Chapter 2: Zenith

[Nohiki]

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Chapter 2: Zenith
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The shuttle was slowing down nicely, it's heat shield working flawlessly. Ariaka fired the landing thrusters, coming to hover over the place she chose to land, slowly coming down until the bottom of the craft touched the ground. "Welcome to unknown planet. You may now remove your safety belts. Have a nice day and thank you for choosing the Croatoan spacelines." she announced jokingly and opened the door, coming out first with her stunner. She carefully checked the corners from within the craft, then walked out, slowly peeking around the craft. Last she checked the surrounding mountain range, no flashes. "All clear." she said to the crew and waved them to come out. She then walked over to a small river nearby. She shunned the water, it was the clear white sand on the shore that interested her. "Well that was easy, i think this is it. Water AND the stuff for the CO₂ scrubbers. I'll take some back on the ship and run the test there so you can focus on the food part. Plants everywhere an eye can see, there gotta be something." she said with a shrug, looking back to the shuttle. Then a terrible screech came out of the forest. She instinctively ducked and pointed the stunner in the general direction of the sound. She started slowly walking away. The only sound coming from the forest now was slithering, which went silent few seconds after. "OK, so animals, too. You might wanna set up a perimeter." she recommended to the marine. She went back into the shuttle and typed few commands. The drone accompanying them flown down, unfolding from boxy fighter into a small mech. "Make haste, the humidity is getting me nervous."

[Zetherus]

Tal'set stood up when the shuttle landed. He rushed out behind Ariaka and began heading toward the mysterious building he saw earlier. The animal drawled no attention from him but he did pull out his handgun for a more hostile animal would approached.

Tal'set stopped a hundred feet from the shuttle door looking at the building in the distance. There he stood until he noticed something running through the jungle on his left. In a split second he holstered his handgun dropping to his right knee then pulling his rifle off his back. He saw the animal that Ariaka noticed when she first entered out of the shuttle. The creature noticed Tal'set then tried to run but already he had the creature's head in his scope. He took a deep breath then fired. The creature's head disappeared in a red mist then fell hard to the ground when the sound echoed through out the jungle. "Dinner is served." He whispered as he lowered his gun down then stood up and made his way to his kill cautiously.

[Midnightmoon]

"I guess I'll head this way then." Lee said, walking over to the river, though not entering it, taking his bags with him. He had started to root through one of the bags when a shot resounded not far away making him prick his ears and start. He had his arm up pointing in the direction of the shot. That the black lazer baton was on the side of his forearm beside the data pad. After a pause, and no one seemed to be overly concerned, he carefully sat down. Shifting through the bags he found a couple of battery packs of sorts, a short thin blade and sheath, some food bars, a packet of tools and a new suit that took up the whole second bag. The suit was dark grey with a few bits of flexible light weight armor as well as gloves and actual footwear. Putting everything back he set everything aside except for a food bar which he began to munch on it, eating it slowly. He ran through the information in his head, trying to piece everything together.

At some point his foot slipped into the water and he was jolted out of his pondering with a fear stricken start, scrambling back in haste. When he backed up into a tree he had to stop. Breathing heavily he got up, shaken. "Darn liquid." Remembering the first sensation he had when waking up from stasis he shook his head. "Ugh. History during stasis." <<<...ERROR...ERROR...DATA NOT AVAILABLE...UNKNOWN...ERROR.>>> Scowling at the pad he set the moment aside, setting to the task he was suppose to be doing. As he wandered he shifted his goggles to his forehead, the light down dim enough for him to see clearly by.

[Nohiki]

Ariaka set up the shuttle with door facing inside the perimeter and had the drone dig up a trench all around. She left the defenses for Lance. Then she said her farewells and the drone folded back into a fighter. She jumped on, grabbing it's front. She felt like she had left the ship unsupervised for too long already. The drone took her back. She did as she promised and sent the drone midway, making it act as a communication relay. She opened the channel. "Everything OK down there?" she asked while walking towards the bridge. The road took her around the trashed lab. When she saw the door, all hell broke loose again. Screaming, she fell to the ground. It felt real. She felt like she was being incinerated and crushed. The pain was unbearable, but the worst was the fear. Her eyes were telling her everything was OK, yet the feeling didn't stop. If she had organic body, it would have given up and fall into coma after few seconds, but the robotic body wasn't subject to this limit. It was the longest minute of her life so far. Only after the long ordeal, she could focus enough to stop it. She realized it was another memory. More precisely, of the scientist being caught in the explosion that killed her. She only had to focus and delete it. She was left sobbing on the ground. Only then she realized the comms channel was open the whole time.

[Midnightmoon]

The pad blipped while Lee was searching the roots of a large tree, relaying what the robot, Ariaka said. "Hey, this is a communicator!" Lee explaimed excitedly aloud, then the screeching started. Lee fell to a crouch in pain, yanking the ear buds out. He could still hear the sound even when they were out of his ears, and it just kept going. "What's wrong with the Mech!" He yelled in shock, sprinting through the trees back to the ship.

[Zetherus]

Tal'set walked up to the animal he killed. It sort of looked like a scaled dear but with no horns. He grabbed the animal's leg and dragged it back near the shuttle. When he got close enough he took off his mask revealing his dark gray face and hooked it on his belt so he could see what he is harvesting. He pulled his combat knife out of it's sheath and began cutting it's scaled hide. The headless creature started to bleed all over the place as he pulled it's organs out and threw them in a pile near his prey. He started to skin it for the hide it has so he could use it.

When he was finished he brought the gutted animal back with him then hanged it on a tree branch near the shuttle so it could leak out. He then used it's skin to cover it from debris and walked back to the jungle to get rid of the useless meat he piled up and look for something to use as a cutting table.

[Kauria]

Rucha kept Tal'set in her gaze as he explored the area around the shuttle, pistol in hand once more. She flinched slightly at the gunshot — something she suspected her former self would never have done, but she shrugged it off quickly.
She watched the alien gunman move to clean the kill. "You're not wasting any time, are you?" she asked, amused. "But I'm not eating that until someone trustworthy gives the go-ahead."
The Ceretai relaxed slightly once she received confirmation that Ariaka had reached the Croatoan safely, but the screams that sounded out over communications completely reversed it all.
She hadn't expected to hear the android ever make a noise so clearly full of fear and pain. "Ariaka! Are you all right?" she shouted into the comm, distantly realizing that the delay between messages meant her urgency would do little.

[Midnightmoon]

"What's been going on with the android?!" Lee repeated as he pushed back into the ships perimeter. "When I woke up earlier the thing was in emergency shut down. I guessed that it had a overload of sorts. Ow, harung-gar!" The screeching stopped at some point and evolved into rasping sobs. Lee messaged his head, not that it eased the residual ache. He put one of the ear buds back in. "Ariaka..."

[Nohiki]

By the time Rucha's message arrived, Ariaka was already on her feet. "That sounded all right to you?" she barked. She went to the lab and slammed it's door shut. "It think i know... something. Back when i had to reboot it was similar condition, except this time my hardware is already damaged, so i guess it didn't cause any overloads. I'll tell you all about it when you get back." she said, leaving the channel open if the planet team tried to contact her, but not saying anything herself. She intended to check the remaining engine, but now she needed to do some research. As she was slowly waling towards the bridge, she heard a weird noise. She stiffened and pulled her stunner out. There it was again. Scratching. She followed it. Ariaka ducked behind a corner. The sound went out again. She jumped out, landed on her side, the gun pointing at... A white furred cat. "AAwwww..." she smiled, luring the creature towards her. The cat walked on her hand and eventually settled on her arm. She stroked the animal's head and it started purring. "Poor thing, how did you end up stuck on this d**n ship?" she said, logging into the comm channel. "Hey guys! Anyone missing a white cat? 'Cuz if not... dibs." she said and proceeded to the bridge, intending to find the ship's mess hall to find something the cat could eat.

[Zetherus]

Tal'set heard what Rucha said and smiled. "Well when a hunter is got to eat he's got to eat and I haven't ate for weeks. Your welcome to come aid me if you want just let me know if you find anything that helps your appetite. All I'm looking for is something to cut meat on." Tal'set put his mask back on and continued to walk the direction he started in. He was starting to fade from the view of the shuttle.

[Morty]

Kiruza hadn't even left the shuttle when she heard the shot, her immediate reaction being to flatten herself against the ground. She soon recovered when she saw Tal'Set march confidantly into the jungle and come back with the bizarre game. She'd not crept ten feet from the pod when another sound disturbed them, the unnatural hitching sobs produced by Ariaka's automated voice returning to them over the communication. Kiruza remained quiet while the chilling event unfolded. She was not sure what type of android would be programmed to react so keenly to whatever had set her off this time. Something was definitely wrong with the android, but not being an AI technician she hadn't the slightest idea what. She was glad someone else was taking the responsiblity to make sure everything was allright on Ariaka's side. She was the last person to be able to offer emotional or technical advice.
Slinking into the woods she looked around, and anything that looked like a fruit she tasted with her long sharp tongue. She didn't know what the other aliens liked, or were even capable of eating, so if it seemed edible she would remember what it looked like and opt to return with a.. shopping cart, or something.

[Awesomoman]

Lance slung the bag of weapons over his shoulder and had just stepped off the shuttle when he heard the gun shot, it didn't phase him. Ariaka's sudden freak out however caught him off guard. The others appeared to be taking care of it however so he decided to get to work, he set the bag down near the shuttle but in a spot that made it easy for the others to have quick access to it. He had no clue how much time was left in the day so figured it was better to have a quick set up rather than nothing. So far they knew there were animals so a fence to keep them out would work. There was plenty of wood in this place so a spiked fence it is. Chopping large branches off of trees and carving them to a sharp point proved to be easy with his sword. He had constructed enough to cover around 20 ft when Tal'set came back. Lance looked up and saw the deer. "We've been here for how long and you already got dinner? Glad we brought you along after all." Lance noticed he a pruned most of the trees, if he wanted to build a longer fence he would have to go out searching. "Hold up." He put his sword on his back and picked up his H9, "I think ill come with you. Playing with sticks can get boring after a certain age."

[Kauria]

"It's not mine. I don't even know what a cat is, and I'll assume it's not particularly edible," Rucha said into her comm, relieved that Ariaka seemed to have recovered. She didn't bother pressing for why.
"Hey, wait!" she called to Tal'set. "I'm coming with you! Just hang on a sec."
She looked to the alien whose name she'd never learned. "Rucha, pleased to meet you. You're one of us tankies, right? Hold down the fort while everybody else is out."
She turned towards the jungle again. "All right, let's see what we can find!"

[Zetherus]

Tal'set noticed the marine and alien from the shuttle running up behind him. "Ha! The soldier comes to join me and so does the mysterious one. Why you are welcome to join me on my search. I'm just going to go look for a large enough object to butcher my kill on and start cooking. Just be quiet while you're following me. I'm trying to listen to my surroundings if something where to sneak up on us." Insisted Tal'set as he was far enough away from the camp so he chucked the animals organs over the trees in front him. He looked over his shoulder at the two again. "By the way you two my name is Tal'set. I'm a mercenary from the Valence colony if you know of my kin." In the trees ahead; he didn't notice there was something lurking in the bushes. "

Our first opponent: images.epilogue.net/users/yonaz/monster.jpg

The large creature awakened within it's home when the organs of the animal hit it right in the face.

OCC: Bulls eye!

[Morty]

Proceeding into the forest, Kiruza was grateful for the steaming dampness that permeated it. The aerator on her chest humming at its lowest intensity; on the ship it had been forced to work overtime due to the dampness of the recycled air. This made her confident to travel on land and, absorbed in her task of plucking and tasting the edibles, she didn't even realize how much distance she'd covered until she realized she could no longer see any sign of the clearing. Luckily her trail was not difficult to follow; a 180-pound snake monster doesn't leave its tracks lightly.
Perhaps it was also unlucky, for as soon as she turned around to continue her task she was frozen stiff by four large, glinting eyes peering at her from the underbrush. Belonging to the eyes was a large, shadowy form, hunched in the gloom, and with her sub-marine vision she was easily able to make out the gripping claws and ridgid scales of the unfamiliar predator before her. Kiruza knew the creature was aware it was spotted, but its boldness told her it was a predator that had not yet learned to fear sentient life. Coiling into a tense spring she let out a bone-chilling hiss. Her tail, normally feathered and wilting, stiffened, turning into a sharp but primitive weapon. Comically, the communicator translated the hiss in its tinny, mechanical voice. "Get back." it barked, startling the creature. Deciding the Shis wasn't worth the effort, or perhaps slinking off to get back-up, the animal strode off, disappearing into the woods. Kiruza made sure it was well and gone before she straightened, sending a brief message through the comlink. "Just encountered a predatory life form, it's gone now but I doubt that will be the last of them. Returning to camp now to avoid getting eating painfully." she snapped, turning back and following her heavy tracks through the bush, keeping her eyes on the undergrowth, chiding herself for not having picked a weapon.