RP: YSS Aeon [Mission 5.0] Darkness and Ice

Putting pressure on a single foot she hopped up into the air and into a hover. It took a bit of adjustment to tune the comm-system as indicated. Things were faster then in the tactical simulations, she had to catch up fast. "Aye, sir." She responded to Trowa's command to get going. Disengaging the safety on the Plasma Rifle, she stood by to take the rear as soon as everybody was off.

Saki flied down from the Aeon with others. Tsubei-heisho was quite, she probably had problems with comms, but that was fine since Kim too the lead again. Saki kept close to Trowa, trying to looke trough the blizzard. After using the setting Kim told them, the cooms got clear again.

Saki waited for her orders too, but received none. Well there were enough members in infantry team, so Trowa used some to cover flanks and such and he wanted her to stay with science team to help Asshole-san and Haden-hei. That was not a problem.

Yoshiro turned his tranmissions down to 5% and took to the left flank of the Science team. He continually scanned the area as he moved to keep ahead of the enemy. "So what do you science guys do for fun?" He asked as he tried to get to know the people he was protecting.

Josea looked in Yoshiro's direction as he followed in Kim's wake. "Personally I enjoy dancing, composing and playing music, trying new things. It is what lead me to join the SSS. I joined the Aeon right before the war started. Its been an interesting trip. I'm grateful to have the opportunity to help on this mission."

Kim considered tell them to can the chatter, but at this range it was safe, and it could help take some of the edge off. Though she'd put an end to it if it looked like people were becoming in attentive.

"I enjoy spending time with my friends, flying the Aeon, and exploring new worlds. I have seen some interesting sights since joining the Aeon. Some that no one else has seen." she answered.

Saki looked around, checking the surrounding. Not that there was a lot to see. She finally felt like if she was one exploration ship, rather then combat vessel. Even when NMX was aroun they were there to look around, not to fight them primarily. That felt nice. That said Saki was soldier first and she was not scared to go into combat again, but if she could avoid fighting another Render or even something bigger she would not mind.

"I like pudding," she stepped into the conversation. Getting tention off was good thing she heard, so why not hop in on it.

Arkase laughed off-comms when Saki spoke. He lowered his settings as requested, and then spoke. He almost shrugged off his amusement to tell them to be quiet, but... He wasn't in charge this mission.

He kept close to the Science Team, doing his job and keeping a careful eye out for the enemy. He wouldn't join the junior enlisteds' conversation, but he gave his ear to it. Better to understand his team later, he thought.

"-and why isn't this - oh, I'm getting feedback again. Remind me to get my comms unit checked out after this mission. Sorry for the delay!" Kyoka's voice finally cut in over the communications. For some reason, her audio wasn't working and she ended up fiddling with it for a few minutes until it cut back on. After systems were restored, she pulled back into formation with the others.

"So, how 'bout them explosive planets?" The neko quipped, scanning as far as she could ahead.

Trowa was maintaining about a klick distance ahead of the main group. Though he suddenly realized how dumb this idea was; not that someone shouldn’t be up front scouting, but the fact that he was the one doing it. He wasn’t infantry. He was a pilot for Feth’s sake. He had been bored of waiting and thought this might be a good idea, at least give him something to do. This will teach him to have a little patient once in a while. Though not infantry, Trowa did know a thing or two about this sort of thing. He had grown up on Nepleslia with his mother and you didn’t survive there unless you learned a thing or two about moving unseen, tracking and fighting.

His scanners showed nothing and he hoped they were right, though in this weather he couldn’t be sure. He had gone about ten minutes when his scanners picked something up and then disappeared. Trowa quickly dropped to the ground, signaling Araan with a double click of his comm. He did another scan, more through this time of the surrounding area. He wasn’t about to go flying into a trap. He moved close to Araan and stuck his faceplate right up against his so he could hear him without using the comm. “Did your scanners pick up anything a moment ago? Or are they picking up anything now?”

Araan's scanners hadn't picked up anything that lasted more than a moment or so, if anything he figured what he'd been picking up was just interference from the conditions they were in, still, looking up now to Trowa he had a creeping suspicion.

"Everything I've picked up this far, sir, has been fleeting. I'd figured it for interference from the super-chilled particles of ice and methane in the air. I have a feeling you have the same gut feeling I do right about now, don't you, sir?" He asked as his visor tapped up against that of his superior.

"I don't like flying blind."

Yoshiro listened as the science team gave their answers to his question. He liked dancing about as much as he liked to get a plasma shot to his face but who was he to judge. He stifled a giggle as Tsubei-hei made a joke about exploding planets. "Oh I had vacation home on one." He quipped back to Tsubei-hei. He scanned the area with his infrared but saw nothing at the moment. "I don't see anything, well at least not at the moment. That could be the storm bouncing our signals, right?" He said to Trowa but wasn't sure if that question made sense.

As soon as she spotted that the two guys that had gone forward had stopped she reversed the inertia, almost stopping on a dime at bit away from them. Gracefully she turned around maintaining the hover. Since she was the last one. She didn't focus on the comm chatter, but rather on her surroundings. Trying to make out anything that had slipped past them.

With all the interference around, she had a hard time focusing the sensors. She wondered what had startled the two. Tilting her head down and closing her eyes, she tried to "feel" if anything was out there even if it was only faint. Beyond the static the world was barren at least that was the indication that she had.

For thirty minutes the Away team made their way across the frozen surface. Static filled the air as well as frozen precipitate. Visual and sensor data was erratic and barely usable. Twice the sensors detected a weak thermal reading below the ice.

The lead members started detecting a large object on their sensors. It was massive, as they got within one kilometer, the visibility improved. Before the lead members was most likely the top of a mountain. It loomed above by more than 1,000 feet, and went several miles to the north and south.



Yellow dot marks team.

Trowa began to curse the rotten weather, realized his comm was still transmitting and quickly shut it off so he could continue in true Nepleslian fashion. He did another scan that brought up nothing, increasing his growing frustration. Maybe it wasn’t anything. Maybe it was just interference that was messing with the scans. He looked up at the other members of the main team as they began to ketch up to him. He and Araan had remained still for too long. It was time to get moving again and scout ahead.

Trowa hadn’t been moving long when the visibility suddenly got much better. It was still bad, but now they could actually see what was around them. Trowa waited for the main group to ketch up again then turned to Kyoka. “Well Ma’am. It’s your call. Do we try to go around, over or through?”

Kyoka shut off regular comms as soon as static started interfering copiously, and broadcast something over LASR to test out whether that was even a viable method of communication in this awful clime.

"Well, according to the minor amount of data we got on the area, I would think that going to the north would be the best bet. The south has a pass and more mountains, so that would be a more likely location to get avalanched or ambushed. I'm not going to risk going over or through because this weather is so dangerous," Kyoka replied to Trowa, going into a slightly lengthy explanation. "Northwards we go."

Arkase listened to Kyoka and her reasoning. He nodded slightly and tipped a mental hat to the Neko. North was the better option, so long as they were careful not to get lost.

"If we're going out into the open," Arkase began, "Where would you like the science team to hang relative to the away team, Kyoka-Heisho?"

"They should run parallel to us as we move north. Unless we're afraid of them getting lost. If the weather worses, we have them head due east, towards us. This mountain should serve as a good reference point." Kyoka replied, relaying the information throughout the group.

A quick boost took her closer to the group, so she could actually see them with her own eyes rather then the sensors. "Kyoka-Heisho, what will be our formation?" Yuzuhara inquired.

This was definitely different from training. She wondered if she had missed something when coming on board in particular in regards to standard orders such as rules of engagement, standard formations and coordination. Maybe they were all so known with each other that it had come naturally for them, but Yuzuhara felt a bit out of place.

Athena hovered along with the rest of her team silently, having nothing to contribute to the chatter. She just kept her mind busy by going over her professional skills and drills in her head. She also continued to keep her eyes on her sensors.

As the away team made their way northward, they approached a region where the ice was noticeably darker. It was about a mile across, and as they made their way to the edge; several infrared signatures appeared under the ice. They were moving towards the away team.

Note: Map has been updated to reflect location.

Yoshiro followed the team northward. He was getting a bit more nervous so he kept his hands busy by loading his SLAG and prepared for his weapon to be used. "I wonder what we are going to meet in this weather. I wouldn't be surprised if the NMX were frozen to death." He said jokingly, when in fact he hoped that it would be true.