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RP: YSS Aeon [MIssion 7.3] Ground Site

Nashoba

SARPaholic & Admin
Convention Veteran
Retired Staff
With all of the ground team gathered, and their gear loaded. Saki told them to take a seat. Once loaded she closed the doors on the T7 and went to the cockpit.

Kim was seated at the pilots console and as Saki strapped herself in, completed the shuttle power up. She signaled the doors to open and edged the Diligent out of the doors and into free space. She calculated a descent trajectory to the ground site specified by Eternity.

The shuttle plunged into the atmosphere, the shields protecting it from the atmospheric heat and surrounding the craft in a sphere of plasma. Once they reached the lower atmosphere Kim slowed the craft and the flaming sphere around them dissipated.

They were flying on a west to east trajectory. "ETA to touchdown is ten minutes Hei. We should be on site just after sun rise."

She looked out at the images of the surface. She could see trees and such but they were broad and low. An adaption to the lower amounts of solar radiation, plants were wider to harness as much as possible.

A few minutes later the forward horizon began to glow with the approaching sunrise. Below the T7 a spongy plain spread out before them.

Her RADAR started painting their destination. A small bluff that would give the away team a clear field of vision in all directions.

The shuttle bounced about when it was buffeted by some unexpected turbulence from the air moving around the bluff. She pulled the shuttle up and clear of the turbulence and brought it over the landing site. She clicked on the landing lights, bathing the vegetation in the brilliant landing lights. She lowered the ship to the surface and gently touched down.

Through the cockpit window she could see the advancing sunlight moving across the ground.

"Diligent to Aeon, we have landing at Point Alpha." she transmitted.

"Nice flying Heisho." Saki said unbuckling her restraints. She moved into the back.

"Everyone get your masks on. I want the shuttle unloaded in and base camp in place in thirty minutes. Get moving. We are burning daylight." she said.
 
Maki relaxed, leaning back in her chair, eyes closed, the entirety of the flight down to the planet. Even when they hit turbulence she seemed un phased. A little shake here and there was nothing to get worked up or concerned over and she had been through worse.

But then the call to don masks and prep for landing and offloading hardware and supplies from the shuttle came and her acid yellow eyes opened, swept across the cramped cabin of the shuttle and took in everything.

The SAINT operative sat up, adjusted the collar of her black paneled tunic, then grabbed her mask and put it on, making sure the seals around her face were snug and solid and that the air flow was good. She was ready to go.
 
Kim walked into the rear of the shuttle and looked out the clam shell doors. There was a breeze blowing she watched as the nearby plants swayed back and forth.

The science scanners showed that in addition to an abundance of plant life there was an assortment of animal and insect life. There were not many present at the landing site, but it was possible that their presence would attack the more curious.

She grabbed some of the provisions that were stored in the shuttle and offloaded. Them once the others had the shelter up, they could be moved into it.
 
Yoshiro put on his mask and made sure that it was working. He took a deep breath, nervous but sure that he could do this. He took the type 30 portable shelter and set it up. He cleared the area where he was going to set up the shelter and then pulled the shelter out of the box. He set up the tent according to directions. "All finished with setting up the shelter. Now to make sure that everything is all set up." He said to himself.

He made sure that the solar panels that he saw on top of the dome was in working order and started to charge the battery that was built into the shelter. Then he made sure that the transmitter was working and when he was finished with that he checked the climate control. After the climate control was checked he went to the water condenser. "Could I get some help here?" Yoshiro asked.
 
Maki already had her mask on when the shuttle landed. As soon as she hatch opened she stepped out, taking a few moments to exam in the alien environment. She had to wonder what sort of wildlife was out there and if any could pose a threat to the camp they were setting up.

The operative shrugged and went back into the shuttle and started bringing out the crates and supplies needed for the caamp.
 
The folks outside had drawn the attention of some large insects. They resembled dragonflies except they had a stinger and six wings instead of four. Also the fact that they are two feet long.

The flew around the camp and buzzed about. They would light down on a object until someone would get too close.

When one of the away team flushed out a group of small birds one of the dragonflies took pursuit. It latched onto one of the birds and swiftly stabbed it with the stinger. The bird struggled for a moment or so and then went limp. The dragonfly buzzed about and found a bare patch of dirt. It deposited its kill and began to pick it apart and eat it.
 
At Tanaka's request for help Araan came down the ramp, his hand on the door frame as he visually inspected the elements around where they had touched down. Scuttling down the plane he kept his IBR where he could quickly access it if something drove towards them or acted maliciously. Approaching Tanaka Araan took a hand down to helping set up the condenser. Every few moments he would pause his work to scan the fields around them, ever wary of even the semi-silent landing area. It was his natural unease setting over him that made him seem jumpy in this brief moment, made a bit more awkward in that unlike some of the others he was donning his full AMES suit instead of a simple breather mask.

As the insects suddenly rustled and took after the birds who fled the arrival of the others Araan's eyes grew wide and he instinctively reached for his rifle. These creatures were quite obviously carnivores by their actions, but their motions and attacking mechanism were odd. They reminded him of something he had once read in an old book he had found floating around during his years of travel.

"Syringa." Was all he muttered as he stared at it a scant few moments, waiting to see how it reacted.
 
"I wouldn't antagonize those things if I were you." Yoshiro said to Araan. "They seem to be here in a swarm and we don't know what would happen if we attacked them." He said as he hooked up the tubes to the condenser.
 
"No intent to antagonize, Tanaka-Hei, just wary. I've read about something like them but thought it was just a work of fiction, so did the author." He responded as he let loose his rifle and knelt back into hooking up the lines on the condenser.

His eyes kept scanning back over to the creature, watching it with a macabre interest.
 
Kim took out her communicator and started taking pictures of the large insects. She also recorded some video of them in flight.

"Perhaps you have forgotten that we are exploring this world. So when we see or encounter interesting things. We should document it.

Since it is unlikely that these creatures have seen anything like us, curiosity is to be expected. Though that also means they most likely have no fear of us.

We should probably see about collecting one of the killed birds. An analysis of the tissue would give us some idea of the toxin." She said.

She looked at the one creature that was consuming the bird. After a little while it took flight leaving about half the bird. Another of the giant insects moved in to eat from what was left.

As the sun light continued to creep across the surface of the landing site, more birds took flight and more of the insects hunted. Many of the birds evaded and climbed to higher heights. It appeared that the insects preferred to hunt at lower levels.

Within ten to fifteen minutes most of the 'swarm' of insects was well away from the team.
 
Yoshiro gently took the dead bird and plucked a piece from its ruined body. He took a sample jar and placed it in the jar. "Is this big enough?" He asked Kim.
 
Kim looked at the tissue sample Yoshiro took from the dead bird. She also noted how he handled the creature. She smiled before speaking.

"Perhaps a bit more from another part of the body. Also make sure that you label the container." she said.

"Probably should dispose of the body, so that other animals are not attracted by the scent."
 
Maki had observed the entire scene with the giant insects with some interest and just a bit of disgust, not that anything showed on her perfectly unemotional face as she continued to work on unloading the last bit of supplies from the shuttle.

She hoped the big ugly bugs didn't develop a sudden taste for Neko now that their team was on the ground. She was not overly concerned though, there was little chance those things could get through the armor of a MINDY.

Still, if these bugs were aggressive and predatory, there may very well be larger more dangerous verities on this world they had yet to encounter and it was a thought worth her diverting some attention to their surroundings. Just in case.
 
Yoshiro took the bird and took a piece of the liver and place it into another jar and labeled it with the words "Scientific sample-Bird liver with Insect venom" and then he was labeling the other piece "Scientific sample-Bird Flesh with Insect venom". He didn't know if that was the proper way to label it but he had to ask. "Is this a good label for the samples?" He asked Kim as he took care of the carcass of the bird by burying it under about 3 feet of dirt.
 
From the T7's systems the following could be heard.

"Aeon to Away Teams. We are in descent to the surface at Site Bravo. We are analyzing samples of the orbital debris. Report status please."

Kim looked around, and activated her communicator. "Away Team one base camp setup is nearly complete. I am certain that Aria-Hei will be commencing recon shortly. Shina-Heisho out."
 
Saki watched over the team as prepared the camp and took first samples. She used her gravitiy-control to float on the top of the shuttle to have a better look around. She did not like the giants insect. If a flock of them decided, the team was tasty, there was little they could do. If the poison worked on them. After all the away team was bigger then the bird and nekoes were generally immune to poisons, but Saki did not like to bet on such things.

Saki wore a normal working uniform with a fleece jacket over it. She was not very comfortable in the mask and wished she could just wear her Mindy. It was always simpler and easier inside the armour. Over her shoulder a a rifle was slung. She always liked to be ready. Who knows what kind of animals were living here. Her katana was at her side too. Just to be sure.

"Okay folks let's finish up to take a look on this paradise world." She said with clear irony in her voice. "Shina-heisho please stay with the shuttle and watch the camp. We don't need some animals to rummage through our stuff. If anything big show up either lock yourself in the shuttle or use some of the stuff in it. You know, the two big boxes I had brought in. The rest of us will gear up for a hike. Let's have a look around our camp first. Check our surroundings."
 
Across the comm channels, Katae voice carried the following message. "Aeon-Actual to away teams, your statuses have been received. We have touched down at site two. Deploying a survey team. Status checks every thirty minutes. Aeon out."

Kim looked over at Saki, "I'll keep scanning the area with a science scanner for life signs. I'll keep base camp just as you left it."
 
While all the others were looking at the wildlife Maki scanned for possible threats to the away team and the camp. There was no confirmation that this planet was 100% uninhabited and she wanted to be sure that there were no hostiles that might make a move on them.

The SAINT operative keyed her scanner over to search for any form of radio frequencies, radar signals or any kind of energy signature or metallic masses that could be maybe a ship or armor or vehicle.
 
Yoshiro put on his mask and made sure that it was working. He did not want to get any disease or anything so he made sure that he had the filters sealed and without obstruction. "Ready to go here. " Yoshiro said and he strapped on his sidearm that he had brought with him.
 
From the sunrise horizon several large objects appeared low on the horizon. They were moving a good pace and seemed to be flying just a little above the grasses.
 
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