Beasts Among the Stars (Cloudy1 & VerboseVillain)

[Cloudy1]

Seeing the explosion that was massive despite their position on the planet refracting the light that erupted from where the space ship had been originally, Naomi was at a loss for words other than what was drilled into her from all the training she had been through. "Come in, this is cadet 23014 requesting status!" Naomi spoke with urgency into the radio and continued, "Anyone, do you copy?" hoping for any answer as the two were of no use isolated on the planet, and there was a slim chance that what happened was not as bad as it looked, though not very likely.

The lack of a response was more than enough to tell the story of what had become of the spaceship, only confirmed by the sight of glowing red pieces of metal that were propelled into the planets atmosphere with most burning up on entry. Naomi was rattled by the lack of radio chatter, and the realization of what happened to the spaceship, and that the two of them would be stuck on the planet until the problem was resolved, which could take weeks or longer. She couldn't help but become stiff in her seat as her mind raced with thoughts of what was going on, though she stayed quite to try and preserve her calm demeanor.

 

[VerboseVillain]

The instructor, for his part, searched the sky for enemies. Dropships, sleds, jets. Anything. The sky was empty. Just the remaining debris of the explosion spreading out.

“We need to get to cover. No telling who is watching. I’m going to take over for the time being. From this point on, we assume that we are in hostile territory.”

He switched the controls over to himself, and then he began to run the mech towards the mountains. Trees whipped by while he expertly dodged and wove between them. Finally, he spotted what he was looking for: a small box canyon.

The rock walls would limit their exposure to the sky, limiting the chance that their radiation signature would be detected. The trees upslope would hide them from view.

Jax navigated into the box canyon, and then settled the mech down to conserve power. “I recommend stretching your legs for a minute. We aren’t likely to be attacked for the next thirty minutes or so.”

 

[Cloudy1]

Naomi kept an eye out as Nax took control of the mech, both on the sky for potential debris or threats, to the environment itself. While they were protected in the mech, they didn't have much information about the planet itself, aside for having a habitable atmosphere. There could very likely be dangerous animals or natural conditions of the ground itself that would make traversing the ground troublesome.

Hearing the recommendation she stood up, sliding by Nax's seat in the cockpit to open it and climb out and down the mech. There was no room in the mech to stretch, as it was already a snug fit for the two at the controls. As she took a few steps away from the mech she was met with a crisp winter breeze that was easily able to chill all the way to her bones. The suit she was given to wear when operating the mech not being meant for any sort of extreme weather, being almost solely made to protect against fire should one happen inside the confined area of the mech.

As she made her way a few steps further away from the mech she surveyed the canyon, immediately noting how it was eerily quiet, no noise of animals or anymore crackling coming from anything in the upper atmosphere. There was just a subtle noise of wind blowing through the rocky canyon, and small clatter of a stream not far away from them that was not very wide but extended almost the entire length of the canyon. She stretched her legs out as she walked, not straying too far from the mech, ready to respond at a moments notice.

 

[VerboseVillain]

Nax stayed in the cockpit for thirty minutes, running through all of the possibilities in his mind. His first instinct was to send out a radio message. To find out what was happening. But he knew that would only invite more danger.

What they needed most was time. Time to let the scanners on the mech determine just what...who...was up there. And time meant food, shelter, and water.

Great. He hated camping.

Luckily, there were a few emergency supplies. Unfortunately, most were only designed for a single person. The instructor set up the mech on the lowest reactor setting with the scanners set to automatically record any discernible signals in the noise.

He pulled out a silver thermal sleeping bag designed to hang between two trees for insulation from the cold ground. A small laser pistol. A laser cutter. And a water purifier. Well, it wasn’t much, but it’d have to do.

He finally emerged from the mech. “Well, If we haven’t been attacked yet, it’s likely to be a while. Are there any sources of water around? Hopefully, you remember your survival training. It’s been a while since mine.”

 

[Cloudy1]

Naomi walked back towards the mech as she saw Nax moving around to gather the emergency supplies from inside the mech, knowing there were only supplies meant for one person as it was one of the first things listed in the manual she was given to read, and because mechs in action only needed to have one person to operate them.

Hearing the question she gave a nod and answered, "There's a stream not too far from here, it should be big enough, if not it has to be coming from a spring or some other source," explaining the information she gathered from a quick survey of the land around them. A strong cold breeze rushed through the canyon, causing Naomi to let out a shiver before saying, "Aside from any unknown enemies or wild life the temperatures are going to be the biggest problem, it would be best to get a camp set up while the sun is up..."

Naomi then motioned to the direction she heard the stream from as she began walking again, this time joining Nax. "Oh? Depending on a new recruit for help, you must really be rusty..." she joked with a faint grin, trying to find a way to fill the silence and keep both of them from needlessly worrying about what just happened.

 

[VerboseVillain]

He looked toward the stream. “I just have an honest assesment of my capabilities. Sad result of babysitting newbies all of the time. I suppose that I can get a camp set up here while you go get some water. I am rusty at it, after all.”

Nex busied himself with setting up a small camp. The sleeping bag he hung between the legs of the mech, so that the cold of the ground wouldn’t seep in at night. Thankfully, it’d been parked in a manner to make a decent windbreak for any gusts coming up the canyon.

Once done, he went out with the laser cutter, checking that it was charged. It wasn’t hard to find a few branches to cut down, and he quickly arranged a pile on some rocks. Soon enough he was done, sweating despite the cold, so he took off his shirt, letting his skin breathe in the sunshine.