Fantasy Far Passage

[Clan Ize]

Katerina Ize

"At Ease"

Command Accepted.
All current orders have been stopped and discarded

As the captain who she soon identified as Captain of the Far Passage, Jacques Wavell gave them the at ease order Katerina regained complete autonomy over her A. I and the urge to complete her orders vanished. Now in complete control of herself again Katerina began to identify each new human that now stood in front of her starting with Captain Jacques Wavell who she had already identified as the captain of the Far Passage and ending with Anwir Vaughn who was identified as the commander of the Corvus Unit onboard the ship. A bit curious as to why they had all been called to the meeting room without any explanation but soon concluded they would either get one very soon or they would get one after being deployed but it didn't even take very many calculations for anyone to figure out that the first option was the one which seemed the most likely to happen. Glancing beside her she spied Dubravko again who had moved next to her for some unknown reason but quickly guessed it was because he was her admin and thought nothing else of it. Of course, there was always the possibility that Dubravko wanted to be next to her out of his own free will but so far based on her observations he seemed to view her as just a normal, emotionless, dumb machine that he had been tasked to protect. Either way though, Katerina did still somewhat like having him stand next to her as it did make her more comfortable that someone she knew was aware exactly of how she worked how to maintain her and how to keep her safe.

​

 

[Corrosion]

(Post is a combination of StarryKnights and mine)

Filo Cawnes, Wayfarer Guild Master
Fort Wayfarer Courtyard
Pseudo-nim Elaeja Crocodile welian Lazaro1505 Yakov011001 Arai​

"Ah Elyscia, you know you don't have to address me so formally love," Filo waved her hand dismissively as the paladin bowed. "I'm afraid I'm not familiar with this rune, it's outside my usual realm of conjuration."

That being said, it was definitely not of this world, and certainly could've brought all matters of dangers not only to the courtyard, but to Acadore itself.

"Tottering old fool was just a tad bit too eager for his own good," she shook her head. Thankfully it didn't appear anyone had been seriously injured, thanks in no small part to her insectoid barrier. Poor Miko, she'd have to find him some fresh flowers later on. But there were more pressing matters at hand.

Filo scanned the crowd, assessing the status of her members. The Wayfarer guild was massive, with each major country having their own hall. As the head of the entire guild it was impossible to keep track of distant members, but she tried to keep tabs on those who often passed through the main fort.

Her blind gaze flicked from face to face.

Right, so Elyscia, Thalarion, Estella... ah, that looks to be Teman emerging from behind that slab. And Ilyane is unharmed as well, thank goodness.

Thankfully it seemed they'd escaped major injuries, and any additional casualties. Thalarion was checking for injured persons, and poor Ilyanae simply looked dumbfounded. Not that Filo could blame the elf given what had happened. Estella and Teman were both concerned with the rune, and what it might've brought forth.

She flashed a teasing smile toward Teman, "Awww don't be so nervous Teman, I'm always open for suggestions. And you do make good point, though I don't sense any hostile presences at the moment. I'll have Miko scout the area to be sure"

She snapped her fingers, and the cat sized moth at her shoulder gave a soft chirp before dissipating into a cloud of smaller insects. They fanned through the courtyard before scattering to the wind.

"Listen everyone. Take any wounded to the infirmary, the rest stick around. On the off chance the departed conjuror brought something malicious to our hall, we'll need to be here to greet it"

She glanced toward the sky, two smaller version of Miko provided her with a perfect view of the much clearer sky. "We'll also need to send work to his majesty, and to the college. I'm sure they'll be thrilled with the news," she rubbed at her eyes. "Going beyond the mistral plane? What could that old fool have been thinking... aside from how simply wonderous the concept is."

The mage in her was excited such a thing was even possible, but it raised so many questions. For anything that lay beyond the Mistral plane would lie beyond their very world.

Perhaps she'd ask Lady Elanna for her thoughts at a later time.

As if sensing her thoughts, a voice spoke out from behind her, tranquil as a still lake. "You needn't ask me, for I am already here."

Spoiler: Lady Elanna

Stepping out from the guild building and from behind the mass of Wayfarers was a young woman in a flowing cloak and clutching a fine staff in her hand. She was very beautiful, and there was a certain serenity about the way she moved. Contrary to her youthful appearance, Lady Elanna was in fact hundreds of years old, and one of the few Elder Seers in Edreign, ageless individuals who had the ability to see into the future.

She stepped to the front, making her way to the rune that had been craved into the dirt. She studied it for a moment, as if to confirm it was real. "So it is," she said, turning to the guildmaster and the Wayfarers around her. "I foresaw this event."

"You foresaw this?" Elyscia asked, sounding a little annoyed. "If you did, then why didn't you warn us? Perhaps the mages would be still alive."

Elanna calmly raised her hand. "Be calmed, child," she said. "For I had only received my premonition but a mere few moments ago. By that time it was already too late."

Elyscia crossed her arms. "Then, may I ask, what exactly did you see, and it would appear that you recognise that strange rune, do you not?"

The Seer nodded. "Indeed," she said. "I had received a vision, but I am still struggling to make sense of it. It is unlike I have ever seen before."

She held up her staff and waved it, the crystal attached to it glowing as she charged her Divination magic. Before them a projection seemed to appear, images in motion and crystal-clear.

First was the inky blackness of the Void above the lush world of Acadore. Then there was a flash, and then a massive object seemed to materialise into existence. It was covered in shadow, so the object was hard to make out.

The projection changed to a strange creature spewing fire from its body as it landed in a grassy field on three short and stubby legs.

Spoiler

Its belly seemed to open up, and from within came a number of humanoid creatures garbed head to toe in strange armour, who all exited the beast and spread out.

The projection then changed to a massive metal creature even larger than the first and matching the size of elder dragons landing in the same spot as the earlier one and then depositing several large crates, which were all seized by multiple men and women in strange clothing. A giant metal man-thing picked up one of the crates with ease and carried it away.

Next it changed to what appeared to be a settlement under construction, but many of the buildings seemed to be constructed out of metal, and they all seemed too similar to each other. Dozens of humans were within it, and there were multiple of the small and large metal creatures landed on the ground in neat rows.

Finally, the projection changed again, this time not showing images of things to come, but only of the strange rune that was on the ground now.

After it had finished the projection vanished, and Elanna stood. "That is what I have seen," she said. "I have not had the time to study them yet, but I fear that a great calamity is upon us."

"What should we do, then?" Asked Elyscia, looking somewhat nervous, but also resolute.

Elanna turned to her. "I believe it imperative that you must investigate the place I have foreseen these events to first occur," she said, turning to Filo. "By right it is the meadow by the Tunmond Wood, next to the Amcaster River. You must head out at once, for time is of the essence."

She tapped her staff against the ground. "As for me, I shall remain here to study the extent of my visions."

 

[Lazaro1505]

Jackal Hoofman

Well, he didn’t need to be given an order to begin following his squad after Dylan had opened the doors to begin their trek down the corridor, and to be honest, Jackal wasn’t really sure what to make of this. Sure, the drive had probably malfunctioned and now they were stuck somewhere in space, but the thing is that something must be really tucked up if they had to be called over and given a mission as soon as possible. And the possibilities could only mean in something bad, well, not on the levels of something attacking them right at the bat bad, but bad enough that they needed to attend mission briefing as soon as possible. Whatever it is, he was sure that him and his allies can pull through with the task and find a way out of this mess to get back on track, after all, they are humanity’s finest, and for them to fail would be one of the greatest losses this ship would ever see in its lifespan.

But continuing down the hall, another thought pop into his head, and that was due to some states heading their way by the non-combat and more civilian roles of the ship, which were the engineers, technicians, janitors, pretty much anyone as part of the crew here. And well, it’s some of their awed looks heading their direction as if they were the next big thing. Sure, they were Pathfinders, and they definitely had a great importance aboard this ship as the one essentially scouting and clearing out land for the colony to deploy, but to receive looks like that, similar to that of an cult worshiping some messiah.... well, not exactly that, but that’s the basic gist of it. And it didn’t help that some looked his way as well, due to his rather obvious height difference between him and his other allies. That’s the shocking part honestly, because with modern tech capable of altering the very genes of a person and make them into something at least closer to his height and a bit stronger, only to have some close to his height instead. The strange part however, was that his own genes are all natural and not tampered with.... his height and bone density were higher than what others considered ‘average’, the former being a trait common in his father’s side of the family, and the latter being a adaptation in order to support a larger height and mass than the average size. After all, not everyone is supposed to be at this height, considering being taller individuals are usually more prone to more and severe injuries as well as their bone support being generally less than that of an shorter individual, and it’s a surprise to find an tall man who is not only similar to his height but also gone through the same injuries and situations as him and still be walking.

Guess he could thank his father’s genes, considering his father’s family tree usually had the genes for not only being taller than average, but also having an higher bone density to which it can support his tall frame rather comfortably, and maybe that relates to why he was still alive in the first place. Mentally snapping himself out of it, he recalled this wasn’t the time to be thinking about whether or not being tall is really a good thing, considering he needed to focus upon the potential mission up ahead as well as the hallway he is walking throughout. Walking into the elevator with the rest, he could watch the scene below along with the rest, watching the ant-sized (from this height) crew members working with high activity, and Jackal could only mentally note this fact within his head. Wasn’t the first time he had seen it before, people working in unison in order to complete a task. But still, a sight to behold seeing the amount of activity the crew were working at.

Once arriving at the floor, and going through yet another hallway, the group had finally reached the briefing room, and already, he could tell something was very wrong here. Having the three high ranking members of the ship standing here already told him enough that this was something grave, considering it would usually be one officer giving the briefing of the situation, their commander, but three? He could only guess how bad this could actually be, but he still had to follow protocol, as he stood at attention and gave a standard salute with the few others, before putting his arm back down. Jackal had remained silent throughout the entire thing, figuring that the higher ups would already be explaining everything to them, so there was no need to speak up with a question, as Jackal followed suit to the table and seats, but instead of sitting down, he just stood behind the chair he was next to. Needed to get the blood pumping after all, and make sure his joints aren’t gonna fall apart any second now.​

 

[Corrosion]

DYLAN GARRISON
Briefing Room 15-A
Viper Actual Lazaro1505 Pseudo-nim cybercrypt Elaeja Clan Ize Yakov011001
​

"What've we got, sir?" Dylan asked. "And if I may ask, why here, and not the PACC?"

PACC was shorthand for Pathfinder Central Operations Command, and that was normally where Pathfinders were briefed prior to missions, given the locations highly specialised role for coordinating the activities of Pathfinders planetside. This was just a briefing room more for the civilians and crew aboard the ship.

Accord answered him. "PACC's not fully operational yet," he said. "Given how short notice this is the staff haven't had enough time to fully prep it. We've decided to hold this brief here instead. It's impromptu."

The PACC normally took quite a while to become fully operational, which was why Pathfinders often had a fair amount of time after awakening to get ready at their own pace, typically heading over to the ship's mess for their first meal in weeks or even months. With all the specialised equipment required for its role, it was no wonder the PACC always took so much time to set up and become operationally ready.

Dylan nodded. "I understand. May I ask exactly what's going on?"

The three commanders looked to each other, before Wavell spoke. "We still aren't sure exactly," he said. "All we know right now is that there was an unknown issue with the Torsion Drive. Not a malfunction for all we know, but it's almost as if the drive was preemptively deactivated fifteen minutes ago... and for whatever reason, brought us here."

He tapped the holotable, and the projection of a planet appeared above it. It was rendered in full detail and colour, and now it was a very Earth-like planet, with blue oceans and forests on several continents on its surface.

Spoiler

"An Earth-like planet," Dylan noted in surprise. "What are the odds?"

"Yes, what are the odds?" Wavell parroted, folding his arms. "It's not just an Earth-like planet. From scans we've taken so far, the atmospheric composition of this world is nearly an exactly match of Earth's. The atmosphere is completely breathable, and livable. It's also only around ten percent larger than Earth. It's almost as if we've ended up right above some alternate version of Earth."

"Mind if I interrupt?" Vaughn had spoken, the security chief cutting in. "That's not the most important part. This is."

He stepped forwards and manipulated the image, zooming in and focusing on one of the landmasses. Now the image of what was very clearly a large city came into view, situated on a rather mountainous region.

Spoiler

He let that sink into the minds of the Pathfinders, and the implications it brought along. He continued after a few moments. "Onboard scanners picked this up not too long ago, and since then, we've only been finding more. You know what this means, don't you, hm?"

"It means that there's intelligent life on this planet," Dylan spoke in complete awe and wonder. "And it's right below us."

"Wow, smart guy," Vaughn scoffed. "Looks like Pathfinder Academy really did teach you some things."

Accord shot him a look, before he turned to the Pathfinders. "From what we can understand, the civilisation on this planet is roughly at the technological and societal development is roughly equal to humanity during the medieval period, or at least we can only assume with the latter."

"What's all this about intelligent life? Preposterous!" Came a rather stuffy voice from behind the team, and they all turned to see a man dressed in business attire that looked to be hastily thrown-on.

Spoiler

He looked tired, but there was a certain light in his eyes. "What I've been told is that that planet right there is a prime garden world. Do you even know how rare those are in the entire galaxy?"

"Administrator Fernsworth, kind of you to join us," greeted Captain Wavell, though it was clear that there was a certain irritation in his voice. "Yes, I certainly know of the low probability of garden worlds in the galaxy, and this so happens to habour an intelligent alien civilisation."

Fernsworth scoffed, stepping over to the projection and studying it. "Hmph. An alien civilisation," he still seemed to be skeptical, despite the evidence right before him.

Accord discreetly rolled his eyes. "Right... anyway, team, listen up," he turned to the Pathfinders. "We believe that deploying you planetside for survey and recon is our best bet right now, and given the state of the Torsion Drive, it's possible that we may be stuck here for a while."

 

[Viper Actual]

An intelligent civilization? Humanoid too and not too different from Humanity's ancestors by the look of things... Grissom could hardly believe it. In fact, a part of him didn't believe it because that meant that something went horribly wrong with the Torsion drive- something much more horrible than just being displaced to another location of the galaxy. He gave Dyl a sort of "this is some bad shit"-look before straightening up and raising his left hand.

"Captain, sir, what's our rules of engagement for planetside operations?" Grissom cleared his throat. "Our technology alone could shake things up quite a bit in a medieval society- not to mention the cultural shock of meeting a space-faring species."

Glancing at the rest of the team Grissom continued; "I recommend that all planetside personnel be fitted with Mk. IV Safeguard Thermite charges in the event of a possible capture. Until we know more about this people, their culture and their motives we can't rule out the possibility of them attempting to seize our weapons and ships for their own use."

 

[Arai]

Corel
Despite the irregularity of the ceremony, Corel was only half paying attention as the conjurer had performed his work. The runework was interesting enough, but his whole spiel about touching the cosmos and beyond was a little old hat. There was a dozen and a half crackpots on the roads claiming they'd personably met the progenitor, and Corel wasn't about to listen to another just because he had nice robes and a knack for conjuration magic. His lack of attention had meant the blast caught him off guard, initially thinking that it was only a small problem. The rune was different, and the remains of the conjurer and his buddies were nowhere to be seen. Toasty.

The blast had knocked the wind out of him, but thankfully Ilya had knocked him to the ground and prevented further harm. Come to think of it, maybe she knocked the wind out of him. Regardless, he gave her a smile as she muttered an apology of some kind, and made his way back over to the rune. He noted a few of his guildmates helping out others, and they seemed to have it in hand. The rune itself caught his interest more. He leaned over the edge of it. It was pretty simple, especially for something of such great magic. And not like any rune he'd ever written. Runes (Illusion ones at least) were complex, patterns within patterns, instructions and explanations, complicated arcane engineering. Magic like this, while it took up a lot of space, would require a lot more than a few lines in a hexagon. He noted Estella was looking over the rune as well. "Conjuring's not exactly my trade, but this doesn't look like a proper rune, does it?" He questioned the beastfolk. She was a conjurer, he'd seen her in action before. She'd teleported him around on more than one occasion, maybe she had some insight on this thing, or maybe all conjuration runes looked this basic. "It's too...boring,"

Behind him he could hear the conversation between the guildmaster and the seer. Something about she'd seen this before. Well, a warning would've been nice. The problem with seers was they had a lovely habit of telling you that all of what just happened was supposed to happen. Great, fantastic information. But she did mention Tunmond Wood and Amcaster River to Elyscia, which was the supposed next part of this prophecy. A pretty nice place, no wonder this beast of fire and 3 legs picked it. "Great! Love a group trip," He said with a grin, dusting conjurer ash off of his pants.

Interactions: Pseudo-nim (Estella) Corrosion (Elyscia)

 

[Elaeja]

Pathfinder Kitamière De La Côté​

Kita shared Dylan's confusion regarding the meeting's location; the PACC was where these were supposed to happen. As the debriefing progressed, Kita remained impassive. He wasn't liking the direction this was taking, but his mind did a whole 180 when he saw the planet. It was green and blue, obviously Earth-based, but it was what the commander said next that struck him:

"An Earth-like planet," Dylan noted in surprise. "What are the odds?"

"Yes, what are the odds?" Wavell parroted, folding his arms. "It's not just an Earth-like planet. From scans we've taken so far, the atmospheric composition of this world is nearly an exactly match of Earth's. The atmosphere is completely breathable, and livable. It's also only around ten percent larger than Earth. It's almost as if we've ended up right above some alternate version of Earth."

Holy shit! Kita was brimming with barely hidden glee. This was a Xenobiologist's dream come true: an Earth-like world with a breathable atmosphere and indisputable signs of life! New plants, animals, and ecosystems were waiting to be explored, and Kita would be the one to do it. This was why he became a Pathfinder, for opportunities like this, to experience and discover alien worlds and life. Kita was having a hard time keeping his fantasies at bay as the conversation continued. The next image made his attempts more difficult, and this time, Kita couldn't stop a genuine smile from crossing his face. Before anyone could see, he quickly schooled his features. Few things in life could bring a real smile to Kita's usually bored and impassive face, but Xenobiology, his friends and parents, and martial arts were among the small number.

An all too familiar feeling welled up inside of Kita. It was just as he felt when finding new plants and animals with his parents in the wilds outside Neo-Toyko: excitement, awe, and most of all, fascination. Above all, Kita was Xenologist, and after that, a scientist. A world full of possibilities with signs of life he had yet to see on any other Pathfinder mission was absolutely incredible, and Kita was beyond grateful to be among the first to explore this world — if they could explore it, that is.

Kita reigned in his emotions and tried not to get his hopes up. Despite the confusing situation as to how they got here, Kita cared little for the trivialities. If they couldn't return home, he was prepared and not at all worried; yes, he would miss his parents if they were stuck here, but other than them, he wouldn't be leaving anything behind. Plus, his parents knew the risks of his job, and so did he. They would eventually move on, knowing their son, whom they were incredibly proud of, was lost doing the things he loved most as one of humanity's finest. A loud voice burst him out of his thoughts and almost made him flinch.

"What's all this about intelligent life? Preposterous!" Came a rather stuffy voice from behind the team, and they all turned to see a man dressed in business attire that looked to be hastily thrown-on. He looked tired, but there was a certain light in his eyes. "What I've been told is that that planet right there is a prime garden world. Do you even know how rare those are in the entire galaxy?"

Kita hadn't heard the man approach, but he had somehow made it right next to him and decided to yell his thoughts directly into Kita's ears. Kita stopped a scowl from forming and discretely rubbed his ear. Ojisan, maybe use your inside voice next time, yeah? Kita turned back to the commanders.

"Administrator Fernsworth, kind of you to join us," greeted Captain Wavell, though it was clear that there was a certain irritation in his voice. "Yes, I certainly know of the low probability of garden worlds in the galaxy, and this so happens to habour an intelligent alien civilisation."

Fernsworth scoffed, stepping over to the projection and studying it. "Hmph. An alien civilisation," he still seemed to be skeptical, despite the evidence right before him.

Accord discreetly rolled his eyes. "Right... anyway, team, listen up," he turned to the Pathfinders. "We believe that deploying you planetside for survey and recon is our best bet right now, and given the state of the Torsion Drive, it's possible that we may be stuck here for a while."

Internally, Kita let out a whoop of joy at the prospect of surveying and doing recon. Exploration, allons-y! He almost missed the last part, but as soon as he heard it, he took on a more solemn state of mind. Others among him were probably more attached and, in a way, more down-to-Earth compared to Kita's up-in-the-clouds mindset. They most likely weren't going to take Accord's possibility with as much indifference as him. He kept his impassive façade going to accommodate them, but in his mind, he let the Xenobiologist in him run free. He ran over what he knew already: An Earth-like atmosphere with forests and civilizations, meaning a world full of evolution, selection, and differentiation similar to Earth! Questions regarding the plants and life ran through his mind: how did they form? Do they have cells like ours? Do they need energy and food? How alike are they to Earth-based life?

The queries kept increasing, and Kita was having difficulty not running to the transport and taking off planet-side to get his answers. Kita looked to Dylan for orders. Despite what Accord said, Dylan was the one who would lead them to where they needed to go. Had Dylan known Kita well enough, he would've recognized his pained expression towards him as a child-like plea to leave and explore the planet. Kita was beyond excited and brimming with barely bridled curiosity and joy.

 

[Elaeja]

Wayfarer Ilya Hiaenyiir​

Ilya shook off her dazzled look and lightly slapped her cheeks. Get it together! Reviewing what had happened, she was in-between being proud and disappointed in herself for how she had acted. As an Evoker, she should have created an Earthen wall or something to protect herself. But no, instead, she had tackled people to the ground. When the Half-Elf Corel had smiled at her apology, Ilya felt her cheeks warm in embarrassment. She wasn’t happy with how she had reacted to the situation. With over 100 years among the wilds and facing off against what some would call mythical monsters, almost nothing surprised Ilya anymore. When her troop of wardens was ambushed by the fearsome and most certainly, terrifying, mist dragons of Eshlynore, she hadn't batted an eye and took command of the situation even as her friends were dragged into the night to be eaten alive, or worse, saved for later. However, for some reason, this failed conjuration threw her off. As one of the oldest guild members here — not that she would ever let them know how old she was — she was supposed to have the wisdom and memory to excel in these situations. Ilya was at a loss for how she let herself get like this. Her brows pinched together in frustration and confusion.

Looking around to see what she could do, Ilya noticed most of the wounded were being treated, and everything seemed under control. She noticed Thalarion assisting the injured and was mildly surprised. All she had heard was that he was a blood mage, and seeing his buff exterior, she wouldn't have pinned him being the helping kind. Her gaze shifted to the elderly man near Thalarion, Teman, was his name from what she remembered. Like most of the people here, Ilya generally never saw or made contact with any of them. Her assignments usually consisted of small teams against powerful threats.

Teman was walking towards two people, and Ilya noticed they were the Guildmaster, Filo, and the paladin Elyscia. Ilya decided the others didn't need her help with the wounded and with securing the area, so, she followed after Temen with her graceful steps. As she approached, she gave the group a simple nod as a greeting and examined the rune. Ilya couldn't make anything of it and gave a glance to the piles of ash nearby, and as she did, a young beastfolk woman stepped past her and observed the dead.

"I'd say it's a lovely morning, but that'd be in bad taste now wouldn't it," the rabbit beasfolk joked. "Still, I'm surprised that the Grand Conjurer of all people didn't bother setting up proper contingencies in case something did go wrong." She had a small grin on her face as she gave a sidelong look at the pile of ashes that were once the Grand Conjurer and his assistants.

Ilya raised a single eyebrow in response and turned back to the Guildmaster. She had encountered death many times and was unfazed by the charred remains of the Conjurers, but she agreed with the rabbit beastfolk; they should have planned better. And I should have stopped them.... thought Ilya, a bit annoyed. Lady Elenna brought her attention back to the present.

As if sensing her thoughts, a voice spoke out from behind her, tranquil as a still lake. "You needn't ask me, for I am already here."

Ilya looked at the seer and cocked her head slightly to the right to get a better look at Lady Elanna. The first thing that crossed her mind was that she looked good for being, supposedly, hundreds of years old, especially for a Human. Ilya could say with honesty that she was aging better than some of her ancestors. She looked breathtaking to Ilya, which was again saying something considering Ilya's heritage. As Lady Elanna and the Guildmaster talked, the conversation progressed, and Ilya watched as the Seer's vision manifested itself. The strange beings and things in the blurred images were unlike anything she had seen before. Based on the faces of those around her, no one else had either.

After it had finished the projection vanished, and Elanna stood. "That is what I have seen," she said. "I have not had the time to study them yet, but I fear that a great calamity is upon us."

"What should we do, then?" Asked Elyscia, looking somewhat nervous, but also resolute.

Elanna turned to her. "I believe it imperative that you must investigate the place I have foreseen these events to first occur," she said, turning to Filo. "By right it is the meadow by the Tunmond Wood, next to the Amcaster River. You must head out at once, for time is of the essence."

She tapped her staff against the ground. "As for me, I shall remain here to study the extent of my visions."

As Lady Elanna finished, Ilya saw where this was going and took her chance to speak to the Guildmaster. In her melodic and ethereal voice, Ilya said, "If it is agreeable with you, Guildmaster, I would prefer to join the investigation team. You know I can traverse these lands with considerable speed and discretion, should you allow it. From what we know, these beings could arrive at any moment, or perhaps, they already have. Thus, let us act quickly. I fear a weary approach to these beings will do us more harm than good..." Ilya frowned in contemplation before continuing, "If Lady Elanna's vision comes true, it would be best for the guild to have a plan by the time the team arrives as well." Ending her thoughts, she quickly swept her gaze across the other guild members and then settled back on the Guildmaster, awaiting her verdict.

 

[Corrosion]

DYLAN GARRISON
Briefing Room 15-A
Viper Actual Lazaro1505 Pseudo-nim cybercrypt Elaeja Clan Ize Yakov011001
​

Accord and Wavell turned to each other, before the Pathfinder commander spoke up. "For now, my orders are to avoid contact. We need to know more about these... aliens before we initiate a proper first contact," he said with a sigh. "We're not exactly equipped to deal with this kind of situation, nor were we really taught about these things in the Academy."

"We need to know more about the civilisation down there, whether they're a threat to us or not," said Vaughn. "And if they are, how exactly they'll react to us. They're primitive compared to us, as far as we know, there's an entire planet full of them, while there's only a little over twenty-five hundred of us total aboard this ship."

Fernsworth had been silently studying the planet while the others spoke. "Yes... well, you did say that they're primitive compared to us, correct?" He asked, turning to the group and gesturing to the planet. "If you ask me, this planet is just prime for colonisation. Much better than Huygens-381c, in my professional opinion, and from what little I know from the scans so far, it also has rich mineral deposits, much richer than Huygens-381c, in fact."

Dylan raised a brow. "Are you saying you want to... colonise this planet?" He asked. "It's already got intelligent life on it, and our original mission is Huygens-381d."

The Administrator scoffed. "Yes, it is. Or it was, now that we appear to be stuck here with our Torsion Drive nonfunctional," he argued. "As Colonial Administrator, it is ultimately my responsibility to oversee the activities of the colony, and to make the important decisions. And I say that establishing a colony here overrules our original mission. You've seen the conditions of this world, and they are considerably better than Huygens-381d."

"He has a point," admitted Vaughn. "As Security Chief, I ultimately answer to the Colonial Administrator, and now I am agreeing with him, in the interests of the safety and wellbeing of the colonists aboard this ship."

The other two commanders didn't seem very happy, but they didn't show it. "...In either case, we must first have more information about what we're dealing with here. They do say that knowledge is power, after all."

Accord nodded. "We need more intel, which is why I'm sending you on a mission planetside. Just a simple survey mission to gather samples and map out a possible initial colony site," he said, before turning to Grissom. "I have faith that that won't be necessary. You'll be making landfall outside of the major population centres, so you should remain undetected. In the event of hostile contact, you will only engage in self-defence, and nothing else."

"And if first contact isn't hostile?" Dylan asked.

Accord paused for a moment. "...Then I trust that you will be able to deal with the situation as you see fit," he said, looking at each of the gathered Pathfinders. "I'll be providing support, but intel will be limited until we can get the PACC fully up and running. Do I make myself clear?"

Dylan nodded. "Yes, sir."

 

[cybercrypt]

The projection didn't bode well for an astonished Dubravko, who listened in to the mission brief with stunned silence though maintained a stoic composure. This wasn't just a planet harbouring intelligent life but. There were other humans out there? Not the planet specifically but. Other. Humans. A million notions raced through his mind within that daunting frame of perturbed silence. The concept was just... disturbing. From a cakewalk to some shitshow of a mindfuck within minutes. Dubravko would retire these harassing ruminations upon Fernsworth's pestering intrusion. He somewhat discerned Kita's frustration and sensed it within Captain Wavell, too. Dubravko's patience with Vaughn suffered and he felt tremendously irritated by the conniving, wily Administrator the more he spoke. He shared the two commander's sentiment regarding the Pathfinder's original mission, and also that forewarned is forearmed. Although not his primary role within the Pathfinder's, the former Tolstovian Ranger hoped that his service history within an STA patrol and their attached regiment would indicate him being a suitable candidate for clandestine forward-recon.

Dubravko vaguely nodded along to Accord's finishing statement.

 

[Viper Actual]

As the briefing concluded with a set of orders Grissom echoed Dylan's acknowledgment, saluting as he did. Colonizing a potentially inhabited idea was a very bad idea in his opinion- especially when the people in question were a massive group of unknowns- but ultimately it wasn't his call on what to do or not do.
Grissom glanced at Dylan and nodded. It was a silent gesture but for the young squad leader it could only mean one singular thing;
I'm with you.

Despite the lack of precautions, intelligence and rather limited RoE Grissom would, as always, follow and carry out the orders given to him. He might not agree with them but a part of him knew that he needed to trust that the Far Passage brass knew what they were doing.

He turned his head slightly, studying the rest of the squad trying to asses if anyone held any visible objections or if they were to be so bold and voice them out loud.

 

[Pseudo-nim]

Amelia's gaze was steady, but the idea of intelligence life already chipped at her curiosity if only just. She's had her fair share of fantasy novels back in Earth, especially when she was still in high school, and the architecture definitely fit the bill in a lot of cases. With that being said, it didn't change the fact that this meant that whatever life was within this planet was capable of achieving a civilization similar to their own in the past was here. This was a huge find, definitely, but her focus never waivered from her mission. She'd have to watch for foreign pathogens and bacteria that could affect the survey team. While she may not be as specialized in the subject of xenobiology, the effects of foreign substances on human cells and and various bodily systems was within her scope of knowledge, so dealing with the potential dangers was already getting on her nerves. Considering that being part of the survey team meant gathering samples of the surrounding area, she'll most likely leave it to the dedicated members to do so. It would be near guaranteed that she'll have a share of the samples for her own testing purposes, especially with the suite of equipment given to her thanks to being the medic of the group.

She more or less zoned out of the conversation, at least until the Colonial Administrator decided to open the garbage receptacle he called a mouth. Politics were never her strong point, preferring the straight forward approach over the scheming and subtlety these bastards were into. These were the type she hated the most, especially now that they were infringing on another species' planet and civilization. Either way, she kept her mouth shut and held herself together. Just listening to a snake of a politician talk amidst soldiers like he was better than all of them made her want to screw protocol and put the man in the infirmary. She'll heal him, but it'll be the worst recovery time of his life. But discipline won over impulsive irritation, much to her chagrin.

Pinching her temples, she grumbled quietly. "I wonder if the locals have decent beer. I'd like to taste alien beer."

---

Estella whistled in excitement when she kneeled down and checked for any textures that could be within the alien rune, at least after Skrat prodded it for a few seconds to see if it was safe to touch. There was only the feeling of the courtyard underneath it all, unfortunately. Nothing about it seemed magical anymore, even with the faint amount she tried to insert to see if it would reactivate. Skart was more than ready anyway, having enough experience to activate one of her contingencies in case it actually worked. That didn't change the fact that she was slightly disappointed at the lack of reaction. Still, it was worth a shot.

"Conjuration Runes tend to have several layers for binding scripts, dimensional anchors, and teleportation stabilization. Calling this a rune is about as insulting as calling the guild a bunch of people that can do party tricks and walk around for a living," Estella replied to the half-elf, a small grin full of mirth. "No, judging by the way it looks, it's more of a symbol, maybe of a group or organization from another plane. That's my educated guess at least."

Turning her attention to the woman that appeared before them, the Conjurer was incredibly intrigued by the images she showed, especially with the people who came out of their fantastical... Beasts? Machines? Nothing she's ever seen in her times when she's gone hopping around the other planes. Well, more like dipped her toes whenever she was speaking with her colleagues in the Amber Contract. She knew better than to delve deep into other dimensions without a proper tether, one that she hasn't completely finished yet. But back to these beings with their otherworldly contraptions. Sophisticated by the looks of it too. Sleek and aerodynamic, yet utilitarian to some degree. Fascinating, one that tugged on her adventuring spirit and curiosity. If they were planning on sending a team out to investigate this, she'd most definitely try to join. If not, well, she was always good at sneaking around and tracking people when she needed too.

Interactions: Arai

 

[JoUhWrites]

Cain ​

It was the heaviest night’s sleep he’d had in a long time. While most of the other Wayfarers had called it a week with the end of the celebrations, Cain continued on drinking for another night and had managed to toast the arrival of dawn before collapsing into bed. He’d thought he could handle it - after all, his liver had worked up quite the stamina after the long celebration it’d had.
Turns out, his organ was less shaped-up and more utterly ruined, since Cain woke up with a pounding headache and the sun blazing holes into his eyelids from a window he’d completely forgotten to close in his drunken stupor. Fuck me, he thought while stumbling over to close it, only gagging a couple of times while doing so, what time is it? In the courtyard, what seemed to be the entire Wayfarer community were gathered in some strange form of ritual. Fuck. Me.

Getting dressed was a riveting affair which ended with him bent over a bucket for at least a few minutes, and when he was finally proper again, he still looked as if he’d been run over by a horde of orcs. Meeting his own blood-shot gaze in the mirror, Cain grimaced at the ruffled reflection of himself and desperately tried to smooth some sense into the dark locks sticking out every which way from his skull, before giving up and accepting the tousled look. At least his tattoo looked good - shining bright against the clammy mess that was his skin tone.
He gave the bucket one last longing gaze before starting to trot down towards the courtyard. Only to be thrown halfway down the stone staircase when the ground shook.
Cain threw his arms forward and barely managed to complete the spell in time, landing on a soft-ish bed of vines he’d conjured out from within the cracks in the stone (gods bless lazy housekeeping), only vomiting a little bit into his mouth while doing so. What the hells? Pushing his way out of the green embrace, the man hungover-jogged the rest of the way, keeping arms in front of him in case the ground decided to give up again.

The courtyard was a complete mess. The wayfarers - who had been in a relatively gathered position from what he’d seen from the window - were scattered all over, some limping and others yelling at each other. In the middle was the bunny-girl leaned over what seemed to be some kind of magic rune, staring deep into its depths. Cain had no idea what it was, but seeing as how he held no interest in the theoretical aspect of magic, he could only assume that it was some kind of powerful spell gone wrong. Next to her was one of the other half-elves of the guild - Corel - who looked as if he’d been frollicking around on the ground making dirt-angels.
“Hey, Bun, Halfie” he greeted the pair, leaning over her to get a closer look at the perpetrator of this mess, and tsk-ed playfully as he continued, “Really now, I’m gone for ten minutes and it all goes to shit? What’s this, the old man tried to show off again?”

Interactions: Pseudo-nim (Bunny) Arai (Half-elf bro)

 

[Arai]

Corel

"A symbol," Corel repeated. That was good, a symbol might be in a book somewhere they can look at, maybe get an idea of what the hell was about to come knocking on the gate. But at the same time, a symbol was a problem, because it meant the rune was gone, no chance of replication. And rebuilding something like that wasn't a quick job. He grinned back to Estella, feigning offense. "Speak for yourself, my party tricks are the best in the business," he replied, jokingly whipping up some small sparkles in the air in front of him with a wink and a flourish. "If this a symbol and that...metal...thing is the symbol's owner, then the people in it must know something about it," he remarked. An obvious observation, but one that Corel was still putting together thoughts on. The people in the image look prepared, and a warrior looks the same in any realm. And if they followed the same symbol they were organised. And if you're invading somewhere, you send out the fighters first before your settlers. No swords or blades though. Perhaps they were all arcane practitioners?

Before he could deliberate any further, Corel was pulled out of his thoughts by the arrival of Cain. Or at least, his smell. Gods above and below, there was a fog of alcohol that seemed to be following him. He heard Cain call him halfie, and nodded in acknowledgement. "More like 10 hours buddy. You need a bath," He replied, then turned his attention back to the symbol. No change since the last 20 seconds. "Summon gone awry. And whatever we're looking for has this symbol on it. I'd say you could ask the Grand Conjurer more about it, but you're currently stood in him," As the words left his mouth, he noted the Guildmaster still stood close by. "But of course, peace on the mistral shores to him and all,"

Interactions: JoUhWrites Pseudo-nim

 

[Corrosion]

DYLAN GARRISON
Briefing Room 15-A
Viper Actual Lazaro1505 Pseudo-nim cybercrypt Elaeja Clan Ize Yakov011001
​

With the briefing over and done with, Accord decided that it was time for the next step. "Gear up and head over to Hangar Bay 01. There's a Wyvern shuttle waiting, callsign Icarus 1-1," he told the team. "We'll be continuing to take scans of the system, find out where we are and the status of the Torsion Drive. Dismissed."

​

Dylan stood to attention. "Sir!"

He turned around and led his team out, single-file out the door. Out of the door and in the hallway away from the commanders and administrator, Dylan let out a breath. "This is just... insane," he said, speaking to his team. "Our drive goes down and we drop out of Torsion right above a planet that's both perfectly habitable and holds intelligent life. I don't know about you, but that just seems a little too much to be a coincidence to me. Call me crazy, but I think something else is going on here."

The young Pathfinder turned and headed down the corridor to the elevator and called it. "But hey, I guess we might just be the first ones to make contact with intelligent life," he grinned.

Meeting intelligent life had always been a dream of his. For hundreds of years humanity had always wondered what life was like beyond Earth, and if there were any alien civilisations out there, how they would look and act. Despite hundreds of radar arrays and telescopes pointed to the dark corners of the galaxy, all had come up empty, and even with the invention of the Torsion Drive and expansion towards the stars, there was still nothing. Sure, extraterrestrial life had been found on various planets, but those were primitive lifeforms, more akin to animals than anything else. And plants were plants, no matter where they were.

The elevator arrived, and he stepped into it. "Hey, Kita," Dylan suddenly said, turning to the tall xenobiologist as the doors closed and the elevator began to descend. "You've been grinning this whole time. What's up?"

-----------------------------

ELYSCIA STORMCROWN
Fort Wayfarer Courtyard
Pseudo-nim Elaeja Crocodile welian Lazaro1505 Yakov011001 Arai StarryKnights JoUhWrites
​

Elyscia turned to Ilya as she approached. "I concur," she said. "These... creatures may have come here for conquest, if what Lady Elanna says is true. They appeared to be garbed in armour and wielding unfamiliar weapons. It also appeared that they were setting up some sort of fortress in the area we are to head to. This cannot be allowed."

She turned to her attention back to the strange rune, or symbol, rather, and furrowed her brows as Estella, the rabbit Beastfolk and a Conjurer herself spoke. "A symbol then, but of what?" She asked. "This looks like no banner or sigil or coat of arms I have ever seen. Then again, I suppose that its otherworldly nature explains it."

The symbol that had been burnt into the ground, permanently, it seemed, was very strange indeed. It was simple and geometrical, and for the life of her Elyscia could not even think about what it even meant. It was completely alien and nonsensical. She had seen demonic symbols designed to drive men mad make more sense than it. Perhaps it was a symbol for the intruders, perhaps as a sign of their conquest.

The strong odour of alcohol met her, and she scrunched up her nose in disgust, turning to the source. It was the half-elf Cain, someone she, and along with many others, found unbearably annoying. He was a fool, really, a man who joined the guild for fun and nothing else. Sure, his heart was in the right place, but he was still an utter buffoon.

She scoffed. "You need more than that, Cain. You need a full plunge in a river of holy water from the Mistral Plane," she said. Corel was another half-elf, and just slightly less insufferable in her eyes. At least he didn't stink of alcohol every moment of the day.

Now was not time for arguments, however, and Elyscia turned to Filo. "Guildmaster, it is imperative that we embark at once," she said. "As a knight, it is my duty to protect the Kingdom of Arcadia, and therefore, I volunteer to go."

 

[Clan Ize]

Katerina Ize

Katerina paid little to no actual attention to Dylan during the elevator ride and instead focused on staring out the windows and watching the crewmembers perform various jobs while they slowly descended level by level until they reached the bottom floor. As a whole, the earlier briefing had quite the effect on her. Somehow, they had managed to find a planet with the astronomically low chance of being almost identical to Earth in every way as she had seen so far from sentient human-like creatures to having houses and buildings similar to those of the 1400-1500 Middle Ages. Still though, the commander's orders echoed in her mind as she tried to focus on looking out the elevator window. Their job was to map out and gather data for a potential colony on this planet even though there were already living things here though in her mind it was justified very quickly wiping away any doubts about the mission. What they were doing was what was best for the human race as a whole. Who cared if one planet's life needed to die if another much bigger one needed to take its place. It was just survival of the fittest and the most logical solution to ensuring the survival of the human race. Or at least of their human race. The same species who had made her. The species who had bought her. And the species who were about to deploy her and her team. She belonged to them and it wasn't in her control if they were going to make them destroy another species life. After all, she was just a machine. Nothing more and nothing less.​

 

[Corrosion]

(Posting GM post for StarryKnights )

Fort Wayfarer Courtyard
Pseudo-nim Elaeja Crocodile welian Lazaro1505 Yakov011001 Arai JoUhWrites​

The fact that this was something Elanna had never truly seen before was more than a little worrying. The seer was several hundred years old, having already been a long time member by the time Filo had joined the ranks of the Wayfarers.

She was as wise as she was serene, and often shared her visions and insights into coming events in order to avoid catastrophe.

Nothing could've prepared them for visitors from what was likely an entirely different realm. Curse that old conjuror, he had to go and die, leaving them with this impossible mess!

The guild was gathering now, drawn out by the chaos of the botched summoning. Good, saved her the trouble of summoning them all.

"Aww, it's sweet for you to volunteer, Elyscia, as though I wasn't planning on asking you to come," the tiefling chuckled before facing the growing group. Cain and Corel had both joined them now, and in all the excitement she'd failed to notice Corel's presence. The former was easily detected thanks to the stench that clung to him still. Honestly, she was impressed the man's liver hadn't given out on him after all the mischief he'd been up to.

"Nice of you to join us Cain... and please... refrain from talking too much. I'm afraid I can smell your breath from here. Might start a blaze if someone struck a match."

She chuckled at her jest, but was quick to refocus. "All jokes aside... we do face quite the dilemma."

Filo began to pace back and forth as she addressed the crowd, with Miko flying just above the crowd and giving her a perfect new of her

"Lady Elanna's vision is a troubling one. It is highly likely that the Grand Conjuror's botched spell brought these...other worldly entities into our realm. And as such... who ever they are, they will likely be very, very confused."

That didn't necessarily mean hostile, but there simply was no way of knowing without making contact.

"We will send word to the castle, the court will need to be warned of this potential danger. Plus, this location is dangerously close to Arcadian territory, fortunately for us there likely won't be many civilians wandering about"

She paused beside the sooty remains of the Grand Conjurer. "I suppose we'll also need to send word to the college as well, given three of their people have died today. What a mess this has turned into..."

Filo paused beside Elanna, who stood a few inches shorter than the guild master.

"Lady Elanna and I shall work on notifying the court and the college, the rest of you should prepare. We will be leaving in due time... for what I hope with be a peaceful encounter. If there are any changes or new visions, we shall notify you."

Her blind gaze turned Elanna, a sly, slightly flirty smile coming to her lips. "Unless you have any objections with that, my good lady."

The Elder Seer didn't react, but the ghost of a smile lit up her rather serene expression beneath the shadow of her veil. "I do not, my dear guildmaster," she said. "Only the hope that you will be able to resolve this matter peacefully. I do not wish to foresee a future darker than this."

She turned around and made her way back into the fortress keep, the heels of her boots clattering as she ascended the ancient stone steps.

​

 

[JoUhWrites]

“Ah, your compassion is truly unparalleled, comrades.” Whatever quip Cain had meant to follow the sentence died in his throat when the scruffy man in front of him noted that the Conjurer was scattered across the ground. Cain had not bothered to put on any shoes - the thought of bending over had been too much - and deeply regretted his decision as he lifted one foot (having to take support against Corel’s back as he did so) to inspect it.

Among the soot, Cain was pretty sure he could see a wink of something fleshy nestled in between his toes. Barf. Where’s that fucking bucket?! Swallowing down the last of previous night’s indulgements, he looked back up at the half-elf who seemed disturbingly undisturbed. Well, Corel had actually seen the poor man blow up, unlike Cain - and it wasn’t as if wizards exploding was anything unusual. During his three-month stint at the University he’d seen at least four wannabe mages with their faces de-faced from an experiment gone awry. “Oh, damn. That’s… inconvenient.” He chucked the words out, turning back towards the Guildmaster while discreetly wiping the gunk off his foot on a relatively clean stone slab. “You sure he didn’t just play a prank on us? The old man’s a prankster, after all.” The Grand Conjurer had in fact not been a prankster and the idea of him gathering everyone to make a ha ha gotcha was about as absurd as the notion of that pink sludge being but an innocent piece of ham.

When the Seer spoke, Cain jumped slightly. Lady Elanna creeped him out; possible explanation being a combination of those glazed-over eyes, voice almost completely devoid of emotion, and the body belonging to someone who would not fit in perfectly at an old folks’ respite. Or maybe it was just that whenever she decided to speak there was some eerie job that needed to be done.
This time seemed to be no exception. Ah, what the hells. Narrowed gaze following the Seer’s escapade back into the keep, Cain sighed inwardly (mainly because a sliver of self consciousness reminded him not to sigh boozebreath all over his Guildmaster). “Alright, so when we moving out? Gonna have to ask gramps for a - eh - potion against headaches.”

Mentions: Corrosion (Guildmaster, Seer, Sir Stormy), Arai (why r u talking about a bath Corel you’re the one with dirt all over u!!), welian (grandpa )

 

[Viper Actual]

"Our drive goes down and we drop out of Torsion right above a planet that's both perfectly habitable and holds intelligent life. I don't know about you, but that just seems a little too much to be a coincidence to me. Call me crazy, but I think something else is going on here."

Grunting in response, Grissom rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck. "With Fernsworth involved you can never be too sure, sir." The veteran paused as the team entered the elevator upon which he turned around to face the doors while standing next to Dylan. He sighed and crossed both arms across chest before continuing; "Ulterior motives and non-existent intel aside they sure gave us a real shitter mission-wise. As far as I could tell our LZ puts us right in the smack-dab center of whatever's living down there and if there's anything I've learned from fighting battles and insertions into hostile territory it is to always have a route where you can fall back."

Grissom shook his head. "They might as well insert us with a mountain behind our backs and we'd have pretty much the same shitty odds."

"That said," Grissom's voice softened. "Regardless of what we may think about the mission we have a job to do. We owe it to all the colonists to do it right- hopefully there won't be any need for force once we touch down."

Corrosion

 

[Elaeja]

Pathfinder Kitamière De La Côté
​

After Accord dismissed the Pathfinders, Kita followed Dylan and the rest of the team out of the room. Kita was lost in thought as they walked and listened absentmindedly to Dylan. What really occupied his mind were two things: the commanders' response to this situation and his duties as a Xenobiologist. He had spent the last few minutes using his implant to surf through the data the commanders gave them access to, and Kita kept reviewing the images and information to learn what he could to do his job as both a Xenobiologist and as the team's sniper. When they reached the elevator, and the doors closed, Dylan brought him back into focus.

The elevator arrived, and he stepped into it. "Hey, Kita," Dylan suddenly said, turning to the tall xenobiologist as the doors closed and the elevator began to descend. "You've been grinning this whole time. What's up?"

Kita's glazed eyes that were concentrating on the ceiling gained light and looked to Dylan. The hand that was resting underneath his chin dropped, as did his crossed arm. Kita's small grin stayed plastered on his face as he answered Dylan, "hmmm, honestly? I'm a bit pumped to be among the first people, nay, scientists, to be studying this truly alien planet. I don't know about anyone else here," his eyes swept across his team as he continued, "but I have never come across another world so Earth-like in all my years as a Pathfinder. Whatsmore, the fact that there is literal, sapient, intelligent-life, is, as a Xenobiologist, excuse my French," Kita took a second to chuckle because he was French, "fucking amazing!" His eyes began to sparkle as he gushed, "think of the possibilities here! Image the kinds of things that can be learned through the, the, the... well, everything! The plants, people, biology, geology, you name it! For all we know, these people could've cured cancer using some native plant or animal or discovered renewable energy of some sort! Again, imagine the possibilities! As for myself? This is one of the reasons I became a pathfinder, to do cool shit and be among the first to do it!"

Kita to a second to catch his breath and let his grin fall as he returned his gaze to Dylan, "however, what's really on my mind, boss, is the very precarious situation we're in. These natives are primitive by our standards, and we risk a lot through the type of survey we're planning to do. Now, don't get me wrong, I'll follow my orders to boot," Kita paused, "well... maybe... anyway, let's put it this way, I respect each of the commanders' authorities. But again, the way we are going about this is questionable. It isn't my place to say what should and shouldn't be done, but since you kind of asked, here's what I think: since we are directly landing on the planet a bit inconspicuously, I might add, without first sending probes or drones, I worry about the consequences.

"If confrontation or intervention comes into play with the natives, we could destabilize the future development of these peoples and perhaps, in the worst-case scenario, start wars or spread diseases unknowingly. Think of the Mayans and Aztecs when the Conquistadors first arrived — bad stuff. We are landing before we understand how the natives and their world affect us, and in turn, us them... I think we need to take this very cautiously and strictly follow the rules of contamination. Every time we enter or leave the craft, and every time we arrive back on the ship, everything, and I mean everything, should be quarantined until we know we'll be safe. Call me paranoid if you'd like, but as a representative of Humanity, I don't want to be the harbinger of death and destruction to either the Human race or that world out there." Kita ended with a sweeping gesture then looked to each of his teammates awaiting their responses, if any.


Interactions: Corrosion Pseudo-nim Viper Actual Lazaro1505 cybercrypt Clan Ize Yakov011001

 

[Clan Ize]

Katerina Ize

It didn't take long for Katerina to decide she didn't like this man. She completely understood his reasoning and even agreed in one area which was they should make sure to quarantine themselves before returning to ensure that the human race was safe from any sickness or diseases which may reside on the planet. However, besides that, the rest of her speech did nothing but make her suspicious of where his true loyalties lay. Everything from his hesitation about following his orders through to his strange dedication to ensuring that the species which resided planet-side stayed safe made Katerina a bit cautious as to what might happen if they did engage with the natives and what he might do if it became apparent the need to pacify them was required. In her eyes, this world was a prime asset that should be used to its full potential. If it was true that this planet did indeed have resources that could not be found on Earth if Katerina could successfully secure the planet and have access to its resources the Pathfinder Guild, as well as the Kalashnikov Concern, would have a massive advantage over every other group and company on Earth who didn't have the resources they had. They would control the only supply of new materials which could greatly help both of them innovate new technology and make a massive profit selling them. The Native's on the other hand could be used for testing purposes. Primitive sentient life forms that could be experimented on without having to worry about ethical concerns but still possess a humanlike shape and mind. Now thinking about it Katerina decided that if she had the chance she would do almost anything it took to acquire a specimen of this new species to research on even if she had to acquire one by use of force should it come to it. It could be very interesting to run tests on their body and DNA and should it yield valuable results, create new technology to upgrade herself with. Now very intrigued with that idea she made a silent note to equip some extra equipment before they left.​

 

[Corrosion]

DYLAN GARRISON
Briefing Room 15-A
Lazaro1505 Pseudo-nim cybercrypt Clan Ize Yakov011001 (Mentioned)
Viper Actual Elaeja (Interacting)​

"Right..." Dylan shrugged in response to Grissom. He was still quite unused to being called sir, and doubly so when it was by someone well over twice his age and with many years more experience than him, not to mention the fact that he was practically family by now. His mother knew Grissom quite well, although Cedric and him were still more acquaintances than anything, though that was hardly his fault.

"LZ should be pretty far away from the closest settlement, so I doubt anyone will really see us," Dylan continued. "Besides, we're just gathering samples of the soil and atmosphere. We should be in and out in less than an hour."

This was an incredibly simple mission, yet one of the most crucial. Pathfinders were typically the first on the ground, and they were the ones making sure everything was safe for colonisation to proceed. While the colony would be setting up, the Pathfinders would be deployed further outwards to scout out the area in more detail than probes and satellites, along with cataloguing any native fauna and flora. They would also be responsible for reporting in any possible new settlement sites and mineral deposits that had previously been undetected.

He pursed his lips and looked to Grissom, his light green eyes shining. "I'll do what it takes," he nodded.

The elevator began to descend as Kita spoke, and Dylan couldn't help but grin at his bubbly excitement. "Guess we'll know in due time," he said. "Who knows? If these aliens are in their medieval period, they probably don't even know what cancer is, or have any knowledge of more advanced medicine aside from rubbing herbs on wounds."

Still, he frowned as Kita shared some of the many concerns he had. "I've kind of been thinking the same thing, but..." he crossed his arms. "Drones take too long to become operational, and you've seen how it is with the PACC. Sending us in was the best bet they had, given how we've been trained for this, and we're the fastest method to getting at least some idea of the situation we're dealing with better than any drone. For now, though, we'll just have to see how it goes. We stick to standard operating procedures for the time being, until we get an update, at least."

The elevator had finished its descent, and the doors opened to a rather large area. There were several lockers arranged against the walls, with the table in the middle. Next to each locker was a circular station with multiple robotic arms above each one. At the very end was a wall with multiple standard-issue weapons, mostly carbine rifles and pistols.

Spoiler

This was, of course, the Pathfinder Armory, an area restricted to Pathfinders and only Pathfinders besides direct superiors, for this was where high-tech gear and advanced Rigs were stored for their owners. Much of the equipment here was cutting-edge and rare.

Dylan stepped out and turned to his team. "Well, let's gear up and get ready to deploy. Don't wanna keep the shuttle waiting."

He headed over to his locker that was marked with his name. Once it detected him, it prompted him with a biometric scanner, to which he pressed his hand against, followed by leaning in for it to scan his face. Once his credentials had been accepted, it opened up, revealing the equipment he kept within.

The most prominent one was a quadrupedal robotic contraption that resembled a large dog that was currently folded up with its legs and head tucked into its body. Dylan grinned and leaned down, before powering it on and bringing it online.

The eyes on its head lit up suddenly, glowing blue, followed by the audio receptors that formed its ears popping up. It looked around, scanning the place before noticing Dylan. Recognising the face of its owner, it suddenly sprang up just as a dog would, before nuzzling Dylan's leg and panting exactly like its biological cousins.

"Hey there, miss me, boy?" Dylan asked, petting the machine, which stuck out its sensitive chemical-detecting tongue and whimpered affectionately. "Yes, I know you did!"

The machine was, of course, R3X, a pet project of Cedric Garrison with the neural scans of his own loyal dog before it died. R3X was designed to accompany Cedric on missions, acting as advanced recon, sensor and communications platform, materials handler, and of course, a pet. Once Dylan became a Pathfinder R3X was passed down to him as a gift, perhaps as a form of apology for always being away. Dylan couldn't really be sure. R3X was exactly what he needed, though, a loyal friend who would follow him anywhere.

Ceasing his petting of R3X, much to the machine's displeasure, Dylan returned to his attention to his locker. He took off his jacket and placed it on a hangar, instead taking out a standard Pathfinder jumpsuit that was made from highly-resilient materials and also CBRN-protected. He put it on, the apparel fitting perfectly over his body, before he zipped it up and put on a pair of gloves and boots. He then reached up to his chest and tapped it. His jumpsuit beeped, before it suddenly sealed up, ensuring that Dylan was now fully protected from any environmental hazards.

Spoiler: epic music

Once that was done, he turned to a computer interface and tapped it a few times. Next to his locker, there was a hiss of steam, and his Rig powered exoskeleton emerged from the floor. He stepped over to it, standing in the middle of the Rig station and turning around, before assuming a pose with his arms and legs apart.

The station came to life, his Scout Rig being fitted around his body, armour plates sliding into place as the robotic arms screwed everything together, servomotors whirring and the power unit humming as it came online. When it had been fully fitted, he felt it sync with his neural implant, and now he and his Rig were one.

"Calibrations initiated," came the voice of his Rig, speaking directly to him through their neural link.

He raised his arm, and his Rig complied, fluidly moving together. Then he repeated the motion with his left, before doing it with his legs. He stretched a few times, before activating his over-the-shoulder camera used for recording mission data.

"Calibrations complete."

With his Rig now active and functioning as his second skin, or rather, skeleton, in many ways, he stepped back over to his locker and took out his FN P197 personal defence weapon. It was a light and compact weapon, perfect for scouts such as himself. He inspected it, before taking out a rectangular 68-round box magazine and sliding it into the receiver and pulling back on the charging handle, chambering a caseless 4.7mm high-velocity round.

Next he took out his P423 handgun, inspecting it like he did with his P197, and, finding no errors, slid a magazine containing 28 5.7mm caseless rounds. He pulled back on the slide and chambered a round, and then inserted it into the holster by his right hip.

Last was his standard-issue combat knife, which he slid into a sheath on his left thigh. The rest was more standard-issue supplies like a medical injector and holo-tool, among other practical items. He also grabbed a few more extra magazines so he wouldn't run out of ammo.

When he was fully kitted up, and paused for a moment to inspect himself. Now he was geared as a full Pathfinder, and now he was about to deploy on his first actual mission, to a garden world with alien life, no less!

He was quite excited, to say the least.

He waited for the rest of his team to finish readying up, R3X by his side.

 

[Yakov011001]

It wasn't Vance's job to ask questions, so he didn't. He made a point to keep quiet and out of sight during the meeting, but he felt his mind creep upon itself. Just because he didn't ask questions didn't mean he did not think them. Intelligent life? Impressive, but what's more impressive is what we could learn. A lot of information and history of human society has been lost to time, even times well documented: the 20th and early 21st centuries in particular. Paper is biodegradable, folks. Perhaps like this, there's something to be learned about how humans developed as a society. This made the anthropologist in him very happy. His brain continued to auto-pilot him down to the armoury, taking to the back of the crowd. His Id directing him, his super-ego shifted to the next and arguably more important question. How long is this going to last? The big wigs referred to those life forms down there as aliens, but the real aliens were the CNE. They were encroaching upon land sprawling with life; what were they going to resort to if they were rejected? Genocide? Of course, even if this all works out and the hostility is kept to a minimum; what happens next? Oh howdy, big, metal, superpowered neighbor. How's the kids? It just seemed like there'd be a bit more to do than pop-culture osmosis in order to get in with the society, the customs and fundamental maxims of the people must differ on such a vast level.

His thoughts swirled, not helped that he was unloading a box full of life-taking tools. Sighing to himself, Vance took his rig into his arms.

A large hunk of metal wrapped in cloth: orbicular with a cylindrical outcrop on top where the handle spouted. Vance's rig was of an unorthodox shape, made for better time efficiency. Plopping it down, he rotated the handle; the pod split open, its handle splitting as well into two handles. Taking each handle into a hand, he lifted and swung the armour above his head with his palms facing out.

"Alright, lights up."

Spoiler: Music

He forced his arms out fully extended, and the pod stretched with him. In one swift motion, the rig engulfed his arms and upper back before crawling under his arms to overtake his chest. Two large canisters slid down the railing that unfolded across the back of his legs, until the came to a stop over his calves. The canisters were encased in metal plating that tapered out into an extremely wide heel, the shin plating with a number of vents as well. After a few moments to let all the parts configure themselves as needed, Vincent had his full rig on; though his mask remained retracted. But while his suit was fully assembled and equipped, its comparatively higher subroutine count made its initialization slower than others; this, combined with the weight of his boots alone meant he would be going anywhere for a hot minute. Though, he still had much more to be putting together.

He reached for two small cases, one wood, one stainless steel. Opening up the wooden case, he was met with his 1911: disassembled, its parts lying in red felt compartments. After a brief inspection of each part, he took to reassembling the handgun. It was cathartic and relaxing, something to ease the anxiety slowly crawling up his spine as he tried not to think about what would happen if he actually needed the damn thing. Pushing the barrel through the front of the slide, he locked it in place with the spring that came through and rested on its underside. Capping it off with the barrel bushing, Vance brought the slide back down on the frame only to do a little dance with the barrel ring trying to get the slide lock back in place. It took some finagling, but he managed to get it in where it should be. Finally, he sealed the deal with the spring sleeve. He was extra careful with it, as to not lose it in the fucking mess that was this armoury.

Moving to reassemble his M9 from the stainless steel case, Vance's mind wandered: the Beretta being far easier to assemble. What was the endemic life like? He was hoping that if he would be using fatal force on anything, it would be some kind of monster. They were no doubt going to be landing some ways away from any cities, towns, or otherwise populated areas; if they were lucky, any and all opposition would be found there.

Having finished the 92FS assembly, he moved to take a large, carbon-fiber case. Inside, was his 2213VR; it was cracked in half, the bolt assembly laying between the barrel and the receiver, also in its individual parts. Taking a tool from the case, he put the bolt assembly together and sandwiched it between the barrel and the receiver like a deadly Oreo.

Then, in the back, finally: the 2219. It was hefty, an unwieldly weapon, and one Vance wasn't particularly fond of. It was a last resort, but he still needed to carry it. It was already fully assembled, the parts being infinitely difficult to release. He took it into his arms, slinging it onto his back where it met two connectors that held it in place: the resource delivery connections. He fucking prayed he'd never need to take the safety off this damn thing for any fucking reason. That shit would be catastrophic. Not, like. Atom bomb-type shit; small town in fifteen minute more like. Still bad!

He took to the munitions section of his locker. Specially manufactured by the FED, and a lot. He was probably the only one on this ship that still uses ballistics, well there was one other. .45 ACP, 9mm Parabellum, 5.45: the whole kit and caboodle. Of course, there were more specialty rounds. Two inparticular being the RIP rounds and the Executioner rounds. The Executioner rounds were designed by Vance himself, a round made to split near immediately after exiting the barrel. A round with and effective range of six inches: made not for combat, but for capital punishment.

That was his kit, fully assembled.

"Now I guess it's just time to sit around with my dick in my hand."

Waiting is hard.

 

[Viper Actual]

"Besides, we're just gathering samples of the soil and atmosphere. We should be in and out in less than an hour."

"Let's hope that's all there is to it," replied Grissom.

As the team arrived at the armory Grissom walked up to his own locker. While automated, it was an older generation of equipment lockers originally used to shuttle gear between CNE military vessels for their onboard marine contingents. This one had been with Grissom through his old career as shown by the scratches, faded colors, dirt and various military barcodes that had been scratched, ripped off or partially torn only to be replaced by new ones. Aside from a layer of barcode-stickers there were etchings from comrades old, a wide assortment of military unit patches and other smaller talismans and military memorabilia.

There were also certain spots that clearly had a fresh coat of military green paint, marking newly-installed Pathfinder modifications to the locker itself which had been refitted to store, recharge and maintain Grissom's personalized HUSMER rig. Upon approaching the tall veteran entered his personal code on a near-ancient keypad mounted on the front of the locker. A light turned green and slowly the creaky metal doors opened up to reveal the contents inside.

Silently, Grissom pieced together his rig. Starting from the bottom he put on the base layer exo-skeleton which had been split into shins, belt, chest, back and arms. One by one the heavy pieces were placed above his uniform fabrics and as they connected with the belt's power-supply they suddenly felt much more lightweight than in their inactive state. Next up was the armor which was simply snapped onto the exoskeleton using magnets and SmartSensor hardpoints. Body armor, groin protection, thigh pads, shinguards, deltoid pads and forearm armor was all equipped.

Finally, Grissom placed the helmet on his head and as it connected with the power-supply the built-in HUD flared up and began to run a pre-operation automated diagnostics program. Grissom flipped up the visor but let the armored mandible remain in place which masked half of his face. Add the shadow created by the brim of the helmet and all anyone could really see was Grissom's cybernetic eye.

Once he was all suited up Grissom began to grab his weapons. Firstly he picked up his trusty Mule handcannon which he powered up, loaded and aimed just to make sure that the HUD was all synced up. Satisfied with the results he holstered it and grabbed his rifle, repeating the process. Nodding, Grissom placed the rifle on his back where it was magnetically attached before grabbing his bulky ammunition pack and strapping it on to the center of his rear armor plate. Grabbing the belt of ammunition with one hand he used the other to grab his S&S RAW and connected the two.

Grissom closed up his equipment locker and turned around to face the team, spinning up the barrels on his RAW briefly as he did. "Ready for duty."

 

[Clan Ize]

Katerina Ize

As Katerina followed the rest of her team into the Pathfinder's private armory she quickly identified the locker she had been assigned to which appeared for the most part as a blank, plain, but new locker with the only differences from a completely standard one being that there was no visible way to open the locker and a Kalashnikov Logo which had been painted in the top left-hand corner. The reason for the first one being that because Katerina didn't have a unique fingerprint to open the locker so instead she opened it by simply applying a low volt of energy for 5 seconds at the right spot to open it up. Then proceeding to do so her locker door swiftly swung open revealing, for the most part, her uniform, and equipment which had been issued and manufactured for her but also contained her personal robot which she had dubbed K305.


Slipping into her jumpsuit and putting on her tactical gear Katerina took a small look around to see what the rest of her team was up to and for the most part, saw them either preparing their weapons or activating their HUSMER rigs which Katerina took a moment to watch. It was quite interesting for her to see humans having to put on extra equipment just to be able to use features she had integrated into her. It often made her think about how inefficient humans were designed but always came to the same conclusion which was that humans were inefficient at many things and that it was clear machines and Artificial Intelligence was far more efficient at almost everything. However, there was one thing about them which she couldn't quite grasp yet. Many times much of their inefficiency came from taking unnecessary actions or taking illogical paths, however, somehow though they had still managed to survive thousands of years without being replaced. To her it just didn't add up, humans were inefficient, illogical, had highly incapable bodies but yet.... had still managed to continue to live. And no amount of searching and information gathering ever seemed to answer how exactly they could do it. Snapping back to reality though Katerina had almost finished equipping her gear and calibrating her weapons with now the only steps remaining to be to activate K305 and to put on her treasured beret which had been put in the very back of her locker behind the rest of her gear. Activating K305 and watching as its single blue phosphor gradually light itself up she gave it a small pat on the head before putting on her beret and walking up to her Unit Leader, Dylan. Next to him what she identified as a robot but appeared to be a dog, which reminded her to take a glance at K305 which was similarly by her side to her. Turning her attention back to the unit leader though she moved her rifle into a neutral position and looked up at him.

"Commander, I have successfully finished gearing up.....Nice to meet you"


She spoke as she had before in a soft monotone voice before moving her head to look at R3X curiously and kneeling down to it. Transmitting to it a question in binary which roughly translated would come out as

"Hello, fellow unit, what is your designation and purpose?"

However, to Dylan, it would just appear as if she had knelt down next to R3X and stared at it.


Interactions: Corrosion​