RP [S.E.A.R.C.H. Initiative] Ch.1: Hanya Secrets

"Seems you're used to noisy visitors. Doesn't feel far from home personally." Seidreainne said off-handedly to one of the giants watching them. Truthfully, she found it hard not to sympathize with them being from a society that even after its great expansion was still seen as backwater and primitive in spite of its technological and sociological advances. Was that really a bad thing though? They hadn't chosen the path of grand star-spanning empires and profit driven ravenous hunger. If that made them backwaters, so be it.

She turned to the Nepleslian but nodded at the giant before she followed her. It was hard not to think about the fact that they were probably in the sights of whatever sinister force these indigenous folk had mentioned. The giants didn't like them but they weren't threatening them either. This likely wasn't the first time they'd seen outsiders here.

"Someone should ask them what this darkness is; methinks folk myth turned maneater. Feral, intelligent, and waiting for the cover of night or for us to move over into the tougher terrain where we're less mobile - that's what the swoopers did back in my homeworld, hill sliders and drop snatchers as well."

Her homeworld was long that technology and militancy had long since tamed yet the deep valleys and craggy mountaintops still were the domain of the savage and untamed. As an exterminator, she'd learned the ways of steppe, cliff, and predator well. As she moved towards the supplies, her various eyes scanned the highest areas of terrain. It was difficult to see clearly even with the magnification granted by her armour but she couldn't help but feel that they were being watched.

As she approached the pile of supplies however, she began to quickly rummage with little care to the mess she was made. Boxes tumbled, crates clattered, and even a few spare weapons tumbled here and there.

"Observation equipment, multi-spectrum, and anything that can track motion or even scent. Once we get moving, whatever's out there is going to notice. We play it dumb; see them but don't acknowledge them. Best way to get a drop on an animal that knows you're coming."

La Hanya
The next morning...

The team had a quiet evening, nothing big had happened and shifts had turned in between the two Chief Security Officers. Igia gets out of her made-shift tent and yawns and placed her hands at her side. She took a deep breath and had some spirit to get going for this temple that was now so close and in their reach. She did make a mental note of it that the villagers were still not pleased to have them around, making an awkward smile and wave to them as she turned towards the equipment and walks towards it. The others had worked quite some effort into getting this ready...she blinked however and leans forward to it opening a cracked open box. The box contained communication equipment and it was broken or partly gone. She shrugs and leans forward onto the box as she took a deep breath and then looked at her side seeing in the mud some prints, of hands and feet it seemed going away from the location "Well...damn" As her eyes stopped at the car that had a flat tire.

"Could someone explain to me how our equipment is being wrecked and our car is no longer operational?" Igia slaps the side of her leg and shrugs again "For crying out loud...okay this is not going to withhold me from getting to that temple" She said to herself and walked towards the car and hums a bit in agony of being annoyed. She wanted to blame someone, but the act was already done and the damage is there.

"We warned you that they shall resist and that your presence is not welcome here at Hanya. GO home ..." A villager spoke in spite of what has been concluded by Iga.

Wanted to now scream out fo frustration as Igia simply looked annoyed at the villager "We are going to that temple, EVERYONE GET READY TO LEAVE" she said with a bold fist and walking back to her tent to get it packed. After a short, while she had her stuff packed and into her bag and placed it onto her back "We will walk, I am not going to let this dream be folded that easy..."

In'anna awoke to the warm rays of Core, Nepleslia's star tickling along her short coat of fur. The fox had been awake for a decent portion of the night scampering here or there, the flash of cameras and almost inaudible tapping of a tablet as she worked. It was her first dig after all and she desired to document these early findings. Though as she worked, the old woman's words kept coming to mind. Even as she turned in for the night, having built herself a little hammock she hung from a tree. Daur like herself usually liked to sleep in high places. And she was no exception.

By the time she'd hoisted her pack up and hung it from another nearby branch, she had yawned whilst pawing at her eyes before restful sleep took her.

And now here she was, the first day of the dig, the Core's rays kissing her fur with blessed warmth. Having curled herself into a ball in her hammock, In'anna unfurled, yawned, and peered below at the Iromakuanhe female vowing to make it to one of these people's holiest of temples.

Now more or less awake, In'anna climbed down from her bed, untying the hammock and lowering her bag from its branch to the soft earth. Touching down on the ground, the small archeologist gathered her things before making her way to fellow teammate's vehicle. The rays coming off Core made her squint more and more, her sensitive eyes began to water before she put her goggles on. The little fox gasped as she surveyed the damage once her eyes had stopped smarting.

Had the villagers done this? Or was it the spirits, the dead come to curse their journey to one of their holy sites? With a shudder, she realized that it was more from the thought of such a thing than the morning chill. Still, though, she shared the Iromakuanhe team leader's desire to continue despite this setback.

"What a wonderful start. I sure love having my long, gangly, specifically evolved legs for strenuous sustained physical activity. What about you folk?" Seidreainne turned to one of the villagers, the same one that spoke. "Do you like these long morning hikes as well? Lovely stuff. I love them. My team does too, yes."

She had to admit, she was a bit irked but a part of her grinned. Truth be told, she'd been in a similar situation before but her actions had been far more severe against extraterrestrial visitors. It was the sort of thing you usually ended up being put to trial in front of unmarked ditch for, that was if the natives were the sort to uphold their laws with 100% rational detachment. Such a thing was in short supply among the tribes seeing their land slowly taken from them.

What wasn't was Seidreainne's energy. Her annoyance faded fast but the idea of exploring on foot this strange new land awakened that wandering hunger in her head, the sort that activated whenever she saw a mist-swept trail or a sprawling old forest.

With her bags packed, the digitigrade tracker tapped Igia on the shoulder.

"I'll take the point-woman position, scouting up ahead if need be. You just worry about keeping everyone in line."

Gunny rubbed at the bridge of her nose in frustration. The discovery of the wrecked equipment urged her to point fingers, to claim that someone, anyone, else was to blame for the incident. She knew it wouldn't be productive to do that. She also knew that if she said anything that the words would come spilling out. She was getting along so well with the Tsumi co-chief, too.

The last thing their budding working relationship needed was for her to point out how much he'd screwed up.

She poked and prodded at the mess of parts a few times, then leaned down to inspect the tracks.

"Feet and hands?" she muttered around the metallic thumb tip she was biting. The prints were humanoid enough, but this suggested something very primitive. So how did they get past the perimeter checks? And whoever had been on post when this happened?

Gunny stood and looked at the others. Had one of them been involved? Unlikely. Given their group's unusual makeup, she was fairly certain that none of them would even remotely match the prints.

She walked to Igia, who was getting everyone rallied. "Beyond the obvious, I'm not sure how our things got so wrecked. Seidreainne had motion sensors setup and a watch rotation was established." Gunny kneeled down a bit and lowered her voice. "I'm not suggesting that we should back off, but we should be careful. The natives are more dangerous than they seem."

AntediluvianIntransigence said:

"I'll take the point-woman position, scouting up ahead if need be. You just worry about keeping everyone in line."

Click to expand...

Nodding towards Seidreainne and waved to her to start the walk ahead as she looked at In'anna and gave her a soft smile when she walked pass Igia to show that nothing to worry about. The rest of the team was caught up as Igia looked at the villagers that stood there watching them leave and not saying a word. She nods softly and turned around as Genevieve joined her. Igia let her big and strong Tsumi walk in front of her as she corrected her backpack a bit while walking into the direction of the temple.

Whisper said:

"Beyond the obvious, I'm not sure how our things got so wrecked. Seidreainne had motion sensors setup and a watch rotation was established."

Click to expand...

It was something that even triggers Igia when she saw the wrecked equipment and yet the sensor logs didn't show any detection. With what were they just dealing with here and was it the same encounter that the previous teams had to deal with. Igia narrowed a bit her eyes, yet her facial expression stayed normal as if it was not getting to her. The safety of her teammates was upfront and she had to trust her security chiefs of taking the lead in this. Yet it did make Igia blink and she looked at Gunny.

Whisper said:

"I'm not suggesting that we should back off, but we should be careful. The natives are more dangerous than they seem."

Click to expand...

"I know, the natives are not those in the village, we are dealing with something else and we got to find out what it is" Igia looked back up front seeing the muddy path and was actually glad about the correct shoes she was wearing. After a while, the team came to a halt as Igia moved up front and saw Seidreainne standing there and moved to her side knowing now why she stopped. In front of them was a trail of body parts and looking at the uniform they were Neplesia "The research team... We continue" She said a bit cold and walked on as the arrival at the temple made it pretty clear that the research team didn't make it. There was a camp set up but wrecked...trails of blood being dragged away, but no bodies. yet the temple looked great and in its glory even for a ruin "Move out! Find out what happened here and what they found"

"Anyone here got experience hunting or tracking? Zoology even? Because I'm going to be real displeasd if someone accidentally walks over paw prints and trampled flora."

Seidreainne sighed and whipped her rifle around, thumbing a few buttons before looking all around them. She doubted they were going to be ambushed here but it was clear they were entering a domain hostile to civilization. They were as much as prey as the scattered, bloodied limbs before them. She turned towards her fellow security team.

"Think you can help a fellow dainty city lady Genevieve? Horus you... go be big and menacing. Big predators usually keep away if they see an equally big motherfucker on the premise."

At least, she hoped he was big enough to be a very well armed scarecrow.

Immediately, she went low and slowly crouch-walked over the bodily remains, eyes scanning every inch of the ground not just for blood and bits but also any signs of hair, scrapes, footsteps, and anything else she could use to recreate the crime scene.

In particular, she was looking at the direction of the dragging as well as for footprints of the beasts that must have done so.

"Anyone got any scanners on them? Ambient energy sources; might've been weapons discharge here. I'm trying to find where these neps were approaching from; let me know if you see any footprints."

In'anna, alert after seeing the wrecked equipment seemed in her little world as they walked. How could she not have heard anything in the night while awake? Her eyebrows drew down as she reminded herself: she was a heavy sleeper, thankfully not of the snoring category but heavy none the less. The troubled fox almost bumped into one of her teammates' backs as they came to a grinding halt. Standing behind them, she was not privy to the carnage in front of the group at first.

But, even though she was humanoid, the xenoarcheologist had a keen sense of smell and hearing. Her nose tickled, then grimaced as a sickly sweet smell of clotted blood and the fetid stench of rotting meat assaulted her. Curious, In'anna peered past the person she was behind and let forth a startled yip at the sight of body parts. Her ears were hunched back, twitching as her tail curled around her, tip fluffed as she turned around. The kindly, yet shy Daur dry retched as she trembled. A shudder of revulsion passed through her as the big, digitigrade legged alien asked for a scanner.

With a trembling hand, she fumbled in her pack and brought out a generic scanning device. It wasn't exactly cutting edge and was built more for archeological work but it was better than nothing. Fearful, In'anna held it out.

"I-I-I d-don't know how t-t-t-to t-tr-track... b-but I have a v-very good sense of s-smell and hearing..." she confessed even as she stood there like a lost puppy, nose wrinkled at the smell, ears quivering, and tail wrapped firmly about her. Whatever had done this, they could do it to her and the rest of her team as well. Was the wrecked equipment a warning? Or was the strewn body parts? Or both? Her heart fluttered again as the elderly woman's words came to mind once more. The elder hadn't mentioned any scary creatures, but she had warned them off.

As the Daur waited for the large alien to take the scanner, In'anna stuttered out what the old woman had told her to Igia.

Horus had been more then displeased since this morning, never having been one fond of those who struck from the unseen, even if he respected the tactical advantage. But his face remained the same as usual, even as the bodies and remnants of viscera not picked clean by whatever counted as vultures on this world were encountered. His gaze looked about the remains, uncaring for that which was no longer living, as life meant nothing to those who no longer held it. As the rather less humanoid of the group asked him to stand guard, the Tsumi gave a nod before drawing swords and rifle, his lower arms holding the rifle ready, but not aimed in his lower hands, while his upper arms held his blades at the ready. He was happy he wore his armor for the trip up the path now, his plates giving the man a unspoken confidence.

In all hope, he would be any attacker's first target, being armored and armed enough to be a considerable threat. He looked down to the small daur and the way they trembled, the sight a reminder to his days of youth when he too was unfamiliar with such horrid sights. Leaning down next to the small researcher, he spoke surprisingly soft for a man of his size and bulk, "In'anna, I shall carry you if you wish, this path is a mess, and would be mentally unhealthy for someone unused to this to cover themselves in this grim mess. I will carry you above the mess, and protect you, this is unsafe place to be."

When they had continued, Horus remaining close to their tracker as she worked, one less sword in his hands if carrying his other charge if his offer had been accepted. "These were left as a warning, leaving the remains of slain foes as example to those who would transgress the same. No doubt this is their territory, advise supreme caution, and to stick close to I, or Miss Landak. Use me as cover if necessary.", Horus stated as he carefully traversed around the remains until they got to the ravaged camp, and thus more the looming temple before them. His spine tingled, he did not like this one bit, but he would remain vigil.

Gunny watched how Horus handled things, then moved him up a notch in her mental register. Well done, big man.

Meanwhile, her jaw had been tight as they looked over the scene before them. "Any thoughts we had of getting through this peacefully just went out the window. We'll be treating this as hostile territory going forwards. Weapons will remain at the ready and anyone approaching will be assumed to have hostile intent until proven otherwise. I second Horus' advisement of caution."

She crouched down to look at one of the bodies, trying to get a better idea of exactly what had happened here. Her eyes led her towards the ruins and she gritted her teeth.

Like lambs to the slaughter...

The woman stood and unslung her rifle, giving Horus a 'we're in the shit now' look.

In'anna was pawing at her nose after telling the Iromakuanhe woman what the elderly lady had told her. The cloying stench of dismembered limbs, the smell of iron, blood, and mud mixed was playing havoc with her nose. She did this while holding out the scanner for the other large alien with a weapon. Though when she heard movement to her side, a golden furred ear automatically flitted in the general direction of Horus. The tiny Daur placed the scanning instrument beside Seidreainne, and looked up to the towering four-armed Tsumi. His offer was kind, considerate even. The thought of sloughing through bloody mud and viscera was not an appealing concept.

Struggling with her inner turmoil, the fox made up her mind to take Horus up on his offer. But not before pulling an innocuous-seeming length of cloth from her bag which she promptly wound around her neck. Next from the bag was a heavy-looking sidearm giving the illusion of it being entirely too dangerous in the hands of one so small. But the peace-loving Daur had purchased this specific handheld accouterment from Galactic Horizon. It looked mean, dangerous, but it was relatively harmless as a deadly weapon. Granted she prayed she'd never had to fire the thing due to the havoc it'd play on her sensitive ears. Still, it made her feel a little safer as she was lifted, quite easily by the Tsumi.

It was almost comical, In'anna seated on his shoulders tail fluffed behind her, swaying a little. She was unnerved by this situation but having the tall humanoids around was a little more assuring. Didn't help with the terrible smells, or the sounds around them. Ears swiveled this way and that at every new sound, In'anna, on alert chose to rely on her ears more than her nose given their current situation of finding the charnel house remains of another team strewn about.

"Not fed on by their murderers. Quick kills."

With a twig in her armoured gauntlets, the piscine woman lightly prodded the gory limbs, blood pooled around where they would've connected like a child's art class disaster. Most of them these weren't messy, frayed wounds out of which bones and strands of tissue and muscle stuck out like old withered trees from a burnt out forest. She slid the tip of the branch over the wounds and noted another thing; there hadn't been too many signs of newer wounds either. Normally she would have expected quite a few more insectoids and other smaller detritivores but something this large? She could spot enough to make out a few full grown humanoid bodies - predators wouldn't eat at the kill site and neither would scavengers. They'd take it and run.

"This can't have been that long ago. Decomposition hasn't fully set in and there are a number of more recent scores on flesh; almost as if anything that wanted to eat them thought it would be too dangerous."

She looked over to Gunny and Horus then motioned her eyes then to to higher elevation points - ruins, hills, trees. The most likely avenue of ambush and with how cleanly these bodies were cut through and the sloping angles of the wounds, it seemed as if whoever did it literally and figuratively had the drop on the Nepleslian team. Taking the scanner from the nervous alien, she began to look through its screen as she waved it through the air above the bodies.

"In'anna, do you get squeamish easily? Do you vomit if you smell something foul?" She asked. This next part was probably not going to be pleasant for her.

In'anna's gold-cast skin seemed to pale a little at Seidreainne's question. Truth was she was squeamish. She could still smell the stench just as strongly as if she were standing right next to the carnage. Her ears were flat and forward, curiosity tinging the possibility of what the alien could be asking. The small fox nodded to pretty much everything the tall alien asked. "D-Did you w-wa-want me to sm-smell that?" she squeaked out while pointing to the dismembered limbs and blood strewed ground. It was enough to make her paw at her nose again.

"I-It already smells f-foul..." but she blinked, looked down to Horus' head and gently and stuttering she asked to be let down again to which he acquiesced. The squishy sound of hiking boots on wet earth caused her little heart to flutter again. In'anna screwed up her face into something akin to determination. As she drew close to Seidreainne. With a sniffle and more nose pawing, the little Daur looked to the woman... if it was a woman. She couldn't rightly tell having not encountered her species before. But, she stood there, tail wrapped about her and stroking it. She wasn't dry retching anymore, her tummy not having anything to toss-up, but the urge to do so seemed under control for now.

"If i-it will help..." In'anna managed as she stood there.

"Unfortunately but I'm not here to gross you out. What you're going to do is give us our first real idea of what we're fighting so we can at least detect it early." She pulled over one particularly mangled leg; white synthetic bone could be seen emerging behind browned flesh slowly sloughing off of the synthetic metal. Blood had long since dried into a diry, muddy grime-colour splotchiness.

"I know you can smell dead nep, but there's something else I want to see if you can find. A smell that isn't that but more animalistic, feral, wild - something that doesn't belong to this body." The smell of a beast, predator, or something else more threatening than that of pure rot. Seidreianne was a hunter but for all of her honed senses, she knew it wasn't on the same level as this Daur. Her smell only carried her so far in a way her third eye's more unusual spectrographic vision and her close eye for details did.

"If you don't notice anything, we'll move onto the trails then the surroundings. Everyone else, keep investiating but watch the high grounds especially. This was definitely a warning but the killers definitely left trails. If anyone wants to, follow the trail the Neps were on and tell me if you notice anything unusual."

In'anna looked on in horror as Seidreianne held up a badly ravaged limb. With a squeak, she almost backed away. She thought that going on digs, discovering unknown cultures, their stories, languages and other fascinating things would be a little less... murderous. Such was the dream of a bright-eyed, bushy-tailed Daur from Netoshen. Little did she know, or chose not to know that archeology also dealt in the unknowns in other shapes and forms. And one of them was rearing its ugly, fetid head toward her now in the shape of some poor soul's leg.

The Daur gulped, her gorge threatening to rise as she leaned in. Her dainty little nose came within an inch of the sloughing flesh and metallic bone monstrosity. She leaned a little closer... and sniffed it. In'anna felt the bile rise in the back of her throat. The scent of rotting meat assaulted her nose, but she continued to sniff at it. Golden-furred ears twitched a little as she did this, only stopping by going back against her head. The metallic scent of blood, decaying flesh, and something else. The little fox blinked, then took another inhalation, gagging at it, but she had to make sure. Something was strange, wrong, In'anna couldn't place what it was. It made her quiver a little.

"S-Something... i-is strange..." she began, inhaled again, the same smells assaulting her nose. What was it? With a shake of her head, In'anna pulled back from the leg. "I d-don't know what it is." pulling a handkerchief from a pocket, the fox wiped at her nose. "It smells wrong to me."

"Make sure you keep note of it. Because I'm going to need you to help me check a few other areas... and if you smell it and it's fresh enough that it sounds recent, you might be our first warning. How are the rest of you holding up?"

Just as she thought; weapon discharge trails in the air. Faint and likely affected by wind currents but there had been a fight... but had any of the rounds hit their targets or where they would've been positioned?

"Igia, what do you think?"

Temple Ruins
Early morning

A lot of things were going through Igia head and yet her focus was not so much on the bodies, the blood that was around the premade camp that indicates that there was a team doing some investigations of the said temple. She was rather studying the pillars, the languages and images painted on the walls. She leans forward at the entree and lets her hand slide over the ground and rubs her fingers together. Something was off, she looked up at the hallway and saw some traps being activated and they did their work in some manner. She narrows her eyes trying to figure out the surrounding that was being developt around her, there was more to this ruin that meets the eye. That much is what Igia was sure about. With that in mind, she stood up and looked back outside seeing her team members on their guard and investigating the surrounding.

She sighs and noted the danger advice of both her security chiefs in regard to the observations they made thus far. Igia walked outside and the smell of metal and death of the body's limbs being decaying met her nose and Igia pulls her face away from it and swallowed for a second. Then hearing how Seidreainne used the nose of In'anna to investigate the body parts, it was a smart move all together and it surprised Igia that the little Daur agreed in being used in such manner. Igia sighs as this was not the way she had hoped that things would have gone, but there was not much she could do about it, the most important question for her now is to continue the contract or abort due that the safety of her crew can't be guaranteed any more.

"Igia, what do you think?"

Looking at the woman, Igia smirks a bit placing her hands at her side "The teams that disappeared happened a few days ago or even weeks ago. This settlement is build based on that observation. You can see clearly that some tents and equipment got wet and dried out afterward, indicating that it has been around some time. Your observation is solid, these people were captured and slaughtered a short while ago...if that is the case we are dealing with a population that is either known or unknown to us...." Igia said as she gets sick of the smell that was hanging "I would prefer to continue this expedition and get into that temple, I noticed that some of the main hallway traps are activated, however, it has been quite some time since it actually got activate... at least a few months to a year ago..." She points her finger up "Meaning that it was not the investigation teams, but someone else that got here first...I fear we are dealing with mercs that want to use the ruins artifacts in their advancement. This is all theory of course...but I've seen this tactic before"

She steps back to the temple and activates a flashlight "As I said, I won't be held back by some blood or body parts...I am here to learn about civilization and to acquire the important artifacts to gain knowledge and safe harbor it" Looking back over her shoulder "We got armed and experience soldiers...I feel safe in their hands, but I would like to prefer that In'anna skills are used for what she got hired for..." Looking back at the temple and enters it without a word.

Temple Ruins

Gunny folded her metal arms as she listened. She wore a disapproving stare the whole time - not so much aimed at Igia as at their situation. Everything about this expedition had a bad smell to it and she wasn't thinking about the bodies.

She pinched the bridge of her nose and let out a huff. "I'll take point," she said, trotting up to walk a few steps ahead of Igia. "Horus, Seidreainne, watch our flanks and the rear."

Her rifle's nose led the way as they worked the corners and corridors. A simple mounted mirror let her check for the basic dangers; a careful glance afterwards did the rest. It wasn't long before she held up a hand to halt the group, motioning downwards.

Near her feet, she found a well-concealed boot print. It would have been invisible had the light not hit it just so. She touched a finger to it carefully. "Boot print," she said quietly, backing up a few steps. "Not that old. There's a thin film of dust where the boot tracked, but maybe a day old at best." She shrugged at the last part - it was a guess, but a confident one.

"Either the locals have decided to wear the boots they ... confiscated ... or we've confirmed the mercenary theory."

She worked her lips from side to side as she stared back at the boot. The layout of the temple was, of course, not a simple one so far. The likelihood that someone could come up behind them was high. Gunny looked at the headstrong leader of their expedition and knew that she had no intention of backing down.

"Right, then - we'll continue further in, but I'd like us to have an exit strategy that doesn't involve a panicked run. Horus, Seidreainne, thoughts?"

Horus tapped his rifle's over barrel for a moment, "30 caliber ammunition that can penetrate even heavy infantry armor. So I should be able to dispatch anything short of a power armor, and the top barrel is a launcher for fusion based shells. I would prefer the risk, but if needed, can close off a tunnel behind us in case of a retreat. If we can detect them prior, which those with keen smell could help with."

The tall Tsumi looked about at the scanner's they had for a moment before continuing, his tone calm if almost disappointed about something. "I can also provide the same level of defense as offense with my armor and large frame. Big enough that most could stack behind me as cover, though.....I might have another idea for detection. Can these sensors your carrying pick up seismic feedback, or by chance use sonar? Unless the hostiles are using stealth technology, we could tune them to sense around approached corners, or hopefully pick up the small feedback of approaching movement."

"Group survival is everyone's responsibility and given that our enemies are getting the drop on us when they inevitably pop up, I'd like to shoot first before they make meatsauce of us just like our friends experienced outside." Her voice had steeled and she raised her shoulders slightly, hints of her full height coming to bear. The blank cyan colour of the visor on her narrowed predatory skull almost could be seen as glaring at Igia but the composite craftsmanship said nothing that her tense voice and hands unholstering her two smaller hand-held weapons. "If it's mercs, then they've probably disturbed whatever creatures killed them. Given how big these ruins are, high chance our culprits are hidden inside. No idea of the layout inside, but if we need to run then Horus and me will provide cover - even spread between us, spraying down whatever's stalking our way, leapfrogging to provide consistent fire."

At Horus' question, she moved both weapons to one hand and began to thumb around the little device until its screen went green.

"Even better; I can connect it to my armour for that."