//------------------------------// // Part 9 // Story: Sins of New Eden // by Hivemind //------------------------------// “...and the rest of the planet is just white noise. We can’t see a damn thing.” “Have you tried everything?” asked the captain. “Scans, re-scans, camera drones, binoculars even! We have exhausted every avenue! As of right now, that single patch of land is the only safe place to establish an outpost!” said Vadik while he gestured at a single undisturbed space in the midst of a big ball of fuzzy distortion. The captain rubbed his chin while his eyes starred deep into the bright orange fade of the fuzzy holographic map of Earth before him. This went on for several minutes. Everyone in the room could just stand and stare at the captain, eagerly awaiting his response. Finally, he stopped rubbing his chin and spoke up. “Are you sure...?” Vadik gestured with both hands to the to the map, “Does this look unsure to you?” The captain turned to the map, oggled at it for a few moments, then turned back to Vadik. “Fine. No risks will be taken in this operation. We will establish our forward outpost there. As soon as we load up the VTOLS with the necessary supplies and soldiers...” “Uhh sir...there’s...a slight problem in that plan of yours...” said Titas while he scratched the back of his greasy head. “Care to tell Titas?” asked the captain. “S-sure sir.” Titas reached over to the map control console and punched in some unknown commands. The single spot of un-filtered space that Vadik had made such a rant about earlier cut itself away from the globe, turned over so that the surface was pointing upward, and re-sized itself so that it was in everyone's full view. After the section finished sizing itself out, a holographic sheet of what Canderous assumed was probably the planet’s atmosphere started to form a large semicircle that hovered in the air about two feet above the section surface. When the semicircle was complete, a small blip that took on the form of your typical battle-ready VTOL appeared above the atmospheric representation. “This,” Titas gestured towards the section surface, “is the planet’s surface.” He then gestured to the atmospheric sheet, “This, is the planet’s atmosphere.” Finally, he gestured towards the VTOL, “And this, is a VTOL, loaded out with the usual roster of field supplies.” “Now, watch what happens...” Titas leaned down and tapped a small green button. The holographic VTOL started to descend towards the planet in the usual air to ground process. As the VTOL starts to enter the atmosphere, it begins to light up and break apart into tiny bits and pieces of hologram. After a few seconds of anticipation, it was clear that the holographic VTOL could not break through the atmospheric sheet. It soon disintegrated in a tiny yet bright ball of what Canderous guessed was supposed to be fire. “If we try to send in supplies from up here, they’d burn in a ball of hellfire.” Vadik gave Titas an amused yet annoyed stare. “How in the blazes did you figure that out?” “Engi’s gotta know this stuff.” said Titas with a smug grin. Vadik huffed and looked toward the captain, who was back to staring at the planet hologram again. “What do you propose we do sir?” asked Vadik. The captain stared at the hologram for a few seconds more, then turned his gaze back to Vadik. “Vadik, how far away are we from Earth?” “Around three-hundred eighty-five thousand kilometers away, but that is from here to the surface. Why?” The captain once again turned back to the hologram. He moved his arm directly above the atmospheric sheet, then he guided a single finger downward, his gesture slowly descending towards the planet, only to stop about halfway from the surface. His face drew into a wide grin while his finger stayed in place. Titas, looked at the captain closely, his eyelids lowered in a suspicious way, while his mind wondered as to what the captain was planning. His eyes moved to his extended arm, then followed it down to his finger, and with an inner Eureka, it finally clicked. “Oh ho ho, I see what your planning sir...” said Titas while he let out a slight chuckle. “Planning what?” Vadik moved his own eyes to the captain’s arm, then down in the same manner until his own mind finally understood the captain’s planning. “Y-your serious. Really?” “Oh yes Vadik,” the captain continued, “I am most serious.” The captain reached down and fiddled with the map’s control console, causing the map to vanish. He then tapped away at a few more patterns of buttons until the facial image of a stout officer appeared as a hologram above the console. “Yes captain?” the officer asked. “Inform the navigational officer. Tell him to prep for a short-range warp and descend through the planet’s atmosphere. Stop the ship when we reach the middle sections of the fog cloud, approximately three-thousand meters above the planet surface.” commanded the captain. The officer stood there for a second, dumbstruck at the captain’s awry yet slightly crazy order. “A-aye sir. W-will do.” the officer saluted him lazily before the hologram faded away. The captain suddenly stamped his foot hard on the floor and turned to everyone in the room. “Vadik, report back to the bridge and make sure of it that the navigations officer gets our new heading right. Warp on my command and my command only. Titas, you are to report to the hangar and prep our VTOLS for surface landing. Also, prep those drones of yours as well to carry deployables to Earth’s surface. Bendak, Thane...” At the captain’s words, the two snapped to attention almost immediately, “Organize several platoons of marines and be sure to assign captains to each. Get them ready for planetside insertion.” The captain then moved his hands behind his back and made attempts to stand upright even more. “You have your orders, now see them out!” “Yes sir!” all four of them shouted in unison. They filed out through the door and went off to carry out their respective orders. Canderous, having not spoken a word since the briefing began, started to take his leave, until a now more-calming voice of the captain ordered him to stay. The captain started to slowly walk over to Canderous’s side, taking each slight step in stride with his near-concealed hands swaying behind him. “Canderous, I need you to descend to the planet’s surface and look for us a sizable position to set up the outpost. Head to the armory and grab a small firearm to protect you from whatever harmful creatures there may be on Earth, along with anything else that you may need for explorational tasks. When we reach the fog cloud midsection, you will be taken down to the surface in a VTOL, just you, and you alone. We may be alone in this part of the universe, but you are still our forward scout.” ‘Great, just great’ Canderous said under his breath. “Well, you have your orders Nord, report to the armory and get fitted out. Dismissed.” ~~~~~ The Nyx’s walls shook violently as it’s humongous form slowly descended through the rough torrent of Earth’s atmosphere. Canderous, along with several other marines hung on tightly to the edges of the metal benches, their faces expressionless in some strange hope that the ship wouldn’t split in half from the violent tussel with gravity. An empty bottle rolled along the floor like a dry tumbleweed on a dusty plain, causing everyone to turn their heads in shock to the floor. Their wide eyes followed the bottle’s slow-paced path across the armory floor, where it soon clanked to a stop on the adjacent wall. Canderous and the other marines kept their eyes glued to the bottle’s surface as if they were expecting it to reveal a set of sharp teeth and lash out at the nearest unsuspecting man. “I swear if Benji’ crashes this thing...” said a nearby marine. “Benji’s been flying this thing for years now Hank. I’m...pretty sure he has it down by now...” said another marine. Suddenly, the ship began to slow itself. The heavy feeling of downward gravity eased up on Canderous’s back. Canderous Nord, report to the hangar bay. I repeat. Canderous Nord to the hangar bay. Every pair of marine eyes in the room turned to Canderous, who calmly stood up and walked out of the armory, pretending that the sudden overflow of relying gazes didn’t exist. The hangar bay wasn’t too far away from the armory, so Canderous found it in less than a minute or two. Upon entering, he discovered that it was completely empty of all life save the non-living objects that usually occupied the hangar of your average supercarrier. The fighters and fighter bombers were buckled down to their holding places in the ceiling and several cases of field supplies and ammunition were chained to the walls several times over. The truck-sized drones that repaired the Iron Giant’s hull earlier were folded up in a strange way and lined up against the wall. “Canderous, over here!” shouted a nearby voice. Canderous turned to see where the voice originated from. He saw Titas leaning on the side of an awaiting VTOL, it’s passenger door wide open and waiting. He walked over to the Titas, nodding him in acknowledgement upon reaching him. “Well, here’s your ride. Shuttle captain’s waiting inside to take you down.” said Titas as he walked over to a nearby metal crate with a small box resting on top of it. “Uhh, Titas?” said Canderous as he stared at the passing grey fog through the clear yet shielded hangar bay opening. “Ya Nord?” “Have you noticed that the ship is still...” “Moving? Course I have, but we broke through the atmosphere upon entry a while ago and are currently descending to our target resting position above the surface at what many can already consider snail’s pace.” Titas unlocked the hatches of the small box and slowly lifted the lid. “Seeing as to how the atmosphere is no longer a problem to us, the captain decided to speed things up a bit. So he ordered me to get a VTOL ready for your scouting operation. Speaking of which...” Titas tossed the box lid aside and reached inside. He pulled out a small, steel rod with an orange glowing light coming from near the top. He handed it to Canderous, who looked upon the strange device with curious eyes, occasionally turning the device over and under several times. “That is a sensory node homing beacon, capable of projecting a wide sensory field that can be picked up by the Iron Giant’s systems. Once you find a suitable location to for an outpost, plant the beacon and sit tight until we transmit our callback signal.” Titas reached further down into the box and pulled out a long belt with several yellow tubes attached to it. The belt also held a flashlight, two flares, and a small knife in a black sheath with the Gallente Federation symbol stamped in bold white on the black leather. Canderous brought out the pistol he obtained from the armory per captain’s orders and attached it to an empty space on the belt. He then took the belt from Titas’s grip and wrapped it around his waist, securing it tightly with buckles on the side. “Your typical field utility belt. Those yellow tubes you see there, are RH stimpacks. There’s only three so use them sparingly.” Titas waved a finger at Canderous to emphasize his words of caution. “Titas, I have the VTOL prepped and waiting. Whenever your ready Nord...” the shuttle captain shouted out from his seat in the cockpit. “Good luck Canderous.” Titas said with a wave while backing away from the VTOL’s engines. “Bridge control, deactivate hangar bay shielding. Lower drive cores to ten percent and level out until VTOL has left mid-sensor zone.” Canderous climbed onto the VTOL’s edge and hoisted himself inside. The doors slid closed as the VTOL’s engines roared to life and the craft slowly lifted off the floor. The VTOL already began to shake a bit, so Canderous reached up and firmly grasped a leather strap hanging from the roof just as the ship began to turn and start to move towards the hangar exit. After a bit of indecipherable radio chatter, the VTOL rocketed out of the hangar bay and dove into the thick fog. Canderous felt the transport dip downwards and gain speed as it sped towards the planet surface. He shook off the sudden burst of dizziness he had experience from the fast take-off. “Check check, Iron Giant to Canderous Nord, how copy?” Canderous turned up the volume on his radio and fitted the earpiece snugly to his right ear. “This is Canderous Nord copy back. What do you need Iron Giant?” “Nothing much Nord, just a simple comms test and short briefing. Switch to channel four and copy back with the captain.” “Aye, will do.” Canderous turned the nob from the one position to the four position and copied back in the usual communications officer style of dialogue. “Check check, Canderous Nord to Iron Giant captain, how copy?” “Copy back Nord. Your objectives are simple. Scout the forest area below, search for a suitable outpost location, plant the beacon, and radio back. Afterward, just sit tight and wait for the heavies to arrive. The stationary platoons will arrive shortly after to secure the perimeter and assist in the outpost’s establishment. Should you encounter any dangerous obstacles or unknown creatures, you are authorized to take any necessary action to protect yourself. Captain out.” Canderous switched back to channel one once the captain clipped out of comms. Suddenly, he felt the forces of gravity slam down on him when the ship took a sudden dip upward, yet still continued it’s descent. “I can’t find a place to land this thing Canderous. I’ll get as low to the ground as possible but you’re gonna have to jump out from there.” the shuttle captain shouted over his shoulder. The shuttle slowed down even further, until it came to a still hover. The right side door slid open, revealing a jungle-like forest area that spread out for miles. The fog wasn’t existent this low to surface, so the strange but beautiful views of tree-laden mountain ranges far and wide occupied his vision. Typical forest ambiance of croaks and whistles filled his already straining ears as the combination of exposed engine noise and indecipherable words coming in loudly through his radio invaded his eardrum. He turned away from the marvelous view and pressed the talk button on his earpiece. “Say again? I didn’t catch you that time.” “I said, you have to jump out now. It’s not that high up. You’ll be fine.” Canderous crept over the edge of the open doorway and looked down. He was only about a meter or two from the ground. Plenty of space to jump and land unharmed. He backed away from the edge for a moment, then stepped forward and lept from the doorway’s edge. He landed on his knees and tumbled over a few times. “You alright Nord?” asked the shuttle captain over the radio. Canderous gave a thumbs up as he started to lift himself to his feet. “Alright, good luck.” Canderous watched as the VTOL climbed high into the air, turned around, and sped towards the sky, where it soon disappeared into the mass of grey fog above. Canderous, was now all alone. He took in the exotic sounds of humanity’s old homeworld. If the forests of Earth sounded this beautiful, then Canderous couldn’t wait to see the rest of the planet. ‘Speaking of seeing the rest of the planet...’ Canderous's thoughts were lost deep in the sounds of the forest. He looked around and found a nearby branch on the ground that would make a perfect hiking stick. He also found a small, pathetic yellow flower growing next to a tree stump. He picked the flower and placed it in the front pocket of his jacket. He knew that he wasn’t out on Earth for a sightseeing tour, but something told him that a little flower in the midst of all the crooked trees and muck would bring him a ray of good fortune. After making sure that the flower was safely tucked away in his front pocket, he picked up his nature-made hiking stick, chose a direction out of blind decision, and started to trudge his way through the dimly lit forest undergrowth, ~~~~~ “Pleeease Rainbow?” “Twilight, do I really have to repeat myself over and over? I can’t get rid of the fog!” “But why? Your one of the most talented fliers in all of Equestria and one of the most experienced members of the weather team!” “The weather team in Ponyville Twilight! We never had to deal with fog in Ponyville before. We just worked with rain and snow clouds, that’s it!” “But-” “Twi’, just because she’s a pegasus doesn’t mean that every pegasus in Equestria knows how to clear foggy weather away. I’m pretty sure that it’l go away soon.” “Besides; why would you want to stare at a bunch of stars in the daytime? Stars are for nighttime silly! After all, we get to stay in the castle until this “danger” or whatever goes away! I wonder where the kitchen is? *gasp* I could finally try to make a cherrychanga with all the nice stuff in that kitchen! Be right back!” Pinkie Pie zipped away from her friends, leaving a pony-shaped cloud of dust in her wake. Her friends giggled at their hyperactive friend’s usual antics. “I apologize if the weather is keeping you unoccupied Twilight. I also must thank both you and your friends for complying with my decision to bring you here. It is all for your own safety, of which I cannot risk.” Twilight and her friends turned to meet Princess Celestia’s voice. They attempted to bow, but Celestia gestured at them with one of her hooves to prevent this. “It’s alright princess. It actually does feel a bit nice to get out of the library every once in a while.” “Glad to hear it. I must return to my duties now. Feel free to explore the castle however you wish.” The princess turned and continued her walk down the hallway. “So...um...what should we do now girls?” Fluttershy asked in a barely audible tone. “I must agree with Fluttershy here. It can get rather dull and drab to just stand in the middle of a corridor for the entire day.” Rarity commented. “Well...we could pay a visit to the castle’s indoor pool.” Twilight suggested with a sheepish grin. “Oooh, a pool? That sounds nice.” Fluttershy agreed with a smile. “I never did get much time to visit the pool when I was studying with the princess back in the academy, so I figured, ‘Why not now’? The pool is usually meant for recreational purposes, but I doubt that they would mind.” said Twilight. “Ah’ reckon’ a dip in the pool sounds purty’ good to me.” Applejack agreed along with Fluttershy. Soon enough, Rainbow Dash gave in to her friend’s desires for relaxation, and soon found herself walking alongside them on their way to afternoon enjoyment.