RP: YSS Resurgence Resurgence of Yamatai - Mission 7: The Great Seelie Rescue

Captain Aoba got on the intercom, "Any crew interested in visiting the surface, please report to the shuttle bay," he simply said.

Nanook Gathered his personal gear and headed out to the shuttle bay, he couldn't wait to feel the mountain air in his lung, and the light on his fur. The back pack slung over his should had water, some trail rations, and a set of wet weather gear. After uploading various topographic maps to his handheld slate, he felt ready to set out on an adventure and proceeded to the shuttle bay.

Trowa looked around the bridge with obvious interest but asked Aoba. "Would you like me to accompany the team down Sir?"

"Yes, please," Aoba nodded.

Mineko looked up from her own station at the newest Taii to the ship with a quiet gaze. She herself weighed the options of going to gather intelligence or being able to analyze that which the team recovered from the confines of the ship.

Trowa saluted then headed for the shuttle bay.

Beryl was the designated pilot, and fired up her familiar Ke-T7 shuttle craft, NG-S1-575-2, Barrels of Fun. She had recently put this name in fancy paint on the side of it.

Cheilith reported to the Shuttle Bay with her gear.

"Hey Cheilith," Beryl greeted the infantry soldier. "How are you doing? It's a little weird having so much of the team away on Gashmere."

The Infantry officer, Emiko, marked off on a tablet when Cheilith arrived. "I think that's the entire contingent. Let's get an equipment check. There's no hostile forces, but there is a lot of dangerous wildlife, as the briefing packet explained."

"Yeah, but there is a lot happening there and they need the best." Cheilith replied.

Euikoshi joined the others in the shuttle bay, hauling some bags of science equipment.

Emiko gave one more look around. "Did anyone not read the briefing packet?"

"There was a briefing packet??" Euikoshi asked Cheilith quietly.

"What packet was that Ma'am?" Nanook asked the Emiko, as he tilted his head to one side.

"Yeah, just pull it up on your helmet or on your tablet." Cheilith said.

"The uniform is working uniform, right?" Euikoshi asked. "Also Cassie said it sounded like a volunteer mission so she, er, didn't volunteer."

Emiko nodded at Cheilith. "Field guide should be in your inbox, maybe it only went to infantry. Please share if you have it and others don't." She shrugged. "And I think working uniform is fine, this is an inhabited planet, but a low-population one. There's no issue with the atmosphere that woud require an AMES"

Emiko raised the Captain on comms, "Captain, we're on standby for Euikoshi's safari tour. Ready to depart. Do we have any armory support? I think NSP's can handle the fauna, but maybe closer to them than we'd want to be."

"Do you need me as medic?" Poppy asked, popping into the shuttle bay. She had gotten ready just in case.

"Always!" Emiko bellowed. "Infantry's best friend!"

Trowa arrived at the shuttlebay. He was wearing his side arm, a plasma revolver and a double-sided bayonet. Funny enough, it looked exactly like the one Sanda always carried. He had also stopped by the Armory for a rifle. Not that he was worried, but he just liked having extra firepower. He was half Nepleslian after all. Trowa looked around at the group matching faces with their service record and seeing who was who.

"Alright," Poppy said, trying her long, wavy pink hair into a neat ponytail with a scrunchie. She was dressed in her type 42 duty uniform with the jacket unzipped to reveal her T-shirt underneath. Instead of the standard Star Army blue it was teal scrubs with the Star Army medical logo on them. She carried a backpack with a well-stocked medical kit.

Mineko was fresh on Trowa's heels, having seen the inactivity on the bridge as a cue that there was more to be done on the ground than attached to a station this mission. She looked for Emiko and easily spotted her amongst the ants the Lily-type walked amongst.

"Your field guide was very extensive," Mineko quietly said out of the corner of her mouth as she pulled her field uniform on over exercise clothes. "I made the mistake of researching beforehand on Shirakawa no Iori. Basically the same info as yours, Playround-san."

"Good, then you know." The very tall Emiko nodded to the very small Mineko, "We will be relying on your eyes."

"What is the policy on pets?" Nanook wondered out loud, only half-joking.

"They're not allowed," Euikoshi replied to Nanook. "Bidole is the only exception and that's because Bidole literally works in engineering."

Mineko giggled, "He hasn't read the field guide if he's asking that before this mission..."

Nanook looked at Mineko, "What's one more Neko hanging around in the vents...?"

"You should read standard operating procedure while you're at it," Mineko's tone had dulled.

Nanook smiled on Mineko, "That is probably a sound suggestion. Thank you."

"All aboard," Beryl said, heading into the shuttle and climbing through the hatch to the cockpit compartment. She began flipping switches and pressing buttons and the cargo space shuttle came to life.

"Remember everyone, this is shore leave, but is shore leave to a dangerous place! We still have fun, right?" Emiko laughed.

"Is this shore leave?" Euikoshi scratched her head, then shrugged.

Trowa was wondering the same thing. He had just reported so he didn't need more shore leave. Shore leave was reserved for seeing his family, Elanor Aeon and baby Tres. And of course his beautiful wife Estrella.

Emiko shrugged, "It was before science officer decided for field research and we all volunteer to come along instead of going to the station, no?"

"Emiko's humor is harder to grasp than her biceps," Mineko said, not realizing her own joke wasn't the most relatable to anyone besides herself. "Who's willing to battle buddy me?" Being still relatively new and only been paired with Thad before, Mineko worried she was likely last to be picked by anyone.

"I am willing to shoulder that burden," Nanook proclaimed to the double bunned Nekovalkyrja. "Should you be willing to allow me too."

"Burden, cool. Yeah," Mineko said in a high-pitched squeak as her the red of her pupils glinted.

"Plus, I packed snacks." Nanook showed her the plethora of trail snacks he had hidden away in his large backpack. A wink and grin on his face while Mineko looked with a gaunt expression from the food to him. She reassuredly tried to mirror his grin but hers was too wan to be coupled with a wink. "I could really use a blueberry scone or twelve from a Warm and Sweet right now though..." He said wistfully.

Having just arrived, Trowa had not yet been assigned or even knew who to pair up with.

Emiko turned to Trowa as if sensing his question. "Officers together."

Trowa looked up at the towering field officer and smiled. "Works for me. How long have you been on the Res? He asked.

"I arrived the night before you," Emiko answered flatly, without delay, in her Sardinian accent.

"So then I guess we're the new kids on the block." The one eyed Taii smirked. "Sounds good to me."

"Roommate squad!" Euikoshi said, pointing at Poppy, who nodded and gave a thumbs up. They both took their seats next to each other in the shuttle's passenger compartment and strapped in with their bulky olive drab bags of supplies in front of their feet.

Once everyone was loaded they closed up the shuttle and got going, first out through the large interior shipyard bay of the Iori-class star fortress and then down to the planet below.

The shuttle came to rest in a clearing in a forested area at the edge of an enormous crater where the planet had been attacked some time ago during the wars. As the shuttle door opened there was a rush of dry, breathable air and the scents of the local plants.

"Combat arms and Intelligence, make sure nothing's waiting in the bushes to eat the scientist!" Emiko called out as the ramp dropped. She was first off, hopping down before the ramp fully opened with NSP drawn, and scanning the treeline with her augmented sight.

Having pulled out the science scanner she brought, Mineko piped, "Taking life form scans."

Mineko detected a substantial amount of alien life forms, probably animals.

Nanook stepped off and performed a visual scan of the area, attempting to identify any threats to the ship or crew. He walked around the ship, ensuring there was nothing attached to the ship, or under it.

"If I remember correctly, the Mishhuvurthyar wiped out this species before Yamatai had made first contact, during the First Mishhuvurthyar War circa YE 26," Euikoshi told the others. "That would make this crater roughly 20 years old. Nature is starting to reclaim the area," explained, fanning out with Poppy. "But I don't know if the Star Army ever really looked at this planet all that closely with an eye on finding survivors. I think a lot of star systems in the frontiers of Yamatai are mainly held so that no one else takes them, not because the empire holds an interest in them. Hopefully the Resurgence is part of changing that, which is why we're out here trying find to the interesting stuff and the loose threads."

"I'm amazed this planet had this much plant life with so little water," Poppy said, looking around.

"Was there ever even more than the one settlement here? It looks like just a stopover for Trinary Star," Emiko asked Euikoshi, while keeping her eyes open and head swiveling. "I think almost as many people live on the station as the surface."

"Within 100 meters we have activity," Mineko said, referring to her earlier lifeform scan. "To be expected. Let's get out of this crater," Mineko said to Nanook. Nanook joined Mineko, setting out to the edge of the crater, scanning his surroundings continuously, paying close attention to the ground as well, just in case there happened to be any subterranean ambush predators. His Type 33/B Kodian held at the ready.

= = =

OOC: JP by Wes, Charaa, Cowboy, Immortal Cyan, Ame, Yuuki, DANA

Kiyo stepped from the shadows, apparently practicing ninjutsu as she did so. She had her Aether Katana Silverlight, she never leaves home without it. Her red eyes scanned the environment around her taking it all in. Her mind processes the information. She’d never encountered the Mishu species, but she heard accounts from those who had. Some of what she heard was maybe a fabrication of that she was certain. At Mineko’s words, her hand moved to Silverlight’s hilt ready to remove it and strike if need be.

Ground side

Trowa exited the shuttle with his Type 41 Rifle healed up and at the ready. It wasn't that he was actually worried about being attacked, but he thought it was good practice and discipline to take any expedition seriously. He did a visual scan of the area using his cybernetic eye that was hidden under his eye patch. It felt good to be out groundside with real air to breath and not the recycled air of a star ship. Although that was where he loved to be. On the bridge of a starship. It was why he had joined the SA, to one day be a Starship Captain like his father had been.

Ahmar
Crater Edge

"Emiko-sama said I'm our eyes out here." Mineko said to the Kodian as she leaned in with forceps to pull a leaf off of a plant. "If that's true, you're the eyes on the back of my head."

She got up and checked her surroundings left, right, and above as they moved under tree cover. With her forceps she pulled the leaves from another plant, then another. "Bingo! Careful 'round this." Mineko said as a red liquid oozed from it and she pulled herself away from it, watching it as if it was a predator as she rummaged in her bag for gloves and a vial.

"Thanks for having my back." She had reiterated Nanook's importance once more as she pulled on her gloves and dropped into a squat as she worked mechanically at the plant. With her mind set on her work, she seemed more like a scientist than the cold-blooded assassin that imagination conjured when thinking of a SAINT agent.

Ahmar
Crater Edge

Nanook continued to scan the area visually, watching for any potential threats to him self or the scientist absorbed in her botany. He glanced down to see the red ooze from the plant, "You think that would go well in some tea? Or maybe a sauce for scones? I heard that it was really good for wound care." Nanook was completely aware this was in fact not the case, but wanted to gauge how engrossed in the plants the Neko actually was. He waited for the response while trying not to giggle to himself.

Ahmar
Crater Edge

At his first words, her mouth twitched up while her fingers closed the lid of the vial. Then when he said it was good for wound care, she turned to him to better gauging him. She turned back to her work and her smile returned.

"Tea and scones for an enemy alone," she said as she dug at the soil around the plant she had taken a cutting of. She delicately tugged at the base of the plant where its stalk met the soil then inched the shovel lower until it was where the roots began and she made slight changes of her positioning so as to not break the plant. It quickly came up with her pulls and shoveling working in tandem. She smiled with relief and shook the dirt from the roots, dislodging dry clods of it as she did then tucked it into the envelope, sealing the impervious envelope and picked up the initial sample as she stood.

She held the vial to Nanook and looked at him through the container to ask, "Got any of those? Enemies?" A bit of the red poison had smeared against the tubing, obfuscating her view of him with crimson coloring.

Ahmar, Crater Edge

Trowa signaled to Emiko that he was moving over towards where the small black panel and the huge Kodian were. He could see some of the samples that the analyst was collecting but had no idea what they were or why they were interesting. They did seem to be a strange battle buddy pair, but that was one of the neat things about the Star Army, all different species of the Galaxy working together for a common purpose.

The Taii kept his eyes on the surrounding area as he moved. He was surprisingly silent as he moved through the brush. He cleared his throat as he approached so as not to startle the Santo Hei's. "See anything interesting?" He asked.

Bushes
Craters Edge
Ahmar

"Got any of those? Enemies?"

Click to expand...

Nanook took a moment to ponder the question, "My enemies are few, but mighty. Bad food, poor company, and things trying to kill me in new and creative ways are prominent among them." Nanook heard someone clearing their throat and turned to see the Taii approaching. "Well, the master gardener here was walking me through the finer points of preparing tea for distinguished guests, as well as observing the effect of solar radiation on the sap of these leaves. Besides that, nothing to note."

The Kodian turned and scanned the area again for threats, his pistol held at the ready should any problems decide to make themselves known.

Ahmar
Crater Edge

"We'll use this on the poor company then," Mineko had said to Nanook with a wide grin before she popped them in her pack. She listened to Nanook and her smile grew at his words.

"Anything we should be looking for specifically, Taii?" Mineko asked. "It's a long shot but I want to find a pretty rare plant if we can. It's probably deeper within the forest." She thought to herself how interesting it was that the poisonous plant was prolific while the healing one was purportedly elusive. It was so imbalanced how death was cruelly at the ready when compared to a life-giving remedy. Such was life in the wild on this planet as it was for those in the star army. How an ecosystem worked was for the true green panels, all she could do was liken the cruel nature of it to the battlefield. Finding the type of thing to save others could perhaps balance the scales.

She was jogging in place, ready to hear the Taii's response and get going deeper into the forests.

Ahmar - Crater Edge

Euikoshi, who was always dumping lore, said. "According to my research, the first Star Army records of a species here, called the Seelie, were in YE 28. This was two years into the Mishhuvurthyar War. After the YSS Destiny discovered the Seelie, they were in the process of joining the Yamatai Star Empire. This was in between the YSS Nozomi and the YSS Sakura's famous missions and right before Nepleslia broke away to try to save itself from the wrath of the Mishhuvurthyar, which the Star Army had temporarily driven back. Taisa Arild Bard was the captain of the YSS Destiny since YE 27, the very same ship where the Nepleslian revolution started. After that, Bard was assigned to the Valiant where, feeling responsible for the Nepleslians breaking away, supposedly suffered from depression and alcoholism. Six months later, in YE 29, the Mishhuvurthyar launched a massive offensive on the Bard Cluster, destroying the Taiie system and taking almost all of its other worlds. The Valiant destroyed multiple Mishhuvurthyar warships in orbit and Arild went to the surface to speak with the Seelie, probably in an attempt to convince them to evacuate. The Mishhuvurthyar attacked in huge numbers on the surface forcing Bard's crew to take shelter in caves with the Seelie locals. The Mishhuvurhtyar then bombed Ahmar from orbit, killing Bard and the Seelie."

"So this place is a battlefield where about 20 years ago, Star Army soldiers died trying to defend people. It must have been terrifying."

"Right," Euikoshi nodded. looked at Troka, Nanook, and Mineko. "What we're looking for is humanoids matching this description..." Euikoshi sent an old file on the Seelie to the others.

The Seelie are a physically intimidating race, slightly taller humans, standing at 6'5" on average, and being somewhat sturdier looking. They are bestial looking, with a slightly protruding jaw and mouth, in a slightly snout like look. Their ears are peaked, coming to a point, helping their impressive hearing, their features rugged, strong jaws with thick, slightly slanted eyebrows. Their mouths are slightly wider than a humans, and their teeth are carnivore based, with fangs that are 1/2 inched long when retracted, but can be extended to 1 inch. Their eyes are slitted, are much more advanced than human eyes, capable of seeing into the ultraviolet spectrum, and even infrared (although this makes their eyes apear red). They can also see great detail, almost twenty times greater than that of a human. Their sense of hearing is a good ten times more sensitive than humans, helped by their peaked ears. There sense of smell is truly remarkable, being fifty times greater than humans and able to sense only trace amounts of a substance in the air, or on an object. Their skin colour is a dark tan, and their hair, which is almost always shoulder length, can be of almost any colour, but tends to be brown or golden blond.

Their muscles, are not only generally larger than humans, but also many times denser than humans, resulting with their formidable strength. Their entire bodies are in fact much denser than humans, giving them great resilience, and their bones are not only many times denser than bone, and have a high carbon content, giving them extreme strength. Their muscles are especially large and concentrated in the legs, which allow for great speed, pouncing and jumps. A typical Seelie might be able to do a standing jump of a two story building. Despite this density, and weight that goes with it, the Seelie are very graceful, walking with the natural air of a predator or a large cat, spreading their weight carefully, and capable of complex gymnastics. Their nervous system is very sensitive, and rigged for extremely fast responses and movement. Often they move without thought, reflex arcs controlling their movement.

Their hands differ between the sexes. The men have three retractable claws on the back of their hands, that come out through the back of their hands between the knuckles. These claws grow with age, but reach a final length of four inches. The females have retractable claws in their fingers, extending to one inch. These claws are extremely sharp and hard, with the same density as their bone. Their feet are complicated. Although they usually walk in the same fashion as humans, to run they can change their feet position, to put their weight on the tips of their feet very effectively, increasing their speed considerably.

Internally their physiology is very different of a human. They have two hearts, larger lungs (allowing for a greater oxygen supply), a significantly more complicated nervous system. Their metabolism is very efficient, meaning that they only have to have a large meal every two months, a lingering effect of their predator nature, and they only have to drink every week. They also heal somewhat faster than human, around five times as fast, and their bodies dispose of lactic acid very efficiently, making stitches extremely hard to get. Their metabolism also fights of almost all disease, pathogens and poisons, only the most powerful of such will effect a Seelie.

Sexually, the Seelie are mature at 14 for a woman, and 16 for a man. An interesting quirk of the Seelie is that the women only produce an ova when they consciously signal it, meaning that their is no risk of being accidentally pregnant. But as a side effect only one ova is ever released, meaning that only single births ever occur. Their have been only a half a dozen double births in the whole history of the Seelie, each one memorable. They have a gestation period of four months, and suckle the child for a year. Seelie actually mature faster a human to begin with, reaching full physical maturity at 16. However after this age they age very slowly, the average life expectancy is 600 years.

Click to expand...

"....it was also said that a Seelie could move things with their mind or make things hotter or colder. Based on the file, their appearance similar to humans, and their extreme abilities, I'd say that it's highly likely that they were some sort of engineered super species. If that's true, there's a chance that some of them not caught in the blasts could have survived on the planet's surface. There was also a mention of a rival species on the planet, a catlike predator species that had a war with the Seelie, and it's possible the surviving Seelie are being hunted by them."

"So how do we find them in a reasonable timeframe?" Poppy asked.

"Well, remember how we found survivors on Hanako's World?" Euikoshi asked Poppy.

"We launched a lot of drones to look for life signs, right?" Poppy replied.

"Right. And this immediate area is of interest because our scans show possible life signs in the area. It's also near one of the destroyed cities and the cave systems where some of the natives may have hid from the attacks," Euikoshi explained.

"Whoa whoa," Poppy lifted up her hands in front of her chest, "Is this going to turn into another one of those dungeon crawl missions where we enter a cave of horrors? I still have nightmares about the Pit of Insanity on Samurr."

"Maybe? Can you guys look for the cave entrance?" Euikoshi asked the others of the away team.

Ahmar - Crater Edge

Mineko's jaw tightened as Eukoshi spoke. Though her gaze grew intense and steely, if anyone looked at her or made eye contact, it softened and she blinked to look away.

"I'm going to scan," the analyst said with her hand on her backpack to pull out equipment. She was grabbed the nodal capsule sphere and calibrated them with her pad. She bent down, then jumped in the air as she threw the metallic ball up. Rather than fall, it broke apart they began zooming off in a dozen directions.

"I'm going to scan lidar in the general area. With light detection systems we should be able to find any possible sinkholes of the visible spectrum–– basically where a cave system's entrance is. Life scans might come up nought due to their secretive nature as they're hiding or might give us just any random creature, of which there are tons here.

"Speaking of, has anybody seen one of these cats down here? Their presence could lend clues... And if they let the Bard group shelter with them can we assume the Seelies'll be hospitable to us making contact with them?" Mineko wanted to ask if there was anything in particular Euikoshi wanted to do when they did make contact, but she realized she had been talking and questions for a while and bit her tongue.

Ahmar - Cave Entrance

Using the LIDAR scans from the ship, Mineko was able to find what appeared to be the entrance to an old cave or bunker not too far from the cratered area in the forest.

"Score!" Euikoshi said. "Well, maybe...let's go see it for ourselves before we start celebrating." She began making her way through the forest towards the structure with Poppy's light pink hair sticking out like a sore thumb following behind her.

Kiyo observed the hole entrance, and made her way to it, gripping her Ather Katana, Silverlight hard as she did so. She did move around the trees but other than that she chose to ignore it.

"A lot of vegetation around here," Euikoshi observed as she scrambled over tufts of grass and the occasional thorn bush. "Maybe that's a sign that there is some sort of underground spring around here that could water the planets. If so, it's possible the caves have access to it which is why they would be a good place to inhabit."

Kiyo nodded, "Indeed, they don't seem to be a threat which is good" she observed to Euikoshi and any who might listen.

The entrance seemed to be surrounded by carved stone that was covered in a sort of reddish moss. It was definitely not natural; someone had built it.

Chiasa wasn't a botanist, but she supposed she was the next best thing—a pharmacist. Accordingly, she had set about taking samples and scanning any available plants in the landing area with her Type 43 Science Kit. However, the tiny Nekovalkyrja didn't let the task take too much time. Most of the plant species in this particular area had already been discovered. Given Ahmar's single ocean, she presumed that they were also quite adapted to life in arid, low-water environments.

Inevitably, the tiny pharmacist wondered if such conditions could give rise to any plant species with some special properties.

Before long, Chiasa moved after the rest of the group in the direction of the cave. There was yet so much to explore!

Nanook stalked along the flank of the scientists of the main party. Ensuring that he was spaced out far enough that they all couldn't be surprised at the same time. His side arm was in his hand, and he continuously scanned about himself to identify any threats that may present themselves.

Nanook actually did spot a possible threat. There was a Kuvexian drone sneaking around in the woods near the away team, some sort of hovering disc thing with glowing sensor strips on the front, not dissimilar to a Star Army FARS drone. Someone was watching them. When he noticed it, it noticed him, and hid.

Kiyo's eyes began catching sight of a drone, which caught her attention. She was about to speak when Nanook had.

"CONTACT! Two O'clock high, seventy five meters!" Nanook called out as he dove behind the nearest tree that might give his bulky form some sort of cover or concealment. He began to peak his head around the tree to attempt to keep track of the drone.

Trowa had been scanning the opposite direction of Nanook, but when he heard 'Contact!' called out he whipped his rifle up and sighted along it. The safely was off but his finger wasn't on the trigger just yet as he scanned for a target.

Poppy pulled out her NSP, "What?" she said, looking around, but she didn't see anything.

"drone! looks like" Kiyo replied and pointed it out to them with the point of her Katana.

"I'm not seeing it," Poppy said, visually scanning the woods.

"We should wait," Mineko hurried to say, even though nobody was trying to attack it anyway. Let's try scanning its EM emissions. We should see where it's emitting to."

"I think it's a sign whatever is in here is valuable," Euikoshi speculated out loud. She began trying to analyze the communications, Even though she was a general purpose scientist more than a communications specialist, she was good at working with science scanners and could get help from the ship's AI on how to use them. "I'll let you know in a moment," she said.

"Drone?" Chiasa questioned, before lowering herself into concealment behind a nearby bush, one which stood out from the others due to the bright yellow hue of its barbed leaves, which normally was an indication of poison. Nevertheless, the pharmacist took the opportunity to take a sample of the bush in question with one hand, while her other was on her NSP, ready to draw the weapon the drone reappeared!

"It was some sort of disc, hovering. Looked like it had sensor strips on the front. Everyone watch your sectors, don't get tunnel vision. It definitely saw us." Nanook, scanned around him visually once again.

After a tense couple of minutes Euikoshi said, "according to MEGAMI and my scanners, we think the drone is transmitting to someone inside the caves, and to a Kuvexian style shuttle hidden about 500 meters away from here."

"A Kuvexian...treasure hunter?" Poppy rubbed her chin.

Trowa thought about what Euikoshi information. They wern't exactly geared for a heavy fight against Kuvies. But then again, the war was over... For the most part. There were still the odd skirmishs with fracturing warlords and such. He did a quick records scan of who was present and sighed. Boy what I wouldn't give to have a Ranger with us right now. He thought to himself.

"Do we want them observing us?" Mineko asked, pulling on the straps of her backpack as she thought about what she could cobble together for some counter surveillance.

"An NSP stun shot would probably disable the drone if we can find it," Euikoshi advised Mineko.

"That certainly works," Mineko said but she wasn't making for her own NSP. Instead she patted a hand towards Nanook. "Gonna get a more precise read on where it went. You blast it when I unmasked it, alright?"

Chiasa blinked. She hadn't seen the bush before and the nodal capsule spheres weren't returning any matches. Had she located a new species? Unfortunately, the pharamacist could give the matter much more attention for the time being, especially if they were being watched by Kuvexians.

As if on cue, a switch flipped in Chiasa's digital mind—swapping her operating frequency from pharmacist to harmacist!

"I say we go in there and see who it is," Poppy suggested. "It's not like it's more risk than we can handle. Everyone here has a fresh backup in my medical lab, right?"

"I just arrived here." Trowa reminded the Chief medic. "But I like the old Nep ways and have a brain spider. If I go down, just make sure at least my head gets recovered." He chuckled, knowing his wife would not appreciate the joke. "Lets see if we can't find this drone and ship. Safeties off, but don't fire unless fired upon."

Kiyo blinked and wondered if a brain spider was a spider with a brain attached. The image shook her with a low gasp.

Nanook nodded his understanding to Mineko. He used the trunk of the tree to steady the Type 33/B Kodian, and waited for the drone to flush out. He double checked to make sure it was set to stun.

"Violence isn't guaranteed." Chiasa piped up. "Caution is warranted, but let's make sure our first reaction is to ask questions, before shooting." She finished. "Even though shooting is kind of fun..." The tiny Nekovalkyrja spoke inaudibly her breath. If anything, her warning was more a reminder to herself, to not be reckless.

Mineko looked from Chiasa to Euikoshi, who had recommended as much. Meanwhile the operative was remembering some of the rumors about Poppy she had gotten her hands on and was imagining the mad medic recreating Trowa from a head and nothing else.

"Uhhh," Mineko murmured, thoughts swimming as she looked at her scanner. "I'm getting a read that it disappeared between that boulder over there."

Kiyo moved forward towards the boulder carefully. A part of her wished that the Ninja she'd met was here, she could sneak much easier.

The drone darted out trying to make a run for it!

"There it goes!" Chiasa said, as she kicked her inertia controllers into overdrive, before flying up into the air in an attempt to snatch the drone out from the sky!

Having done as much as she could for tracking down the drone, Mineko turned back to the cave entrance and scanned anything that came to mind.

"I can't get a shot," Poppy said, looking down her pistol at Chiasa trying to tackle the drone, which wasn't going as bad as it could've.

Oh, she isn't going to like this. Nanook squeezed off three successive rounds from his very large pistol, he gritted his teeth knowing that at least one of them would probably hit Chiasa. But, he had a very good chance of hitting the drone too. She would get the feeling back soon, right? Maybe?

The drone shot out sparks and clunked into the forest ground along with unconscious Chiasa as Nanook's energy shots hit successfully. It took Chiasa a moment to come back to life and when she did every nerve felt like it was on fire.

"Cease Fire!" Trowa called out. He wasn't very pleased that it had taken friendly fire to bring the drone down. For a ship under the famed Captain Aoba, this was pretty sloppy work.

Kiyo charged towards the drone and specifically Chiasa. She hoped beyond hope that Chiasa was recoverable.

"P-poppy!" Mineko gasped as she turned around.

"It wasn't me!" Poppy. She still had her 48 pistol charges she came with.

"We need a medic!" Mineko clarified, jaw dropping as she explained.

"Oh!" Poppy nodded and booked it over to Chiasa. "Do you want a hypospray?" she asked the pharmacist, pulling over her medical bag and looking for something that could calm the nerves and sooth the pain of getting fried by electrogravity.

"Uh, I need to go and make sure the flank over there is secure!" Nanook hustled off, away from the drone and the rapidly recovering pharmacy specialist. He was hoping to find a large rock he could hide behind, or perhaps a hole.

Chiasa came to a few moments later, an unintelligible sludge of words escaping from her lips as she did, babbling something about plants, yellow bushes with barbed leaves, Love Day, and sexy Counselors, before the shooting pains in her nerves suddenly dawned on her. It was at that point she let out an earsplittingly high-pitched scream, before suddenly slumping back into unconsciousness!

"B-battle buddy?!?" Mineko said, jaw closing as it clenched under her steely red pupils that were watching Nanook run far away from his mistake.

"Santo Hei Wojtek! Front and center!" Trowa ordered the retreating form of Nanook. He need to get some order into this group or his first day on the Res might be his last... Ever!

Poppy gave Chiasa a dose of something mildly helpful and then lifted her temporarily fallen crewmate with Euikoshi's help. Together they carried her between them so she didn't have to walk on her own.

There were two things going through Nanooks mind as he heard Trowa calling for him. Which would be worse, going AWOL, or risking the wrath of Chiasa. It took him nearly fifteen full seconds of introspection to come to a decision on the matter. With a final cursory glance to scan the area, he turned back and carefully, and slowly, made his way back to Trowa. One could never be too careful, anywhere on the forest floor could have booby traps. Best to move slow...

Kiyo found Chiasa to be in good hands so she turned her attention to the environment around to make sure there were no threats.

"Can we try to take it easy on Chiasa? She's going to start avoiding away missions if she keeps getting hurt on them," Poppy complained, only to realize she sounded a little like Cassie the complainer cat.

Trowa waited with dwindling patience as Nanook slowly made his way over to him. The Taii kept his eyes on their surroundings but also an eye on the big Kodian. The infantry's body language told him a lot. A mistake had been made and their was real regret. However, when one made a mistake, one didn't run away. One faced it like a soldier, learned from it, them moved on.

When Nanook finally reached him, Trowa simply asked, "What happened?"

"Yeah take it easy on the Happy d-" Chiasa slurred, her mind slowly, but surely returning to clarity. "Wait, we're not talking about Happy dust, are we?" She questioned, as she shook her head. The tiny Nekovalkyrja couldn't stand, since her digital mind had automatically shut off many of her nervous receptors, but that didn't rule out floating!

Mineko raised her hand, "Would it make Chiasa feel better to have me as a battle buddy? I'm currently looking for a new one." Someone that took whatever 'happy dust' was better than one that engaged in friendly fire.

"The cave guys, the cave," Euikoshi reminded the others.

Nanook trotted up to Trowa slowly, "Perimeter looks secure, I was unable to identify any potential traps or obstacles." He stood by, continuously scanning the forest about them.

"That's not what I'm talking about. And I think you know it." Trowa responded, a growing edge to his voice. He wasn't in the mood for games. "What happened to your teammate?"

"Well sir, the objective was to secure the drone. I took up a supported firing position, acquired my target, and fired. Unfortunately, it seems that another member of the team was caught in the lane. It was a calculated risk sir. I just thought I was better at math."

Trowa listened to Nanook and was glad the Kodian was finally on subject. He let a brief silence hang after he had finished speaking before asking. "What might you have done differently so that this might have been avoided?"

"I don't suppose calling for Naval Gunfire Support is the answer you happen to be looking for?"

Trowa's eyebrow arched slightly and he snorted. "Even though my favorite place to be is on the bridge of a starship, that is not the correct answer. Try again."

"I probably should have brought the Type 33 Automatic Grenade Launcher, but I got it mixed up with the Type 33 NSP. Grenades would have a far slower velocity, much easier to dodge."

Trowa sighed and shook his head. "Obviously we're going to have to have you do a brush up on your basic training. I'll be coming up a training scheme for you when we return to the ship. Now go watch Nito Hei Ohara while she recovers from her stun attack."

To Euikoshi, Mineko nodded "I was going to go in. Let's let the big guys settle things while we go in," referring to Nanook's mass and Trowa's rank.

"I am glad I don't have to write the mission report to Aoba," Poppy told Euikoshi. "The man has a lot of patience but none of it is reserved for...whatever this is."

Kiyo nodded and turned her attention back to the caves.

"Kiyo, you want to take point?" Euikoshi asked.

"Hai!" Kiyo said and proceeded forward to take point with Mineko trailing behind her.

The haze of the last few moments slowly came back to Chiasa, who was now floating, albeit somewhat unsteadily.

"Wait, did I get the drone?!" Chiasa piped up suddenly, before glancing around the area until her eyes caught sight of the drone, which was now a sparkling mess on the ground. Upon seeing it, Chiasa blinked as her digital mind tried to deduce what had happened, to little avail. Regardless, the drone was now grounded. The pharmacist supposed that what she had attempted was a little reckless, but she had succeeded...right?

"The drone.." Chiasa murmured as she slowly floated towards the sparkling chassis, but keeping her distance from it in the process, wary of possible explosives. She had gotten her impulsivity out of her for the mission, or so it seemed.

"Should I analyze the drone or should we go straight into the cave?" Euikoshi asked Trowa.

Trowa glanced over at Euikoshi. "How long will it take you to analyze the drone?" Trowa wasn't a tech specialist, so really had no idea of how long it might take.

"I think to do it right I should take it back to the lab," Euikoshi replied.

"Then we'll move on to the cave now and see what else we can learn." Trowa said. He glanced around at the group. "Move into the cave. Carefully."

Kiyo entered the cave silently as she focused her hearing.

Cave Interior

The foyer of the cave was a narrow passage that had two small rooms on either side of it, which were mostly empty save for what appeared to be old environmental suits. The inner outer exit of the cave seemed to have a sort of airlock system set up but both doors had been torn open recently, perhaps by the whoever the drone had been working for. Behind that was a gradual ramp leading into a deeper, larger space. The walls of the foyer area were made of carved stone but the ramp had rock walls that were reinforced with stone beams every so often. There were electric lights installed along one wall but they were not currently powered on. The ramp downward was pitch black.

Kiyo glanced to the environmental suits before she turned her attention to the severly damaged airlock doors. She thought about how someone large and with a bad anger management issues had done the damage as she made her approach, and noted the ramp.

Poppy and Euikoshi helped guide Chiasa to the cave entrance and into the foyer area. After being spied on by the drone, it felt nice to be out of the open and surrounded by walls. "How are you doing?" Poppy asked her pharmacist.

Nanook padded softly behind the pair, and the floating Chiasa. "Hey battle buddy, you need a piggy back ride?" He asked Chiasa quietly.

"A small headache and a little dizzy, but I'm okay. Thanks for checking on me, Poppy. And you too, Euikoshi." Chiasa answered. It was a positive development that her words were actually intelligible, but her nerves were still largely fried.

"A piggy back ride? That would be wonderful, actually!" Chiasa added, in response to Nannok

Nanook took a knee and pointed to the back of his neck, "All aboard."

"Alright boy, forward!" Chiasa piped up, after sliding onto the back of Nanook's neck and playfully slapping the Kodian's massive shoulders.

"As you wish, mistress" Nanook murmured as he continued to follow Poppy and Euikoshi into the cave complex.

Trowa entered the cave, his rifle up and at the ready. He again wished there was a Ranger with them. Sanda would have been particully useful right now. Trowa had been disappointed that she hadn't actually been on the Res when he joined. But there really wasn't any time to think about it right now though. He moved towards the front where Kiyo had taken point and asked, "What do you see?"

"Looks like a ramp going down" Kiyo said in reply to Trowa, and she couldn't help but wish her sister was back too.

"Did the Seelies need different atmospheric pressures? Or breathe something other than oxygen?" Mineko asked Euikoshi as she pulled her backpack off of her shoulders to get on an AMES. The broken airlock doors and shed enviro suits spoke volumes to her. "I don't recall as much. If not, maybe we should suit up."

"Should we just announce ourselves, it's not like they don't know we are coming?"

Trowa heard the suggestion about just announcing theirselves and on one hand he agreed. They didn't want to be seen as just barging in. This was most likely someone's home after all.

= = =

OOC: JP by Wes, Ame, Charaa, Cowboy, Immortal Cyan, Dana,

Cave Interior

Thaddeaus walked up to the group like he had been there the entire time. Which was partly true, though had lagged behind the party and missed all the fun. Granted the one who got shot he doubt was having much fun. Thad looked towards Nanook offering to give Chiasa a piggy back ride. He was now curious if this had been part of a bigger plan to take the winning shot and get closer with his battle buddy. Was a cleaver move that even Thad might had done if he was in a similar situation.

Thad was not about to be outdone by Nanook and how to be a good battle buddy. He walked over towards Mineko. "If you want, feel free to hop on my shoulders. The high ground always comes with advantage." He said with a smirk followed by a smile. "Just say the word and I am happy to shout we are here. Be something like, honey, I'm home" Which he thought he had said with a low enough voice. However the echo down the cave proved otherwise.

Cave Interior

"Euikoshi-sensei," Mineko said as she took the ramp down into the cave. A floating flashlight bobbed next to her. "Did the Resurgence and your scans pinpoint a location within the cave? Or at least a depth?"

She had been doing her best to not think about Nanook or the jubilant ride he was giving the girl he had just shot. Thad bringing them back up made it harder to ignore. Battle buddies who had been previously demoted or were currently infringing on military articles of justice made for rough company. Part of her hoped her lack of consideration to Thad's invitation would be enough, but another part of her felt pained; he hadn't done anything wrong. But Nanook's mistake had put the analyst on edge and she didn't want to give lightening the mood precedence over the task at hand.

Best case scenario, they would be rescuing someone that really needed it. Worst case, they were going to be attacked for trying. Between those, there was no room for another fuck up.

"Kiyo-heisho, I'm on your tail." she said as her eyes swept the cave, including the Neko's fluffy wolfish one in front of her.

YSS Resurgence - Bridge

Captain Aoba intermittently monitored the situation on the ground. When Nanook shot Chiasa, it seemed like an unnecessary risk and suffering for the Pharmacist. "Nanook," he called over the radio, "I'd like you to go to the shuttle and stay there and sit out the rest of the mission. We'll talk when you get back to the ship."

Nanook replied with a simple, "Yes, sir," and returned to wait it out. It wasn't like fitting in the caves was going to work out well for him, he figured.

(OOC: Dana has decided to step out of the Resurgence plot so this is me moving his character out of the scene).

YE 45.1.4 - later in the day

Kiyo silently observed the cave around her listening for any trouble or threat.

If there was someone in the cave, they were either not close yet or possibly trying to hide. The cave descended through a small twisty section but then opened up into a space with ancient ruins made but the planet's original natives, which contained elaborate murals and three long straight passageways into sections with rooms on either side. It looked like it had been used once as an underground shelter, as there were discarded ration packs and cafeteria tables in the central area. The construction in some parts looked fairly advanced, indicating a civilization with spacefaring technology.

Following Kiyo, Euikoshi and Poppy went down into the old cafeteria room and looked around with flashlights. "These rations were eaten fairly recently," Euikoshi said, looking at one.

"Is this a Kuvexian candy wrapper?" Poppy said, finding something that didn't match the rest of the trash. It had a Kuvexian corporate logo on it.

"I guess there's only one way to find out." Chiasa answered her colleague, before taking the wrapper and licking its interior, in an attempt to uncover its nature via taste!

Kiyo focused on the murals and artwork created by the world's original natives. She wished she had a camera with her as she knew that Luna liked collecting pictures of those kinds of things. She turned her head to Euikoshi and then Poppy as both spoke. She turned sharply to Chiasa as she licked the interier of the candy. "how's it taste?' she couldnt help but ask her though she tthought chicking something foreign was foolish.

Trowa kept his rifle up and scanned the area. The architecture was very interesting but for the moment they couldn't focus too much on that. Not until they had made sure that the area was secure.

"Chi-!" Mineko said, eyebrows shooting up into her brows as the pharmacist took a long lick off of the strange packaging. But she pivoted and said, "Chiasa, what's the front say? I'll look up the candy company and see if there's anything on them."

Chiasa batted her lashes in surprises, but otherwise heeded the Analyst's words. Turning the wrapper over, the tiny Nekovalkyrja narrowed her eyes in focus, intent upon reading what the front label said. While her Nekovalkyrja constitution was quite resilient, she could only hope that she hadn't consumed anything so nasty that it might give her trouble!

Its flavor was best described as bitter orange chicken mixed with stale, sugary cheese.

"It tastes like bitter orange chicken mixed with expired cheese, Mineko-Hei." Chiasa said. The flavor was going to linger on her taste buds for some time, no doubt. "The front says Quallox Vaibal. I didn't know they made candy." She added with a slight frown.

Thad watched as one of the crew ate something off the ground. He was a little shocked by this but they didn't drop dead so must not have been all bad. "Yeah, I'd not be eating things off the ground. I get you have powers but that is just nasty." He said with a smile. He paused for a moment before he continued. "So, see if there is any other clues around here." He said looking around for more goodies.

"Help me, that sounds disgusting," Mineko said, making a revolted face as she into SYNC to look up Quallox Vaibal. "Looks like it was the largest Kuvexian warfare manufacturer that Yamatai knew of, instrumental in the Kuvexian War. Now it's still huge, probably outfitting private security, still."

"I guess they must have expanded into new industries now that the war is over." Chiasa added.

Kiyo blinked her eyes"agreed, that does sound disgusting" she commented as she tried to get the thought of the taste out of her mind.

Trowa spotted a reflection from the eye of a drone in at the end of one of the passageways.

Thad was able to find a dead body of a tall Seelie, the first anyone from Yamatai had seen of one in over 20 years. It looked like he had died not too long ago. The body was located in a sleeping room off the side of one of the long passageways.

"Contact!" Trowa called out pointing with his rifle towards the glowing eye of a drone. His finger was just hovering over the trigger in case it attacked. Slowly, Trowa moved closer to the thing to get a better look at it to see if it was a friendly.

Kiyo lifted her aether Katana ready to deflect any bullets/blasts back.

Thad started to look around the room and the body for clues. He could tell the body had not been dead for long given the state of it. He was curious to learn how he died and hoped it wasn't by some virus that now all had.

"Poppy, how did this Seelie die?" Mineko asked after peeking in the sleeping room and back out to let the influx of her crewmen go in.

Poppy inspected the corpse. "It looks like an energy pistol killed him within the last week. What a horrible thing to survive all this time only to be killed by a...looter? Treasure hunter?"

Euikoshi scanned the body. "I'm getting aetheric weapons signatures. There's only one people I know who use handheld aether weapons besides Yamatai. Kuvexians."

Trowa saw the drone duck out of view behind a large box near the end of the passageway.

Chiasa slung her Science Kit over her back to exchange it for her NSP. Aetheric weapon signatures were never good, especially since no one was in power armor.

The Taii caught Kiyo's eye and made some hand motions, telling her to move towards where the drone had hidden itself and that he would cover her.

Kiyo started moving forward towards the drone, before she got distracted by the voice.

Suddenly the team heard a voice coming from one of the old rooms. A passage in the side of one of the "dorm" rooms led down to a large chamber with computers in it. The voice was coming from a chrome gold robot with glowing eyes. "Hello there! Is someone there?" it said.

Chiasa's furred ears twitched as they registered the voice, at which point the tiny Nekovalkyrja directed her gaze towards the large chamber. However, before doing anything else, Chiasa took a quick assessment of her surroundings to search for traps or sensor triggers.

Chiasa's search for traps was a great idea, it turned out, because she found that the entire complex seemed to be rigged with explosives that were carefully hidden.

Chiasa's ears twitched in disbelief, but she didn't hold off on speaking for a moment longer. "Nobody move!" The tiny Nekovalkyrja called out. "If you can float, do it." She continued. "The entire area is rigged with traps." She finished, before quickly pointing them out to the away team and designating their locations via her digital mind.

"We should have brought Pidole," Poppy said, remembering how Pidole had disarmed dozens of explosive traps on the previous mission to the machine moon of Samurr.

"I've defused explosives and bombs before," Mineko chirped. "We should figure out which need defusing and create a path where we need to go." In her mind she was wondering how necessary traversing deeper into the sleeping area would be. It seemed as if these poor creatures were killed in their sleep as part of a larger eneterprise, possibly deeper in the caves.

"Wait, maybe we can talk out of this." Chiasa said softly, before raising her voice once more.

"Yes, there's a small group here!" Chiasa began. "We are armed, but we do not have any hostile intent. We're here only as explorers." She continued. "Are you safe? Do you need any assistance?"

Trowa froze when Chiasa yelled out to do so. He glanced around him, very anoyed that he had missed it. He began to scan the area around him with his cybernetic eye hidden under his eye patch to see if there were any explosives near where he stood.

"Ah, hello, I was exploring as well when my group was attacked by a rival group, which kidnapped the native survivors and killed any who tried to resist," the golden robot explained. "I have been marooned on this awful planet ever since then. I believe they intend to sell them."

Trowa spoke up. "Identify yourself. What group were you a part of and who was this rival group? Also are these your explosives set up?"

Kiyo frowned as she learned about what happened to the gold robots friends.

Thad was both happy to have found something alive but also sad it was a trap.

"My designation is Mitalar, I am a sapient artificial life form from the Glimmergold system," the robot replied. "I was built by Quallox Vaibal and ended up in this part of the galaxy during the great expasion attempt by King Kalapom a couple of years ago."

"We should find out where they took the Seelies," Mineko murmured to those around her.

"Agreed," Trowa nodded to Mineko, "but first we need to safely defuse these explosives."

"Which ones should I get started on, Taii?" Mineko asked with a clipped tone. Though this was only her second mission on the Resurgence, it felt a lot different than the first, which had been very cut and dry. Amidst the chaos and danger, it felt like a relief to have a commanding officer actively engaging in the chain of command. Her tone had mirrored his as best she could as her mind got to work analyzing what kind of explosives were set and what tools she would need, on top of what she would need to do.

"My speciallty is flying ships. If you have experience in defusing explosives then I defer to your knowedge." Trowa replied. He wasn't afraid to ask others for assistance when something was beyond his skill.

The AMES-clad analyst nodded and set to work on the one nearest her in the long passageway that led further down into the abyss. There was a bit of careful work in rendering the connection between the explosive, nestled discreetly in its hiding spot, from the trigger wires.

"Do you know where the group that attacked you is located, Mitalar?" Chiasa asked. "We might be able to offer assistance, if you can help us defuse the explosives." She offered.

"Oh, are you interesting in making some deals?" the Kuvexian robot asked. "We Glimmergold robots are experts at exchange," Mitalar said with pride. "You want me to disable these explosives. I can do that! And in exchange, I'd like your legendary Star Army engineers to repair my shuttle."

Chiasa's ears twitched. This wasn't going to be as easy as offering rations, that much she could already tell.

"We accept." Chiasa said, without a second thought. She knew that the officers and engineers might look on her badly for it, but the alternative option of negotiating a minefield of explosives wasn't great.

"It's done." A pleasant chime sound came from every explosive pack along with a reassuring green light appearing on each one of them. Mitalar walked out into the now much safer passageway to reveal itself. A very shiny robot indeed.

Kiyo began wondering what a robot would want in exchange as part of the deal, though she did note its Kuvexian personality programming was really there. Fixing a shuttle she noted didn't seem to be that bad.

Although Trowa would have prefered Chiasa checking with him first before agreeing to the robot's deal, but he wasn't sure how much leadway Captain Aoba gave his crew in such matters. Anyway he couldn't argue with the results. "Nice negotiating Ohara." he said.

"Easiest defusion of my career," Mineko said, wishing she could wipe the beading sweat that had formed on her brow through her AMES suit.

"And you wanted to know where the other group took the Seelie?" Mitalar asked.

//Tell the engineers I said sorry and I'll offer them any help if they need it.// Chiasa sent via telepathic transmission to the away team.

"Yes!" Chiasa answered Mitalar, almost simultaneously with delivering her telepathic transmission. "Any information you have on them would be very helpful." She finished.

"I'll see what I can do about that once my shuttle is running again," Mitalar told Chiasa. "Those muck slurpers owe me compensation...and I always collect. If you want to help me stop their operation, then we're in agreement. Consider me your new partner."

Mineko spoke to Trowa in a stage whisper for the robot to hear, "I could triangulare the path the other group took. We don't really need to partner up with-"

"You don't even know who they are," Mitalar scoffed. "I know their names, their hangouts..."

Trowa looked at Mineko. It was a look that said he agreeded with her, but that for the time being it looked like they were stuck with the crazy robot. "How about you tells us a little bit about them while we take some recordings of the Seelie habitat?"

Chiasa frowned and glanced up towards Trowa and then towards Mineko, a regretful expression manifesting across her pinkish-tan features. The tiny Nekovalkyrja felt like she had messed up the negotiation and now, Trowa was correcting her mistakes.

"How about you call your boss? Why should I deal with Yamataian footsoldiers who just follow orders," Mitalar complained. "I know you aren't the decision makers," it said. "You're clearly just the muscle."

Trowa scowled at the robot and said, "Right now, I am the boss." Trowa didn't yell, but his tone carried the weight and authority of someone who had spend the better part of their life in the service. "We don't need your help, we could find the Seelie survivors on our own. Your help would just make it faster. Don't exaturate your own importance."

"A wise man says, cash is always more honest than governments," Mitalar said.

Mineko looked to Trowa and send a digital line of sight transmission to the Nepleslian: "Taii, Its story doesn't add up; it's lying to us. I'd be willing to assume our engineers could get coordinates to the hangouts they mentioned off the shuttle. Regardless, we can't trust them to tell the truth as it hasn't so far."

The analyst had thought back to the way the robot had said it was exploring. That statement had previously been contradicted by the fact it was sent along with the conquering effort on the part of the Kuvexians. In addition to its control and manipulation of the explosives, which were not often used by explorers in an already established cave system.

Mineko was sure that the Resurgence team could get coordinates from the shutle, too. As the robot had said: they were legendary.

Kiyo blinked as the Kuvexian robot gave some Kuvexian proverbs.

"Agreed" Trowa send back to Mineko. To Captain Aoba he send an update as to what they had found. Along with a request to send another force to check out the shuttle that they had picked up on scanners earlier.

"If you promised a shuttle repair I will honor that," Aoba told Trowa. "Star Army keeps its honorable word." He dispatched Pidole to fix the shuttle they had noticed on the way in. Meanwhile the Resurgence began long range scans for any ships on a course away from Ahmar towards Kuvexian space. "I think it's best if the away team returns to the ship," the captain added, "Do you agree?"

Trowa sighed inwardly. Of course they would honor their word and repair the ship. But not necessarily more than that. "Aye aye Sir. We'll return to the ship. I'd like to leave an escort for our Red panel while they fix the robot's ship. I don't trust the thing Sir."

"Of course," Aoba replied.

= = =

OOC: JP by Wes, Charaa, Cowboy, Immortal Cyan, Ame

Inside Cave

Trowa spoke to the robot. "A technician is in route to take a look at your ship. They will do what they can to repair it, as promised." Trowa didn't say anything else about further services. To the rest of the away team he said, "Captain has recalled us back to the ship. Collect your gear and head back to the shuttle for extraction."

As they headed back to the shuttle, Trowa said out loud to Mineko. "Santo Hei, I'd like you to remain here and escort our tech while they repair the robot's shuttle." He also sent the following message to Mineko. "I agree with you. The robot's story isn't adding up. See what you can glean from his ship. Maybe get a download of his flight record under the pretense of 'assisting' in the repair."

"Excellent," Mitalar replied. "I will be in touch!" The golden robot headed to its (her?) shuttle through the forest.

Poppy and Euikoshi gathered their things and went back to Beryl's shuttle, NG-S1-575-2, Barrels of Fun.

Cave Interior -> Barrels of Fun

By the time Chiasa returned to Beryl’s shuttle, most of the feeling had returned to her legs. It went without saying that the away mission hadn’t exactly gone to plan, but if anything, the short-statured Pharmacy Specialist was glad to be alive and for the fact that the team seemed to have resolved everything with minimal violence…

Even if it meant selling out the engineering department.

A frown crossed her features at the thought, but for the moment, Chiasa wanted to commit her focus to something else—the samples she had extracted from the strange, yellowish bush she had taken cover behind while hiding from the drone. In her mind, the bright hue of the leaves could indicate one of two things—a mark of poison or a distinguishing characteristic for pollinating insects. Either way, the fact that the scanners on her interface pad had failed to return a known species warranted further analysis.

For now, Chiasa could only guess at what she might uncover once she got to the lab!

Ahmar - Forest

"Understood, sir," Mineko said, keeping it short. She followed the chromatic bot which was hard to lose track of in the jungles. She opened her science pad while keeping her wits about her. Everyone had expected wild behemoth cats to jump them and it was still as much of a possibility, even with Kuvexian kidnappers in the midst of things.

"I'm going to get positioning of your shuttle so that our legendary engineers know where to touch down, okay?" Mineko asked Mitalar, but it was less about asking for permission and more about opening up a dialogue with the hustler. "Where will you go once you're free of this planet?"