[IC] The Depths

[Raptor]

Listen to me first!!!

Aubrey looked up from the recording apparatus and smiled at the brightly decorated azure bird before picking up one of the smaller crates and carrying it into the temporary shell of a lab. After a year on the Nepra, it was refreshing to be able to walk about in the fresh, open air. It was also nice that there was a breeze at the moment, never something that was on Hephaestus. If there was wind, you had to get inside before a sandstorm or electrical storm reached you. Aubrey shook her head of the thoughts about her home planet, while she missed her family, she most certainly didn’t miss the heat and sunburns.

Unpacking the crate, she set up the testing equipment first before moving onto getting the computers unpacked, leaving them for Alden to set up when he had the chance. Most of the necessary equipment was set up now so she could get some basic testing done, like finding what plants were safe and which weren’t. And she knew just where to start. She grabbed her testing gear and headed back towards the Nepra where she had seen what appeared to be some sort of fruit tree, waving to Lucia as she checked over the large vehicular equipment.

[Metadude]

Alden was still aboard the large ship, checking over logs of what needed to be moved first and when. It wasn't exactly his job, but he liked order, not wanting to get in the way of others trying to unpack at the same time he was. With careful planning, he managed to bring his own things to the new prefab shelter. Gathering what he had, he set his things down within the room he and Aubrey would be sharing.

In the distance, the three security Cyborgs that had been sent along for their protection were doing a sweep, securing the many things they had set up as well as marking locations for construction and habitation.

[Claw2k11]

James looked with a rather empty look at the new terrain and at the new wildlife. Where one might have been excited of the new terrain, he felt nothing. Where one saw beauty in the new large animals, he only saw potential threats that would attack them. For him, this planet was as exciting as the the science labs he was tested in... or the far off and distant memories of Hephaestus. He shook his head, and left the ship.

"Everyone, secure a perimeter around the base!" he ordered all the people and cyborgs part of the security team. He took a deep breath and found the air here to be... cleaner than the test labs he was placed in. He felt a tinge of excitement going through him as he heard the calls of all sorts of different animals, so many new sounds, so many new sights. Even if they were potential threats, it felt a bit exciting to see all these new creatures.

[datadogie]

Ruby Indigo

Mentioned in this Post:
@Claw2k11 - James Carson

The beauty of the pure, untouched planet struck Ruby Indigo as she strolled out of the ship, ILP-221 strapped firmly to her waist. The planet may look beautiful and happy as can be, though there wasn't much to be said against taking a little extra protection. The beautiful birds that stared at them could easily be carnivores, and just wondering what the new meat would taste like. People arriving in ships might just be their equivalent of tinned meat.

It was hard to think of them as hostile, though. The birds made Ruby light up in delight, and even though she knew she had a job to do, she just wanted to sit and watch them. Taking her datapad off of her belt, she lifted it and began to record the surroundings, speaking into the microphone in Zenospeak, the language of Zenohunts, and recording what she thought of the surroundings as well as any implications that would affect landing on the planet.

Just as she clicked off the button for recording, Ruby heard the chief of security order a perimeter around the base. She rolled her eyes in perhaps a childish manner. "Is someone getting scared that the birds are gonna eat him?" Ruby called over to him with a giggle.

[Claw2k11]

@datadogie

James Carson

As soon as he heard the girl speak to him, all the excitement vanished, he had to be serious now. He turned towards the girl and looked at her for a few moments, as if he was a computer scanning something, before turning back towards the jungle as if expecting something to pop out of the forest and attack them.

"Not me, young lady, my meat is tough and hard to chew." He answered in a factual manner. "Though I imagine that you would be tender and easy to eat." He said to the girl in a quite casual manner. "But do not worry, my lady, it is my job to make sure that you do not end up in some creature's stomach."

After those words came out, he turned towards the girl after determining that nothing was going to attack them. "So please, if you feel something threatens you, then I am here to protect you." He said with a blank smile, his comment didn't feel reassuring, it felt more like he was stating a fact.

[Metadude]

Mentioned: @Raptor

"Well, there's that" commented Alden with an amused half smirk, poking some wind chimes they'd brought along. It was good luck when visiting new planets, it let people know of potential storms if they hadn't yet gotten their systems up and running. Shaking his head, the man soon left the shelter he and Aubrey now owned, leaving to go find his lover he spotted her over by some vehicles. Briskly walking over, he leaned over from behind to kiss her cheek "Liking our new planet so far?" he asked, wrapping his arms around Aubrey with care and affection

[Raptor]

Mentioned: @Metadude

"Working already?" Lucia asked, raising her eyebrow at her fellow crew mate. "Well, I'm headed to look at some plants by the Nerpa, it looked like they might have some type of fruit and ya'know, it would be kinda useful to know if it's safe to eat or not," Aubrey replied, shifting her equipment case to her other hand. It was also something Elias had asked her to look into when she had the chance, ever being one to think ahead in case disaster should strike.

She jumped at the unexpected kiss and looked up to see Alden, grinning brightly and turned to return the hug. "I am! The birds are my favorite so far," She said. "I'm heading to the Nepra, care to join me or do you have some work to do still?"

---

Mentioned: @Claw2k11

Elias didn't stray far from his ship just yet, scrolling through his data pad and briefly looking up when he heard Carson call out for a perimeter to be set up, quickly hailing him over comms. "Don't go to far, we're sticking fairly close to the ship for now until everyone gets temporary shelters set up," He said. "Also talk to Lucia about getting the fence set up once you define the perimeter, clock says we've got 6 hours before sunset."

[Metadude]

Mentioned: @Raptor

"I need to start setting up the computers" sighed the man, shaking his head briefly "But, if I get it done within' the next few hours, i'll come find you". Planting another soft kiss on Aubrey's cheek, the man let her go "Have fun, don't poke the birds... or the plants... they might like fingers" he added teasingly, waving her and Lucia off as he returned to work

Meanwhile, A-01 was surveying the surrounding area, placing barrier kits while Meta and Cuddles set them up one by one, slowly creating a protective field around the large camp they'd set up.

[datadogie]

Ruby Indigo

Mentioned in this Post:
@Claw2k11 - James Carson

Ruby quirked an eyebrow as she was stared at by James, and for a moment she wondered if he was some kind of android that was failing to compute. The thought of breaking a robot this easily made her grin. His words, however, were a slight surprise to her: How was she supposed to react at being called tender and easy to eat?

James then seemed to go on about how he would protect her, and Ruby forced herself to not giggle away. "Oh, please. You're not the only one assigned to security. In a manner of speaking," she said, patting her sidearm. "Though if I do need some help, I'll be sure to ask for you," she grinned, crossing her arms. "Speaking of, is there anything you need help with? I'm currently free until I decide to find someone and disturb, or annoy, them." Ruby could not help but wink at him.

[pyroman]

Nepra. It was the name of the ship that she had been aboard for some time now. Every day was some sort of adventure or journey for Kari Sabaan. Had a part of her not have joined for helping move her race forward, she might have even adopted Nepra as her name in place of her settlement name. However many duties she had to take care of as the daughter of one of the settlement leaders, and an unofficial ambassador for the Mynua, everything was so fun and new. So many new people with lives and stories completely different from her own. The levels of technology were far different from what she had grown up with back on Hephaestus, and now she was on a journey to help colonize a planet for everyone!

She wasn't even quite sure if it had been given a name yet, the planet. Hopefully it wouldn't be one of those boring Human names, like the ones that were just a garbled mixture of letters and numbers. Maybe they could name this planet after a Mynua deity, like the humans did with their even older pantheons. She could only hope. It would be a great service to her people if she could, though.

She waited patiently until everyone was ready to leave the ship before she herself went off to study. From the Nepra, Kari could see just how different it was from Hephaestus. The birds were so wonderful and elegant. However, her eyes were on the ground. She was already on the ground, taking samples here and there to compare to her library. Having friends and talking was fun and all, but she enjoyed her work far too much to let those things distract her from what was really important here.

Rocks Rock.

[Nevix]

Thomas Dunn

---

Thomas was decidedly conflicted. On one hand, he was, by now, more comfortable on starships than he was on solid ground. The Coalition Army spent a lot of time in orbit, for being wholly dedicated to ground-based warfare. Not that he minded. The alternative was Hephaestus, after all. Besides, he actually enjoyed spaceships. He didn't get cabin fever like some people did. The idea that he was traveling at near-or-above lightspeed in a massive metal tube, hurtling through surprisingly un-empty Space, was more than enough to interest him.

On the other hand, there was little that Thomas liked more than a change of scenery, and he'd be damned if this wasn't the ultimate change of scenery. He'd been on every colonized planet. The great jungle-cities of Rhea, the great wilds of Kepler, the...dust of Hephaestus. No, Thomas hadn't seen it all, but he was making good progress, he liked to think. This planet, this Volturnus, was something entirely new, though. He had seen nothing like it. Something entirely new.

Thomas and his two subordinates, the nurses Alicia and Daveth, sat around a folding table in the temporary ER Tent. Crates of machinery, textbooks, and medicine were stacked to the ceiling, waiting to be unpacked. Thomas blew out a sigh.

"I presume we're going to start unpacking soon?" He said, in question. His legs were kicked up at the table, and his chair was tilted on its back two legs. It was an obnoxious way to sit, he supposed, but it had a purpose. His leg hurt less when he stretched it out.

"Didn't we just finish moving the boxes in here?" Alicia asked. She was a tiny thing, barely up to his chest. She had a page-boy haircut, dyed a loud shade of orange. Thomas had learned that she was more than competent when dealing with patients, but getting to do things like paperwork, or unpacking crates, was a chore.

"Twenty minutes ago." Said Daveth. Daveth was a thick-necked former Coalition Marine. His face was chiseled and square, and Thomas was fairly sure his biceps were bigger than his head. He was, undoubtedly, the most intimidating man that Thomas had ever met. Which made it all the more amusing that Daveth was the sweetest, most mild person he'd ever known.

"Let's get it over with, eh? Faster we do this, the faster we can get to all the exciting shit." Thomas said, rising with a grimace. He limped over to one of the crates and opened it. In it were about a dozen cases of clinical-strength ibuprofen. It was less than a twentieth of their total medicine store. He groaned. "This might be an all-nighter."

"'So, Alicia, what did you do the first day you stepped foot on the surface of Volturnus?'" Alicia said. "'Oh, me? I unpacked some boxes.'" Daveth laughed, harder than necessary. Alicia smiled, blushing. Daveth blushed back. Thomas wanted to scream. They were so obviously crazy about each other, but neither had the courage to admit it. Every time something like this happened (and it had happened a lot, over the year they'd all known each other), Thomas wanted to shove their faces together and be done with it. He didn't know how much more "will-they-won't-they" he could stand.

"Oi! Awkward flirting later, unpacking crates now." He said, turning back to the ibuprofen. He smiled, though. Sure, his subordinates' love lives were driving him insane, and sure, he was stuck unloading boxes on the first day he arrived on a brand new planet, but things could be worse. After all, they were on a brand new planet.

What do I have to be sad about? He thought, surprisingly content.

[Raptor]

Mentioned: @Metadude

"Biology's computers are all spread on the work bench for you if you need a place to get started," Aubrey said with a smile and then pecked him on the lips and lightly pushed away to get a move on. "Fine, I'll be careful, I won't even leave the perimeter, promise." With that, she gave Alden a final grin and bolted off to explore. Even if the area where they could go for now wasn't very big, it was still exciting!

New plants, new animals, new everything! Maybe there would even be something here to help medicine make leaps and bounds or maybe inspire new forms of transportation! The possibilities were endless and she would start with the small, purple bush with what looked like a type of grey berry on it. She knelt down and opened her kit, slipping on some gloves and pulling out a container to collect a few.

---

Mentioned: @Nevix

Lucia rolled her eyes at the love birds and looked at her equipment roster, spotting the crate number for the exam beds. And she found her first delivery of the day. She walked over to the crate and grabbed a levdolly, sliding it into the crate's grooves and turning it on before pushing it over to the medical tent, just in time to hear Thomas tell his nurses to flirt later.

"They're just kids having fun, you remember fun don't you?" She asked with a grin, powering the dolly off and walking in. "I found the exam beds and figure you'd want to get them set up."

[Metadude]

Mentioned: @Claw2k11

Leaving Aubrey alone, Alden went to collect more tech from the ship, requesting help from other tech staff as he directed them on where it needed to go. With their aid, he had a very basic network established between the ship, the camp and now their Security division. The three Cyborgs paused, receiving the new uplink as they too connected with the datapad James owned, giving him an easier time communicating with the Trio when out of visual or audio range.

"Sir, A-01 reporting in. Confirming uplink" stated the Cyborg, coming through as both audio and text for the Man.

[Claw2k11]

James Carson

@Raptor

"Do not worry, I will have a close perimeter, I don't want to risk men on protecting a too large territory." he said to the man, looking as the men spread out. "I will have the fence set in less than two hours... after all, it would be bad if something were to sneak in our camp at night and steal something... or attack one of us."

@datadogie

"Well..." he started thinking, what would this young woman be able to do now... nothing really, but he couldn't really tell that to her, it would probably hurt her feelings... or so he thought. "Well, if you're willing, we could explore our surroundings a bit, get to know our territory... if you so wish."

@Metadude

"You three, set up a perimeter around the base." he orders the Trio. "As soon as you're done, make sure to inform the rest of the security team where they should set up the protective fences, after all, we don't want to overextend ourselves, understood?" he says to the cyborgs, for which he could feel a sort of sympathy towards.

While his physical body was still human, he was mentally a machine, his emotions had been suppressed, his senses and strength had been improved to be ten times more effective than of a human. He could feel an odd connection to them... he couldn't explains what it was, but he thought it was called empathy, or something similar.

[Metadude]

Mentioned: @Claw2k11

"Perimeter already secured" A-01 informed the man "Requesting verification to enable defensive barrier.". The Cyborgs were receiving orders they had already completed, Meta and Cuddles paid no attention to it, but A-01 was cursed with a higher level of intelligence. Interpreting the commands, A-01 had the other two recheck the perimeter while he awaited authorization to enable the barriers

[Claw2k11]

@Metadude

"Enable barriers and allow nobody to leave unless they have my express permission." he ordered the two. They still had to be cautious of the wildlife in their first days here, who knows what dangers lurked around here and who knows how dangerous they were to humans. "If anyone demands to exit the barred area, contact me." he said to A-01, before turning back, to explore the surroundings with Ruby, it would take his mind off his duties for a few precious moments at least.

[Metadude]

Mentioned: @Claw2k11

"Order Confirmed.", with that, A-01 enabled the barriers. Creating a thin dome of energy over the whole camp. "I will re-rout all communication with designations, A-01, A-09 and C-13 to Chief of Security, James Carson.". The three Cyborgs patrolled the barrier, only one of them ever leaving their post of the Humans needed help with heavy lifting.

[datadogie]

Ruby Indigo

Mentioned in this Post:
@Claw2k11 - James Carson

"Well, I guess so," Ruby replied to James' suggestion that they could explore. It would give her a chance to explore the local area. She paused as he started to order the cyborgs to enable the barriers, and Ruby started to eye them with some curiosity. They were, in her opinion, quite strange. They looked capable, yet at the same time she could not help but think they were all look and talk, but no fight.

Shrugging to herself, Ruby turned to have a staring contest with a beautiful bird. She won, the bird obviously did not know it was a contest, with a smile, before turning to James. "This place is beautiful."

[Nevix]

Thomas Dunn

---

Mentioned: Lucia- @Raptor

---

"Kids?" He said, cocking an eyebrow. It had never occurred to him to think of his nurses as kids, but he supposed they were seven years younger than him. "Huh. Damn. We're old, aren't we?" He let out a quick laugh. "That's a troubling thought." He looked at the crates that contained the exam-beds. He smiled. "Oh, wonderful." He turned to the mechanic, clapping his hands together. "You are a saint, Lucia." He tried to pick up one of the crates, and struggled. He rolled up the sleeves of his white button-up shirt. He whistled. "Oi! Daveth, I need a hand with this. Alicia, clear out some space."

"On it, Doc!" They chorused, giggling. Thomas sighed. Moving the crates around was a righteous pain in the ass, but luckily, the bed themselves were easy to set up. When they'd finished up, he wiped some sweat off his brow. He was tired, and so were Daveth and Alicia. He sighed.

"You two, take a break. Long as you need, but try to be back in an hour. Anyone gives you shit about it, tell them to talk to me. Unless it's Carson. If Carson gives you shit about it, you tell him you're sorry, and you come right back here." He said, in a semi-joking manner. There wasn't a lot that scared him, but that machine-in-men's-clothing was somewhere far beyond intimidating. He limped over to Lucia. "I've got the 'kids' off my back for an hour or so. You need help with anything?"

[Claw2k11]

@datadogie

"Yes... and dangerous." his instincts as a super-soldier kicked in as he placed a hand casually on his assault rifle. "That bird could gobble up almost anyone here... if I weren't here." though he didn't know it, for a brief moment, a prideful smile formed on his lips. "We should continue our exploration..." he said and moved past the bird at a respectable distance.

"Say... were you born on Hephaestus?" he asked, seemingly trying to make a conversation, though again, his voice lacked any actual emotions.