The Captain adjusted her hat as she surveyed the final preparations for their mission. Through the front window the massive portal lay in front of them...a portal that she had seen more times than she could recall. An odd feeling of excitement gripped her gut as she managed a bit of a smile. Once this was all said and done, they would be putting an end to a six thousand year old tradition of being invaded by insects. She tapped on Jackal's shoulder to signal that it was time to make the final announcements before they entered the portal. The girl pressed a few holographic buttons and the telltale ping of the ship's comms resounded throughout the entirety of the Left Nut.

"Everybody, it's time." She began simply, the slight smirk she had been fostering becoming a full blown grin. "Now's the time that Falchion shows the rest of humanity exactly how to end a recurring infestation. Our contract is simple; we enter the portal, find the source of these Buzzers, and turn it into a parking lot." She paced slightly. "It's true that as no ship has ever returned through that portal, we can't be guaranteed that we won't simply disintegrate the moment we touch it. That said, what's the point of being the universe's most infamous mercenary company if we don't put our Nut to the flame on the occasion? This won't be the first time that Falchion has accomplished something that nobody else believed to be possible, nor the first time that we've obliterated an opponent that has crushed everybody sent before us. Don't forget, my crew, that THIS is what Falchion does. This, is what YOU do."

In the background a single party horn could be heard, reminding the Captain that they had literally just been celebrating her own birthday.

"Thanks for reminding me Jackal." She said, giving their helmsman a thumbs up. "The soldier that brings me the head of whatever's in charge of these things won't just be giving me the best birthday present I've ever had...But you'll be entitled to the rest of my cake." She said matter-of-factly. Of course this being the Captain's own birthday cake, it alone was worth more than eighty million credits.

"So, let's get in this portal, exterminate some bugs, figure out how to get home, and bankrupt the entire Union with our reward!" She finished with a resounding cheer echoing throughout the ship.

@Cleverbird@Zoey White@Infernal Flame@Severance@vertigh0st

Bright Eyes

reply too: @LunarisDaFox and others

---

Reika threw up her gloved arms and cheered, jumping up and down for a moment. Goosebumps ran up and down her body- the Captain's speeches had that effect on her. Her uncolored clothing, with an untucked sleeveless grey shirt leading over simple black pants tucked into knee high boots. Her black hair spilled over her shoulders and she occasionally brushed it out of her vibrantly glowing green eyes. A pink flower was tucked into her hair over her ear. On closer exanimation one would find her ears to be grey discs attatched to the side of her head, and the stem was resting within a small crevice of the device so it wouldn't fall out.

Cake! The Captain's cake- someone was going to get to eat it. Who would it be? They would be a legend amongst the crew for the rest of the Falchion's history. Hopefully they shared some of it. Everyone- as far as Reika knew- wanted to make the Captain proud. They wanted to make each other proud. Reika had never felt such kinship before. For a moment, Reika forgot that the portal could just instantly shred all of them. That was certainly a knot of fear in her stomach, but with such confidence from the Captain the young bright eyed woman believed anything was possible.

It was probably time to prepare. The ship might come under attack once they crossed the threshold. Her railgun was tucked neatly into it's black briefcase, as well as the accompanying pistol. That was the container she threw over her shoulder. Everything else was kept in various pouches and belts attatched to her combat uniform. Reika wasn't in her combat uniform, of course, it was unnecessary onboard the ship.

Her room was, to put it simply- quite cute. There were plants on shelves underneath UV lights. There was small wooden cupboard full of actual, physical books. Leatherbound, full of paper, with that smell Reika loved so much. Though there was a digital pad resting ontop of the cupboard for additional material. Over her bed was a katana in it's sheathe. There was a desk with a computer, and several incomplete knitting projects resting on the table next to the desk. Evidence of this knitting hobby dotted the wall- various images of varying quality were proudly on display throughout the room. Her largest project was the rug in the center of it all. It ties the whole room together, with it's amber and crimson shades of a sun rising behind shadowy rolling hills.

Reika only decided to grab her fully automatic laser gun. If the ship really did come under attack, it would be her most valuable weapon. Her stealth loadout would be safer in her room. Holstering the laser pistol in her belt, Reika left her room. The door slid open and closed behind her. Hanging over the door into her room was her name- written in blue text on pink. In English, and then in Japanese characters beneath it. There was a flower, two green circles, various things that Reika thought described her.

Reika was going to see Sae. Afterall, she was the tech expert on all things human and alien, and Reika wanted to see if Sae was excited. Her job was about to get a lot more important; more important than it already was. Reika respected Sae a great deal for various reasons. Sae was even more robotic than she was and wasn't self-conscious about it at all. She's smart, capable, confident, and funny. If Reika would look up to anyone, it would be her.

So maybe that's why she wanted to see Sae aswell. Reika was nervous. They hadn't done anything like this before. Reika had only been onboard with Falchion for a mere five months. Seeing the veteran might calm her nerves. Maybe she'd ask Sae just one more time whether or not they were all going to be immmediately incinerated upon entering the portal. Reika came to a stop outside Sae's room and knocked on it.

"Hello? Sae? Are you in there?" She asked through the door. She glanced back and waved at a passing crewman and then put her metal ear to the door.

Reply to @Zoey White

---

Sae found herself deep in the robotic body of one of her many projects. Her arms seemed to be working themselves as she looked over at one of the many screens in her room. Her irises opened in closed as she read the diagnostics, sighing in frustration "what could i possibly be missing..." scowling in frustration, her arms and hands seemed to separate from the intricate metal insides. She got up and tapped on the operation like table, a spot in the wall it was connected too had opened up and pulled the robot and the table back into it before closing. To any outside eyes, Sae's room would look a gray blank room, with nothing but screens placed around the room. To her however, her eyes let her see the hidden technology locked away with hidden button panels embedded in the walls. You would find no bed, because though she was ordered to sleep, she rarely ever did, and if she needed to she would find some...very willing patron to let her crash in their room. Moving over to a wall with one of the bigger screens in her room, she waved her hand over it and it showed a scaled down version of the universe around the ship, and the diagnostics of the ship itself. She had been itching for this mission at the mere mention of going to the Buzzers home world. The only chance she had with checking out their tech, it disintegrated on contact which further had peeked her interest.

The portal they were planning on going through also was a giant question mark. She had wanted to study it more before they had made the choice to go through, but their employer had said this was a urgent mission with little prep time. Which in itself threw up some red flags, but when did LLN take any mission that didn't have red flags. This was one of the biggest missions the crew had taken since her long tenure with the ship. In honesty, looking at the risks of this mission and the fact they know knew next to nothing about the aliens, this mission worried her. Yeah don't get her wrong, the money was amazing, and the opportunities to discover new tech is what allowed her to have the body she has now, but this mission had a real danger of them failing. All their other missions, were things she had information on, no matter how small was more then they were getting for this mission. Part of her believed they were getting sent on this mission to die, but if she knew anything about this crew, they could overcome anything. While yeah she sometimes had her own agenda, this crew was her family and she could never do anything to put that type of relationship in danger.

Deep in thought, the sound of the ships comms rang through her room, before the captain began giving one of her legendary speeches. They never did get old, and from the sound of the ship erupting in a cheer, they also never failed to inspire. Waving over the screen, it switched to diagnostics to her body and the nanotech, moving at 100% efficiency she tapped the screen off and got prepared to move to the bridge. She wanted to get a good scan of the portal before going through it. Turning on her heels, moving towards the door she heard a familiar voice call out to her. Her eyes glowing blue, she locked through the door and saw the cybernetics of one of the newer recruits, Reika Saigyo. She was a good person to her core for the most part, and had seemed to take a liking to Sae. Though the girl probably would never know, she had a bit of a soft spot for the sniper, as she was the closest thing she had to a little sister in this weird and cold universe. Smiling, she figured Reika probably wanted to talk to her about the mission. Tensions had been high after they were told this was the first time anyone had tried to go through the portal. And there was the immediate threat of the ship getting ripped apart on contact, another reason she wanted to get a scan of the gateway.

"Where else would i be, but in my dungeon" laughing, she put her hand on the door, the sounds of locks coming undone, before opening the door and seeing the girl standing there. Looping her arm with Reika's, she started walking towards the bridge without waiting for Reika to follow "We gotta hurry to the bridge, or ill miss my chance to scan the gateway before we go through it. Whats on your mind though, cause if i know you, you probably are having the same feelings everyone else is having about this mission, yeah?" some of the shipmates waved at Sae, her waving back, before looking back at the girl.

---

Dmitri walked into the bridge and stood with his eyes locked on the portal.

"Dmitri!" The captain exclaimed as she hopped down from the cockpit and into the main area of the bridge. "I'm glad to see you're joining the party in the bridge! Then again...I'd bet it's to be as close to the epicenter of the possible explosion that may or may not occur when we force our way through that portal." She said, her eyes narrowing slightly.

"I mean, I guess a little of column A, little of column B." Dmitri said with a shrug. He doubted the ship was just going to combust. They could already see a few human ships entering the portal as they always did...What interested him was whatever was on the other side. There was no telling just how many ships had entered those portals since the invasions began, but not one had ever returned. "I mean, look at it from my perspective Cap." Dmitri began, a devilish grin overtaking his face "If we make it through, I get to blow up some bugs. If we don't, I get to die in an explosion that's only possible every decade. For an enthusiast like myself, it's a win-win."

"You're predictable, and not in a good way." The captain said with a sigh as she idly poked her distracted subordinate. "It's no wonder you don't have any kids. You can't fuck an explosion."

"You can, but I doubt you'd be able to do it twice. Assuming I even could have kids after all the physical trauma, radiation, etc. My body's experienced...which is unlikely in itself- Why would I want any? I already have the closest thing I'd ever want to children...and they explode."

"Pre-dict-a-ble." The captain said with another sigh. "Then again, if you weren't...you...I'd have probably splattered your greymatter on the rocks when we met."

"Oof, gotta bring that up every time, huh." Dmitri said, taking his eyes off of the portal. "If there's one thing I've learned since you've recruited me, its that you just kind of pick the craziest idiots at random and force them to join you."

"It's worked so far. You sure didn't try to resist...You're a few centuries too young to poke fun at my choice in comrades."

"Last week it was millenia, the week before it was just years. You ever gonna just cut the shit and tell us all how old you are?" Dmitri asked before receiving a solid right hook to the face.

"Don't you ever ask a lady her age." The Captain said, shaking her fist slightly. Admittedly she had held back quite a bit, but she had to pretend that she had put her back into that punch for her subordinate's pride.

"I'm not totally sure you're a lady. I think some sort of demoness is more like it." Dmitri said through clenched teeth as he held his jaw. The captain let out a hearty laugh and walked back to the cockpit to prepare.

Interacting with: @Nawmaing

---

Deep in thought in the middle of her lab, Dr. Emilia Moral was performing the last bits of diagnostics on her cybernetics and any of her gear and robots, specifically her personal favorite project. APK, the robotic dog that she created not long after she first joined the ship. The cybernetic arms on her back were moving around and helping her check parts on her subject and hand her tools in perfect synchronization. It took her a good while after developing these for herself to get the hang of moving them like this, but after years of practice she can move them as easily as she can her own arms. She finally finished up with the checkups and repairs just in time for her to hear the comms on ship to start and for the captain to start another one of her wonderful little speeches. Oh they were this close to the portal already? Emilia realized she was a bit behind on preparations. She pet the robotic dog which gave a metallic, simulated bark in response as she prepared to leave her lab.

The lab itself was quite the mess. Cybernetic parts, medical supplies and failed attempts into robotics scattered the floor. At least she made an effort to clean up any blood if nothing else. After gathering her medical supplies, some of her drones, and a gun for emergencies she made her way up to the bridge with a dog following behind her. Making sure to wave at a few of the crew as she passed by, after all she’s had to heal most of them up once or twice. Managing to arrive just in time to see the captain deck Dimitri right in his face, causing her to snicker just a bit.

“Try not to piss the captain off too much there bud, I’m sure you’ll have enough injuries for me to worry about without her causing them.” Emilia taunted him as she walked up. “I’m only gonna have so many supplies for when you inevitably blow yourself up.”

She turned to see the portal they were heading towards. It was certainly an interesting sight, and the first time Emilia had seen it this close. Her mind began to wander as to what they’d find on the other side of it. The possibilities, the biological samples she could acquire, things she could dissect. Were there different kinds of these bugs? What does their homeworld look like? So many questions! But she snapped herself back to reality. After all, she’d see here soon enough.

Interacting with: @Nawmaing @everyone

---

Wearing a steady path around the room, Marion continued to pace as he tried to sort out his latest project. He’d spent the last couple of weeks trying to design a robot. Not just any run-of-the-mill robot, but something revolutionary. Something that could move with ease, that was intuitive, that was indestructible. He’d been drawing up plans, and researching models for the better part of a month. But everything was too slow, the wiring was wrong, just something wasn’t right. Jason had long given up on him, frustrated with Marion’s noncommittal hums, and absent nods. Watching some trash television, the biobot was lulled into a sense of complacency when the intercom blared to life. With nothing better to do, he started to listen to the Captain’s speech before he noticed that Marion was still lost in thought, oblivious to the Captain’s message. Mentally rolling his non-existent eyes, Jason remotely opened a valve in the wall that propelled a strong jet of air straight into Marion’s face. Just as Jason saw Marion’s face crease into anger, he shut off the valve. “I wouldn’t have had to do that if you just listened to the Captain instead of travelling through space.”

At Marion’s eye roll, Jason felt the familiar stab of envy for his brother’s human-ness. And Jason’s distinct lack of it. Oblivious to his brother’s inner turmoil, Marion tried his best to tune into the rest of the Captain’s speech. When he heard the prize for bringing the Captain her birthday present it suddenly clicked in his head that today was the Captain’s birthday. ”Oh shit! It’s her birthday isn’t it?”

Waving his hand in front of his face, Marion forestalled any of Jason's attempts to poke fun of him. ” Yeah, yeah I know! What planet am I living on? Stop travelling through space.” With a mock salute at to Jason, he made his way to the lab door. Due to the nature of his work, and, well, him being essentially a recluse, Marion’s lab/room was in a pretty deserted area. It was far enough from the main part of the ship that, despite what sounded like a major, chaotic party, none of the sounds from the Captain’s bash made its way to his quarters.

The first thing Marion noticed when the narrow corridors opened into the bridge, was the portal. It was massive and strangely sinister. Like a maw waiting patiently for its prey, the portal’s passivity was unnerving. This was the last known sighting of many, many, ships. This was probably the last thing thousands of people had seen. And that was vaguely terrifying. Shaking off his own thoughts, Marion made his way to the small knot of people. He recognized the usual group around the captain. He gave a nod to them all in greeting as he joined the ranks around the Captain.
”Happy Birthday Captain. I sure hope it’s not the last one.” He smiled slightly to let everyone know he was joking.

Interacting with: @everyone

---

Elias sat on the edge of his bed busing himself with cleaning his weapons. Allowing the calm quiet wash over him, unbothered by the faint sounds of the celebration going on. Going into a fight with a dull knife and jammed guns was never the brightest idea. Especially when the fight was as large scale as the one that was laid before them. In less then an hour's time, they would be heading through the infamous portal. The same portal in which the ships before them had not returned. What was on the other side? Immediate death? Hordes of those insect bastards? Ghost ships? Hell, if he knew. He would be lying to himself if he said he didn't feel on edge about it all. The pit that had settle in his stomach formed by jittery nerves and a twisted sense of excitement.

The sound of the ship's intercom coming to life pulled him out of his thoughts, his internal hearing devices automatically tuning to the appropriate volume in order to pick up on the Captain's voice. A small smirk pulled at his lips as the Captain concluded her speech. "Here's to you, Captain." He hummed raising up the half bottle of beer from the bedside table in a toast, before downing the remnants. The unease he previously felt had seemed to dissipate. Partially due to the liquid courage in his system but, mainly from the Captain's words. It was hard not to feel energized by it. And on that note, it was getting about time to join the others. The ravenette stood up, sheathing the now sharpened blade and attaching it to his belt. Elias took the time to gather his belongings and double checking the clips of his guns. Satisfied with his mental checklist, Elias slung on his leather jacket, pocketing his lighter before leaving his room.

Elias stalked down the halls clapping a few crew members on the shoulder in greeting as he made his way to the bridge. Upon arrival he noticed a growing group of familiar faces and how minuscule they looked compared to the looming portal in front of them. His brow rose in shock as an awe inspired whistle left his mouth as he sauntered up to the group. "That things a helluva lot bigger in person." He mused still a bit struck by its magnitude. Things were about to get interesting for sure.

Bright Eyes

reply too: @LunarisDaFox and others

---

Bright Eyes laughed and followed Sae to the bridge.

Reika's cheerful demeneor had vanished, and she stared in silence at the portal. It was massive. No way to know what was on the other side. Maybe there was no other side, and the bugs were spawned from within the portals. Like how the Ancient greeks theorized that insects and the like simply materialized from the dust and dirt of the world. Her fleshy arm had gone limp around Sae's arm. For a moment she stood there quietly, thinking. After a moment she shook her head and looked over at Sae.

"Yeah, you could say that. I am pretty worried. I guess I was just wondering if...you know, you knew for sure that we weren't just gonna blow up right away." She lowered her voice a little so the Captain or the others couldn't hear, since she was ashamed of her doubt. She held Sae's arm a little tighter now, searching for reassurance. Reika had done dangerous things before. Risking her life was common. But this felt different. There was something bigger here. This was something humans weren't meant to interact with. The bugs had attacked humanity for so long it almost felt like a force of nature. Reika felt as if she were approaching a tornado with a handgun and expecting to walk inside and murder the bad weather. Though, apparently on some planets they did actually do something like that, on Reika's homeworld the weather was the weather and everyone had to hide in the basement.

Reika smiled a bit as she looked on at her comrades interacting, including Dmitri getting punched in the face. More people were arriving and she was feeling more confident by the minute, but she probably wasn't going to feel anywhere close to relieved until they were already on the other side of that portal. That portal from which no one has ever returned. Her bright eyes were dragged away from the inside of the bridge and back out the window to stare in awe at the thing suspended in space.

With an amused sigh at her crew's antics, the captain turned and strolled back to the ship's helm. She tapped Jackal's shoulder to signify that it was time. Of course, there was still the very real possibility of immediate disintegration once the ship touched the portal...but it was a cool enough way to go. Plus, the other ships that lurched into the portal before the Left Nut didn't seem to be destroyed on contact so that was a good sign.

With a gentle pull, the ship lurched forward into the portal. once the ship made contact with the portal, it appeared as though reality itself was shifting. A translucent screen seemed to pass through the ship, as it hit each member of the crew it brought a slight queasiness and unease. It was clear that they didn't belong on this side. The Captain didn't even wince a the screen passed through her, she simply kept her eyes forward as determined as ever. The sight on the other side was...unexpected to say the least.



A singular planet with no stars, and yet it seemed perfectly lit on the surface. Not only that, but countless ships were suspended in orbit. Some of said ships had clearly been disabled or destroyed, yet there were plenty that seemed in almost perfect shape. Quite a few ships were actively exchanging fire.

A few rounds were directed towards the LLN, to which Jackal responded with a quick roll to evade before putting power to the ship's thrusters and blasting away from the battlefield. They didn't have time to assess the situation as it seemed as the space closest to the portal was a free-for-all.

Dmitri braced himself once the ship went into a roll. Thankfully the LLN's artificial gravity meant that they didn't exactly feel the ship's movements, else they'd have all been thrown through a spin cycle. The glimpse of the battlefield he caught before Jackal put the thrusters to full and escaped the fray was pretty...and pretty confusing. Some of those ships were absolutely ancient in design, but they looked like they were fresh out of the drydock.

The Captain, while relieve that they hadn't simply been atomized by the portal, was now much more on edge. Whatever the fuck was going on was far from what anyone could have expected. The alien transport ship they had tailed into the portal casually crossed the battlefield as though it was a daily routine...but those ships...she recognized a few of them as ships that had entered the portal in the past. That was impossible though, the majority of those ships' crews would have been dead literal centuries ago. It was also quite odd that not one single ship had even attempted to hail the LLN, not even the ships that had entered only seconds before them.

Before long, Jackal managed to shake any pursuers and hide the ship within the wreckage of several massive ships. Within the veritable ship graveyard they'd have to assess what they could of the situation.

"Falchion!" The Captain shouted over the comms to quiet the murmurs of confusion among the crew. Any who had been trying to get their bearings had been called to attention. "Good news, we're all still alive." She said with a cheery, yet serious tone. "Bad news, this is going to have to be our base of operations. Combat pilots, to your crafts, figure out what the fuck that whole space battle back there is about. If possible, do not engage. She barked as several pilots deployed from the ship to scout the situation. "Jackal, deploy a prospector to the surface. We need to deploy a team to the ground, but I'll be damned if we do that before figuring out what that hellscape is made of. Speaking of a ground recon team, I had a few in mind but I'm open for volunteers."

As soon as the prospector hit the ground it began to gather information and instantaneously transmit it back to the LLN. The results covered the large screen in the bridge...

Atmosphere composition:
Fungal spores 2%
O2 96%
Unknown contaminant 2%

Surface composition:
Fungal material 14%
Unknown alloys 48%
(possible match with insectoid chitin and steel)
Unknown biological material 30%
$$%$#@ 8%

Subsurface composition:
chitin(?)-steel alloy 80%
fungal material 14%
Human biological material 1%
$$%$#@ 5%

From the readings it seemed as though the air was mostly breathable, but between the fungal spores and that unknown contaminant it was far from guaranteed. The odd '$$%$#@' reading was also rather interesting as it would imply that it wasn't just something that wasn't in the ship's database, but something that was actively corrupting the probe that was trying to analyze it.

From what they could gather though, the surface wasn't too dangerous to land troops...but it would be wise to keep them properly geared with air filters and other protective equipment.

Bright Eyes

---

Reika had closed her eyes and gritted her teeth, screwing up her face into an apprehensive ball as they passed through portal. Instinctively she reached out and held onto Sae's right arm. However, the moment passed, and nothing bad happened. Releasing a breathe she hadn't realised she'd been holding, her arms fell to her side and her shoulders sagged. The relief then turned into confusion and awe and she took a few baffled steps towards the viewport at the utterly bizarre scene taking place around the planet.

"What the heck...?" She managed. What this some kind of timeless world? Those were old ships. Perhaps time had been distorted. Perhaps they had been sent into the past. There were no stars in the black abyss. Strange. Inconcievable. This hadn't been what she was expecting at all. The portal wasn't just to another galaxy- from the looks of things it was another universe entirely. She was worried now, for her home.

But the Captain began to speak and Reika snapped to attention. The brave woman mentioned a need of a ground recon team, and she was open to volunteer. Immediately, Reika threw up her hand.

"Scout Sniper Reika, reporting in! I volunteer, Captain!" She offered loudly, standing tall, straight, and proud. Soon she would need to make her way to her quarters to get fully equipped and gather her arsenal.