003; Planetside and Catchall

[customplates]

Who; Aaron and you!
Broadcast; Yes
Action; Various (Planetside and around)
When; All March

Broadcast-Audio | Fleetwide

[Aaron does clear his throat before speaking.]

So, this planet seems interesting. Does anyone want to go exploring? Maybe just get out into something a little more open than the ships? Personally, it's been way too long since I've smelled pine.


(OOC: If you'd like to do anything specific, like meet and greets or just hanging out, feel free to post a starter, or drop me a line on plurk (vikael) if you want to hash out details. Individual starters for things we're already discussed below!)

Comments

[twosoul]

[His expression brightens and he rests his elbows on his knees, leaning forward.]

Now there's something I could get behind. Practical experience is the best way to build skill, and I don't want any accidental friendly fire if things go south. How can I help?

[customplates]

[He nods, smiling.]

That was my thought exactly. There is a lot of free space over on the Iskaulit that I've been told is free game, but you know the capabilities of the firearms here a lot more than I do. I was hoping you could help me find a place that would be safe to practice in?

[twosoul]

Let's do it. If we can at least get the basics down for everyone who cares to learn, we'll be a lot better off.

[It's been so peaceful here it makes him a little twitchy, Calibrations aside. If this was home, they would have been attacked by space pirates five times over by this point.

He grabs a couple small devices and once again regrets not having his Ghost here with him. Having an AI buddy would help out a lot with measuring empty spaces, but as it is he's going to have to estimate a bit.]

Ideally we'll want a long chamber, at least as long as the gym is. Doesn't need to be as wide, but if we can set up space for at least three people to practice at once that would be best.

[customplates]

[Aaron nods, waiting for Lorden to prepare before following him out.]

That's what I was thinking. What happened while we were on the Marsiva cemented the need for me, anyway. If we're all going to be trapped out here, we should be able to defend ourselves, and the Atroma clearly feel that way, too, since they provided us all with weapons.

[He'd been to firing ranges before, but he's really not sure what these things are capable of. Bullets he understands.]

Yeah. Hopefully, we can find something...or at least something we can modify.

[twosoul]

Right. I'm thinking one dedicated lane for the standard issue blaster weapons, one for regular kinetic-type weapons, and the rest can be adjusted to either. Or for, like, I don't know, elemental attacks. [He makes a gesture with his fingers as if firing a gun straight from his hand.

It's a short shuttle ride over to the Iskaulit, and Lorden takes a moment to download the map onto his communicator.]

Looks like the main level is mostly the smaller chambers for shops and things. Want to try up or down?

[customplates]

That sounds good. [Aaron follows along dutifully. He's aware Lorden hasn't been with the fleet any longer than he has, but he's also a combat oriented man, whereas Aaron had to become one out of necessity.]

E...lemental attacks?

[He blinks at the question.] Uh...down first?

[twosoul]

[Guardians, on the other hand, rarely know any life outside combat. This has been a welcome vacation, but he's waiting for the other shoe to drop any minute now.]

Yeah, haven't seen too much of it here? But I got friends back home who can lob fiery hammers, or toss balls of exploding Void energy. Really useful to be able to aim that stuff, I tell you.

[He nods and they start investigating the lower area, eventually finding an unoccupied space that echoes with the emptiness.]

Wonder what they used to use this for. Storage, maybe? Think it'd work?

[customplates]

Fiery hammers and exploding void balls. [He really has a lot to learn...and more to figure out how to anticipate. He shakes his head as he follows Lorden into the echoing chamber. It was certainly big enough.]

Maybe. Think there's anything down here? Should we check it out?

[twosoul]

[Lorden grins and smacks a fist into his opposing palm, and for a brief moment his hands crackle with visible electricity.] Part of what makes us Guardians. I prefer a more hand-to-hand approach there, though. Distance is what rifles are for.

[And speaking of distance, he walks the length of the room, inspecting it. There are a few empty storage bins and other assorted debris, but he judges the structure to be solid - and, importantly, the walls thick.] Anybody home? Little space vermin? Anything?

[customplates]

Is that magic?

[He's been told that 'magic' is fairly common among the passengers, but he hasn't seen much of it.

To his credit though, he is looking around for anything that might be offensive (or dangerous) while he's inquiring.]

It seems clean.

[twosoul]

We call it the Light. There's a pretty advanced technological explanation for it, but the upshot is we get some extra combat abilities so we can stand against the ones trying to wipe us out. It's a bit more limited here cause I don't have my little machine buddy to help me out, though.

[He stands at one end, using his hands to frame an imaginary gallery and measuring the width of the room in paces. It'd be wide enough for at least three lanes, probably four or five, and using wood for most of the construction should suffice.]

"Magic" is what we call some of the stuff the Hive do. It's easier to say than "paracauseal subreality" blah blah blah. You can say they're aligning all the sterile neutrinos with hadronic essence or you can say they're opening a portal with a crystal, and one of those is a lot easier to remember the right terms for.

[customplates]

[Aaron suffices this part to simply stay out of the way. He can take direction well enough and can swing a hammer accurately and efficiently. He even knows his way around power tools, but structural construction isn't something he's skilled in, at least not the planning phase.

That does, however, free up his mind to instead try to make sense of what Lorden was explaining. He chuckles after a moment, looking down.]

Well, it all sounds like magic to me.

[twosoul]

[That makes one of them with any experience around power tools. Lorden's got a very good idea of what weapons are capable of, but his memories from before the war are nonexistent.]

Your version of Earth is from after you sent people to the Moon but before you got to Mars, right? Cause we didn't have any of it till Mars.

[customplates]

[Aaron would be more than happy to teach you about power tools, Lorden. He loves figuring out how things work.]

Uh...yeah...and considering recent events, I think it's going to be a while before we get there.

[twosoul]

[Even planets like the one they're at ought to have at least some of them. It can be a learning experience!]

Yeah, diverging timelines and all that. Didn't stop the Darkness from hitting us hard, when it found us. Just gave some of us a chance to fight back.

[All the more reason to practice with weapons now, of course.]

[customplates]

[Cue the lumberjack song from Monty Python.]

...the Darkness? That...sounds important...and pretty sinister.

[twosoul]

Kind of a blanket name for the enemies of Humanity. You've got your space pirates, your death-cult, your time-bending robots, the ever-expanding empire, and then all of the above sucked into a darkness dimension and controlled by a supreme will. Oh, and the most recent specialty, undead space pirates.

[customplates]

[All in all, Aaron now counts himself as extremely lucky for only having to deal with an undead plague causing the fall of all civilization on Earth.]

Wow.

[And that's all he has to contribute for a moment.]

[twosoul]

[Just one of them would have been enough, really. Had been enough to cause the Collapse. The others were opportunists, followers, signaled by those already there.

Hell, this could still all be a Vex simulation and he wouldn't be able to tell the difference.]

It's a lot. But humanity's stubborn.

[customplates]

[He smiles, because that was a sentiment he could get behind. Had gotten behind, actually. There was a reason he was still breathing, after all.]

Damned right we are.

[He nods at that. It's official, Lorden. He likes you.]

I guess we should start planning, huh?

[He's not the world's best sketch artist, but he does pull a notebook from the pack he always wore, looking over the room again.]

What, uh, are we using for construction?

[twosoul]

[Lorden grins back. Aaron knows what's up - his Earth may have gone sideways too, but he wasn't giving up either.]

All right. Let's see, if we're sourcing from the planet we should be able to get wood for most of it. We'll need some kind of foam backing to absorb the impact on all sides, though - we can check around this ship to see if there's anything suitable if the planet doesn't have anything like that. Ceramic for some sound dampeners in the stalls themselves, and--

[Hmm. Targets.]

Not sure about the targets. Holograms? Paper?

[customplates]

[He nods, adding items to his list.]

Some of the engineers might be able to help us with the foam and the, uh, ceramic.

[He taps his chin thoughtfully.]

You know, I assumed paper, but holograms would be cool?

[twosoul]

Ceramic's optional, but if the planet has some decent minerals it can be easy to make. An engineer could definitely help with that.

[He nods, gesturing a bit as he described different kinds of targets.]

Paper's easy and cheap in this planet, which is weird to me but I guess they have a lot of forest. But if we get stuck on another long haul, like we just got out of, a hologram is more renewable cause you only need some energy to run it. Plus you can change the shape of whatever you want to hit a little easier. Stock up on paper while it's plentiful, then see if we can find someone who can build us a projector?

[customplates]

[He jots down a few more notes in his notebook, nodding.]

It's a fleetwide effort, I'm sure people will be willing to help.

[Right?]

The society down there seems pretty acclimated to hunting. They might actually have targets we could buy.

[twosoul]

Especially people who want to use it. But I've got some credits saved up, too, in case they prefer cash.

[Because even with everything as messed up as it is, some people always prefer cash.]

Now there we go. Some heavy-duty stuff with scoring lines would be a great standard to have, and then we could customize it with our own stuff once it's established.