Against the turquoise grass plains of Xeria, the golden fields of Zion Colony's agriculture may seem out of place.
Zion was a colony that was old, but not very large or influential. It had been built alongside a river, and near a mine. Farmland gave it food, the river gave it water, and the mine gave it income.

Against the river, pointed southwards, was the capital building, which doubled as a watermill power generator. On top of the building was a dark blue flag, with an image of a compass and a square (as in, the tools) drawn in light blue. Inside the compass and square was an image of an eye. To the left of the logo, was the Latin word "Annuit" and to the right "Coeptis". The was the national flag of TWR, the relatively new government organization that Zion had sworn fealty to.

The building faced a sea of NASA modules (where the slightly richer lived), log cabins (where the lower middle class lived), and tents (for the very poor). To the west were flea markets, where people sold things in their off hours. In the very center of the city was the entrance to the mine. On both sides of the city were farms. The entire city was surrounded by a single chain-link fence.

From the capital building came the voice of the captain speaking through his intercom.
"Testing, testing. Citizens of Zion. I have a very important announcement to make. Just south of our colony, another mining settlement has seemingly disappeared. TWR would like us to send a team to go investigate. All free hands should head towards the front gate. Captain, out."

Guard duty was the worst job a man could have. Although some might beg to differ, some believed that as a guard you got to sit around all day and watch the world go buy while you ate like kings. Unfortunately the was not true, most days Nero spent his time passing people through the checkpoint, checking passports and ID's and what not, once in a while there was the idiot who wanted to smuggle something in and when caught made a scene had was arrested, unfortunately those days were very rare, much more rare that he could bargain for. Nero missed the days of venturing outside the colony, protecting expediters from the beasts of the wild and bandits, that was the life. Unfortunately no one was really venturing out side anymore due to the recent disappearances of the colony's. Although it concerned Nero, he really could not do anything about it, so he just went about he daily life as is they never happened.

Nero flexed his mechanical arm, it felt just like his old arm, he could barely tell the difference, except for the fact that he could punch through steel due to the fact that it was military grade. Nero walked down the streets of the colony, making sure no one tried to pull anything funny.

"Testing, testing. Citizens of Zion. I have a very important announcement to make. Just south of our colony, another mining settlement has seemingly disappeared. TWR would like us to send a team to go investigate. All free hands should head towards the front gate. Captain, out."

When the announcement ended Nero did not hesitate, he immediately turned to the gate briskly walked towards it. This was finally his opportunity to leave Zion again, and be would not waste it.

Readying disconnection from main hub. Standby. . .

With a hissing sound of cables retracting themselves into their respective slots, the lid of the "helmet" that connected the android's neuro-hub to the workstation slided up, revealing the face of unit 0157, nicknamed "Chen". Her outmost layer of android armor were pale white, and along her body was black spots where cables and other technology could connect with the android. From each spot ran a black line, glowing with red from underneath. Chen certainly looked human than most androids, but she was far from it. Most of the scientists working with her had been against the idea of giving her a nickname, or even to refer to her as "her" at all. To most of them, she was still "it", and just "Unit 0157". Due to Chen's installed social-modules, she had adopted the nickname as her own however, and refered to herself as such when met with familiar faces.
Once disconnected from her workstation, the android stapped over to the console next to it, quickly pressed a series of buttons and turned around again as the chamber to the workstation closed, the hissing mechanical sound returning, and fading.

A man entered. A scientist, wearing a set of goggles covering his eyes like a blindfold, with a thin line of neon-blue light running through it's middle, where he supposedly saw through. He was tall, wore a white lab jacket and his skin was dark. In his hand he held a PDA, a sort of digital folder filled with information. Like a laptop.
"Ah, 0157 you're finished. Right on schedule, too I see." he said, glancing at her before inspecting his PDA to make sure all the data she aquired was in order. "Affirmative." she responded, her voice calm and that of an android. Synthetic. "In my seven years of service only one recorded occasion exists within my logs of running overtime. It is exactly three minutes and --" she continued for informational purposes, but the labman interrupted her. "Yes, I wasn't being sarcastic. I'm aware you do give good results. Which is why I am sending you on a special assignment." he said and put the PDA down, looking straight at her. She looked straight back, indifferent. "The captain of the colony has requested individuals to volunteer for an... Expedition of sorts. A colony south of here has gone dark. We're sending you in to accompany the expedition, to gather data and perhaps salvage something." he continued, but paused for a second to correct himself. "And by salvage I mean for investigational purposes, of course." he added, not even breaking a sweat. "Understood." Chen responded, already running her new directive through her objectives list. "Go to the capital building, tell the expedition leader or whoever greets you that we are volunteering you for the expedition. Run along now." the labcoat finished, grabbed his PDA again, nodded and left the way he came, looking casually busy.

Chen wasn't programmed to be suspicious, nor was she programmed to question. She was to follow this directive and found no reason to disobey it. She entered the module-chamber and had her outdoors-modules installed (reflex booster, strength booster, equippment, etc) to get ready for the expedition. She was capable of taking own actions and planning. She was very independent, which many of the working scientists on her team says is the reason for her success. Too many androids are too dependant on human direction, they say, that they cannot even take own decisions when faced with conflicting options. It has proven to be quite a flaw when working the field and introduced to an accident or hazzardous situation. Chen, however, was programmed to be independant as well as take directive from humans. It gave her an edge on the older models. Still, she was not as greatly equipped as the Class 2 and Class 1 explorer mobile units, but then again they were more bulky and not as nimble.

With all her modules in place (tech-armor and modules plugged into the black spots on or strapped to her body.) she made her way out of the Prospection-Research lab and toward the capital building. Once there, she found she was one of the first to arrive. Once outside the building, she waited outside patiently for the captain to call her inside. That's when she noticed a guardsman coming towards her. She had basic recognition software installed, so she could easily recognize the man. He might not know this android, but accessing the colony database which she was linked to she could access all the non-classified information there is to find about Zion's population.

Once he was in talking-range, Chen spoke to him. "Hello, Guardsman Williams. Are you volunteering for the expedition to the mining settlement to the south?" she asked him politely, yet her android face hinted of no emotion.

Lewis was cleaning guns when he heard the announcement. It was about that time when he decided that he was a free hand.
With a certain enthusiasm, he strapped on an armor vest, put on this hat and then grabbed an SMG before running out the door.

When he arrived, he noticed a cyborg and a robot talking with each other. He recognized the machine; it was Chen. He stopped, and proceeded to catch his breath.
He made sure his armor was on right and then spoke.
"Hey, guys. Am I late for the expedition?" he asked.

Jakhi opened the door to a rather large wooden tavern, popular with hunters in particular. He passed by several other hunters sitting and socializing. The more experienced hunters glanced at Jakhi's pack, always curious as to what others bring back from the untamed world. Jakhi was carrying several white fur pelts, folded into squares and secured with string. Some hunters said their greetings and Jakhi returned them. He stopped at the bar, where the Barkeeper stood, smiling.

"Welcome back Mr. Wintergreen! What is your catch today?" He spoke in a strange accent. The Barkeeper was the reason why most hunters liked this particular tavern, a guy who, aside from mead and alcohol, sold many things. From small candies, to bullets, to medical supplies. Of course, it was always better to go to a specialized merchant since they offered a wider variety of whatever they sold, but many hunters found that this tavern was good for many of their needs.
"Six large furs from mountain predators." Jakhi replied with a hint of pride, placing the furs on the counter.
"Ah! Mountain furs are very rare to come by, how long did it take for you to acquire these?" The Barkeeper asked while inspecting the furs. This was another reason why hunters liked the place, the Barkeeper purchased whatever they hunted, then handed the items to his wife, who owned a shop in the Markets. He was a middleman, and hunters who didn't have the time to sell their items themselves could sell it to the Barkeeper.
"I spent a month stalking a small pack of mountain felines, then the concurrent fight lasted roughly half an hour. About two days of butchering and skinning, and another two weeks making the trip back. Unfortunately I couldn't bring any of the meat with me." Jakhi explained, to which the Barkeeper replied with a 'tsk tsk'. "Don't worry, I had it frozen on that mountain. When Keller comes by, could you tell him to go to Mountain A-4 and fetch the meat? It's marked by three mountain cat skulls." He continued,
"Of course my friend. Anyways, how does a hundred and a half more than usual large pelts sound?" The Barkeeper asked,
"Sounds good." Taking the currency that the Barkeeper offered. He was about to leave when he heard the intercom system crackle to life.

"Testing, testing. Citizens of Zion. I have a very important announcement to make. Just south of our colony, another mining settlement has seemingly disappeared. TWR would like us to send a team to go investigate. All free hands should head towards the front gate. Captain, out."

Everyone in the tavern looked at each other, and many of the hunters began to make excuses. Some apparently had dates, others were preparing to a hunt.
Jakhi sighed, "Fine, fine. I'll go. Dak, you're getting the next one though."
A "Yeah" was heard from across the bar.
Jakhi turned to the Barkeeper and gave him some money, then took a fresh box of mints. After leaving the tavern, he walked to the front gate. Noticing that already a couple of people had gathered.
"Is this the team?" He asked them.

Lewis approached Chen and Nero, and greeted them. Chen turned to him and replied, "Guardsman Campbell. Good evening. Negative, you are not late. You are among the first to arrive.". Shortly after that, Jahki the hunter approached, and since Chen did not recognize him at first she did a quick search in the colony database. She greeted him as well, as she was programmed to. "Greetings, Huntsman Tennoras. Affirmative, this is the volunteers so far. I am Unit 0157, mobile exploration unit, nicknamed "Chen". These two gentlemen are Guardsmen Nero Williams and Lewis Campbell. The captain has not greeted us yet." she said, rather informative as was her protocols. She was programmed to respond to most inquiries made by humans, and since Jahki was part human, he was included. She was also unusually informative since the two hadn't met before.

Jakhi opened his mouth to reply to Chen, but stopped, leaving his mouth open as he finally realized that he wasn't looking at a natural being, but rather a synthetic android. Well that explains why she knows my name, he thought to himself. He examined her further, noting all of the... Robotic bits of her usually perfect form. She gave Jakhi a sense of unease, and he found his hand instinctively hovering over his revolver holster. The Hunter consciously crossed his arms in an effort to keep his hand away from his gun, and leaned on one leg. Although at a loss of what to say at the strange marvel of engineering and science in front of him, he settled on greeting them back.
"Chen." He nodded to her, a person with a particularly good ear could hear the hint of unease in his voice. "Guardsman Williams, Guardsman Campbell." He said to the other two. He kept one eye on the android, remembering the tales of certain early androids going ballistic and harming the people nearby. After a second, he spoke again, "Do we have any idea as to what we're walking into?"

Out in front of the gate comes a large transport rover. There is a driver's seat, but no driver-it's all on autopilot.
The machine looks similar to a cross between a dune buggy and a lunar rover. It's pulling a cart that has a few chairs on it, allowing it to carry multiple individuals.

A radio on the machine speaks. "Alright, hop on. We shouldn't keep the mining colony waiting."

“Commencing live-firing test,” he murmured for the recording before he picked up a number of empty metal cans. In front of him was one of the few automated turrets he and a few others had been working on for the colony, and this was the first to be set up. “Threat evaluation, all readings hostile.” At his commands, the mounted laser sight changed from green to a bright red, signaling a correct change in its targeting programming. Nodding happily, he began to gently lob the empty cans up in the air in front of the turret. At first he went slowly, letting the turret shoot each can out of the sky before throwing another. Eventually though, he was hurling cans left and right, up into the sky and rolling them along the ground, doing so fast and slow, and giving the targeting systems and mechanical mount a real workout. When he finally ran out of targets for the turret, Fuyo stepped back with a smile. “Tracking and accuracy rate seems to hold at about 95%. Easily within acceptable boundaries, I’d call this a success.” With that he put an end to the recording and began to pack up his tools, ready for the next job ahead. It just wasn’t one he was really expecting, and one he was already running late for.

He arrived at the gathering location fully dressed, the jacket and his full loadout having been put on over the body armor he wore for his day to day routine. His carbine was slung so it hung in front of him, and he gave the other five members of this sudden expedition a small wave in greeting as he jogged up to them. It looked like he was just in the nick of time as a large transport rolled over to the gate and came to a halt, ready to receive the team. “Sorry about that, got word when I was still working.”