Welcome to Gaia! ::

The sound of a shuttle breaking the fifteen years of dust and echos was what one could call a strange experience. Of course, any reasonable Surandanian would investigate such noise for their own safety. Such a rare sound could mean anything, pirates, looters from other parts of the planet, Drathonians, or maybe even a clueless group of explorers. So when Asher caught ear of the sound of spaceborn engines shearing against the stillness of the sunny afternoon, he felt the undying urge to see what it really was.

Like always, he stuck to the sidewalks, running low and fast against the walls of the city's buildings. He tried to keep as low of a visual profile possible, hoping to avoid being spotted by the dangers of the planet. Every minute or so, he'd stop in his tracks, crouching lowing and scanning around for the source of some strange sound echoing off the quiet buildings. In fact, the closer he got to the space port, the more obvious and louder the sound became.

Upon arriving near the Space Port, Asher spotted figures advancing outside of the hub. From the street corner he was watching from, he finally discerned what the strange sound was.

Words, people talking! It was something he hadn't heard in a while, so it sounded foreign when he heard them.

"s**t..." thought Asher when he saw the group advancing in his direction, and quickly made himself scarce by hopping into one of the deserted buildings. He made a quick sweep of the room as he entered, drawing his knife and laser pistol. Once again, as luck would have it, nothing was there. So, with curiosity still weaving it's influence on the Suradanian, he turned, and from the hidden cover of a window, watched the group advance through the city.

He followed them, unnoticed, through damaged interior sections between interconnected buildings, and crossing streets quickly when he needed to. Though, as he followed he could only discern how much of target they were painting on themselves. While Asher didn't know these people well enough to want to help them, he didn't want to squander the opportunity of meeting people for the first time in a long time.

They didn't look so bad, in Asher's opinion, two of them had breasts, so that was a plus. Another looked like a bird, so none of them looked like any Drathonian that he'd ever been told about. The rest looked reasonably Terran as well, and that meant that the only suspicions lied in their motives.

Still, they were going to get hurt if they continued like they did. Asher checked around for something to get their attention without giving them an easy target to shoot at. Luckily enough, he was in the Mallhark store his dad used to go to on the 'short-notice' anniversaries. Around him were several handicrafts, paper, and a dusty pen on a desk. So he grabbed a piece of paper, a wrote a note with his scribbly handwriting:



With that, he stuffed the note in a glass handicraft, and then opened the door of the Mallhark store, throwing the item out into the street, right in their path. His deed done from the cover of the tinted windows, Asher ducked back inside and watched for the groups reaction.

The male Surandanian let small sigh go when he heard a very familiar voice. It could've been someone else, but anyone else that sounded like her was dead, and only Destiny would bother trying to sneak up on him like this. In fact, she was probably the only thing that could.

"They were gunna' call in tha' s**t anyway if they kept talkin' like they did." whispered Asher, still watching the Terrans from his position. He drew his shoulder-sheathed knife while Kai ordered someone read his note, and finally looked at her. "Listen Briggs, I been followin' these guys for a while, so I ain't picked up nothin'. If y'here t'shake me down, all y'gunna get is my knife in y'throat. N'ya know I'm stronga' than you so don't ********' tempt me." spat the man, before looking back out to the street.

Adrian responded quickly to the sound and brought his rifle up to his shoulder. As nothing happened immediately the sniper reached down and unclipped his helmet and slapped it down upon his head. Geared up the Marine watched the approach from behind the group, as the front had more then enough people taking care of it.
“Orders, Sir?” Adrian called out to Kai.
((Shadow me if anything happens before Monday-Tuesday))

As Cibo handed the note to Evelyn, She handed it to Kai, quietly telling the Inteligence Agent "Down here, He's in charge. Remember that, Malinowski. I trust his and Hendlow's experience on the ground. All I can act as is an extra sensor."

******

Kai read the scribbled note after having it handed to him, and chuckled at its messiness and the crossed out words. "It seems we have a living Terran. Everyone, Safeties off, but keep your weapons down, if they have the option, but them to stun. Oh, and don't talk too loud. Hand signals if possible."

With that, the Lieutenant began to walk forward, accompanied by a hand signal, toward the building he had been told the glass trinket had flown from. Asher would soon see him, and probably the rest of the group, appear clearly within his view from their position further down the street.

******

"Well, at least they seem to be well equipped" Destiny Quipped, moving closer, seemingly amused. The Blonde leaned forward to rest herself on Asher as if they weren't rivals in this hostile world. "It seems they want to meet you. Go ahead, Mister Lone wolf, be the Hero today. The rest of the survivors will likely laud you as such if this encounter ends with us being taken off this rock."

As Evelyn handed the paper to Kai, she was still, and became invisible again. However, with Cibo's mistake pointed out, an arm became more visible along with the helmet it silently smacked. She did her best not to make any noise, and move forward of everyone, stealthily flanking the store and using Garret's voice as a distraction. Even though the beraggled man was already out in the clear, she wanted to have a good angle and able to take him down fast. 'Damn. What the hell as this civvie been up to anyways?' Cibo took out a fiber optic snake probe and used it like a periscope so she could see him from across the store.

****

The Ottyo was still kneeling with his Sugar up and ready, one eye aiming downrange, and the other following the note that was passed about. The eye then shifted to Garret briefly, next, both eyes forward. He sniffed. Waited. Sniffed. Waited again.

"Terran. Obviously. But I can't tell if if there's more than one, but I can tell it's a smell that doesn't belong to our group. It fits in with the general sweat and smell of Terran." Killy paused. "And this city. It doesn't smell right to me. Nn-" He cut himself off there.

Garrett flicked the safety back on when the man presented himself, and strode forward to establish good relations. "You can put your hands down. You're not a hostage, we just want your help and a few questions answered." He offered his own right hand to shake. "Lieutenant Hendlow. The blond man behind me is Lieutenant Nakamura."

Garrett, while slightly irked by both Asher's intonation and verbiage- and above all, his refusal to shake- stood silently with both hands on his weapon while the man explained. Fortunately Garrett was one that could ignore his opinion for the facts, and the facts still stood: the Marines didn't know what was going on, and Asher did.

He motioned everyone to go silent and follow. After squashing his cigarette, Hendlow led by example, trailing close by Asher.

The Ottyo kept on the alert, his movements fast and darting with a stillness in between that was impossible for a human. As the group neared the survivors though, Cibo could see the alien's movement's become more fluid and smooth. She never noticed that before. 'What the? What's he supposed to be normally like? All lizard-ish and jerky or real smooth?'

As she silently entered the store last and watched from afar, Cibo had to ponder about him. Was he moving smoothly for their benefit, trying to look like them? Or was that how he tended to be when nervous or tense? As the intelligence agent contemplated the possible explanations, she heard Killy quietly speak after sniffing the air again.

"Ah. This explains your funny smell. It's like you two were pressing close moments ago, and since it's still fresh, all the more confusing."

Cibo wanted to shout at him, but forced herself to settle down. At the least, she gave the damned alien credit for keeping his voice down. It was at that point that he looked straight at her, active camouflage or not.

'Oh, please no! Not another word!!!'