Day 5.5: The Boats The Beacon Builders Built

[Sjet]

The descent and landing had been textbook. That was to say bone jarring and utterly terrifying to anyone but the pilot who had direct control of what was going on. The shuttlecraft Apollo had banked hard several times to bleed off the speed of its decent, and after a number of flyovers of the river delta and the partial obscured settlement that Arkady had begun to call Odd Odessa had made landfall.

The four stumpy landing legs had sank slightly into the partial melted permafrost, but as the engines cooled with pings and hisses the explorers of a strange new world awaited. They were each checking over their surface suits, and then laboriously checking over the suits of their neighbours. There might have been animosity among them, but no one wanted to miss a partially unlocked seal or broken gasket.

With little ceremony the rear hatch of the shuttle was lowered, the heavy metal sliding down to form a ramp. The world beyond was washed out in dull blues: the sky was bright but had the thinness of a cold February air to it, and the ground seemed bleached of colour so that the frown mud and clay seemed grey. Ahead of them was the landward facing side of Odd Odessa, and on its far side was the river delta and the small port harbour.

“Sensors did not show the amphibians moving inland to often, but had I known we’d have to land this far out from the town I might have asked for valet parking.” Arkady said, his voice a tinny buzz in everyone's ears. He turned, a grin on his face and barked out a laugh “Is joke, is very funny.”

He gestured to the others.

“New world, old values.” he said solemnly, before waving one of them forward “Ladies first.”

[Ciara Mei]

[Azaria]

Regan woke up as the ship landed.

He'd only had a catnap - at his age it was a good idea to sleep when you found a chance to do so - but this was certainly not the time for it, he cursed at himself.

Stiffly, the old man stood in his suit and stretched as far as it would allow.

"A walk will do you some good Arkady," he poked the doctor's midsection through his suit, before chuckling and patting his own. "And me too."

He stepped out under the alien sun and smiled as his feet sunk into the dirt. The gravity on this planet felt similar to Earth, and Regan took joy in the sensation.

It'd been a long time since his first step onto an alien planet. He'd nearly fallen flat on his face, after months of artificial gravity and a complete lack of wind. The air here swirled around him, but didn't seem strong enough to give much push.

"Do a few laps of the shuttle before moving off," he said to Yeoman Tell, "if you're having any trouble adjusting. And jump up and down."

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LCdr Regan Sharpe
Security Chief
USS HORIZON

[KendleRJ]

Kat felt the giddy thrill of flight as the shuttle negotiated the small eddies within the thin atmosphere of the new planet. It was quite a different sensation than the one she experienced on a larger vessel, and hadn't had enough time in one outside of the very short rides to and from space dock, or Earth's familiar stratosphere up to the Horizon. This was quite different, and she watched, wide eyed and and awed as they travelled.

She felt a little disappointed after the landing, and as the Doctor's rather interestingly placed chivalry kicked in, she heard in the back of her mind from a very old source, "Asps, very dangerous. You go first." In this case, she wasn't sure where the greater danger might lie: on the ground ahead, or the shuttle behind. It was the only mar in an otherwise exciting mission. At least, so far.

Watching as the others stepped out onto the soil of a whole new world, in an uncharted part of the Galaxy, there was a wisp of a small as it crossed her face. She nodded at the Security Chief and tested her sense of balance and reflexes, feeling a similar gravitational field as she did on the ship. It didn't matter if she was first or last off the shuttle, it only mattered that she step onto the planet and continue to fulfill her part of the Mission. Everything was already secure, but she did a last minute check before finally leaving the relative safety behind her.

All she needed to do was keep up... and that? She could do easily. "Thank you, Chief," she said brightly, her voice slightly muffled by the equipment. "Doctor," she nodded slightly at Arkady and then at the Lieutenant. There was a lot to monitor, and a lot to consider. She felt the phaser slap her thigh as she was reminded that her survival might come down to her skill with it. Some things, she knew instinctively, wouldn't change, regardless of where they stood.

It was a brave new world. And her feet planted firmly upon it. A small shiver rolled through her and she smiled wider. This? Was going to be fun...

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[Amanda Rose]

The away team walked without little trouble. The greyish mud and dirt was hard, perhaps due to the chill in the air. No trace of footprints could be seen, if one looked back to see from whence one came. An occasional chilled wind would build up and kiss the party's skin. A small ball of debris drifted by the party, looking more like vegetation than anything man-made.

As the party got closer to the obviously man-made structures in the distance, more vegetation became noticeable. They appeared to be long, lanky and mostly leafless trees that reached high into the air, towering over the structures and as some might think, praying for sunlight. Movement could be seen in the trees as some creatures flitted from branch to branch, hiding as the party neared. Small squeaks and chirps could be heard.

The structures beyond were clearly created in a utilitarian manner. The architecture was completely unremarkable. No artistic talent was spent on beautifying the buildings. A few windows became more evident as the party approached. Then, an unearthly scream pierced the air....

tag - party

[Ciara Mei]

Ciara watched around them as they walked. Nothing spectacular was there. The buildings were just buildings, nothing fancy. It looked like they were made for their purpose and nothing more. The trees even were boring. Although there were creatures up in them, they seemed to just be up there watching, not interested in interfering.

“This is less than exciting.” She said, laying on her French accent thickly. “Boring buildings, even ze trees are dull and unwelcoming. Maybe there is something more in ze…”

A scream broke her thoughts and she snapped her head around, in an attempt to figure out where the scream came from. “Okay, now that changes things.”

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[KendleRJ]

The Chinese curse came immediately to Kat's mind... 'May you live in interesting times'. And to be fair, these were quite interesting indeed. Kat was fascinated with the whole experience. Wide-eyed, she drank in the surroundings, looking around, and imagining the alien beings, from a place where humans had never gone before, standing where she stood now, looking up at a sky, the surrounding trees... and buildings, common looking. Did that mean that they had been bipedal? She smiled to herself, with the sudden understanding that it was THEY who were the alien beings, not the ones who had lived here.

But not now.

There were no marks on the unremarkable soil; she noticed that as she watched her feet, cautious about uneven ground on an unknown planet. They were the first humans to ever set foot there. She was breathless with the realisation and stood to look over the new land. Structures meant intelligence, didn't it? What had they been made out of? Why were they there? What was the beacon, and why were they warned? So many questions were going through her mind... the only thing that stilled it was the scream that still hung in the air.

She immediately crouched, knees bent, body ready to fight or flee and her hand moved to her sidearm, the other flexing in readiness after shoving the PADD away. She exchanged looks with the rest of the party and gave a look to the French LIeutenant. "You wanted exciting," Kat said, eyes darting, scanning the horizon. They were exposed out here, but getting stuck inside of a building? Was even worse. She was in survival mode, and stood with the Chief.

"Um, perhaps someone could tell the group what that was?" she asked as calmly as she could, heart hammering in her chest, adrenaline pumping, preparing her for their own miniature war.

Because whatever the fuck that was, Kat didn't want to end up on its menu.

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[Sjet]

Same shit, different galaxy.

Unlike the captains yeoman who merely prepared to defend herself, Arkady had taken the precaution removing his side arm from the utility webbing of his belt. The blocky laser didn't have the punch of the heavier slug throwers stored in the Horizons armoury. But what it lacked in punch it made up for in ammunition: the weapons power pack charged from the environment suits batteries. And when it was you VS what could be an entire planet's population, not running out of fire power was the ideal.

In his other hand he held the bio scanner, a chunky device with a stubby coke can sized snout that he pointed towards the shore line where the main concentration of amphibians should be. On its small LED display was a false colour representation of the sensors finding: the large and still distant heat blobs of large warm blooded creatures. Which given the assumption was that the creatures along the delta were amphibians was interesting, though given the climate they would need to generate heat or be aerobic in nature-

Another piercing shriek filled the air, this time followed by a pair of screeching 'honks'. He turned away from the delta, away from the known life forms, and pointed the bio scanner in the direction the call had come from.

"Yebat' menya..." Arkady let out in a breath, as a smear of orange and red fizzled and buzzed on the scanners screen. He looked up, and saw that one of the buildings was between them and the contact. And beyond that contact, in almost a straight line, was the shuttle.

"We're cut off." Arkady said dryly, arm extending with the laser so he could sight a target should it appear "And its right there behind that hut!"

TAG-All.

Arkady Sjet
Ships Physician
USS Horizon

[Azaria]

Oh, I hope I get to shoot a dragon, Regan thought with no small amount of glee.

"All around defence, on me!" He called gruffly, taking a knee facing towards the shed, as the others took their positions in a rough, outward facing circle.

Cut off - just great, he grumped to himself as he raised his rifle in the direction of the shed, peering as best he could in his confounded space suit through the iron sights.
The strange sounds continued and he scanned rapidly for some indication if this were an attack or a welcome party.

"Doc, whats your scanner got?"


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[Sjet]

"One life form." the Doctor reported, gesturing with the scanner towards the utilitarian building in front of them "And from the noise it's making, I think its calling for-"

As if to answer the doctor's statement a distant, wavering screech filled the air. Compared to the sound they had heard before this one was barely audible, more of a sound on the wind, but it was a rattling scream that sounded like a chorus of many.

"We could try blasting our way back to the shuttle, there is only one of...what ever it is out there." Arkady grumbled, not wanting to move the scanner away from pointing at the nearest source of heat: he had the worrying premonition that if he did that, they'd not find the alien again until it was on top of them. And given the nature of its call, screaming for a pack to aid it in the hunt, Arkady didn't think they were dealing with something cuddly. He looked to the buildings: square shapes, no seams and small high windows that were little more than wide slits.

"We could hole up in one of those buildings, on their second floor: narrow access, narrow field of fire. The scanner's telling me we have something human proportioned, so I doubt it'll be able to crawl through those windows." the doctor said, before with a chuckle he added "If you agree Security Chief Regan?"

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Dr Arkady Sjet
Ships Physician
USS Horizon