Beck readjusted his detector and unslung his Sniper Rifle. He checked the mechanism one last time and made sure it was full on ammo.
"Locked and loaded." He strapped the gun on his back again.
Beck readjusted his detector and unslung his Sniper Rifle. He checked the mechanism one last time and made sure it was full on ammo.
"Locked and loaded." He strapped the gun on his back again.
"If you have any loved once, hope they pray for you now."
Mono said in a undertone. Sure he was still steaming under his suit but at the moment all that he could think about was, why was the fog so thick in this area. It seemed so unnatural, as if a foreboding wall of the shadows which lied under neath.
Why do I get the feeling that some of my electronic systems aren't going to work in that fog...
"All right men, this is it! Prepare for insertion.
" Unlike their first drop off, the atmosphere was entirely different. The ship came down smooth and silently, pushing back a blanket of pale blue shroud. As Fiora once did, Aaron glanced around at the members of the squad.
This time however, there wasn't any amity. He couldn't befriend these knights. Not again, not ever. His foremost position was a leader, his concern nothing but the mission, and to those that meant to reach its ends. He wasn't willing to feel that way; to feel like he had lost all that he cared for, once in his life was good enough.
"Okay, door locks disengaging, exits opened.
" This time it was Amelia's voice through their communication devices. The doors slid open quietly, letting a rush of fog seep in. The ground was just barely visible, about a few metres down. Aaron stood by the exit as the ship lowered its speed.
"Upon touch down, regroup and stay low.
" Aaron turned around, the time for questions and hesitations was over. He leapt out and braced himself for impact.
The ship was now only a couple feet above ground, revealing the somewhat dry earth and brittle vegetation that matted its surface. Violet steeled herself and jumped.
Once on the ground, Violet rolled and placed her stomach to the ground, breathing heavily. It was like entering some sort of void. Though the slowing engines of the ship could still be heard, the dead fog muffled sound to a point where a whisper was all you could ever hear. The air was stale and somewhat cold. Violet shuddered as she crawled over to where she saw the silhouette of Aaron. Nearby, an orange light dimly illuminated the area.
Jumping down Mono just let his body take the impacted of the fall. More or less showing off, even if not knowing it. Standing up Mono quickly switched on his Thermal vision, lowering a window so he could still see in the normal vision, advantages of having a helm with three eyes instead of just ports. Once everything around him settled, and the taste of iron escaped his mouth the Hacker quickly made his way to the Regroup point.
In silent protest, Mono quickly set up the Comms. to do a set pattern of burst Transmissions instead of the standard frequency of one channel. Taking a knee he took the advantage of the quiet to start building a 2D map of the area around him, using his suits Sincor's instead of the groups. Sure it limited his range to generate the map, but it would also allow him to get data quicker to build it.
"Map creation active. Channels will be switching every Minute to keep jamming and communications to a minimal, warning; this action means hand signals and short order's are best for effective actions and understanding."
With out missing a beat Mono stood back up, his suit already doing the upload of the map he was building to the others who had a HUD in their suits.
I should ping the area to see if any knights with armor are around. Alright I will do that once everyone has regrouped.
[Saboteur dropped behind Violet and took out his mine detector, connectiung the wire of the mine detector with his helmet, Saboteur started to scan for any landmines. In the distance he could see an orange light lurring in the fog.]
Saboteur: *whispers* "Commander Aaron... do you see that light over there?" *turns to Beck* "Hey Beck, can you use your rifle scope to get a better look?"
"Looks just like any other one of the orange lights we saw flying here," Aaron replied.
Beck dropped to the ground silently, and followed Aaron's sillohuette.
"Hey Beck, can you use your rifle scope to get a better look?" It was Saboteur.
"Sure," he whispered back and started to take the rifle off.
"Looks just like any other one of the orange lights we saw flying here," Aaron answered Saboteur's earlier question.
This made Beck pause, "You never know, looks can be deceiving."
He lifted the rifle to his eye to see...
... an orange light. The blue fog blurred the light, diffusing it, rendering it not any more visible with a scope than with the naked eye.
Looking in the direction of the orange light, Mono change threw some of his suits different lenses types to see if he could better 'see' the object at hand. Going from Thermal all the way to night-vision. Of course the Night-vision mode just blinded him so he turned it off just as quickly as he had turned it on. With a sigh he looked at the small window which showed his normal vision. Sure enough all he could make out with the 'naked' eye was just a orange glow in the distance.
"Give me a minute, I will ping the area."
With that said Mono dropped to his knee. From his body a rather low pulse of sound, unhearible to the human ear, was sent out wards in all directions around him. Working much like a sonar the sound hit out wards and returned to him on his mini-map in the top right hand corner of his HUD. If what ever the light was, was made of matter it would show up as a blip on his map. Since his sensor's where currently trying to build a map, most of his suits functions where running at half their normal levels.
Beck lowered the gun and shook his head, "Can't see snipes in this fog."
He could tell that the Intel agent was trying to locate anything. "Find anything yet?"
Unfortunately, Mono's efforts did not produce a result. It seemed as if the light was just so: a light.
"Stay low, use the fog as your ally, not your enemy. The first step is to confirm that there is indeed a base of any sorts. I shouldn't have to tell you, but be on guard. I want ranged out front, prepare for preemptive strikes, with melee tagging behind. Stay alert for anything that might harass our ranged. The intel officer will hang back and be conscious of everything that happens, I want a full log of anything that might happen," Aaron instructed in a cool voice.
(OOC: Just waiting on you, Sono.)
"Roger."
Pulling the Silent Night Blade from its resting spot Mono quickly took his spot as he made sure his suit was a) keeping track of everyone whereabouts. B) Alerting them to the presence of threats as detected via sensor's on their armor and his. C) Uploading data back and forth between him and the others.
Alright, systems are operating at 97%. That's good, now as for the logging. WAIT, I almost forgot! Idiot Mono, keep your head on. Just activate the chips and we are fine.
Quickly opening up the CMD Mono went to work activating the ER chips in their helms if they had any. Might mean that you died when they revived you, but at least when they did you where back with the living.
After a second the command went, anyone who had a Chip would have felt a warm sting on the back of their heads where the chip was suppose to be. In one of the most armored places.
Shaking off the burn Mono nodded as he knew his was indeed working, a resent backup of his mental state and self where preserved in the worst case. Hope they still have some juice to bring me back if I do die...
[Saboteur moved away from the main ground and stayed on the flank of the team while sweeping for any mines. A demolitionist is nearly useless in a foggy area, Saboteur knows the likelihood for friendly fire is high. So the least he could do is to check for any possible booby traps in their flanks so they won't set them off if they need to retreat. Anyone that stayed with the main group should be notified by the AP detectors as soon as a mine comes in range.]
Saboteur: *private messages everyone in the team* "If we are to be ambushed, I may get out a flash bang, I will shout 'close your eyes' before I pull the pin. I doubt my voice will make a difference in a close quarter skirmish though."
Meteko dropped to his feet in a crouched position, before standing partially upright. "What's with this fog? Were there ever reports of a deep fog in this area?"
Beck frowned, but moved forward. This time he opped for his Valiance, and Dread Venom Striker. He held the two cop-style, the gun in one hand resting on the other, but instead of a flashlight, it was the Venom blade.
"Sabotuer, get to the front, " Aaron hissed. "Your bombs serve as ranged weaponry." Aaron nodded the squad forward, and Violet took up a position to the left of Beck, fists raised.
"No, though I would assume that the base was built in this location due to the fog, some things we still don't know about Cradle, after all these years," Aaron said in address to Meteko's query.
The ground slowly rose and the air became thin as the group encroached upon the mountain's borders. Aaron began leading the ground in a circumnavigation, slowly proceeding across the dead earth.
The tension was high.
Following close behind the group where he was told to be Mono noted the air was indeed getting thinner. In order to save everyone's breath, he quickly sent a message with a little red warning sign to everyone's HUDs who had one warning about the air situation.
Well that takes care of warnings...better ping the area again.
In the middle of their walk Mono sent another pulse outwards together data for the map. Much like before, if anything was their the ping would catch it. Since he was using the whole groups sensor's his maps update rate was rather nice, but it did suffer from small input lag due to the fact it was a mulity system effort.
Lana lowered her gaze and put her scarf up.
"Any radio chatter from the other side?"
[Without any questions, Saboteur moved to the front of the team and with a stun grenade in his hand ready. He closed in on the dim orange light.]
Dead. Just like the area around them, the radio was not receiving anything. Not even static.
The group passed by one of the orange lights, which became dimmer as they approached, surprisingly. At one point, they passed through what was unmistakably the epicentre, but by then there was no orange light; until they left it behind of course, at which it became visible at the back's of their heads.
A large, dark silhouette appeared ahead, imposing. It was fairly thick at its base, but stretched upwards, darkening the sky above it.
(OOC: I honestly don't know what those lights were, I'm going completely off Vinny's original description.)
That looks like fun...Let's see. I don't know if they have a sensor for my works, based on the fact we are going to be fighting others with the same level of tech as us, it will be safe to assume that they do.
Turning on the comm. device Mono updated the map while speaking.
"Up ahead, range, unknown. It seems some one or something is watching us through the fog. I will switch on Thermal to see if it is giving of any form of heat and give an update."
Looking around his HUD, Mono quickly turned on the Thermal vision once more looking in the direction of the mass which his normal view said was their. Why do I feel this is the fog playing with us...I should have updated the software last night instead of sleep...
Violet hesitated a bit as she noticed the silhouette, but braced herself.
Mono's thermal vision revealed that indeed the air was fairly cold, but nothing more.
OOC : Those lights were supposed to be small little huts for members of the Spiral Order (aka the current villain group), but since I handed the reins over, they can be whatever you wish. Though, if you guys were that close, and if I were one of the members, I'd probably shoot at you or surround you right now.
If the lights are something else though, that can be different.
(Well it is fog. Creepy things happen in fog.)
Well lovely, we are sitting ducks here and all my readings are giving me no data.
Reaching behind him, Mono quickly pulled out what looked like a hand held keyboard. If he was going to be stuck in the back he might as well start working on some of his programs he intended to have working by now. After all they where important to keeping his system's running as well as maintaining the current programs which where running for the mission.
Warning, energy useage of current system reaching 30%. Solution, shut down other programs to lower energy drain.
Saboteur: "Ugh, Sir Aaron, are you seeing what I am seeing?" *takes out a stun grenade* "I will go all out sir, just say the word, I will make sure that silhouette dissappear from the face of this planet."
[Saboteur detracted the mine sweeper and turn it into a baton, ready for close quarter combat.]
Before the CO could Speak Mono interjected.
"Keep calm, subtility is our best course of action right now. As best we know, and from what I am seeing. The light source is coming from behind the dark figure, which means we haven't been seen yet or the light source hasn't reached use due to the fog. The Weapon won't be needed if we just sneak around. After all this is just a Recon mission. Save the fireworks for the traders."
Mono's last sentence was rather cold, almost as if he had malice showing in his voice.
(OOC: I could have sworn the villain group was the Spiral Council, not the Spiral Order.)
Meteko shook his head and spoke in a low voice. "If you want to be sneaky, I'd suggest talking in a more quiet voice than that, guys."
(OOC: Oh my, Vinny's back! :D And @Sono, Vinny meant the huts where Isorians working for the Spiral Council live, I assume.)
"Beck, gun poised. Sabotuer, hold off until I give the word, melee, get ready to interject any assaults," Aaron said suspiciously, as he edged the group around the imposing shadow. They inched closer, and the dark silhouette slowly began to come into focus amongst the fog, but it seemed to shift as well.
Then it came into focus.
An astonishingly tall, stray tree had grown at this exact spot, where the approaching group had seen a projected shadow from one of the mysterious orange lights. Aaron's shoulders slumped, and Violet let out a silent groan as she lowered her arms.
"False alarm, keep going," Aaron commanded.
And so they did. The squad pressed on, closing in on the targeted area, occasionally passing by a few more lights. It felt like an eternity had passed when they arrived upon an area nestled farther to their left, where the elevation dropped quickly, forming a shallow, curved cliff. The fog seemed to form a flipped culvert above, passing the fog from below into the air above, which allowed for a section devoid of obscurity.
"There," Aaron whispered, gesturing to the side of the wide cliff that swung around. There seemed to be a crevice from which lights were visible within. There was an audible tocking in the area, confirming the close proximity of the Clockworks.
Beck raised a hand in acknowledgement. He listened silently, and the slow churning clockworks could just be heard. He kept alert and followed Aaron.
Without warning, there was a swooping of air, and a tube of fog seemed to break apart, moving at breakneck speed towards the group. Aaron cried out at the same time a loud pang sounded from off of him. He tipped over and hit the ground, clutching his side.
The separation of fog from where the bullet had came from seemed to originate above the crevice.
"Go, I'll signal Amelia," Aaron huffed, but immediately winced from the effort. "We need the data now more than ev-" he was stopped, hands gripping more tightly. "We - ah! - we need that data, I don't care what you do to get it, just don't start a war and hurry, th-this is still a reconnaissance." He slumped to the ground, breathing slowly, hand pressed against his helm, and his side, which had begun to leak some dark crimson, almost black, liquid when seen in the fog.
It was up to the squad now.
Saboteur: *yells* "SNIPER! SPREAD OOUT AND GET TO COVER!!!"
[Tossing multiple smoke grenades into the vicintiy, Saboteur covered up the movement of the entire squad, giving them some time to get to a suitable cover. While he stayed with commander Aaron, dragging his body to the nearest piece of cover he can find.]
Saboteur: "Sir, calm down, everything is going to be alright!"
Beck swiveled towards the direction that the bullwet came from, and his own rifle was in his hands. The scope yet again revealed nothing and by then Saboteur's smoke bombs were filling the air. Silently cursing, Beck dove behind a ridge and looked for the enemy.
"Saboteur, get back to the squad! I need to send for Amelia so we can depart immediately, once all the darn data from this place has been gathered!" Aaron was nearly shouting, inhibited only by the pain crawling outward from his side. Once again, he pressed his helm, attempting to contact Amelia.
Violet dashed out, trailing behind Beck, but her eyes were scanning the area above the crevice.
"Guys, I think I see someone, they just moved out of position from the top over there," she said, pointing. Though before it had been nigh impossible to see that far into the fog, the hole the bullet had pierced through the misty blue blanket had revealed some movement, now directed towards the opening of the cliff.
For a moment it was obscured, but soon was again visible the second it crossed under the shallow cliffs and into the area where the fog flowed above.
Beck raised the rifle and followed Violet's gesture. He saw nothing at first, but then movement registered and he adjusted then shot. The dull rebound of the mechanism sliding back into place was the loudest thing that came from the weapon. His bullet spat into the fog...
The bullet sailed through the air, soon visible only through the tunnel it left in the fog.
The figure stumbled, sliding downward. However, the figure was soon limping, rapidly, towards the crevice.
Violet muttered, angry that no one had suggested anything yet, not even the monotone intel officer, strangely.
"Come on, let's go! Becky hit the guy who shot Aaron. We need to reach him before he goes anywhere," she grumbled, loudly enough for everyone to hear. Without looking back, she leapt down, slipping down the slope.
Saboteur: *gives Aaron some socks* "Sir, use these to stop the blood lose! Just hang in there!" *turns to the others* "Wait for me! This place could still be booby trapped!"
Beck slung the gun over one shoulder, ready to be grabbed in a hurry, then unsheathed his Dread Venom Striker. He jogged after Violet and hopped onto the slope, sliding down after Violet.
Ducking down to a croching stance Mono ripped his blade to the side looking around trying to pick up on any trace's of the fog parting. Sure it wasn't the best use of his equipment but at least he was doing something. From the way the formation was looking, the people in the middle where the important ones.
No I am glad I wasn't in the middle. Alright better ping the area.
Sending out a second Ping Mono quickly made his way to cover while his suite started the auto-update to his squads mini-maps. It was something, even small, that he could do to help the team.
Lana stood her ground, and thought for a good minute.
'If there is a Sniper, Then I'm sure the sniper would not be with the rest of the group, despite the fog...'
She knew Aaron wouldn't like it, but their chances of survival were slim. The other group was also probably preparing to flank the squad.
"Flanking!" Lana said, as she ran through the fog- Knife drawn.
Opening the Comm. Mono quickly went to work taking in the word doing his best to make sure the Comm. lines where open.
"Flanking, the odds of them doing such a thing in this fog is rather high. be advised I am running a scan of the area via pinging the area. Your maps will be updated as mine is. Any red dots on the map will be moving targets. Our team has be marked with Blue Dots. This was done to keep friendly fire as low as possible."
Violet swore silently, but pressed on, glancing back to see Beck behind her. The crevice was about a hundred metres ahead by the time Violet had passed under the fog. The limping figure was now far more clear as they limped into the crevice.
"Becky, shoot him or something," she called back in irritation.
Meanwhile, Aaron jammed the socks against his side, staunching the blood flow. As he pressed against his side, there was a buzz and the transmission line opened up, and Amelia's voice pulled through.
"Aaron? What's the situation?" Her voice was urgent, but calm.
"No duff, no duff, no duff!" Aaron's breathing was laboured, barely managing to call out. In the corner of his vision, he thought he saw one of the squad members run by. There was a pause on the other side of the transmission line.
"I've got your position. Hang on, I'm coming." Aaron was glad that she didn't push the issue; he'd have time to worry about the name calling after.
Mono's ping came back without much delay, however the results were none too clear. Through the fog, it returned a distorted image, with no dots of red but rather a shifted and blurred smear of crimson. Six blue dots did appear, luckily. A line of three blue dots heading forward from Mono's location, one where he was, one where Aaron lay, and one where Lana had run back. Above it all was the inconsistent red.
There was also one red dot, slowly advancing away from the three blue dots closing in on it.
Beck unholstered his pistol, and took aim. He aimed for the leg the sniper was favoring. He steadied his breathing and shot.
Beck's shot thudded in the ground next to the figure's foot, nearly causing the figure, which looked like a male knight, to trip. From the closer distance, it seemed as if he was actually limping with one arm favoured. Every right step elicited a stumble, right up to his entrance into the crevice.
The fog! It's messing with my read outs. Alright stay calm, in this situation its going to be a better if I keep with the Demo, at least he can make up for my lack of range...Let's see where are you Sabo.
Looking through the map Mono quickly started hopping around from dot to dot with his eye's still he saw the one clear red dot moving away from the three in a row. Gripping his blade he quickly uploaded the new data to the other's mini-maps so they too could see what he saw on the last Ping.
It looks like the enemy is going to single us out.
Moving around to get his back against something solid Mono held his Blade to the left, in a stance ready for a harsh swing if things got bad enough, while opening the Comm. channel to the squad.
"Be aware, one of the enemy is among us. Keep yourself's ready for a surprise attack, also sabo can I have you come back to me to keep me covered. I have a range disadvantage should a gunner come at me."
Sure he was admitting a weakness, but at the moment it was better to be safe then sorry...or dead.
"Be aware, one of the enemy is among us."
At this, Meteko drew his Barrage, keeping sure to hold the blade end away from him and his comrades nearby.
[Saboteur runs back to the main group with his minesweeper retracted into a make shift stun baton. He stands shoulder to shoulder with Meteko so they can have 360 degree vision of what is going on without injuring themselves on accidents.]
Saboteur: "Meteko, did you see anything?"
Meteko almost jumps at Sabo's sudden presence, but calms down when he spoke. "Not yet...." He tries discerning a figure through the fog, but to no avail. The smoke from the cursed blade doesn't seem to help much.
Beck groaned mentally at his aim. Then turned and backed up to support his allies. He raised a hand to alert them of his whereabouts.
Looks around the read out on his HUD. he could see Beck was moving, but not in any congnitive direction. If he is trying to signial us then that means the enemy will see him as well.
"Keep all actions to a minimal, if you pay attention to the Mini-Map I have been updating on your HUD's then you would see where we all are at."
More annoyed now because Sabo completely ignored Mono's ask for help, instead the man just kept doing his job. Keeping the HUD's updated as well as keeping his own neck safe.
So our leader is hurt and we need a plan. Best idea, keep sped but thick. Ya that works.
"It's going to be in our best interests to make sure that we are spreed just far enough that we can see one another but not close enough a Demo or rouge friendly fire could get us. If we can circle around the wounded and make sure the Sniper is down."
Though somewhat relieved that Saboteur didn't come and touch her, Violet was miffed that he didn't give one to her. It wasn't like she needed one anyway, she told herself.
The fog was thickening, and the air grew muted.