Terrasurgence Act 1: Beginning of the end

[ReformBlade]

This oughtta be interesting Lorentz thought to himself, reminiscing on the mission's details, smiling to himself in something resembling confidence. Gotta fix the hole, superficially damaged apparently and I've gotta make sure it doesn't happen again so easily. Looking about the group with him, he questioned his superior's motives, but then again with no immediate need for actual military expertise, Lorentz supposed that this was some mix of a whim and a militia and perhaps some form of letting the community feel empowered by throwing them into more dangerous situations. Good job not dying, don't you feel better? Heh, that's sadly not the worst motto I've heard...

"Arriving at destination in 10 minutes. Be careful of the sun's rays or you'll burn to a crisp if you stand in it for too long. We suggest you don't do that so you can live a long, happier, less burning life!" came an uncomfortably soothing voice from seemingly everywhere in the vehicle. Speaking of the vehicle, looking outside the tinted windows would reveal a zooming landscape below them, maybe 50 feet, give or take some here and there due to scrap and debris covering the surface almost fully. Seeing raw dirt down there would take the eye of an eagle, something Lorentz doesn't currently care to have, not wanting to have that kind of strain on his vision.

Of course, he had been out here a few times before, on his own. Not too much, but he had done his share of being rebellious, but it got stomped out when he realized that the heat was just too oppressing. Taking a swig of provided water, the man asked no one in particular. "Nervous?"

[Harkas]

Why am I even here? Gerrant thought to himself as he looked out one of the tinted windows. I just barely managed to escape captivity and now I'm being forced into helping this rather strange group of misfits with something or another. Gerrant pulled his hood farther down over his face as if he hoped it would make him less noticeable as he wondered just what he'd be helping these strangers with. Most of them looked older than him and he would be quite surprised if there was someone younger than him on the vehicle.

As he was wondering how old everyone else on the vehicle was a voice that seemed to come from the vehicle itself told them that they would be arriving shortly and also gave a brief warning about being in the sun's rays for an extended period of time. After the voice had finished speaking he sighed to himself as he continued to look out the window. Suddenly he heard the man next to him ask, or he assumed the man was talking to him, if he was nervous. Gerrant figured that he should have expected that for sighing like he did.

"No, not really," Gerrant said as he turned to look at the man. "I'm just wondering what we're supposed to all the way out here."

Edited June 29, 2013 by Harkas

[Shin]

"You never been outside, buddy?" Baltar laughed. "Don't worry, it's not as bad as it sounds! We'll have a swell time!"

The younger guy didn't seem very comfortable about their task, but who would? Most people avoided the outside, and for good reason. Still, where there was money to be made, Baltar would be there.

"The name's Baltar, I have a feeling we'll get along great."

[Bluedoom]

Cleo stared into space as she thought of the heat that would wait for them outside the vehicle. Ten minutes till they reach their destination. She wondered what mystery lingered near the leyline; she had received a request from a young man to check out the place and figure out the rumors about an unknown source attacking people working at the leyline, and about the management over at the place. This seemed... simple enough on paper. Probably harder though, considering she wasn't there to work, but to investigate.

She looked through the tinted window- seeing the landscape from many feet above made her feel dizzy. " Ah...why did I look down." she murmured. She felt a bit nauseous, and covered her mouth with her right had gently, trying to control herself.

She heard another man ponder about why they were here. Well she obviously knew why they were here but an investigator doesn't blurt out what they know just like that. She heard another man speak in a jolly fashion; he said he went by the name of Baltar. Then silence lingered for what seemed like half a minute. Or maybe it was her. The vehicle seemed to be eerily quiet. Deciding to break the silence, she said,looking at the young man from earlier," I'm sure our superiors will make it clear what exactly we're supposed to do when we head out over there. Oh, I forgot introductions. My names Cleo, what might yours be?"

Edited June 30, 2013 by Bluedoom

[ReformBlade]

"Were you not informed?" Lorentz asked the man who seemed to actually be nervous among them all. "Communications are lost, last we heard there was some nasty damage to the place and all indicators are either offline which is pretty damn bad, or they were showing critical failures across the board." Shifting his position in the seat to something more comfortable as he leaned back, "Could be a number of things, some unknown party, maybe some weird other life forms, or perhaps someone on the inside just went berserk and blew the place up!" Smirking and giving a bit of a stupid shrug, Lorentz went on, "But the facts are there. Leyline's cut off from Arcalon to Genecus, which means we're either gonna have to make their own water and work people to death over it, or we can fix it and not have needless amounts of hatred directed towards us. But hey, that's just me, if you all wanna cut out now, you sure can, but... I'd get some sunblock if I were you, it's gonna be one hell of a trip back by your lonesome, and that sun never seems to go down enough these days."

[Phoenix]

Travel

Ordinarily Firmia wouldn't be caught dead out in a place like this, but here she was, on her aunt's request. At the very least, if she didn't find herself collapsing from heat exhaustion, she might be able to find something to salvage amid all the junk out there. Too bad most of it would be searing to the touch. None of this was on her mind at the moment though, because she was fast asleep.

Resting beside the sleeping girl was an odd looking drone. Only a single green light was visible on the thing. Around the time Firmia began to stir due to the sudden conversation, the green light began blinking. "... are we there yet ...?" she sleepily inquired as she wiped her eyes. The contraption beside her then came to life and several more lights came on. A few seconds later and it began to slowly float away from the seat and moved out in front of her face.

"E.T.A. nine minutes, twenty-seven seconds," came a tiny synthesized voice. There was no obvious gender from the sound of it.

"Yaaay, five more minutes," she sleepily muttered before grabbing the drone right out of the air. She leaned back in her seat with the drone in her lap and buried beneath her arms and closed her eyes. One by one the little lights on the drone began to turn off until there was just one. She hadn't fallen back asleep that quickly, but she was definitely making an honest effort.

[RPG]

Leona sat in silence as she peered at the small girl with the robot out of the corner of her eye. She was so young and carefree that Leona felt envy stirring inside of her. During her time in the vehicle, she was preoccupied with what impression she would make on the others. Not only was she among the tallest on the trip, but it was impossible for her to be comfortable in such a small seat. It was difficult to give off the "strong and silent" vibe when she kept shifting her seated posture.

At least she had the mission to occupy her self-critical mind. She wasn't particularly worried. As a border guard she was used to spending long periods of time in inhospitable weather conditions, and she was very confident in her combat training. And of course, by volunteering to help with this project she could finally see more of the strange world waiting beyond Arcalon's borders.

After nervously drumming her fingers on her leg for what felt like several minutes, Leona decided to speak up only to make her presence known. She adjusted her glasses then raised a noticeably toned arm into the air. "Question, sir." She called out to Lorentz. "With all due respect, why is a mismatched group of volunteers trusted with a mission that could risk the government's reputation?" Realizing that sounded less respectful than she intended, she added a quick "Sir".

[Shin]

"That's a wonderful question, my dear! But think... who wants to do a job like that? Us! Yep!"

It was true, they were willing to do the job, and the government was willing to pay them for it. That was enough for Baltar, any juicy information was just an added bonus.

"You need to think, who would send a kids on something like this! Either it's fun for the whole family or they're short of people willing to go. I wonder what lovely things we'll see when we're out!"

[ReformBlade]

Lorentz shrugged as another man answered her question for him. "It's part of some project to really get people motivated to go out and do things with their life. At worst, if you don't die, we can more or less... rebuild you. It'll make you indebted but that's better than dead.... right? Anyway, don't fret. If you're worried about something going wrong, you can stay here in this shuttle. It's pretty dang safe, but admittedly a big target so... depends on what kind of death you want." he said matter of fact like. "So yeah."

[RPG]

Leona found herself slightly bothered by Balthar's attitude. She couldn't tell if he was being optimistic or cynical, and by referring to her as "my dear", she immediately began to wonder what kind of first impression she had left on him and the others.

As much as she was tempted to do be habitually unresponsive, Leona chose to address the statements her superior provided. "I'd rather not wait in the shuttle. I'm a trained lookout and I've been training for combat for years." She told Lorentz. She wondered if that last sentence sounded too arrogant or self-focused, but she tried to swallow her admittedly petty worries.

[ReformBlade]

"Years you say? Got any tips for me then, Ms veteran?" he said with a smirk that made it all too obvious he was aiming to get a rise out of her, which in turn almost made him feel bad... Almost. "Nah but really, I'd say it's too late to chicken out, seeing as we're so close to our destination we can... hmm, is that- yeah that's actually it waaay in the distance!" Lorentz pointed to a rather tall construct, though it should be noted that the only thing making it actually tall was that it was able to be seen above all the debris and destruction about the landscape. It certainly looked fine at a glance, but to anyone paranoid enough it could easily look ominous and foreboding, like something insanely stupid was about to happen. Stupid, but incredibly dangerous and life threatening and all that good stuff.

"So yeah, I feel fairly obligated to quickly assign some formations here. I'm good at taking things down from a distance so I'll stay roughly around the middle of it all, trying to call the shots as I see em. I recomend trying to stay in groups of... hmm... 3, if we ever have to truly split up. 3 is large enought o make an impact yet small enough to stay in formation as we move about. Now, anyone have preferences or any sort of feedback on that? I'm up for suggestions, but we do gotta make it all quicklike!"

[Bluedoom]

"So that's where we need to fix the leyline, is it? It really does look... grim." Cleo said with a frown on her face. The landscape around it was full of debris. Not the best sight, you could say.

" Not sure we've got much to discuss. All I can say is...this gun I've got here? That's my weapon, should we face any...harmful entities. I'd rather stick with the woman over there who claims to have trained in combat for years. But you're the boss, so you get to call the shots. I'm just interested to know what's causing the breakage." She said, thinking what other suggestions would one have at this point. Everything was so random at the moment, what was there to plan for? She wasn't exactly happy about getting out in the open, under the scorching heat. It was a good thing she was a water manipulator.

[Shin]

"I'd be happy enough with anyone, I'm sure I'll blend well with most people."

Over the years, Baltar had worked in all sorts of places. Some people didn't quite appreciate his attitude, but he got the job done. The heat would be nasty, but the reward was rather tempting.

[RPG]

Though Lorentz's response left Leona a little nervous, she was happy that the dark haired girl at least accepted the possibility that she knew what she was doing. "If you're a marksman you can give me support from behind," she said to Cleo. "Balanced teams sound like the best plan, and I would love to work with you."

[Harkas]

"I'll go with whoever," Gerrant said as he jumped back into the conversation; the amount of attention he had gotten made him temporarily clam up. "Although, I would prefer to be assigned with more experienced people." Gerrant paused for a moment feeling as if he forgot something before it hit him. "Oh, my name's Gerrant for all of you who asked."

[ReformBlade]

"Hmm... Alright, I'll pick." Lorentz assured his fellow adventurers. "I'll take..." He pointed to Firmia, then rather quickly to Baltar. "You and you, the little girl and this fine gentleman here. That leaves you three as your own team. That sound ok with everyone?" Beneath his hasty looking pickings, Lorentz knew he was throwing out some life altering choices to some, and while he enjoyed laying back from time to time, he almost never actually felt that way.

[Shin]

Having being chosen by Lorentz, Baltar now knew his "team". Firmia was a little unusual as a co-worker, being a little girl and all, but hey, who was he to judge? If she was in for the money, or even somewhere to be, it was a good enough reason for Baltar.

"Look's like you're with me, princess. Don't worry, I'll make sure we'll get back before bedtime!"

[Bluedoom]

" Pleased to make your acquaintance, Gerrant." Cleo replied as she heard the other guy in charge of all of them separate everyone into two teams. Apparently she was to go with the combat-trained girl after all, as well as that Gerrant guy.

" Well girl, it looks like we'll be teaming up after all. Oh, I almost forgot, I don't know your name yet. I introduced myself before, but the name's Cleo, and I'm a...let's just say I like learning a lot about things. A former researcher." she said, facing Leona.

" If there's any preferences or things you two may wanna share with our team, go ahead. I expect our time at the leyline to be very... un-fun to say the least." Cleo said.

Edited July 11, 2013 by Bluedoom

[Phoenix]

Organization

Firmia wasn't responding even when referred to directly and her little drone quickly picked up on this. Around the time Baltar started talking to her, the drone set off its own tiny alarm with a distinct sound Firmia had been conditioned to respond to. She woke up with a start the instant it began even though it was barely loud enough to bother anyone else. "Wha ...? What's going on? Are we there yet? What princess?" she asked, all in rapid succession.

"The group is being organized into divisions of three. You were assigned to 'stated name: Lorentz', and 'stated name: Baltar'," the drone answered as it began to float out in front of her again.

As she wiped her eyes, she introduced herself. "I'm Firmia Hughes. It's nice to meet both of you," I think ...? "Oh and this is my helper, Goo. Say hi."

"Greetings."

[RPG]

"My name is Leona." Stated the one failing to look capable as she fidgeted in her uncomfortable seat. "Combat training and border patrol are the most exciting things that have happened in my life." She chose not to mention her wealthy and admittedly sheltered upbringing. "It's a pleasure to be working with you."

[Harkas]

"Nice to meet the both of you," Gerrant said as he lowered his hood so Leona and Cleo could see his face. "Although I'm sorry to say it I have little experience when it comes to combat," Gerrant explained to the two women. "If at all possible could I ask that I support the two of you should we need to fight something?"

[ReformBlade]

"Good to see you too, sleepy head. And Goo, I guess? You're awfully relaxed for being right around the corner to going into a danger zone, I'm impressed." I just sure hope Candace knows what she's doing, sending her niece in specifically. Seems really odd to do that but then again it's her, soo... "If things get hairy, and there's just as much chance of it happening as not, just fall back. I've got a feeling that we'll be able to overcome any obstacles we come across."

While people were talking and spouting expository, the cruiser cruised forth, resounding with an update, "ETA of 1 minute until we've reached our destination."

"You heard the ship, lets get ready to rumble, folks. Remember: We're here to find out what happened and fix what we can. No heroics unless you really want to show off and try to get some brownie points. Hint, it won't work really, but hey, I won't try and squash enthusiasm too much..."

(Out of Character Note: I apologize for how this is slogging, I've been slammed with overtime at work, only 1 day off a week. I will do my utmost to keep this going, but I ask for patience where possible. I AM dedicated to this thing.)

[RPG]

Leona nodded to acknowledge Gerrant. "I'll do what I can." Deciding that the statement didn't sound too arrogant, she sat up in her seat, content.

With the announcement of arrival, Leona shot a glance towards the back of the craft, where her spear was being stored. It was a plain old patrol issue weapon. Not retractable, electrified, or anything of the sort. But she was hoping for a chance to actually use the old thing in combat. Plus her fire-summoning abilities could finally have an interesting use.

Edited July 16, 2013 by RPG

[Phoenix]

Preparations

When Lorentz noted that she was awfully relaxed given the nature of the mission, Firmia grabbed Goo right out of the air again and held him in her lap, saying, "Well, I am kind of tired. I did a bit of research on this danger zone and I think our chances of getting attacked are pretty low. I'm more worried about the heat. B-but even if we do get attacked, I'll be careful and fight from a distance!"

She took a moment to pick her drone back up and began fiddling with his functions manually. Before long, a small grip appeared as armored plates pulled back, and the whole thing collapsed more into a disk shape. "Mph ..." A little more tinkering and a series of small blades popped out all around the disk's edges.

"Blade Mode manually activated. No hostiles within the vehicle. Recommend deactivation," came Goo's tiny androgynous voice.

First she sighed, and then said, "Return to standby mode then." Goo complied and returned to its normal shape. Then giving Lorentz her attention again, she said, "I can just hit someone with Goo from a distance if I have to. He's heavier than he looks."

[Bluedoom]

"We're going off already? Well that was quick. We should tread carefully, Gerrant, Leona. I can back you up with my gun from a distance, and apparently Gerrant prefers ranged combat too, so you take lead. Now then, its time I get some of my stuff which I've stored at the back of the ship; it might be useful to examine the pipe with those stuff." Cleo said as she made her way to the back of the ship to retrieve some of her belongings.