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RP: YSS Aeon [Mission 7.4] Aeon Landing Site

Sunflower watched the Chui step over the edge. She stepped over the edge but positioned herself to land next to where Eun-Kyung touched down.

The landing was a bit rougher than she expected, 'that is what happens when you get used to CFS to keep things easy.' she thought. She steadied herself and looked in the direction they were to head.
 
Even with the armor playing intermediary, Eun-Kyung still felt the shock of impact throughout her body. She immediately hopped forward a pace as Sunflower landed beside her, clearing a space for Trowa. Pausing to give Sunflower an A-ok sign, she dashed off again following her HUD.
 
The passageway the team entered was darkened. The surface was uneven as evidence of the destructive force that shattered the vessel originally. The only illumination was coming from alternating glowing strips of right light. The light in the strip move down the hallway on one side then the other. At the end of the passage was the ramp that would let them descend in a more controlled fashion.

Sunflower looked at the passage and could help but wonder if the glowing light was either a warning, or perhaps an indication of the dying heart of the wreckage. Either way, she was determined to get to the Thaurgons and see them safely out. Behind her the MARI continued to keep up with them.
 
Inside her helmet, Eun-Kyung could detect the AIES compensating for the light change as the view - though remaining just as bright - changed subtly. The colors shifted ever so slightly, the frequencies giving the impression of not quite coming directly from the source. And of course they weren't: the AIES was mediating the visual, using other sensor data above and below the visible spectrum to paint in the image. The change offered no distraction, merely idle thought. Anyone experienced with using a PA in space was supremely familiar with false color images. The inky blackness of interstellar space usually didn't leave a whole lot of color otherwise.

She carried onward, thankful so far for the lack of obstacles in their path and fervently hoping for none ahead.
 
When the team was about halfway down the passage the wreckage shook violently from side to side. Ahead of the group a section of the ceiling exploded, and ruptured pipe spewing hyperheated steam across the passageway. Thermal imaging put the temp at over 1500 celcius.
 
Eun-Kyung ground to a stop, hoping that the shaking wouldn't produce any great damage. As it stopped she was gratified to see that it hadn't. She was briefly worried by the gaseous discharge, not knowing the temperature or the chemical in question. When her HUD flashed up the data - steam and only 1500 C - she nodded. There PAs were designed for combat against energy weapons which could put energy on target well in excess of the hazard ahead in the passageway. Even still, there was no need to run needless risk, even with their time constraints, so she fired up her left forearm shield.

"Let's keep moving!" she called on the team net and, raising her arm before her, took off running again.
 
Sunflower stopped short of running into the Chui, she did her best to stabilize herself during the shaking. She also tried to determine the source of the shaking. It did not feel like anything she had experienced before, on the various vessels she served. Perhaps that is due to the tectonic activity they spoke about. She looked at the steam plume ahead, and a bit of concern entered her mind. Steam that hot had to be coming from the generator. Hopefully it was not compromising the system too much.

She noted Eun-Kyung activate her forearm shield. She followed suit and took off after the Chui, when she approached the steam she actually leaped forward and tucked her feet up to ensure that they were not exposed to the dangerous heat.
 
Noting the reports of concern from the AIES as the outer temperature of the armor briefly spiked, Eun-Kyung pushed on, deactivating her forearm shield once through the steam. She glanced back in time to see Sunflower barreling through the steam in a leap and made a snort of laughter inside her helmet, which surprised her. Then again, she'd never heard of a little gallows humor hurting anyone. Turning back ahead, she queried the AIES on their status and pushed out an active sensor pulse, hoping to get an idea of their whereabouts post seismic event - or whatever else it had been that had induced the shaking.
 
The AIES showed provided a display showing the projected path to the technicians. It showed that they were just a little less than halfway, with two more sizable drops for them. The good thing was that they were proceeding at a faster rate that calculated earlier. Probably due to their dropping down the passage rather than using the net ladder.
 
Eun-Kyung nodded to herself at the AIES provided data. It was good that they were making up time on this end, because it looked like exiting conventionally would take longer than the ingress: after all, gravity made the drops easy. Jumps would be a little trickier, especially if they had to physically haul the aliens with them.

"All right, let's keep this pace," she called out on the team net. As she was on point and didn't want to waste the inertia to turn, however briefly, she settled for pinging Sunflower and Trowa's armors, and the MARI, for their status and location. It was more of a pro forma action than anything else; she had no real doubt in her team's ability to execute.
 
Trowa kept pace with the two women while looking at his surroundings. He had activated a video recorder earlier to document the ships interior. He was fascinated by it and wanted some footage could study later.

Trowa followed suit and activated his arm shield as he pasted through the steam. Once through, he ran a quick check to see if the steam had done any damage and was relieved to see that there was none. "Green and right behind you." responded Trowa to Eun-Kyung's ping.
 
The MARI response was immediate showing that it was right behind Trowa. It moved past the steam quickly.

Sunflower followed along, looking at the drops they were about to take, she was starting to have concerns about how they would bring the Thaurgons out with them. In her opinion it was looking like they just might have to risk a teleport from the Engineering section, but that could precipitate the detonation. She noted the net ladder arranged in the shafts. "I hope that the Thaurgons are adept at using those ladders. I have a feeling teleporting from the reactor area would best defined as a really bad idea."
 
"Copy that," acknowledged Eun-Kyung, simultaneously remaining concerned about the possibility and feeling pleased that the team was on the same wavelength, thinking ahead. "It's definitely our last resort, but everything depends on what we see on arrival."

Still sprinting, she saw the next drop coming up ahead. "All right, here's number two; four more to go," she said, and leapt forward toward the drop.
 
This shaft was as indicated longer, but it also had a number of 'emergency' lamps that were place at regular intervals along the wall with the netting. As she dropped her HUD showed that there were a number of objects at the bottom of the shaft. They appeared to be salvaged equipment and were stacked.

Sunflower followed behind Eun-Kyung, though this time sensing the shaft was deeper. She watched the officer vanish into the 'shaft'.

She angled her trajectory when she jumped so that she would hit the side of the shaft and push off to hit further down. Her plan was for her to still reach the bottom quickly, but when she finally reached the bottom it was a much less bone jarring impact.
 
Eun-Kyung had planned for no such acrobatics. Instead she slammed onto the deck, a jolt of pain at the impact coursing across her body despite all that the armor could do. Nothing was broken that she could tell; she'd just have some bad bruises later. Her landing had caused some of the stacks of equipment to topple over and she kicked through them before getting clear and striding out into a sprint again, heading for the next drop.
 
Sunflower touched down almost as she wanted except for the unexpected shift of items into her landing site. She thanks to her natural reflexes and the suits enhancements she did so without losing balance or getting seriously injured. She felt a twinge in her ankle but it was minor.

'Taking the shafts like this is fine for us. But ascending is going to be a problem. We need a better plan. If we are to climb we will need our hands and feet, which means the Thaurgons would have to hang onto our armors as we move.

As she followed Eun-Kyung, "Chui, I have an idea for getting the aliens up quickly. Climbing with the Thaurgons is not going be quick. But what if use our CFS to ascend without the aliens to the top of each shaft. Then the three of use work together to pull them up using the net ladders they have in place."
 
Eun-Kyung frowned in thought as she had the AIES pull up the schematics as she continued to run. She liked the idea, but was concerned about the danger radius produced by the fields in this confined a space. With the alien ship's materials unknown, she couldn't predict how it might interact or channel the CFS, even if they kept the power down. Still, she nodded; it was there best bet if teleportation in situ proved to be too dangerous.

"Let's do it. Work out the movement order; I want your AIES to coordinate with ours to manage the field structure to give the Thaurgons what cover we can."
 
Sunflower just nodded her agreement and continued she was pleased that the Chui liked her suggestion, now she just had to work out the details to make it happen. By the time she had descended down another shaft she was confident she had the specs worked out. The AIES confirmed her hypothesis.
 
Eun-Kyung had winced from a jolt of pain from her right leg as she landed from the next drop. The next few steps were in a half limp as she shied from the pain; she looked down at her leg, wondering if she hadn't escaped the second drop without a break after all. As her Yamataian physiology damped the pain, her stride lengthened again into her full, normal gait. There was the occasional twinge of pain as her foot impacted in just the wrong way but it was manageable. She'd certainly dealt with worse before and if everything went according to plan, they'd be back aboard the Aeon soon enough and she could make use of its excellent medical facilities.

She glanced back at her team briefly and then turned her attention forward again, toward the fourth drop approaching ahead.
 
Sunflower dropped into the shaft behind the officer, employing the same method she had before. Unfortunately, the wreckage was rocked from side to side as she was descending and so hit the wall and bounced off. She tried to adjust her fall but in the end she landed awkwardly on her side. Pain lanced through her side, but she turned her mic off when she hit the wall, so she screamed into her helmet for a moment. Then go back to her feet. She moved a bit to check her balance and moved after the Chui.

Trowa continued to follow the other two. Not having the reflexes or regeneration abilities of his crew mates he opted for a safer descent. Stepping off and grabbing the web ladder, then released and grabbed it again. It was a bit slower by a few seconds, but it ensured he was fine at the bottom.
 
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