gragish: All right, setting ... the Chief has ordered Zach to moon Vandalor
orbiting planet Belsinat, an affiliated world. A recent incident occured there
and they are asking Trent to go and help check it out. Unfortunately, the
details are rather hush hush and he is told he'd be informed the fully of the
situation when he arrives. Typically being only an affiliated world, this would
not be of their concern, but somehow this appears to fall under their
'jurisdiction' (so to speak).
lady_coldstrife: *goes, sitting in coach on a passenger flight, since coach
seat is the most likely to survive a crash.* :-S
lady_coldstrife: *sits right near the rear exit* :D
lady_coldstrife: (emergency escape* )
lady_coldstrife: *goes to the spaceport and disembarks, and looks to see if
anyone came to meet me?*
gragish: The flight lands safely on the moon, Vandalor. It appears a rather
harsh environment, mostly desert type environment. Honestly, it looks like there
is little that is naturally beautiful about this planet (depending on tastes at
least). There is a reddish sky with an almost gloomy feel to it, but it doesn't
appear to be sunset, just the natural sky of this place. It is a hot dry air.
Zach reports to the information desk as ordered and is given the key to a
vehicle (with a parking location ticket attached). Looking around, there appears
to be a buzz of local law enforcement in the area. This could just be standard
for this type of world though. Being such an abysmal location, people are bound
to attempt to stowaway on a transport just to escape it.
lady_coldstrife: *asks the desk for directions to the parking lot, then
thanks them and heads over to the vehickle. Once I get to it check it over, then
go inside and look for some sort of instructions of where I'm supposed to go,
either in the front seat, the glove box, or the mirror above the driver and
passenger seat*
gragish: In the glove box is a map, behind the mirror of the driver seat is a
set of coordinates. Even without being an expert at map reading, this should be
simple enough math. Plotting the points on the map would take him to ... a
volcano? Maybe he did plot the points the wrong.
lady_coldstrife: *double checks!* O.o
gragish: Best he can figure that is the location. Maybe they're trying to
tell him he should go jump in. :p
lady_coldstrife: :-S wouldn't doubt it.
lady_coldstrife: *drives over there, obeying every traffic law.* :D
lady_coldstrife: *wonders why everyone behind me honks when I'm clearly going
the speed limit? and why am I called "grandpa?" :-/ *
gragish: The city is based around the space port. Howver, it's not a very
large city. Once outside city limits there are no real traffic laws to worry
about. This is barren desert. There are no roads or cops lurking around the
corner. It's not recommended leaving city limits though because once you do,
they are no longer held responsible. If someone is mugged and murdered, don't
expect to be found anytime soon or the culprits found. That's the risks of
leaving the city. However, most realize this and there is little of anything out
there. If someone were to leave, they'd need someplace to go. That makes it
relatively safe for traveling purposes in reality.
lady_coldstrife: ( volcano is out of city? :-S )
gragish: It's not a very large city. But yes. It's not actually inside any of
the cities (there is more than one on Vandalor).
gragish: The vehicle itself does appear designed for the terrain. Zach can
tell that much from the schematics. :)
lady_coldstrife: *with a sigh, drives over, going at a reasonable speed*
lady_coldstrife: oO(you'd think they coulda just sent someone to pick me up.
=p )
gragish: The volcano is actually surrounded by large stone pillars. They are
of the same material as the surrounding lands and aren't smooth or anything.
Impressions would seem to suggest it's natural forming, just that these pillars
formed around the entire volcano. On the plus side, there are no signs of
activity from the volcano which is hopefully a good sign.
gragish: Looking around Zach will notice several thick cables going into one
of the caves of the volcano. They are attached to various machines. Standing
near the cave entrance are two men enjoying a smoke.
lady_coldstrife: *drives over, slowing down*
gragish: To actually reach the cave entrance, he must travel up part of the
volcano. On the plus side, there appears to be a path made for ease. It seems to
have been used many times recently.
lady_coldstrife: *drives slowly and cautiously up the path*
lady_coldstrife: *trusts in the vehicle* :D
gragish: One of the men points over to the vehicle. The other one whistles
loudly and waves his hands. It's not the greeting type of wave, but a "No, no"
type of wave. He is heading down the path.
lady_coldstrife: *stops*
gragish: He has black hair, short and a crew cut. Once he reaches the
vehicle, "Hey partner, you can't be driving up here. These grounds are really
unstable. If you try to drive up here with something like that you might cause
part of it to cave in. Might be good for us, but I'm thinking you wouldn't like
it so much." *Said like a bit of a smart arse. He appears to be around 20 years
old only.*
lady_coldstrife: "Ah, thanks for the warning. You know where the parking is,
then, and can you please direct me to human resources?" :)
gragish: "I take it you're that techie they called in?"
lady_coldstrife: "Yeah."
lady_coldstrife: "Flight just came in *time unit* ago."
gragish: "Got a name?"
lady_coldstrife: "Zach Foster."
gragish: "Yeah, that sounds right to me. Just making sure you're not some
local tourist. Names Vince Anders." *He offers a shake. His hand has a glove cut
off at the fingers. This guy is wearing a black suit, but doesn't look too hot.
The suit is probably designed to help cool the wearer as well. From the look,
military type. That isn't to say he's not with the ones Zach is working for,
just that he's the shock trooper type.* "All right, you want to head back down.
Drive that way and you'll find another cave. That's where the other transports
are parked." *He starts to move away but then turns back.* "Oh yeah, you might
want to take this too." *He takes something out of his pocket and throws it to
Zach.*
lady_coldstrife: *offers hand to the shake, listens to directions carefully,
and attempts to catch the item, though more likely it just winds up in his lap*
gragish: "It's a signal beacon. You won't be able to find the cave without
it. Don't worry, it'll do all the work for you." *The guy speaks with a bit of
an accent. It's hard to place, but there are so many planets it would be hard to
memorize them all, even for Zach.*
lady_coldstrife: "Thank you, Vince, I appreciate it."
lady_coldstrife: :)
lady_coldstrife: *heads back down the path and goes around, following the
locator beacon.*
gragish: Zach realizes the device is giving up some type of signal. When he
gets closer to the area a counter signal is given. A part of the volcano opens
up kind of like a garage door.
lady_coldstrife: oO(Cool. )
lady_coldstrife: *goes in*
gragish: Zach goes in. There is one person manning the "garage" and he gives
Zach direction of how to meet up with the others. Oh! And Zach is given another
signal beacon and asked to give one to the one who must've lost his (so to
speak).
lady_coldstrife: *blinks* "Allright... I'll go and give the beacon back to
him and then go where I'm supposed to meet the others. Thank you for the
directions."
gragish: ((Zach will have his own though as well.))
lady_coldstrife: *walks back and gives Vince his beacon, thanking him for
letting Zach borrow it.*
gragish: The area Zach needs to go is the same that he met Vince though
anyways.
lady_coldstrife: ( oh! okay )
gragish: *Vince takes a last puff of his already dead cigarette and dropping
it to the floor and stepping on it. As he lets out the last of the smoke from
his mouth he says.* "I'll go in with you." The other one is still finishing his
smoke.
lady_coldstrife: *gives a weak smile, not really likeing the smoking but
trying not to judge others, as he knows he himself has enough issues.* "Thanks.
Are we going to be working together?"
gragish: Vince, "Kind of. You techie guys do the work and then we go in and
put down any possible threats. But I'll let the L T (said as two letters, yes!)
explain it to ya." ((The "we go in" is NOT to indicate Zach.))
lady_coldstrife: ( I've heard it called that way before *nods* :) ) "Ah, I
see."
gragish: ((Yeah, figured as much. I know I didn't make it up. But just wanted
to make sure we were clear is all. :D))
lady_coldstrife: "Yeah... I, uh, can't do combat. At all. Anti-violence chip
that prevents me from harming anyone. If anything does happen, I would need all
the backup I could get. *nervous laugh.*"
gragish: "Heh, anti-violence chip." *He says rubbing his head with the barrel
of his gun. :p* "Didn't know they made those. And here I thought they only made
stuff to make soldiers better."
lady_coldstrife: "Yeah... you'd be surprised what wierd things people make...
"
gragish: ((And no ... it's really NOT that long of a walk. But I'm letting
basic stuff get taken care of first.))
lady_coldstrife: *watches the brandishing of weapon with a little bit of
nervousness*
gragish: ((And as a GM I'll just say, make a note of the last comment he
made. It'll come up again in the future.))
lady_coldstrife: "Were you... altered to be a better soldier? :-/ "
gragish: "Heh, yeah, you could say something like that." *The finally enter
far enough into the cave that they come to a big opening. There are machines
running and looks like a lot of techs along with more than a few military
types.* "And here we are, Shangri-la."
lady_coldstrife: <.< >.>
gragish: ((And that was some sarcasm on his part.))
lady_coldstrife: *looks around and whistles appreciatively*
lady_coldstrife: (( i guessed ;) ))
lady_coldstrife: ( btw, he have any cybernetics? :D )
gragish: ((Roll a D20))
lady_coldstrife: 3 :(
gragish: ((Uh ... think closer to nano-machine enhanced ... though not
exactly. The concept should be enough though.))
lady_coldstrife: oO(Interesting. Nanites in the bloodstream.)
gragish: You just miss the half arse job covering up the HUGE hole in the
ceiling (it'll be addressed soon enough, he just doesn't notice yet is all).
lady_coldstrife: ( okay. :D he's concentrating on the nanites :D )
gragish: Eventually the Lt. comes over. He has the same thing in his body.
Actually, all the military types Zach has met so far have. The Lt. is dressed in
a similar black uniform. By now Zach is really getting a feel for how hot it is
here. The fact these guys looks so cool might have something to do with the
little machines, or maybe it is a result of the clothing. Hard to say. Though
black is supposed to ATTRACT heat. He looks older, maybe 30 or a little older
with Dusty brown hair and a little longer than Vince with some style to it
(though not real long).
lady_coldstrife: oO(Interesting... militant but long haired. Definately an
interesting combo.) "Hi, I'm Zach Foster, fresh off the space plane."
gragish: ((Like I said, not real long. Vince has a crew cut ... so saying
longer than that isn't saying much. :P))
lady_coldstrife: ( oh! just a little bit longer. Okay, I see. )
lady_coldstrife: (and... while I'm having LOTS of fun, and I could go on for
at least another 1/2 hour, do you want to call it since you have work tomorrow?
:( )
lady_coldstrife: ( or wait until introduction )
gragish: "Lt. Travis Baker. 44th Division; Wolf Cry team, pleased to meet
you. We can use the extra help. So how much has the kid told you so far?" *He's
very professional.*
lady_coldstrife: "Very little. He left all the specifics to you and just gave
me directions." :)
lady_coldstrife: for you*
gragish: Travis, "All right, let me give you the rundown real quick. Two
weeks ago my unit was tracking a group of raiders. We found them set up at this
dormant volcano ((First mention of it being dormant! #:-S)). When we tried to
apprehend them there was a struggle. During the fight part of the volcano floor
gave way ..." *He motions up to the now partially covered hole. It's a crude
job, but it's more meant to just make passerbys from the sky not notice too much
than be perfect.* "... causing one of my men and a powered armor suit of theirs
to crash down into this very cavern." ((Still going ...))
lady_coldstrife: (( long hair... Travis... <.< >.> :x I think I like him
allready ;) ))
gragish: "Thanks to being in a powered armor the raider recovered faster and
opened up one of the suits charged weapons on my soldier. What happened then ...
is why we're here." *He turns his head to one of the techs.* "Quad, fire up the
generator. Let's show him." *He turns back to Zach. The sound of a power
generator turning on can be heard. Zach can feel it's a powerful generator.*
"Instead of hitting his target, the energy attacked veered off hitting the walls
causing this." *As the generator reaches optimum power levels the cave walls
start to glow revealing strange markings all around them. It glows for about 10
seconds before the generator shuts down.* "His weapon appears to have awakened
something. We think it's some type of ancient technology. And that's what we're
here to find out."
gragish: "Interested?"
gragish: ((And calling it about here is good.))
lady_coldstrife: *memorizes markings* "Definately"
lady_coldstrife: okay :D
