Welcome to Gaia! ::

Unlike last year, I wanted our Fall thread to be cannon, part of the storyline of the Hymn itself, and not just the Hymn's universe. So, we have SS215 on a special mission, escorting our Admiral and Liason on one of the worlds devastated by the Drathonians. Unlike other worlds, however, this one was attacked with a Biological agent, That Infected 9/10 terrans, and killed 5/9 of the infected. Those who survived were cut off via attacks on all methods of transport off the planet, and left to fend for themselves, or die, though something unexpected happened. However, as nobody was able to check on the planet up until now, nobody knew what had become of it. Our theme music is such: Nine Inch Nails:Ghosts I

On this planet, two Caballero shuttles land in the wreckage of what used to be a spaceport at the capital city of the planet. Beyond the rubble, however, lies a gleaming, perfect city. Not a speck of dust on a window, not a blade of grass out of place. Cars that were not legally parked have been removed, and all trash has been swept. Practically a perfect utopia. But nobody is there. Nothing, no people to populate the city, no birds to sing, the only remaining animals are small and quiet, hiding in their burrows in fear at the slightest noise.

This, a pristine, preserved example of Terran Splendour, the maintenance droids set to keep the city perfect, the power supplies still active and maintained, everything that needs to be there for the city to run, Is.

It stands as a testament to what the Terrans are capable of, as a memorial to all those who were lost. as a graveyard to the ones taken by the plague... and as a cage, for those unlucky few who did not die from it.

Garrett gave a quiet sigh stepping down from the Caballero, which set off memories of Gallagher, and their bickering about being old. No, being in their thirties really wasn't that old, but old enough- especially considering their company. He was carrying a Whisper this time, seeing as they'd allowed him a choice. The shotgun attachment was also present and fully loaded, even if everyone doubted it would see use.

Looking toward the city, his eyes softened. The city gave off a... lifeless aura. He knew it well from his teenage years. The idea of venturing into some place that was reminiscent of home struck a tender wound the explosives expert must have overlooked between Earth and Surandan because it hurt now. Memories backed up a mile-long in his mind, waiting patiently for their turn to grace his mind's eye. He had to break it up.

"Admiral Evelyn," he called, moving toward her. For once, his eyes never wandered from her face, a sign that he was clearly not all there- clear only to him, of course. "What's the plan?" Because I need to get the Hell out of Dodge before the dead start to rise.

Kwon began to complain as guard duty was assigned to him, but Ruth put his hand on the more exciteable man's shoulder, which seemed to do the trick of calming him down. "Awright, we'll wait here for you guys, then." he said instead, looking up at Rutthinger in a very displeased manner.

Evelyn, for her part, looked to Lieutenant helndlow and answered him "The plan is as Kai said, we look at the results of the attack, and find the city's mainframe computer." She pulled at one of the hems on her uniform- Unlike everyone else she was not wearing any combat dress, not even the stripped-down Saviors the Marines had or an Eidelon like Cibo. She even lacked the open-face helmet that some of them had worn.

Kai flipped down the short visor from his helmet, allowing him to see a miniaturized HUD, and Waved his Sugar around, using the weapon as a sort of sensor system. "Well, as far as I can tell, the main power generators are buried underground, on the other side of the city. I think the plans we have say the mainframe computer is near there, but we have to travel through underground accessways to get there." the Lieutenant explained, not seeming to pleased about accessways. "I'll bet you if anything's here, it's in those tunnels." He muttered, casually.

Mortego, standing next to the alien who's life had had saved upon their first meeting, spoke up. "There's usually more plants and animals in Terran cities. Something's weird about this one, and that's why we're investigating it." he explained to the Ottyo, plainly.

The Ottyo rotated his head left-right-left-right like a lion shaking his mane. "I believed that we were hoping for 'lively' subjects, such as citizens of your Republic, Garret-Lieutenant?" Yotruyan asked. Meanwhile, Cibo growled to herself and moved a little closer to Evelyn, both out of annoyance towards the Ottyo's phrasing, and for concern towards the Gynoid. Still, she couldn't help but pick on the Marine.

"Hmph. For once I might agree with you Killy. Garrett, didn't you ask for more action back at Pattel's Pub?"

Mortego would speak up to Garrett's question "No. Far as I can tell, this strain has been isolated and cured by now, we should be immune, but just in case I do have heavy Antibiotics in case one of us catches something." The medic pointed to his satchel, which held the ubiquitous red cross on a white background, a symbol of a medic for millennia.

"Well, then, let's just get moving. there's probably just nothing here. Maybe the Agri-bots ran out of fertilizer or something." kai commented, waving the team forward. the would walk for a while on the tarmac before passing by the somewhat eerie ruins of the spaceport, and then make their way into the city proper. it was that serene oddness still, everything was perfect, too perfect.

Adrian had spent a long time as he walked behind the rest of the group just enjoying being in plain old atmosphere again. He had his half-helmet with him, but it had been clipped to his belt since they had landed. Of course, their was one other thing taking up his attention.
The new terran Repeating Gauss Sniper Rifle, or the Regressor as the marines had already dubbed it was a 'beaut. Though, after looking around at pristine but abandoned world they had landed in, he didn't feel as if he would have much of a chance to test it out. Still, every time he looked at it the old marine found a new feature or just some aesthetically pleasing little patch that made him smile.
Cibo and Killy's conversation turned more heads than just the intelligence officer's though. Adrian looked up from his new weapon and cracked a smile as the girl complained and the alien just levelly stated his facts.
“Ottyo!” Adrian yelled over to the pair, a mischievous grin on the older man's face. “You gotta learn a bit more about our species' womenfolk if you gonna have one looking out for you. A bet they tend to be a little more ridiculous than your used to – worry about every little thing all, eh? When they get like that you just need to say something along the lines of...” The sniper paused as he tried to remember some phrases he could give to the alien as advice. “Ah! Here we go, something along the lines of 'Yes, of course your right dear.' then you can go ahead and keep doing whatever and she won't bring up for a few hours – now the second confrontation is a bit hard, lemme think here for a bit.” As he stopped, he looked at Cibo and grinned, Adrian certainly seemed to have recovered quite well from his wounds from the battle on the unnamed planemo.

They continued, realizing that this city was immense, and they had landed on the edge of it. With public transport nowhere in sight, and the Caballeros not nimble enough to take them directly where they needed to go, they were making their way hoofing it, which was not fun, even with the rather nice weather.

Evelyn stayed near the middle of the group, taking in the scenery with wonder. Honestly, it was all impressive, the tall, gleaming structures, the perfectly kept plant life (what little was left anyway) the clean, flat streets, the storefronts, everything seemed so nice, yet so eerily empty and lost. there weren't even computers that she could access from here, leaving her practically as powerless as every other person in the group. Worst of all, for the Gynoid that had been designed to need socialization, was the lack of people, of living things here.

"Yotruyan. I am Yotruyan. Or Killy. Some people seem fond of that." The Ottyo replied, casting a glance at the Marine. As Cibo loudly cracked her neck, he winced. "Please do not do that Cibo."

"What Killy? This?" The intelligence officer cracked her neck again, this time louder, followed up by her knuckles. Despite wincing each time, Yotruyan seemed to ignore that to the best of his abilities and replied to Adrian instead.

"Personally, I believe the second round would consist of more yelling, and perhaps the female blocking view of the entertainment system with her body." speaking with a deadpan voice.

Cibo gave both Adrian and Yotruyan a crass hand gesture hidden from Evelyn's view with a casual brush of her hair.