Mission 01 - Recovery: Group 1

[cityship]

Cybil, Dr. McNinja, Dark Smoke Puncher, Plays-in-Traffic, One-Leaf-Ear, Geoff, and Dean all set off in one direction through the tall, skinny, blueish trees. Even the way the leaves rustles might have sounded a little different to some.

Occasionally, they came across strange trails in the underbrush, like a very small fire had scooted purposefully across the ground.

Comments

[playsin-traffic.livejournal.com]

Plays had put himself on point, creeping forward through the underbrush, sniffing at the air. His ears swivel occasionally, as he tries to pick up sound and scent. If there's anything out there, he's hoping he'll detect it before it's on them.

[compromise-wolf.livejournal.com]

One-Leaf-Ear is making her way through the underbrush as well, her hackles raised as she keeps her nose to the dirt. She snorts at the sight of the occasional trails, pinning her ears back. "I do not like these tracks. They are not right."

[pie-bitches.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, they're weird looking, alright," Dean speaks up from where he's following Plays. As promised, he's keeping an eye on Geoff, but he's got his eye on the rest of the team as well. While the wolves smell their way through, Dean's got his eyes on the scenery around them, just to make sure nothing's going to attack.

"What made 'em?"

[wantstobebatman.livejournal.com]

"Maybe fire spirits, or something low to the ground and full of acid?"

Doc doesn't like the look of the trails either, but then again he doesn't like MOST things in forests.

He's spent a lot of time in them so on the one hand forests are familiar and knowing how to handle himself in one comes easy. You had to keep your guard up to the maximum degree and listen intently on all sides, memorizing the common sound so that the strange ones could be picked out. (He's already figured out the footfalls of each person in the group and he can hear Sean, just barely, picking his way through a different path parallel to them, hidden by the trees.) On the other hand, forests were so rife with hauntings and dangerous animals and dangerous people often armed and trying to kill dangerous animals... he never understood how anyone found woods to be pretty or relaxing. Log cabins were always death traps full of serial killers in the movies for one thing. One time he'd won a vacation to Vermont in a radio contest and given the tickets to Judy the second 'scenic forest view' was mentioned regarding the hotel.

"Woods are full of all kinds of weird things. If you see any small children asking you to play with them I suggest running unless you have something blessed on you."

[godimgood.livejournal.com]

Geoffrey kept close to Dean, but his eyes - poor though they may be - never stopped moving. He might be timid and yes, less experienced in these sort of things than the others, but he had his own skills. People and words were a strength, but wandering had become a requirement of his chosen occupation.

He was searching for a hint of civilization, or bears or things. Sights to write down later, too.

"Could be forest people. Particularly unskilled charcoal burners or the like," he offered.

[ihatefire.livejournal.com]

"Look at this," Cybil says, kicking some grass out of the way of one of the trails.

There are stones in the path and they look...eroded.

"It's less like something crawled or burned through, and more like something flowed through--the stones almost look melted. Eroded."

[anoldtrickster.livejournal.com]

Wednesday's 'voice' comes over the comm rings.

«Be careful, everyone. The tracks I'm seeing suggest much larger creatures than I'd normally expect in this terrain. Certainly not normal wildlife.»

First Obstacle

[cityship]

As they pass by a certain spot in the scrub, there's a large pit of wet mud. Little lines of trails all lead to it, like some sort of tumor branching out with blood vessels.

Re: First Obstacle

[ihatefire.livejournal.com]

Cybil eyes it suspiciously.

"Go around, folks. Give it wide berth."

[playsin-traffic.livejournal.com]

Plays sniffs at it tentatively and then growls, staying in the brush to the side of it, "Don't have to tell me twice..."

[pie-bitches.livejournal.com]

No kidding. Dean's not touching that with a ten foot pole. He follows after Plays, dragging Geoff along with him.

[wantstobebatman.livejournal.com]

Doc skirts to the side of the pit, staying to the same side as everyone else and far from the main pit, keeping on his toes to avoid stepping on any of the little 'lay lines' that lead into the muck.

Just the sight of the pit makes all his danger instincts fire to life and even if that turns out to not be justified later and he's just being paranoid because everything is new and unfamiliar... well he'd rather be paranoid and look silly than relaxed and get eaten by a bog.

[compromise-wolf.livejournal.com]

One-Leaf-Trots past with a snarl, glancing to Plays. "Do you smell anything odd? I do not, but..." She pins her ears back and snarls again at the lump.

[First Discovery]

[cityship]

When they start moving again, they finally come across...

A road? Cracked and crumbling, overgrown with weeds. But a road nevertheless. Some sort of very smooth asphalt, painted lines on it and everything.

Re: [First Discovery]

[compromise-wolf.livejournal.com]

One-Leaf-Ear growls and drops onto all fours to sniff at the road, her hackles rising. She backs away after a moment, snorting and shaking her head. "Weaver things. Hrrph."

Re: [First Discovery]

[godimgood.livejournal.com]

Geoffrey doesn't even know where to start with this one. It's long, flat, and has stripes.

Clearly it's meant to be a road, but what? It seemed like a lot of work, when paths, dirt, and cobblestones had worked for years.

"I don't think we should stay on the road," he commented, pushing the confusion aside. A road is a road is a road, Geoff. Instead, he thinks back to the experiences he does have. "We don't know who lives here."

Re: [First Discovery]

[wantstobebatman.livejournal.com]

Doc crosses his arms over his chest, frowning a little. On the one hand he likes the idea of them NOT traipsing through uneven ground and dense brush, but on the other... well, Geoff has a point.

Serendipitous roads in the middle of the forest almost always lead to traps (in his parents forest), ghosts (in his office forest) or a horrifying plot point and at least one death (in every horror movie that's any good).

That said, PAVED road with lines on it that's this overgrown. It looks carefully laid and then utterly disused. Logic says nothing's walked this road in ages.

"I'd be surprised if anyone lived here still given the sort of growth that's gotten through. I don't think anyone's used this in a LONG while."

He crouches down to touch the paving curiously.

Re: [First Discovery]

[pie-bitches.livejournal.com]

Well. That's odd. Random road in the middle of an alien planet. Dean doesn't like the idea of walking through brush either, because who knows what kind of things could be lurking, but then again...

"Looks abandoned to me," Dean remarks, staring at the road. "But that's probably what they want us to think. If we're going down the road, I call shotgun on not being the first one to die."

Re: [First Discovery]

[gangstageek.livejournal.com]

"We're not exploring, yo. If the pod is down the road, we gotta go that way no matter, fer shizzle. And probably run into whatever mofos are down there whatever route we take," Dark Smoke Puncher said. At least, with the way things were going, they probably would. But mission objective was mission objective.

[cityship]

After following the road--albeit not walking on it--for a few miles, they finally come upon the thing they've been looking for. It's just off the road, almost looking like a vehicle that had gone in the ditch, but there is no mistaking that it is from Stacy. Finally, after all they went through, they've finally found it!

[cityship]

They then get a call on the comms from Master Chief:


<< This is Five Lead. We have mission accomplished. Heading back to the Obs Deck to await dustoff. >>

[ihatefire.livejournal.com]

There's a button glowing and blinking on the interior panel, and Cybil pushes it, and gets back out.

After a moment, a robotic voice declares, "Unable to initiate recovery procedures. Self-destruct initiating. Please retreat to a safe distance of 20 feet."

Cybil urges her group back, and after the countdown, the damn thing implodes on itself, and disappears.

"Cheerist."

«This is One Lead. Mission accomplished. Also heading back to Obs.»

She adds, «Team 3, just an idea, but if you have any, one of you Bat-folk ought to pop a tracking device on your pod. It'd be interesting to see where these go, provided yours doesn't self-destruct like ours just did. Bennett out.»

[cityship]

Worf gets on the rings.

«This is team Four. We have accomplished our mission and are heading back to the Obs Deck. Worf out.»

[wantstobebatman.livejournal.com]

The Doc is a bit peeved. He looks at Cybil.

"Did we SERIOUSLY go through all that just to have this thing freaking explode and gives us nothing?!"

[gangstageek.livejournal.com]

It...IMPLODED! The piece of alien technology imploded RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIM. And he never got a chance to study it. To say the least, Dark Smoke Puncher was bummed. Of course after a few moments of being almost visibly depressed, as visibly emotional one can be wearing a ninja mask, he remembered that he wasn't supposed to care about robots and return to standing like an on edge ninja guard that he was kind acting as for the moment.