---

After the short and dirty introductions Hawkins had given to the rest of the pilots, Cassandra had been more than happy to distract herself with the craft she would be spending the next couple of hours with. She was already fairly familiar with the Shriek; being a Conglomerate piece of tech, it would have been surprising if she wasn’t.

Currently, the hoverbike rested on the floor of the hangar, having been been brought down when the hangar crews were informed it would be used on the mission today. The Shriek was a comfortable sight after so much Federation, Martian, and Armani tech. Slipping into the craft, Cassandra put on her helmet, and with so much as a blink, allowed her cybernetics to take over. Her vision filled with a HUD; it was crude, and decidedly militaristic, rather than some of the augments the Armani had, but it got the job done.

>Nagasaki Conglomerate Cybernetics Link engaged
>Connection with R-52 SHRIEK Revision 5601 successful
>User Recognized: 2nd Ltnt. C. Atkov
>Beginning flight checklist

>REACTION CONTROL: OK
>REPULSE THRUST: OK
>FUEL: OK
>ENGINES: OK
>CAPACITORS: OK
>IRS: ALIGN
>COMMUNICATIONS: ERROR: FAILURE IN MAIN BUS 3

Cassandra let out a groan. This was the first time using the Shrieks since the launch of the arks, and it was no wonder there was going to be a problem, just a matter of when and where. It was annoying, however, that it was now, and here. Regardless, this was her area of expertise, so the problem was trivial. With a quick flurry of tapping and swiping across the screens that comprised the Shriek’s dashboard; a temporary fix was put in place.

>MAINTENANCE OVERRIDE ENGAGED
>REROUTING COMMUNICATIONS THROUGH SECONDARY BUS 5
>CONTINUING WITH STARTUP SEQUENCE
>MAIN ENGINE START

With a sudden shudder and a hum, the engines of the shriek came to life. While the Shrieks were mounted with a capacitor bank to keep them powered; they relied on the power the main engines generated to keep them topped up, and were only used to start the engines initially. Once the engines were running, however, the rest of the craft would flare to life. It was a rather efficient way of doing things; however that means if you ran out of power in these things while the engines were off you would be dead in the water.

A whistle off to Cassandra’s left saw Sara Hawkins trooping up to where the two Shrieks were grounded, a survival pack over each shoulder, plopping one down at Cassandra’s feet with a heavy crunch. The survival packs were standard issue for recon missions, and because the Shrieks themselves had no ‘trunk’ to store materials, the pilots were stuck either wearing the bulky packs, or strapping them to their vehicles. The bulky packs contained everything they would need for an extended away mission- including a bivouac sack, multi-tool, combat tomahawk, a first aid kit, two 1-liter canteens, 3 days worth of food, and 4 days worth of ‘food-substitute’ nutrient pills, compass, and distress beacon, among other things. The packs also had a ARX-59 rifle and a few magazines of ammunition strapped to their side.

“Haven’t had to use one of these since basic,” Sara commented as she went about the process of strapping the pack to the top of her Shriek. It made sense, Armani were primarily spacefarers, not foot troopers.

Cassandra nodded in return, grabbing the pack and going about strapping it to the Shriek, “Same here, although the Con ones were a bit different.”

She took the rifle from the pack, and briefly inspected it. She lamented that she had left her own weapon on the Ark; she’d’ve preferred something with a bit more stopping power. The weapon was, obviously, in pristine condition, so there was no maintenance to do.

Turning to Sara, Cassandra inquired, “Is there a plan once we’ve launched, or are we going as the crow flies?”

“We’re going to be working with Ark-Sec to scout around the planet surface- think of it like a joint-operation. As far as what we'll be doing specifically. We're going to be pathfinding for the main convoy- finding the quickest path towards the source of the EM disturbance, with the least amount of interference.”

“Sounds good. How soon do we launch?”

“Right now.” Sara replied with a solid clap to the hood of Cassandra’s Shriek before jogging back to her own.

Nodding, Cassandra resolved herself and gripped the Shriek’s controls. First mission, here we go.

The noise in the hangar was drowned out by the reverberating hum of the Shriek’s gravity repulsors as the small vehicle lifted into the air, idling steadily about a half meter from the floor of the Nyx. The lightweight craft bobbed and lightly bounced as weight was shifted on the craft. As the Nyx’s hangar doors open, the Shriek’s engines roared to life and the vehicles screamed out of the hangar bay, proving their namesake earned by their high pitched engines.

Locke had to stifle a laugh. He then cast a finger at the droid to his right. “This machine is top of the line Martian military hardware. From our initial scans it will be stronger than you, and a processor that’s top of the line without all the fleshy meaty bits. If it came to a fight my money would be on the droid.” He nodded to the guard standing at the cell. “As it is, these are your new keepers. So should you wish to fight, all you need do is escape. Thanks to the inability of the United Earth Council to collaborate, I’m holding you under Martian law now since you want to be held so badly.” The admiral could clearly notice a certain lack of attention from the prisoner, as she seemed to evaluate the droids instead of listening to him.

“I have no doubt you have skills, or maybe even abilities that Chief TreVayne could benefit from in performing his duties. Though at this moment in time, all evaluations are to whether or not you will be released into the general population. You’ll return to your duties in engineering under the observation of the Chief of Engineering and staff I appoint to keep an eye on you, however you’ll be in considerably less sensitive areas than the main engineering bay. If you prove yourself to be trusted, given time, I may be willing to re-evaluate my position on the matter. Is this clear?”

“Er, what? Engineering?” she finally turned her head at the man. “If it’s a clearance issue, I’m sure Security have ‘less sensitive’ areas as well.” The woman didn’t sound satisfied, but she wasn’t overly feisty either. “Now, look, I’m not complaining - this is acceptable,” she gestured at the droids with her hands, “But it would be a waste of everyone’s time. What matters to me is not what the Chief of Engineering thinks - but what the Chief of Security does. I will take this opportunity to remind you that the reason I infiltrated Engineering was not because I thought I would be useful there - but because it’s the one place where it’s easiest to hide with a minimal amount of technical savvy and without knowing anyone else.”

The prisoner crossed her arms. “What you’re basically asking me is to prove how good a race driver I am by making me fix airplane engines. Sure it’s a good way as any to gauge personality and work ethic, but is it the correct personality and work ethic?”

Locke merely looked at her. “It is not my concern to what you believe is acceptable, and not acceptable.” He brought a tablet up to view, from holding it by his right hand side and pointed the screen towards Chizuru in the cell so she could read it, it was her dossier. “You are the one who chose engineering, if I may remind you. You chose not to approach the program out of what, spite to your former masters in the conglomerate? If you had approached the program we wouldn’t be having this conversation as you would likely be on the alien planet right now.”

Lowering the tablet again he sighed. “At the end of the day, this is the offer. You need to wait, earn your trust and then if by the time we send an away team to a planet you’ve not gotten yourself into any trouble we’ll see how well you can follow orders and act as part of a security detail. You chose this path, you’re going to have to deal with the consequences. Now, do you have anything else you wish to add?”

At the end of what seemed a short but violent internal struggle, the cyborg poked a finger at the forcefield with startling speed. “What the hell do you mean, chose not to approach the program? I have applied numerously, through different channels! None of them were public due to the secrecy around the Daedalus Project, which may explain your information, but you can rest assured all of the high brass knew about this application. I was rejected at the threshold by a reason so ridiculous and hypocritical I even considered sabotaging the program in order to see these Holier-Than-Thou cowards burn in the flames of irony with the rest of us!”

“Ten thousand people!” She threw up her hands. “Ten to the power of four people died for each member of this crew, including those in cryostasis! Are you humanity’s best, Mr. Locke? Knowing I was rejected? Are you ten thousand times better than me?”

Locke retained his cool. Some people could. “Admiral Locke is the correct title-” he said cooly as he raised his hand as if correcting a child. “-Also I am sorry. I may have missed something in your file, the part where you fought during the Three Day War. I was there above Mars, three fleets.” He raised three fingers, emphasising his point “Three Fleets. The bulk of Martian, Federation and Conglomerate forces-” His voice began to raise the more he spoke. “-the best and the bravest fought a fleet a fraction of the size the one that was coming for us! Three god damn fleets!”

He cleared his throat. “I don’t know what it was your Conglomerate Masters thought you could do but by god get your head out of your own ass. What could you possibly have done? What could a thousand of you possibly have done? If everyone had been changed like you, and I mean everyone. We may have stood a chance I suppose, but at what cost? How much of you is actually human? Your problem with your Conglomerate masters blocking your entry, I’ll admit that is unfortunate. That’s the problem when a Government does research it was banned from doing and doesn’t want anyone to know about.”

Locke moved in closer to the force field. “Though I don’t give a damn how good you think you are, you do not get to choose to be a security risk aboard my ship. Am I better? Well not physically but I was given this post, I may have had my reservations but I am responsible for the safety and wellbeing of these people and I will see them land safely on a new world or I will give my life to see that come true. You better believe that. You stowed away fine, but you come to me directly, instead of causing some facade and call it a test. That isn’t your decision to make, nor is casually suggesting the sabotage of an Ark. Do you realize what these Arks even represent? Do you even care?”

“I have looked at the numbers.” the cyborg’s voice was now strangely monotonous. “There was only one way to make a project at such a scale work - bleeding everything else dry. What you are looking at is a prototype, the best that could’ve been done with the given budget and personnel. Hah, budget, kind of amusing to think in such terms when humanity’s future is at stake, right? We were not amused.”

“What these Arks used to represent to me was a backstab in humanity’s artery. It is funny how quickly we adapt to new horrors, though. The arks, this ship, is the only Earth I have left. But you must understand, at your rank, you were part of this betrayal for me. I could have never approached you. And even now I still think whether it would’ve been better to burn to death with the rest of my friends and my family. They were not good enough for this program, were they? They wouldn’t’ve made a difference. I will. In their name and in the name of Old Earth.”

She took a deep breath, with a loud hiss of air but barely any movement of her chest. “For this, I will endure - Being looked down upon by you for being a mere child in the Three Day War, even though I doubt most of this ship’s crew was selected with this parameter, wasting time in Engineering in the same way you consider my drill a waste of time. It is not such a bad deal, Admiral Locke. I am ready for the transfer.”

“I don’t look down on you for being a child during the war, I was just making it clear to you that no matter how many of you were made it wasn’t going to do anything in the grand scheme of things. An army of cyborgs would have been effective had the Devastators shown any interest in invasion rather than just attacking us. These Arks represent hope, and if we could have got every human possible aboard then I wouldn’t have left until we had done so. We had to save the few in order to have a future.” He sighed, that wasn’t really a conversation he felt that he was ready to have with himself, let alone anyone else. Everytime he brought it up he still felt a twang of guilt at not staying behind, even just himself to contribute to the fighting.

“Like everyone else here, you’ll get your chance to prove yourself. Though now you need to earn back trust. Your Psych eval looks promising, and once our robotics expert is back on the ship she’ll give you the once over before you’re released back to your new duty station. Though if you wish, under escort, you may visit the garden of Eden for an hour or so, many aboard the ship find it therapeutic and relaxing.”

The garden of eden is not real. Chizuru closed her mouth, then suddenly realized she did not say that out loud. Did she want it to be real? “There’s no rest for the wicked.” She forced out of herself, her voice on the verge of faltering, “But then again, no one refuses a shower before going back out to war.”

She stepped away from the energized threshold. “I wish to believe this isn’t the last time we discuss this, Admiral Locke. I would fire everything I have at you otherwise, but you have managed to shake me, and I have lost my edge for now.” She slowly lowered herself into her usual sitting position in the center of the cell. “I accept your proposition - all of it. Please do not decrease the stopping power of the security you assign to me until I am deemed trustworthy. I will make sure they are not wasted should a real security breach occur.”

Collab with @rawk

Mackenzie returned to the Robotics Bay once she received a clean bill of health from Amara and the creepy medical droid Ruby. Her tools still lay scattered about as she had not yet finished repairing all the Droids set to be used for this trip. The team would just have to deal with one of the geological data gathering droids as the other two were still on the fritz. Quickly she began to pick up her tools and put them away. For a moment she hesitated outside the storage room before putting what needed to go in there away. She had to convince herself that it would not lock her in again. She would never hear the end of this from Amara as it was. A second time would be the death of her.

It only took about 10 minutes to finish her clean up. She now needed to find Chief TreVayne and convince him that she would be useful on the trip. Usually her presence was not necessary on trips like these but that didn't mean she couldn't find something to do. She smirked to herself as she thought about it. The universe was pretty good at putting her where she needed to be and she counted the crew of the Nyx to be lucky she had gotten herself trapped here. It would have thrown off the entire team if those data droids had not functioned correctly.

“Noah, could you please tell me the whereabouts of Chief TreVayne?” She asked as she headed out the door and towards the central lifts.

“Of course, Mackenzie. Chief TreVayne is currently located in the Hangar Bay aboard the R207 Beast Command Vehicle.”
Mackenzie took the central lifts down to the lower level of the Nyx and hooked a left. Several people greeted her as she passed them. She didn't recognise any of them, but she nodded her greets anyway. She didn't stop however and she entered the Hangar Bay. She headed straight for the Beast.

“Pardon me miss.” One of the guards, a tall, lean build, light brown-skinned man who looked to be in his early twenties was stationed outside of the transport’s main entrance stairway and held a hand out while holding a datapad in the other. The stitched name tag on his uniform read J. Edwards. “I need to see your boarding pass please.” His tone seemed firm but was still friendly.

Mackenzie froze in her tracks. “ Ahhh, about that. I ahh, am here to see Chief TreVayne about a little bit of a misunderstanding and why I don’t currently have a boarding pass. I’ll wait here, if you wouldn’t mind paging him for me. The name is Mackenzie, Mackenzie Newton.” She paused for a moment. “ From Robotics.”

“Storage Locker Girl” The guard said matter-of-factly as he began typing something into his datapad.

Mackenzie sighed deeply. No doubt that her predicament had spread across the Nyx quickly. She wouldn't be surprised if she became the butt of many security jokes.” Yeah, that’s me. Now, could you please contact Chief TreVayne.”

The guard smirked at the girl for a moment before nodding in acknowledgement. “Alright, just a minute, Ms Newton.” He said, as switched his comm on. “Chief this is Edwards at the front entrance, over.” The guard continued after confirmation. “There is a ‘Mackenzie Newton’ standing here requesting to see you about a matter regarding her boarding pass, and is fairly insistent.” Again, Edwards paused as he listened, and then a slight smile cracked. “Yes Sir, that would be the same girl.” He said, giving Kenzie a mocking wink. “Ten-Four Chief, I’ll have Ramirez take my post and escort her to you immediately, Edwards out.”

The Agent keyed in a few more things on the datapad before looking back up at Kenzie with his bright hazel eyes. “Well, looks like it’s your lucky day, Ms Newton. Chief TreVayne will meet you up near the cockpit in ‘Briefing Room A’, but don’t worry, I’ll show you the way.” He said, motioning his hand toward the steps leading up into the Command Vehicle. “After you, ma’am.”

“Much appreciated,” Mackenzie said as she walked passed Edwards up the steps she was directed towards. As she walked, she also watched as the hangar bay bustled with activity. There were a few Droids already in use and she took note of them. Amara had not shown her the inside of the bay during their tour but merely pointed it out to her.

Not completely sure where she was headed she looked back to Edwards. “This way?,” she pointed in the direction she thought the briefing room would be.

The Agent nodded and lead the rest of the way down the corridor toward the front of the vehicle, stopping outside a small room marked “Briefing - A”, and addressing the man standing inside who was currently leaned over a small holo-map in the center of the table.

“Chief, this is-”

“Come on over Ms. Newton” The Chief said abruptly while fidgeting with the device that appeared to be malfunctioning, it's holographic images showing up distorted and noisy. “Maybe you can figure out what's wrong with this damn thing.”

Edwards turned to Kenzie and smiled. “Alright...then I'll leave you to it. Good luck.” He gave her a quick pat on the shoulder before exiting back down the corridor.

Mackenzie nodded her thanks to Edwards as he turned to leave the room. She wanted to ask him out to coffee some time, but she realized this was really not the right time to ask.

Gavon looked up from what he was doing to address the woman across the table. “I assume you know a thing or two about holo-tech, so this shouldn't be a problem, right?” He said nonchalantly, with an expression was hard to read otherwise.“Oh, and by the way, welcome to the team.”

“Thanks Sir,” Mackenzie said as she turned her attention to the Chief of Security and casually walked up to the table. “ I am thoroughly embarrassed about the inconvenience.” She paused for a moment as she looked over the image projector. Then without warning she slammed the bottom of her fist into the table twice. The image flickered slightly and then solidified. Mackenzie sighed and continued, “ I'd like to blame someone else, but I can't. Its happened before and it more likely will happen again.”

It had not been too difficult for Mackenzie to convince the Security Chief that she could be useful during the away mission. He didn't seem against the idea to begin with but with knowledge of the misbehaving Droids he seemed apt to have her near by should anything go wrong.

Once that was settled, Chief TreVayne explained how the mission would proceed and all the rules that need to be strictly followed. Mackenzie nodded her acceptance of those rules even though she could only remember about half of them when he was done. She was then dismissed to go get the proper Id Badge and get outfitted for the mission.

A short time later Mackenzie stood aboard the Beast as it was in was in final preparations to launch. She was more excited than she thought she would. Her mind raced with all the possibilities this planet could represent for adventure and discovery.

“This is sooo awesome!” she said to Michael who stood beside her.

Melanie was seated cross-legged in the center of her bed shuffling some playing cards out of boredom. She was wearing a red, long-sleeve mini dress which at the moment was barely covering her thighs. Her hair fell past her shoulders in soft waves in an attempt to cover the thick bandage on her neck, although it wasn’t doing a very good job. She wore a little bit of make-up, just enough to mask her pale lips and hide the dark circles around her eyes. When she heard a soft knock on the door, Melanie immediately shuffled out of bed, slipping on her black shoes before she rushed to the mirror to check her appearance. After she was satisfied, she took a deep breath, then slowly walked to the door.

“Jonas, hi!” They greeted each other, but their quick hug made Melanie flinch from the pain. Jonas pulled away with a worried expression, his hands resting on her shoulders as he examined her.

“Melanie, what happened to your neck?”

“It’s a bit of a long story,” she replied. “I met with an inmate in the brig and things got a little bit out of hand. I was all an accident, but before I knew it I found myself on the wrong end of a taser—“

“What?”

“It’s okay,” she interjected, putting a hand to his chest as if she were preventing a fight. She then the door behind her and grabbed his hand. “I’m fine, really. The issue is already being handled by the security department. They were prompt with their response, so there’s no doubt in my mind that we can trust them to get the job done. Now,” she continued, pulling a reluctant Jonas in the direction of the Hub in order to get their night started. The sooner Melanie could put her long day behind her, the better, “I don’t know about you, but I’m starving. And you did promise me the best meal out in town, did you not?"

Jonas smiled at that, finally in the right mood for the evening. “Glad you didn’t forget.”

---

Not much time passed before the couple arrived at Jonas' bar. Melanie gave him somewhat of a confused look, wondering why they were stopping there.

"Do you have to get something done before we go or...?"

"You'll see," he replied, unlocking the side door before pulling her inside. Melanie relied on Jonas as he guided her through the pitch-black room with ease. Once he opened another door, Melanie finally caught on to what was going on. The bar was empty, and all the tables were cleared from the main floor except for one which sat in the center. One table, two chairs, two plates of food, a bottle of wine, and a small candle. She couldn't help but smile. His kind gesture was her way of knowing that he had put effort into their date, regardless of what the outcome may be.

“Very impressive.”

“Well, I thought you may appreciate the privacy like I do. After dealing with drunks nearly every day, you start to hate big crowds” He guided her to their table and pulled out a chair for her. “But tonight it’ll be just us, if that’s fine with you.”

“That’s more than okay with me. Although…” she looked to the side, somehow a bit embarrassed to be bringing up the topic.

“Melanie, no, I don’t mean it like that,” he replied, taking his seat directly across from her. “I genuinely enjoy your company, and I’d be an idiot to ruin that.” He grabbed her hand to give it a light squeeze. “Remember, this is about both of us, not just me. Now…are you ready for some mind-blowing food?”

[ Planetfall | R207 Command Vehicle | Minutes before field deployment ]
[ Chief of Security Gavon TreVayne ]

With the main objective in the team’s cross hairs, and Eccleson at the helm of the military personnel, Gavon wrapped up his review of notes he'd finally had a chance to glance over while en route to the EM Zone, the Beast Command Vehicle slicing through the thick vegetation with ease as he signed off on several of the reports. He felt a bit more at ease having Deputy Haas in command of Ark Security as he proved enough times in the past to be reliable and thorough. Of course running through analytics, status reports, and daily duty rosters wasn't exactly a highlight of the Chief’s day, but it was good to know he had recourse. A final message chimed in, the long awaited note from Natalie that had been at least an hour delayed -like many of his messages- due to the electromagnetic interference of the planet, and whatever the hell the team was about to investigate. The corner of his lips curled to a slight grin as he read the note, never surprised what her twisted sense of humor would conjure up:

You still owe me a night out. So don’t die.

This was the first time in several years that he and his wife had been apart, spending most of their time working together to structure, or at times restructure, Ark Security and it's personnel. Some would say the process had been rushed due to time constraints, resources, or several other factors dealing with a need to vacate Earth as quickly and efficiently as possible. Gavon had to agree, the Agency wasn't perfect, and with the recent Devastator attack, a cyborg anomaly, and legal ramifications surfacing, there was still work to be done in order to adjust and refocus efforts to protect and serve the people.

He switched off the datapad and headed out to rally the civilian personnel who were assigned to field duty, plus one. It seemed Mackenzie Newton was more of an asset than expected, considering the number of robotic assistance needed during a single away mission, her expertise would be invaluable on and off the ship. He chose to ignore protocol that would have otherwise grounded the girl and had her confined to the Nyx until the team returned to the Vitae, but there was no point in holding back reliable resources, and the last thing the Chief wanted to do was deal with a potential “stowaway” situation once again. Fortunately, this one had legitimate credentials...

Up in the navigation section of the command vehicle, Captain Eccleson was finishing communication with her team, delegating assignments as needed for various squads to fan out within the vast collection of ominous-looking orbs. Gavon noticed the expression on the young Captain’s face, even as she did her best to hide the doubt.

“This’ll be a cake walk, Captain.” Gavon said as he stepped over to where Eccleson was standing, staring out at the orbs which was as unknown to them as the rest of the planet. “Whatever inhabited this area -and this planet for that matter- is most likely long dead and gone. At the very least, we may find a few scraps of civilization beyond these things.”

“I appreciate your sentiment, Chief” She cracked a slight grin. “But I don’t like the idea of not knowing what I’m throwing my men into. Everything from here on is essentially alien to us, and who knows what that might entail.”

“You can be sure no one likes to be surprised in our line of work, but as long as we’re smart about it and stick to recon & survey protocols, we should be fine.” He crossed his arms as best he could in the biosuit. “And besides, between foot soldiers and this tin can, I’m confident we have enough firepower to dispatch any forces that may be a threat.”

Eccleson stood silent for a moment, continuing to look past the trees and scan her eyes across the surface of the closest orb, following the etched lines that adorned it’s hard, metallic shell.

“I have no doubt you're right, Chief…” Her voice trailed off momentarily, until she turned and headed toward the main corridor. “Let’s get this over with.”

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

Several squads were scattered about, canvassing as far as the projected radius in the mission briefing, a large enough area that should give fair warning if something unexpected did occur. With Captain Eccleson and her military detachment holding the perimeter, Chief TreVayne was responsible for the protection of the civilian personnel, assigning two Agents per three-man science teams as well as dispatching several small hovering recon droids to scout ahead of each team. The problem, however, was quite noticeable as interference from the electromagnetic fields tampered with solid video feedback, making the droids less-than-efficient. With so many parts now in motion, Gavon did his best to group up the civilian personnel with a pair of Sec Agents escorting the science teams, noting any possible conflicts as they arose:

:: M. Newton | Micheal Smith | Agent S. Edwards | Agent T. Gurrera ::

:: K. Anderson | Agent J. Tripp | Agent D. Lanis ::

Lieutenant Rorq volunteered to spearhead a small geological team in hopes of collecting topographical data, as well as mineral samples from nearby structures to study once returned to the Vitae. And, along with field medic Amara Locke and Sec Agent Phillips, Gavon accompanied the lead science personnel as they headed for the larger of the orbs nestled in a circle of thick trees and vines.

As the beast made it's way through the alien terrain, Amara left the command centre and made her own way to a quiet and isolated corner of the craft. There was one last job she had to to before they set off. She had left it to the last minute to avoid him causing chaos aboard the beast. As she reached her destination, she looked over her shoulder to see if anyone was around. Satisfied that she was alone, she moved closer to the several crates full of supplies. One of the crates stood out, looking more like a cage than the others.

As Amara approached the cage, she heard a shuffling sound from inside it. "Great, he's awake." she thought to herself, slowing her pace. She peeked through the bars on the small window as she said "Hey there. I'm going to let you out now but you have to promise to be cool, okay?"

There was no response.

"Okay." said Amara to herself as she began typing a code into the keypad lock with some trepidation. As soon as she pressed the last digit a light on the lock turned to green with a loud buzz and the door suddenly swung open with more speed and force that Amara had been prepared for and it knocked her backwards onto her ass.

Before she had time to react, he had pounced on her. Knocking her onto her back, he started licking her face...

Amara made a long sound of disgust as she pushed the dog away and tried to sit up but he was quickly on her again, putting his whole body on top of hers and cuddling her with an affection that only dogs seemed capable of. Eventually, Amara relented with a sigh and wrapped her arms around the mutt. He seemed to appreciate this and settled slightly. Amara threw several completely unintelligible words his way as she hugged her canine companion.

She didn't really have time for this now though and she didn't want anyone to see that she wasn't completely emotionless after all. She had a reputation to protect.

"Stand at attention, soldier!" she informed him and he immediately leaped to his feet, twirled around and plonked himself down on his butt. He blew three puffs of air from his nose and relentlessly wagged his tail, obviously still very excited. But Cody was always excited. Relentlessly happy and absolutely adored everyone he ever met. Amara often worried that he would have a heart attack if he didn't calm the hell down every now and then. It was why she had make him wait in his cage during the flight to the planet. With so much excitement in the air from everyone else, if Cody picked up on it, he may have exploded.

Amara got back to her feet and collected herself, standing with her hands behind her back in a military stance. "Code Blue." she said, addressing the dog by his somewhat official, somewhat jokey name. "We have a new mission. To protect the lives of the crew of this vessel. We find ourselves in a new and potentially hostile environment. There's no telling what kind of threats we may face but it is our sworn duty to protect those in our care. Are you up for the challenge."

Cody offered a small bark by way of acknowledgement and his tongue slid out the side of his mouth.

"Good." said Amara. "We're almost at our destination. Let's get ready."

Fortunately, Cody was already wearing his specially fitted suit. All Amara had to do now was fit his helmet, which made him look even derpier than usual and she tried her very best not to smile at how silly he looked once it was in place. She than led him out towards the the ramp where they were to meet the rest of the team. She had half expected him to go bounding off to try and lick everyone else through his helmet but he stayed by her side the entire time until they stopped moving. Then he did a quick lap around her legs and sat down at her side, slamming his now armoured head into her thigh as he did so. Amara looked down at her companion to see him looking back at her with that stupid "I'm so happy!" expression he constantly had plastered on his face. Amara rolled her eyes at him. If she had to deal with a person like Cody, she would probably hate their guts but for some reason she loved this mutt.

Probably not as much as he loved her though. That would be impossible.

^{The Office of Ambassador Ford}

Being isolated for the rest of the Vitae was difficult but necessary to ensuring a successful government on the vessel. The new office was better than his old office down at the Archives, but he did miss his fellow co-workers. Thankfully, he found himself an assistant-or the Admiral did. Jeffery Hux, the military Martian man, got Ford’s attention by putting down the requested files. Hux was an old military Martian that was sent to provide aid to the ‘Ambassador.’ The title was going to be changed sooner or later, but it didn’t matter. Ambassador was a good title to have, for now. Ford grabbed the files and checked them to make sure that they were the right ones.

While checking, he listened to the old man’s words as he talked about a constitution during the formation of the Earth Council. The files provided were about information on several government types that would work aboard a ship like the Vitae. Since they won't be landing on any planets at the moment, it was best to look into a possible provisional government. A government that is established whenever the previous governing administration collapsed or for new nations that were founded. The threat of attack for the Devastators or a new alien force similar or completely different to the Devastators. Once the threat is 'gone' and a possible habitable planet is found, then there will be talks of a functional government rather than the temporary government. Kevin placed the files down next to his computer and finished listening to Hux.

"I would like to gather any sort of information on the population and their nationality. We need to know if there are more Martians or Spacers before I decided to upset people." Ford requested to his assistant while he looked at the computer screen for any incoming messages or updates.

"All right, sir." Hux nodded and left the office to gather the data for his 'boss.'

Kevin stood up for a moment and looked around the office. It was not too dark as the light on his desk and in the ceiling made sure of that. The desk was bigger than the old one enough to fit two computers instead of one. Since he was working on making a government, the Admiral knew that he might need more than one computer to work on. Next to one of them was the picture of his family in the wooden frame. He picked it up and looked at it once again. Ford missed his wife's soft hands, her laugh, and his kids too much. He wondered if it was worth the time to visit the Cryogenic Vault. He can get a day off and go down there to see his family again. So, he quickly saved his work and shut down the computers as he got ready to leave the office. After the visit, he might stop by the Hub and enjoy some fun before going back to work.

He decided that it was the best option for him to take a break from work and improve on his depression since leaving Earth. Ford turned off the office's lights and locked the door, leaving behind a note for Hux. Then he walked towards one of the bus stations and waited for a bus to board.

On the Vitae

For anyone else the term to describe what Xaith awoke to would be 'looming'. The man slept stiff and rigid for the four hours he allotted himself between today's shifts and, he imagined, for the entirety of that time Sasha was observing him. He'd like to think 'watching over' was the term to use, but he knew that her program was not yet sophisticated enough for the requisite emotional attachment such a phrase conveyed.

He took a moment to acknowledge 'her' presence after sitting up and before quickly running through his 'morning' routine. A routine which began with grabbing his EEGARD off the nightstand, applying the RFID transmitters to his scalp, and booting up the system. By this time his automatic coffee maker had produced for him a cup of black lava to get his new day started—even though it was technically still the same day—and it was only a matter of wading through the work he brought home to claim it. He ran his fingers through his short unmanageable hair, before following with a comb, and then rolled off his bed to make the trek to his small kitchen.

Xaith finished the remainder of his morning routine, and was making his way out the door to leave when he stopped, and turned to Sasha. "Follow," he said, issuing the only order of the day that would be given to her. To which she proceeded to fall in on his left flanking position as they made their way to Engineering.

Before they even made it into the door to Main Engineering the duo were addressed by waiting staff. "Sir," one of the many engineering sub-department heads began his report while offering another cup of coffee to the Sargent First Class. "Here's the analysis on the modular tactical reconfiguration circuit you requested. I didn't think it possible but the computer says it could work."

One after another they continued to hand SFC Calhound datapads and explanations to which he nodded in acknowledgement where appropriate.

"Sir," a female this time added, "Lt. Rorq's meteorological analysis. Electromagnetic interference in the comms between us and the Nyx seems to stem from a dense concentration of ferrophosphorus minerals in the planet's crust." She handed him another pad detailing some schematics for a device drives from one of the Rorq Industries "Planetary Solutions" machines. "The stellar radiation from the star intermixing with the atmosphere of the planet has made it prone to ion storms, and as a result the minerals in the surface—particularly around the poles have been, well, polarized."

"So, they're landing on a great big radioactive magnet," Xaith summarized.

Sheepishly Lt. Rorq's number one assistant responded: "In a word: yes." She then pointed to something in the first report she handed him, "But more importantly the planet can't even begin to terraform the planet without strip-mining it, to deal with the magnetic interference, and building refractive shielding to scatter the stellar radiation."

"Thank you ensign," Xaith said in dismissal for the next in the long queue of people and tasks he would otherwise delegate to Lt. Rorq who was presently off station. It was the dirty little secret of science that with enough work any planet could be terraformed. The question to answer was firstly what stood in the way of successful terraforming, and the second was how long it would take to do so in order to determine if the endeavor was feasible. Due to department policy he knew that these recommendations and reports had already been filed for the higher up's attention and didn't need to make a decision about it himself.

"Sir," began a surly elderly gentleman who was the next in line. "The personnel reports Lt. Rorq requested. Psychological evaluations have been ordered for all staff to assess post-Earth mental fitness. Due to the incident these orders have been expedited." For a moment the man fidgeted in a manner befitting his years, "Sir, I don't mean to pry but I see your evaluation hasn't been scheduled."

The Chief of Engineering nodded, adding only "Yes, of course corporal." He took the pad and added his own name to the schedule, and returned it to the man. "Coordinate with psych and get back to me."

"Sir, if I might add," the corporal continued, "I expected some resistance to the matter. Many of the staff have been protesting."

SFC Calhound frowned. "Remind them that system diagnostics is of the utmost importance to detecting and correcting a fault before it becomes a problem. And, if necessary, explain that I will personally assume anyone not willing to commit to such a diagnostic, to be a piece of faulty equipment, and they will be removed and replaced."

It was harsh, but pragmatic, and the corporal nodded in response to the unified front that was Lt. Rorq's and SFC Calhound's orders.

With that Xaith pushed past the group of engineers, technicians, and staff begging an audience to actually make it into his place of employment. He had quite the long shift ahead of him, and though these were matters of triviality to the Chief of Engineering, they were nevertheless important matters to attend to. As he made his way through Engineering the ever present crowd that Lt. Rorq normally kept at bay with appointments and office hours, flooded to him without any organizational structure to pour in reports, and request orders.

As they did so they slowly pushed Sasha further and further out of position, and in the back of his mind Xaith could see it: she was confronted with her first choice. Her first question of arbitrary nature. A question that was required to be answered by the machine who had no capability of doing so. Just how close must one be to be still considered following?

But work would not wait for him to engage in this moment of internal revelry. "Sir," another tech followed up after reporting core status, "Should we be concerned about the droid following you around? Is it for protection?"

To which Xaith laughed. "No. It's a personal project." he stopped and half-turned toward Sasha while remaining focused on the technician. "The droid is incapable of performing any action—let alone intervening on anyone's behalf." He turned back to the tech and took another datapad, adding as he browsed the schedule for deployed maintenance technicians. "Pay it no mind, and don't waste your time trying to interact with it, because it will not acknowledge you." Xaith truthfully explained before following with a convenient lie: "At the present it only has basic collision detection."

---

Meanwhile on the Nyx

The silence in the Astronomics maintenance bay was interrupted by the sound of an engineer's toolcase closing. Lt. Rorq let out a long sigh of relief as she finished analyzing the adjustments made to her droids. The word stressed in her mind did not go unnoticed as she was quite used to commanding far more than a pack of sensor droids, and here on the Nyx she was as far down the ladder as one could be and still be considered a rung. It had come to her attention there was an unauthorized robotics technician aboard the ship tinkering with her droids.

To rule out the possibility of sabotage, the Lieutenant decided to give them a full diagnostic, only to find that the robotics technician merely corrected and stabilized their radiation purging protocols, and enhanced their EM shielding. As a result she had the broad strokes of what the analysis she ordered while aboard the Vitae would reveal about the planet but lacked the fine details.

With so little to do, compared to her normal job on the Vitae, she was getting antsy and decided that another calibration of her tools would help take her mind off the waiting. And so, the silence in the maintenance bay was once more interrupted by the toolcase; this time it was opening.

---

---

The ride aboard the Beast was quiet for Michael, the android was focused on the mission. Though he did make some small talk with Dr. Newton, who he was paired up with for the expedition. He believed that she was the only one amongst the assembled crewmen that knew of his true origin. Michael was the pinnacle of calmness on the adventure to the site, his suit filtering in air that he didn't need to survive though he breathed it in through his systems. His mind was calm as well, that was until his eyes wandered and he spotted the buildings ahead of them through a viewport on the vehicle.

Artificial structures, built on this world before the Vitae had arrived to it. A smile came onto his face, a genuine emotional reaction to such a thought. Wonder sparkled inside of his mind. What humans had called dreams would be the closest thing Michael had to what he wanted, to encounter a living sentient extraterrestrial lifeform. He doubted that would occur on this world, the sky reaching buildings appeared abandoned. Michael wanted to spend time on this world, see if they could find any hints of the past occupants. He wished to learn more. A thought of the Devastators crept into his mechanical mind, perhaps the beings that built these structures were like those monstrosities or they were more akin to Michael himself. Peaceful, serene and curious.

He glanced at Dr. Newton as the Beast halted, then once the door began to come open he rose from his feet and walked towards the opening. Michael stared upwards at the orbs, strange creations that made him wonder their purpose. Internally he dug through his data files for anything similar. Perhaps they were long dimmed energy sources, abandoned by their creators along with the rest of the world. As he took more steps towards them he felt his internal systems shutter, the same sensation from earlier returned to him. Only slightly more intense. Perhaps a human wouldn't have felt the increased sensation, but his machine sensors immediately alerted him to it.

Two security officers approached Dr. Newton and Michael, each of them clad in similar suits but clenching weapons. The android understood the reasoning for having armed crewmen on the expedition, he just hoped that caution would be exercised. Both men glanced at the two scientists as they drew nearer, introducing themselves as Agents Edwards and Gurrera. Michael smiled at both of them, returning introductions. Then they started to walk away from the Beast, exploring like the others were. Michael and Mackenzie leading as they walked at a brisk pace. The synthetic man's eyes locked on a pathway a short distance away, it seemed to loop upwards and directly towards what appeared to be a fully intact orb. Before he could say a word, he started up the path, the others following behind him.

"We should be careful, make sure not to get too far from the Beast." Edwards stated as he looked around, Michael sensing a bit of caution in the man's words.

"Of course, safety should be a priority, though exploration is one as well. Who knows what we may find here? It's fascinating." Michael replied with a smirk as they continued to walk upwards, the path metallic in its appearance as it looped around a pillar.

As they moved towards the top, Gurrera looked over the edge. They were moving quite high up. The orb was getting larger in size, closer to the whole group. As they reached the top, the path ceased and a long bridge was in front of them. Michael paused at the start of it, looking over the entire structure. It was sturdy and safe.

"Dr. Newton and I wish to inspect the orb closer, is that alright?" Michael asked both of the security officers in his most polite tone. They didn't have a reason to deny the request that the android could think of. He stared at both men as they thought for a few moments, then Edwards spoke.

"Alright, just be careful. It's quite the drop from all the way up here. Gurrera and I will stay back." The man stated before Michael walked away from them, taking his first cautious footsteps across the bridge.

His boots were the only noise made as he walked, metal against an alien metal. The sensations in his inner working intensified a bit more as he drew nearer to the orb. By his estimates, it was large enough for several people to fit inside. Though he did no intend to do that, nor understood how to enter it.

"I wonder what the purpose of this orb is?" Michael asked Mackenzie as he stood within arms reach of the artificial construct.

Then his arm shot upwards, as he placed his right hand upon it. He felt his systems shimmer, then watched as a light blue flash pulsated over the orb, disappearing within a second. Then the side which the android had touched slowly came open like a mechanical door. As it opened the entire way his eyes shifted towards a stand in the direct center, a small orb, similar in the design to the larger one. It was the size of a baseball, sitting there, almost as if it had been meticulously placed by someone, or something. There was nothing else inside the orb as Michael's sensors cautioned against what as he was about to do. But something strange called out to him and made him step inside of it.

As soon as Michael was the entire way inside the large orb, the door immediately shut behind him, locking out Mackenzie, Gurrera, Edwards and everyone else. He blinked, wondering if something fatal was going to happen to him. If he had just stepped into a trap and doomed all the crewmen. That was far too dramatic a thought, especially for a machine of cold logic like himself. He was in almost total darkness now, the only light the miniature orb. As he slowly walked towards the orb he began to hear something inside of his mind, some language he could not understand despite being a being with total access to all known human languages. It was utterly alien, and fascinating. The extraterrestrial words only grew louder as the android moved closer to the center, his hand hovered above the orb.

The light from the orb was now so bright that it illuminated through his artificial skin and displayed the inner workings of his limb. He stared at this for the briefest of moments, his skeleton, the fiber like wires which encircled that, millions of pieces of complex machinery that made up him. His entire frame was like this, enlightened, it was a bizarre moment which confused Michael.

Then the android grabbed the orb, and unceremoniously yanked it upwards. His entire body shook for a moment as the voices stopped. His breathing had picked up, a natural reaction from an unnatural creation. His eyes were wide open as he looked deeply at the miniature orb. His fingers held it tightly, the light which had illuminated the interior of the greater orb and Michael's inner workings went away. As soon as he had pulled the orb from its pedestal the entire outer orb began to collapse upon itself. Its walls sliding onto the floor which was the only part left as Michael returned to the outside world.

Outwardly he was the same, the only difference being that he now clenched the orb. The android held it out from himself, almost like how Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, had been portrayed as holding the skull of poor Yorick before he went into his monologue in Shakespeare's Hamlet. Then he turned his gaze towards Mackenzie, the two security agents walking towards them both, moving with pace. Michael still felt the sensations within his inner workings, a curious smile on his face.

Loretta was in a one of the smaller Cryo-labs, much like the one she had sealed off from everyone except herself. The difference was while hers was full of vials, test subjects, cages and medical equipment that had questionable appliances this one was empty. In the centre of the room there was the dias for the pod to sit in, a terminal in the corner which she currently worked at and a medical droid was in its charging cradle in the side of the wall. This was ridiculous, she had known about this moment for months. Though she wasn't even going to be part of it. Instead some lower level technician was going to be present solely for religious reasons.

The first person in one of her cryopods, to be woken up in her bay. Well, the second if the empty pod was any indicator. However this was the first to be woken during the defrosting process, and rather than all the battery of tests she would usually have ran the occupant was going to get out of the pod straight away and then walk away to some religious ceremony. She would have thought the people of Earth would have moved beyond such silliness by now, though she supposed religion seemed to persist even with the existence of reason. She had seen the shift in recent years following the Three Day War, and it made sense. In times of uncertainty people turned to something that made themselves feel safe, secure.

She wasn't really one for it all, but so long as it didn't interfere with her work she had never really cared.

This counted as interfering in her work.

She looked up at one of the religious fanatics who worked her way around the room setting it up in preperation for her leaders awakening or rebirth or whatever it was they called it. Noting that she wasn't being watched she input a command protocol into the medical droid to have it scan and record everything that happened during the ceremony.

After all, what happened here may aid her own experiments. Once she was able to return to them at least, though she couldn't afford the security agent from finding out and sticking his nose even further to where it didn't belong.

Deep in the heart of Cryogenics the only light to be found was cast by blue interfaces on slumbering machinery. The ever present frosted glass defused the harsh panel's light into a soft glow that provided a tranquil ambiance to anyone whom found themselves patrolling the deep freezer. In the passing moments the silence was broken by the automatic restart sequence as a lever slid down the stacks to retrieve a pod.

Far outside grating slid to one side, and the heavy standard-issue boots of Vitate security trudging up from the ship's underbelly filled the halls. These rumbling low noises were burred beneath chanting of fervent women twelve in number. Before the procession was allowed to enter from the causeway, their Arc Security escorts ensured that the area was clear so that the ritual would not be interrupted. Once secured, and their right of rite of passage produced, two columns of six women were allowed to proceed up into the antechamber from the tunnels that housed the sewage and water lines.

The mouth of the River came only so far as the foot of the Mountain, and from its depths the faithful walked to the entrance to Cryogenics from the nearest access point. With the faithful came the song, and the chanting continued. With it the foremost and rearmost pair of crones burned thyme as they sang. The rest carried censers of ornate cast iron in which mistletoe leaves smoldered.

The twelve formed into an octagon with eight on the circumference and a square of four in the middle. Frozen chrysanthemum petals flit and fluttered from their hooded cloaks as they danced barefoot across the chilled deck plating. The perfect precision with which the group sang and danced their spiral reflected the dedication they had to these proceedings, and their mastery which required a month's practice. Despite having come up from the ship's sewers there was no indicators of passing through it. They did not carry the tell-tale scent of damp piping, or insulation, and instead had about them the crisp scent of fresh grave dirt wrought into their very being.


As the spiral dance of the outer eight made its way outward the inner four kneeled facing inward in anticipation of the ship's acknowledgement of their presence. The timing was perfect in that the moment the song and dance came to its end, they had found themselves in a large chamber with the Viate's most annoyed technician whom oversaw the defrosting procedure. A large mechanical arm delivered one particular cryopod from the stacks, to the place of rest's end, and placed it in the center of the coven's gathering. Particularly on the reactivation node which they had enshrined in sacred geometry inked with the oil of milk thistle. To anyone outside of the traditions these practices would seem arbitrary, as would the choice of plants, but anyone within the traditions would know the meaning: that the plants were carefully chosen and prepared for this ritual. That they are what they represent and represent what they are.

There was no question of the revery with which those attending paid to the dreamer who dwelled with death in chamber of cold-heart. The question of legality of the proceedings had been settled years in advance. That, on this day, the High Priestess of the Old Religions would rise up from her bed of ice, on the Mountain where cold is kept, and return to lead her people. In the months prior they, the most devout, had walked the whole River in preparation for this moment: the moment awakening—of walking from the Mountain to the Glade. It was with some reluctance that their escorts walked with them but now the walking was nearly done.

Under the glass canopy of the cryopod a thick mist was being pumped out through attached hoses as to prevent leak in the closed system. Only the slightest trace of mist entered the sterile air of the medical facility as the canopy slid upward and back revealing the witch. With life returned the support umbilicals monitoring her vitals disconnected, and fell away, and the Keeper of Traditions opened her eyes. The chanting resumed as she braced her hands on the lip of the pod—one on either side—and hoisted herself up into a sitting position. A wave of relief and love washed out of her to her followers and then back from them to her. With great effort and imitate assistance she herself from the pod and into the circle. A circle that the mechanical arm reached into and retrieved the pod as she stepped out of it, and return it to whence it came. With the circle now complete it was time to return to the River and follow it back to the Glade.


Rather than launch into an address the awoken sleeper instead resumed the chanting, and with her the other twelve joined in. They reformed their columns and danced their way back into the Vitae's water access channels. They were followed by security escort whom closed the access hatch behind them. Through this, the Vitae's River, they marched down stream to where the water of life flowed. Ever toward the hub. While one might expect the procession to proceed to the Garden of Eden, such a person might also expect them to walk on the streets of man. No. Instead they were swept away in the River and lead deep underneath to the glades: the place which sprung up from the natural convergence for the Vitae's ley-lines.

When entering the Glades one needn't step up out of the River, as they did at the mouth of the Mountain, since it simply poured into the open. In a practical sense the Glades was a series of open catwalks, back-alley junctions, and forgotten access corridors and maintenance shafts. By modern societal standards it was a dingy and dismal place, but to these witches it was the Vitae in its most natural living state. Though it may be thought strange to describe the Vitae in the same manner one would a planet it was their world now, and it had in it all that which a planet does; if only in a modified form. The Glade was a perfect representation of that as even the druids could feel the power in this place.


As their voices swelled in its halls, and open spaces, the faithful whom tended to the Glade came to meet their priestess and join in song and dance. Dance to the place of ceremony where the song might end and the stories begin. Stories of the other realm. There they gathered and there she would tell them of her travels through the spirit world that their frozen families inhabited.

To speak at gathering was a great honor often reserved for the few of wisdom and experience, but in this time of unity all were invited to share and many did. They did so in the most natural place. The place where the stories of Earth and her will was made manifest on the Vitae: the Geological Research Institute. A towering spire that stood amongst the water treatment facilities, and hydroponics bays of the hub's undercity. It was the place where Earth's will lived on through its children who replicated her processes so that others may yet live in her splendor.



While not all whom worked in this sacred space believe in, or were attuned to, its mystical nature as these devout followers—they were certainly aware of its sacred stature in the community. They did little to belittle those faiths as many of the sector's brightness minds in the field practiced their craft along side their work, and both benefited from it. After all, the Geological Research Institute being the Cathedral was the undercity's worst kept secret.

The small watch on her wrist notified Melanie of an incoming message. She looked at it for a moment before frowning at the thought that she had to get up in the next couple of minutes to get ready for work. Jonas, on the other hand, lay beside her with his arm wrapped around her waist; his slow, rhythmic breathing a sure sign that he was nowhere near being awake. Melanie slowly moved his arm away from her to sit up on the bed, and just then, the cold air hit her all at once. She was wearing one of his sleeveless workout t-shirts, but it provided little to no warmth.

“And where are you going in such a hurry?” Jonas asked all of a sudden, rubbing his face before placing a hand on her back.

“You know the drill. I have that demanding 9 to 5 to look forward to,” she replied, climbing over him to go wash her face. She entered the cramped bathroom stall, locking the door behind her, and she stared at herself in the mirror for a moment to wonder whether sleeping over Jonas’ had been a good idea. She heard some shuffling outside and figured he was out of bed as well. With a faint sigh, she turned on the faucet and splashed some water on her face.

A few minutes later, Melanie stepped out into the room and noticed Jonas was fixing the bed. She grabbed her clothes and got changed meanwhile they started some small talk.

“So, safe to say we’re a thing now?” he asked.

“I hope so,” Melanie replied, slipping on her shoes. The question bothered her a bit. Why would she share an intimate night with the man if she didn’t intend to have a serious relationship with him? She wasn’t that type of person, and having him think otherwise made her feel uneasy. “I don’t do this on every date, so I hope you’re as serious as I am about us.”

“Mel, of course I am,” he added with a concerned look, stopping what he was doing to walk over to her to embrace her. “I hope you know that I wouldn’t take you for granted.”

His comforting words made her feel better, so she pushed away any bad emotions still lingering and grabbed his hand to drag him to the door, checking her purse to verify she wasn’t leaving behind any of her belongings. “Alright, I have to go now. I’ll talk to you later?”

“You bet you will,” he replied, giving her a quick kiss on the forehead. As soon as Melanie turned around to leave, he slapped her behind, but she denied him the satisfaction of getting a response and instead kept walking, smiling to herself as she went.

The cyborg paced silently through the public area that led to the entrance of Eden, her graceful steps punctuated by the deep drum beat of her escorts' heavy feet. She had her protective face mask on for effect, but oddly enough nobody was paying the mechanized trio any attention. It was weird, as if it was completely natural to see three soldiers, armored from head to toe and armed to the teeth, prancing through the street. A man she passed too closely looked up to see what the noise was about, gave a barely noticeable nod and went about his business.

Realization hit her a moment later, making her slow down a bit and throw her guards off their pace. With her mask, she looked like them. And being in the front, she looked like their boss.

A small eerie chuckle did make one of the bystanders give the three a worried look. One day, all of this will be hers. Oh yes.

The admiral's final instructions to the prison crew before he left rolled through her mind as she made her way through the automated doors of the climate-stabilized greenhouse - Not their content but rather their taste. Locke sounded indifferent, suspiciously apathetic, but she could tell it was in fact the other way around. He was not one of those men who were always ready to roll their responsibilities off their backs and onto the next in line. He held the weight of the entire ship on his shoulders, and to the practiced eye his effort was actually visible. It calmed her slightly. Even though her reassignment to engineering was probably nothing more than a chiding powerplay.

The air inside the greenhouse was different. Humidity and nitrogen levels were shifted from the ship's atmospheric solution, in addition to various organic substances floating around, in and out of the visitors' respiratory system. The cyborg shaked her head - she was letting the computer in her head smell the air instead of it going through her natural, albeit weakened, senses.

The Delegation From Planet Mechanozoid stopped on one of the garden's many pathways, beside a patch of grass with a tree in the middle. But when Chizuru leaned into her next step towards the green patch, she found herself incapable of proceeding. This was the last bit of grass in the universe. Would she trample it with her boots, due to paranoia? She suddenly felt like a heavy armored bull in a china shop where the china is made out of soap bubbles.

A barely noticeable hiss made the guard droids look down at Chizuru's body. Black rods slowly extended outwards all over her armor, and with a final click the chest piece divided in the middle. She stepped out of the exosuit that was her second home, and extended a lithe leg towards the grass. The suit remained in an upwards position, confusing the droids slightly as there were now two targets they had to follow. It was sort of funny, since it was an actual function the suit had, she thought, and put her weight onto her free foot.

It was a mistake. Cradled in the safety of hardened space-level titanium alloy for such an extended period of time, the foot's sudden cold and prickly sensation was amplified to unbearable levels, causing her to lose balance and lean forward. She threw her hand outwards to break the fall, which only worsened the effect, and found herself flat on her back a moment later. The far too bright illusion of sky overhead, the wet and sharp touch of grass that spread over the area of her appendages that still had the ability to sense touch, and the sudden lightness of her body threw Chizuru into a sort of dreamy vertigo. And for a long moment, she had lost sense of direction and gravity, her thoughts vanishing from her mind without a trace. There was only the sky, the grass, and a small girl as a wall between them, expecting to be crushed from both directions. She took a deep breath, as if to drink up the sky, her lungs resisting for some reason as if the air was made of rock. A strange warm wetness crawled over her face, breaking the illusion. She sat up, coughing, and rubbed her eyes.

Stupid hay fever.

[ Planet Survey Team Alpha | Field Assignment: Civilian Protection Detail ]
[ Chief of Security Gavon TreVayne ]

“What the hell is that ?”

Agent Phillips mumbled into the comms, as he watched with much intrigue the quirky four-legged creature trotting alongside Amara in what appeared to be some kind of environmental suit attachment. At second glance however, Phillips realized the animal was a canine -perhaps a species of retriever- as it happily scurried around its master's feet, fogging up the clear protective shield while attempting to sniff through the awkwardly fitting helmet.

“Ms Locke?” Gavon chimed in, looking over his shoulder at the excitable animal fashioned with a variety medical supplies and equipment. “I assume your dog is here on an official capacity then?”

Before an answer came, however, what could only be described as a dark blur raced past the team only a meter or so away, it's size not much larger than that of Amara’s pet. Cody's whimpering, followed by a few sharp barks alerted distant teams, eliciting inquiries over comms as to the source of the racket. Chief TreVayne explained that the dog was with their group, and before anyone could question whether or not they'd remembered seeing a canine on the Nyx, Gavon demanded radio silence while checking his surroundings.

“Listen up, an anomaly was spotted nearby our position. No sign of hostility, but I don't need to remind you that we’re not alone on this rock, so keep your wits sharp.”

The Chief couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen such a vast expanse of vegetation, trees so tall that he swore they were touching the sky, and the smell not of rotting earth, but of something almost aromatic and pleasant. This place was a long shot from the cesspool of nuclear waste and destruction he had been accustomed to living in Eastern Europe at the time. The two scientists broke away from the team and excitedly hurried ahead as they pointed beyond the dense wall of trees and vines that obscured much of the metallic orb. “It’s beautiful!” One of them exclaimed, her voice almost as giddy as a small child. “Agreed, although it appears to be damaged, specifically along the bottom half.” The other said, pulling a small datapad from his satchel. Both scientists were all but hidden from the rest of the group by the thick jungle foliage as they continued toward their goal.

“I need you both to stick closer and hold your position until we’ve set up a perimeter around the orb.” Gavon interjected, going from a walk to a jog in order to catch up to the eager science team with the others quickly falling in step as he motioned to Agent Phillips to take the far side.

“And to all personnel...” He continued, echoing Captain Eccleson’s mandate at the earlier briefing. “Once again remember DO NOT disturb the plant or wildlife. We shouldn’t need to clear-cut any paths while we’re here and no one is taking any ‘souvenirs’ on the return trip. Only authorized science & research teams will handle geological samples.”

As the team settled near the base of the orb, Gavon pulled a rectangular box -approximately 38 by 17 centimeters- from his rucksack, kneeled down, and laid the box onto the damp jungle floor, unlatching the side locks and swinging the cover open. Neatly lined up in two rows of three, were octagonal-shaped metal devices, identical in all aspects and nestled into the foam liner. Powering up his datapad, he queued the command software for the small objects and keyed in a scouting protocol that immediately brought the drones to life. Each had tiny LEDs that lit up just before they all simultaneously lifted out of their “nests”, rose about a half meter and hovered. The Chief stood to his feet and looked up at the flat, gray devices floating above him, before staring down at the datapad to execute final instructions. With a few additional commands, the drones flew off in opposite directions around the perimeter of the orb, three to each side, until they covered the immediate area. Each drone was equipped with long-ranged sensors, enough of which to “connect and relay” gathered information to other drones that were also being used by each team. Once all drones had been linked, a virtually impenetrable mesh network would be completed, allowing full coverage of the surveyed areas and advanced warning systems that continually monitored.

“Are we good Chief TreVayne?” One of the science officers asked, clearly a bit on the impatient side, even while unloading several pieces of equipment from a supply crate.

“It’s all yours.” Gavon nodded, stepping up closer to the ominous-looking orb, noting the intricate etchings along it’s surface.

“You can touch it you know.” The female scientist said, stopping within arm’s length of where Gavon stood. “It’s rather docile, unfortunately, from what we can tell so far.” She lifted her gloved hand and ran it across one of the many smooth scarred metal plates that made up the entirety of the orb. “Although, from what we were told a few minutes ago, one of the science assistants, Michael Smith, had some interaction with theirs. May have even found something useful if all goes well...”

Sensing a bit of doubt in her tone of voice, Gavon turned to the young scientist. “Well, it’s still early so who knows what you’ll find in this tin can. Besides, how often do you get a chance to visit a new planet?”

The girl smiled and shrugged. “Yeah, I suppose that’s a good point. But on that note, time to go find ‘something useful’...”

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

Minutes ticked by as the escorting Ark Security Agents kept watch while the science teams did what they could to collect data from the orbs and surrounding foundations, sharing their findings with colleagues, geeking over serious analytical information that only they could understand, and generally keeping themselves occupied and content.

There were a few instances that brought up preemptive alerts from the hovering drone sensor sweeps, but hardly enough to cause a stir as most were due to small wildlife straying too far into the occupied zone or general false positives from the constant electromagnetic interference emanating from the orbs themselves. However, what caught Gavon’s attention, were the tiny heat and EM signatures that showed up at random intervals near the tops of the dense trees, only to fade away and completely disappear from the scanners. This happened multiple times, and yet each instance the number of signatures grew roughly ten percent.

Agent Phillips caught sight of something dark and fast in the corner of his eye, only to lose it when he turned his attention towards that area. Pausing for a moment in hopes that whatever it was would reveal itself again, he held his rifle at the ready, and slowly moved in that general direction, checking the sensor readouts scrolling across the small built-in HUD within the bio suit's helmet. Within a few seconds, the readouts gave a lot of nonsensical feedback before clearing out and resetting. Agent Phillips tapped the exterior glass on his helmet a few times thinking it was his equipment malfunctioning, but it did little good. If by chance, however, he turned his attention upward, his eyes following from the base of the large tree trunk in front of him up as far as he could see several meters above…

...And there they were, dozens of tiny indistinguishable grayish-blue insects slowly making their way down the enormous trunk. Phillips stepped back a few paces as he stood mesmerized by the small creatures, their exterior shells giving off a faint blue glow as they continued their descent, which simultaneously caused yet another spike in the drone’s sensor sweeps.

“Chief you may want see this.” Phillips’ voice seemed a bit edgier over the comms. ”I think I found the source of the sensor disruptions.”

Mackenzie couldn’t sit Idle as they all waited for the Nyx to enter the planet’s orbit and the Beast to head out. Her stomach turned slightly in both excitement and hunger. She hadn’t really had much to eat before she donned her suit. Now, she sat beside Michael, her fingers tapped almost tirelessly across her data pad. She was re-running several diagnostic checks in preparation for the landing. She wanted to make sure data would be stored correctly and that there would be nothing in the files that might accidentally corrupt any incoming data. The Nyx made landfall.

Michael had begun some idle chit chat with her to which she was surprisingly interested in. Not so much in what he was talking about, but the fact that it seemed so human like. Was this behavior something he had learned or was it just programmed? She made a note to herself to see if he engaged in the exact same conversation with someone else. She desperately wanted to run a diagnostic but she knew that was impossible during this mission. Not only were his files not kept in the main system, but she couldn’t just ask him to let her plug in right there. He was a secret after all.

When the Beast had finally come to a stop and everyone began to roll out, Mackenzie found herself a little out of sorts. Her job was really not all that critical in the field unless something broke. A few people asked her some questions about their droid’s operation, though. She answered them as quickly and clearly as she could. It was a skill she had been forced to learn during her time in service. Turns out that when a superior asks a question they want the Sparksnotes, not the textbook.

While everyone else bustled about, she watched Michael as he stared out at the mysterious orbs. Her gaze quickly followed his as she stepped up beside him. She let out a long breath as she witnessed all the damage to surrounding structures the thing had caused. Something deep in gut told her something unusual had happened here.

As Michael took several steps forward, Mackenzie reached out and touched his arm gently as she heard the sound of someone approaching. Both she and Michael turned to see two security personnel walk up to them.

“Ms. Newton?”One of them asked with a familiar voice. She then realized he was the agent who had escorted her to see their chief. “I am Agent Edwards and this is Agent Gurrera. We will be accompanying the two of you. ”

Mackenzie just nodded her acknowledgment and Michael proceeded to introduce himself. Once that was all said and done they all set-off. Michael quickly took the lead leading them up a small looping path towards what seemed like a fully intact Orb.

"We should be careful, make sure not to get too far from the Beast," Edwards stated as he looked around, his warning clear.

"Of course, safety should be a priority, though exploration is one as well. Who knows what we may find here? It's fascinating." Michael replied back with a smirk and they continued on.

Mackenzie stayed pretty much silent the entire trip up the metal path. She only looked over the edge once. She decided not to do that again. When they reached the top they found a bridge leading towards the orb. Michael looked back to her silently asking her if she wanted to continue. Even though it made her uneasy, she nodded.

"Dr. Newton and I wish to inspect the orb closer, is that alright?" Michael asked the Agents. It also seemed that Michael had not saved in his files that Mackenzie did not like to be called Doctor.

"Alright, just be careful. It's quite the drop from all the way up here. Gurrera and I will stay back."

Mackenzie gave Edwards an uneasy smile and thumbs up before she followed behind Michael. The feeling in her gut only intensified as they drew nearer to the orb. For a moment she thought she was going to be sick but she managed to push through it.

When they were finally within an arm’s reach from it, she realized that the orb had intricate carvings all over its surface. She could not even begin to imagine what they said or meant.

"I wonder what the purpose of this orb is?" Michael asked and then before she could answer he reached up to touch it. The Orb shimmered with a just barely visible blue light and just like that it opened to Michael’s touch.

Mackenzie instinctively stepped back from the orb. Her eyes darting over the orb just in case something else happened. Nothing did. Then with horror, she realized that Michael was about to step inside the thing.

“No. Wait!” she cried and reached out to stop him. It was already too late. The opening of the orb slammed shut with Michael now inside. Against instinct, she rushed forward.

“Michael!” she banged on the orb and hoped that it would reopen for her. However, it did not.

“Is everything alright Dr. Newton?” Edwards asked over the coms after having noticed the sudden commotion.

“Michael… he, is inside the orb…I...I... can’t open it” she banged on the orb again, the fear apparent in her stuttering.

“Stay calm, we will be right there,” Edwards replied back as he and Gurrera rushed across the bridge to access the situation.

Then suddenly the orb began to vibrate violently. To Mackenzie’s utter shock and bewilderment, it then fell apart leaving only the floor and Michael in one piece. As far as she could tell he didn’t appear to be harmed in any way but then she realized that for those brief moments she had completely forgotten he wasn’t even human. Breathing heavily she looked down at the thing he held out in his hand. It was like the orb he had just come out of, only much smaller.

In the next moments, Edwards and Gurrera arrived and canvassed the area for any more immediate threats. When none were found they began to question Michael. It was then that Mackenzie needed to step away to calm herself. Going only a short distance away she turned her back to them to hide the small shake her hands. That’s when she remembered exactly why she hadn’t been cut out for the service.

“Are you alright Dr. Newton?” Edwards asked stepping up beside her.
“DON’T…” She suddenly snapped then stopped herself. She took in a deep breath and continued. “Ms. Newton was fine.”

“Alright, Ms. Newton I need you to tell me what happened as you best you can”

“ Yes, of course”

Staring intently at the readouts on her scanner, Amara didn't even notice the looks Cody was getting as he plodded around, trying to sniff at things though his helmet. It was only when chief addressed her that she looked up from the device and raised a slightly confused eyebrow at him. TreVayne's question slightly annoyed her. Of course Cody was here in an official capacity. Did he think she was the kind of person who would just bring a pet to a possibly hostile environment? Did he think she was that unprofessional?

Martian medics often worked with canines during field operations. The Martian mentality was such everything needed to have a purpose. If anyone or anything was just there using food and oxygen and not contributing anything to society, then there was no place for them. So even the few dogs that were brought to Mars were put to work in various fields. Cody, though occasionally being a slobbering idiot, was an invaluable tool in these kinds of situations. Not only was he often the first one on scene when someone was hurt in the field, he could also reach areas that were simply inaccessible to a human rescue team. It made sense to utilise such a tool. At least to the Martian mind. Looking around now, Amara realised that Terrans perhaps didn't think the same way.

She was just about to explain the benefits of having Cody with them when something raced past them, much to fast for anyone to see, and she quickly lost her train of thought. "What the..." she mouthed, not quite managing to get her mouth to make the accompanying sounds. She didn't even realise the laws of physics would allow anything to move that quickly.

Cody seemed justifiably disturbed by whatever it was and after letting out a few barks of warning, he planted himself at Amara's side, leaning on her leg for some measure of comfort. Amara did her best to calm him, holding onto the side of his helmet to reassure him.

Amara would have loved to track whatever it was down and study it's biological structure but no one had any idea where it had even gone. Not to mention that the chances of actually catching it where slim to none. Besides, her priority right now was the humans, not alien lifeforms. No matter how fascinating they may be. Plus, chief TreVayne ordered that the local flora and fauna was not to be disturbed.

Disappointing.

The group soon moved off and Amara tapped a command into the handheld controls of the three small environmental probe droids that she had sent into the air before the rest of the team arrived, ordering them to move slightly ahead of the group and scan for toxins in the air. The air where the Nyx had landed didn't seem hazardous (though is was far from perfect) but there was no telling what they might run into as they travelled. Gas pockets, spore clouds, really bad smells...Amara didn't really want to encounter any of them.

As the goup moved, Amara became increasingly agitated by the science team wandering off. She felt like a mother trying to corral excited kids on a day out. The expression on the chiefs face told her he felt just the same. Being far more authoritative though, TreVayne managed to get them to wait while he set up his drones around the orb. Both he and Amara seemed to feel a lot more at ease after that and Amara sat cross legged on the ground as she watched the scientists go about their research with Cody lying nearby, tail gently whipping small particles of dirt from the ground.

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

A short time later, Amara was still sitting in the same position but Cody's curiosity had gotten the better of him and he had wandered over to sit by the science team as they went about their work. He wasn't interested in their work or even the giant orb thing, having no idea what they were doing or what the hell that thing was. It vaguely looked like it may have been some kind of ball at some point but it was much too large to chase. He didn't even want to think about how he would bring it back after it was thrown.

No, Cody's interest was in the science team themselves. He loved people. All people. Every time one of them passed by, he expectantly wagged his tail and then immediately dropped it when they paid him no attention. Each time this happened, he looked like his entire world was sadness but he quickly perked up again when another human came nearby, only for his hopes of interaction to be dashed again. It was a vicious cycle but one this dog would endure so long as there was even a hope of being petted.

Amara, meanwhile, was once again reading the data sent back by her probes, just to quadruple check that everything was fine. She was 99% sure their environmental suits would keep them safe even if some deadly gas cloud was to wash over them but she had seen suits fail in the past so she wanted to get a heads up if anything was on the way.

Her attention was drawn away from her scanner when she heard someone call for chief TreVayne. Her eyes shot to Phillips and she followed his eyes up to where he was looking. Once she spotted the descending creatures, she immediately sprang to her feet and in her calmest but still authoritative voice said "Phillips, move away from them."

Cody let out a whimper of discomfort as he spotted the creatures, torn as he was between chasing and eating them and running in the opposite direction. He shifted in place for a second then took a couple of steps back, just to be safe.

Amara didn't want to take any chances with these things. Who knew what they were capable of. They were alien life forms after all. For all she knew, they could be capable of spitting acid that would eat through their suits. And if they could do that, the squishy meat inside didn't stand a chance.

Maybe she was being paranoid but she thought it was better to be safe than a puddle of ooze and waved for the rest of the team to move out of the way as well.

William stood with a hand on his chin. He turned left and right in order to survey the image being projected on front of him, several live feeds from the planet were being projected before him. The static was obvious, a result of the unavoidable EM radiation being emitted from the planet. It was like watching old news feed from the landing on Mars, the quality was poor. Though he got what he needed in order to make an assessment if anything happened. Sadly due to the radiation if he sent a message there would be a delay until the team got it, so he'd avoid doing so unless it was a dire emergency. After all, it was up to the members of the team to manage themselves. This likely wouldn't be the last planet they explored, the team had to learn to work as a unit to get the job done.

His attention was drawn away by a sensor ping, he turned his attention towards the sensor screens that hung above the holographic projector. It had pinged for a reason, but he couldn't see the reason now. He turned to his aide. "Have those on sensor detail perform deep scans of this system, if nothing shows up have engineering look at the sensor array." His aide nodded and then turned, walking away to relay the order. There was always the possibility that with the run in with the Devastators, the hyperspace jump or with the system not ever being really run before that there was a minor systems glitch. Though he didn't like relying on possibilities, he ran on facts.

Just then the images before him faded away, replaced with the visage of Noah. "Sensor readings from the nearby systems within range of the Jump Drive are now ready for you to review." William nodded, without any crisis going on he was expecting the reports about now. Especially as Noah now had time to actually organise the reports prepared by his own sensor readings and the details given to him by staff in several departments.

"Put them up." The hologram board activated again, a grid appearing. In each grid was a system with a designation created by Noah. It detailed the readings that the sensors got from the stars in system, number of planets, moons and any other astral bodies. More importantly it also listed - in green - the number of planets in the habitable zone. So far there wasn't a lot of luck. "Noah, remove anything that doesn't show promise of a habitable planet." A large number of systems disappeared, leaving him with only five systems to choose from. Space was a desolate place when it came right down too it.

"Give me the run down of these systems."

"P3A-095, Systems shows promise of one Class 4 planet. P2A-555, System shows promise of one Class 3. More interestingly it shows promise of a Class 7-"

"A Class 7?" The board zoomed in on P2A-555, there were five planets in the system. They listed themselves with their designation beside them as to what class of planet they were. A class 7 was an interesting find, the planet the team was on currently was only a Class 4. That said there was no way to know how accurate these readings would be on closer inspection, ideally with long range scans it was best not to get your hopes up, simply due to its ideal size and position didn't mean it would be of any use to them. After all it could be a wasteland or the composition of the air may not be favourable.

"I want all these findings double checked before we get our hopes up. Also have navigation plot a jump to the system. It seems as good a place as any to go to after we're finished here, see if this planet has anything of use for us."

"Yes Sir."

There was the sensor ping again. "Noah."

"Admiral?"

"Have engineering double check the main sensor array as well as the circuitry-" He looked back up at the sensor screen. "-and double the CAP*."

---

*CAP - Combat Air Patrol

Karen Anderson, who had remained quiet from sheer, stomach-affecting anticipation, was now throwing what could only be called a fit. Her voice was being raised at any security officer nearby, and she was beginning to suspect they were taking shifts.
"If I'm not allowed to take samples, or even touch the wildlife, why the fuck was I even asked to come along?! Why do you fucking need a xenobiologist on the ship anyways if I'm not allowed to do my fucking job?!"
The cursing was generally uncharacteristic, or so she kept telling herself. Indeed, this was definitely not how she wanted her first major impression on the security staff, let alone the Chief of Security. However, it was the only way to express how pissed she was at the current situation. There was life to investigate and science to do. Completely. Alien. Life. Yet all she was allowed to do was sit and watch the boring geologists work with theories refined centuries ago, on samples that contained nothing not found on Earth. So, instead of putting up with that, she yelled.
"Don't walk away from me young man! If I'm going to have three days of my life wasted, you can spare an hour. But no, look at me still talking when there's science to do! I've experiments to run, there is research to be done, on these things that are so alive!"
It was obvious that the security guard in front of her wasn't really paying attention, so she began the walk towards the geologists, figuring it should at least be marginally interesting. Each step lost some of the force and speed of the last as she drifted both to a stop, and into thought about what she had been allowed to observe.

The first things which had impressed Karen were the facsimiles of trees. Well, facsimile was incorrect, since it could not reasonably be mimicking them. Still, the resemblance was uncanny from a distance, with their sizes in the deep "woods" be comparable to the great Sequoias which had once grown in California. However, the key difference was that instead of wood, or any organic material (chemical definition or otherwise), they consisted of some sort of rock and had countless small holes. Their most immediate counterpart on Earth would have been termites, though the exact material and texture was visibly different.
The second things which had impressed Karen were the spatial equivalent of leaves. The greenery here was placed similarly as on Earth, so far as the "trees" were concerned, but was found nowhere else. Indeed, there was no equivalent to grass, or bushes, or other foliage... Or animals. On close examination, the region was pretty desolate. Karen had figured that there was too little information for conjecture at the time, and refocused on what did exist. Instead of leaves, there were structures more akin to veins or pipes. They attached to the "branches," using the structures as a sort of scaffolding. From there, smaller veins branched between those, and smaller between both. In the end, it formed an exceedingly complex web, with a thin, green membrane filling the spaces between the veins, like a paper banner between two poles. There were exceptions, but Karen had nowhere near enough information to figure out what, if any, rules applied to those.

By now, Karen was fully stopped, simply standing in place and thinking, just ten feet or so away from the geological equipment. It would be too much to claim her mind raced, but it was certainly abuzz, drawing connections between what was seen here and what was left behind on Earth. She began attempting to name parts of this new life, wondering if it would be wise to draw on the naming conventions of plants. "Veins" would stay, since it applied to both plants and animals, but she couldn't do anything remotely precise until she knew what related to what, if anything at all. Cursing her lack of prerogative, she instead began pondering why they seemed to similar to leaves on Earth, even if only at first glance.

These thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of her second major puzzle, the new species of... Insects? She would really need to take the similarities issue seriously.

The Shrieks were quick machines; that, one could not refute. The one Cassandra currently flew skimmed across the ground of the alien planet at an easy several hundred miles per hour, speeds which, at such a low altitude in an area full of obstacles, would have anyone not familiar with the craft screaming until they found they couldn’t continue any longer. They were excellent scout craft; however, they were Nagasaki Conglomerate technology.

The problem with Nagasaki Conglomerate devices is that they was designed to be rushed out as fast as possible; this meant, therefore, that so many corners were cut it may as well have been a sphere. This was evidenced by the communications failure the craft had suffered shortly before launch; the engineering teams were not to blame, no, simply the fact that making sure a piece of Nagasaki Conglomerate engineering worked perfectly was an impossible act.

This does not mix well with the idea of aeronautics; as everything has a need to be perfect within nanometers, especially at such velocities. Flying this thing, Cassandra had only one worry; that it would hold together long enough to make it through the mission. Therefore; she was not surprised when she began to hear a ringing in her ears, and a building headache. Something she had experienced before; complications usually caused by a faulty cybernetics link.

Out of instinct, Cassandra went to run a diagnostics protocol.

>Running diagnostic on Cybernetics Link
>WARNING: Buildup detected in Capacitor Bank
>WARNING: Buildup detected in Capacitor Bank
>WARNING: Buildup detect-

As the cybernetics link blindly spat warnings at her; the ringing in her ears worsened.

More.

More.

And more.

Until Cassandra found that she was screaming without realizing; her eyes shut tight, instinctively trying to drown out the incessant noise.

Then, there was a climax, and nothing.

Opening her eyes, Cassandra found she was hurtling uncontrollably through the air.

While she had been struggling against the problems with her own craft; she hadn’t realized that the craft had skimmed one of the not-trees. Normally, the craft would be able to recover from such a collision, however, the capacitor bank, which had already become unstable, had ruptured during the event. Thus, the craft entered a state of emergency shutdown, leaving Cassandra in a beautiful state of equilibrium.

Well, as beautiful as it could be at several hundred miles per hour.

The problem presented, though, was that equilibrium tends to only last a moment.

With a crash, the craft found it’s way back down to the earth, sending a large amount of it flying to the sides. It continued this way for several seconds; until finally, it came to a rest several feet from one of the not-trees.

The fact that Cassandra had survived the crash in the first place was an incredible act of luck; by all rights, she could be a splatter of blood and scrap metal somewhere. After regaining her bearings, and without the cybernetics link screaming at her anymore; Cassandra became aware of the acute pain where her left arm was. Looking over, she quickly realized it had been burnt when the capacitors had ruptured; the only reason nothing was on fire was thanks to the sheer speed she had been travelling at. This look also revealed that her cybernetic leg had been exposed; no longer flush with the skin, but now a matte silver metal; oozing an unknown white liquid.

Dragging herself out of the confines of the hoverbike’s cockpit; Cassandra was relieved to see that the survival pack had remained firmly secured to the side of the bike. Quickly removing it from its confines, she opened it, and went about patching her wounds.

Once that was done, she stepped back into the cockpit of the Shriek. She’d rather not have to use the distress beacon in the pack; as the Shriek might still be functional. Tentatively running through the startup process, Cassandra eventually found herself a damage report.

>MASTER CAUTION: CAPACITORS, REACTION CONTROL
>MASTER ALARM: COMMUNICATIONS

Cassandra frowned. This wasn’t good. Going on a limb, she tried her personal radio.

“Whisper, Twitch. Do you copy?” She murmured, only now realizing the weakness of her voice.

When the radio replied with nothing but static, Cassandra let out a shuddering sigh. Thankfully, the transponder for the SQUAWK system on the Shriek seemed to still be working, so at least she would be able to communicate to the rest of the away team that she wasn’t dead. Or at least, she hoped so, with the electromagnetic interference. Acting as quickly as she could in her injured state; Cassandra went about her work.

>SQUAWK code changed to 7600

Similarly, the Shriek seemed to still be flightworthy. However, as to not risk a repeat of the incident with the ringing, she would have to do it fly-by-wire. While the survival pack did come with some essentials; it did not have the required materials, nor did she have the skill, to do much more than an impromptu bandaging of her injuries. In her wounded state, it would take far too long to walk back to the away team; and while the Beast command vehicle they had brought along was certainly quick, it couldn’t compare to the Shrieks, and who knew what could happen in that time.

Fingering the controls nervously, and although Cassandra was not a religious person, she almost had the urge to let out a prayer.

Filled with uncertainty, the Shriek began making it’s way in the opposite direction, now more of a pained scream.

Without noticing, Yama-uchi let go a small sigh. She was staring absentmindedly through the window, past the gray lifeless courtyard of her college, to the lightly rustling leaves of trees that grew between the low buildings across the street. The dirt and dust on the outside of the glass, only partially washed away by spring showers, refracted some sunlight and made her feel blinded by the sun herself. With each inhale, the spicy dampness of spring air she expected to smell collided in her mind with the scent of ink and chalkboard. The latter would soon be greatly enhanced as the teacher flings the board eraser at her head -

Her hand twitched involuntarily. She turned her head with infinite slowness, and some grass poked at her cheeks as she looked at the appendage through the green blades. Her forearm and palm were almost entirely covered by a durable but flexible blue plastic sheet, that warped slowly as she tested the resolution of movement in her hand. She would do this in her past life, in a state of focused meditation she would sometimes reach when laying in grass just like this, feeling the tendons move under her skin. Surprisingly, she could feel the minute vibrations of hydraulic-assisted motion even now, despite having completely different sensors for touch.

It has been a while since Chizuru allowed herself to reminisce, and she had only now begun to realize how fast-paced her life had been in the last few years. Nobody could blame her, of course - it was literally a race for survival. But prolonged exposure to such a way of life may cause one to bury parts of their character in their subconscious, as a defense mechanism, to prevent their very existence from being ground down to that of a cog in the machine. She was aware of this, once, and would choose her schools and workplace by their proximity to gardens or forests. Only there, alone and away from bustling culture, may one truly be alone with oneself. To test abstract thought and to let the psyche dissect and digest the day's events.

It was as if someone tied a stone to her heart and let it fall down a pit, Yama-uchi thought as she lay on her back on top of the grassy hill. She could see her school when she would turn her head all the way left - but today its view was completely dark and distorted, and it made the stone pull at the string around her heart. Some kind of supernatural evil has settled in that large gray building, threatening her even from this distance. In her memory's eye, her friends would wear frightening Oni masks, taunting her with dark magic. She knew it was stupid, but it wasn't enough to simply know this. Her heart simply refused to process this, similarly to dreams where you're afraid of something for no reason at all, but still can't help it. Should she call in sick tomorrow? Just because of some new student in her class who for some reason looked at her two seconds too long, and made her picture their life together?

You know, I was human once. Chizuru realized she hadn't actually said this out loud, despite hoping it would be stronger than her. She made a mental list of every artificial part in her body, and tried to will her biology to reject it, to make her limbs hurt, her heart flutter, or just give her an annoying itch at the seams that wouldn't go away. Nothing. NC technology was just too good. She was a suit within a suit within a suit, within a suit if you count the Vitae. And her soul was at peace with this, despite the thrashing she would give it if she ever found it.

The cyborg raised her hand and laid it across her chest. It took her a few minutes, as it was the heaviest load she lifted in the last few days. This place made her weak. It made her lose her purpose. She could stay here forever, which means everyone on the ship would die, and be fine with it. In here, she could stop caring. Eden was as despicable as it was useful.

She forced herself into a standing position, shaked her legs a bit until they regained proper function, then stepped into her armor. It locked slowly into position as her CPU ran a diagnostic on each piece. She then tested her range of movement and counter-force of each joint, before turning to her escort.

"Alright boys, let's go back."