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As the eclectic mixture of mercenaries would continue down the corridor that led away from the lift back up to Pendulu Moda, more roots would be visible as they followed the mounted lights leading down the tunnel. They would eventually emerge to see the base of a massive tree, one that stretched far up into the sky and spread out to blot out the stars. Bioluminescent plants softly glowed to light the otherwise shadowed area, revealing small clusters of crates and small wildlife that scurried away at the approach of the bounty hunters.
And then in the distance, a screech could be heard. Inhuman, angry.
Post by Tycho Kalhalati on Aug 2, 2023 4:15:20 GMT
When the lift's doors first opened, the heavy scent of wet earth evoked a spike of mild nausea. Tycho gravitated toward the ironic lie that it was all just his nerves putting the pit in his stomach, but there was no ignoring the biomass here. Something about seeing of all that bio-glow in the context of a "containment breach" made the mercenary nervous.
He paused for a second to reach for the gas mask that hung off his kit, letting the rifle hang on its sling while he secured the thing to his face. It only helped with the smell so much, but the discomfort was worth it well enough. Tycho would be the last to follow the others down the corridor, using the previous position as rear-guard as an excuse to take an extra moment to steel himself. No matter how weird things had gotten so far, he was grimly aware that it was about to get worse.
He wasn't sure what he was expecting, but a giant tree wasn't on the list. Tycho's pace slowed as soon as he left the tunnel, turning from watching behind the group to looking up, gazing at the impossibly large tree above with a hesitant awe... only to snap back to weapon-ready in an instant, ears high, soon as he caught the noise in the distance.
The Vlaka said nothing, seeming frozen, though more out of focus than fear. He let out a slow breath and held his head high, listening intently to the silence. Waiting.
Queen briefly covered her nose the second the group entered the chamber, wishing that her mask had some kind of filtration system. Despite all this, she held her growing anxiousness at bay. Right now the group needed a steady and steel minded Phantom Thief, not a nervous stuttering little girl. The light from the surrounding area helped focus her attention to the tree at the center of the room.
At the sound of the crunching noise Queen snapped her head to the source, her magic summoning her revolver in less than a second which was then aimed at the source of the noise.
"Stay on guard. We're not alone." she told her group even as her heart was beating faster than normal.
As the group emerged out to see the tree and the tangled roots encroaching through the facilities tunnels.. he couldn't help but be reminded of his most recent assignment before this one-an ominous sense of stillness that belied the danger he knew was hiding in the darkness beyond. Craning his neck to look up at the massive tree he quietly admired the alien plant, begrudgingly thankful that the Company hadn't tried to destroy this ancient specimen- that almost instinctive respect towards nature common to the Chozo coming to the fore of his mind for a moment. "Its rare, to see a tree of this size these days, its almost calming in a way. Uncaring of the violence that has been erupting around it. Life continues on, even as death hangs on the wind and bleeds into the soil.." he mused, almost lost in thought even as his companions were on edge.
The sudden cry drew him out of his introspective haze and he turned his head towards the direction of the sound, weapon calmly brought up to the ready. He then took a few steps forward to take point once again, one hand held up in the air.
"Tycho, stay on my six. Queen and Jankins cover us from behind in case something tries to flank us. Above all, stall in tight formation.. don't want to give our hosts the chance to get in between us." He then looked over his shoulder to look at the feline bounty hunter. "Jankins, are you able to detect other life forms with your extrasensory abilities? If so.. I'm going to count on you to keep us informed of potential incoming hostiles."
Lemon remained silent the entire trip down the hall, the glimpses of the roots encroaching on the otherwise clean lines of corporate architecture reminding her of yet more unpleasantness back in the bad old days, at least these probably weren't gonna try eating her when they ran out of space. She stopped when the party emerged to see the giant tree, after eyeing Tycho sniffing then pulling up his gas mask she chanced a sniff herself, pulling down her already-in-use rebreather. The heavy scent of rich, moist, soil was a little too much like the orchards back home, a flash of nostalgia almost stopped her from putting the mask back on but paranoia won out and soon the seals were restored and the sterile scent of canned air washed away the petrichor.
"Mmmm... Only what actually gots shit tween it's ears. If it don't think it don't make noise."
Seeing how open the area was, she holstered her pistols. It was better to bring out the carbine, and so she did, flicking off the light-enhancement on the scope and her helmet she waited for her eyes to adjust, her almond pupils expanding.
Post by Tycho Kalhalati on Aug 10, 2023 12:40:28 GMT
Tycho repositioned with absent-minded fluidity, taking a support position behind Eresh and keeping his ears high. The mercenary's brain seemed to be on auto-pilot, hearing an order and following it like a drill, his focus elsewhere. He kept his eyes on their surroundings, idly scanning the glowing foliage as he listened, determined to gleam anything he could from the deafening silence.
"I'll keep an ear out the boring way," he said quietly, reaching up with his offhand to adjust the gain on his ear implants, thumbing the protective white-noise low. The Vlaka's shoulders stiffened in anxious response to the sudden flood-in of ambient noise-- something as simple as a single gunshot could ruin his day like this, but maybe it would be worth it to prevent being ambushed.
There was little sound aside from their footsteps as the quartet made their way toward the massive tree that filled their view. Its base stretched for kilometers, exposed roots revealing themselves to be dozens of meters thick while the canopy could barely be seen from where it stretched out in the sky, nearing the planet's upper stratosphere. Some insects could be seen scurrying about the grounds, though anything of a more substantial size was not to be seen.
The crates they had seen continued to litter the ground as they would continue down the crude path that led toward the base of the tree, bearing the Faro Industries logo on their sides. Disturbingly, there were dark smears that marred the casing of the crates. Some was the dark red of dried human blood, others had more unusual colors that appeared to be darkened from age, and then a set of brighter greenish stains that trailed toward the tree.
And there were prints visible in the ground. Three forward toes, one back that ran from the inner curve of the foot. The prints were large, almost two feet long from the furthest points to each other. Whatever had made them was heavy, and able to move seemingly quick. A mixture of human boot prints and what looked to be the footprints of various Kromus subspecies were scattered around, but no bodies remained to tell what had happened. However, discarded firearms could be found as the quartet continued; higher grade projectile sidearms, at least one variant of a beam pistol, and a pair of rifles that were clearly of Kromus design.
Another screech from the distance. It came from the base of the tree, or perhaps more ominously, within the base of the tree.
"Containment protocol in effect. Access restrictions to Tak Lakora have been broken. Y'dris'al facility security measures ineffective. All mobile units report to Tak Lakora access terminal. Subject CX-2112-176-A has breached containment measures. Unable to override access lift, all mobile units report to Tak Lakora."
And then, over the communications broadcast itself came a low groan. Words seemed to be spoken, but they were not any language known by the hunters. Yet the intent behind them, the meaning, was conveyed clearly.
Eresh took all of this on with a strangely cool, almost clinical silence as the group continued to circumvent the massive tree: weapon at the ready and eyes scanning for any possible threat that could come barreling towards them. Every now and then his attention would turn up the tree itself, shining a light on its bark to illuminate possible points of ambush. While he could see in the dark quite well, even better thanks to his helmet, the sheer immensity of the tree and the low luminosity of the area- not to mention the propensity for Kromus to attack from higher elevations- had him especially on guard. “Be aware, Space Pirates are fond of ambushing their prey from above if they think they can get away with it. Keep your heads on a swivel. Make no mistake, they probably are,” he paused as he heard the shriek “Watching us.”
When they found the crates he would carefully rifle through them.. absently picking up one of the beam pistols and passing it to Queen. “Take it, this should help you conserve your energy a bit. We don’t want to waste our resources any more than we have to, and that magic of yours might come in handy later.” He advised as he continued to look through the crates. To his mild surprise he would find a handful of magazines that were compatible with his hand cannon, but to his lack of it he could find nothing that fit with his rifle- but that was to be expected. Leaning down with a slight grimace of distaste hidden by his helm he would pick up one of the Kromus weapons.. slinging it over his shoulder.
“Take what you can.. I sense that we are about to walk into a world of shite- as a very close friend would say.” And as that alien language passed through the comm, he sighed. “A very large world of it.”
Post by Tycho Kalhalati on Aug 14, 2023 23:53:11 GMT
For all the questions Tycho had, he figured it was better to hold his tongue. The complete and total silence was unnerving and telling in equal parts-- it was likely that he wouldn't get much out of exposing his hearing just to stay that much more aware. At some point along the walk he let the rifle hang and re-adjusted his implants to how they were, letting out a slow deep breath as the white noise settled in. Worth a try, but difficult to put all one's focus into when on the move.
He was no stranger to the routine, at the very least. The environment could only distract him so much if he didn't let it. The Vlaka kept his eyes on the more immediate vantage points he could see, sweeping the many blind spots and alcoves the sprawling roots of this tree seemed to make, keeping his attention on close-quarters until hearing the big bird direct otherwise.
Tycho's attention was still on the vantage points above when they would stumble across the crates, shifting back down to earth only when he felt his boot press something metal into the soft earth between his feet. He looked down first to the scattering of equipment, then to the handgun he'd pressed into the dirt. Crouching down to pick it up would be when he'd notice the tracks right by it, and tangentially the splattering of blood. The gas mask made such things difficult to smell; he had hardly even noticed.
"Hey, check this out." Tilting his head a little to make out the full shape of the track, as if that would somehow give him a better idea of whatever made it. "Something pretty big came through here. Think it probably belongs to our boogeyman out there, whatever it is..."
Lemon didn't need a background in Dendrology or Silviculture, of which she had some of the latter, to tell that this tree was unusual, nothing she'd ever heard of came close, she had assumed it was just a well-forested mountain when she glanced it from orbit. Considering the ancient myths and how fond they were of giant trees, combined with the obvious fact that the supernatural was indeed real, she suspected that the tree was beyond fucky leaning towards eldritch.
She stopped a moment when they passed the strewn weapons, grabbing one of the kinetic sidearms and gathering as many magazines for it as she could, using a bit of telekinesis to speed up the process, it wouldn't do to pass up working weapons when you might be dealing with things no person should see. One of the beam pistols would also find it's way to her pocket, even if she didn't use it she could always use a spare if the plasgun ever became unusable.
"Boogieman, ah wouldna say it's anythin so nice as that. Tree like this, shouldn't bae possible, shit's fucky, wonder what it's fruits are like, shame it's infested wit ghosts."
Eresh would be silent for a moment as he did go over the tracks a little more closely. Whatever creature this was, he hadn’t encountered it before..neither on the Confederate colony or Yl’fnya- this was something new. It didn’t matter: it would die along with the other Pirate garbage that was cluttering the planet, of this he was certain. But as Jankins commented on the unnatural seeming of the tree, he would give a chuff of mild amusement.
“I’ve seen trees that dwarf even this one, if you can believe it. It definitely has something more about it though, on that I’ll agree. But.. I doubt that the fruit is possessed, that just sounds silly.” He said conversationally, keeping his eyes and his suits radar on alert for unexpected movement.
As the bounty hunters approached the base of the tree, they could see bits and pieces of what appeared to be hazard suits, carapace fragments, and more smears of what could only be assumed to be blood and other internal fluids from more than just one species. A small building could be seen at the base, connected to a lift system that ascended upward along the trunk and high into the thick and impenetrable branches.
By the time they would arrive at the lift station, it would be clear to the hunters that something large had come through here. Curiously enough, an intact and functional lift car was still present. The keyscanner that was mounted into the entry frame flickered, revealing that whatever security protocols had been once in place were disabled, leaving the intact lift active and unrestricted.
Post by Tycho Kalhalati on Aug 19, 2023 23:11:08 GMT
Tycho shook some of the loose dirt off of the handgun he picked up while he listened to Lemon and Eresh, lifting the thing into his mask's constrained field-of-view to get a better look at it.
Some kind of full-size service pistol; good weight, holographic post-sight, integrated laser module situated under the barrel. Part of some aftermarket-looking grip system that only just barely fit his hands, but was comfortable enough. Either whoever this belonged to knew their guns, or this corp could afford the extra bells and whistles for its security personnel. 10mm, no less. Fancy. Draga. The Vlaka cleared the dirty weapon's chamber and pulled the magazine out, scrounging around for as many like it as he could find before continuing onward after the others. With no real place to store it, his dump-pouch would have to do.
"Hey, real quick." Shouldering his rifle again, stepping into the little clearing with the building at the far end, sweeping the perimeter a little too methodically. He made note of the working terminal, but wanted to keep his eyes on the foliage. One of the others would see to it, probably. "I wasn't the only one that heard... whatever that was, on the PA. Was I?"
The more he saw, the more Eresh was convinced that there was something new within the Kromus disgustingly diverse bestiary of species that made up their culture- and he found himself rather anxious to face it. Not that he was afraid to encounter whatever battle-beast that was tearing into the base personnel, no, but he was itching at the chance to destroy what the Space Pirates must’ve considered their ace in the hole; if its apparent size was anything to go by.
So preoccupied in his thoughts was he, Eresh didn’t answer Tycho. Instead he inspected the lift, giving a hissing curse in Chozia as he regarded the assorted gore scattered about.
“Let’s see what sort of monster is running about,” he quietly muttered.. looking at the others almost absently. “Apologies; did anyone say something?”
Makoto had been following along, keeping quiet as she processed the scene before her. The blood and gore weren't as interesting as the other intel they'd discovered. "Whatever or whoever is down here isn't exactly subtle..." she muttered bitterly to herself, kneeling down to examine a bloody hazmat suit. She then noticed the nearby console and indeed went to look it over, wiping some blood off of the screen. Why would they attach an elevator to a giant tree? Was something up there? Knowing their luck, probably more bodies.
"This car is still active. We can probably use it somehow." she said out loud to the group.
