|
|
Post by Hollie Clarke on Feb 27, 2011 4:57:24 GMT -5
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~ BREAKING NEWS ~ BREAKING NEWS ~ BREAKING NEWS ~ In the past hour, a large rift has opened up inside the planet Glacia, home to nearly a million people, and popular tourist destination. As soon as the rift first struck, earthquakes were felt all over the planet's surface. The emergency services immediately put procedures into place to evacuate the planet's occupants, but as the planet was torn to pieces, it quickly became apparent that only a small amount have made it out alive. ~ BREAKING NEWS ~ BREAKING NEWS ~ BREAKING NEWS ~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There weren't just positives to Hollie's sight having been given to her, there were negatives too, as she'd discovered watching the live news feed of the rift that opened up inside the planet Glacia. She'd stared, transfixed and horrified, at the screen as the planet was torn apart, hundreds of thousands of people just... dying. Luckily, she'd been with Sam at the time, who'd laid a comforting hand on her shoulder and tried to soften the blow of seeing something like that for the first time, despite his own emotions about it all.
It was two days later, and her Dad had formed a team of people to go down the surface of the nearby planet, Tyron 4, upon which some debris from Glacia had settled. She'd volunteered her services, her capability with computers would probably come in handy using the scanning equipment on the planet's surface. Heading up the team was Alliana, who had recently rejoined the crew after appearing back on board with Luke. They still seemed a little awkward around each other, but that Ally had come back at all was a good sign. As well as a couple of other science officers, Eva had decided to tag along as support, in case they found anything nasty that needed dealing with.
Standing on the surface of the planet, Hollie shivered despite the copius amounts of layers she had on. Apparently it was the height of winter here in March, and boy was it freezing. Her feet crunching across the snow, she slapped her futzing hand held computer which appeared to be complaining about the cold. "Shut up and work!" she growled, the screen flickering. "Stupid technology." Maybe some residual energy from the rift was messing with it, she couldn't be sure, but it needed to work in order for them to get their work done.
Casting a glance around, she wondered how the others were getting on.
|
|
|
|
Post by Alliana Porter on Feb 27, 2011 5:53:02 GMT -5
Ally's first words in the bitter cold were "Forgot my damn gloves." She inhaled deeply and walked up behind Hollie who was grumbling about the functionality of her computer. She hadn't really talked that much to Hollie before she left so she wasn't so keen on how this whole adventure would work. In fact, she felt almost awkward, considering she could actually see now, not that she had ever been prejudice or judgmental before, she just wasn't really sure on what to do with herself. Guess it was.. a weird sort of bonding process now. in all honesty, Ally was sort of doing all she could to STILL keep a distance from Luke. It was good seeing him again, but now she needed to sort out her heart and figure out what to do with herself. Here, she could think and neither Hollie, nor Eva truly knew her well enough to dig into her complexities. Ever since Anna had faded back into Earth, there weren't many...if anyone she could really cling to anymore. Ally heaved her backpack on tighter and crunched up close to Hollie's side. She leaned over her shoulder, catching the computer's glitches. "Technology doesn't do well in this kind of weather...drains the batteries faster too." she spoke low over Hollie's blonde curls. "That's the damn thing about the new super cell batteries. They sort of trip out in anything 20 below." Ally chuckled, then bit her tongue. She probably was not in the mood for any of Ally's nerdiness right now. The damn place was cold and the minute she stepped out into the air, she wanted to be curled up in warmth again. Problem was, they had a job to do, and nothing would get done by itself. She breathed out her warmth and watched it puff away into smoky cloud. There eas some bantering, then some complaining behind her. A few new faces had joined them for the mission. She didn't know them, or really care to. She was still baffled as to why they were forced to join them. No doubt, they would draw slack on the job. With another heavy sigh, she dug her heels into the snow and waited for Eva, so they could press forward.
|
|
|
|
Post by Evangeline Irvine on Feb 27, 2011 16:13:42 GMT -5
Eva cussed as the snow attempted to swallow her foot again. That was the thing about snow--you were never sure if you were going to step onto a supported portion, or if you were going to stumble across a false-spot and sink down into the abyss. In and of itself, while it was annoying, that really didn't pose as that much of a problem. What was problematic was the fact that it was bloody cold out here. Every time her foot disappeared below the surface, she lost a little more feeling in her toes. It was just ridiculous.
She could hear Hollie muttering up ahead, and glanced over to see that Ally had caught up to her. From the sounds of it, the electronics liked the cold just about as much as the rest of them. Her hand ghosted over her gun--snug in its holster on her thigh--at the thought, and she idly wondered if it was possible for semi-automatics to freeze. Too late now, she realized that it probably would have been better to have tucked it away in a hip-holster, so that her jacket would be covering it.
Only then did Eva notice that she'd started to fall behind, and she hastened to catch up to Ally, who had paused to wait for her. "Thanks," she mumbled to the dark-haired woman, offering her a small smile. Poor girl. Her thoughts were almost always chaotic and upset these days, but they were consistent in reason--Luke Martin. The last year hadn't treated either of them very well, it would seem. Once or twice Eva had considered trying to talk to Ally about it, in the hopes of helping, but she'd always shied away--she still wasn't the best at socializing.
Shivering as a gust of arctic wind caught her off guard, Eva looked over at Hollie, who was still fiddling with her computer. "How's it going up there? You got anything yet?" |
|
|
|
Post by Hollie Clarke on Feb 27, 2011 16:37:37 GMT -5
Hollie heaved a sigh, hearing Ally approaching from behind. "I share their pain," she replied to Ally's spiel about batteries, "my legs are beginning to refuse to work, and they're not even battery powered." Her idea that she would be able to help with computers had obviously been a bad one. Oh well, she would get what she could out of the thing before it popped it's clogs for good, which would no doubt be soon.
Looking round at Eva, Hollie shook her head, "not much. We're getting low energy readings from pockets over the surface, the same sort of energy that the rift emits, but nothing special." It had taken her a little while to get used to seeing and reading the stats on the screen, as opposed to hearing the computer feed them back to her via earphones. It was like learning a whole new language. Luckily, it wasn't taking too long to figure out, all the basics were already in her head, she just had to line everything up with what her eyes saw.
All of a sudden, the ground beneath their feet began shaking. "What the hell?" Their comms crackled into life, Luke's disrupted voice struggling to instruct them. "Ris - col - mo - hip." Hollie frowned as the shaking worsened and they were all thrown off their feet. She wanted to say to Luke to repeat what he'd said, but as she opened her eyes, brushing her hair from her face, her eyes widened with horror as she saw a deluge of rock and snow falling off the nearby mountains, heading straight towards them.
"RUN!" she just about managed to yell, scampering onto her feet. There were two ways to go, away from the mountain, where they would no doubt be crushed, or towards the mountain, where they might be sheltered. She opted for the latter. Running as fast as she could, her feet slipping and sliding around her, she hoped and prayed that the group were close behind her, or had the sense to get out of the way. Snow began to fall in front of her face, she lost all sight of where she was going. Tripping up, she flew head first, slamming into something hard. There was an eruption of sound from behind her, then everything went black. |
|
|
|
Post by Alliana Porter on Feb 27, 2011 18:37:14 GMT -5
Ally chuckled, leaning in to see the screen flicker again. "Might as well just turn it off for now, save the battery." She adjusted her back pack again, keeping it from sliding off her shoulder. Behind her, she heard Eva slip and slide into the snow. Apparently none of them were quite suited to be here. She gave a nod of acknowledgment to Eva's thanks, the turned her head back to study the area. "Yeah..my guess is that we head that direction for bigger remnants. All I can see here are smaller pieces and whatever existed, probably burned up in the explosion....or just..ceases to exist from it all." The last big hung heavy on her tongue, remembering what had exactly happened. The whole thing resulted in thousands of unnecessary deaths, cultures, lifestyles and history. Hopefully, some survived to carry out what would be lost forever.
Ally took two steps forward, then suddenly regretted it. "No sudden...moves." her face fell to that of caution when the ground lurched beneath them. She heard Luke's voice break through and reached down to try to answer. She fumbled with the clip and it slipped from her hands when she was thrown back to her feet from another shift in the ground. "Oh...dear...god...." Ally breathed, sudden;y setting her gaze on what Hollie had seen. She scrambled to her feet, trying to hastily find her com link. Gone. She cursed internally and helped one of the other officers to his feet, shoving them forward. Thanks to her snow boots, she was getting decent traction here, but they were still hard to run in. Another new officer was struggling to his feet so she leaned back to take him with her. She got a decent amount of ground covered when things suddenly got worse. Ally suddenly slipped on ice and she heard rocks and ice rumble above. "Get down! she yelled, pulling the slow extra down to the ground. She covered his head and fell on top of him. The shifting and grumbling continued until it suddenly stopped and they were trapped in complete utter darkness.
"Is everyone all right?" she asked, slowly shifting into a sitting position. She felt a stinging pain on the back of her head and reached to find it sticky and moist. "Dammit.." she muttered to herself, trying to force her eyes to adjust to what had happened.
|
|
|
|
Post by Evangeline Irvine on Feb 28, 2011 19:38:08 GMT -5
Pushing her breath out in a huff of white steam, Eva tried to keep her brow from furrowing as she offered Hollie a wave of acknowledgment, letting the other blonde know she'd heard her. If there was energy pockets on the surface, the same kind that caused rifts, then didn't that mean that this planet was in danger, too? She shook the worry away. If there was a chance of a rift opening up here, they would have at least been warned, if not kept off the planet entirely. There shouldn't be anything to worry about.
And cue karma--or maybe it was just irony. The point was, the ground was shaking. From here it was impossible to tell if it was due to a rift opening or not, but it was enough to cause a healthy dose of panic to build throughout the other members of the team. And, just her luck, being able to feel their panic--frigging telepathy--intensified Eva's own; heart in her throat, eyes wide, frozen to the spot, the whole package. These sorts of situations were so much easier to deal with when she was around people who were used to coping with their fear.
Hollie's yell was what pulled Eva back from terror's clutches, and she managed to shut the others out enough to get her feet moving, her boots kicking up snow with every step she took. Before she knew it, she was full-out sprinting, screaming blindly at the others to run faster. Not that it did them any good--her voice was drowned out by the the avalanche rushing toward them. She only had a moment to dive toward the ground and throw her arms over her head before they were completely buried in snow.
The first thing Eva registered once the mayhem had recessed was the searing, white-hot pain spiking through her left leg. Sucking in her lip to stop herself from whimpering, she pulled her foot free from the snow packed down on top of it and tried to look back to assess the damage, only to discover that it was impossible to see anything. Reaching out with her mind, she located the others' auras and crawled toward them. Ally's voice rose up then, and Eva breathed a silent sigh of relief--at least one other person was conscious.
"Please tell me you have a flashlight or something in your bag," she grumbled, rocking back and gently tugging her boot off her foot. Swallowing a gasp of pain, she nodded to herself. Yup. That would be a broken ankle. After a pause she glanced in the direction of Hollie's aura. "Hey, Clarke, you all right over there?" |
|
|
|
Post by Hollie Clarke on Feb 28, 2011 20:06:14 GMT -5
Hollie groaned loudly as her whole head throbbed with a pain unlike anything she'd ever felt before. Moving a shaky hand, her original intention had been to push herself into a sitting position, but she couldn't bring herself to do so. Opening her eyes, her eyes blinked rapidly, trying desperately to take in something, anything, while also wiping away a few unshed tears. All that was around her was darkness. There was no movement, no light, nothing. Pain was joined by panic. She couldn't have lost her sight again, could she?
"N-No," she stuttered, hearing Eva's voice. At least her ears were still working, "it feels like I got into fist fight with a bulldozer. And I can't see." Right now, she was hoping and praying that it was just because of the lack of light, not anything else. It was hard to keep calm when all the feelings that had gripped her so tightly and tried to pull her under after that dream induced by R4 sprung back to the surface. Breathing as hard and as steadily as she could, she said, "who else is with us? Did anyone else make it?" There had originally been a team of eight of them, if only the three of them had made it...
"Jesus Christ," came a young male voice from a little distance away, "oh God," he whimpered in pain. Obviously, he'd hurt himself, rather like the others. Pushing herself up, Hollie brushed her fingers close to her forehead, sucking her bottom lip into her mouth. "Does anyone have a light? Anything to see with?" She'd lost her computer somewhere outside when she'd made the run for it. It was now doubt crushed by the weight of the snow. |
|
|
|
Post by Alliana Porter on Mar 1, 2011 1:30:18 GMT -5
"I do.." she breathed. Reaching around, she pulled her back pack and unzipped it blindly. She fumbled for a few minutes and came out successful. Ally clicked the button and the cavern was soon flooded with light. "Finally....Ok, I have a few medical supplies in here, is anyone..." Her grey eyes went straight to Eva, wincing at pain With her boot off. She shuffled off and sat down next to Eva. "Where does it hurt...show me." Ally was no medical officer, but she knew enough to get by.
A male voice from a corner cried out in expletives and she knew her services might be needed. Eva, however was more tolerable at the moment. Ally winced at the throbbing pain in the back of her head and reached a hand to touch it once more. Sure enough, there was blood. She huffed in annoyance, then shuffled back over to grab her forgotten back pack. The officer she had ducked down was silently clinging to the side wall, rocking in her fear and confusion. She would tend to him later, and would probably be forced to help everyone else. "Hollie...you alright?" Ally called over her shoulder, to the blonde she could now see.
|
|
|
|
Post by Evangeline Irvine on Mar 2, 2011 21:20:35 GMT -5
"You're not the only one," Eva chuckled at Hollie's reply, albeit through clenched teeth, "The whole 'fist-fight with a bulldozer' thing seems pretty par for the course." Not that Eva was the best judge of that, as she'd never been caught in a snow pocket before. However, she did know that this was pretty standard for at least most field missions, even when things went according to plan. Though, in most cases, it was just the physical exertion that tuckered you out, and with experience, you got used to it. You never really got used to injuring yourself. Or to being blinded.
Blinking rapidly in the hopes that it would help her eyes adjust to the sudden light, Eva glanced over at Ally as the raven-haired woman shuffled over to her. "It's not that bad," she lied--a pretty weak lie, considering that the swelling was starting to become noticeable. She grimaced. "... Okay, so it's not exactly great, either, but I can deal." The others needed tending too first, including Ally herself, it would seem. From the looks of things, she'd done a pretty good number to the back of her head.
While the science officer checked on Hollie and the others, Eva examined their cave. It was bigger inside than she would have imagined, and there didn't appear to be a way out. Peering around, she spotted a section higher up that looked like it might be thin enough to break through--the only problem was, the walls didn't look quite stable enough for someone to climb up. The last thing they needed was for their little alcove to collapse. She might have been able to do it herself, but with her ankle the way it was, that simply wasn't going to happen.
But then... how the hell were they going to get out? |
|
|
|
Post by Sam O'Connor on Mar 3, 2011 3:27:54 GMT -5
((Okay guys, after this post, it's Gordon. Then Hollie, Ally, Eva, like normal. Then we keep going round like that till they're out. Feel free to speed up time, ie. let a couple of hours pass every now and again.))
When days seemed normal, Sam had learned that usually something bad was lurking around the corner. Nothing was ever calm and settled... for long, anyway. It had become a prerequisite for the crew that they be able to deal with drama on a daily basis. So, while he was browning the tops of the most recent batch of creme brulee, thinking that it had been an oddly quiet morning, it didn't surprise him when the dining hall began buzzing with gossip. A couple of people glanced in his direction, and he couldn't help but frown.
"Want to share, guys?"
Tyron 4. Landslide. Loss of contact. That was all he needed to hear before he was up to the flight deck in a flash, forcing the crew to abandon all hope of ever getting dessert. "Luke," he said as soon as he walked in, the pilot frantically tapping his screen with a beyond flustered look upon his face, "what happened? Are they okay?" With Ally being one of the ones in the team, Luke was the one Sam could trust to be entirely honest with him, as his heart was probably lodged in his throat too.
Luke didn't need to look round when he heard someone enter, it was only a matter of time till Sam or the Captain joined him in a fit of panic over their loved ones being buried in a landslide. "A piece of debris from Glacia collided with the planet," he said, finding his voice somehow as he kept typing, trying to get up life signs, communications, anything, "caused an earthquake, which caused a landslide. The team..." Did he really need to say any more?
Sam didn't want to ask it, but he had to. "Are they alive?"
"I don't know." |
|
|
|
Post by Gordon McFadden on Mar 3, 2011 13:20:34 GMT -5
"Get me a status report, Lieutenant." The Captain stormed onto the flight deck, Gordon in tow.
"Sir, we really don't know anything else." One of the flight lieutenants responded.
"Nothing else? Not even a cause?"
"Happenstance...sir."
"Happenstance...one of the most feared killers in all the galaxy." Michael walked over to Luke's chair, running a hand through his hair as he looked at the data that Luke's terminals were putting out. It didn't look as if anything was visible on the planet surface via the terrain scan and their orbital cameras weren't functioning.
Just. Dandy.
Michael breathed deeply, knowing that it was his job to get this thing sorted out...he was a Captain. He had dealt with a whole lot worse...but all those situations didn't involve his baby girl.
"Lieutenant, how long till Alliance support?"
"A day or so."
"Can't wait that long. We need this resolved now."
"Listen, Cap...you don't want to send a whole platoon down there to go and rescue em, that would be a waste of manpower."
"Your idea, then?"
"A small team, nothin too fancy. You send me, Briggs, and Harper down on the surface to scope it, check things out. Once we get our feet sunk in, we can locate em and start digging."
"Gordon, you can't dig through asteroid."
"I'm a biotic, Cap! I can do it!"
"Not without help."
"Briggs and Harper can bring the laser turrets."
"And risk even more structural damage to the surface, which could result in further cave-in? Won't fly."
"What else do we have?" Gordon was right...there weren't any other options available. They would have to go with what they had and hope for the best.
"Suit up. Tell your boys to get loaded into a shuttle ASAP."
"SIR!"
|
|
|
|
Post by Hollie Clarke on Mar 3, 2011 13:32:16 GMT -5
Hollie couldn't have been more relieved when she saw the light flicker into existence. She was okay, she could see, she was fine. Her heart rate and breathing resumed a more normal pace, even with the blood on her hands, and the stream of it trickling from the wound at her hair line, nothing seemed as bad as the idea of losing her sight again. Anything else she could deal with, just not that. "I'll live," she nodded in response to Ally's question. For the moment anyway...
Clambering onto her feet, she tried to get a better look around the cavern that they were trapped in. They were lucky that it had formed like this around them, as opposed to just squashing them into pancakes, that would have been even less pleasant. There didn't seem to be any obvious way out, especially with there being no light filtering through, that wasn't a good sign. There was also the issue of how much oxygen they had, and whether it was going to last long enough for someone to get them out, assuming that someone was coming.
Sighing, she walked over to the guy hugging the wall tightly, looking absolutely petrified. He wasn't going to help anybody's mood. "Hey, hey," she said, putting a hand on his shoulder, gently easing him away from the wall, "it's okay, calm down." Now that he was separated from the wall, he turned and clung to Hollie instead, who, taken back, fell over. "We're not okay," he whimpered, "we're going to run out of oxygen, or freeze to death, or both! We're all alone and there's no one to save us!" |
|
|
|
Post by Alliana Porter on Mar 6, 2011 2:22:20 GMT -5
Eva was far from fine. You didn't have to be a rocket scintist, or even a scintist to realize that. "Grab some snow and small pieces of ice and wrap that tight around it with anny loose fabric you have. Try and keep your layers though. We don't need you catching hypothermia. Ally felt around gently, trying to be as easy as possible. 'Ok..it doesn't feel like break..well, maybe a hard sprain. I can't exactly tell. If it's broken, it's splintered. I'm no doctor. Just try to be easy on it, not too much pressure, ok?" Ally offered a faint smile, and patted her shoulder as she slowly rose to her feet.
This was so not on her job description. There were distinct reasons she hadn't gone to medical school..for instances like this. It gave her the small feeling of heroism, but not enough to hold her down. She was just as terrified as the guy shaking in the corner, she was just better at holding it in. Running a hand through her thick curls she gave a heavy sigh and tried to think of what to do next, and that's when she saw him. 'Hollie....we have an issue. I need you...now..please...as in..hurry." Her grey eyes had settled on one of the team members not as lucky as the others. And then another. One of them lay face down, blood pooling around his head. Lots of blood. It was highly unlikely he was knocked out. The other trapped by a massive chunk of ice and she would rather not think about his condition either. She needed to keep calm, so they would keep calm. "Dammit, we are not going to bloody die in here. We...this..this is a setback. It's just unfortunate....Hollie...now...please." she huffed, trying in earnest to keep her cool.
|
|
|
|
Post by Sam O'Connor on Mar 12, 2011 11:19:05 GMT -5
"Hey, hey, hey. Whoa, whoa, whoa," was what Sam heard come from his mouth, as his hands shot up as a sign for the two men to hold their horses. It was way beyond him to be telling a tactical officer and the Captain, no less, to stop what they were doing and listen to him, but the Captain wasn't the only one with a loved one trapped down there.
"Gordon isn't the only one who can help out here," he told them, sighing slightly as he realised that his skills weren't going to be kept on the down-low for much longer, "I can too."
He expected the incredulous eyebrows from all the men that surrounded him. He might have filled out in the last year, but he was still the lankiest of the lot. "See?" Without even blinking an eye, most of the objects around the room ranging from laser pens to computers to whole sets of desks and chairs began to levitate at the same time, all floating a good foot or two off the ground. "I've lifted much bigger with little effort, cars, boats, you name it." He looked to the Captain, "send me down there with Gordon. Together, we can move the rubble without destroying it, and then we stand a chance of getting the girls and the rest of the team out alive.."
He could be pragmatic when he wanted to be. |
|
|
|
Post by Gordon McFadden on Mar 13, 2011 15:04:38 GMT -5
Sam was a biotic? Or was he...no, that couldn't be possible. They would have to talk about that sometime after all the madness ended. Cap didn't look too surprised, but Gordon could tell he was hesitant, and he didn't blame him. Yeah, Eva was down there, but Cap knew that if somethin happened to Sam, he wouldn't be able to forgive himself. That's why the Captain's reaction was so surprising to Gordon:
"Go down with the squad and they'll get you prepped. Whatever happens down there, listen to those men and keep your head down." Michael shook his head as he turned around, visibly regretting his decision, but Gordon knew that Cap was prone to lettin people spread their wings a little.
He just hoped that Sam's wings wouldn't get clipped.
After securing a landing zone, Gordon stepped onto the surface of Tyron, scanning his surroundings for context. There was debris everywhere, chunks of rock lying all over the ground, some pieces embedded into the surface.
"Hey Gordon, you're not going to believe this."
"Try me."
"Thermal sigs are about a quarter mile west."
"And?"
"They're a quarter mile down, maybe more."
"Briggs, you sure you're scanner ain't on the fritz?"
"Calibrated perfectly, G."
"Great."
"Temperature dropping to twelve below." Harper chimed in as he stepped off the shuttle, laser turret strapped across his back. The man was big and strong, which was what ya needed to be a heavy weapons specialist. Don't call em heavy for nothin,
"Right. Sam, turn on yer thermal unit. Press your index finger and thumb together. That should do it." Gordon started forward, his heads up display activating within his helmet, which showed thermal signatures point two five miles away. Briggs wasn't kidding.
As they arrived right underneath the signatures, Gordon looked over to Sam and told him:
"We stand back, let Harper cut through the initial rock. Once he does that, we start moving the hard stuff."
As Harper began to work, Gordon asked:
"So Sammy, you a biotic or what?"
|
|
