Welcome to Gaia! ::

There was a small tent on the training field. It was a plain tent, tan in color. The trainees that gathered near it could hear a soft humming coming from the inside. For the intermediate trainees, it bore a striking resemblance to another tent they had seen before. That particular tent was only the beginning to a rather disastrous mission. With luck this tent would be different.

Aria made her way through the crowd of trainees, decked in her standard gear. She had shed her heavy winter coat in favor of her normal one. The division leader herself did not carry a backpack or supply bag. Aria pulled the tent flap aside to reveal something that was pale blue and glowing. It looked like a doorway of some sort, built of pale gray stone and blue runic markings. Aria walked directly into this and disappeared, clearly expecting to be followed.

Upon arrival, there was no biting wind. No snow crunched underfoot, no chill assaulted their senses. The only thing that did serve to affront the senses was a loud buzzing overhead as a loose light fixture thrummed with electricity. The room they were in was about as large as the debriefing room, giving them enough room to move around and step aside as more trainees came through the portal.

The size of the room was made smaller by the amount of damage and disarray it was in. Dark stains were splattered on both the walls and floors of varying red and brown hues, broken only by the piles of debris. The debris was a soggy mixture of plaster and wood, some containing the dark stains and others not. There was enough debris on the ground to make the ground uneven and risky.

The outpost itself was punctured by four noticeable, gaping holes. Despite these, the base was rather warm. Uncomfortably warm, even. Snow could be seen piled up against the holes as if stopped by an invisible barrier. Trainees could even hear the wind howling outside, however the wind did not come inside. The electricity and heating were still intact. The trainees that bundled themselves up for the cold weather would find themselves sweating.

The largest of the holes was at ground level, large enough to be easily reworked to fit a pair of fancy french double doors. On the other side of the outpost a smaller hole could be seen, on level with a window. The third hole was near this one, however it was lower. The fourth hole was in the ceiling itself, providing the means for a very large skylight. Of course, as it was the North Pole the skylight would have been crusted over with snow and ice in less than a day it was put in, but it was the thought that counted. Trainees would need to use a very large ladder in order to get up to it and investigate it further.

Within the room itself, the furniture had been rearranged. Some of the pieces were tossed aside and broken, adding further wreckage to the unsteady piles of debris. Others had been overturned and used to form some sort of defensive barrier, or possibly they were simply overturned and knocked aside. Some of the furniture was even pushed up against the door that lead to the bedroom and bathrooms of the outpost's inhabitants. Was it meant to lock someone in, or to serve as a defense for a severely-wounded hunter?

There were still a few tables and counters that were untouched in the room. These contained all sorts of equipment. The most recognizable were the computers, however one of them was smashed quite thoroughly. The experienced intermediates could pick out life division lab equipment mixed in with the scouting devices favored by the death division, from Fear scanners to a set of familiar looking heat-sensing masks. There was even a printer, however it was currently in pieces and scattered all over the floor. The ground near the largest of printer pieces was also ashy, as if something was burned there.

When the last of the trainees had stepped through, Aria turned to face them. "Rin, William. You two, outside. Run a perimeter -- that is, walk around the outside of the outpost. Weapons out. If you see a threat, take it on only if you think you can handle it. Otherwise, return and report so that the Suns may deal with it.

Death squad, scavenge what you can from the equipment.

Life squad, recover the more valuable equipment and look for any survivors.

Moon squad, ready the defense. While it may be clear now, we could be attacked at any moment.

Sun squad, cover Moon as they prepare defenses. Stay alert.

Mist squad, provide assistance the other squads as needed.

Gale try to get one of the computers running. If we can bring up the surveillance system that will be one less thing we'll need to worry about. All of you, get to it."