Starter for @metalraindrops!
✮ Chorus was a planet chock full of interesting events, Carolina had learned. War was war, and as long as she knew who the enemy was, she’d find a way to fight them. That was the easy part. The how was the hard part, and this time? She wasn’t sure that this was the enemy. Ever since they’d uncovered how the Mercs were getting their supplies, the armies of Chorus had made joint efforts to make sure that they could leverage as much control over new supplies as possible.
A giant mech was not an expected ‘drop’, though. And, naturally, upon sighting it, the squadron she’d been asked to lead on this outing came to report it to her. Somehow, she had a feeling that was as much out of fear as it was out of the need to share intell.
So, with a weapon at the ready (but not pointed - yet), Carolina approached the sight, peering around cautiously as Church ran a bioscan. The mech looked kind of like a Mantis, she supposed, though the comparison was a stretch. Perhaps this was some new military technology; she had been out of the loop for quite some time, as had all of the troops on Chorus. Either way, a mech had a pilot, and Church identified a potential candidate for pilot quickly enough. Male, roughly her age, in good enough health, all things considered… People didn’t typically survive crashes like that. She suspected that his mech had something to do with that.
Church also alerted her that there was some kind of high level program running in the mech. Of course, he couldn’t identify it without actually jumping into the mech, but the heat signature that the processing core of the mech gave off indicated some work was going on there. It could just be the general running of the mech, or it could be an AI. That was… Interesting. The UNSC wasn’t exactly keen on giving out Artificial Intelligences, after all. If this was UNSC, that is - but she didn’t have a better explanation.
|│ “ This is Agent Carolina, representing the
|│ combined armies of the planet Chorus. We’ve
|│ identified one living and uninjured human in the
|│ area. We have no desire to engage in hostilities,
|│ but we are prepared to do so if necessary.
|│ Please step out calmly and identify yourself. ”
That entire sentence, she thought, was far too formal - but what was she supposed to say? ‘Hey man we’re here to help don’t shoot please’? That didn’t give them any information, and it made them sound horribly vulnerable. Anything hostile would certainly take advantage of that. She only hoped she didn’t sound too stringent. ‘First contact’ wasn’t really her thing.
Douglas didn’t like very much about today. He’d woken up inside VEGA, inside a drop pod, falling into the atmosphere of an entirely unknown world. He wasn’t too big a fan of these situations, especially when every known comband but the civilian one seemed to be dead (Militia, IMC, 6-4, hell, even ARES encrypted comms, no activity from any of them), and the military activity he was picking up matched nothing in VEGA’s database.
Sure, he hadn’t encountered situations like this at all until now, but this was still a rotten deal and he felt he had every right to complain about it, no matter how much VEGA said griping about the situation would get him absolutely nowhere (and no matter how much he was actually correct).
He did make an effort to count his blessings, though. Neither of them were hurt, and they were together. A quick audit of their inventories suggested they were dropping with a full combat load, which meant they certainly weren’t going to lack for options when whoever actually lived here found them. If they were hostile, anyways. And it didn’t seem like the Titan drop pod was defective - it performed exactly to tolerances.
After setting up the distress signal the two of them had stored to repeat, Douglas had proceeded to wander with VEGA, performing some basic recon of the area they’d ended up in to try and identify food sources, whether they be game or fauna, water (which was useful not just for hydration, but for keeping his Jump Kit fed), and somewhere they’d be able to lay low for the night. Not that exposure was an issue, but he didn’t want to wake up with a knife to his throat. It wasn’t funny the first time.
A few hours after landing, Douglas was inspecting the berries off of a bush to see if they were worth eating when VEGA opened their two-way communications link. “Pilot, I have spotted a bogey approaching me, approximately two hundred metres out. They are armed and aware of my presence. Please advise.”
Douglas stood up from the bush. Somebody had picked up the distress signal. Military, most likely. They were probably being cautious about the affair, which was understandable, but if he played this situation right he’d have a warm bed, and hopefully a vehicle bay for VEGA. “Hold position, no aggressive posture. Hopefully they’ll accept us as guests over here.”
“We probably die. Best behavior, buddy.”
VEGA kept the line open and piped the audio output through as the bogey spoke. Agent Carolina, representative of the armies of Chorus. He’d never heard of a planet named that, but the Frontier was big. Chorus was a name for where he’d landed. And they were, indeed, being cautious - they didn’t want to shoot, but if they were forced...
Turning around, Douglas made his way back towards VEGA. It took a moment for him to enter clear view, the camo pattern on his armor letting him blend in fairly well with the foliage. A rifle was slung over his chest, and a T-shaped visor that almost glowed blue stared Carolina back as he stepped out in front of VEGA. He kept his hands off his gun; even if he did need to look professional wielding it, it wasn’t like VEGA wasn’t already keeping his hands on a gun the size of a truck behind him.
“This is Pilot Douglas Hayden, of the 6-4. As the distress signal you likely picked up indicated, we’re currently lost with no point of reference as to how to get back to our people. Neither me or my Titan wish to engage in hostilities unless otherwise provoked.” It was drier than he usually went for, but he wanted to end his day with a bullet to the skull about as much as this Carolina he was talking to did.
gummygunk
prguitarman
yousharknotpass
pixelskylines
tangentwithtanner
