The Butterfly Effect (Formerly Caprica)

[Brome Teks]

"Right..." He heads off, towards the most logical place to put the combat center of the ship, deep in the heart of it, with as much ship protecting it in any direction.

.oO( If these guys have any logic in their ship design, the CIC should be this way...)

[Cobalt3924]

Suru'Kai walked into the Shadow's Thunder with a grim look. Walking behind him was a team of four of his Worker Drones from his ship, carrying a large metal crate behind him.
"Shadow?" Suru'Kai asked the air, Knowing that the Ships AI could hear him.
"Kai'Sera won't be joining us as she's been ordered back to Ra as soon as possible. I will be taking her place."
He turned to face his Drones.
"Take that to a suitable area as soon as possible."
<YES WARMASTER.> All four of them responded together as they carried the crate off into the Shadow's Thunder.

[BIos_Reaper]

Just as soon as he'd arrived he had to return... Typical. Lost in thought and time looses any sense. About facing he quietly made his way, memory providing the path for every step, avoiding letting Darien spot him through a simple manner of hiding behind some sticking out objects in the corridor, not having to breathe made it easier too... He soon arrived on the CIC, mentally uneasy and worried he might be mistaken as some kind of statuette decoration by the damnable drones milling about everywhere.

[Nelle Kozera]

As they reached the CIC of the vessel, aside from the others that were assigned for this mission, the ship was utterly devoid of life...well aside from the ship itself that is. “We are beginning to depart from Ashland, please make any final communications now before we leave the system from there on out till this mission is completed we’ll be running without communications.” Shadow the voice of the ship said to the crew that had been assigned to the Shadow’s Thunder. The Combat Information Center itself was very small, with only standing room for six people. Screens came down with external views of the ship in all angles with X-Ray, thermal, ultraviolet, microwave, and radio wave image read outs of the local area of space. The helm was unoccupied as where all the other seats of the CIC.

[Brome Teks]

"Right..." He opens up a link to his ship and sends a message telling them where he's going, and who to ask if he dies. All private of course.

[Cobalt3924]

(Woohoo! Hundredth Post!)

Suru'Kai growled lightly at this. He hated doing Missions in Radio Silence, despite his training stating he had to maintain it at all times during missions.
"Kai'Sera? Can you Read me?" He asked in Rakeese to his Ship: His faceplate automatically translating it for everyone unintentionally as he spoke through his communicator.
"Loud and Clear." She replied.
"Ok, what I need you to do is get to Ra as soon as you can. You will have 5 days to get as many people off Ra as you can. Use the FATE Order if you need to. The less people on Ra, the better."
"Understo-"
"Don't Start, Sister. You know that I hate you taking orders from me as Warmaster."
"Sorry. I'll use the FATE order as soon as I arrive. It will be easier."
"Understood. Rk'Ivjet Iecrjhr kcu, Dvdrje."
"You too brother."
"Good Luck."
Kai'Sera turned off the Communication as Suru'Kai sighed heavily. He'd Just found his Sister and already she was leaving his side.

[Arratra]

Arratra sat down at the weapons station of the ship, and quickly scanned what was available. He was completely used to dealing with AIs, having three, effectively at least, aboard the ship he commanded.
"I still don't get why I couldn't bring the Shadow Dragon along. She's just as fast as this ship, and has full stealth capabilities," he said, "In addition to a full squadron of fighters."

[Nelle Kozera]

“Because getting off the Planet is the problem, not getting on it.” Was all that Shadow had said before she gave a warning that they were leaving port, “And I’m not even sure why you where allowed to come along Dragon.” The ship refused to call Arratra by rank or by name, this had root in that all of the Dragons in the Manavara Galaxy (The one your in.) had originated from GSA space causing dragons and reptiles in general to be exceedingly rare in the Core. Though this little quirk had caused many of the Dragons of the GSA to shun those found under the Dark Core banner, regardless if they were born on a GSA world or a Dark Core world. It was apparent that this racial prejudice had made its way to the sentience that was Shadow’s Thunder. “The Relations between the Dark Core and the Galactic Systems Alliance are hostile at best…We are entering Hyperspace…” For those new to Hyperspace travel the experience of transitioning to superluminal speeds would have felt wrong, as if they didn’t belong. This was caused because made a transitioned to an artificial universal membrane for travel called a Hyperspace corridor. Though the effect would wear off in a few hours for the first timers, for those that used this mode of travel regularly would notice the shift but would not feel out of place.

---

December 22nd 2734, Beyond the Rim of the Manavara Galaxy, unnamed Trinary star system

Shadow’s Thunder Dropped out of Hyperspace seventy thousand kilometers away from the second world in the system. The read out in the CIC would have shown that the world was a desert, dry to core, though there was evidence that the world hadn't always been like that do the presence of compounds that could only form in the presence of water though nearly all the water seems to have disappeared. Aside from the readouts of the surface temperature being nearly seventy degrees Celsius, the world was unremarkable. A few second later the Ship produced a topographical scan of an Area of five hundred square kilometers around a single point. This point seemed to be a landing pad large enough for a small frigate sized vessel. A secondary read out showed the orbital space around the world along with a net work of thousands satellites floating around the world in lower orbit though they where currently labeled in friendly blue for the moment.

“I’m beginning our landing run, please prepare yourselves for the decent, and high temperatures.”

[Cobalt3924]

"Oh, Ty'phera... I hate the hot weather..." Suru'Kai growled in his Power Armour, fitting in his armours AC Unit.
Because he was a Rakai, he couldn't handle hot weather very well; the hottest it ever got on Ra was 15 degrees, so he was going to burn without the unit.
"I hope Kai'Sera made it to Ra alright." He muttered to himself as he loaded up his armour.

[Arratra]

"Shock Dragon ready for insertion," Arratra reported from the cockpit of the fighter... or in this case, converting mech. It was a new Shock Dragon prototype that had been included in cargo bay, which Muukhuz had decided that Arratra might need. It had a VI (virtual intelligence) personality, but wasn't a true AI; effectively, the VI acted as an advanced verbal interface.
"HOUND mode engaged," it reported, "Energy shielding online. Boosters on standby. Hover capability enabled. Ready for insertion."

[BIos_Reaper]

To an AI used to a more sophisticated and expedient method of travel as himself, Tieren found this "Hyperspace-corridor" technology to be woefully inefficient and primitive.

He didn't much care for the mission other than it had to be done in order to prevent the brutal slaughter of millions.

Going through his repertoire of equipment he selected what he considered most appropriete. Covering most of his body in refractive armor and tuning his underlying capture-sinks. If things got bad, at least the excessive temperatures of the planet would provide all the power he would need, at least for minimal functionality.

Adjusting his systems to compensate for the unnatural temperatures he knew he was going to suffer. By the time his armor-digitization was complete he would look much like a combat robot, except that his face-plate armor unit could slide back to reveal his face. His fur had meshed together into a skin-like texture which like the rest of him had a glossy metallic sheen to it.

His weapons were compact and folded into his exo-shell armor, being energy based they required little space and were much lighter than other standard weapons, though a single high-caliber rail-cannon was part of his armament.

A small, cone-like particle drive engine built into his back began rotating, emitting a singing like mechanical noise as particles were drawn into his body via reversing of the function of his primary and tertiary heat-capture sinks.

The whole process would make him look very alien to the rest of the crew as he filled up his particle-storage tanks, the exterior of his armor adapting to a desert like camo pattern and assuming the matching color pigments with high-frequency blue LEDs replacing his standard green ones for use in high-light environments.

[Akhil.WhiteWolf]

Rashek steps off swiftly, following the others and stretching a bit. He smirks, helmet in the crook of his elbow, as he swings his rifle around to his back, and puts on his helmet. He switches to the projector. "Don't you guys just love the heat? Reminds me of Ijaat. Wasn't nearly this hot, though. Damn, I'm glad I have this armor." He sighs. "Let's move."

[Arratra]

The Shock Dragon stepped out of the ship, and into the heat; the unit effectively ignored the heat, as it as it moved rapidly forwards.
"So, we're here," Arratra said, unperturbed by the Shock Dragon's jerky side-to-side motion as it walked, "That's the first step taken care of. What next?"

[Cobalt3924]

Suru'Kai followed them out onto the sand, with three Rakai Gun Drones with him. They were designed to look like Mechanical Wolves with a large assortment of weapons and sensory devices, including a very power laser Minigun. They had a powerful AI, so they could work alone when needed, but they also had personalities of their own, which could be problematic at times when they argued.
"Aarrrrgghh... So hot..." Suru'Kai groaned and turned up his suits AC to maximum.
"How can anything survive on this fireball?" He muttered to himself as he reloaded his two Cyclone Rifles and slid them back into their holsters.

[BIos_Reaper]

(OOC: Looks like everyone else already has mechanical assistance of varying degree. My purpose seems to have vanished like a drop of water on this arid world... Never mind me then.)

[Cobalt3924]

(OOC: Looks like everyone else already has mechanical assistance of varying degree. My purpose seems to have vanished like a drop of water on this arid world... Never mind me then.)

(OOC: Not quite. My drones have an AI, but their Mechanical Functionality on this world is about the same as my old Toaster: Virtually Useless. Suru'Kai could use your help when his drones break down.)

[Brome Teks]

Darien Steps out onto the world and squints his eyes as he gets blasted by hot air. "Holy-- Of all the times to have evolved on a temperate planet..." He looks back to the ship.

"Do you happen to have any sort of Hazardous environment suit with air conditioning available? Because without it, I'm going to succumb to hyperthermia pretty damn fast with this coat of fur."

[BIos_Reaper]

Tired of being ignored he followed everyone else out of the accursed bio-ship. At least with firm ground beneath his sensor filled exo-shell toe-boots he could relax. The heat had no visible affect on him.

It did make his arid-world camoflague appearance shine like it was freshly polished until it somehow adapted to compensate for the excess sunlight exposure to nullify the sheen though.

Moving past the Rakai gun drones he did not run an analysis on them like he usually would have. He had no desire to know in how they surpassed him in some field he merely stepped out, the sun bathing him, the temperature providing useful ambient energy via his heat-absorption heat sink power converters.

Permitting him to relieve the workage load on his main power source. He didn't look much more differant from the Rakai drones, except his armor was more organically aesthetic and he retained a facial-design to his mask-covered face.

Canid types after being blended with felids gained useful features and designs to a point where the twin species merged into something resembling a powerful, large type wolf.

The strength, power and durability of a canid and the flexibility, adaptability, quickness and speed, although all were balanced effectively, of a felid. Running numerous scans all at once he made sure if an enemy arrived, at least he would not be taken by surprise.

Spreading his mechanical toes apart to distribute his weight and enable easy balancing on the unstable ground he pivoted a bit to test his gravimetric and electromagnetic gyroscopic stabalizers. Equilibrium was unaffected, adaptation total.

An adaptive matrix running he adapted the temperate energy discharges of his built-in weapon systems to compensate for the extreme heat and relied on motion, terra, sound, ultra-violet and various other systems that did not require thermal detection to work, it would be all but useless on such a hostile world.

[Nelle Kozera]

The sand only lasted for a short few meters before that they standing on something that seemed a form of heat resistant fibrous concert as it only registered as a few centigrade above zero. “Darien…” It was apparent now that the intelligence of the ship could project into the minds of those nearby and in it as well. “It is apparent that this pad has been used recently, and a hazard suit would not be helpful on a pad like this for repairs so it is highly likely that the crews used personal temperature control units which would be found in one of the many workshops below the complex, though I must give a word of warning, the complex below, and the adjoining sections seems have lost power some time ago and are only slightly cooler than surface, so you would have ten minutes at the most to find the device before. Though you may be lucky and find one. If you wish you may take one of the EVA bio-suits for the time being to fend off the heat if you don’t mind the neural uplink…”

Now Shadow was speaking the group, “I will open the complex but remember while it isn’t sandy; it’s still nearly the same temperature as the surface of the world so taking your Armor off is not an option for any of the organics of this group. Unless you are able to obtain of the cooling devices which should be found in the workshops…” Once the ship was done speaking the Landing pad bifurcated in the middle causing a blast of hot air to rush out of the gap that led to the workshops of the complex, it was a set of stairs large enough for a construction Bio-Suit to be taken in out of the area, though it seemed to empty of anything at the moment. Below in hanger and the adjoining workshops was a complete mess, and sure sign that something had gone wrong here. There was a GSA fighter craft that was torn in half weather it by some force or that it was taken apart for repairs was unknown. The only visible clue was that the fighter was leaking fluids which where coagulating in a mess on the floor.

Across the hanger where a few bodies, one happened to be the body of a Rakai, though it misshapen and mutilated as if its insides had torn apart and then used to strangle the creature to death. Other bodies were seen though none where killed in such a grizzly fashion. It appeared that most of them where over taken by the heat…

[Arratra]

Arratra shrugged, and put on his breather helmet, climbing out of the Shock Dragon. The vehicle turned around and walked back into the Shadow, as Arratra's hardsuit adjusted the internal heat to comfortable levels.
He knelt next to the Rakai, and ran a scanner over it, his eyes closed out of respect.
"Whatever did this had claws," he said, "Multiple lacerations across the abdomen... And whatever did it was psychotic."

[Cobalt3924]

(OOC: Just fixed up my Post. I was in a hurry earlier today.)

"Why is there a Rakai here...?" Suru'Kai asked himself as he crouched down beside the Rakai as Arratra closed its eyes.
"Thank you Arratra. By the looks of it, she's been dead for about a week. Looks like the C.O.D was Asphyxia and Septic Shock... hang on..." Suru'Kai paused, turning the Rakais head sideways, revealing a small lump in the back of her neck.
"Well that's lucky, she still has her Soul-Chip." Suru'Kai remarked, Unsheathing one of his Suits Claw Blades and gently removing the skin around the lump and pulling out a small sphere shaped Microchip about the size of a Marble. "I can find out a bit of what happened with this later. It should, if were lucky, contain her consiousness if it's undamaged. Otherwise it'll just contain her Memories, but we can still use them."
He turned and pointed to two drones.
"Take the chip back to the Ship. This sand is too soft for all three of you anyway, and we can't afford this Chip getting any more damaged."
<YES WARMASTER> They replied, taking the chip and walking back to the Shadow's Thunder.
"Hey Quanti, or whatever your name was. I might need your help soon: that drone doesn't look like it'll last much longer." Suru'Kai said, pointing at his third and final drone, which was siezing up in the hot sand at a startling rate.

[Brome Teks]

Darien would indeed go to wherever the EVA suits are kept, and find one roughly his size. He pulls it on and goes out to the landing pad again. He puts the helmet on as he steps outside the Ship and with the rest of the group.

"Wonderful. If it was just blizzard-y cold, I'd be fine... Nope, has to be on a world where my fur is a disadvantage."

He goes towards the Hangar, looking around carefully for any signs of working equipment.

[Nelle Kozera]

The hanger was empty and silent for the moment, thought the stale evilly hot air hung in the hanger like an oppressive blanket. The work shops where full of tools, both organic and inorganic in nature. Like most other things in the hanger. To one side there where twin double doors that lead deeper into the complex. Each one with a Bio hazard sign on them, though before they could to the door, another Rakai body flew out from the doors, though it was still alive…that is till it was impaled through the skull by a rod it landed on killing it instantly. Though something must have hit the Rakai because it couldn’t seemly fly on its own, for only one looking down the hall one would see that there third Rakai though this one was larger than the others that had been seen though it was only in view for a fleeting second before it disappeared down the corridor towards the labs…

[macrorufus]

A soft, rasping sound, like a blade being drawn can be picked up.
An unknown voice appeared from a corner of the room, a dry whisper.
Those with sensitive ears, would be able to pick it up. Those who know it, will recognise it as Kaitanese.
"Sheng wu fa xian."
"Dai."
Then in clear GSA common speach, from the other side of the room, and loud enough for everyone to hear came:
"Orders?"
"Orders are to capture the Subject, ignore the group."
There is a shouted order from the same direction as the GSA speach.
"Gan mang! Bu wen qun!"

After a brief pause, there is a rustle, and series of clicks, the unmistaken sound of rifle rounds being chambered and safeties flicked off.
A series of soft padding sounds eminate from all around the group and disappear in the direction as the rakai appeared in. A voice, tinged with some humour, speaks out.
"A pleasure to play our game with you."

[Akhil.WhiteWolf]

Rashek snaps, raising his rifle quickly, going into a crouch and taking aim at the doorway. "HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!" he shouts.

[Brome Teks]

Darien meeps and quickly finds a place to hide, having no man to man combat training.

[macrorufus]

There is a sudden silence. As if everything that might have been, was no more. There is only the sound of everyone's breathing.
An unseen hand grabs Rashek by the throat, the unmistakable feel of a knife point made itself felt in the gap between the helmet and neck. Any movement would cause the knife to puncture the windpipe, such is it set.
The same voice comes mockingly and even malevolent, this time it is whispered near to Rashek's ears.
"Or what? Are you going to shoot the Shadow?"
The grip is professional, the blade steady, though equally unseen. A crackle of a radio sets off.
"Sergeant, Capture the Subject, that's the objective. Do not harm the group, that is a GSA directive." The voice coming through the radio sounds both exasperated, and a little flustered.
"Yes sir." The answering, same dry whisper, and as quick as it came, the blade is withdrawn, and Rashek is patted gently by those hands, humour in that voice again. "You're as bad as fire, but no match for shadows."

[Akhil.WhiteWolf]

Rashek, flustered, spins around after being released, scanning the area with everything he has. Nothing. To himself, unheard behind his helmet, he curses. "What the hell is going on here?" He looks around, scanning the entire hangar, as far as he could see. Again, nothing. He mutters again, and comes up from his crouch, weapon still at the ready.

[Arratra]

Arratra spun at the sound, raising his rifle. When there was nothing immediately visible, he started snapping down false-colour filters for the visual systems, eventually finding them because of their heat signatures.
"Wait a minute," he said, when he heard the name; he lowered his rifle so it was pointed at the floor, "The Shadows? What are the Shadows doing here? Wait, no, don't answer that," he continued, sighing, "Classified, of course."
He shook his head, and whipped his hand and gun up, so that the rifle was resting on his shoulder.
"What happened here, anyway?" he asked, "You Shadows couldn't have done this to the Rakai; it'd take claws at least twice as long as mine. By the same token, I myself, a SCION trooper, can't have done it. Besides, I just got here."

[Nelle Kozera]

As you look though the false color images its blurred, indistinct, all non-optical sensors where being actively jammed. Though this coming from all around, not just from the stealth units, but from the complex itself, the GSA stealth core was just taking advantage of the fact. Much deeper into the complex and all non-optical sensors would be useless. Though it seemed that GSA stealth core was after subject...or where they?