of caution for both training and survival sake.

 

[Zain Snowpaw]

Atmosphere

Free falling was one hell of an experience. There had only been one or two training simulations dealing with it at the academy and thus not so adeptly he came in slightly off the expected landing point. Compensating for the error the technition trasferred some of his gravity induced inertia into lateral motion. With a soft thump he landed kicking up a small amount of snow and pulverised ice.


Surface

Kale began to scan the surrounding area with the suits sensor suite for anything that could be constituted as a threat. Thankfully there wasn't much in the way of cover for anything sneaking up on them apart from the sparse trees of the place. The technician opened a channel to his team leader.

"Namach-Hei reporting in, nothing on scan to the east. At least, nothing I can detect."

'What a depressing place this would be to die on' he thought.

 

[Kyoshiro9]

Asami registered the commands from Misato. Not deviating her gaze from the area she was covering she used hand signals to tell Takeyu that she would cover him as they moved. She then began to move, keeping a good pace as she remand alert. The white expanse around them seemed to go on forever, only being broken every now and then by a few black rocks or some scraggly trees.

So this is Ether...

Asami thought as she closed in on the area were Misato and Chieko waited.

 

[Nightender]

Just thinking about the weather made Akane shiver. Her frame might have been graceful and nimble, but her physical ratios still opened her up to feeling cold quickly. In many ways, she envied Bors and his larger size.

Glancing at her large comrade, she noticed something in his expression, perhaps some level of distress. The way he looked toward Akane hadn't changed exactly, he just looked at her controls longingly. If he wanted to drive, the two of them would be in a perplexing state. The redhead liked using gunnery controls. However, duty was duty, and Misato had already spoken.

"Bors?" Akane smirked and said, "Take care of my guns. Just in case something comes up."

The young Neko shifted her focus, double-checking her controls. As long as she was driving, the tank was going to run as smooth as possible.