Shadows of the Universe (Sci-fi Action RP)(Started)(Closed)

[lacktheknack]

"Heh. I'm surprised they haven't attacked us. But I'm left with a question... if these tunnels lead down to giant underground lakes, then why do they collapse in on themselves afterwards?" Almost on cue, the hole struck another leak closer to the surface. "Better question... what the hell is digging these things?"

 

[Kasten]

"I imagine it's less luck, and more they might somehow know how we slaughtered they're friends in methods which, to them, are entirely unknown. Also, I'm no scientist, but from the way the sides look, I'd say it's something without legs or arms, or general appendages of any sort. Sarlaccs? Something else we could kill with liberal use of ballistic firepower?" James looked down the hole "I could probably scale this, And if I get my active camo on, I could go on a pretty safe scout mission." James frowned as he did mental math "I would have maybe thirty minutes down and back before the sand starts pouring down dangerously fast."

McMillan looked at his superior incredulously, James was volunteering to go down there? Knowing that there's probably a ton of bird lizards?

 

[Febel]

"Alternatively, I could drop a bit of this," He rattled his explosives pack meaningfully, "down the hole and we could be on our merry way."

 

[lacktheknack]

"But what if there's something sentient down there? Maybe we could communicate..." Rick somewhat doubted that Kell gave a damn one way or the other, so he addressed James directly. "It seems like a good idea, but if that hole collapses or you encounter something that detects movement and you get in trouble, there's not a damn thing I can do to get you out of it. Maybe we should wait for a fresher hole."

 

[lacktheknack]

Double post. Sorry.

 

[Grim327]

"Or we could send down a drone with a camera to see whats down there, no one gets hurt, and nothing goes boom. I do believe that sounds like the soundest plan, nothing could possibly damage or disturb the local area. What do yall think?" Chris said putting his two cents in.

 

[Kasten]

"And then we wouldn't find out what's making them. Brilliant. Lets just forgo the rules of Situational Awareness made by lines of multicultural generals and field veterans through wars that make anything any of us have ever faced look like sandbox disputes. Nah, beyond that, you could always throw that down after I come back. Then, I can tell you how much we need to kill every single thing down there that is even proto-life." You could HEAR James's snarky smirk through the helmet's speakers.

 

[lacktheknack]

"Leave the pyro be, James. Your idea was to put yourself in extreme danger."

Rick saw another leak - a small one - spring out of the hole's wall. He backed away.

"I propose we let this one fall in on itself, or send in a camera if we're that curious, and start marking a landing zone for the outpost. If our lovely tunnel-digger comes back, it can talk to us directly."

 

[InkBlot Royalist]

Jobe had managed to restrain himself back on the ship, but ever since he'd been lurking moodily at the back of the group. He drummed his fingers on his shot-gun.
"Somewhere, over the rainbow..."
What? Who said that? Fuck, now he was humming the song himself! He needed to do something, he needed a distraction.
One of the alien bird things swooped in lower than the others. With alarming speed, Jobe swung his shotgun above his head like a bat and knocked it out of the air
"Way up high..."
Jobe brought his foot down heavily on the creature's wing to stop it flying off. Shouldering his shotgun, Jobe slowly drew the combat machete as the alien thrashed pitifully beneath him
"In the land that I heard of..."
The blade plunged into the creature's back. The music stopped as the blood bubbled out of the thing. Jobe felt better already. Smiling, he turned to the group standing around the hole
"Sentient creature or not, we'll have to kill it anyway before the colonists land. I agree with what's-his-name, drop some explosives down there and get on with hunting the big game."

 

[lacktheknack]

"...We won't have to kill it, necessarily. For all we know, there's a lost city of gold down there filled with humanoids who have too many resources and will hand ridiculously lavish gifts because why not." Rick frowned. "Or maybe it's a Lovecraftian horror, and grenading it will just piss it off and the resulting fight would be comparable to a panther versus a swaddled baby. I doubt that we're the panther in this equation."

 

[Kasten]

"Oooooor maybe there's lost technology down there. Pieces of a destroyed ship or something that have been crashing on the planet over time, and we simply didn't detect them because I'm not done calibrating the sensors to bypass filters. Or, you know, a massive predator with skin as hard as the polycarbon titanium/aluminum alloy that protects our starship. If we REALLY want to destroy this thing, we could just orbital strike it." James found a small pebble, and tossed it down, waiting for a sound

 

[lacktheknack]

Rick waited too. No sound after ten seconds.

Rick pulled a powerful flashlight out of his pack and approached the hole. Shining it downwards, one could barely make out a curve that started about five hundred feet down before turning out of sight two hundred feet farther. Give or take. The flashlight wasn't powerful enough to make out any details.

Another leak sprung, and there was a low rumble. "Um, guys? I think the hole is about to collapse."

 

[Febel]

"I was operating under the assumption that whatever made that hole would happily make another. Rick's right, this hole's not fresh enough for any sort of good recon. It's best we leave it and move on, we'll inevitably find another one at some point."

 

[staika]

"Okay guys enough with the chatter, for now lets search around and see what else we can find." Jason ordered as he turned away from the hole. The other squad members started to walk away from the hole when there was a large earthquake. The earthquake took Jason's attention away from the hole and when it stopped he looked back and the hole was gone. "Looks like it caved in on itself. Maybe that's why the lizard birds flew out of the hole." Jason wondered as he went over to where the hole once was.

 

[Kasten]

"Whatever that was, it's gone now. should we fan out?" James looked to Jason for orders

McMillan was talking to a soldier from the Tokyo "So, let me just get this straight, you don't have to be the lackeys to a WINGS solder?" ".... No, our WINGS just stay in the command section and they don't bother us for the most part." McMillan thanked the soldier, and walked over to James "Can I get a transf-" "No, I can't give you that, and I order you to forget the entire idea" James interrupted, smiled at McMillan, and followed his squad with McMillan left there, and then running to catch up.

 

[staika]

"Yeah fan out and see if you guys can see anything." Jason ordered as he looked around. Jason checked around the area where the hole once was and stood on it and noted that the hole was most likely completely filled in.

Spoiler: OOC

Okay guys I don't want you to find anything super spectacular about the hole because I already have something in mind and you may screw up my idea

 

[Grim327]

Continued his scan of the surrounding area. All he could see were lizard birds flying around in the distance, almost seemingly like buzzards back on Earth. "I do believe we need to give the lizard birds a proper name, after all we did first discover them. I say we call them flying geckos, anyone agree?" Chris mentioned to the group.

 

[Kasten]

"I suggest we let the Medic name them, he's probably taken biology at some point." James was examining a several-legged scaled reptile... like... lizard.... spider.. thing? As it squirmed, and he threw it up where it was swooped and eaten by one of the flying creatures, which seemed to move in localized networks of flocks.

 

[InkBlot Royalist]

"Sure, name the flying lizards. That's why we're here right?" Jobe grumbled as he started examining the surounding area. Hole caving in on themselves, large groups of flying scaled beasts, this was all very...quaint, but nothing that would merit the attention of an elite killing team. Where were the alpha predators?
"Well this is fun" he said, loudly enough for rest of the squad to hear him.

 

[Kasten]

"I notice. By and large, the ground animals are constructed to be very fleet of foot, or the animals fly. I vote sandworms as a priority concern, we must be like the newest chinese buffet in town." James glanced back at McMillan, who looked like he was gearing for a fight with the worms Great. Exactly what I was trying to train out of him. Harsher regimens, as soon as we're on the ship.