Lost with All Hands [Open]

[Frazer]

Lost With All Hands

Unknown Planet in the Dark Reaches of Outer Space


Prelude from the Perspective of the crew of the Tassafaronga

Space Station Achilles in the outer reaches of the inner colonies went radio silent, stationed at the time with other ships to protect the station was the UNSCS Preston. A Virtue Class Carrier, Frazer's old ship from back when he was the rank of Commander.

Frazer was notified that not only did the station go dark without a single SoS call but someone on the Preston managed to get a distress call out using a private communication channel to the Tassafaronga's communication officer, Dean Wilson, who along with the other bridge crew served on the Preston at the same time as Frazer.

Frazer convinced High Command to send him, his ship and two Paris Class Heavy Frigates. The UNSCS Tassafaronga being a Punic Class Supercarrier was being kept out of the action out of fear of losing her. Frazer pushed that this would be a simple patrol to investigate what happened and at the first sign of danger Frazer was to pull back, report and leave. The Admiralty bought this as they couldnt afford to pull back any frontline battlegroups to investigate this occurrence so reluctantly agreed to send Frazer at the head of this battlegroup.

Frazer lead the battlegroup to the coordinates of the distress call that came from the Preston. Once they arrived in the vicinity nothing could be found on the sensors nor on the visuals, the Preston, Space Station Achilles, all disappeared without a trace.

Suddenly out of nowhere two white beams of light rippled through the space around the battlegroup and hit one of the Paris Class frigates. Burning right through the the shields and then the structure of the ship the frigate was ripped in two and never stood a chance to respond.

Immediately Frazer brought the Tassafaronga to battle stations and ordered a full evacuation of the frigate. Just as he was relaying that order to his communication officer, a bright light surrounded the spacward facing screens. All sensors went haywire, unable to decipher the cause of this Frazer called upon Liara, the Tassafaronga's A.I, to investigate the problem. She was unresponsive and didnt appear on the A.I pedestal. Suddenly the ship yawed with great speed, then the Tassafaronga began to shake violently.

The white light dimmed, Frazer in the distance could see they were going fast, faster then light itself, and in the distance a planet was slowly becoming bigger as they approached, then just as it ended the light begin to burn the eyes of the crew and blanket the ship in its light. Frazer's XO, Henry Ward, stood up and just as he was about to speak he collapsed. The rest of the crew to Frazer's horror began to do the same, where the stood and sat. As Frazer was about to call for an evacuation he fell to his knees, closing his eyes slowly due to unknown causes.

The Tassafaronga became silent across the entire ship. The 6000 plus crew all unconscious. The bright lights become dim, slowly vanishing from around the ship. The Punic Class Carrier itself was now pulling slowly towards an unknown planet, in an unknown region of space. Lost with all Hands.

Now at an unknown point of time, in an unknown region of space. The Tassafaronga slowly drifts towards this unknown planet, with all of her crew unresponsive.

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Planet Description

The planet is an ideal replica of Earth. With different climates surrounding the globe, from the super frozen wastes in the North and South. To the deep deserts of the equator. The planet has deep rich crevasses that run deep into the planets core. These are of Forerunner design.

The planet has a weird gravitational pull, whilst in this pull you cannot escape it via normal ship thrusters or via a slipspace ruptures. Source is located within the planet somewhere

The wildlife is aggressive, yet beautfiul. Creatures roam the planet in various sizes, from small insects with venom that will kill a man in seconds. To gigantic dinosaur looking creatures with instinct and hunt the smaller animals.

The day cycle lasts around 40 "Earth" hours. The night is longer and deadly at around 50 hours. At night creatures become more aggressive, at round 25 hours into the night these creatures begin to actively hunt each other in ways that wont be seen in the day time.

Planet Inhabitants / Facilities 

- Forerunner bases within the deep canyons littering the globe within these are normal  Forerunner defences such as Sentinels.

- Forerunner controlled creatures, similar to the wild ones that roam the planet. These sit in defence of certain key Forerunner facilities. 

- Three crashed Covenant CAS-class assault carriers, with Covenant forces personally rebuilding and scavenging to attempt to bring their ships online.

- Unknown Rogue A.I, of Human design, in a power struggle to keep control of the Forerunner bases. Control of some Forerunner defences and creatures.

- Crashed UNSC Paris Class Frigate (The second that was apart of the Tassafaronga battlegroup), survivors unknown.

- Crashed UNSC Virtue Class Carrier, the UNSCS Preston ref above, survivors unknown.

- Space Station Achilles In-Orbit, damaged, with a lack of power and air supply slowly draining.

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Objectives for ALL

1. Discover how you got here

2. Investigate the planet and search for survivors of your faction

3. Investigate the facilities across the planet for help on objective 1

4. Recover or destory the rogue Human A.I

5. Find a way home

(Objectives, events, rogue Human A.I, Forerunner forces will be posted as the story progress and the objectives change / get completed. Updates will be into its own section below)

Important Information

- You cannot escape the planet untill you have taken down the Forerunner grid network which is controlling the gravitational pull, whilst in this pull you cannot escape it via normal ship thrusters or via a slipspace rupture. 

- Forerunner creatures attack on site, regardless if shot at or not.

- Normal wildlife is not too aggressive until night

- Lots of Forerunner technology to be stolen / salvaged / reworked

- Settlements of Covenant forces are spread around the three crashed ships, leader of which is unknown.

- The Rogue A.I controls 30% of the Forerunner bases, that control increases day on day. The A.I is of UNSC design.

Planet Factions
(That can be joined via new or current characters)

UNSC Forces
(Alive)

UNSCS Tassafaronga - Punic Class Supercarrier:
- C712 Longsword Strike Fighter (120-150)
- D77-TC Pelican (80)
- UNSC Marines (1200 - Mission only regular is 800)
- UNSC ODSTs (250 - Mission only regular is 150)
- D96-TCE Albatross (10)
- M808B Scorpion MBT (50)
- M850 Grizzly MBT (15)
- M12 Warthogs (200, various)
- UNSC Naval Personal (6000+)
- Other UNSC Development personnel, infrastructure & equipment  
- // Restricted Personnel //

UNSCS Preston - (Crashed) Virtue Class Attack Carrier:
- Unknown compliment of Marines & Naval personal
- // Restricted Personnel //

UNSCS Ischia - (Crashed) Paris Class Frigate:
- Unknown compliment of Marines & Naval personal

Space Station Achilles - (In-Orbit) Space Station:
- Unknown compliment of Marines & Naval personal
- // Restricted Personnel //

Covenant Forces
(Alive)

20 Stronghold bases of survivors from the three crashed ships
- Unknown compliment of forces (4000 - 10,000)
- base Defences online
- One very large base centred around the repairable ship, the ship is providing the base shields and protection. 

2 Grounded CAS-class assault carriers
- Unknown compliment of forces (500-1000)
- Defences online

1 Repairable CAS-class assault carrier,
- Unknown compliment of forces (250-500)
- Defences online
- Attached to main base providing shields an extra defences. 

(more to be added ^)

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Story / Event Updates

- There is now a distress signal being sent down from the Tassafaronga asking for any survivors to immediately get in contact with the ship. This message can only be heard with either working power to the crashed ship via the communication device on it OR with a working long range distress beacon that can pickup and send distress calls long range into space. Power is currently off on ALL crashed ships.

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(Other neutral factions might be located on the planet who have been ship wrecked themselves.)

For info on how to join this story and join any of the factions listed above, which includes neutral factions, please check out the OOC post.

yappashalorpg.proboards.com/thread/12808/ooc-sign-lost-all-hands?page=1&scrollTo=115865

[Faclan]

Yun;
Name of Character - Yun
Link to current character profile or specify new character - link
Faction - Covenant
Current Location - Perched on the upper decks of the first grounded CAS carrier. 
Other helpful information -
On the lookout for flying wildlife, not the ground.

Cad;
Name of Character - Cad
Link to current character profile or specify new character - link
Faction - Covenant
Current Location - Trying to push toward a Forerunner crevice
Other helpful information -
Carries a large radio on his back for direct orders and reports.

Nek Dal;
Name of Character - Nek Dal 
Link to current character profile or specify new character - link
Faction - Covenant by force, slave.
Current Location - Repairable CAS Carrier exterior, ground level.
Other helpful information -
Looks damaged and in poor form. Clearly not a covenant soldier.

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How many excruciatingly long days had it been? Or even longer nights? How many warriors had been taken during those nights. Either pricked on sentry duty trying to man the ramshackle walls. Screaming and pleading for salvation as their blood turned to acid in their veins and they died vomiting blood. Or bit in half by the larger creatures? Or taken by the gods in a flash of orange and then a pile of ash. It was already tricky to keep the troops calm but with so many deadly dangers outside the walls of the bases and even those had been shown to not protect against determined attacks. It was some record low morale. And only the most devout still kept hope that they could escape. Most had been reduced to panicking worried wrecks. The report of Human ships falling to the surface of this cursed world did nothing to raise the spirits of the troops. They just wanted to go home. But it seemed like everything was trying to stop them.

Yun - Gutted CAS carrier #1
And they were supposedly godly protectors, custodians of the sacred Rings. And yet they melted any who got to close to those cervices. They seemed to not even understand the prayers and sermons that had been called to them by the first who had seen. Believing they were truly blessed to witness a holy protector. Before they were reduced to ash. Its a good reason Yun had other reasons to stay here besides religion or he would have given it up days...weeks? Ago. It was so hard to tell anything on this world as he perched on what used to be a banshee launch bay on one of the gutted CAS carriers. It would never fly but they hoped through its sacrifice another would. Yun had his doubts as the engines didn't help them the first time but thats why the most brave or most desperate were currently trying to get close to the cervices. There seemed to be something else holding them. That something else needed to be removed.

But this vessel still had supplies, parts, and weapons to take so the force he was assigned too were trying to remove what they could. Scouring the  vessel for anything of use as the Ruuthian kept eyes on the sky. Trying to watch for hostile insects or larger birds of prey. Or the hated Sentinels. He had been given free rein to fire on the wild life. But the Sentinels were to be left alone out of a mix of hope and fear. Hope that they wouldn't attack and fear that if one was destroyed the ship and its salvage crew would absolutely be attacked. So he watched, his sniper team spread out on other points doing the same as other guards watched the ground.


Cad - Moving through the jungle toward Forerunner crevice
Was it early morning? Had they enough time to get there, scout, and then get back? Was the time on their side? Such questions and similar mutterings had been going through the lance assigned for this operation. But the Sangheili major leading them had long since given up trying to shut them up. There were just far too many unknowns to be calm about this. They all knew that the now mostly hostile Sentinels came from these massive splits in the earth. And they were walking right toward it. But there was little choice in it really. The source that brought them down had to be somewhere. And somewhere could be inside. Someone had to go down there and try to figure out a way to turn it off while the force tried to repair a ship to escape. A team effort.

Cad offering a prayer to the Gods even though they seemed to be against them as he patted his scarf. Before gripping the plasma pistol tighter as he tried to keep alert.  Shield deactivated to try and offer some stealth from the monsters in this jungle. It was likely a terrible plan. But at least it was something - anything - to occupy his mind. So he wasn't wracked with panic and existential dread sitting back at the ships waiting for news and further reports of soldiers lost.


Nek Dal - At the CAS currently being repaired, slave labor
He didn't believe in the Gods. But that didn't mean he could question them about their jokes. Cause oppf this was a good one. Snatched in transit from his ship to a trade station. Slip spaced to a larger Covenant craft. Given a show trial if that, beaten, starved, and then bundled onto another Covenant craft to be taken to his own execution. And then flash and bang! He was removed from that great journey! Only to end up here. On this planet of death. An Unggoy watching over him gleeful of being able to force a Kig-Yar to work under his orders. And not just any Kig-Yar but a T'vaoan too! The most proud and cruel of the Kigs!

The heretical engineer currently at the back left of the exterior of the grounded CAS vessel. Working with the Engineers the Covenant still had to try and do what they could to make the engines work. It was either this or be decapitated on the spot. The choice given by the Shipmaster with rather glum delivery after they had roughly landed. He had been there while the list of grievances was listed out for Nek. He knew he was a skilled Engineer to be able to mash up Kig-Yar and Covenant tech and make it work. A terrible heretic but now with badly limited supplies a necessary evil. So here Nek was. Trying to just keep his head down and work. It was painful to be reminded of his former life as a slave under the Sisterhood. But he had survived and escaped that...he was really hoping he could do that again. Just be quiet and work. Make them forget to beat you today...

[Frazer]

Captain Frazer York (Profile)

UNSC Tassafaronga

TCVA-02

Punic Class Supercarrier

Location: Unknown (In Orbit of the Planet)

Time: Unknown

"Do you know why you are here?" A voice from the dark echoed. A soft, female voice that Frazer recognised.

“You promised this would never happen, you said you would be there to stop it.” As the voices went on Frazer could hear a beeping that started to become louder and louder.

“We will meet again...” As the voice finished, the beeping echoed around him. Frazer started to open his eyes. Red. Red covered his eyes, he began to open them more. As he did so he started to notice where the hell he was. The bridge, the Tassafaronga’s bridge. He looked up and saw Liara, the ships A.I. on the pedestal standing, running through calculations.

“Where are we? Come on sensors pick up something…” She exclaimed as Frazer began to rise to his feet, as other members in the bridge crew started to wake up.

“Liara, status report. What happened, where did you go?” Frazer asked as he limped on over to the holo table. At this point Henry, the Tassafaronga’s XO, joined Frazer at the table. He looked as bruised and confused as Frazer. The rest of the bridge crew started to take back their stations.

“I…. I don’t really know what to say sir.” Liara said as she continued to run calculations and bring up the space vicinity around the Tassafaronga on the holo table. “I was locked out; I had no control of the ship. I couldn’t return anywhere. Darkness, all I saw was darkness.” Frazer and Henry looked at each other with some confusion.

“How were you locked out Liara? No one can touch your security protocols, no one. Were you hacked? By another ship, someone onboard?” Henry asked as Frazer was passed a tablet that contained a scan of the area. Frazer then looked down at the tablet, then back up outside the bridge screens. Without even realising, Frazer saw the planet. A planet that somehow looked alien, but one that looked familiar with its lush and dense environments.

“No not hacked, just no control. It’s like I was locked away unable to respond but still active.” Liara said and as Frazer pointed to the planet outside, he spoke with a confused voice.

“Where the hell are, we Liara? I don’t recognise any of this, the planet it looks like Earth but alien somehow?” Liara pulled up the planet onto the holo table, Frazer leaned in. Price, the ships Tactical Officer, and John Davis, the ships Operations Officer, joined Frazer and Henry at the holo table. Liara vanished from the A.I. pedestal and then appeared on the holo table itself.

“This Captain is a harder question to answer believe it or not.” Liara paused as the planet vicinity was displayed. “We have no records on this planet sir. Nothing. Its design is a mock of Earth but small scans indicate deep crevasses and canyons of unrecognised alien structures. These go all the way down to the core of the planet…”

“This doesn’t make any sense. We came here to investigate Space Station Achilles and the Preston. Suddenly we lose a heavy frigate and before we know it, we are blinded by light, taken into slipspace to here and then knocked out. How far away is here, can we just leave?” Frazer asked as Liara pulled up a highlighted zone that spanned the entire planets orbit. Where the Tassafaronga was sat in.

“That’s the issue Captain. This location. Its distance is incalculable. I cannot get a fixed reading on the distance from here to anywhere. Something is blocking my sensors, something which I believe is on the planet. But this is the weird part, the planet is emitting a certain type of gravitational pull which is not only preventing us from leaving its orbit but is also blocking the use of any slip space engines. We I am afraid are trapped here.”

Frazer pondered quickly on this. They were stuck in the middle of nowhere, with no clue on how to get home. He remembers his orders. To return home at the first sign of trouble and now instead of that he has potentially cost the UNSC one of its greatest weapons in the war. Frazer snapped out of this thought and began to bark orders, he needed to get things moving again.

“Liara, perform a full scan of the planet. Look for traces of UNSC ships, preferably the Preston and the Ischia.” The Paris class frigate that wasn’t destroyed. “Look for signs of Space Station Achilles too. If we are here, I have a feeling we may discover what happened to them here as well. Deep scan, investigate to the best of your abilities the planet surface, description and life. I need to know everything you can about this planet.” Liara nodded and disappeared off the holo table.

“Henry, I need you and John to get all stations across the ship reporting in. I need to know of injuries, deaths, damage to the ship, strange happenings. All of it. I need to know if our ship is still 100% operational. Bring me the Captain Tarik.” The leader of Tassafaronga’s marine ground forces. “I need him up here as well, we might need to head down to surface and discover how to leave. A plan needs to be put into place if we want to return home. At the double Commander.”

“Yes sir.” Henry said as both him and John left the bridge.

“Dean send a distress signal to any ships in the vicinity. Open channels, broad range. If there is a chance there is any UNSC ships or forces in and around this planet, I need them to know we are here.”

“Understood sir.” Dean began to press a few buttons on his station. “To any ships out there, this is the UNSCS Tassafaronga, we are tra…” Dean continued to repeat the distress signal call. Frazer looked back to the planet and its orbit on the holo table. He could tell they were trapped in the centre of this planets orbit pull. His only mission was to get this ship and its personnel home. He awaited the results from Liara’s scan and status report of his entire ship. Hope, he thought. Hope is now all he had.

[Faclan]

Yun - Gutted CAS carrier #1
"Clear north side."

"Still clear south as well." It was boring. But that was good. It meant the workers were not about to be raided by wildlife. Well at least from the sky. Yun glancing down at the forest before looking back up. Slowly pacing back and forth on the platform as he adjusted his headgear. He disliked wearing the bright light box but the seemingly endless sun beating down on him when he needed to look up would make spotting the birds impossible if he didn't have it on. At least they had improved the ventilation from the earlier models or these. Then again those were likely defective models the Sisterhood could get on the cheap or for free from old Covenant stockpiles no one cared about guarding anymore. His own hand coming up to smack the side of his helmet as he nodded to himself. He was getting distracted. But he immediately regretted doing that as he stumbled forward and fell flat on his his helmeted face. Laying still on the warm metal deck before slowly rolling onto his back. Eyes full of explosions of color as he tried to take deep breaths.

Thankfully noone was around to see him like this as these episodes were becoming more frequent. His body was breaking down...he didn't have long now. Slowly sitting up he clutched his arms to his chest as a cold wave swept over him. Shivering in the warm sun before he finally managed to stand up. Checking his rifle again before nodding. At least so far it wasn't painful, his slow inevitable death, he hoped that wouldn't be coming later. It was just the colors and loss of balance now. He could deal with that and still shoot. Glancing down at the forest floor one more time before turning to head back down the launch pad while looking skyward.


Cad - Moving through the jungle toward Forerunner crevice
Clicking the top of the plasma pistol to double check its full charge Cad could tell he was ancy. They had all heard of the reports of the wildlife watching. Waiting. As if they knew what was going on. Like they were defending the technology that was keeping the Covenant here. The party had seen the bushes rustling. The few Unggoy who were carrying the surveying equipment glancing around nervously at the noises and shifting before the Major told them to get back on track. Dont draw attention. Just focus on moving efficiently. It was a good plan. Until an Unggoy tripped over a high root.

Bowling into the back of Cad who awked in surprised at the weight suddenly cracking into his spine as the two tumbled to the floor. The readout screen the Unggoy had been carrying slamming right into the back of Cads head as he was knocked almost instantly out. Unfortunately gripping his pistol in the brief moment of panic before blackness which let off a shot. A single green bolt sent skyward. The scouting party being silent and still as the Unggoy stayed laid over top of the radio operator. Before three large bull sized lizards erupted from the bushing. Roaring at the literal aliens to their territory as the Unggoy fired in panic.

The forest now full of roars, plasma fire, and Sangheili cries for stoppage and order as the survey party split and ran. Leaving Cad, a readout screen, and a Covenant battery pack left half out of some bushes as the sounds retreated away from him.


Nek Dal - At the CAS currently being repaired, slave labor
"Ten rook break, then back to work!" The Unggoy would cry out as Nek gently set the cutting torch down. Before he himself collapsed down to the dirt on his butt. The Engineers floating above him happily still bleeting away as they signaled to each other and waved their hands over cracks to re seal them. The few lesser crewmen taking out rations and drink as they worked a fair distance away. But Nek was left in his own section. In only his now tattered pants and with chunks of his mane gone as he had no rations for him. It had only been a day and a half without food and water he would have to deal with it! As a Heretic!

But he said nothing. He didn't want to give the Unggoy the satisfaction of having him bow and scrape for a scrap of food. Not for any reason of defiance but because Nek knew it would just let the grunt know that he would squawk on command. And that would make him want to do it more. Just like the old Drivers had been. No. Better to just be quiet and make them get bored of you. Hed get food and drink once this shift was over. They would punish him but couldn't let him die when there was still work to do. He was too valuable for that. For now.

The T'vaoan just holding his head in his hands and trying to breath. He could do this. He could make it through this again.

[LaxKnight]

Master Sergeant Natalie Vivnette
UNSCS Ischia (What’s left of it), near SOEIV launch bay
Rude Awakening


    Natalie awoke with ears ringing, then she realized that the ringing was actually klaxons. Her vision was red, but it turned out to be the emergency lights that filled the room. She was a bit banged up, but pain meant she was still alive. She found herself on the deck. How’d she end up here? She was sitting at a table, battle stations sounded, and…

    That wasn’t important. She needed to get up and figure out what was going on right now. Natalie groaned with a swear in French as she slowly rose to her feet and surveyed the scene. She was still in the ready room near the SOIEVs. Anything that was loose was certainly on the floor, which was thankfully little but there were several weapons. Several other ODSTs were on the ground as well with a few waking up like she did. There were no immediate threats that she could see. Her VISR also informed her that her suit’s integrity held, and the air was breathable. However, she wasn’t hearing anything over her comms. She patted herself down to find her VISR wasn’t lying about her armor, her M6C SOCOM still in its holster, her knife still in place, and nothing opened on its own volition. Even her cigarettes were still there. She grabbed a silenced Battle Rifle, racked the bolt, and looked it over to make sure it still worked. The sight might need to be fixed, but the priority was figuring out what the hell is going on.

    As if on cue, Natalie saw movement on her left and turned to see it was Gunnery Sergeant Clem Byers who was often her second.

    “What’s going on?” she asked.

    “You’ll find out when you shit me a headcount,” Natalie growled.

    Used to her abrasiveness, Clem wordlessly left to go check on the other ODSTs in the room. With that delegated Natalie would look over her long-range radio and see that it was still operational. She pondered whether to use it or not before deciding against it. Normal range comms will work fine enough on a ship, even if it was screeching at them. She tuned her channel to the UNSC emergency frequency then said, “Anyone on channel, this is Oscar Romeo 1 1. Comms check, over.”

    Best to use a comms check to see that A) her comms were working and B) see if anyone else was there. With nothing but silence so far, she had no idea if they were perhaps the only ones up.

[Remnant]

Sergeant Gary MacAddy
UNSCS Ischia, Underbelly (Primary) Hangar Bay
Wake Up, Gary

“Anyone on channel, this is Oscar Romeo 1-1. Comms check, over.” MacAddy awoke from his brief slumber. His head was burning with an indescribable pain as he went into a coughing fit. His body burned too, but that was a condition he was already used to, something he'd dealt with for the last decade. The burning sensation in his head, however, was definitely new. Quickly getting up and brushing himself off, he looked around. His entire squad had collapsed with whatever had happened, everyone sprawled out on the floor. Remembering that there was a comms check, he radioed back in.

"Oscar Romeo One-One, this is Checkmate One-Two, reading you loud and clear. My squad's incapacitated, along with most of the Hangar Bay. SNAFU." MacAddy keyed back to the ODST Reconnaissance group. Checking himself to make sure everything was still intact, he began waking up the rest of his squad, nudging them and gently shaking them to life. A few of them stirred but some were completely knocked out. Looking up, MacAddy spotted movement behind a pile of overturned crates. Assuming someone else had woken up, he looked past the crates and at the end of the massive hangar bay. The huge hangar bay doors were half-way open, rays of light illuminating the entire bay. Once his eyes adjusted to the sun, he could see... trees?

Green dominated the landscape. Vast fields of grass, massive trees with equally massive roots tunneling through the dirt. From his position in the hangar bay, MacAddy assumed they had crashed into some kind of forest or jungle clearing. The towering trees clearly made an impenetrable canopy in the distance, but light bathed the location they were currently in. Having took his eyes off the crates for too long, MacAddy heard rumbling again. Another crate fell off a separate pile, breaking open to reveal tightly packed rations. Rations that rats were now fleeing from.

"Gross." MacAddy muttered to himself. Before he could react, a wolf-like creature climbed on top of the remaining pile of crates. It was reptilian in nature, with a long snout like that of a crocodile. Four eyes, two on each side of its head, with a full set of razor-sharp teeth along its elongated mouth. As it climbed down the pile and started digging into the rations, it revealed more of its body. Rigid scales textured its body and vertical armored plates stuck out of its back, going down the length of its tail. Pointed quill-like spines layered its broad tail like a huge, freak porcupine. The creature turned its gaze towards MacAddy, slowly stalking towards him.

MacAddy reached for his MA5C only to find it wasn't holstered in its usual spot over his shoulder. It was in the armory, where all weapons are usually stored during transit. He reached for his M6D instead, which he kept holstered on his side at all times. With a magazine already loaded, he racked a round into the chamber, aiming at the creature as it circled and prowled around him. It was toying with him, playing with its food before it pounced. It gave a raspy, guttural growl from the back of its huge throat. It was low at first, before raising in volume but deepening in pitch.

"Easy there, killer." MacAddy said in a soothing voice as it edged ever closer to the hardened Marine. Without warning, the creature leaped into the air as it pounced towards him. He combat rolled out of the way as the creature missed its marked. Firing two rounds at it, one bullet missed and the other was deflected off the creature's armored carapace. It roared with anger, pouncing once again. This time it landed right on top of MacAddy and knocked him to the ground, grabbing his pistol with its deadly maw and tearing it away from him. The weapon slid across the ground a few feet away, coming to an abrupt halt. MacAddy held his arms up as the creature latched its teeth onto one of his bracers, ripping it away from him. Seeing that the creature's neck and underbelly were completely bare of plating, MacAddy unsheathed his kukri from his chest and plunged his knife into the creature's throat, piercing the exposed tender flesh.

The creature leapt back in surprise, wincing in agony as it cried with a dog-like bark of pain. The creature roared again, breaking into a sprint. MacAddy crawled towards his weapon, snatching it and rolling onto his back just as the creature pounced again. As it leapt into the air, the grizzled Marine fired two rounds into its exposed underbelly. The creature missed MacAddy, crash landing behind him and tumbling to its side. Before MacAddy could get up, it jumped to its feet and took off towards the hangar's exit. It whined and howled in pain as it fled the scene, making a break for the wilderness. MacAddy, still on his back, relaxed for the moment and sighed. What a way to start the day. He thought to himself, briefly closing his eyes.

[Frazer]

Captain Frazer York
UNSC Tassafaronga
TCVA-02
Punic Class Supercarrier

Location: Unknown (In Orbit of the Planet)
Time: Unknown

Liara returned to the A.I pedestal and beckoned Frazer back over to the holo table, as Frazer walked over he saw the bridge was bustling with noise and activity from the bridge officers and ratings. Frazer learned over to the holo table as Liara brought back up the vicinity around the planet.

"Speak to me Liara, what do we have." Frazer said as a crew member passed him his coffee. The vicinity of the planet on holo table begin to light up as Liara spoke.

"Sir, I really dont know how to tell you this but I am still unable to calculate the exact time and location we are in. But what I can report to you is what my scans picked up." The holo table zoomed in on a Space Station looking structure above the planets surface in orbit. "This sir is what we came to investigate. Space Station Achilles In-Orbit, very damaged, with a lack of power and air supply slowly draining. I have no clue on how this is possible but it somehow got brought here with us." Frazer put down his drink and leaned in.

"How did this happen, how are we here? None of this makes sense..." Liara interrupted Frazer.

"There is more Captain." The holo table zoomed back into the planet and begin to highlight a blimp on the map as Liara spoke. "First I have found UNSCS Ischia, Paris Class Frigate. Crashed on the planet in pieces, survivors unknown for now." The next blimp begin to light up. "The Preston, she herself was brought here and crashed on the planet. Again survivors unknown." The map of the planet then moved slightly over to the right, in the process 3 blimps lit up. "Finally the real bad news. The Covenant for whatever reason were pulled here too, Three crashed Covenant CAS-class assault carriers, with Covenant forces personally rebuilding and scavenging to attempt to bring their ships online. The compliment on their forces is unknown but initial scans show show activity in and around those ships."

"So we have found our lost ships but also discovered the Covenant are here too? This really isnt great. Report of the planets design and environment?".

"My initial scans show the planet is an ideal replica of Earth. With different climates surrounding the globe, from the super frozen wastes in the North and South. To the deep deserts of the equator. The planet has deep rich crevasses that run deep into the planets core. These are of strange alien none Covenant design. The wildlife is aggressive, yet beautfiul. Creatures roam the planet in various sizes, from small insects with venom that will kill a man in seconds. To gigantic dinosaur looking creatures with instinct and hunt the smaller animals. The day cycle lasts around 40 "Earth" hours. The night is longer and deadly at around 50 hours. At night creatures become more aggressive, at round 25 hours into the night these creatures begin to actively hunt each other in ways that wont be seen in the day time."

"Great so we have also have to contend with a killer planet with wildlife that sounds prehistoric in nature. This is never easy is it." Frazer paused and took a sip of his drink. "Liara work with Dean and get a message broadcasted down at the crashed UNSC ships asked for survivors, do your best to cloak our activities. If there is some much of a peep and a response from anyone down there I want to know right away so I can coordinate rescue attempts. Understood?"

Liara nodded and disappeared on the pedestal to work with the ships communication officer at getting the distress signal down to the crashed UNSC ships, this would obviously require working power on the crashed ships or localised communication beacons on the planet. Frazer looked over to the ships navigation officer.

"Trayner get us close to the Achilles Space Station. I want us to start there and look for survivors. Take it steady, half thrusters. I dont want to risk damaging this ship from whatever crazy energy this planet is giving off."

"Aye aye sir." Trayner nodded and she brought the ships engines to half speed. The Tassafaronga was now slowly heading towards the orbiting space station around the planet. Frazer wondered if anyone could still even be alive on that station, but he had a duty to try and find out and rescue any survivors if need be. He continued to await for Henry, the ships XO, to arrive with the UNSC marine Captain as he knew he will have to send landing parties to the station to find survivors.

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- Planet Update -

There is now a distress signal being sent down from the Tassafaronga asking for any survivors to immediately get in contact with the ship. This message can only be heard with either working power to the crashed ship via the communication device on it OR with a working long range distress beacon that can pickup and send distress calls long range into space. Power is currently off on ALL crashed ships.

[Faclan]

Yun - Gutted CAS carrier #1
Now with his rifle over his back so his hands could be free Yun was enjoying some rations. One hand needed to hold his sniper headgear up so he could reach his long beak and the other holding the food as he gnawed and torn some bits off the dried meat bar. Normally these would be thrown into a pot and heated into a hearty soup. Much better for morale than cold strips of only passable meat. Didn't even have any seasoning on it. But Yun chuckled as he looked down over at his spotter that he could see on the corner far away from him. The retching and spasms he could see as he held the bar at arms length was quite funny. Lowering his helmet to better speak into it as he chided the spotter.

"You know you are going to need to get used to it. Be happy. Its clean. Back when I was a Sisterhood Slave I would rarely even get clean food."

"This is the mighty Covenant!" They would complain. "We should have stores of better food than this."

"Probably do. But those are likely being broken down into their component parts to last longer. So if you want something fresh better be on the lookout for some animal to shoot." He chewed a bite. "Just hope its not poisonous to you - or that the hivemind doesnt come for you." The radio call would return to grumbles and gags as his fellow tried to force down the meat. It was at least something to get Yun to smile as he went back to patrolling and looking. Before he head tilted at a click of a message incoming on the radio. Head tilted to the side and mouth half open as he listened to the message.


Cad - Prone in the jungle halfway between Covenant space and Forerunner cervice.

"Unknown signal, assumed Human, has been detected on the net. Be alert brave warriors of the Covenant. Those pink sneaky scum may be planning something." Would be told to Yun as well as the knocked out Cad as he laid half in a bush. The voice fairly loud as he was carrying a hefty radio on his back. The assumption would likely be the few technical minded Officers still alive with be attempting to intercept and tanslate the signal to figure out what shifty deeds those Humans were up too. But for Cad it only got a few twitches out of him.

The large bull lizards had chased the other aliens away. Perhaps pounced on and killed a few too. But one was back with the fallen Kig-Yar...But it was only a baby thankfully. Sniffing around the bush Cad was laying it as it sniffed and nudged him. Curious as to what this static noise making squishy thing was as it did some investigation work!


Nek Dal - At the CAS currently being repaired, slave labor

The message of shifty deeds however did not reach those laboring to fix the engines. And the break had finished now so back to work. Nek thankful that he had a reprieve from the sun as he was now inside one of the large projectors for the engines. Near where the liquid plasma would be feed into to burst into a gas to propel the vessel along as he held up a gauge and tightening tool to check the proper allignment of the emitters. They were almost all out of proper orientation from the crash and it would be awhile to get them all working but it was work to do. Work that would keep him busy and his mind off the hunger and thirst. And alive. That was a nice benefit too as he grunted and torqued in sequence. Just keep working. Things will work out...