[IC] The Inhospitable Expanse

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[TheDarkTemplar]

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It was muffled at first, as if coming from another room. Slowly as she regained consciousness it grew into a sharp ringing thag couldn't be ignored. As she examined the room her situation became more and more peculiar. The escape pod was cylindrical in shape with passenger seats along the sides with a pilot seat at the front. It wasn't the escape pod that she found strange however but the company she shared inside. Two humans, one in the seat beside her @Zelosse and the other in the pilot seat @Spriggs27, a scowl formed on her visage as she tried to lean away from the human beside her. A Kasi @Ryonara was also sitting beside her though its presence was met with less disdain. What's more she found herself sitting across from an Urhusasja @Kalleth and a beast of a machine @Lucius Cypher. "Hey, pilot!", Irisara called out, hoping to wake the others. Removing the safety restraints from over her torso she slowly made her way towards the front of the pod. Upon approach the control pad came back online along with the projection of the onboard AI. "Hello, ma'am. I was beginning to think none of you would wake up. I've been trying to wake you all for some time but you all failed to respond to my efforts. Are you alri-", the AI was cut off as Irisa shook the pilot awake. "Save it, what system are we currently in?", she asked before moving through the ship to wake every one up. "Wake up", her stern voice matched her eyes as she shook the human she was previously sitting by.

"We appear to be floating in the Daedalus System, home to four planets but no established colonies besides an abandoned mining colony. If you'd like I shall display the planetary scanner data on-screen for you"

"Do it", Irisa was more concerned with getting everyone up. Even though she couldn't remember, perhaps someone here did.

---

A buzzing nose rang beneath the haze, a pair of eyes slowly working their way open and into the waking world of a shuttering sound as the buzzing stopped and blared into a loud screech. The sound jarred the male awake and he was quickly thrust from his unconscious state and into the realization that a second pod was aloof. He quickly tore open his restraints and looked about the pod to find beside him an Azaali@Silverpaw, and on his other side was a Halion@Spriggs27, while across from him was a human girl@Rekaigan, a female Qari@Norschtalen, and an autonomous AI Unit@InkIsDorian. While Xi felt they weren't all inherently bad, he had his doubts about the Hallion, and in turn made sure to attempt to wake the others while neglecting that procedure with the Halion. While Xi was doing so, the screeching and buzzing noises finally ceased and Xi was met with a relieving tone.

"Sir. Systems have been normalized, you are finally awake. How are the.." The AI was cut off almost as soon as it began to speak once more after finishing it sub-routines and stabilizing it's faulty presence. "Where are we currently?" Xi spoke firmly and quickly, not wanting to waste a moment while assessing the pod's systems and data from the pilot seat. "It seems this life boat is currently floating through the Daedalus System. There are four planets, but none show any signs of past, present, or future colonization outside of an abandoned mining colony present on one of the planets." The AI stuttered a moment and then flickered in and out on the display projection. "I-I-I... WILL display the infoooormation now." The AI seemed to stutter and drag out as it's systems began to react again.

"Let me see all you have, upload it directly, I can't trust this AI's stability." Xi spoke with one last murmur before looking to the other bodies in the pod. "I will have to let them know our situation, if I can wake them."

[Spriggs27]

Gaz's head felt like he had a terrible hangover, he wanted to lie to himself and say that he wouldn't drink again for another couple years only to feel a set of hands shaking him. He opened his eyes to a hazy vision, once it soon cleared up, he saw a Qari woman, he pulled himself off the floor holding his head, groaning, soon the on board A.I began speaking to them. It told them of the other planets nearby in their system." You could've said more nicely that we're fucked." Gaz began shaking away the grogginess surrounding his head, he began looking at the others in the pod with them and wondered what could've caused them to be here." Shit! What happened? Did we get attacked?"

Checking himself for some of his only possessions, he nodded as he pulled his weapons out of his holsters and sliding them back in spinning one around his trigger finger before dropping it back into the holster the wrong way then fixing to sit properly in the leather holder. Getting a bad feeling in his gut, he decided to move his way over to the controls of the pod." I don't know about you, but I'd rather not just be drifting around in a defenseless escape pod, whatever may have caused us to be in this pod might also be lurking around in space, tell me when and where and I'll set this thing down where we should be. Good thing you got one of the best pilots in the galaxy to fly you around."

---

Chaos filled her head, she had an insatiable hunger of endless destruction and battles fueled her, she wanted to be powered by her anger and rip a tank to pieces, she wanted to watch an empire burn and see the people scatter, She was snoring, rather loudly. As Xi slowly woke everyone else up, or tried to, Quinn began waking up from the sounds of the stuttering AI, Shaking her head and letting out one last snore waking up, her eyes were met the only being standing up and attempting to wake the others up. She looked around the small object they were trapped inside of." What is this thing?" She slowly rose in her heavy armored suit." Where are we? Who are you?" She pointed to Xi, each of her questions sounding more like orders than anything else.

Sniffing heavily from the inside of her helmet, she couldn't get an idea who was what from their weak space suits, she could make out a robot and a couple of humanoid figures, but she could tell the race of one of them, she couldn't forget the height of a Qari, either they were a Qari or a really tall human or other alien with extreme height. With her mind falling into her stomach, she licked her lips at the thought of cooked Qari, mouth watering from just the thought of how it would smell, if they only had more meat on their bones they would make good for group meals. She focused and looked back to Xi." Answer me Where are we? And what is this thing we're inside of?" She asked again sounding as if she was getting angry.

[Kalleth]

Payne woke up, and he found himself in a confined space with five others. His mind flailed to reconcile how he had gotten from point A, his last memory of being in the pantry tidying up the ship's rations, to point B, waking up in what looked to be the ship's escape pod. He was in his EVA, but the extension to his matter analysis gauntlet, located on his left hand, seemed functional. That was good, at least. Just as good, was the fact that his Payne-Maker, sheathed and hooked onto his suit's waist, was still where it should be.

Payne' stomach growled, and that was not so good. He didn't know when his last meal had been, but he began to think of a new recipe for roasted apharids when he realized that the Qari who had woken him up (assuming her height wasn't an illusion,) as well as a human (most all medium-height spacefarers are) were discussing the course of action to be taken.

Now, Payne was just a cook, and a good bartender, but he could recognize that these were not ordinary circumstances. Extraordinary circumstances called for extraordinary responses. So Payne removed his safety restraints, stood up, and joined the pilot at the console.

"What's cookin'?"

[Rekaigan]

Katyusha slowly awoke to the sound of a stuttering AI and some angry speech, her eyes opening groggily. It took her a moment to rub her eyes and fully grasp the current situation. She was in an escape pod. Any engineer worth their salt would know the interior of any official vehicle within moments of observation, however her situation only brought forth questions. What happened back on Faren V? Where were they now? Fortunately, two of the five aboard the pod were awake and it would seem that she was the only human in here.. Not that it bothered her too much, although the aggressive speech she heard from the Halion was disconcerting as many had said.

As much as she wanted to explain what vessel they were on, she knew that it would be unwise of her to interrupt the Halion's barrage of questions. Undoing her restraints, Katyusha immediately went searching for Dimitri, her robotic companion. As luck would have it, the drone was in hibernation mode underneath her seat. She breathed a small sigh of relief, but made no attempt to reactivate the drone since there was no need to awaken a 3ft tall surveyor in such a small pod. Instead of saying anything, the engineer decided to investigate the internal systems of the pod, opening a small console in the wall near the cockpit. Hopefully she could find what was causing the problems with the AI and perhaps any other problems with the pod itself.

[SilverPaw]

The first thing Syviis registered was a faint buzzing, but his consciousness was unusually slow to return to him. As he became more aware he thought he heard someone…Was that someone trying to wake him up? There was some more speech but suddenly the former calm tones were replaced by some rather aggressive questions.

Syv finally awoke with a deep but quiet breath and assessed the situation. There was what he assumed to be a Halion facing the person who had tried to wake them up. Since Syv had no idea what the former wanted, he decided not to interfere for now. He saw a human female make a similar judgement as she unobtrusively left to operate the escape pod’s console. Syv hoped she would find helpful information and share it. He didn’t know about the others but the last thing he remember was travelling to Faren V. He wasn’t even sure if he had arrived on that planet or not. Either way, he was now in an escape pod with some other beings. What a curious situation.

Finally, he undid his safety restraints and checked himself over. He was in his EVA suit, but its his helmet was next to him. His hunter rifle was in its usual sling, though he had to adjust it a bit to place it from next to his shoulder to its customary position on his back. His multi-tool was on his hip. As he saw the last item, Syv realized that his hoverbike was most likely not here. He felt a pang of sadness at this fact, but the current unknown situation took priority. Seeing as they would have to land eventually – hurtling through space in an escape pod was not a long-term solution – he put the helmet of his EVA on and quietly made his way to the remaining two unconscious beings to attempt to wake them up.

[Zelosse]

Odd woke up dizzy, disorientated, his brain felt like liquid fire trying to escape through his ears. The sensation was unpleasant to say the least. Though the feeling of confinement was slowly making its way to the forefront of his concerns as Odd began to realize his surroundings bit by bit. Unfamiliar faces, a pod he did not remember entering, and the feeling of being trapped. Bound. Caged.
Breathing heavily as the panic set in he thrashed in his seat trying to escape the demons of his own mind, eventually hitting the release to the belt that had strapped him to the chair. Without bothering to talk to the others he struck a B-line to the nearest exit but caught himself before opening the latch in his initial panic.

Common sense kicked in a moment later to stop himself.

To the others he called out simply,

"Where are we?"
The who and whats could come later. Establish surroundings, get a destination, the rest could be dealt with as it happened.

@Kalleth@Spriggs27@TheDarkTemplar

[ManoftheNorth]

The air felt still from inside his helmet, and everything seemed to bleaken as the AI had yet manage a stability longer than a few minutes. Xi took this moment to stand and turn from the pilot seat and he looked over the three who had awoken. He was cautious and yet even he knew this was the time to put all other things aside from survival alive.

"Listen to me. This is an astral life-boat. We are in a community escape pod and we are currently drifting through space. We will need to wake the other two, and quickly. If we don't, it will be just us three deciding where to attempt to land this pod. I will save the other details for when and if we can wake the other two, as we still have a few minutes and I don't feel the need to waste them re-iterating information."

Xi spoke calmly, but firmly. His helmet never removed, but his voice as normal as any other being's. He then turned back around and gave another sentence to them all.

"Remain calm, and lets try to get this boat to safety if we can, stay keep level-headed and talk to me about what you can do and whether you can remember anything before you woke up here."

[Norschtalen]

"Ow ow ow ow." Navera woke up with a splitting headache, like she's been dancing in a club for ten hours consuming nothing but drugs, alcohol, and sweet greasy cupcakes. She wished she had a pill to pop right now but all she could do was nurse her aching head while trying to figure out what was going on. Once her vision stopped being blurry and she could hear things again Navera noticed she was in some sort of escape pod with some others. She doesn't remember how she got here, though she could conclude that she was escaping something. She didn't recognize anyone here and they certainly weren't Qari. Navera tried her best to figure out what was going on before her headache, or whatever it was they were fleeing from, got the best of her.

Navera woke up just in time to hear someone, an Azaali, mention they were in an escape pod and need to figure out where to land. Getting out of her seat Navera tried to walk over only to fall to her knees. "Dammit. My body feels wasted." Navera's legs were weak and her arms were heavy. There was a sickening feel in her stomach and she nearly wretched all over the escape pod floors, but managed to hold it in. She seriously considered whether or not she was drugged prior to getting onto this thing. The Azaali quickly took control of the situation and tried to figure out what to do, first by asking everyone who they are. "Ugh... Sorry... Give me a moment."

Taking a seat to let her body recover Navera looked over towards everyone. She doubts any of them are Qari spies, though that Halion didn't look too promising. "My name is Navi. I'm was just on vacation. I'm was a student. I don't remember what happened before I got here though. I... I think we were under attack?" Navera mixed her lies with uncertainty and twisted truths. Navi was a name she goes by, a pet name but not her real name. And she technically is on vacation from her duties until the heat dies down. She was a student, until she graduated. And she really doesn't know how she got here. Navera only vaguely remembered that something was after her, but she couldn't make out the details. She doesn't know if she was being chased by enemies from the Qari Empire or maybe just an aggressive pet. It was all a blur.

"Are we still drifting in space right now? Can we get an emergency signal going?"

[SilverPaw]

Syv had just been nearing the still unconscious female to try wake her up when she suddenly, and rather violently, did so on her own. Based on the way she woke up made Syviis almost positive that they hadn’t only been sleeping. But if someone had caused this on purpose, why did they do it? Well, it seems unlikely, but this might have been an accident, he thought, but it wasn’t reassuring – he didn’t even know what system they were in.

A soft thud interrupted his reverie and he saw that the female had fallen on the ground. Syv was a bit flustered that he hadn’t even seen her stumble although he was fairly close – apparently, he hadn’t yet recovered from his own oblivion as well as he had thought – but thankfully she seemed well enough and was able to take a seat on her own. He listened to her introduction, then said “I hope you feel better now, Navi.”

Then, he introduced himself to all of them “I’m Syviis Athimmi. I don’t remember an attack but I know I was on the way to Faren V from a hunting expedition to sell some things and sign up for a race.” Then he answered Navi’s question as best he could “Yes, we are still in space. I don’t know about an emergency signal, but we’ll try to land the pod somewhere,” Syv nodded to the male who had taken up the leadership role and given them the information.

[Rekaigan]

As the other passengers on in the pod spoke amongst themselves, Katyusha continued to work at the small console, putting the systems through basic troubleshooting in order to restart the onboard AI. It was strange to her that the AI had malfunctioned in the first place as these were some of the most stable programs throughout the system.. As far as she knew anyway. Unfortunately she didn't have her more in-depth troubleshooting programs with her. It would seem that they had been left back on Faren V; what ever happen to it she couldn't remember. Turning to the small group that had gathered, she decided to relay some of the news from her end, "Unfortunately, the AI has malfunctioned. It shouldn't take me too long to repair it. Once that's done, we can send out an emergency signal or find out where we are." she stated in a very frank tone.

After a few key presses, a panel opened to the side of the console, exposing the wiring. She brought out her Plasma welder, changing some of the settings before beginning the intricate work that was soldering. Small streams of smoke billowed from the exposed wiring as she began her maintenance. It wasn't long before she close the panel and began to tap the console controls.

'Beep. Beep.' The lights of the escape pod flicker once as the systems reboot, the AI hopefully returning to it's original state.

[Spriggs27]

The silence from the Qari was starting to get to him and soon the others began slowly waking up, one of them hopped up asking what's cooking." Well, probably the ship we just escaped from, it's probably cooking way more than we'd be." Gaz gained manual control of the pod's controls and experimented with the controls moving them back and forth, then left and right. Suddenly one of the guys in all white tried to get out of the pod acting quickly Gaz turned to him." Whoa! Whoa! Don't do that!" He held up one of his arms." I have this allergy to being sucked out into space buddy, as much as you may want to do it, I don't want to do that."

Turning back to the controls, Gaz looked at the planets nearby and remembered the one with the mining colony or whatever it was, a mining something. It was the only thing that actually had something on it and wasn't just a planet with creatures that would want to eat them, or kill them, it had some hope that there would be a ship." Alright guys, as much as I like being cramped in a pod with you all, we need bigger digs, ya dig?" He asked, turning to them to address them all."So we're heading to the mining colony, town, bar, boat house, party or whatever it is with mining in front of it, so buckle your pants because we're going on a mission. Find a ship, and fuck right off out of this part of the galaxy."

---

As the others began waking up slowly, Quinn began silently swearing under her breath when she saw the Qari wake up. The Halion turned her attention to the Qari who began speaking, she didn't believe the tall woman a single bit, part of what she was saying didn't really make sense, she was on vacation and they were attacked, then she mentions she doesn't remember what happened, something was wrong, in the pit of Quinn's gut she felt that the woman was hiding something, before they knew it, the tiny human woman began getting to work fixing the pod's virtual voice system or artificial intelligence.

The second the lights began to flicker, Quinn felt the human made it worse, but when they stopped and stayed on, her doubt quickly went away. Then right out of nowhere Quinn drew her sword and pointed it at the Qari woman, under her mask she was glaring at her." You might able to fool these weak and lesser aliens with your words Qari, but I don't believe that you were on vacation out in the middle of nowhere, if we were on some intergalactic crews then why am I here?" She asked the woman the question." I caught you in your lies Qari scum, we Halions may seem like barbarians, but we aren't fools."

[Ryonara]

"Uuuuhn... Where are we?" Two hands moved to Remu's head as she tried to recall what just happened. She remembered hearing emergency sirens and then running towards the escape pods, but then something hit her. She honestly thought she had died at that moment. But now she was alive and mostly well, aside from the fact she was in a small pod with complete strangers. She looked around and tried to get an idea of who she was with, but she had no idea what most of these aliens were. There was also a huge robot too. Obviously they were also caught in whatever trouble brought them here, but Remu was still trying to figure out the hows and whys.

There were a lot of people talking about stuff that Remu didn't really understand, but she was going to just listen and follow. They seemed to have a better understanding of what was going on than she did. Whatever they were going to do, it seemed like they were going to land soon. "Okay. Do you think we can find out what happened when we land?" Remu's soft, child-life voice spoke out. She was curious to know what happened.

[TheDarkTemplar]

"Ma'am, my analysis of this system gives us a slightly higher chance of survival if we land on either two of the four planets in this system", the AI spoke with a calm voice amidst the the growing tension within the pod. As for Irisa, Gaz's voice brought her attention to the human heading for the pod hatch. "Awake or not we have to get out of this pod soon", she thought to herself before running over to grab the human. "Get ahold of yourself and sit down", she said while trying to pull him away from the hatch. Her height causing her to loom over the human probably did not help to calm him but she didn't have time to comfort him. "AI, bring the data on my helmet visor", her tone was stern as she loosened her grip on Odd before turning towards the front of the pod. "Certainly ma'am, forgive me for not bringing this to your attention sooner but it seems this vessel's hull integrity is degrading due to an internal fuel leak. I calculate that we will have insufficient fuel to land to be one hour", Irisa's eyes widened with the news of the fuel leak. Thankfully the Kasi had awoken by then leaving her with one less thing to worry about. "Try and see if you can get the machine online, we need everyone up and ready to go once we land", her words were hurried while addressing the Kasi, her attention being focused mainly on the fuel leak issue. "Alright I have one hour to find us a suitable landing site", her mind working to figure out their best course of action. Bringing up the planetary scans on her helmet's display it seemed as though their options weren't ideal:

Daedalus I
Planet surface 85% liquid water, marine lifeforms present, minimal terrestrial lifeforms, landmass mostly tropical but minimal mineral ore present on land, mostly below waterlevel. Average Day Temp: 93°F/Night Temp: 67°F. Frequent rain with hurricane season once a year.

Minos Labyri I
Thick clouded atmosphere, highly dangerous lightening storms closer to surface, 20lbs heavier gravitational pull, thick atmosphere creates low light enviornment, perpetual twilight, cold climate, 82% land over surface. average amount of terrestrial lifeforms, consistent temp of 27°F. Minimal marine lifeforms, weather is frequent flurries, blizzards, and freezing winds. Sentient lifeforms present, tribal civilization.

Icarus I
Arid planet, thin atmosphere, gravitational pull 50lbs lighter, arid rocky flatlands, scattered oasises, large patches of sand dunes, single ocean low in marine life, predatory terrestrial life, Day Temp: 96°F/Night Temp: 45°F, monthy sandstorms, yearly rain season lasting 1 month with scattered light showers of low volume. scattered abandoned mining colonies

Daedalus II
Universal Tropical Biome, highly diverse ecosystem, high concentration of vegetation across planet surface, foliage hypergrowth capable of enveloping most structures in weeks. high humidity, frequent heavy rainfall, average day temp 93 night temp 77, numerous lakes and rivers across planet surface, mountainous regions frequent landslides.
1. planet surface 85% water, marine lifeforms present, minimal terrestrial lifeforms, landmass mostly tropical but minimal mineral ore present on land, mostly below the water. average day time temp is 93 degrees fahrenheit with night temp being 67 degrees fahrenheit. frequent rain with hurricane season once a year.

"We can't land on Minos Labyri I, the storms could ignite the fuel leak. Daedalus has a small land mass to ocean ratio, we'd be stranded in the water. Daedalus II seems full of life but there are a lot of variables that can hurt us rather than help. We're left with Icarus I. Myself, the Kasi, Urhusasja, and machine will fair the best there but the humans would suffer. If we landed near a mining colony we could perhaps establish a base there and scavenge for supplies", while normally she wouldn't care for the suffering of humans but in a situation like this a tolerance for them was necessary. "Everyone, we don't have much time, we're landing on Icarus I and heading for the nearest mining outpost. Pilot, bring us down"

[Lucius Cypher]

The robot strapped to the chair slowly came to life. Normally he never was in his standby mode, unless... Unless someone had auto piloted him. Taken over his body. And only one person he knew was capable or allowed to do that. As all the fleshbags around him were milling about trying to figure out what to do the giant eight foot tall robot sputtered to life. Then he started shouting. "MEK! MEK WHERE ARE YOU!?" Max awoke with a start, and immediately crashed into what was in front of him. Fortunately, that was a wall, and despite his bulk Max failed to crash through and break anything. Though he was rather troubled. "ARGH! WHO TRIED TO CONTROL ME!? I WILL RIP YOU LIMB FROM LIMB!"

Max looked around and tried to stand up. Fortunately he was able to stand at his full height, seeing that the pod had taken account tall races like Qari. He looked at everyone and felt a seething anger when he noticed none of them were his mechanic. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH MEK!? ANSWER ME DAMMIT OR I'LL SPACE US ALL!" The deranged robot shouted for answers as he gripped the side of the ship, ready to tear it apart. Max also wasn't really paying attention to anything that was being said that didn't directly answer his question.

[ManoftheNorth]

"You might able to fool these weak and lesser aliens with your words Qari, but I don't believe that you were on vacation out in the middle of nowhere, if we were on some intergalactic crews then why am I here?" She asked the woman the question." I caught you in your lies Qari scum, we Halions may seem like barbarians, but we aren't fools."

Xi felt the pressure of the situation rise almost instantly. Normally this was just expected tensions between races and yet in this moment it was far more. It was wasted energy, unnecessary fuel for fighting, and unbelievable idiocy. This put Xi in a spot he didn't want to find himself so soon. He admitted her took up a sort of leadership by trying to help everyone, but that was merely his nature and age at work, and now he had to solidify that position if he wanted to get them all to safety.

"Enough." Xi's voice was deep naturally, but now it seemed to reverberate off the walls and carried a more forceful tone than before. "You will stay your blade, Halion. You will all stay your hands." Xi stood from the console and he looked about the pod with his helmet still sunk around his head. "We are on a life boat. We are in space, and the AI has just come back online. We have to make a choice, the choice is how we are going to survive. We don't have time to worry of the matters of lying or not. We are here together, and I will not lose any of you to in-fighting or to the faults of those around us." Xi spoke sternly, he meant every word he said, and yet he made sure to make eye contact with every conscious member of the pod.

"Sir." The AI chimed to life at the end of Xi's words and the male turned to the projection display. "The Planets are here, and this is the information. We will need to hurry, we don't have much time left." The AI spoke with urgency and Xi quickly turned back to the pod.

Daedalus I
Planet surface 85% liquid water, marine lifeforms present, minimal terrestrial lifeforms, landmass mostly tropical but minimal mineral ore present on land, mostly below waterlevel. Average Day Temp: 93°F/Night Temp: 67°F. Frequent rain with hurricane season once a year.

Minos Labyri I
Thick clouded atmosphere, highly dangerous lightening storms closer to surface, 20lbs heavier gravitational pull, thick atmosphere creates low light enviornment, perpetual twilight, cold climate, 82% land over surface. average amount of terrestrial lifeforms, consistent temp of 27°F. Minimal marine lifeforms, weather is frequent flurries, blizzards, and freezing winds. Sentient lifeforms present, tribal civilization.

Icarus I
Arid planet, thin atmosphere, gravitational pull 50lbs lighter, arid rocky flatlands, scattered oasises, large patches of sand dunes, single ocean low in marine life, predatory terrestrial life, Day Temp: 96°F/Night Temp: 45°F, monthy sandstorms, yearly rain season lasting 1 month with scattered light showers of low volume. scattered abandoned mining colonies

Daedalus II
Universal Tropical Biome, highly diverse ecosystem, high concentration of vegetation across planet surface, foliage hypergrowth capable of enveloping most structures in weeks. high humidity, frequent heavy rainfall, average day temp 93 night temp 77, numerous lakes and rivers across planet surface, mountainous regions frequent landslides.

"I am stating this bluntly and for your awareness. I am putting my hand to the notion of landing on Icarus I. The presence of abandoned Mining Colonies is a higher chance of a way off the planet, no matter the risk. The other planets could offer options themselves, but as it stands Icarus I is our best option. Now, who will stand by my decision?" Xi spoke firmly and with command once more, almost as if it was natural for him.

[Spriggs27]

Once he heard of the fuel leak in the pod, Gaz was almost surprised at first the pods were fueled and not just shot out and told the crew inside yolo." Wait what? How?" He asked." It's not my fault that the pod broke or just so happen to spring a leak in its fuel section just now." He held his hands up feeling angry with their situation." Fucking shit ton of gravity planet with the mining colony here we go. Plus lady you could be a little nicer and say, I'm going to fly us there" He spoke in an fake cheery voice as out of nowhere the big robot Max woke up.

He got up shaking and screaming for Mek, his owner or repair person, he couldn't really remember exactly, spinning in his seat and turning to both the Qari and the others." Hey! Hey! Big guy we're gonna go to her right now, don't worry, she's on the planet we're heading to right now, her pod went just before ours. So just don't space us and let me set this junk heap of an escape pod down somewhere and you can smash up rocks before meeting her okay, big guy?" Gaz told the giant machine planning on spacing them all over someone not being there."So sit back and chill."

Turning back around and getting back to the controls, Gaz began taking the ship down to the planet." Alright ladies, aliens, men of all beings, I want to thank you all for flying Air Gaz, please thank your great pilot for not turning us into a fire ball or killing us all like a boss." Gaz told them as they broke past the atmosphere and soon slammed down into the ground near one of the mining colonies, once things settled Gaz turned to the others saying." Please remove your belts and take your thumbs out your asses to enjoy the high gravity and constant sunlight that will burn the shit out of your eyes and the possible hostile wild life that won't ask if they can eat you before eating you."

---

Before the Qari could speak for herself and defend herself, the figure sitting at the controls began going off at Quinn, she turned to the figure not moving her arm." This woman could be the culprit behind everything, she could be the very reason we are here right now and she could be looking to finish the job." Quinn pointed her blade to the woman's chest." Do you know what these people are capable of? Qari are only good for a couple things for my people, Livestock and food, and they are pretty tasty." She told them all.

" We should not and can not trust these aliens here." She kept the sword trained on the Qari to keep her where she was." They are some of the only beings in the galaxy that hate everyone else."The Halion then looked back over to Xi." If you want to stop me, you're gonna have to force me from striking her down." She looked to the Engineer human." Whatever you are, if you are smart you'd listen to me."

[ManoftheNorth]

Xi looked deeply into the eyes of the accused Qari, and then back to the blade-held Halion. His thoughts raced for a moment before pushed off from the pilot seat's backrest and he stepped over to the Halion. His hands were pressed to this helmet and the small release of air proceeded as he lifted the helmet from his head. Immediately Xi's head was enveloped in a thick light as his mask formed and large antlers began to phase into light with owl feathers hanging from them. His form took a more forceful stance as he leaned into the Halion and peered into the helmet of the Halion.

"You will stay your blade. If this Qari is the culprit, designating this time as the time to fight would only strand us all in space, as we don't have the time for this absurd course of action. You understand me Halion? I have in the spacial home for one-hundred and twenty-two years, and you will respect my understanding of actions. Now stay your blade, or I will be forced to submit you to fifty CCs of hyper-neural damper aminos. Which will leave you subdued for far longer than you would like, cutthroat. This is your only option, before I have to forcibly intervene."

Xi spoke, firmly, continually, and with pressure on the Halion. Xi might have been from a peaceful race, but he was no less a Guardian and a Protector of all people.

[Rekaigan]

The engineer smiled as the AI successfully rebooted, returning to it's optimal functions. However her smile quickly faded as the situation between the Qari and the Halion worsened within seconds. Her ears tuned in on the AI's report on the closest planets, Icarus I piquing her interest more than the others. Abandoned mining sites always mean there was a valuable enough mineral deposit to work with, perhaps she could make full repairs to the pod and slowly turn it into a workable ship, but such a task would take months and a gratuitous amount of resources.

When the Halion turned to her, she flinched slightly, taking a half step back. "I-I.. Uh", she stammered. She didn't know what to say; she wasn't good at sudden improvised speech. Half the time she rehearsed conversations in her head if she wanted to talk about something other than machines. Her gaze nervously glanced over to the Azaali who seemed more in charge than the others, "I think we should go to Icarus I as well!" Kat said quickly before pursing her mouth shut. Needless to say, Katyusha felt extremely uncomfortable now that there was no reason for her to work on the ship. Fifty CCs of hyper-neural damper aminos sounded kind of dangerous.. Dangerous measures for dangerous folks?

[Zelosse]

---

@Spriggs27

Odd focused on taking steady breathes as the unfamiliar situation played itself out. The runt was proving to be a capable enough pilot, and the other members of the group were proving to be quite level headed about the whole ordeal. Well.. Everyone but the robot hollering for its lost engineer and threatening to space them all.
If it wasn't for his dependable rifle laying snug next to his seat here on the escape pod he might have taken the opportunity to do away with the lot of these problems and back to living life as Odd intended to. Free. Out in whatever wilds made for a good home.

Turning back around and getting back to the controls, Gaz began taking the ship down to the planet." Alright ladies, aliens, men of all beings, I want to thank you all for flying Air Gaz, please thank your great pilot for not turning us into a fire ball or killing us all like a boss." Gaz told them as they broke past the atmosphere and soon slammed down into the ground near one of the mining colonies, once things settled Gaz turned to the others saying." Please remove your belts and take your thumbs out your asses to enjoy the high gravity and constant sunlight that will burn the shit out of your eyes and the possible hostile wild life that won't ask if they can eat you before eating you."

@Spriggs27

Odd wasn't against the idea of making for a nearby planet but the description of some brightly lit hellhole didn't sit well at all. Not like the group was given a lot of opportunity to decide amongst themselves. There would be words about that later.. Back to his seat and securely strapped in, the sniper reached back and retrieved his trusted rifle.

---

Touchdown on Icarus 1 went about as smooth as he imagined, all but lightly crashing onto the planets surface somewhere. As the Pilot had stated, this place was going to be awful. Potentially large predators and a harsh environment meant hardier breeds of life that could survive with low water and terrible heat.
Scattered and abandoned mining caves meant dens for predators.

Odd all but groaned as he unfastened his belt buckle. He was determined to be the last out and the last alive if a fight broke out. Settling humanoids on low resource planets didn't always like to share.

[SilverPaw]

Syv expected they would all calmly introduce themselves to each other and figure out to do, but the Halion continued her aggressions. She accused Navi lying about her past or memory, which just showed the Halion’s lack of reasoning as far as Syviis was concerned. The man that Syv thought of as their leader stepped in before anyone else had the chance to do so and ordered them to be rational. Syv nodded in agreement, but was doubtful about the Halion – if there was one thing that he knew about them, it was that they loved conflict.

With the AI having been repaired by the human technician, they were able to get some data on the planets. Syv liked both the mining and the tropical planets, but the former would probably be easier to get off of. However, he didn’t have much time to think about their options, because the Halion female continued to threaten Navi, accusing her of being behind this and pointing out that Quari hated everyone – which he thought was ironic and hypocritical for her to say – and she even drew out her sword to threaten the other with. Before Navi could do anything on the matter, their leader stopped the fight.

What a magnificent Azaali, Syv thought with wonder, as he admired the other’s antlers. He felt like he should know the male – he had a remarkable mask – but then again, he regretfully didn’t yet know his name. Syv was sure he would recognize the other's name when he heard it.

Then, a quiet female voice spoke up. Syv almost smiled in fondness. If only such adorable shyness was enough to break this tension! Seeing as they needed the majority’s assent at least, he said “I agree with landing on Icarus I as well.” He decided to keep most of his attention on the Halion female, just in case she decided to actually engage in combat – though Syv was positive the other Azaali could handle her, backup might come in handy.