Cath

The Cradle

“Sent.” Memnon boomed, just as another creature mounted the ridge right next to him. Jump jets on the front of the gunner’s armour righted him in an instant as the thing clambered onto his back and shoulders like a malign, shapeshifting growth. Memnon hoisted his cannon and fired above his head into the creature’s face as it pounded his weak points with vines. Sparks flew.

“Carthage!” Thebes roared, standing up to fire directly down the cliff face at more of the beasts. “On it. Hold still, Mem!” Carthage called, running past 595 as she shakily threw weapons, ammo & batteries back onto the weapons trolley. The CQC expert was newly re-armoured in a very similar suit, save with ‘Cuidado’ printed on her front in white block letters.

Carthage emptied her shotgun’s magazine into the nest of vipers before grabbing hold of as many vines as she could lay hands on and ripping it off Memnon’s back. It instantly latched onto her face, driving her back toward the weapons trolley. 595 grabbed her beam rifle milliseconds before Carthage fell over her, landing a savage tornado of angry vines right in the middle of all the weapons.

Memnon strode over, put one foot on Carthage’s chestplate and then ripped the diminished creature off with both hands. He promptly hefted the wriggling, screaming mass off the edge of the cliff. “Stop fooling around and get back in the fight!” He rumbled, in what sounded to 595 like some sadistic running joke.

“Ok, you’re free!” Dr Wetherall closed Nirann’s body panel up and kicked the mess of wiring away from the droid. “Do you want to get those cargo drones operational and hooked up with as much as they can carry? Ngata and I will close down the comms mast and get that ready for transport first.

“Ballista down! But I think they’re building more!” Athena reported, shoving the small piles of tungsten remains off the cliff and grabbing another round. The first conglomeration of vine creatures fell apart under its own weight, the constituent creatures motionless and spent. But two more shapeless mergers were taking place in the valley below. Athena fired at one and it peeled apart momentarily.

Has it really been 3 years?

Welcome home

GoodPick Intergalactic Mining! (62% fatality rate)

I LOVE this idea! Would we all be together as a team, or is the plan for each of us to have our own crew?

The Cradle

“That’s alright, old chap. Just stay put for a couple more minutes and we’ll get you out of there.” Dr Wetheall assured Nirann, patting the top of his head as he whirled around the droid. “There are too many of them. Pack everything up and get ready for transit now!” Thebes ordered them, firing fully auto down into the valley. The creatures were close now, rapidly approaching the clusters of rocks and other defilades leading up to the cliff face.

“But i just finished deploying the cover!” Dr Ngata moaned. “Move it, now!” Both the Human scientists raced to free Nirann from the mess of cabling. With them back up to full strength, they could focus all their efforts on sorting through their new supplies and getting everything ready for transit.

595 rattled the weapons trolley over the ridge’s uneven ground toward the edge. She planned to resupply left from right, starting with Memnon who was laying down heavy fire with his double handed energy cannon. She parked the trolley behind his prone form and hefted a fresh, calibrated cannon from the bottom shelf. “Memnon - swap with me!” 595 shouted over the din. The heavy gunner rose to his knees and chucked his old weapon to the floor next to her. “Yes, ma’am.” He boomed.

“Look out, they’re merging!” Athena warned, sending a tungsten round straight through an amorphous blob of creatures behind a cluster of boulders. They roared in anger at the big new hole in their midriff, but it quickly closed up and recombinated into a shape vaguely reminiscent of a giant ballista from antiquity. A spiky bolt wound up and then thwapped at the cliff face at lightning speeds. The bolt struck the exposed Memnon in the back as he was taking his new energy cannon.

The force of the blow popped Memnon’s shields and sent the giant clattering into 595 and the weapons trolley. Armaments skittered all over the floor. “Target that ballista! Memnon, status!” Thebes bellowed. “I’m operational, just got the wind knocked out of me.” Memnon replied, carefully untangling himself from 595. “Sorry ma’am.” He crawled back to the cliff’s edge with his updated weaponry. 595 gritted her teeth and crawled over to the upturned trolley.

The ballista fired again, and again. Some bolts smashed great divots in the cliffside and other whizzed over their heads. Other creatures used the cover to move from hiding, twistering over open ground like big obsidian tornadoes. The air was now full of this dry rattling sound, presumably from the creature’s vine features rustling over each other.

The Cradle

The antimatter explosions momentarily filled the valley with light. Fragments of rock skittered around their feet and down the cliff face. Distant wails wafted over on the shockwave. Athena fired again. "Theres's more appearing from their nest. Something must be getting them all riled up." She reported coolly.

Just then, the transit station began humming loudly. It built to a crescendo before exhorting a loud VUM. "Insert successful!" Dr Wetherall called. 595 immediately approached the mobile weapons trolley and grabbed a beam rifle capable of suppressing fire. "My spare suit!" Carthage gushed, backing up to the slate just as one unified, spine tingling scream electrified the valley.

"Hey, what if its our camp that's antagonising them?" Dr Ngata hypothesized, holding the last third of the deployable in his hands. Other members of the Sacred Band began firing at the creatures as they raced into range.

The Cradle

“I don’t like that plan.” Thebes responded, magnifying his vision to the maximum his suit would allow in the low-light conditions. All he could make out was a flurry of darkly-coloured material tearing it’s way toward them across a dozen different trails. “They could easily cut you off; who knows what they’re capable of. There’s no guarantee we could lay down enough suppressing fire to get you out.”

The soldier paused for a moment, feeling his team’s eyes on him. They were stuck here, at least until the supplies came through; they had to dig in and hold position. “Athena - begin your engagement sequence, see if you can funnel them. Saddam, Memnon, Knossos - fan out and take firing positions along the cliff edge.” Thebes got up and moved carefully back from the exposed cliff edge to the transit station. “Carthage, watch our six. Dr Ngata, can you set up the deployable cover on your own?” The xenobiologist, who was feverishly studying Athena’s scope feed to build up a profile of the oncoming creatures, nodded eagerly and set to it.

Finally, Thebes turned to 595, who was fiddling with her weapon. “Are you alright?” She looked up. “Yeah. It’s just my pistol got crushed earlier; I think it’s busted up pretty good inside.” Thebes took the pistol from her, examined it closely, then chucked it to one side. “That’s alright. There’ll be new weapons when the supplies come through. Stay back for now, help the guys if you can.”
“Insert in thirty seconds!” Dr Wetherall shouted, quickly hopping up on the transit plate to kick a stray stone off the surface. Thebes hefted his energy rifle and returned to the cliff edge, just as Athena fired her first shot. A cloud mushroomed from the barrel of her railgun, a deafening crack echoed off the mountain sides and a plume of water erupted from the marsh below. “No joy. Firing again.” Athena murmured to herself. She ejected the remains of her round from the side of her rifle and retrieved a fresh one from the dispenser on her thigh.

A faint wave of rattling & snapping sounds rolled across the valley, as the things drew closer.

The Cradle

Dr Wetherall peered up at the Datius like a bespectacled professor would to chastise a very tall, interrupting student. He was still plugged into the comms mast to speak with the real world team. “Well, we’ve made good progress with translation for synthetics. Nirann and I have narrowed the divergence in languages from about fifteen percent to around two percent. However, organics are proving to be a totally different kettle of fish.”

He waved his holopad around dramatically as he explained. “While the simulation appears content with simply trying to take control of synthetic materials, it actually assimilates organic matter while it’s in the simulation. So getting a pure translation back out again looks messy at this point. Freyr has told me poor Dr Dlamini will need therapy for a few weeks to recover. We’ll do what we can to separate us from the sim, and then it’s up to you whether it’s worth the risk of having more bodies in here.”

Dr Wetherall held up a hand, listening to something on a private channel. Then he clicked at Nirann to catch the droid’s attention. “They have everything. Power up for insert in two minutes, please.”

“I have movement down in the valley.” Athena reported soon after, laying down on the edge of the cliff with her railgun cradled in her arms. “Coming this way.” Thebes motioned for everyone to get down before quickly crawling over to where she lay. Athena marked targets for him. They were still very far away across the valley, but approaching fast.

The Cradle

“Understood. What is your risk assessment of this place? Knowing what you know.” Andersen asked. 595 licked blood from her lips. “It’s pretty risky. But we need more experts here to figure out what’s going on. They’ll be solidly protected; this ‘Datius’ is formidable and surprisingly altruistic.” A wave of what could only be described as static washed over the line, followed by a short tone. 595 lost the Captain for a few seconds. “-to Doctor Wetherall.”

“Copy that.” 595 guessed, unplugging the interface cable from her wrist. “Hey doc!” She called over regular short-range comms, standing still as she was well aware Knossos was connected to her. Dr Wetherall looked around at her from a jumble of wires protruding from the side of the transit station. “Bring it over here, please.” He replied distractedly, lost in thought. “Oh for fuck’s sake. Thebes, would you mind?” 595 asked, wiggling the loose cable in her hand.

The team leader plucked it from her and carefully wound the cable over to the huddle of scientists and droids. 595 turned slightly so she could watch Knossos tap away at a holopad. “Well? Everything ok?” She asked privately after a little while.” The soldier’s tinted green visor looked down at her. “What are you, lady?” 595’s jaw tightened. “Am I combat effective, yes or no?” Knossos checked the readout one more time, then nodded slowly. “You need fluids, but otherwise you’re good to go.”

“Good. Delete that and pass me some tissues with my fluids. I got a nose bleed.”

The Cradle

595 knew Thebes was qualified to handle reporting back. But she suspected someone in the real world had a very specific set of questions for her alone. That was the only reason she could think of for them to request her on comms. “Alright, fine! I’ll get myself checked out.” She sighed, setting off back down the path they’d come when Rareth asked if she remembered anything.

“Not really. I remember getting on one’s back and piercing under the plate at the back of its head. The next thing I remember is waking up in that hollow.” She answered as they walked back to the fork together. “Good luck. I’ll see you back at camp soon.” 595 said her farewell to Rareth before following the stream back out of the cave system the same way they’d come. She didn’t sprint as before, but jogged and thought about what had happened.

After a little while, 595 emerged from the pitch-black cavern onto the ridge overlooking the swampy valley. She could see her team’s silhouettes and IFF tags dotted around comms mast and half-constructed transit station. Saddam greeted her with a thumbs up that she returned. “Welcome back.” Thebes held up an interface cable attached to the comms mast as the Agent jogged over. “Private line to the Captain.”

595 took the lead from the soldier. “Thank you.” She looked over at Knossos, the medic. “Can you check my vitals please?” The olive-colored operator wordlessly gave up their position on the perimeter to jog over.

The Agent plugged the interface cable into her left arm just next to her wrist interface. Knossos plugged another cord into her suit’s diagnostics port at the back soon after. 595 accepted the call, standing still to let Knossos do his job. “Go.” She answered. After a short pause, the reply crackled through. “I’m glad you’re still alive, Agent. I won’t keep you long as Dr Lang wants to keep things moving.” Andersen spoke quickly.

“Your...colleagues on Outremer have asked if what you’ve found changes their plans at all?” 595 smirked; she’d guessed correctly. “You can tell them to proceed as planned. I will have more information tomorrow.”

Hi I'm awkward and new

Welcome to the Guild! Thank you for that lovely introduction; I think you'll do just fine here If you need anything or have questions - feel free to give me a shout.