[MISSION LOG] GET IN THE CAR

[onemind]

CHARACTERS: All
WHERE: Avera 9
WHEN: Day :156 - 160
SUMMARY: Welcome to the jungle muddy junk pile in space. Avera 9, pt.1
WARNINGS: None; will edit if necessary.

THERE IS AN EXPECTATION that all hosts meet on the flight deck; that much is obvious on waking - something that, strangely, all new hosts seem to have done at the same time. Pack your things, says a gut sensation. It's time to go somewhere different.

ONCE ASSEMBLED, it isn't long before Prince and Cathaway make their own appearances. They have a set of kits with them - one for each young host - and a square that unfolds into a data pad with mission details. Each kit contains some of the materials hosts will find helpful for their assignment, and the equipment is not to be traded away or sold, Prince explains. The rest, Cathaway adds, will be provided once travel is complete. And then it's time to get underway. Today that means piling into a sleek, arrow shaped ship with plenty of space to carry personnel and equipment. There are a number of bikes lashed in the cargo area, places for hosts to stow their things, and enough seating at each side of the carrier's interior for hosts to be comfortable. It's a short trip, Cathaway assures and then makes her way with Prince to the cockpit. Today, they're coming with.

Initial checks. Engines go. The landing circular landing pad under the ship turns, lowering down into the flight deck floor as it goes. The ship comes with it, descending into the cool dark depths of the Station. There's a shudder as it locks into the launch tube, as the channel overhead is sealed; there is no countdown, just a pulsing moment of anticipation-- and then rocketing, teeth rattling momentum and a bright, hot flash of joy as the ship is projected from the Station - as it sears through time and space and a hundred versions of the same universe until it comes to rest here: smacked out into real space hung above a murky brown planet, clearly visible through the massive viewscreen at the front of the ship.

It's a good thing there's not much to look at; Cathaway doesn't waste time before deftly setting a course, slicing down through upper atmosphere with hardly a shudder from the knife point shaped ship. The planet comes up rapidly and a hum passes through the carrier as it lowers - cresting down through dark clouds to be battered by rainfall and the cross cutting of wind. But it flies steady, sure, and in time they streak at ground level across muddy flatlands and massive stone slabs - skim across inert bodies of water in the slow process of expanding from the constant sluggish rainfall.

The ship eventually comes to rest in the middle of what must be a massive valley; it sets down with hardly a shiver, then something clangs loud and the ramp at the rear descends. Cathaway unhooks her harness and rises from the pilot's seat.

"Here we are. Be well and do well; try not to kill anyone." Yourselves included, being the unspoken addendum. "Make sure to return here at the specified time. We can't extend our time table to account for stragglers."

There is a pause before Prince adds, with an edge of silent reluctance, “If you find yourselves in a situation you cannot handle, call and we will come.”

And then you're free to go wherever you like. Welcome to Avera 9.


(click to zoom; blue is water; yellow is lowlands/flood plains/etc; green is higher, drier terrain; brown is for ridges/high ground)

---

((OOC Notes: You'll notice that this log only covers the first few days of the mission; this is to allow for player character decision making to effect the back half of the mission. That said, feel free to make your own logs and posts on the IC community as you see fit - just be aware that dating past day :160 may get a little wonky depending on how events proceed!

If you have any mission specific questions, direct them to the OOC post here. For exploration and salvage discovery, we've decided to give players a largely free rein for what items can be found. However, if you want specific mod-generated items for your characters to stumble across during their salvaging, feel free to use THIS thread to request that!))

NAVIGATION • SETTING • FAQ • MOD CONTACT • GLOSSARY

( CODE BY WHAMBAM )

Comments

[exhuxperation]

[ (Having an ego would mean he'd be overlooking everything his troops have done in assisting the Order toward the goal– he can't bring himself to do so). ]

Pandora is where you hail from?

[ A curious name, something he recalls in a myth or two when he'd studied certain planet cultures. Not that he'd put any stock in it, but it was certainly an interesting viewpoint. ]

Do they have the... connection like this, as well?

[ This mental link. The one he dislikes intensely. ]

[circumspector]

[ A planet named long before anyone knew what was really hidden on it, what it truly was like, and it turned out to be more fitting than anyone could have ever thought. Or wanted, honestly. No one wants to live on a planet that is a collection of despairs. ]

Huh? [ Blinks at him in surprise, then shakes her head quickly. ] No, not at all. Outside of perhaps someone born with the ability, or through enhancements via something like cyberware, I didn't think something like this was possible. Granted outside of military units, I can't imagine why such a thing would even be wanted?

[ Not to say it was useless, there were a hundred uses, for silent, instant communication. The same sort of things that made her useful to Jack. Just not for... civilian purposes. It's too intimate, too personal, that she can feel his distaste as much as no doubt he could feel her curiosity. ]

3000 years later i tag this

[exhuxperation]

Even inside military units, I have doubts it of its use.

[ Sure, Ren could be useful, but only sometimes. And it just seems like the type of thing to be used as a crutch. To be depended upon. It could cloud the mind and lead one to ignore logic or reason. Not a fair trade off, if one were to ask his opinion. Of course, things could change or tip in a different balance the longer he has to get used to it all, but still. He's not entirely sure about that.

For now, he'll try on focus on keeping his thoughts and feelings disentangled from everyone else's, even though he's rather sure Cathaway would prefer him not to. Her opinion still doesn't hold much stock.

Then again, with the feeling of Angel's curiosity, he has to wonder if he's taking this the worst of all of them. ]

What is Pandora like?

[ Best to divert off of the mental links. Besides, there's always a use in knowing these details about people. ]

[circumspector]

[ She does do her best, this time, not to look too deeply into her memory -- but the problem is that her observance of Pandora was more real to her than the rest of her life that it came up shockingly clear that in some regards so that when she says as politely as possible, with a hollow laughter to the word - ] Awful. [ -- it's punctured with the echo back of static screaming, the snarls of beasts, the searing noise of flesh, ripping, laughing, madness, utter and without repent of understanding what it is to be otherwise. Only so good at this new found connection when she's balancing it against the hum of connecting to the network systems.

But she tries for his sake to not linger. ] Sorry. Normally it doesn't need much of an introduction. [ Still strange, it and Promethea were the by-word for suffering. All over the galaxy, boys and girls thanked their lucky stars every night that at least they weren't growing up on Pandora. She presses her lips together in an apologetic look. It shouldn't be funny but for all that misery and for all her outward compassion and good manners, there's removal there, detachment. Laughter, because there's only so much after a point. ] It's a border planet, known for it's... interesting flora and fauna, and to the mega corporations it's been controlled by, for it's incredibly lucrative resources. But you could say that cities like this are... [ she gestures down the street they're both in, dirt stained with the rain, mud splashed up her shoes, and that general sense of lawlessness. ] the pinnacle of Pandora's settlements. Not all are so safe, stable and lawful, either. [ He ought to be able to fill in the blanks on that. ]

[ But despite what she's saying, there's a pang in her words, in the thoughts behind them as she picks them. Granted, she's talking to him in the way she presented all information, like reading off a dossier, presented information by need of understanding. But there is a longing there, violence that feels like home, that makes this place not feel completely awful to her. ]

[exhuxperation]

[ They aren't broodmates, but the ideas remains the same. Her word– "awful"– rings out with such clarity, a bitterness that can't be hidden. The underlying emotions are there too, and he catches glimpses of her life, her view. It's as though it passes through a hazy filter, nothing like the crystal clarity of someone like Nathaniel or Lexa. Still, though it's aggravating that they even have this connection, he can tell she's trying not to dwell.

For his sake maybe. Or for hers. ]

No need to apologize, I doubt many are used to describing their worlds to outsiders. [ Frankly, he doesn't really know how he'd explain the Outer Rim. Or Arkanis. Any of the places that had solid land and water and resources. What he knows best are Star Destroyers and ships. ]

This would be the pinnacle? [ He's not exactly horrified, because it takes more than that to shake him, but he's edging on shocked. It's overlaid with curiosity, already thinking of a few places that could match it. ]

I suppose people default to chaos everywhere. [ This shouldn't be surprising but is, anyway. ] Regardless, if it's routine...

[ He trails off, half addressing the last impressions she gave. Pandora, for all that she's described, sounds like a hell hole. But, having grown used to it, familiarity will always take precedence over the strange and new. ]

[circumspector]

[ She laughs then, head tilting up with it, something of a nod. ] It gives me a bit of an advantage at least. I'd advise being comfortable with your taser, for what it's worth. You probably won't need to use it, but business deals tend to go a bit more honestly if everyone's aware of the violence first.

[ She looks over it again and then looks further with her power that is a sigh that drags a shudder at the end, in it's way it takes its tole. Eyes still unnaturally bright and burning. She looks, and then looks again. So many lives, spilling across screens she watches from, desperate, trying to do what they can. Weighs it gently before she looks back at him, fixes him in a level stare for all she's so very much shorter than him. There's something far too bluntly measuring of him. Clean, she realises, he's so very, very clean. Sounded like he came from a world like Eden-6, or one of the company space stations. Belatedly, she realises he reminds her of Blake. There was some imposing order to him, an exact place for everything. Maybe not quite as slimey as Blake then. ] -- But trust me, General, this isn't chaos, not yet at least. Maybe when the asteroids start falling? Even then, you'll know chaos when it really happens. So far no one's tried to wear our skin, or peel off our faces to feed it to their children. We can still have decent conversations with the people here.

[exhuxperation]

I'm quite comfortable with firearms, I assure you. [ He misses his blaster, of course, but this will do. Even if it's not exactly a firearm. Close enough. When she mentions the bit about violence, he's about to agree– the Order has unfortunately had to do some shady dealings to get their supplies. This is reminiscent. However, her flicker of images are a distraction, even if they start out hazy.

Blood spilling, desperation palpable even through the filter of screens and camera lenses; eyes bright with unnatural power. ]

Of course. This is rather controlled, all things considered. [ He's seen worse spaceports. Unruly ones, filled with black market deals and criminals whose rewards would make a man rich. ] No one's attempted to knife us and take our parts for money, either.

[ humor???????? or just fact??? ]

[circumspector]

[ Her eyes crinkle soft with a smile, brief and bright. The little shake of laughter to her shoulders. Funny to her or just that she prefers to laugh easy and dry suits her perfectly fine. Gives back the blunt facts as simply. ] Well, we're an unknown, they're probably still just sizing us up. We are prime targets if were just passing through, no one will miss us much. We're not affiliated with any of the families that I've found activities on so far, after all.

[ Her lips press together, hiding away the smile as she looks around. ] Best to stick close to each other, make sure they know we look out for each other.

[exhuxperation]

[ He hadn't really meant it as a joke, but it passes for one all the same, judging from her reaction. Well, that isn't so bad. It's non-offensive and he didn't have to try at humor (thankfully, that's always awful for everyone involved). ]

You have a valid point– going into a fight without information is a bit reckless. [ Especially when, with the nest configuration, they're not just up against him and Angel, but everyone else in the group. Sort of. The details on how everything works is still a bit hazy. At the very least, he's fairly sure the rest could tell if they were in danger. ]

It's more difficult to pick someone off in a group. Though, the levels of menace here are relatively tame. [ Definitely tame. ]

Have you traveled much, outside of Pandora?

[circumspector]

[ She's about to say something more sedate and inagreement, that yes, team work is always better, and if she had been advising their work, she would run it like she preffered vault hunter teams, four to six, well armed and balanced in skills but --

what crosses her face is somewhere between guilt, and vaguely hunted, her head ducks and she had been perfectly candid with Prince and Cathaway, and they had just said information was important. Knowing a team's strengths and weaknesses, especially so in their case.

So she swallows, with her head down and suddenly much more her age, shakes her head slowly. At odds with everything else she spoke of, perhaps, but it's important, this seems like at least a fairly casual way to admit this is all new to her - ] Actually, it's funny I guess, I've... never been outside. Not for years, since I was a child. So, no, not really?