Eve

[Hyzenthlay]

"Let me make this clear; this mission has already claimed the lives of the GSC Xerxes. We are fighting against an unknown force." General Felix rubbed his nose and looked around the troops before him. "What you all must remember, before I brief you, is that you are soldiers. You are trained for this. No enemy can stand before you."

Ravin smiled as her squad hooted and cheered. She laughed for a second before turning and putting a finger to her lips. The squad fell silent.

"Here is what we know: at 10:00 hours the GSC Xerxes sent a transmission to high command. They had found the smuggling vessel Terra deep in the Eden quadrant. Upon confirmation the began pursuit and were soon fired upon. In retaliation Captain Fredrichson returned the insult. The Terra was hit badly and withdrew to nearby planet EVE. This planets specifics will be in the report you hold."

Ravin threw open the red folder to look at the specifics. The general went on.

"At 03:00 hours we lost contact with the crew of the Xerxes. The last transmission was particularly troubling. You may have read in your file that the planet has no apparent, life threatening carnivores. We now belief this information to be false. We say this because upon breakdown of the last transmission we heard a strange background noise."

The general turned to a soldier behind him and nodded. The soldier stiffened and saluted before pressing a switch to his side. Immediately a loud screeching noise was heard all around them. The screech led into a roar and stopped suddenly as gunshots were heard. Chattering erupted from the soldiers and hand flew up. The general showed his palm and the room fell silent.

"We don't know what the creature is or what it looks like. We believe that the screeching is not coming from it, but happens before it appears. This has lead us to speculate that the creature can morph. Or that it can materialise, like the bugs of Hidra in the Titan quadrant..."

"Yeah but the bugs of the Hidra quadrant are tiny. I ain't never seen a damn fly kill a squad." Came a voice from behind Ravin. A few men laughed. Obviously voices of mercenaries drafted for the mission.

Ignoring this the General continued.

"For this reason we have drafted extra help for this mission, mercenaries are to provide fire support for our own squads. I don't need to tell you that this information is classified. This is all I can tell you." The general stood up straight and saluted. The marines followed in his example. "Till death becomes us!" Chanted the general with a proud grin.

"We don't fear it; we are death!" The room called back.

Ravin had just a few minutes to talk to her squad before they boarded the ship. She took the time to give them a pep talk. After all, they'd be the first on the ground. She rounded on them just outside of the hatch. Other marines poured onto their separate drop-ships beside them even as she spoke.

"I know that this isn't what you want to hear." She bowed her head. "You don't want to hear that we are up against impossible odds, or that we can't do it. The fact is that whatever we are fighting took down the Xerxes." She raised her head showing a wide smile, "but we're not teh Xerxes. We are Hercules and we don't fear dearth, we are death! So whatever waits for us down there better be digging a hole. Move out."

Her troops piled onto their own shuttle named 'Hermes'. Ravin gave a grin and strapped herself in. She held up her hand and signaled ready to the drop-master. She spread her hand wide and curled them down one after the other. 5, 4, 3, 2... 1. The pressure in the room pinned them to their seats. Ravin looked through the narrow slit of a window beside her. Flames licked up around them. Within a few seconds she could see a flicker of green and gold. EVE was coming into view. They were nearing the ground at an incredible speed. She knew that the second they touched down another drop-ship would be let go. Even so, the thought of being there alone was both thrilling and terrifying.

Ravin closed her eyes upon before impact. She felt her body react to the pressure. Her head felt as though it would pop. Without thought she rose to her feet and pulled up her hand to signal the others to do the same. She them opened the hatch and led the way out. She held up her pulse rifle and looked down the scope scanning the scenery before her. She heard her squad file down behind her and pressed the comms button on her helmet.

"This is Ravin. Touchdown confirmed. Preparing to green in." She turned to count her squad and counted them. One was missing.

She signaled for them to make a perimeter and entered the Hermes. A soldier was sat in a seat halfway down. A trickle of blood hung at his lips. Ravin felt his pulse, he was dead. The impact must have broken his neck. This wasn't uncommon, especially with the replacements and new droppers. Ravin heard a voice behind her.

"Poor bastard. These baby-droppers don't stand a chance." Ravins lieutenant was stood in the doorway. His uniform was thickly-built armor used for the heavy weapons.

"What's the word, Jones?" Asked Ravin ignoring his last words. Nick Jones had always taken his job less-seriously than others.

"All clear, sir. Successful perimeter formed. I'm sending snipers to the surrounding ridge now."

Ravin nodded approval then connected with Hercules once more. "This is Tan squad greening in. Perimeter set and held."

[DragonHeart]

Cal scanned the report, only half listening to the general. He already knew what happened there; it was old news to him. His main interest now was the planet itself or more precisely, the undetected lifeforms that were obviously present. The biodata seemed fairly standard, even a bit primitive. No resources, no large carnivores, nothing to even suggest anything that could possibly take down a cruiser. It didn't make sense.

He frowned and flipped the file closed. Chanting erupted all around him but Cal didn't hear any of it. His mind was already working, fingers itching with the need to investigate. There was something out there and he was going to find it.

~~~

The drop ship hit the ground hard, jolting everyone aboard. As much as he liked exploring, Cal always hated the drops. All their technology and the government was just too damn cheap to put stabilizing thrusters on the shuttles to make the drops smoother and less risky. No time to think about it now, as Captain Firth was already issuing orders.

He disembarked from the ship, stepping past the unfortunate body of a marine. A glance told him the man had broken his neck in the landing. Cal was surprised they'd only lost one this time; a new class of recruits had just deployed and there were plenty on the Hercules eager for the planetfall experience. Far too many of them only experienced it once.

The drop site was a good one, at least. Mostly clear of trees, with ridges for sniping and scouting. No shelter from the sun, though. It beat down on them with furious jungle heat. Even with just light camo armor Cal was already sweating. The guys with heavy armor were scowling and swearing at the planet. Life wasn't always climate controlled ass kicking, he thought with a bemused grin.

Cal checked his gear, adjusted his armor. With the perimeter already being set all he could do now was to wait for the other squads. Not content to stand idle, he dug out his scanner. The screen flickered grudgingly to life and he began running every scan he could think of in an effort to locate any signs of the Xerxes or the mysterious force that had taken her down.

[loaf]

It was dark, pitch black; all there was to be heard were the engines of the plane. A blue light turned on and three men can be seen. One sitting on the far end of the plane near the cockpit was wearing a bandanna who was muscular and fit in every aspect with his assault rifle at his side. The other man sitting across from the muscular man, he had no guns on him, only some knives.

"ALRIGHT LISTEN UP YOU TWO!" the last said, he was an old man who was pacing back and forth in the back of the plane.

He points to the muscular man, "YOU WILL BE DROPPING IN 30 MINUTES!", he then points to the man with no guns, "AND YOU WILL BE DROPPING IN 30 SECONDS!"

"THE MISSION?" he paused and he faced the man with no guns, "WELL YOU AREN'T SUPPOSED TO KNOW MUCH ABOUT THIS MISSION, YOU TWO WERE BRIEFED BEFORE YOU BOARDED THIS PLANE, BUT REMEMBER YOU TWO ARE WORKING FOR US NOW!"

"NOW I KNOW MOST OF YOU MERCS WERE DISPATCHED WITH THE MARINES FOR SUPPORT AND TO HELP WITH THE LACK OF NUMBERS," he then turned around and faced the man with a gun, "BUT YOU TWO WERE CHOSEN SPECIFICALLY FOR THIS MISSION!" he began to pace back and forth again. The old man pointed at the man with no guns "ALL I CAN TELL YOU IS YOU WILL BE WORKING SOLO IN THE JUNGLE PART OF THIS WORLD," "WE ARE NEAR THE BORDERLINE OF THE DESERT WHICH IS WHERE YOU WILL BE DROPPING TO IN 30 MINUTES," as he pointed to the man with guns.

Just then the back hatch of the plane opened up, the light almost blinded everyone.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------


Connor woke up on the ground, his head in an ache from the collision. He stood up with the support of a log next to him, he checked himself out, he seemed okay and nothing was severely damaged. Connor began to search for his kit, the one thing he needed the most; more important then his throwing knives. It was nowhere to be seen. He began to search for it, "maybe it'll be near by," he thought to himself, "I don't remember much of my jump."

He began searching around the area for his survival kit, he needed it badly. Inside there was a few patches, some thread, a needle; and a few rations in case he needed food badly but there was only enough to last him 2 days. Then there was a small assortment of anti-biotics for anything in case he caught some kind of infection.

Instantly Connor started to hear loud screeches and rummaging in the distance. He knew something was out there, near by and well aware of his presence. Connor went into a cautious pose to defend all his sides. He pulled out his Combat Knife with his right hand and began walking slowly and steadily to make sure nothing catches him off guard.

Ten minutes or so later he heard a familiar noise, but it was closer; and again heard rummaging in the distance. "There must be at least two maybe three of whatever is out there near by," he thought to himself as he continued to search for his kit.

There was a tree that had what it looked like strong sturdy branches low enough for him to climb up. Connor climbed up to get a somewhat better few of his surrounding area, maybe he could find his survival kit quicker. "This sucks, I can't see that far with all these trees in the way," he pondered to himself, "I need to cover more ground and find this kit before it gets dark." "Whenever it does get dark," he said out loud to himself.

Connor climbed down the tree and continued to search for his kit, with his knife ready for combat. About 100 feet out he stopped to see some tracks on the ground. These tracks looked like nothing he had seen before. It didn't look human or animal like, the tracks had 3 long toe like parts and well as what it looked like a long heel that was 3 inches behind the base of the foot. There was also a hand like print on the ground as well. The hand print had what it looked like 2 fingers and a thumb, but Connor wasn't sure.

As he stood up to continue with his search, he heard a loud screech and then rummaging in the bushes and trees. The rummaging was indeed very close this time. A creature jumped at Connor from behind for a surprise attack.

[DragonHeart]

The scanner beeped, indicating it had finished. The device hummed and whirred for a couple of minutes, attracting the attention of a few nearby Marines. Cal ignored their questioning looks. His scanner, heavily modified from the usual version, had a number of unique features. This was one of them.

A virtual image suddenly projected up from the screen into the thick jungle air, a horizontal foot-square grid of data. After a moment it began to build itself into a complete image of the information compiled from multiple scans. The white base map was terrain, elevations represented accurately within six inches. The green overlay was vegetation, different shades indicating type and density. Above both hovered the atmospheric measurements, everything from temperature and barometric pressure to composition. And finally, infrared. The center of the grid was the camp, lit a brilliant red by the presence of all the bodies and the intense white heat signature of the ships. Beyond the camp there were a few scattered dots, too small to be of interest.

"Hey, what's all that fancy shit you got?"

Cal looked up, noticing his audience for the first time. A dozen Marines crowded around, staring at the projection and not knowing what any of it meant. One of them poked at the edge of the map and it wavered, the projection disrupted by his grubby finger. Irritated, he shut off the display and instantly the map vanished. The soldiers returned to duty, tossing scowls and growled curses in his direction.

Cal didn't care. He wasn't here to babysit, he was here to keep them all alive. He sought out Captain Firth, still busy issuing orders and keeping the operation moving smoothly. He waited until he was acknowledged, then made his report.

"Scanners reporting all clear in a five mile radius, Captain. A few minor bios, probably avian. Weather pattern is holding but I'll keep an eye on it. Storms will be coming in fast and hard around here." He lowered his voice a bit. "No signs of large scale activity, either."

Of course, the military-issue scanners only had a range of three miles. Even with all his upgrades he could only boost it to five on open terrain. All the bio data in the jungle made that impossible.

"I'll have a full report compiled for you in about two hours," he added as he ended his preliminary assessment.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw a fellow Intel from another unit scoffing at him, overhearing the last bit of conversation. He smiled back. The Intel had to be green; Cal's reports were often used as a hazing prank for the new officers. To everyone else in the field, they were legendary.

[Hyzenthlay]

Ravin cleared her throat and turned to face away from the drop-ship. Jones was standing beside her, a smirk adorned his face.

"Thank you Cal. Jones, I want a scouting party of three before me in five. I need to set up recon in the nearby clearings. I also want the androids up and running before base camp is up."

Jones saluted, the smile had fell from his face. Without a word he set off at a jog towards a small group of troops standing at the jungles edge. Ravin turned to direct Cal but a rumbling nearby made her look up. Above her a small, customized cargo vessel was descending just to the right of Tans position. It bore an insignia; two ravens standing beak to beak with their wings outstretched. The roar of their engines was deafening. It was an odd thing to hear so much noise coming from such a ship. She watched as the ship landed just beyond the ridge she had secured with her own men. These were obviously Tan squads 'guns for hire'. She frowned slightly as her head slowly turned back to Cal.

"Cal, could you scan for a nearby water-source? I need a purifier up and running by sundown. I have to go and greet our... Friends. Pick your men and set up a comms tower up on that ridge. After that you can lead the team Jones is prepping."

With that she saluted Cal and set off up the ridge. As she was nearing the top the ship slowly came to view. Despite it's size it was quite a magnificent machine. From what Ravin could tell it boasted all the newest technology. It even seemed to shimmer in the light. This, she supposed, was the shields. Her suspicions were correct, it seemed, as the shimmer disappeared and the crew emerged down a ramp facing her. These men were clearly better outfitted than the military. Ravin had cursed the government for many a mishap with their outdated gear. She shook her head angrily and headed down the hill towards the men. There were 5 of them in total. 4 of them wore helmets and immediately ran to covering positions around the ship. The man at the front walked towards Ravin. A cigar hung from his mouth, to Ravin it looked like it was held by his bushy grey beard. This covered the lower half of his face. His head, however, was shaved and sunlight bounced from his scalp. He was heavy set, short but stocky. His less than average height was more than made up for by his build. Even without speaking to him Ravin knew this man commanded respect and deserved it. For a split second she didn't know who she was looking at; then it hit her.

"Captain Kingsley, I presume," spoke Ravin with a faint smile. "I take it you're our added muscle. How did we manage to get the Blackbird as our support?" She grinned over at the spectacular ship before her with admiration.

"Rotten luck, eh?" Joked Kingsley. He held out a hand, which Ravin took. "Do I address you as Captain Firth?"

"Ravin is fine, captain." Ravin suddenly felt an urge to walk away. She found standing in Kingsleys gaze unsettling. His deep, brown eyes seemed to bore into her setting her nerves on edge.

"Ravin it is. Now, what do you require of the Blackbird?"

[Magi of Worlds]

Grass and leaves were blown up from the gust the chopper created as it landed on EVE. Out stepped three people, who immediatly went to cover the area as two more eventually emerged. One was a Commander in the GSF the other Lt. Cutter, the leader of the Mercenaries who had just emerged from the chopper.

"Well Cutter, last transmission was near Heaven's Lip so check out that area first. See if you can find any survivors. Kill all criminals you find after questioning. Dismissed."

The Commander got back in the chopper and it was on its way. Lt. Brandon Cutter turned back to his group and surveyed the forest around them.

"Cutter-2 cover Rearguard with Cutter-4, Cutter-3 your with me on Vanguard."

Everyone hastened to follow his orders and off they set into the unknown.

An hour later strange noises could be heard in the forest around them. The trees and bushes would rustle all around and the noises would sound like cries or screams that werent human. Nobody panicked though, thats what they were trained for. It wasnt long before they came to a river. Lexie was about to bend over and refill her canteen when she saw something large swim near her.

"Hey Andrew, Brandon! Come here and look at this!"

They squatted down by her and caught a glimpse of what she'd seen. It looked like a pirahna that was bigger than a shark on earth. All three of them quickly moved back from the lake and noticed hundreds more dark shapes under the water that were just as big. They all hurried from the area immediatly. It was almost time to call in to the Captain of the Marine squad that had landed previously.

[Hyzenthlay]

(OOC- Magi, what the hell!? Why did the planet go from having no known predators to having one spotted as soon as we landed? That's kinda a 'mystery over' beginning. I'll have to ask you to change your post.)

[Musicmuse]

Niah shifted uncomfortably in her seat as she watched the remaining military personnel and mercenaries scuttle about to their various spacecrafts. She still hadn't been given any specific orders, nor had anyone bothered to tell her which ship she and her son were supposed to board to jet to Eve.

Jason sat sourly at her side, silently watching the armor-clad mercenaries brush past him with a disinterested glare. With any luck, he and his mom wouldn't be given any directions and they could just go back home.

“I'm going to go ask someone,” Niah explained as she rose from the beat-up metal chair. “Someone has to know what's going on.”

With barely an acknowledgment, Jason shrugged and shuffled to his feet as well. The pair crossed the briefing room, carefully weaving in and out of crates filled with all manner of munitions, and stopped in front of General Felix. He was highlighting a section of the holographic map for a scout with his finger, indicating where he wanted the troops dropped off. With a smooth sweeping motion, he guided a path through the dense, holographic jungle and made an “X”, explaining his intentions again and sending the scout on his way.

“Excuse me, General?” Niah asked as the scout glided past her.

General Felix met her gaze and managed a sort of restrained smile. “Miss Delveaux, please make it quick. We're about to leave.”

“Yes,” she continued, “It's about that. Jason and I were wondering which ship we're supposed to be on.”

General Felix exhaled with a deep whoosh and beckoned another marine over with a single flick of his wrist. Upon questioning, the marine explained that the scientists' ship had already departed, which garnered a smile from Jason.

“No matter,” General Felix decided, “You'll ride with Kingsley. That way,” he finished, his outstretched arm directing them toward an impressive spacecraft across the hanger. “And make haste. Kingsley doesn't like to be kept waiting.”

Niah thanked General Felix and escorted Jason back through the maze of bustling bodies toward the cargo ship. Apparently this time they'd be classified as the cargo. The captain was an imposing man – not in stature, but in presence. A wreath of smoke circled his head like a halo, and Niah had to agree that at this moment he was heaven-sent. The squat man flicked his cigar aside carelessly and narrowed his eyes as the mother and son duo approached. He didn't even ask what they wanted, just raised his brow to suggest that they were bothering him. He gave a nod to his four-man crew and they sprinted up the ramp and into the ship, each one taking the time to rub the ship's insignia for luck.

“...um, I'm supposed to go with you?” Niah offered as an icebreaker.

“No way,” was the response. Kingsley snorted and turned to board his ship without another thought.

“But General Felix said - “ Niah started.

“Well, Genreal Felix can kiss my -” Kingsley shot back as he spun around, catching himself as he noticed the General eying him from across the hanger. He took a moment to compose himself. “Look, lady, I appreciate you wanting to help save the Saber-Lions or the Greckinder Tribe of Mugaburra, but this here is a military operation. Besides, I don't have any room for you anyway.”

“It's just a ride there, then we'll be on our way,” Niah promised pleadingly. It hadn't gone unnoticed to her that Kingsley obviously knew who she was and either didn't care for her personally or didn't like her body of work. Or just didn't care, period.

General Felix started to walk over to their position from far across the hanger, but Kingsley avoided the confrontation. “Fine,” he surrendered. “Get in. Sit down and strap in. And shut up.”

The Blackbird's door closed smoothly, and the crew rocketed into space, headed for Eve.

“You know, you're lucky to be riding with me,” Captain Kingsley explained as they made their descent. “Those other shuttles would'a snapped you in two! At least the Blackbird here has stabilizing thrusters. Damn cheap government dogs!”

Jason peered out the window and saw that the captain spoke the truth. Already there were a few body bags being lined up from the casualties of the drop. The planet itself looked beautiful from this view, however, and although he tried to suppress it, Jason's lips curled into a smile. Niah rubbed his arm lovingly from her seat, and the scowl returned.

The ship touched down and Captain Kingsley and his crew exited the craft quickly. From where they sat, Niah and Jason couldn't see what was going on, but assumed it was probably military-related.

“Well, we're here,” Niah announced to her son. “Beautiful planet, huh?”

A shrug was her reply.

“Okay,” she continued, “Well, I'm going to see where the other scientists are, and then we'll be off.”

She flipped through her briefing files and tried to locate where the hell they were supposed to be situated as Jason unstrapped himself and paced the small cockpit. He sauntered up to the main windshield and saw a pretty blonde officer speaking with the Captain. He thought that they looked comical standing next to each other, and couldn't help but smile for the second time this century.

“Dad would've loved this place,” Jason offered quietly as he scanned the lush jungle.

Niah looked up from her notes and smiled genuinely. 'Yes, he would've.”