[IC] Wrath of Darkness

[Mega Birb]

Wasting no time, Spook came over to the console looking over at the event, glass eyecovers of her mask reflecting the light. She seemed enthralled by it, tearing herself away after staring at the pillar for a solid ten seconds, deaf to the world. As if finding some deeper meaning in the beacon, she started after Johnson immediately as he lead the group away towards the new transport. She didn't really pay attention to Nate getting berated once again, that would probably end up being a common theme throughout their mission, so it became white noise to her.

The new transport came into view, and Spook immediately let out a descending whistle. She was a beauty of a ship, fully restored to her glory days from before The Other invaded and outfitted with a pair of gatling guns on the doors, and solar panels to boot. Her muffled voice broke through whatever clamor there was. "M7-32 Sky Hawk, badass of a ship before everything fell apart. Now? Might as well be Armageddon with wings. Whoever put this girl back together did a damn fine job..." Trailing off, she boarded the Hawk and looked around the interior, finding a small space by the door she would unofficially claim as her's for the moment. She then sat with her legs hanging out the door, one hand on a safety rail.

"Ready for take-off, let's find out what that beacon is."

[Deos Morran]

Jake Cross

Jake looked over the ship much as his teammates had. This thing was a true marvel though, a relic from a long lost world and in damn near perfect condition. Sure a few parts were missing and either rerouted, or just ignored, much like the ship's currently standing weapon systems, but in exchange for the chance to have a literal piece of history and one that kicks major ass is a benefit in and of it self. In fact this ship is a blessing that all would be jealous of as even the Reaper's Rangers probably didn't have something like this. Regardless though, time was ticking and he had to fulfill him own order.

Moving towards the ship he was stopped by Isis who started to bring up what was happening to her pet, however before she could finish a... 'solution' presented itself as the massive, black Duvari came barreling through the outpost and seems to be on a war path. Even Jake reached for his sidearm, grasping the handle firmly as Isis called out about how she was ok and just wanted to be with her. Given the reaction and the sudden pouncing of Isis he was inclined to believe her. Though it wasn't much longer before several armed guard had a bead on the previously rampaging beast. What's more is that they seemed to already get a few hit's on Bastet as two darts hung limply from her flank. "What the fuck do you feed that thing!" One guard called out, still ready to shoot. "Two tranques and it didn't slow down! Fucker isn't natural anymore!" Another called out, letting folks know what those darts were. In truth they did make the Duvari tired, but determination and primal power isn't something to treat lightly.

As for Jake he just watched in confusion and shock, "What the Hell Nasri! Your pet just rampaged through the outpost... and... wait wasn't she in a cage? Did she break out! What the fuck! Why would we even put her in a cage if she could just do that!" Jake started, obviously both flustered and embarrassed by the beast's show of force... yet he was thankful and grateful that that monster was on his side. "You're in deep shit Nasri." He started up again, tossing a stern look her way, but there was something else, one could even say it was joy. Like he thought the little show was funny, but had to save face. "You need to keep that monster under check, if that means you need to keep her nose down on the ship fine, but I won't be crashing because I'm letting her out of her next and much stronger cage. Just get her on the ship." He said, watching as the two made their way onto the craft, much to the dismay of not only the outpost, but also a member of their team.

Though with things going crazy and thankfully winding down quickly the mission was truly about to start. So as the team loaded up, found a place for themselves and their gear, and the engines started to pick up it was made clear that now things were about to get interesting...

Chapter 1: The Pillar of Light

The Argent Seeker flew through the air, guided by the skillful hand of Matthew the craft used it's powerful jet engines to bolt through the sky and as the world below expanded letting free the thick forest to reveal a massive expanse of plains and within those plains dwelled the ruins and lost structures of the Old World and showed the monsters that now called them home. Wild packs of Duvari ran across the land, storming giants rumbled like living mountains, and skittering Imps ran from the light of day when the roaring engines of the Sky Hawk went thundering by.

The world may have gone to Hell, but if this was truly Hell, then what a beautiful and deadly place it was. Still their destination was arriving quickly and according to the data given to them by the Treehouse the approximate location was just a few miles ahead. That meant Jake moved from the center cabin up to the front, seeing Matthew faithfully keeping the ship on course. Though from the cockpit's wide view he saw the sun setting and lowering into the horizon. Today had been a good da of travel, but now it was time to rest, "Matthew, Keep us on course, but keep an eye out for a landing zone. We're going to need to make camp soon." From there he watched as the location of the light came closer, however things were not to go as planned.

As the ship drew closer to the site the air seemed to shift and warp, turning what was once calm skies into a turbulent wash of storms. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, or a gust of wind to be read, but the chop given to the craft was like that out of a maelstrom. "Matthew! What's going on?" He asked, fighting for a seat up in front, before continuing, "Set the ship down! This is getting worse and I'm not looking to die in a crash on day one." In that moment it was just best to dive and as the ship flew towards the ground the winds grew even more malicious. Though as they threatened to turn the ship into a flaming heap of scrap they suddenly and abruptly stopped once Matthew took the ship below a few hundred feet from the ground. Like the storm was only up from the ground. However now that they were near the ground, landing was the next step. From there the ship's engines started to wane as the landing gear took hold.

The field they had chosen had some cover from the local giant trees, but also a few incredibly large rocks that gave a sort of natural cover. It wouldn't take much to hide the ship and set up a safe camp. Jake turned from the cockpit, "Good work Matthew. Pretty sure we'd be dead if you weren't behind the wheel. Though now it's time to camp. Open up the sails and come join us." From there he went back into the main compartment to see the rest of the crew after that rough ride. "Shitty ride. Looks like there is something surrounding the site in the sky so we'll have to hit up our ground game. But first we rest. The sun will fall in an hour and I want the camp set up before that. Get a move on people! We're burning daylight!"

From there it was just a simple matter of unloading the cargo from the Sky Hawk and setting up a perimeter, throwing camo-tarps over the ship, setting up tents, and finally building a fire from which to host the crew at. With everybody doing their part things were set before the sun set, and now with the gang sitting around a fire, waiting for the need to sleep to set in. Two of the team would be on fire guard through the night with relief working every few hours, but until then the gang had a little time to talk strategy and get to know each other a little better.

[Mataus]

Back into time. . .

Matt watched Bastet in shocked silence. Would he have to fly a mission with that thing? Sure he had flown them to Treehouse, but now he would have to deal with Bastet during a high importance mission... Bastet, a beast which could not be caged, it seemed."I agree with Jake, why the hell did you lock it up? Better off letting it on its own. Probably more calm like that." Matt said about the Duvari.

Forward into time. . .

Being the first to be ready to go, Matt took a small lesson on how to fly the Sky Hawk. He had flown so many aircraft before that he was already familiar with most of the controls, and the rest he learned easily. He took it for a test flight, in which nothing happened, meaning he was cleared to fly the craft. The guys who rebuilt the Sky Hawk were there and gave him a manual for their mechanic, which Matt was sure Rig would appreciate. After all was said and done, Matt went to find Rig.

"Yo Rig, they gave me this manual on the craft. Doubt someone with your skills will need it, but here you go," he said, handing him the thick manual. "I flipped through it, didn't understand half of it." He added with a grin, "that's why we have you eh?"

Father into time. . .

Matt climbed into the cockpit of the phenomenal craft which already held most of his teammates. They seemed pretty calm... the calm before the storm. He shuddered, running through his preflight checks. All read green, as he expected from a craft such as this, and the tower gave him the go ahead. "Alright crew, this is your captain speaking. Take off in ten." Ten seconds later, he brought the S'awk into the air slowly, swung the front around, and thrust off to their destination. "ETA is a few hours. Get some rest fellas."

The flight went smoothly and he enjoyed the scenery which never seemed to get old. He probably had seen more monsters than most people alive. Luckily he wasn't a Ranger, or he was sure he'd be dead. He didn't know how these guys could keep going back out there, over and over, and stay alive. A beep brought his focus back to reality. His helmet's HUD showed clear skies as the report came in, however, that wasn't the case. Turbulence slammed the ship, turbulence from a storm which would have grounded aircraft, even those on a rescue mission. Only, there wasn't a storm. Jake's voice crackled in his ear and he answered it with a shout, "no idea! there's nothing around us!" He changed the comms to shipwide, "hold on everyone! Entering a dive!" The nose of the craft lowered to an eighty-degree tilt and then took off. A few seconds later the turbulence ended and Matt brought leveled the craft in a high G maneuver.

Matt spotted a rocky clearing in the large trees and set them down there. He lowered the cargo ramp and extended the solar sails. Without a word he swapped his flight helmet for his combat helmet with a HUD and grabbed his other gear, as well as his SM8. Once done, he went to help set up camp.

[13org]

Isis Nasri

"Stop it! She is with me! You don't need to shoot tranquilizer darts!" Isis said, annoyed with the situation.
"It will take at least 5 darts to fully incapacitate her. Bastet is not your average domesticated Duvari. She is a wild Duvari bred by the Nasri for generations to be the perfect hunter companion." she said, plucking out the darts from Bastet's flank and caressing her with a proud expression.
Indeed, the Nasri's Duvari were things to be proud of. Big, majestic, strong and very loyal to their hunter (the one they bonded with).

"What the Hell Nasri! Your pet just rampaged through the outpost... and... wait wasn't she in a cage? Did she break out! What the fuck! Why would we even put her in a cage if she could just do that!"
"You're in deep shit Nasri."

"B-But Jake, she didn't hurt anyone or destroy anything! Well... Just that flimsy cage... but still, she just doesn't like to be away from me! We literally were raised together." she said, protesting.
"You need to understand... We Nasri work so well with our Duvari because we are not just a human and its 'pet'... Our Duvari literally sees us as part of their pack. They will always want to be with us and defend us." she said, hugging Bastet.

"You need to keep that monster under check, if that means you need to keep her nose down on the ship fine, but I won't be crashing because I'm letting her out of her next and much stronger cage. Just get her on the ship."

"Just give her a chance, you will se how well behave she is. When we get on our destination, i'm sure that you will change your mind!" Isis said, with a smile on her face as Bastet rubbed her head against her.

"I agree with Jake, why the hell did you lock it up? Better off letting it on its own. Probably more calm like that."
Matthew said, looking to her and Bastet.

"Actually... The cage you used to transport her was meant to common, domesticated Duvari..." Isis said, smiling awkwardly.
"I knew it wouldn't be able to hold her if she tried to escape, but if something bad happened during the transport, I wouldn't want her to be trapped in a cage, unable to do anything... So in part that is my fault..." she said as she got inside the ship with Bastet.

---

After some time...

---

Inside the ship everything was going ok. Bastet was quietly laying down near Isis, playing with her hand, Matthew was focused on flying the ship... Everything was going as planned, until somehow the ship was shaking just like it was in the middle of a storm. But the weirdest thing was that the sky was completely clear. There wasn't even a single cloud near them. As they continued flying towards the pillar, the winds got worse and worse, until it was practically impossible to continue without risking crashing the ship.
"no idea! there's nothing around us!" Matthew said, after Jake asked what was going on.
"hold on everyone! Entering a dive!" He continued, extremely focused in trying to land the ship safely.

Bastet was really alarmed, but since Isis was hugging her, the big duvari kept laying down near her, putting her head around Isis, protecting her.
"It will be ok Bastet, just stay with me..." Isis said, hugging her and trying to hide how afraid she was.
Isis never liked flying. Be it with helicopters, ships or anything else. She didn't trusted technology that much. If that was a creature, then it would be different, but she simply couldn't feel completely safe while inside one.
Luckily, they were able to land successfully, without any casualties. The second they touched the ground, Isis and Bastet were the first ones to literally jump out of the ship.

"Shitty ride. Looks like there is something surrounding the site in the sky so we'll have to hit up our ground game. But first we rest. The sun will fall in an hour and I want the camp set up before that. Get a move on people! We're burning daylight!" Jake said.

"Well... that was quite the... experience." Isis said, still calming herself down.
"Jake, you saw how Bastet reacted to that? She was literally calmer than I was!" Isis said, giggling.
"I said to you that you would change your mind when we arrived, didn't I?" she asked, praising Bastet.
"After this I believe we all deserve a reward. Yes, you too Bastet!" she said, looking to everyone and then caressing Bastet when she nudged her with her nose.
"I'll go out hunting with Bastet while you set the camp. I'll show you how good a fresh kill directly from the forest tastes!" she said after disappearing in the forest with Bastet.

[deadpixel101]

Rig spent enough time, with enough distance away from Bastet and subsequently Isis, that he had become...accepting of the beast. By no means was he going to pet it or even talk to Nasari while she was with it, but at least he didn't feel like bolting when he looked at it. Something he was doing frequently. He would switch from watching Matt fly with interest, and watching Isis defend her hell-beast with. With... Contempt wasn't the right word, that wasn't Rig's style. Nervousness? That was certainly part of it. He didn't want to dislike the woman for her connection with the thing, but he can never pull the negativity separate from the creature. As Matthew brought the Hawk down, he approached rig. Offering him the given manual. "Oh thank you! This is great!" Immediately swept into the pages he didn't even have time to act overly humble in response. He just nodded and hummed a response. Before takeoff he would take another diagnostics view. Looking over every part of the ship, being as thorough as possible while not wasting precious daylight. After giving the green light to match the on deck operators, they were in the air.

---

Making sure to seat himself as far away from Isis and Bastet as possible, Rig was flipping through the manual to the craft. He wondered if he would get to keep it after they got back. Or...If they got back. He looked up from his reading to sigh at the thought. Looking to the group he was with, he wondered what they were all thinking. How often did they give into these thoughts as well? Sure he had things in check most times, but every excursion was a different swath of threats. Just as he opened his mouth to try and a get a word out the gang, a wave of force battered them. Soon the coms exploded with chatter on what was happening and down they went, avoiding the invisible tendrils that had licked their craft so viciously. Rig's fear for dying to a beast, whether Bastet or otherwise was thrown out the window, with his fear of being thrown out the window taking place.

Soon enough though they were on the ground. And after a few deep breaths to regain his senses, he was on his feet outside. He assisted in setting camp up, and quickly went to run another look over the ship, make sure things weren't damaged by the ordeal. After everything checked out okay he sat near to Matt at the fire.

"Hey, damn good job not letting us die up there." He paused with a smirk. "Any idea what went on? It didn't appear to be a hardware error."

[Mega Birb]

As the crew took off, Spook stood up from her seat on the floor and closed the door her legs had been hanging out of. She enjoyed the feel of the wind flying around her, though the travel they were about to experience would be a little much for her. She then watched as the outpost of Treetop faded into the distance, taking in the details of the place and what it was that made it so concealable. Lone behold, it was the height of the trees and the abundant foliage, humanity never failed to disappoint.

Except that one time, but still.

Intent on enjoying the ride, she made her way over to Isis and Bastet, giving a friendly wave before sitting down and bringing one leg up to her chest, back against the metal wall. She leaned her head back on the surface as well, taking a deep breath before speaking. "Don't worry about Bastet, I've seen worse done by domesticated Duvari." She chuckled, hands flexing slightly as they pulled at the flexible armor on her left leg.

---

Soon enough, turbulence hit. Except it wasn't, there was something clearly arcane behind it. No wind could've rocked a Sky Hawk as much as this was, so Spook was reasonably concerned as she took the Fusilaut from her lower back in case it was some kind of beast besetting the ship already. Having grown up in the Wild World, she had found it uncommon for some kind of monster with leaping capabilities to take helicopters out of the sky if they flew low enough. She stayed seated as the two near her decidedly panicked, unable to move much without toppling over suddenly. Out of nowhere, the craft dived and she felt gravity leave them, prompting her different trajectory from the craft to take hold and lift her off the floor a couple feet. In response, she turned herself over and grabbed at a loose strap from the overhead cargo rigging, anchoring herself to the craft.

And all of a sudden, they evened out, and she fell to the floor. They slowly set down, Spook still clinging to the strap with her right hand, and her left held onto her gun with a white-knuckle grip. Once they hit solid ground, the shock of floating for a solid couple of seconds wore off and she let go of the rigging, slumping to the ground like some kind of boneless humanoid. Her voice crackled over the ship's communication channel. "Matt... never do that again." She grunted and sat herself up, then stood on shaky legs as people started to move again, along with Jake giving an order to set up camp. "...I'll get some firewood, back in a bit." She recovered her landlegs as she stepped down from the craft, drawing her sword and clipping her PDW to her back as she went.

---

A short while, maybe ten minutes later, she came back with two armfuls of wood, one stuffed under each arm. One was dumped off to the side, just by the Sky Hawk, and the other was set down by where the fire pit would end up. From the surrounding area, she grabbed some rocks that fit into her hands well and set them in a circle a short distance from the transport, soon filling it with smaller sticks and some brush from the surrounding area. Without much ceremony, she dug around inside her cloak for a moment before pulling out a steel lighter, which she opened and flicked twice before it caught fire. She then held the flame to the brush until it spread, at which point she closed the modernized tinderbox before tucking it back onto her person.

The fire created and distributing warmth to everyone now, and moved back a couple feet before sitting with the glass lenses of her mask reflecting the flames as they slowly started to grow. "So, we've got some time to kill. Speaking of that, you guys have been out here before, right? What's the most dangerous thing you've killed?" While she awaited responses from everyone present, she tossed a few more sticks into the fire.

[FallenTrinity]

@Mega Birb

Earlier

Maybe he should've mentioned that "Angel of Death" stuff. Sure, he was a bit of a jokester and he shouldn't be taken seriously but it sure as shit riled up the masked chick. He looked at her confused for a moment before grinning and shaking his head with the roll of the eyes. Did what she say to him annoy him? A little, and he simply stayed silent for a moment.

"..Edgy? nope...I'm craaaaazyyyy...Its the Wild Woods man...These woods change people. Mentally, the Wild makes me feel like this invincible angel of death and it seems like they make you into a rigid bitch with a stick up her ass. So what do you bring to the table, Encyclopedia Brown? Besides a snarky attitude..." He gave her the brightest of smiles despite being irritated by her before Jake spoke up about being slightly annoyed by the terms "sir" and "Captain", which only added to John's streak of joking about.

"Yes Si- Jake."

When they reached their spot and landed he hopped out and stretched a bit, rolling his shoulders and cracking his neck on both sides. A slight bit of relief from sitting in that seat for some time. He followed Jake and the rest of the squad to a man named Johnson whose attitude seemed to show how little he tolerated stupidity. Then they saw it, the pillar of light. Its awe inspiring monolith of mystery added to his bit of excitement both in finding out what it was and at the same time, hoping it would benefit the human populace and their safety.

Nathan had stayed quite for the most part until Johnson barked at him for something he never said.

"I've been silent since we've landed so bark at someone else, sir." A quick smirk appeared and retreated as quickly as it came. With a sigh he looked around while he stayed within the group until he heard the sounds of yelling coming from near the caged Duvari. Instinctively he turned with his rifle raise and sights on the beast until Nasri came up to settle the thing, quickly dropping his sights on it. [color=slategray]'God I hate those fucking things'[/center] He shook his head.

Present time

Soon enough they boarded the relic of a craft. Despite its age it held up pretty well. He sat there quietly this time, just thinking about what was going on back home. Not much else happened until they neared the beacon which turned the pleasant skies into a raging torrent of turbulence and rough winds. This knocked back Nathan into reality as he leaned back and closed his eyes. Eventually they evened out and landed, immediately beginning to set up a perimeter. With a sigh he walked up to Jake and with a light smirk.

"I'll take first watch if no one has volunteered yet Capta- err...Jake. Probably take some time getting used to saying that instead of the normal formalities." He would wait for Jakes orders.

[Deos Morran]

Jake Cross

Jake looked over to Nasri nodding in her direction as she spoke so highly of her pet, playing and treating her like a person. It was a tad weird, but in truth she did behave on the ship without being in a cage so maybe that would be a permanent situation. However, he wasn't there to see how Bastet handled the rough landing, so no good or bad points there. "I'll take your word on it Nasri, but that event passed me. Until she proves otherwise though she can stay free from her cage." Though as she continued to talk about getting out to hunt and find her pet a treat he had a few words to say in parting, "Hold it Nasri. We aren't in the hunting grounds around Anselmo. We're in the Wild World now and beyond that we're out past our explored borders. We know nothing of these lands and I won't have you taking any unnecessary risks. I won't stop you from buffing our rations though, just that you must be careful. Any unknown creature you encounter you WILL run from and return to camp. I want you to come back in one piece. Understood Nasri?" From there she made her leave and that was enough for Jake to say she understood, which was a good thing.

Jake did his part in setting up camp, off loading the tents and helping to move Aria's communication equipment, though she insisted on setting it up herself. "Shouldn't take much longer boss and I'll send a report back home." Jake nodded and left her to her business, heading over to set up his tent and his sleeping cot and mat as most of the nights in the Wild World get quiet cold and chilly and without somebody to warm his bed it would mean he'd have to rely on a thermal blanket that comes standard issue in an Anselmo Ranger's pack. Though, once he was set up he made his way to the campfire, joining his fellows as Spook gave them something to sit around.

Aria had her equipment set up and ready to transmit, so with her large and rather bulky looking headset on she started to wiggle a few controls and adjust the display on her tower, starting to say, "Anselmo Main, this is Expedition KV-73, report following." Followed by a short silence before she started to speak up again, proceeding to relay the events the team has just lived through including the eye on account of the Pillar of Light, the acquisition of the new craft, and the supernatural storm that hit them.

Meanwhile, Jake returned to see his friends around the fire, handling their various affairs in their various ways before conversation started to sprout up, "Thank for volunteering Nathan. You can take first shift. I'll take second, Spook you get third, and Reed will have fourth. Should get us through the night." At that stage Spook brought up her question and while it was a tad arbitrary he knew what she was trying to do, "I killed a Prowler once. Thing snuck up on our camp during my watch but I saw the glint of it's eye in the firelight. Shot first before it lunged and hurt 'em. Woke up the camp too so nobody died by the damn thing. Had to stick my neck out to just take that shot on a whim though."

[13org]

Isis Nasri

Jake said to Isis to be careful. True, they weren't near the wall anymore, but Isis moved with the same confidence she did back there. Not only the sound of leaves getting crushed under Bastet and Isis silent steps could be heard. Agile and silent, their eyes scanned the dense forest for a suitable prey. Since that meat would be used to feed the others, Isis couldn't use a more lethal poison, instead opting for a non-lethal toxin, acting like a potent tranquilizer. Carefully opening a small vial, she poured some of the venom in the tip of one of her arrows. One arrow would be enough to drop her target.

"Hmm... I need something with plenty of meat for everyone to eat... Maybe a Knossa..." she thought to herself. These wouldn't be extremely difficult to find. Although they can be quite dangerous when charging, they are rather slow compared to Isis and Bastet.

Usually, they weren't difficult to find. Having the terrible tendency to stomp everything in front of them, taking down smaller trees & etc. They literally left a trail of stomped flora behind them. After finding this trail, it was as simple as following it until they found the herd.

"There it is... Bastet!" Isis called her, with a loud whistle after finding the trail left by the herd. Mounting Bastet, the two started following the trail, passing through the forest in full speed, just a black blur in the middle of a sea of green. Upon finding them, the tactic to take one down was in theory, rather simple: they needed to lead a Knossa away from the herd (either by slowing it down as the rest of the herd runs or by leading it to a different path), and then attack it.. Knossa can be very stubborn, but if one gets away from the herd, they won't come back, instead they will choose to save the rest of the herd.

The hunt started as soon as they were able to see the herd. Dismounting from Bastet, Isis silently looked to her companion, only nodding her head to the Knossa. Bastet already knew what to do. Sneaking near the herd, Isis saw a male Knossa, with a big wound on its face. Probably he had just lost against another male Knossa, competing for the right to breed.

Perfect. His right eye was wounded, so isolating it from the rest of the herd, would be even easier.

Looking to Bastet, Isis waited until the duvari looked to her, something that both Isis and Bastet did while hunting, they always looked to their companions periodically, to check on their situation and to communicate themselves. The simple gesture of pointing towards the wounded Knossa was enough for Bastet to understand what she needed to do. Sneaking near the wounded knossa, she would wait for Isis to hit it with an arrow, before pouncing on it. Nocking the poisoned arrow that she had prepared beforehand, Isis shot it. The arrow flew with a whistle, hitting the Knossa directly on its flank, near its hind legs. It cried in pain and alarm, alerting the rest of the herd.

Upon hearing that sound, the rest of the knossa started running desperately, stomping everything in their path. The wounded knossa though, wasn't that lucky. The second he tried to run, Bastet pounced on the poor creature, sinking her teeth on its throat and pulling it to the ground. Knossa were very bulky and strong, but Bastet was very heavy and strong, and even a knossa would find it difficult to run with her over it. The toxin started to work, as its hind legs got weaker and weaker, until the knossa was unable to lift its own weight.

As soon as it fell down, Bastet crushed its throat with her powerful jaws.

"Good girl!!" Isis said, running near the duvari, praising it.

Taking out the arrow on its flank, cleaning it and putting it back on her quiver, Isis looked at the heavy knossa, agonizing on the floor.

With a precise and swift movement, Isis pierced the creature's chest with her glove, reaching its heart.

---

A few hours later, reaching on the camp.

---

It was already getting late. Hunting and killing the knossa was easy. The real problem was bringing it back. The creature was too heavy, and it was proving to be a real hassle to drag it back to the camp. They had to stop to rest after some meters, because even Bastet was getting tired.

"Can someone help us here please?" Isis said, both her and Bastet panting from the effort.

"This thing is ridiculously heavy..." she protested. "I should have killed something easier to carry..." She said, helping Bastet to carry the knossa.

Isis and Bastet dropped it near the rest of the group, with a sound thump. The marks of Bastet's fangs on the creature's necks were very visible.

"I need to take a bath... Is there a river nearby?" Isis asked, sitting on the ground. She was sweaty and dirty.

"This should be enough for us to have quite a feast!" She said, laying down on the ground, tired.

[Mataus]

Farther from the present. . .

Matt helped set up some tents and also threw up a couple cameras/motion sensors, which would be attached to a small monitor. Maybe it'd keep them alive. Maybe not. Worth a shot.

"Oh you know I'll do it again, sooner or later you'll find yourself wishing you never stepped foot in the S'awk." Matt said to Spook, probably the biggest hardass out of all of them. He had to laugh at Spook, she could handle monsters. But a little dive got her? Perhaps she was just making a bigger deal out of it than usual, or she really didn't like flying. She wouldn't be the first, and he wasn't going to give her any shit about it.

"No problem man, I'm here to make sure you're here," Matt replied to Rig, "and you're here to make sure I can keep us here. Little relationship we have going," he said with a laugh. Without a mechanic, long missions like this could turn bad fast. "As for what happened. I've never had it happen to me - this is a first. Honestly, it shook me a little, literally." Matt took a sip of water from his hydration pack. "Could you take a look at the ship's systems, wings, and engines? Any of those three could have been damaged by the... anomaly."

Matt laughed to himself about Nathan's behavior, nearly calling Jake "captain" or "sir" whenever he spoke. The guy was going to find himself in an interesting situation if he continued, he thought. Perhaps Nathan would give it up and bother someone else - even though Jake didn't seem to make a big deal of it. Jake did make a showing that he didn't like those titles. Matt wouldn't be surprised if there would be a butt chewing later on.

Closer to the present. . .

"Good luck Isis! Try not to die!" Matt yelled to Isis as she departed on a hunt. Some fresh meat would be welcome, but only if no one got hurt. That wasn't what they were here to do... but it could benefit them in the long-term. Reed decided it was worth some risk, Isis knew what she was doing. As long as nothing hunted the hunter.

Present. . .

"Fourth shift, got it. Maybe Rig here," he said, jabbing a thumb at Rig, "could take a look at the ship during my shift, that way he could ask me anything he needs to during his diagnosis." Matt said, answering Jake.

Matt looked into Spook's newly made fire, listening to the story about the Prowler. He really, truly wasn't sure what his largest kill was. He had killed a lot, from high in the air, with a lot of big bullets and the occasional missile. "I've killed a lot of Cat 3s, wounded some Cat 4s. Honestly, I'm not too sure, never stick around to find out if the creatures died. I have shot at a leviathan once, not that it did anything. In fact, I think it laughed at me."

A rustling brought him to attention. Well, rustling and grunting he had been hearing for awhile. He knew it was Isis a long time ago, and he went and helped her pull the kill in. "Yeah, I saw a stream before we set down, not twenty meters from the camp. That'll probably work for you."

[deadpixel101]

Responding in turn to Matt, Rig nodded after taking a drink himself. "Of course, yeah I'll double, triple check it before we take off. I ran a quick look over everything earlier and all the systems seemed fine, but i'll make sure everything's good for certain. We should run a small test before everyone get's on tomorrow though, just to be sure."

He sat around the fire, enjoying listening to people more then going out of his way to talk. He didn't plan on going out for meat or firewood unless he felt he needed to, so he just the others take that initiative. Later on, they divided up shifts, and Matt offered the idea of doing a diagnosis of the ship during his watch. Rig agreed with a nod and simple "Sounds good to me." before returning to the current calm. After sitting in silence for a good bit he took out his sidearm. The thing glinted in the fire which made him slightly nervous. A fire was one thing but mirror signals into the dark woods seemed a little stupid. He kept it low and took to cleaning it and oiling the cylinders. Spinning them with one hand it glided how he liked it. He stopped it to look at the engraving, having the same thought run through his head that always did when he reminisced like this.

How fucking stupid.

The patterns were intricate and well done, but the picture inscribed where that of medieval times. From what source material could be found of the older times, he had grown an affinity for the armored and gallant soldiers. Before he knew it he was drafting designs of them, and once he had his hands on the weapon he got to work. Hardly any time had passed since he finished the job, just a few years, but already it seemed so juvenile. What was he going for? Was the gun supposed to be his "sword"? Or was he supposed to be a knight using the thing? Either way it was silly. It felt like a kid plastering their walls with posters of motorcycles. Which was also something Rig had done. As he slipped the gun back into it's holster Spook raised a question. As if to add to his current flow of though she asked what the biggest thing they had hunted was.

He had to seriously think about that one. He had run into a few dangerous things on the trips out here but he'd never gone that far before. Not only that but he was always teamed up with good soldiers, often in the armored division. Meaning they had been carrying some big fucking guns. After Matt told his part he decided to speak up as well. "I've...Helped take down a dire-bear once. But that was in the mounted division, so we were in some gnarly vehicles. I just had to sit there and focus fire. Thing was alone, didn't have much of a chance to target any one of us. Not only that but it was heavily wounded before we even saw it. I think it had gotten into a fight with something else out there. I've always counted myself lucky we never ran into whatever it was up against." He said with a nervous half laugh. Other then that his kill list wasn't very extensive. He had actually hardly taken anything down himself, and in those occasions it was close.

[FallenTrinity]

Nathan nodded to Jake's order with a rather calm demeanor. Since leaving off with a rather unintentially bad first impression, he might as well try to make up for it somehow. Volunteering for shit detail might be the better option. Since he was up first for watch, he decided it was best to quickly check his gear. He brought his hand up to his headset and switched it on. Its H.U.D flickered to life with the first notable piece being the direction he was looking. He turned his head side to side to check if the navigation instrument in it was working properly. He hadn't had many problems with it in the past and so he didn't think to much of it. Next on the list was its range finder. Nate looked off into the distance at a tree as the neon green reticle analyzed the distance and gave him the range. Seemed to be working alright after a few adjustments. With its range finder efficiently working he checked the zoom and thermal which seemed to be working as usual.

He did this with the rest of his equipment until he reached his UPOS. He glanced up to Jake as he switched it on. Its greenish light flickering on after a couple of taps and nearly a fist slamming down on it.

UPOS Activating

>System activiating...
>Initializing..
>Loading...
>Loading...
>404 Error...Failure 384-1B-668
>Rebooting...
>Rebooting...
>Loading...
>Loading...46%
>Loading...99%
>Updating...||||||||||||||||||||||
>Updating...|||||||||||||||||||||||
>Update Complete...
>Initializing...
>Loading...
>Enter Username: ******
>Password: ********
>Accepted...

"You know honesty Jake I don't know why I even bother to carry this with me. UPOS....Useless piece of shit. Its acronym fits it fucking well, you know?" He looked up with a smirk and a muffled chuckle. He started to check all his equipment before deciding to start making rounds around the perimeter that was in place.

[Mega Birb]

As members of the crew gathered around the fire and began to chat, watch assignments were handed out by Jake. Spook, unfortunately, got the shift that likely wouldn't allow her to fall back asleep when she was done with it. But that's where the chips fell, so she wouldn't complain. As everyone started responding to her inquiry about what all they had killed, she listened to their responses while taking a long stick from the pile beside her. She held it in her right hand and prodded the source of the flames, encouraging them to dance more ostentatiously or aggressively, depending on the viewpoint of it. Soon enough, though it was unspoken, her own question got kicked back to her. The enigma first looked between Jake and Rig, they had taken down things that made people run in fear and deserved some level of respect for it. She had something arguably better, though.

"Well, it's me versus a Dire Bear and a Prowler. I'll raise you one healthy Shredder." She started, pulling a fixed-bladed knife from her belt. The blade on it was dark and wicked, clearly meant for tearing rather than slicing, and sharp enough to rend flesh like paper. It wouldn't take a forensic expert to know the weapon was made from the claw of a Shredder. "I was sent into the den of one of these to find out what happened to the crew sent in to clear it. It's quite for the most part, don't hear anything until I'm in a giant chamber at the end of it. I found the crew alright, they were all dead, corpses torn apart and thrown around. Then I noticed the Shredder staring me down, ready to attack." Putting more emotion in the tale, she drew her sword and started to fight an invisible enemy with it, words fluctuating with every swing or parry. "It charged me and I barely had time to draw my sword! I dived out of the way of its strike and got back on my feet just in time to see it coming for me again. I had to jump to the side again-" She physically jumped to her left as she reenacted the fight. "-just to get away from it, and that gave it an opening! It swiped my side, went right through my armor like paper and I start bleeding like a stuck pig! I back away from the thing and get ready to stand my ground, the only way to kill this thing is to take it head on. So it charged again, and I raise my sword to meet it, and I charged it as well!" Spook put her left hand out in front of her and ran headlong towards a tree. At the last second, she jumped and thrust her sword forward, impaling the poor tree upon a few inches of steel. "It went limp on my blade, and I took its claw as a trophy. Now it's my knife."

Calming down, she put a foot on the tree beside her weapon and pulled it out, sheathing it once again and taking her seat. "Sorry about that, just kinda... got into that one." She laughed sheepishly and she picked up the long stick again and prodded the fire again, tossing a few more smaller branches on it to fuel it further. Otherwise, she sat with her knees peaked, arms around and holding them in place.

[Deos Morran]

Jake Cross

Jake was listening to everybody share their stories, hearing about their tales of adventure and of course their narrow escapes, but before they could really get too far into it Isis and Bastet came back around dragging behind a heavy carcass of a Knossa that seemed to have a good deal of meat on the bone. That's one thing he could give her credit for, she knew how to bring home the bacon... or in this case Knossa flanks. Now was his time to shine and upon seeing her struggle with the last few meters he stood up and jogged over to assist in dragging it the last of the way. "Good catch Isis!" He started watching her fall to the ground tired and drained from what must have been a rough hunt, "Don't worry, I'll carve 'em up and get us some flanks for the fire." He finished, putting out his survival knife to start cutting into the Knossa. Unfortunately a large chunk of the meat would have to go to the wayside due to their lack of storage and the fact that a large chunk is mostly fatty, greasy waste. Still though it wouldn't take much to cut past that and get at the good stuff.

While toiling away he listened and watched as the rest of the gang talked about their adventures. Apparently Mataus had a pretty good time as a pilot, taking on and supporting who knows how many different ranges. Which of course meant that Jake was glad to have him on board. Rig had some time under the Armored Division which was news to him and while it answered a few questions, certainly gave him a wider range of skills in that he must know a bunch about countless vehicles.

Then came around Nathan who had a moment to make sure everything was set and ready for shift, which again Jake could respect. Those who weren't prepared out here would be dead before long. "I got ya. Though if you want my advice, let it go. Out here you don't know when things like those will fail and that's no good. But really it can't be that bad. Gives you a grasp on old memories and old files, like a phone that won't break from the humidity. Right? Enjoy it man." While Jake didn't care much for technological gadgets he couldn't help but admire what some could do. Lucky bastard probably had pictures from back home and who knows what else with it. Regardless, he was off to his rounds which meant he was back on for preparing dinner.

Spook was certainly animated about her story and it even made Jake pause in his carving to watch her relive that moment with... well it seemed to be enjoyment oddly enough. That of course somewhat disturbed him given how she found an entire team of dead soldiers and almost died herself, but it did tell that she's capable of taking care of herself. Even if she's a little zealous and joyous in it. "Easy there killer, don't go cutting us up!" He said in jest at her swinging around that blade.

Though as things started to roll around he had enough flanks that it was time to start cooking them up. So with a few metal rods salvaged from their survival supplies, he skewered them on to be dug up into the ground around the fire, letting the wonderful smell of cooking meat fill the air. Upon returning to Isis' kill he got a few more ready and by then the first round was ready to serve, "Isis I think you should have first bite, but other than that. Bottoms up ya'll! And thank you Isis for getting this treat for us. Great way to start a camping trip." He said, handing a metal plate with a hearty Knossa flank to Isis, leaving the rest on plates near to the fire for everybody to grab at their own leisure.

He himself was going to take his plate back over to the Knossa, still looking to carve up more of it while the meat was still fresh, clean, and good. Casually taking a few bites and avoiding the raw blood from his knife as he ate and cut simultaneously.

[Mataus]

Matt listened to the rest of the stories with a smirk. He felt a level of proudness; it was satisfying to hear that the Wild World couldn't beat these guys. Spook's story was especially notable, killing a Shredder with a melee weapon. That was something. It sounded like they had an overall sturdy group of people. He felt, foolishly, relatively safe.

The dinner call brought Matt to his feet. He went straight for the freshly caught and cooked meat, which he bet tasted as good as it smelled. "Thanks, Isis, Jake." Matt said as he carried the meat back to where he was sitting, near Rig. "I don't believe I've ever tasted Knossa," he said to no one in particular. After eating, he went into the S'awk and went through his gear, organizing it to be grabbed on the fly. He set his SM8 and H8 on the ground near him, then laid his bedroll down. He set down one 5.8x32mm HAP (hypersonic armor piercing) 45rd mag near the SM8, so he'd have 90 bullets (one mag in the gun and the one set out) to throw at something very quickly. Then he set down his survival pack next to the guns if they had to run. He would take his vest off when he went to sleep, which is the reason he made these precautions.

Once done, he picked the SM8 back up and went outside to where he had been sitting and began cleaning the large PDW. It came apart quite easily, being made up of three major parts which, once taken apart, would easily allow access to the rest of the gun's parts. He didn't have much to say so he listened in on the other conversations.

[13org]

Isis Nasri

"Yeah, I saw a stream before we set down, not twenty meters from the camp. That'll probably work for you." Matthew said, helping her with the Knossa.

"Thanks Matt, a good bath will do wonders right now!" Isis said, smiling. The hunt wasn't a particularly difficult one. What really exhausted her was bringing the heavy creature back to the camp.

"Don't worry, I'll carve 'em up and get us some flanks for the fire." Jake said, after congratulating her for the catch.

"Please do! I will take a bath with Bastet on the stream nearby." She said, with Bastet pushing her to the direction Matt said the stream was with its nose.
"Ok ok, we are already going Bastet." she said, laughing.
"Oh, and do not throw away its horn. The material is very useful for a lot of things." she said, before walking away, with Bastet pushing her impatiently.

Getting on the stream, Isis took of her clothes, hanging them on a tree nearby and entered the water.
The cold water sent a chill up her spine when she slowly put her feet on it.
"Its really col- Aagh!" she was saying, before being interrupted by Bastet pouncing on her and throwing her on the water.

"Bastet!" she said, as the big duvari threw itself on the water as well, playing.
A few minutes later, she came back to the camp. Apparently, the others were telling stories about their biggest hunts and the most dangerous things they killed in the wilds.

"I missed the story time, haven't I?" Isis said, waking to the camp as she passed her hands through her hair, still wet.

"But the smell is really good though! Jake, nice job!" she said, smiling.

"Isis I think you should have first bite, but other than that. Bottoms up ya'll! And thank you Isis for getting this treat for us. Great way to start a camping trip." Jake said, offering her a plate with a nice piece of juicy, succulent meat.

"My my!! This is simply wonderful!" Isis said, smelling the meat, almost drooling over it.
"I guess now I must thank for the Knossa being so damn fat, right? Its a hassle to bring them, but their meat sure pays off the effort!" she said, sitting down with Bastet near everyone and taking a bite from the meat.

[deadpixel101]

As the stories came back around to Spook herself, she got much more....creative in how she told the story. And an impressive story it was. Fighting anything the wild world up close was sort of crazy. Not that Rig could really call anyone out for it, he did carry around a pile-bunker. He watched Spook as she got more energetic and theatrical, until she finished her story and settled back into her seat, seeming a little more sheepish then he expected. As she went back to poking the fire he started applauding her, making sure to wear a genuine smile to show he wasn't poking fun at her. "You act pretty cute for a total raw badass." He laughed lightheartedly. She could destroy him in three seconds, and knowing that she was on his side made him feel safer. Honestly though that was true for pretty much everyone here. Hearing their stories only fueled that idea. The fact that even their less combative members had taken down dangerous creatures out here boded well for the survival of the team.

Rig was too distracted by storytelling to properly acknowledge Isis before she and Bastet took off again. While it felt really rude, it might have been a blessing in disguise. Having to sit next to that hell-cat might have ruined his current good mood. Some time passed and food was put to cook, then the two hunters returned. Naturally they were offered the first share of food. Rig would never argue something like that. As she sat a bit off of Rig to eat he noticed how different it was to see her so human. Her usual attire mixed with the wild-person/pack hunter lent her a different air then she had now. Maybe that added to why he felt a little...off-put by her?

As he looked over to Bastet, he inched a bit farther away. No. It was the big fucking monster. Definitely monster.

"How's the food? Probably taste's better after working so hard to get it on the plate. yeah?" He rested his cheek on his palm, with his elbow propped up on his knee. He was getting pretty hungry himself but he had a habit of serving himself last if possible.

[Mega Birb]

Spook was glad to see others enjoyed her story, particularly Rig, who even commented eloquently enough to make her blush underneath that mask. Not that anyone would know. "Thanks, I guess." She adjusted herself slightly so her left leg laid flat on the ground and her right was pulled up to her chest, arms around it. As food came around, courtesy of Isis and Jake, she took a plate and set it down before reaching up to her helmet. Much to everyone's disappointment, she didn't take it off fully, instead simply removing the breathing apparatus that covered her mouth.

Below was a pair of full, brownish lips marred by a set of deep, gnarly scars. As most of her face was still obscured, the deepest of the scars was only visible to part way through her left cheek and stretched to the corner of her mouth. It picked up around halfway through the left half of her lower lip, and extended down past her jawline and presumably into her neck. She glanced around at the others briefly before picking up her haunch and taking a bite out of it, white teeth sinking into the meet and tearing part of the meal away before it disappeared past her lips. The meat was chewed for a few seconds before it was swallowed, earning a few grunts of satisfaction as it began the process of digestion. She looked over at Isis, a thin smile gracing her lips. "Damn, not sure if I should thank you or Jake more for this. Great catch, great cooking." She resumed tearing apart her food like a ravenous animal, leaving nothing behind but the plate, which she set back down. She then stood up and smacked her hands together a few times, clearing the dust and the remains of the meat from the gloves. She then retrieved the half of her mask that she had removed to eat and reattached it, a few mechanical snaps confirming its replacement.

"Alright, if anyone needs me, I'm gonna head down to the river and wash some of this crap off my cloak." With that said, she left in the direction Isis had most recently came from until she approached the flowing body of water, where she removed her most outer layer for her top half. Underneath was a dark gray, skin tight suit that left little to the imagination, though armored plates were clearly in place to cover places that didn't need to move much. Across her chest was a bandolier that held her handgun, knife, and apparently a leather bound journal, affixed to her back. Her PDW was on the back of her belt, which still held up a pair of black cargo pants, while her sword was cast to the side for the moment, still in its scabbard that was normally strapped around her cloak. With the black and yellow cloak in hand, she moved to the river bank and dunked it in, built up grim getting washed away by the flowing water as she scrubbed it away with her gloved hands. In a little bit, cloak now clean though wet, she was on her way back to camp with the piece of clothing in one hand and her sword in the other.

For those that wanted to see what was underneath that cloak, she had an athletic build though didn't necessarily stand out when it came to sex appeal. She did have prominent abs, though.

[Deos Morran]

Jake Cross

Jake watched the rest of his team as they all grabbed their sections of food and dug in. Though now with their stomachs being settled he took his own portion and joined the team at the fire. It was good, a little charred from being held over an open flame with no buffer or equalizer, but that didn't mean it wasn't a welcome change. Though while eating he had a moment to think about what his team was doing. Leaving to go wash in a river, breaking off to head away from the ship alone. While the perimeter was safe he wanted to keep his team alive and there is always the chance that they missed something. Yet Isis came back safe and much cleaner with no discernible wounds and then Spook did the same both seemingly cleaner and not attacked by anything in the stream so his paranoia was thankfully for not.

Following the completion of dinner it was time to retire while things were calm. The entire team checking over their gear and turning into their various tents as the falling sun turned the horizon red with fading light. Jake went to his tent, seeing his gear laid out before him next to his bed on an equipment case that he brought to house his change of clothes, personal effects, and other key items he'd need to be a civil Human being out in this Wild World. Keeping his pistol by the head of his cot he started to undress, stripping down to under clothes before slipping under the environmental blanket that he was issued.

Through the night, the eerie eve of the Wild World seeped all around the team, filling the peaceful and beautiful landscape into a clear skied wonder. The city of Anselmo had the habit of fogging up the skies so unless you ventured to the edge of the wall you rarely had a night without a single cloud to hide the twinkling stars. This night was one of hidden wonders, illuminating the dark sky with countless sterling stars.

Through the night no ill event happened as the various shifts were taken by the members of KV-73, leaving them to wake up with the rising sun. Jake drew up and put back on his clothes, drawing his gear and putting everything else back into his equipment box for easy return to the ship. Leaving the tent he looked around to see most of the team out and about getting ready for the upcoming mission. The three Duvari loaded into the cargo bay of the Sky Hawk were being brought out and prepped for the trip. A hearty stock that appeared to be ready for some action. Though being stored on a ship for a full day could do that to any Duvari.

Jake stepped up to address the team after making sure his gear was ready, "Alright team, without the ability to fly to the sight we need to hit our ground game. Isis. You and Bastet seem to be ready to explore so you're on point with Nathan who will have one of the Duvari to himself. I need you both to head up the path and scout out the site of the light. If you find danger report back to us and we'll move in as a complete team. Spook. You and Matthew will take another and ride with me. We're on reaction team and forward operation support. That leaves you Rig, you're riding with me. So that's the run team, mount up and bring everything you got. No telling what we'll find out there. Rig, before we go, shut down the Sky Hawk and throw up the camo-netting. We're leaving her behind for now."

With his speech done he set about heading to the Sky Hawk to assist Rig in prepping the Sky Hawk for standby. Then following that he mounted up on his choice of Duvari, a strong and bold male with a brown top coat and a tan underbelly. He seemed like a scrappy one which meant Jake would get along with him great.

Anselmo Date 2353-08-15
Location: The Wild World, The Pillar of Light

The road to the Pillar of Light was a straight one without any real obstacles, passing through rolling plains and thin forests that held plenty of monsters, many dangerous, but some beautiful and wondrous like the Flying Dragons that glide through the air on gentle feathered wings that seemed to glitter and glow in the shining sun. Their lithe bodies snaking through the air as they saw the team travel in the same direction as their flock was. Turning and changing their course to meet the team, snaking and flying side by side as the powerful Duvari charged through the thinning forests. Their gentle chirps adding to the thunderous percussion of the Duvari's foot falls.

As they crested the edge of the forest the Flying Dragons broke off, returning to their nature environment and leaving the team to cross a rolling plain. Their objective was just ahead and before long Jake signaled for the team to slow to a stop, moving to the lip of the cliff of a hill, giving them a great lookout position over what seemed to be a giant crater. From the cliff it appeared that the crater was easily a mile wide, whatever made it had to have been immensely powerful. Though what made things worse was that on the left side from the crater appeared to be a massive Wild Man village, bordering on a city.

"It should be happening soon." Jake said, looking at his watch and picking up his rifle to use the scope as a set of binoculars. Unfortunately, from the angle he couldn't see the center of the crater so whatever was down there was out of his view. Though as he was looking the Earth started to shake, a deep and powerful rumble that didn't feel like an earthquake. Then a few moments later a deep whooshing sound was made as a strong gust of wind sucked into the crater before a surge of energy burst from the crater's center into the air. The light at this range was so bright that Jake let out a curse, closing his eyes and looking away as the light died down into it's usual pillar form. He had to admit, it was a thing of wonder up close and clearly not natural. "Isis. Nathan. Head down and find us a path to that crater. The right flank looks devoid of Wild Men so try their first. Stay in constant communication. When you clear us a route message it and we'll be right behind you." Jake said, looking back through the scope of his rifle to observe the Wild Man city, looking to find any sign of why they'd set up something so big next to the Pillar. The distressing part was that he didn't see any movement. The city looked dead. "Be careful you two. Something here is really wrong. The city is empty from my vantage point." He radioed over to Isis and Nathan.

[Mataus]

Matt returned to the Sky Hawk, where he changed into a new undershirt and pants so that he'd be able to get going quick. He went through his gear, refreshing his memory on the locations of everything. After that, he placed his SM8 and H8 near him and pulled his blanket over him. Nothing woke him until the alarm on his simple wristwatch went off, a soft, electronic chirp. He first checked the mini cameras which he had set, they didn't show anything. He wished he could bring them, but they didn't have the gear to power and use the cameras. Then Matt put all of his gear on, secured his hat, (a hex multicam baseball cap which had "Anselmo Pilot" written in black and gold letters on the front) rechecked the cameras, and went outside.

Once he had walked the perimeter several times he returned to the Sky Hawk, where Rig would be running diagnostics. "Hope you found that everything is sound. How's it looking, Rig?" He asked, his hands resting on the butt of the SM8, which was slung over his chest. He guessed that the turbulence wouldn't have caused too much trouble to the beast of a machine. Perhaps there would be a few loose/severed bolts from vibration, but he doubted there'd me many. Aviation bolts usually were secured by a vibration proof system. Either way, Rig would be the one to know.

---

Matt wasn't pleased to hear that they'd be leaving their ride, even if it was a good decision. When the word came that he'd be riding with Spook, on a Duvari, he slowly shook his head. That would be... interesting. Matt looked at the Duvari. It was Spook's turn drive, it appeared. "Spook you're up front, I've spent my life in the air, not on the ground."

On the way, while riding the Duvari, Matt had a few questions for Spook. "So, Spook. I have two questions for you: where'd the name Spook come from and why the sword?" He asked to take his mind off of being so vulnerable, even though he bet the Duvari was a beast.

Once they arrived, and the crater and the sound that was coming from within came into focus, Matt had to stare in awe. He could feel the energy in the air, almost like how it felt to be near a lightning strike. Then the crater lit up. His polarized shooting glasses didn't do much to block the light, and the young soldier found himself blinded for a moment. "Damn that's bright. What the hell could do that!" He shouted, as he looked away. He could only imagine how the Duvari with its heightened senses felt.

Then the orders were handed out and Isis and Nathan went to go scout. He looked down at his SM8. Matt could effectively engage at 200 meters. But that wouldn't be of too much help here, he could see. For now, all he could do was study the crater with his binos. Jake was right when he had said that something was wrong. "This place oozes trouble."