Luis' nerves about the jungle aren't helped any by the discovery of large, meat-eating birds in the area, but he holds to his post, continuing to survey the jungle. It's still tense though, and he's relieved in more ways than one when the second part of the team's arrival is announced by several loud whumps and bamfs, the roar of diesil engines, as well as slight breezes through the trees from the sudden insertion of several tons of trucks into previously empty space. Severa minutes later, a member of the second team comes out and replaces him, and Luis heads back toward the Gate to help pitch tents and rig and check gear.
OOC: Can I get a ist of the NPCs and their positions? It's not a large group of people, even with the second squad, and I'd appreciate being able to know who's who. Also, in regards to our mission objectives, shouldn't we get the Gate started charging off the trucks before we start setting up the rest of camp?
"Amazing. Andy, Kitty...take a look this!" ignoring everything Semo said after I found this.
"What do you think? Composite construction? Some sort of monomolecular seamless design? This is phenomenal considering the evolutionary scale of the surrounding planet."
Seeing that he's lost the head geek's attention almost before he had it, Semo continues on his way with a smirk. Sci-guys never change...
"Yes, sir. Thank you, Captain," Semo says with a smart salute.
His vest isn't really in that bad of condition, even considering the dampness from washing and the tear in the front. Still, he'll go looking for a replacement, then return to the Captain.
"It's your lucky day, Sarge. You'll see an officer sweating his ass off."
Hugh points to one of the parked trucks.
"The Army's got a right smart invention, it's a collapsible fucking luxury hotel. They call it 'tent'. But you need two guys to put it up, and we're it."
"Hell, only if I can see you through the sweat trickling into my eyes, Captain..."
Semo salutes once again. "Yes, sir." Moving to the back of the truck, Semo begins to haul out the luxury hotel in discriminating olive green. He suspects that he can set it up himself, though if the officer wants to help, that's fine too.
*Copy that, Captain. Continue with your mission; charge the Gateway, engage the return portal. Have your men escort Dr. Kilgore's team if they need to collect more samples. Next check-in will be in 28 minutes. Command out.* The portal collapses and the radio goes dead once more.
A few minutes later, Hugh and Semo get the tent set up while Tupolev and Cavanaugh ooh and aah over Semo's shard of fuselage.
Andy's the first to take a look. "Hmm... it definitely looks similar to the gate material. If it is, I'd guess more along the lines of your molecular composite theory, Max. Thing is, unless they have their periodic table posted inside that wreck, we can't really know for sure. Not out here, anyway."
"That's what I've been saying," Kitty adds. "Doctor, you don't expect to sit on our collective asses for six hours while those trucks clatter away, do you? The more information we can bring back with us, the better off we'll ALL be."
---
Angel relieves Stanhill, who heads back to refill his hydration bladders from the Humvee. He helps get the UAV networked to all the laptops and Humvees, double-checks everyone's comm gear, and by that point Dietrich, Taylor, Riviera, and Mellish have moved out on perimeter.
Angel's been a pointman and a scout for a long time. This place does something to your "danger sense"... it's like whatever animal instinct is left goes apeshit from the alien environment. He spots a few of the Toucan Summer of Sams and even what looks to be a small short-haired ferret with a boar's grimace. It darts up one of the trees and leaps to another, membranes snapping out from its six limbs like a flying squirrel.
For the most part, everything seems quiet. The large avian attack, plus the four vehicles and reinforcements, seem to have scared off most of the fauna.
The alien sun rises higher, scorching off most of the cloud cover. Luckily, a late morning breeze picks up, giving the team a brief respite from the worst of the heat. Max calculates that the alien day/night cycle shouldn't be too far off of Earth's. Maybe a little shorter, like 20-hour days. By his math (which he is all too happy to remind people of its accuracy), the sun should be setting in approximately 8 hours.
A few minutes later, Hugh and Semo get the tent set up while Tupolev and Cavanaugh ooh and aah over Semo's shard of fuselage.
"That's what I've been saying," Kitty adds. "Doctor, you don't expect to sit on our collective asses for six hours while those trucks clatter away, do you? The more information we can bring back with us, the better off we'll ALL be."
"Easy there, Doctor. I'm sure a few of these heavily-armed men would like nothing better than to escort a smart lady through the jungle. Don't stray too far, be back in time for the next Gateway opening." replies Max, knowing Kitty's here to study the wildlife not to see two grown men fawn over a piece of alien hardware.
*checks watch*
"That's gives you about twenty-seven minutes. Have fun, don't talk to strangers."
Looking at the finished tent, Hugh takes a drink from his canteen.
"Good work, Sarge. Now all that's left is everything else."
He turns to the idle Stanhill. "Luis, get over to the geeks and watch them. Tell them that you'll be accompanying them on all trips beyond the perimeter. Greene, we could use another hand with the camp setup."
As per the captain's orders, Semo continues pulling equipment off the truck and setting it up. When doing so brings him in the vicinity of the tent, he's glad each time of the brief respite from the sun provided by the tent's shade. Still, it's far too little to give any real relief and Semo begins to wonder just how many pounds a day he's likely to lose here.
Luis acknolwledges the Captain's orders, and walks over to where the nerd herd is set up. "Good evening folks, I'm Luis, I'll your armed escort this evening. The Captain told me to make sure you three don't get youselves into trouble you can't get out of. How can I be of assistance?"
"Sir," Greene confirms, slinging his weapon and moving over to help Semo with the rest of the gear. They stack specimen containers, more fragile "science stuff", get the extra food and water off the Humvee and into the tent, and set up smaller tents and shelterhalves for sleeping. The trucks and Humvees have floodlights - they shift the vehicles around so that the camp can be well-lit come nightfall.
"Ah, good," Dr. Cavanaugh says as Luis approaches. "Luis, I want to collect more specimens than what we've got just around this site. I think we've all heard the river - or whatever it is. Let's head down that way."
Angel keeps Stanhill and Cavanaugh covered through his rifle scope as they wade through the wheat-grass and nigh-disappear into the thicker flora. *Fuckin' figures Stanhill gets to 'escort' the only pussy on the planet, right, Angel?* That was, of course, Junior. Why he took a shine to him, Angel'll never know. If he has to hear one more joke about the "hick and the spic", though...
Angel chuckles slightly. "Some guys have all the luck..." Still, he does have a job to do and, ignoring his comrade for a moment, he picks up his radio.
"Luis? Angel. Be advised you are moving outside of visual with the perimeter. Over."
Angel chuckles slightly. "Some guys have all the luck..." Still, he does have a job to do and, ignoring his comrade for a moment, he picks up his radio.
"Luis? Angel. Be advised you are moving outside of visual with the perimeter. Over."
Luis nods, and hits the "transmit" key on his own radio. "I copy Angel. I'll keep in touch. Over."
Outside of visual with the perimeter. Angel's words don't truly hit home until Luis looks back to see... well, he can't see more than 10 feet around him right now. Oblivious to the terrain, Dr. Cavanaugh lugs her three cat-crate-sized specimen containers towards the sound of running fluid.
Outside, Angel can't help but roll his eyes. He can hear the racket the scientist's making clear as can be.
*Be advised, sir,* Taylor radios Hugh. *We've got another portal in... 6 minutes.*
*Time flies when you're sweating your ass off on Tatooine.* Mellish snorts, then goes back to his patrol.
"TATOOINE WAS A DESERT PLANET!" Andy shouts towards Mellish.
*Um, Doc? Number one, we have radios. Number two, who gives a shit?*
Luis and Kitty's jungle adventure weaves through tightly spaced tree trunks. Long green-blue fronds hang down overhead, like weeping willows or palm branches. The ground cover is almost predominantly mossy with a few clumps of shorter frond-bushes where the clean white sunlight burns through the canopy. Dr. Cavanaugh snips some fronds here, some moss there, some tree bark there. When she's not tripping over spindly roots, she's whirring away with her camcorder, narrating softly along with the duo's walk towards the creek.
"Terrain is, in a word, primordial. Exoskeletal creatures are present in abundance, but appear to be avoiding us. I'd rather not find out if they sting at this juncture. There are signs of territorialism on a few of the trees - the bark's damaged and scraped. I've collected samples of what may be animal spoor as well."
The babbling sound of the creek gets louder as they brush their way through the fronds and leaves. Their boots sink into the moss like a luxurious carpet.
"Luis, look!" Cavanaugh points with one hand while recording with the other. A beaver-sized rodentlike animal perches on a low branch with its rear four legs, chewing on a half-eaten nut or fruit with its two forelimbs. Like the other larger fauna here, it too is chameleonic. It stares pointedly at Luis, but drops its food and dives into some brush when it hears one of the toucan whoops overhead. Kitty collects the animal's meal, putting it in yet another container.
"Whew," she says, turning the camera off for a second. "I'm gonna need to go back before long - this weight adds up. You mind taking these specimens?" She holds out the satchel full of moss, bark, and soil samples.
The Gateway whamph is definitely muffled out in the bush, but the golden flash casts eerie shadows as the portal engages. For a split-second, Luis swears he saw something looking at him off to his left. Gate-light reflects off nightvision eyes, then whatever Luis saw is gone. It was big, though - maybe three, four feet high.
---
*Command to away team. Do you or Dr. Kilgore have anything to report?*
"Whew," she says, turning the camera off for a second. "I'm gonna need to go back before long - this weight adds up. You mind taking these specimens?" She holds out the satchel full of moss, bark, and soil samples.
The Gateway whamph is definitely muffled out in the bush, but the golden flash casts eerie shadows as the portal engages. For a split-second, Luis swears he saw something looking at him off to his left. Gate-light reflects off nightvision eyes, then whatever Luis saw is gone. It was big, though - maybe three, four feet high.
Luis nods absently at her question and starts to reach out for the satchel, but is interupted by the now-usual whamph and flash. In the glow, Luis swears he can see the glow reflecting from eyes, like the ones he sees on animal documentaries. However, when the glow fades down, the eyes are definently not there, if they ever were. However, whatever it was was a possibly threat, and Luis wants to verify either it's existence or lack thereof. He turns back to Kitty, "Actually, I want to check something quickly. Stay here, keep an eye out." After waiting a second to make sure Kitty understands, Luis heads into the brush where he thinks he saw the eyes, looking for signs that something might have been there. Every step or so, he turns back to make sure he's still in sight of Kitty's position.
OOC: Just checking this out, Luis'll turn around before he gets out of sight.
Hearing the Cap send Luis off with the sci-gal, Semo looks over at the Captain. "Not to question your orders, Captain, but shouldn't there be a second armed escort with the doctor if they're leaving the perimeter?"
Once the captain gives his approval, Semo grabs his gun and jogs off to catch up with the recon team.
"Hey, Luis, Doctor. The Captain asked me to join up with you," Semo says, nearly out of breath from running in this heat.
Whatever was watching Luis and Kitty darts under a fallen log and through some thicker fernlike plants when Staff Sergeant Putupu double-times it to their position.
"What was that?" Cavanaugh asks, unsure whether to dig out the P90 she has in her pack or keep filming. She opts for the camcorder after futilely trying to shift her load around to reach the weapon. "Dammit. They bring enough bullets to kill a herd of elephants and they can't get me tranquilizer rifles..."
"All right, Kitty, calm down," she says to herself. "Boys, no harm done. It was probably too big to wrestle, whatever it was. Let's keep on towards the 'water'."
Luis can't shake the feeling that something's watching him as they tread their way through more jungle. By Semo's count, the Gateway's shut down again and they've got 20 minutes till next check-in. They've gone just shy of a quarter mile, and Semo's thinking that they should maybe turn back if they want to be there for the next portal when the thick moss turns to stumpy, broad-trunked, spider-rooted brush, the trees thin out a little bit, and they come to a mud-caked, shallow-banked river. Sunlight casts rays of light down through the canopy overhead, and avians peck gingerly at the opposite bank some 40 feet away. A pair of the six-limbed gliding boar-ferrets scamper into the jungle as Kitty, Sumo, and Luis approach the muddy brown river.
"Now for the moment of truth, gentlemen," Dr. Cavanaugh says. *Max, Andy, Captain, we've found a river roughly half a kilometer east of the Gate site. I'm going to procure some samples and see what passes for water around here.*
"Sergeant Putupu, could you please hand me that aluminum casing? Yes, that's the one. Thanks." She takes out a barrage of tubes, containers, strips, little plastic bags, and pipettes, arranging them on a plastic blanket near the water's edge. You think she's talking to you again, but she's back to narrating into the camcorder, which sits on some moss pointing at the riverbank. "Dr. Kilgore's got some equipment on the second Humvee that should handle these samples in about an hour. Normally it'd take a few days to allow enough bacteria to grow. The spectrometer test should tell us right away if this is water, though, then we can move on to the oth- OH MY GOD!!!!"
The river parts in an explosion of spray. A thing comes out of the river right for Dr. Cavanaugh! Sumo and Stanhill don't have time to analyze it - "big as a big crocodile, big mouth, fast" is all they get before their adrenal glands empty with one chest-pounding thump.
The camcorder footage shows Kitty scrambling back, pushing into the mud with her feet, knocking her test kits all over. The animal sports short, oily hair, like an otter, over most of its body. On its back, however, the hair mats together into layers of scalelike plating. It has six limbs, splaying out from its abdomen much like a crocodile. Each four-digit limb is webbed and sports hooked claws. Its mouth could be mistaken for a shark. Rows of jagged teeth glint in the sunlight as its maw opens wide enough to take off a man - or woman's - head.
Its jaws slam shut with a bone-crushing snap, taking the heel off Kitty's left boot. She turns over now, trying to run on all fours through the tangled brush and mud.
Seeing as how the camp is mostly prepared, Hugh nods.
"Straight to the doctor, no sightseeing."
Things seem to be quiet for the next few minutes - then Hugh hears a scream echo through the jungle. He's got his SCAR-H ready before he's finished thinking about it.
e of pi
