Diamondblack

[Tritsteel]

The commander looked in silence at the technicians who were silently debating Aurora idea in their minds. "Hmmm... That 'invention' would certainly solve our issue with the power peaks and continuity issues." Said one of the technicians, continuing his statement with a burst of technical questions about this capacitor the girl had in mind. "Yeah, yeah... But we still don't know were are we so we don't know where our systems are or how far they are" Said Achilles interrupting the technician. "If your prototype works, where do we aim the jump? Or how much energy would it require?" Added Achilles.

Everyone fell silent again. Without any idea of which was their position in relation of their home sectors, a capacitor able to hold a constant flow of energy felt useless. "Let's solve one problem at a time, shall we?" Finally said the Commander. "Achilles, see if you can help fix the long range sensors and start scanning the nearby sectors and its planets." Ordered the Commander. "The ship still has hull breaches and many other things that need fixing." Said Abner looking at the technicians. In no time, the Commander had given purpose to most of the crew in there, and with that, hopes seemed to hold. For now.

"We left the Hammerhead in the shipyard back home. All we have is a couple of Warden class gunships, but those are only good for Diamondblack comm range." Said Abner.


Z-21 e Balor

The Warden class packs some serious punch both in orbit our outside of it. A good pilot can flawlessly pilot the Balor and cross from outer-space to low orbit with it and it will still handle itself quick and smoothly. Even if it may look small, it can store a pretty good amount of goods or a whole squad an its equipment and still have enough room for half dozen Christmas trees. 'Never thought I would hear such comparison.' Replied Abner when the black-market salesman was selling it.


013 h Thor

This is the heavier version of a Warden class gunship. Most of the cargo space has been replaced with high velocity belts for quicker reloads and guided systems for the extra guns the gunship mounts. The Thor is not meant to be as versatile as the Balor, but it still can carry a crew of five, six if required, but handled properly can be a pain in the butt for even larger ship classes.



"Once the Diamonblack is fit to move again we will move and search for your element." Finally said the Commander. "There is no point in staying still." Added him. "Now, the sooner we get to work, the sooner we will get moving." And with that, everyone seemed to have a goal once more. As final note for that terrible day, the Commander gave a speech though the comms and for those in the same room as him letting the crew know what was their situation and what measures were being done to solve their situation.

 

[Muffyn]

"Yes , Commander!" Aurora saluted Commander Abner and left the bridge. Manfred trailing behind her, still shocked at the idea she proposed.
"Aurora, are you sure about this?" He asked, looking worried at the woman beside him.
"Sure, I'm sure." She said with a confident smile, "I think we can find something that would provide constant energy flow to our device, which can in turn become a near limitless source of energy."
"Then I'm coming with you!" Manfred stopped abruptly and held onto Aurora's shoulders, turning her to face him.
"I won't let you go alone."

Aurora's face was a mix of excitement and sadness. Slowly she shook her head.
"I'm afraid I can't let you do that." She said, her voice soft, "You're the Lead Researcher and you're needed here on the ship. They'll need you to lead the others into studying all sorts of things we'll find. Not only that, you're the only other person, apart from me who knows the schematics of the device by heart. That's why if anything goes wrong, I know you'll be able to pick up where I left off."

"B-but that's crazy! You shouldn't be doing this alone!" Manfred objected.
"Well I don't think I will be." Aurora tapped her chin lightly, "from what I gather, I don't think Commander Abner will send me to an unknown planet on my own. Sides, I'm not good at piloting the other spacecrafts. So I'll end a really good and fearless pilot for the job."
"..." Manfred looked at Aurora for a moment before releasing her shoulders and letting out a sigh, "You are really stubborn. But that's what I like about you."
Aurora blushed slightly, did she just hear him right? But before she could say anything, Manfred's expression turned determined as he said, "Alright. I'll do what I can from this end. Promise me you'll take care of yourself, alright?"
"I should say the same to you." Aurora smiled.

After going their separate ways, Manfred had returned to the lab to see what needs fixing and if anything else could be done, while Aurora went to the hangar to take a look at some of the ships they had.
"I need a ship that's versatile...can be used as both a research station and a battle station when needed and of course, enough space for me to live on." She continued walking past the rows of ships until one caught her eye. It was the warden ship, Balor. But this one was slightly different, not only in therms of its color, it had a metallic red and silver color scheme, but she noticed that some of its weaponry had been upgraded or even modified.
"I wonder who's this is?" Aurora wondered as she gazed upon the ship before her. For some reason, she felt as if that would be the perfect ship for her to use on her quest.

 

[Tritsteel]

From under the Balor could be heard some noises of tools fixing and screws screwing. Then a mild creak and A Russian man falling from the bottom of the gunship to the ground. "Ahhh! глупый! глупый, woman!" Exclaimed Vasily, hopelessly laying on the ground, cursing at the Balor. He muttered some other curses as he got up. "Yelling ain't gonna' make you win any faster." Said that manly woman who had helped with the hydrogen batteries fixing. It seemed that Vasily wasn't cursing the gunship but her owner.

"Oh, hi! You're the girl who helped with the batteries, right?" Wondered the other woman as she gracefully got down of the gunship. "Oh, yeah! Hai!" Exclaimed Vasily too, getting up and quietly shaking the dust off his clothes. A couple of greetings and introductions, and we found out the manly woman went by the name of Sarah, one of the pilot/Marines on board of the Diamonblack.

"Well, this beauty ain't strictly mine, but the Commander needed someone who knew his way around a Warden's class and I was a transport pilot back at the Alliance army, so yeah." Explained her with a smile. "Yes, Sarah is quite a great pilot. You rarely scream 'we are all going to die' with her behind the wheel." Said Vasily with a chuckle. "I'll take that as a compliment, 'Klondike'." Replied Sarah with a even more manly chuckle.

 

[Muffyn]

Aurora didn't notice the sound of tinkering at first but when she heard the sound of a familiar voice and a familiar accent, followed by familiar cursing in a certain language, she could guess who it was. Although she was still surprised to see Vasily just drop from the Balor, what in the world was he doing? The the tough looking woman appeared, the same one that helped them at the Diamondblack's belly.

"Hello..." Aurora started slowly, amazed at the woman's build, she seemed like a veteran soldier who has seen many battles. She then snapped back into reality and nodded, "Y-yes, I was there helping with the hydrogen batteries too. But I couldn't have fixed it if it weren't for you, your colleague and..." Aurora turned to look at the cheerful Vasily, or 'Klondike' as everyone called him, "...Vasily here."
She bowed her head low at the both of them and said, "Thank you very much."

After expressing her gratitude she turned to look at the ship before her again.
"It's quite a magnificent ship." Aurora's sparkled with curiosity, "Can I..." She hesitated for a moment before continuing, "Take a closer look inside?"

 

[Tritsteel]

"Sure you can!" Exclaimed Sarah, nodding towards the Balor with a smile. "You joining us?" Asked her at Vasily. "Nah... You go ahead... I still looking for Ogre..." Said Vasily, looking around that landing bay. " 'Klondike' and his silly dog..." Said Sarah with a chuckle. "Come on girl! I'll show you what the Balor looks like from the inside!" Said the manly woman cheerfully as she friendly put her hand on Aurora's back and almost dragged her inside.

The insides of the Balor were exceptionally tidy, a little bit dusty, but real tidy. On the floor there where the usual railing to fix things and slide them off the loading bay; supplies, vehicles, etc. To the sides there were enough seats to fit a couple of squads, and in both sides, just before the cockpit there were a couple of holographic screens for the gunners to handle the side guns. Its armament wasn't as impressive as the Thor, but bearing in mind the Balor was more of a transport kind inside the Warden class, it was quite nice. "Oh, and look at this!" Said Sarah taking her to the cockpit.

The main difference there was the sheer amount of holographic screens and the fact there was a co-pilot seat. The Warden class was an advanced gunship, but it could be driven by just one person, so most of those ships only had one seat in the cockpit. "It's the e model." Said Sarah, as if everyone knew what that meant. "The batteries in this beauty are almost twice the size of a regular one. Its a headache to manage the energy outputs, but it can go twice as far with a full charge." Explained her with a smile. Sure the Diamondblack still had to be in orbit and Comms range since the gunships didn't had much more limited systems and speeds, but it was a good thing to know.

"It's because of all the micro-managing that had to be done that it needs two pilots." Sarah was explaining some of the technical details to Aurora when some deep jostling could be heard, as if something was making his way through pieces of metal and debris. "Hmm... I think 'Klondike' finally found his dog." Muttered Sarah in a odd jokingly worry.

"Ogre! Come out here, парень!" Exclaimed the Russian man standing in the middle of the bay. "You... may wanna stay aside." Said Sarah. The sound kept growing. That had to be one hell of a dog making those sounds. Some other gunships and cargo material moved on one side of the bay, and from between them appeared Ogre.

MXN-0339Se Ogre

A almost 20 feet tall beast appeared, jumping and bouncing cheerfully, heading straight to Vasily. Such beast looked like was about to crush the man under its happiness, but instead, Ogre stopped just a step away from the man and lay on the floor, emitting some kind of metallic noise, as if it could speak. "Ogre! Where have you been!" Exclaimed Vasily patting the huge thing. Ogre emitted some more noises, and for everyone's surprise, Vasily seemed to understand it. "Yeah, I was scared too for moment. It looks like the ship went a little bit out off path. Don't worry, boy! I have very smart friend working on it!" Said Vasily.

"Aurora! милый lady! Come!" Said Vasily inviting the girls to come say hi. Ogre was one of those old mechs from the Terminus systems conflict. Such things had ran obsolete quite fast. Too complex to drive, even more risky for the pilot and also very expensive to build. Nowadays the Alliance has no use for them, not even private companies or pirates use them. "Ogre! Say; HAI!" Exclaimed Vasily, and the big robot complied, lazily waving one of his hands in the air.

 

[Muffyn]

Aurora's mind was calculating the supplies needed and renovations that could be done to turn the Balor into a proper working research ship during the tour Sarah was giving her. On its default setting the ship seemed quite well equipped, not much changes need to be made but she might need a little space for her own lab section. But that's not important now, when the time comes, Aurora would ask Sarah for her help, if she was willing.

"This is really an impressive ship. And the e system...it sounds like it'll be more efficient than with just a single pilot managing everything else." Aurora looked at the cockpit and nodded. She was about to ask Sarah more questions when the ground suddenly shook, followed by the sound of metal clanking.
"Huh? What..." At first she wondered of something had happened to the ship again, but then realized the shaking wasn't that strong, it was subtle in a way, it was the noise that made it apparent.

"Vasily...found his dog?" Aurora repeated Sarah's words slowly, as of she was trying to digest the information given to her. What kind of dog would that be? When Aurora saw the large metallic beast emerging, she couldn't help but take a step back. Her eyes were wide and her mouth slightly open in awe.
"That is...one very big dog..." She muttered in a trance like matter. She stared at the machine before them and after a few moments her eyes sparkled with curiosity again.

She ran towards Vasily, an excited look on her face as she looked up at the mech.
"It's...it's one of the mechalanoids used during the Terminus System conflict. These things are considered out of date and rare, but to see a fully functioning one...with it's own sentient AI..." Aurora looked like a child in a candy store as she studied the mech.
She turned to Vasily, her eyes still sparkling with excitement, "What's he called? Ogre? You understand him? Are you linked by some sort of device or encephalon drive technology?" She turned back to look at the mech before her and started circling it, observing it from various angles, muttering to herself as she did.
"This is fantastic!" She clapped her hands together after taking a good look around Ogre. She turned back to Vasily and asked, "Are you its pilot?"

 

[Tritsteel]

Vasily was a little bit surprised by al the knowledges Aurora seemed to have around that kind of technology. But he was glad she did. Most of the crew ran away from Ogre or simply ignored it and it felt like the mech was sometimes saddened by that. "Yes ma'am!" Replied Vasily with a smile. "And yes, 1st фурия Mechanized unit." Said him with pride. "But we used those odd head belts to control them back in the old days. No fancy implants." Explained him. "Of course old belt ran out of batteries long time ago." Said Vasily looking at Ogre. "I guess I got used to his language." Wondered the Russian man.

Then Ogre emitted some more lazy sounds. "Oh, no worries, boy. She's cool. As long as you are not a rock, you are cool." Said Vasily with a chuckle. The robot looked at Aurora and made some more sounds, as if confused. Vasily laughed. "Of course you are not a rock! And sure she knows that too." Replied the Russian man. Ogre remained silent for a few seconds and then 'talked' some more, pointing at a drawing in its shoulder. It was a T-Rex dinosaur with a old Alliance rifle in one if its hands "Hell yeah!" Replied Vasily, quickly pulling up his sleeve to show the very same drawing tattooed in his skin. "Give me five!" Then the robot got up all of sudden, always with a subtle care of not stepping on anything or anyone, and then could be seen one of the most epic high fives ever seen. "Yeah!" Exclaimed Vasily.

 

[Muffyn]

"Head belts?" Aurora muttered, "Wow, that is technology that's at least two hundred or so years old!"
She looked at the exchange between Vasily and Ogre, curious as to how the Russian man could understand the mech's 'language' as he said, without the use of an implant or even the old control device, the head belts. When she saw Ogre pointing at the emblem that was on its shoulder and Vasily also showed the same one, she couldn't help but let out a soft giggle.
"It seems as though the both of you go a long way back. Were you Ogre's pilot, Vasily?"

Not waiting for the Russian man to answer she approached Ogre and extended her hand to the giant mech. She looked so small, so fragile next to the mech, as if it could just crush her with one swing of its arms, but it didn't. She was fascinated at how human-like the mech was. Newer generation mechs were sometimes programmed to have their own evolving AI that made them think like humans, but not as close as how Ogre is. There was something about this mech that was special. No, not just the mech, but the pilot too. She turned to face Vasily and started to study him, looking at him from top to bottom and bottom to top, her face serious and her arms crossed as she thought of the various theories as to why and how Vasily and Ogre had such a 'relationship'. She was once again in her own little world, oblivious to what was going around them.

 

[Tritsteel]

Vasily stood quietly, looking back at Aurora. "I... Didn't understood question." Replied Vasily scratching his head. Ogre made some mild sounds as he also looked at the woman. "Yeah, I know... She is starting to scare me too." Muttered Vasily back, replying to the odd looks the woman was tossing at them. They remained in the hangars, chatting and having a good time with Ogre and Sarah. Vasily wasn't aable to answer some of Aurora's technical questions, well, most of them. Vasily explained how they had been together for more than ten years now, that the alliance gave him Ogre when Vasily was still a rookie because that mech was just an old odd model they had lying around.

The days went on and on, almost a week had passed until the Diamondblack and the Commander were ready to move on with their little adventure. Since everyone was still wary about using the jump-drives again, the Commander decided to simply go FTL to the nearby planet. It would take a couple of hours instead of being instant, but it would be a lot safer bearing in mind they were in a uncharted sector.

The first planet they happened to reach in that unknown place happened to be something quite regular; just a huge rock without atmosphere floating around a gas giant. At least that system had a pretty nice looking sun, alternating green and yellow hazes because of something relating to its age and nature. Achilles always got a litte bit too enthused about pretty mush anything regarding space or his field of expertise: Astronomy.

"So, any word about the surface?" Wondered one of the scientists. "Meh... Just plain and boring rocks." Replied another one holding some notes in a pad. "The readings say it could be walked... I don't think the Commander wants us loosing any more time in here tho." Said the other scientist.

 

[Muffyn]

"What an interesting looking planet." Aurora said as she looked out the window of the observation deck. Although 'window' might not be the right word to describe the see through walls of the Diamondblack's Observation Deck. The bottom part was partially covered with metal while everything else around the room was made from a material which was translucent like glass but a damn, hell lotta tougher, not to mention the observation deck had it's own forcefield generator and could take several hits from a plasma laser before it'll start cracking.

"What's the reading on that one?" Aurora turned to look at Merle who was standing beside her with a tablet like device in her hands.
"Hmm," Merle swiped her fingers across the screen, looking at the data that the scientists in the other department had compiled, "Nothing much, just gas and rocks. Walkable but could be a waste of time."
Aurora peeked over Merle's shoulder and looked at the data flashing on the screen.
"Good point," she said as she looked back out the window, "Also it doesn't seem to have any special readings. My RFP (Resource Finder Program) isn't detecting anything."
She looked down to her right hand. There were several holographic buttons floating just above her tech gauntlet and she pressed them, keying in some numbers. The hologram flashed at each button press and once she was done a screen materialized before her, showing the results of her data input.
"Nothing worthwhile at least." Aurora said as she looked at the holographic screen.

Merle looked at the holographic screen as well and was curious at a strange little blip that seemed to appear and disappear at slow intervals.
"Hey...what about-"
"I know...I see it too." Aurora interrupted Merle as she looked at the same thing that had caught Merle's attention. "It's...a signal..."
"A signal?" Merle asked.
"Yes," Aurora's eyes started to brighten, "There's something there, past those planets...around 3 to 4 light years away. Whatever it is, my RFP says there's something worthwhile there."
"How'd you manage to program it to detect something that far?" Merle asked.
"I attached some mini bots equipped with transmitters and receivers on the surface of the Diamondblack a while back." Aurora said beaming, "By setting up the mini bots in key locations around the surface of the Diamondblack, I could basically use the whole ship as a large transmitter and/or receiver. Although, I only use it as a receiver. I only transmit things with the Commander's permission."

"Wow," Merle shook her head, "So should we go tell the Commander about it?"
"We should ask the scientists at the Nav Dep (Navigation Department) to see if they can detect it too." Aurora closed the holographic screen and started to type something again. She was sending an email to Nav Dep, perhaps Achilles and the other scientists could make out the faint signal with the proper scanning equipment that they had access to. There was a beep sound and the holographic buttons flashed green before disappearing.
"There, sent." Aurora said as she turned to head off for the navigation department.
"C'mon, let's go see what they'll find!" she called out to Merle excitedly.

 

[Tritsteel]

"YES!" Exclaimed Achilles a soon as he saw Aurora appear at Nav Dep labs. "Here, here!" Hurried the odd man as he almost dragged the woman to the three dimensional hologram showing the very tiny part of the universe around the ship. "YUJ - 09." Stated him pointing at the dot that represented the planet the woman had just found out. "Well... Or at least that would be if we were using the standard chart and scout patterns." Said him. Bearing in mind they were far from their known universe edge, that planet name could be anything, but Achilles thought adequate to keep the naming as usual.

"Now, the thing in there... You are not going to believe this." Said Achilles with his old grin. "There is something transmitting something." Stated the man. The room went silent for a second before the questions and refusals began to rain. "Hey, Hey! Is what the long range scanners picked up just a second ago!" Exclaimed Achilles putting the readings on screen. What was shown was the image of the usual transmissions used by everyone regularly, but it looked wrong, messed up. It was a system not made to understand whatever that was catching the signal. Achilles shrugged.

"Now, don't get too excited. There is nothing alive or alien in there." Said Achilles killing the mood of a couple of scientists. "I would be surprised if there was even something biological in there." Said him showing some more readings. Those said the planet was just a huge ball of frozen rock. It was too far from its new born sun to be anything else. "My guess? That's just a mirrored signal from somewhere else... Probably interferences generated by the sun's flares." Explained Achilles. "Worth looking at? Well, We'll have more information once we get closer. But my guess is, at best, It would be a nice place to have a walk on. The gravity is not much stronger than the one we are used to. No atmosphere tho." Said Achilles.

But for once, the old man wasn't completely right. Whatever the signal was, it was no reflection or interference. But was still unknown. Even with the Diamondblack orbiting that planet, the scanners were unable to get a grip of what that was, but they do eventually got a location. Again, the images showed nothing else but iced rock. "Hmmm... Try thermal and infra-red." Asked one of the gunners who were assigned to help with the planet scanning. "There!" Exclaimed one of them, standing out in the quiet room.

"It's... vague at least." Stated the Commander, having gathered some of the scientists and ground ops teams. The image was the mild silhouette of a shuttle shaped... Thing, I guess. It had sound edges and smooth curves. Nothing any of the presents had seen before. "That's all? For all we know it could be a rock." Replied one of the mercenary sergeants. "Yeahhhhhnnno." Said Achilles. A rock would show up differently." Said him. "Whatever that is... Is very unlikely it belongs to this planet." Added Achilles.

There was some more discussion until the Commander demanded order. "Aurora, you were the once who wanted this." Said him making a mild motion towards the holographic image. "I understand you already found a fitting ship and crew?" Wondered the commander. "Let me know once you've done. The rest of you be ready. If things go south I want everyone on their toes." Ordered the Commander. Abner was not going to take any chances. In any event, Abner had left the choice to select the members for the little scout mission to Aurora. A good team of well trained marines was always the usual choice for this kind of recon missions.

 

[Muffyn]

((Sorry for the late reply. Had a sci-fi writer's block))

Aurora listened intently to Achilles as he explained the data that she had just sent him. She was surprised at how enthusiastic the old man was about the discovery, then again, she was excited about it too. She just didn't want to show it. Her eyes stayed fixed at the hologram of the planet where the signal was coming from. If what the old man said was true, there wasn't any life on the planet, and yet how could it have been transmitting something? Could it be a new power source they were looking for to return back to their own galaxy? Also, there wasn't any atmosphere, so exploring the place would be a little difficult but not impossible, especially with the modded suits they had.

Aurora turned to Commander Abner and nodded, "Yes sir. I was the one who suggested we find an alternate power source and I think this is worth investigating." She paused for a moment, thinking about the crew she would take with her. Several faces come to mind, but one of them was unexpected. Aurora needed the pilot for the Balor that she was thinking of using, Sarah, but does she need that happy-go-lucky Russian man? She crossed her arms and contemplated the thought, he does seem to have good credentials as a mercenary but not only that, he has a mechalanoid side kick, Ogre, which seem to be inseparable. She could also ask a few of the marines to join them but she would rather the scouting party be small.

"If it's possible Commander Abner," Aurora started as she walked towards the Commander, her face determined, "I would like to have maximum 5 members in the scouting crew, including me of course. So that means I need 4 members."
She looked at the hologram and continued, "I've already selected a ship and its pilot. The red Balor in the docking bay and the pilot Sarah, if they are willing to help me that is."
She paused for a moment before turning back to the commander, "And I'd like to request for Vasily and his mech Ogre to join me in this mission. The last person can be someone who is adapt at fighting and I'll leave the choice to you commander."

 

[Tritsteel]

The Commander listened to the girl as the rest of people returned to their duties and business. "All right. Seems like you've already made your mind... A quite small ground team, I must say." Said Abner. "But I guess that MXN class Vasily has roaming around counts as another five." Said the Commander letting out a chuckle. "Hell, even Vasily alone would count as five." Added the Commander with a mild smile. "You know why do we call him 'Klondike Bear'?" Asked Abner. He looked at the girl for a second and then let out another chuckle. "You should ask him. He loves that story." Said Abner as he began to turn his attention to other matters. "I'll send to you a marine before you leave. Just make sure you are prepared to set foot in that planet in a couple of hours." Ordered Abner.

And he had a point, in such cold conditions like the ones that planed showed, there was some things to take into consideration such extra dense batteries for the suits, change the set up of the welfare circuitry... Hell, even the weapons had to load special ammo. Although bearing in mind they were nowhere near a ammo source, it would be better for now to use the energy based weapons they had at their disposal. It wasn't as effective as those which used thermal ammo, but for now they will have to do.

"Hmmm... Yeah, yeah... I know buddy. But hey, at least we are armed this time, no?" Said Vasily to Ogre as he secured a pretty badass gun to the mech. Mechs were way to big to fit in transport ships and leave enough space for anything else, so usually they were drop from outside the orbit, using a Gravidar, a energy device which used magnets and the polarity of the planet to counteract the gravity pull when performing the orbital drop. Ogre made some sounds, sounded kind of worried. "Danger? Bro, remember when we fought pirates on... FCK - 12? We were outnumbered... 4 to 1 was? And what happened!?" Asked Vasily quite aggressively. Ogre got up and cheered in his mechanical voice. "That's it! FCK - 12 is no longer a planet! Is catalogued as Comet!" Exclaimed Vasily.

Those two sure had their minds set, ready to fight pretty much against anything and anywhere. As for Sarah, she was looking at the Balor from the outside, toying around with some readings in a pad she had in her hands. There wasn't too many changes since the Balor was already fitted to fly in outer space, so the temperature was no issue. "Hmmm... I was told by the Commander to come here?" Said a man half suited in a pretty big combat suit. "Steve." Stated him as he offered Sarah his hand for a handshake.

Now here was someone with a rather odd training. During the first years of the Terminus systems conflict some counsellors and other important people were sent to try to solve the conflicts peacefully. In order to comply with the pirates demands of not bringing warships to the meetings, the Alliance trained a few men in what they called Orbital Marksmanship. Long story short, those guys were capable of taking down objectives the size of a penny from orbit.

 

[Muffyn]

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Manfred's worried voice echoed throughout the corridor, he was now escorting Aurora towards the hanger, she and a small group of people were about to depart for their recon mission.
"Yes." Aurora replied, a small smile on her face, "Don't worry I'll be fine. I heard that this 'Klondike' Vasily guy is like a whole army himself and Commander Abner also said he'll assign someone competent to join us."
"I'm more worried about what you guys will find down there." Manfred's face grimaced, "Don't get too over your heads. If it's dangerous, come back."
"Alright." Aurora let out a soft giggle.

The doors to the hangar slid open and the hangar was a bee hive of activity. People were moving supplies from the Diamonblack pantry to the Balor they were going to use and Aurora made a straight bee line towards the ship, eager to meet her team.
When she saw the extra person that Commander Abner had hired to go with them, she couldn't help but be surprised.
"An orbital marksman?" Aurora said as she looked at the man in the well armored combat suit, "Um, hello. My name is Aurora. Welcome to the recon team."

 

[Tritsteel]

Steve looked at Aurora and smiled. They had told him the girl leading the team was pretty, but to his eyes they were making no justice to her beauty. "Yes ma'am." Said him saluting and offering the girl a wide smile. "Although, to be honest, most of the merit in orbital marksmanship goes to the targeting and imaging systems." Said him letting out a chuckle. "Steve! You coming with us?" Wondered Vasily as he came closer, followed by Ogre who emitted some cheerful noises. "It looks like it." Replied Steve.

Vasily let out a loud laughter and patted Steve on the back. "этот парень!" Exclaimed Vasily. There was some minor chatter, some how is the ship, a little revision of the equipment. Nothing they had already done twice already. Then the Commander appeared. "Ladies and gentleman." said Abner with a mild salute. "I'm not going to lie to you. We don't know what's in there or what is that signal." Said the Commander. "And we are nowhere near a supply line, so we are pretty much in our own out here." Explained him. "Lucky for us, this is not a recon vessel, so we are prepared for combat if we have to." Said Abner as he looked at the people who formed Aurora's team. "And by the looks of it, so do you."

There was some more words here and there, but what the commander wanted to make clear where the rules of engagement. Quite simple, actually: If it looks like a threat, blow it from the face of existence. "Did I made myself clear? We are not here to get in contact with a new civilization. There are no other Civilization but us humans." Stated Abner, who was a little bit close-minded when it came to the suppositions of the existence other races and alien species. Once everything was clear the Commander stepped away from the hangar and let the team depart.

Vasily was helping Sarah with the piloting of the Balor. Outside combat or complex situations, there was no real need for two pilots, so it wasn't surprising Vasily walked out of the cockpit to chat with the others. Although there was not much to talk about, they were heading into a hostile planet by nature to look for something unknown. Of course no one wanted to get out of their prayers. "Hmmm..." Muttered Vasily looking at one of those combat pads. Like the regular ones but thin and malleable as paper, but way less image quality and power. "Could you repeat the rendezvous coordinates?" Asked Vasily looking towards the cockpit.

"It's grid: G43-HT21" Said Sarah. Vasily made a ball of the paper-thin pad and yanked it into one of his pouches, muttering curses and looking quite worried. Without saying anything else we went to one of the sides of the cargo bay and began to put on one of those 'parachutes' which weren't actual parachutes but like personal versions of a gravidar. "What is going on?" Asked Steve. "Stupid hangar control. Dropped Ogre in wrong place." Stated Vasily, notably angry and worried as he was down putting on the gravidar backpack. "Heemmm... You realize those are for cargo, no?" Stated Steve. Using one of those as parachute ensured you a pretty fast and hard fall, but at leas one you could get alive of.

But Vasily wasn't in a hearing mood right now, so he just gave a few steps to the loading door and opened it, making a few alarms go off. Thank God wearing the suits was mandatory and habit when travelling into planets without atmosphere. "What is going on back there!" Exclaimed Sarah. "Keep going! We'll meet you at rendezvous point!" Said him before he just jumped off the Balor. Gravidar or not, it was still impressive to see someone jump off a plane at almost orbital altitude with such disregard towards his own life.

"Great, Vasily. Freaking great." Muttered Sarah, angry too as she closed the doors. The Balor was quite silent without the Russian man chatting and singing, but at some extent it felt better that way. It took a good while to get to the landing point, just behind a little ramp and some rocks from the broadcast.. "Hmmm... I can't get in contact with the Diamondblack or Vasily." Said Sarah as she played with the controls on the cockpit. "Looks like the broadcast is messing with our comm systems." Explained her briefly.

"There are some shovels in there." Said Sarah looking at Aurora and Steve. "Why don't you grab your equipment and a couple of shovels and start digging out the broadcast emitter? I'll try to get some altitude and see if I can get in contact with them from there." Said Sarah. "Don't worry, I'll keep and eye on you through the thermal imaging. Anything goes bad, just pop out a flare and I'll come pick you up."

 

[Muffyn]

Aurora was deep in her thoughts, skimming through the data she acquired from the initial scans of the planet. It seems to have a sort of icy, rocky surface with several areas still covered in 'darkness' of sorts, meaning the planetary scanners couldn't get a proper read from it because something was interfering with the signal. Perhaps the best way to learn about these dark spots was to discover and explore them on foot. But then again, what if those dark spots were kept dark in the first place? Curiosity was getting the better of Aurora and she decided that she would venture into one of these dark spots to scan for anything out of the ordinary.

Remembering what the commander had said about Vasily, she was about to address the Russian man when he suddenly put n a gravidar backpack and waltz straight for the loading door.
"Wait...he's not going to-" but before she could finish Vasily had already opened the loading door and jumped out.
Aurora just sat there, eyes wide and mouth slightly agape. She then exchanged looks with Steve, who didn't seemed to be fazed at all. She could hear arah exclaiming angrily on the comm but apart from that it seems like it was a normal 'Vasily' thing to do. Shaking her head Aurora let out a soft sigh and returned to her data pad.

When they finally landed, Aurora couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. She stretched her legs and prepared herself to dismount the Balor, picking up a shovel that Sarah had mentioned, she made sure her backpack was secure on her back and that she had her weapons on her. Aurora turned to look at Steve and gestured at the loading door, "Shall we?"
She listened to Sarah speak over the comm and nodded, "Okay Sarah. We'll inform you if anything happens. I hope you'l be able to get in contact with the ship in the air. I don't think this is a nice planet to be marooned on."

Walking out of the loading door, Aurora saw the vast icy wasteland before her. It was a beautiful blue with some shades of pale green and gray. Aurora took out her data pad and examined it. She then switched on her holographic gauntlet and popped up a display of where there were. She tried to trace Vasily and Ogre's signals but it didn't appear on the holographic screen. There seemed to be some static as the display tended to flicker slightly.
"Right," Aurora said as she gestured at Steve to follow her, "It seems like there is some sort of static disturbance north-west of our current location. The initial planetary scans are showing up the area there as a 'dark spot' so we won't know if it's just because of some natural phenomena that the scanners couldn't read the surface or otherwise."
She started walking towards the direction of the nearest dark spot that was shown on her data pad.
"Keep your eyes peeled," Aurora said as she touched one of the hilts of the plasma sword prototype she had hanging on her hips, "We don't know just what is here...yet..."

---

Back on the Diamondblack, Manfred and Merle were looking through the data from the planetary scanners and other data they obtained from old man Achilles.
"There are a few locations on this planet that can't seem to be read by the scanners..." Merle said as she pointed at a dark spot on the 3D imagery hologram of the planet they were scouting, "Do you think it's because of whatever it is that is emitting the signal or could it be a difference in temperature or geographical landscape?"
"I'm not sure..." Manfred's face was serious as he studied the data, "It's weird how these dark spots are spaced out. It looks...almost uniform."
"Perhaps something left some jamming devices there so we couldn't get a good scan of the locations?" Merle suggested.
"I don't know..." Manfred's face grimaced, "I have a bad feeling about this..."

---

"Woah..." Aurora sighed in awe when she looked at the scenery before her. There were hills and mountains of jagged ice and rock, a mix of blues, whites and gray. They were near the edge of one of the dark spots registered on the planetary scanners. She looked at her data pad and noticed that the screen was flickering, more so now than earlier. It seemed the closer they went to this dark spot location, the more interference they were getting. Was there something hidden within the confines of those icy hills?
"What do you think Steve?" Aurora turned to look at the orbital marksman, "Shall we continue scouting this unknown area or go somewhere that's already been mapped by the scanners?"