onemind: (Default)
THE N E S T ([personal profile] onemind) wrote in [community profile] station722016-03-27 01:37 pm

[MISSION LOG] GET IN THE CAR

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!))




erbier: (pic#10032295)

[personal profile] erbier 2016-04-07 07:30 pm (UTC)(link)
[ A nod, satisfied to be understood in her frustration. It wasn't precisely true that there were no other means of defense at her disposal... merely that she did not trust nor comprehend the taser enough to reach for it. It is in her pack, forgotten, unwelcome. ]

Who leads a commune?

[ A philosophical question, really. She has not asked Prince nor Cathaway about it, perhaps it was her mistake for assuming. ]

I prefer Cathaway's tact.
adamance: (yet another ear shot)

[personal profile] adamance 2016-04-09 06:45 am (UTC)(link)
[The question is, unfortunately, lost on Lexa. "Communes" aren't really something that she conceptually understands. But she does extrapolate after a moment, assuming (from the word itself) that it's about a matter of a community. In that, she doesn't know that she understands the question at all—for she has never known a group of people, even in smaller sections down the chain of command, who find themselves without a leader.

But she doesn't ask, assuming that it's a matter of semantics, and she's learned that there is much that she won't know. She'll figure it out in time—or, in fact, look it up on her datapad. No need to stray from the conversation at hand, and speaking of their distrust of the two Hosts who welcomed them feels ... necessary.]


I prefer neither, [she admits.] Cathaway offers answers, but we'd be unwise to think that they don't act together. They were the only ones here when we arrived. It's just as likely that they could arrange for our absence when it's required. [That they're the only two that are there says something.]
erbier: (pic#10032310)

[personal profile] erbier 2016-04-09 03:56 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Ilde stares off at nothing for a moment. She understands the place where Cathaway and Prince meet, in a way that is pattern and intuition, a picture in her head. Cathaway is so much deeper into the Hive, at much more comfort with it, comfortable at the loss of self in exchange for the pleasures of an inner world, an inner power that warped her... Ilde found herself hungry for what Cathaway had achieved. She did not care about physical power, she sought spiritual peace and inner strength. Lexa is the second she has met now who cares for neither Cathaway's vision nor Prince's certitudes.

She looks at Lexa again. ]


Did you not come here willingly?
adamance: (imitating a horse)

[personal profile] adamance 2016-04-12 04:48 am (UTC)(link)
I came here to protect my people. It was obvious that my presence was the threat, so I took the offer. [Lexa's reply is nothing if not loaded. First, there's a level of possessiveness when she refers to her people, a weight that means more than "I am among them." She is their leader, and thus, she is in charge of protecting them. The rest is convoluted simply because she doesn't say that she had come willingly.

Though she did say that she came willingly at the same time.

Lexa is not one for simplicity.]


From what I've seen, we all should have demanded more answers. I don't like the idea of being Host to a creature that should not have access to me the way it does. Nor do I like that I'm bonded to others this way.
erbier: (pic#10032293)

[personal profile] erbier 2016-04-15 04:46 am (UTC)(link)
[ Ah. That is one of the more interesting answers that Ilde has heard and she considers it for a moment. She decides that she accepts the logic, that it is less foolish and pitiful than most. ]

That is the way of it.

[ A neutral answer, she sees no reason to reject Lexa's reasoning nor her complaints, but neither does she see much recourse to do anything about it. ]

You are tangled now.
adamance: (keep your heart close)

[personal profile] adamance 2016-04-15 09:01 pm (UTC)(link)
So it seems. It's our goal to fight what threatens us and bring an end to it. Whether we'll be successful is up for debate. No others have been.

[As there are not very many Hosts to speak of, are there? She wonders if she can approach that matter with Cathaway. Or perhaps the answers will reveal themselves in time. Lexa is still not sure she can trust that her questioning won't be taken as a potential challenge and liability to be rid of.]
erbier: (pic#10032305)

[personal profile] erbier 2016-04-17 06:10 pm (UTC)(link)
[ This is also true. Ilde's expression goes distant for a moment, looking at nothing in particular. She does not care so much about the mission, nor her 'better nature' as Prince had spoken of it. She longed for peace within herself, and perhaps a taste of power after so living so long beneath the mad rulership of a 'God'. To that end, she would... fight what needed to be fought.

She quirks a smile full of exhaustion and dark humor, ]


We will have to do better.
adamance: (yup)

[personal profile] adamance 2016-04-19 04:49 am (UTC)(link)
We will not fail. Though I have reason to believe that the Prince thinks it inevitable. Perhaps he's given up, and so, that's where his intentions lie. [Though she doesn't know the truth of this woman's desires, Lexa herself has recently longed for a chance away from fighting. Even here, she owes her people. She may be the only one among them, but there is little reason for her to believe that her status as Commander might pass on—and so might the ability to pass on the symbiote likelihood, as well.

She can't risk it, though she hasn't considered it much. The heart of the matter is passing on her spirit correctly.

Here, she can't do that.]
erbier: (pic#10032295)

[personal profile] erbier 2016-04-23 05:25 pm (UTC)(link)
Yes. I agree.

[ She looks at Lexa at length then, considering her. Considering Prince. ]

A poison at the root of all his dealings with us. He'll spread it to us if we let him.
adamance: (insert blunt statement here)

[personal profile] adamance 2016-04-25 03:21 am (UTC)(link)
Yet we'd be unwise to stop it right now. It may prove to be a poison, but it's one we need to cope with. [Right now. For now. They know too little about the fight ahead that they're almost reliant on those who have come before. Plus, they have lived as long as Cathaway has shown her. That means they have some value.]
erbier: (pic#10032289)

[personal profile] erbier 2016-04-25 06:15 pm (UTC)(link)
[ She inclines her head. Yes, she likes this woman. She is calm and thoughtful, resilient. ]

My name is Ilde.
adamance: (yet another ear shot)

[personal profile] adamance 2016-04-25 08:13 pm (UTC)(link)
[Mentally, she repeats the name, filing it away.]

I am Lexa.

[To be without her titles makes her feel a little empty, but she is wise enough to know they mean nothing to the other Hosts. Still, there's a hint of something missing, as there always will be.]