Heart of Star v2.0

Discussion in 'Archive' started by losthawken, Oct 20, 2011.

  1. Question

    Question Active Member

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    Jax Roberts

    “Everybody out that’s going out. The ship will be takeing off in 36 hours with, or without you. Good luck, your gonna need it.”

    Jax walked into the hangar with a slight swagger, a smirk forming at his lips. He looked around at the barren planet in front of him. The coordinates from Hawkins last known location popped up on his AI. Finally he had made it; he was finally going to get that weasel Hawkins.

    The rest of the crew were preparing for the departure. They had been through a lot and it was a miracle they were all still alive. Sure, Jax attributed most of it to his skill and debonair, but a few of them had saved his arse more then once. It was a shame he’d have to betray them.

    Rael was walking around looking like a giant puppy scrounging for scraps. The egghead was back on his feet and looking capable, he was living proof that it pays to bring along good medics. Gabriel was over talking to him, loading her gun. He actually liked these people. Maybe he could reason with them, cut them in on the take. But deep down he knew eventually what he would have to do.

    Eric walked away from the group and stepped on the planet. Jax followed him and clapped him on the shoulder.

    “Its good to see you’re not dead.”

    Suddenly a series of explosions rung out in the air. He looked around for the source. A little ways away were six decapods firing at what appeared to be a person. Jax couldn’t fathom how they kept getting in these situations. But it left him with a choice to intervene and draw the decapods attention or let the man die. He then realized that the figure could be Hawkins and that settled the matter. He started running towards the decapods.

    “Snap!” He slashed his whip across the closest ones back leaving a large sear mark. The decapods then turned towards their knew prey. He realized that this might not have been the smartest move.
     
  2. CheddarCheese

    CheddarCheese New Member

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    Teresa Averill

    Teresa broke off from the transmission once she saw the decapods rise from the ground. They had started firing relentlessly at a human figure that was approaching the ship. She still didn’t know if these people were hostile or not, but they hadn’t fired on her position yet.

    The lone blaster on the bottom of her ship wouldn’t do squat against the decapods; their shields were too powerful to pierce with most long-ranged weaponry. But it might distract some of them long enough to give the humans an advantage.

    Another figure emerged from the research vessel, and started lashing out on the decapods. Seeing the new threat, the creatures turned to face him. It was unlikely that the man would be able to handle all six of them on his own, especially if the others didn’t aid him.

    Teresa quickly lowered her craft’s altitude to put her blaster in better range. She took an evasive manoeuvre, circling around the decapods, and opened fire on the nearest creature with her blaster.Two of the six attackers averted their attention to Teresa, trying to hit the moving ship with their blasters. She continued to circle them, swiftly dodging the bursts of energy that were flung her way.


    She hoped the diversion would buy the shore party a little more time.
     
  3. Love to Write

    Love to Write I'm a lover of writing. What else is to be said? Contributor

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    Terrance Bigalow

    One moment Terrance had been walking calmly to the recently arrived ship and the next moment he was being attacked by Decapods. I hate these things. At least they aren't specters. Terrance quickly rolled out of the way as a series of energy bullets were fired at him. He came to his feet face to face with one of the creatures. It was taller than him by a full foot. Since when did they get so large? Must be the good feeding out here or something. Terrance kicked the creature in the chest and did a backwards summersalt out of the way as it aimed it's blaster at him. The shot grazed his left shoulder and he let out of a grunt of pain as he fell to his knees. The creature took aim for a death blow only to have a whip lash across it's back. The Decapod let out an angry squeal and turned with it's comrades to the newest arrival.

    The man who had saved his life looked like a pirate. Instead of having a right arm he had a robotic prothesis. Out of this robotic replacement was an impressive whip. Terrance struggled to his feet and pulled out his shard gun with his right hand being careful not to move his left arm. A whip and a gun against six decapods! They didn't stand a chance. Suddenly out of nowhere a series of energy bullets began to ran down on the decapods. A second ship that he didn't notice before began circling them doing what it could to draw the creature's attention. Thank goodness they were stupid.

    Terrance ran up to a decapod who was aiming at the ship and put his blaster right up to where it's head attached to it's neck and let off a series of shots. The creature fell to the ground dead, it's head smoking. One down 5 too go. The ship got in a couple of lucky shots on the leader's shield generator. With it's generator destroyed the sheild was down the creature was vunerable. The pirate and him made eye contact and worked together as if they could read one another's mind. The pirate distracted the creatures with his whip while Terrance got up close to the leader and attempted to do the same to him as he did with the last decapod. He barely got off two shots before the leader decapod swung around and used one of it's legs to send Terrance flying into the dust. He managed to push himself up to a half sitting position and looked around for his gun. It was nearly 5 feet away from him, and the leader was about to charge. Terrance thought for sure he was dead but the ship above them rained heavy artillery down on the creature as it began to charge and within in moments it was a barely recognizable corpse. With their leader dead the other creatures squealed in alarm and disappeared into the dirt as if they had never been there.
     
  4. CheddarCheese

    CheddarCheese New Member

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    Teresa Averill

    Teresa kept her ship hovering in the air for a little while longer, watching to see if the decapods would return. After a minute or two, she turned her attention back to the shore party. She reckoned that if they had been hostile, they would have fired at her craft by now. At most however, her presence only seemed to confuse them.

    Before she could change her mind, Teresa reduced her vertical throttle, and slowly set her ship down on flat land, a couple of meters away from the shore party. As the engines powered down, the ship’s landing gear automatically locked into the ground. Once she was certain that her ship was secure, Teresa got up and out of the cockpit, exiting the ship from the side doors.


    “I didn’t expect any company,” said Teresa, approaching the group. “Is everyone alright?”
     
  5. losthawken

    losthawken Author J. Aurel Guay Role Play Moderator Contributor

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    Artemus Antair

    “Leo,” Artemus muttered without looking up from the glowing orange shard still installed in the sail generator. “Is this scanner malfunctioning? I can't get a reading”

    Artemus tapped the hand held device against the metal frame of the sail generator. A moment later, Leo reported from the intercom.

    “The device appears to be functioning properly, however, all of the shard scanners on board are failing to report appropriately.”

    “Is there some interference?”

    “There appears to be a planet-wide complex frequency pattern that is dampening shard signatures,” Leo responded.

    “That would include Specters. If Hawkins had been here he could have been jumped by a specter without ever knowing it...”

    Artemus stood abruptly and made his way back to the helm.

    “Patch me through to the search party,” he commanded the ship's AI as he marched. A tone from the intercom told him that the channel was open. “Search crew, return to ship. Something is interfering with our shard scanners. There could be specter's right on top of you and you wouldn't even know it. This planet is a death trap. We are leaving.”
     
  6. W.H. Clay

    W.H. Clay New Member

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    “Search crew, return to ship. Something is interfering with our shard scanners. There could be specter's right on top of you and you wouldn't even know it. This planet is a death trap. We are leaving.”

    Eric broke free from his stupor when he heard Artemus' voice. He was frozen in shock as he saw the decapods attack the stranger, then he watched Jax and the airship attack them. He wasn't sure what to say or do, but perhaps he could avoid choking like a amateur next time...

    "Umm... Hello." Eric let out an awkward greeting to the newcomers, still unsure of what just happened. He paused for a moment longer allowing for his wit to catch him up to his current predicament.

    "Ok, so Artemus tells us we are stuck in the dark. But we also know David could be stranded on this planet. What do you guys want to do? Find David or flee to safety?"

    Eric paused waiting for the others reply, he knew the dangers when he agreed to come on this expedition...
     
  7. Mr Mr

    Mr Mr Active Member

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    Rael Searwin

    "Ok, so Artemus tells us we are stuck in the dark. But we also know David could be stranded on this planet. What do you guys want to do? Find David or flee to safety?" Eric said as Rael walked over to the newcomers. They all new the risk hunting for david could bring. What were the chances he was on this barren rock?

    There could be spectres on top of us and we wouldn't know eh. We did beat the spectres last time though. Mind you we had a warning.

    Rael watched as the newcomers came aboard. This meant more people to defend against spectres.

    "It depends, how well equipped are we to take another spectre attack?"
     
  8. yellowm&M

    yellowm&M Contributor Contributor

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    Andrea Dawson

    It had taken Andrea a little longer to get herself off the ship than everyone else following Artemus' announcment. When she steppe out of the cargo hold it was into a scene of utter chaos. Giant creatures that could only be deacapods were attacking a newcomer while a small one-man ship circled the scene from above and Jax ran straight into the situation. Andrea watched the fighting torn between wanting to run and wanting to help. However, unarmed and unskilled as she was there was little she could do and the fight itself finished fairly quickly between the combined forces of the two men and the craft.

    Soon a blonde woman was stepping from the craft, the threat of the decapods seemingly eradicated.

    “I didn’t expect any company,” said Teresa, approaching the group. “Is everyone alright?”

    “Search crew, return to ship. Something is interfering with our shard scanners. There could be specter's right on top of you and you wouldn't even know it. This planet is a death trap. We are leaving.”

    Andrea glanced back at the ship. They couldn't leave. Not now. Not when they were potentially so close to Hawkins. Silently she walked over to the group to hear what they thought of Artemus' new directions.

    "Ok, so Artemus tells us we are stuck in the dark. But we also know David could be stranded on this planet. What do you guys want to do? Find David or flee to safety?"

    "It depends, how well equipped are we to take another spectre attack?"

    Andrea glanced around the group as Rael and Eric (now wearing a smaller version of his harness) dicussed the group's next move. That's when she noticed the other newcomer; he was much taller than her and dark haired. Though he was very handsome the medic in her immediately disregarded that, focusing instead on what appeared to be an injury sustained in the attack to his left shoulder. Slipping around the edge of the group, she walked up behind him, trying to be quiet enough as to not take attention away from the discussion at hand.

    "Would you like me to look at that shoulder?"
     
  9. Love to Write

    Love to Write I'm a lover of writing. What else is to be said? Contributor

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    Terrance Bigalow

    After the decapod attack Terrance walked over to a group of a large varity of people. He stood off too the side as they seemed to be in a heated discussion about the announcment that came from the larger of the two ships. His intrest was peeked when he heard David's name. Perhaps this was the rescue crew. Maybe they would allow him to join them and together they could find that lying scumbag. Though of course he wouldn't tell them that he was on a mission to collect his debt from David either by his shards or by his life. Ah, sweet ignorance. These scavengers were on a mission to rescue this man and he bet that only one or two actually knew who he was.

    Then from beside him he heard a soft voice, "Would you like me to look at that shoulder?" He looked down to see a blonde woman, probably in her early 20s, with a cute face and the most gorgeous green eyes he had ever seen. Did an angel just ask to treat me? Terrance then looked at his shoulder. His once blue sleeve was now brown with blood and for the first time he noticed the extreme pain he was in. "Yeah..." He grunted, his eyebrows clenching together. "A little pain medicine, some bandages and I'll be right as rain." He gave a charming smile then added, "I'm assuming you don't want to clean this shoulder out here in the dust, Doctor. Where do you want me?"
     
  10. CheddarCheese

    CheddarCheese New Member

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    Teresa Averill

    They were also after Hawkins? Teresa had miscalculated the amount of influence the man had on seekers. She had expected that she would be the only one to be looking, but it appeared that many more people were interesting in locating him.

    "How well equipped are we to take another specter attack?" Teresa heard one of the crew speak up.

    “Ill equipped,” replied Teresa, and she knew it was true. “Even the galaxy’s best military forces are ill equipped against specters. If we encounter some here, we are in deep trouble.”

    Then she turned to face the blonde haired man, who sported a set of spectacles. He appeared to be an odd character amongst the set of warrior-like seekers around him.
    “Your ship’s captain mentioned that something was interfering with your scanners. This may mean that, although we are unable to detect specters, they might also be unable to detect us,” said Teresa.

    She didn’t have the time or resources to study the strange interference frequencies, so she wasn’t entirely sure if that was true. But she knew that even if the seeker team left the planet, she would remain.


    “Unless, of course, we make visual contact,” she added.
     
  11. W.H. Clay

    W.H. Clay New Member

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    Eric Reese

    “Your ship’s captain mentioned that something was interfering with your scanners. This may mean that, although we are unable to detect specters, they might also be unable to detect us, unless, of course, we make visual contact."

    Eric stared blankly at the newcomer, studying her assessment, then he smiled.

    "Precisely! We are just as vulnerable as the Specters! But more importantly what could be making that interference. I have studied massive shards that have that same effect..."

    Eric jerked up his wrist and slammed his fingers against the viewscreen...

    "According to my calculations it would take a 1.33 gigaton Shard with a decelerated Tach field..." Eric smiled gleefully at his crew mates,

    "Maybe this is what David was searching for!"

    Eric knew there were a hundred more likely causes of the interference, but he wanted to give David a fighting chance if he was on this planet. Deciding on his path Eric glanced back down at his AI, pretending to study figures before stating,

    "According to the directional tendencies of the local Tachyon fields the source of this interference is that way."

    Eric raised his arm gesturing beyond the corpses of the recently slain decapods...
     
  12. yellowm&M

    yellowm&M Contributor Contributor

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    Andrea Dawson

    "Yeah...A little pain medicine, some bandages and I'll be right as rain." He gave a charming smile then added, "I'm assuming you don't want to clean this shoulder out here in the dust, Doctor. Where do you want me?"

    A badly supressed note of pain was evident in his voice and as the newcomer spoke and he seemed to notice for the first time how serious his injury was. Over the course of her medical training and career Andrea had become very well adept at staying calm and passive regardless of the situation; it was often necessary for the patient. But even she couldn't quite stop her heart from fluttering as he gave her an incredibly charming smile. Turning away she scanned the nearby area for a better place to examine the injury and partially to hide the slight blush that had crept into her face. Deciding on the ramp into the cargo bay of Artemus's ship (given that it was fairly clean and near enough to the group that they could still hear what was going on), she gently led the newcomer over.

    "Here will be fine. I just need you to sit down." Quickly she unpacked her medical supplies then set her AI to scanning the injury and his vitals for good measure, although he seemed just fine besides his shoulder. The screen lit up with words confirming her suspicion that the wound was deep but nothing vital had been hit and the blast had just grazed over his shoulder. "Luckily for you, you're shoulder was only grazed. You've got some fairly serious burns and it's a deep wound but it should heal pretty quickly if you look after it and nothing is permanately damaged."

    She set to work cleaning and bandaging his shoulder, pushing the hair that was falling out of her bun away from her eyes. She was concentrated solely on the task at hand and it was only when she was handing him a small pill to help relieve the pain that she really noticed his features. She had noticed his heighth and dark, shaggy hair, before when she had spoke to him, but now it was his eyes, which were warm and brown that drew her in.

    "Maybe this is what David was searching for!"

    Eric's excited voice snapped her out of her few seconds of staring. Shaking her head she pulled out her water bottle, handing that and the pill to the newcomer.

    "Here's something for the pain. You can use this water to wash it down if you want. What't your name by the way?"
     
  13. Love to Write

    Love to Write I'm a lover of writing. What else is to be said? Contributor

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    Terrance Bigalow

    "According to my calculations it would take a 1.33 gigaton Shard with a decelerated Tach field..." A blond man with a shard harness said. A 1.33 gigaton shard!? Was it possible!? A shard that size would give him a big enough payday to pay off the pirates he owed, buy a new ship, and retire comfortably. Of course...that could only happen if none of earnings were dissperssed among these other people. Which meant he would have to betray them. The thought didn't sit well with him but his life was on the line. These shard seekers would be fine. They weren't even expecting a payday this big. But he was...and his life depended on it!

    "Luckily for you, you're shoulder was only grazed. You've got some fairly serious burns and it's a deep wound but it should heal pretty quickly if you look after it and nothing is permanately damaged." The lovley doctor said. Eric winsed as she cleaned the dirt out of his shoulder. That's good. Hopefully it will heal before I found David. Wouldn't want anything to come in the way of David getting what he deserves.

    Terrance glanced at his shoulder then at the woman's face. Their eyes met and she blushed a little. She continued to stare at him with a cute smile until the blond man spoke again, "Maybe this is what David was searching for!" Of course it's what David was coming out here for! You think he'd come to the outer edge for a pile of .9 gigaton shards?

    The doctors soft voice spoke again drawing him out of his thoughts."Here's something for the pain. You can use this water to wash it down if you want. What's your name by the way?" She handed him a water bottle and a pill. Terrance took the pill and washed it down with a swig of water. "My name is Terrance. Terrance Bigalow. I'm a shard trader. And what is yours? I'd bet 3 shards it's Angel." He said with a half serious, half joking expression.
     
  14. yellowm&M

    yellowm&M Contributor Contributor

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    Andrea Dawson

    "My name is Terrance. Terrance Bigalow. I'm a shard trader. And what is yours? I'd bet 3 shards it's Angel."

    Her cheeks reddened again, she couldn't help it. Between her shy nature and propensity to be overlooked, Andrea was simply not that used to compliments or even being noticed. That had never bothered her as she prefered to keep to herself and was not comfortable putting herself out there. In fact the only time she ever felt truly confident and able to control a situtation was when she was caring for a patient or filling her roles as a medic. It was in those moments that people who knew her father said she reminded them of him; otherwise she was the shy opposite of his outgoing nature. Still, she had to admit that this little bit of attention was really nice, even as she heard the joking edge in Terrance's voice.

    "Close, but not quite. My name is actually Andrea Dawson and I'm not a shard seeker, but apparently I'm about to start building a collection since you now owe me three shards for getting my name wrong." She smiled sweetly at him, shocked at her own daring. It almost sounded like she was a witty, outgoing person. Like the kind of person she somtimes secretly wished she was.
     
  15. losthawken

    losthawken Author J. Aurel Guay Role Play Moderator Contributor

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    Artemus Antair

    "According to the directional tendencies of the local Tachyon fields the source of this interference is that way."

    “Good, then I say half of us follow the boy and the rest take the south side of the ridge,” Aretmus abruptly appeared on the ramp of the Albetross. His shard harness with its large shoulder yoke fit his slim frame awkwardly, exacerbated his scarecrow-like appearance and added to the shock. He had never had a knack for social interactions, and had no real interest in finding the missing seeker, but there was something bizarre about this planet. He couldn’t sit idly by in the presence of novel shard energies such as this, and besides with the shard scanners on the ship not functional there wasn’t much else to do.

    “Dispersing into two groups will better our odds, and as long as we don’t stray too far from one another we will still be able to provide support in case of danger,” the scientist looked specifically at Eric as he spoke. He was doubtful that the young man had broken through the field interference. Leo was one of the most sophisticated AI’s available and had been unsuccessful in decoding the interfering signal.

    Walking beyond the group in the direction just south of that which Eric had indicated, Artemus activated his harness, a pair of tachyon rods attached at his heels lowered, and two more extended from his wrists. His worn duster flapped in the planets winds as the gentle blue glow of the four small sails appeared near each rod. Artemus gently lifted into the air in a clumsy upright floating position.

    “We should distribute those with personal flight abilities evenly. You there,” Artemus gestured toward the man receiving medical attention near the cargo-bay ramp. “We will escort you back to your craft as far as our paths are in alignment. After that, you are on your own.”

    Artemus turned and soared slowly in the direction he had chosen expecting half of the others to follow him.
     
  16. W.H. Clay

    W.H. Clay New Member

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    “Good, then I say half of us follow the boy and the rest take the south side of the ridge,”

    Eric jumped at Artemis' arrival, but was even more surprise when he took Eric's side in the matter.

    “Good, then I say half of us follow the boy and the rest take the south side of the ridge,”

    Artemis' next words bugged Eric, they were cutting their strength in half. Sure they were supposed to stay close but..
    Eric's eyes drifted to the corpses of the decapods, it wouldn't take one of those long to kill one of them if caught off guard...
    The time for deliberation was clearly over when Artemis took flight, his travel system was rather sophisticated, not overly so, but more than he expected.
    Eric took to the skies shortly after, igniting the single tack rod on his back that erupted in a jet of orange that shot strait up. The orange bolt climbed for about 12 feet before snapping into a large sail, as if being suddenly caught in the wind. Eric was pulled steadily off his feet, he was rising when the most peculiar thing happened. He raised his arms and in a matter of seconds to bolts of what seemed to be lightning shot from the base of the sail to his hands. It became apparent that his travel system was modeled after a parachute, but the method he used to control the parachute was never seen before. Before anyone could get a closer look the sail shifted forward and pulled Eric into the desert wasteland...
     
  17. Love to Write

    Love to Write I'm a lover of writing. What else is to be said? Contributor

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    Terrance Bigalow

    You there,” Artemus gestured toward the man receiving medical attention near the cargo-bay ramp. “We will escort you back to your craft as far as our paths are in alignment. After that, you are on your own.”

    Terrance stood, glad that his injured shoulder wasn't hurting nearly as much. Two men took off before he could respond, so he decided to address the rest of the group instead. "We should stick together. Who knows what other creatures lie in wait around here. We have saftey in numbers."
    He offered a hand to Andrea and pulled her to her feet.
    "We are all looking for David. Including me. So if you don't mind, I'll stick with you and help you until we can be sure David has reached home...alive." Terrance hesitated ever so slightly at the last word. Sure, he wouldn't mind letting David live if he got his money plus intrest. Lots of intrest. But it was likely that David wouldn't be able to afford give Terrance the money he needed to pay off the pirates and too live comfortably for many years to come. In that case, he would be sure to have his revenge before he himself was killed. The thought was small consulation. He'd rather not kill anyone or be killed.

    Releasing Andrea's hand he began following the two men in flight gear, not bothering to turn and look to see if the rescue team was following. Because he knew they would be.
     
  18. yellowm&M

    yellowm&M Contributor Contributor

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    Andrea Dawson

    "We should stick together. Who knows what other creatures lie in wait around here. We have saftey in numbers."

    Terrance stood up and offered Andrea his hand. As she was pulled to her feet, Andrea noticed with medical satisfaction that his shoulder seemed to be bothering him less. The non-medical part of her was also feeling slightly warm from his hand in hers even though it was only to pull her up.

    "We are all looking for David. Including me. So if you don't mind, I'll stick with you and help you until we can be sure David has reached home...alive."

    She wasn't sure whether who is was that lingered so that theyre hands were conncected slightly longer than necessary to help her stand up. Either way however, he gently dropped her hand as he finished speaking then began to walk after Eric and Artemus. Andrea glanced at the others then back at Terrance. There was not point in splitting up right now, not when they were facing so many uknowns. And Andrea needed to find David; he was the only one who might be able to to tell her what had happened. That chance was all she had left to go on. Glancing once more at the rest of the group, Andrea took a short breath then began to follow Terrance.

    Just like them, he was looking for David and there seemed no harm in adding another person to their group. The more the merrier right? But, even as she followed him, Andrea couldn't help thinking about the slightest bit of hesitation she had heard in Terrance's voice before he said "alive."
     
  19. CheddarCheese

    CheddarCheese New Member

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    Teresa Averill

    Teresa watched silently as the strange group of seekers ceased their talking, and started off, following the man who had appeared from the ship. She guessed that he was some sort of a leader, or simply a vital member of the team. It seemed that none of the people wanted to brief her on who exactly they were, and why they were after Hawkins, but it was no surprise: they probably didn’t expect her to be there in the first place.

    Fortunately for her, she had ways of figuring things out for herself. First she sent a boot transmission to her spacecraft, which powered back up, and used its thrusters to shoot straight up into the air. It would remain in orbit around the planetoid in auto-pilot until Teresa called it back down. She figured that it would be much safer up there, especially since they already encountered decapods. Next she quickly scanned all nearby AI systems for information, making sure to leave absolutely no traces. The seekers AIs were surprisingly resilient to the scan, but didn’t have nearly enough processing power to prevent or even detect it. And of course, many of the seekers didn’t have AIs at all. She would have to get their information orally.

    Teresa briefly analysed the data collected from the AIs. Eric Reese, Male, 30 years of age… Artemus Antair, Male, 58 years of age… Andrea Dawson, Female, 23 years of age… The information only affirmed their seemingly out-of-place nature.

    Then it dawned on her that she could simply follow this group to her destination. After all, they too, were looking for Hawkins. They weren’t soldiers, but they knew how to fight, and her chances of success seemed slightly better if she followed them.


    Teresa moved forwards and caught up to the girl near the back of the group: Andrea, according to her AI. “I hope you don’t mind if I tag along?”
     
  20. losthawken

    losthawken Author J. Aurel Guay Role Play Moderator Contributor

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    May 5, 2009
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    Artemus Antair

    “I hope you don’t mind if I tag along?”

    Artemus looked behind to find the entire group following Eric.

    “Insolence,” he muttered under his breath. Looking down he found himself over the corpse of the slain decapod. Pity no one had collected its shards. Dropping to the ground he pulled a large knife from his him and made quick work of the autopsy. The beast yielded over a dozen shards, a good start to any seeker’s trek. But something was odd. Artemus had spent a fair amount of time studying and characterizing the species, which was difficult as the rare incidence of interbreeding promoted widely varied clonal strains instead of the more homogenous species found among planet-bound fauna. This decapods was immature, clearly a primitive drone, but its size was much too large and its carapace thickness suggested it to be far too old to still be a such an early stage of development.

    Just then Artemus noticed something else unusual. Thick cords of fungus ran along the ground, Artemus had never before seen such ancient looking fungal grown on an active decapods planet. In most cases during the centuries that it took the symbiotic fungus to grow to this stage the decapods would have scavenged the planet clean of shards and moved on.

    More concerning than the peculiar development of the decapods and the fungus, was how the cord–like strands of fungal growth all flowed in a single direction. Rising above the ground Artemus surveyed the entire area and found that the cords from all around him pointed to a single location; directly where Eric and the rest of the group were now headed.
     

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