For our continued adventures.

++Another step, another challenge to overcome. A threat to purge, souls to save.++



To say that Havelburg is experiencing bad weather would be an understatement, yet the small group of pilots makes its way through the heavy dustfall anyway, slowly trudging through ankle-deep sediment. The low hum of the far-off blow drones can barely be heard over the howling wind. Constantly undertaking a staggeringly Sisyphean task, these massive drones do their best to keep the landing pad clear of any built-up dust, blowing the debris down into the lower levels of the city. The hardsuits needed in these conditions make the trek from the nearest elevator no easier. The silhouette of the Dynast’s Embrace becomes more tangible with each thudding step, the floodlights all around struggling to illuminate its vast shape. To remove one’s enviro-helmet in these conditions would be to die, one inhalation enough to fill the lungs with dust and begin a slow and agonizing demise.

Dustfall is the name the inhabitants of Havelburg give to this phenomenon, and it has plagued huge stretches of the planet for the past decade – ever since the Disaster took place. While conditions aren't usually this bad, the Rio Grande and her crew have chosen a particularly poor time to make planetfall and link up with the Dynast's Embrace, a civilian transport and logistics ship that will be working alongside the Grande in an upcoming operation. That operation still lies in the future however, and in the meantime, the group has been tasked to meet with the Dynast's captain, Lyran Stavros. It is here, trudging through the swirling dust on the approach to the ship that we find our group of Lancers.

Please introduce and describe yourselves.

Well within the size range of a normal, unaugmented, human the hardsuit that comes out of Sunder's mech is very clearly of the Mobility suit and couldn't possibly have anyone of even medium height inside it.  Dark gunmetal in color with metal feather like wings that protrude from the back suggest the method of flight this suit is designed to use and stylish lines of dim light glow in key places to highlight it's silhouette unless engaged in stealth activities.

The dustfall doesn't seem to trouble her or the suit at all.  For the entire trip approaching the landing zone the wings stay tucked in tight to the back of the suit while she is walking as a way of acknowledging the difficulties or added risk while flying through such weather.

RT, callsign Rolling Thunder, stoically pushed through the dustfall in the forefront of the rest of the squad, using the casual strength and greater bulk of his heavy hardsuit to blaze a wedge of calmer eddies for some of the others.

The suit's military-pattern grey and brown was already scuffed by flying dust. Sharp contrast to the plain finish of the previous one - may it rest in peace -, this version had two jet-black stripes down the back of his upper arms ('Like your wings, but in reverse,' he'd joked with Sunder and then refused to explain). That and a small plast dog hanging from a chain on his left breast were his only adornments (*).

He looked back to the other four. The face now visible through his scuffed visor was young. Young and impassive - always impassive - with calm blue eyes peering through.

"Why are we doing this again?"

You just knew, watching him move, that he was fit, combat trained and in full health.


OOC: What do we know about the purpose of this meeting in the grand scheme of things? Who send us here: the captain directly? 1st lieutenant Kim maybe?

* = I'm thinking Maya likely bought it for him? It's clearly not a puppy though :)
This message was last edited by the player at 13:22, Tue 19 Mar.

Lieutenant Kim was the one who relayed the task to you, but the request was directly from Captain Stavros. The group hasn't had a whole lot of information as of yet - Stavros would explain upon the group's arrival. Generally, the vibe the group may get is that the mission is more discreet than usual. Why this is the case is unknown as of yet.

“’cause Union pays your med bills and has me by the throat,” came Maya’s matter-of-fact reply. She cocked her head to the side and her wry chuckle rang over the comms. “And probably because someone could use a couple frames to help shovel whatever shit they’re stuck up to their necks in. The usual, you know.”

She trailed a few paces behind RT, taking full advantage of the calm in his wake. When they’d first stepped down the ramp she’d been right there at this shoulder, proudly side-by-side, but as soon as the dire state of things planetside became apparent she’d slipped away behind with a cheeky salute. He was good for it, and she was more than happy to make the most of that generosity.

Her hardsuit had presumably been a pristine white once but was now more towards an ashy grey, pitted and scarred. It was a bastardised bespoke thing, its plates drawn from a handful of different sources, and still retained a number of emblems from her pre-Union days, bearing various scrawlings and kill-markings even after the worst had been excised. Details in dull crimson did enough to keep her from vanishing in the storm, and a sharp-lined helmet that gave away nothing of the face behind it lent her a slightly menacing aspect. She had the air of a bounty hunter to her, or perhaps (heaven forfend!) a pirate. The half-cape certainly helped with that.

“Real question is what kind of job they’ve got needs a squad like ours – and what's changing hands to make it happen.”
This message was last edited by the player at 01:29, Tue 19 Mar.

"I mean, I wouldn't know--I just got here and all that" Came a somewhat chirpy voice over the network.  "But I'm sure the work's going to be really exciting, one way or the other anyway!  It'll be fine!  I'm sure!"

The speaker--having drawn attention to herself was...  Honestly more noticeable in uniform than out of it.  Hair dark as deep space, with bright--almost twinkling red-brown eyes, further accentuated by a pair of thickly framed glasses that nonetheless looked appealing enough.  Ordinarily not quite the most intimidating figure, being barely over five feet and having the willowy figure of a born spacer, she had taken Steps to adapt to the difficulties of a career involving no small amount of action and adventure to simply take a little piece of space with her.  Namely, a seven foot tall Heavy Hardsuit that might better be described as a wannabe Mech than something more reasonable.  It was sturdy enough at least, with plenty of the redundancies expected of someone who's one bad day away from a depressurization accident--habits that were useful on a deathworld like this especially.  If lacking somewhat in grace, it at least had excessive firepower--as the shoulder mounted autocannon and integrated built-in vulcan guns dotting the frame had anything to do with it.

This was something meant to walk into trouble and stay in one piece, even if that trouble came in the form of oversized space monsters suddenly appearing in front of her.  You wouldn't know it though looking at her fresh face and wonder-filled expressions though, currently with the armored faceplate retracted in favor of a clear visor.  "So, what's the story folks?  I sort of got on the first contract I could find that looked reasonably doable, and haven't really had the time to get settled in.  I'm pretty excited actually!  Been waiting to give Starshower a spin, you would not believe how long it took to get things working just right for my baby, and this is a really great opportunity!"
This message was last edited by the player at 01:09, Tue 19 Mar.

"If they've been here for any amount of time, what they're going to need shoveled is all this dust."  Even wearing a hardsuit sealed for operating within a vacuum, Werner was certain the dust would find a way in.  Still, all his tools and explosives likely wouldn't suffer.

"I'm more curious why we're trudging through this dust storm to meet Captain Stavros.  Be a lot simpler to rendezvous in orbit."  His face shield was dark but Werner's voice came strong over the comms.  "We're being sent into a mess of shenanigans, count on that.  You don't send your pilots out like this without skullduggery on the mind."  He sounded more amused than concerned, "Makes me look forward to our meeting with this civilian captain."

Werner pivoted to speaking with the squad's newest addition, "Someone is underselling our job if they gave you the impression of 'reasonably doable' work"  A chuckle crackled over the comms, "We're mostly called in for situations that rank one step down from 'impossible'.  Keeps things interesting that way."

– which he'd answered with a rude gesture and smiling eyes.


"Contracts are for Mercs, Zephyr," the young pilot corrected in a softer voice. He knew all too well what t was like to be surrounded by brand new things on all side. "We – We are Union Forces, so we only go on missions." (A bit of that self-mocking humour tinged his words there.) "Or postings, if that's what you mean?"

---

"Well," RT shrugged armored shoulders with a mild whirr of servo-assists, "At least we know she didn't get kidnapped by rebels this time around?" There was always a bright side, wasn't there?

He gestured All Clear and silently pinged Sunder to see if she could see where the bloody 'lock was better than he could. Visibility was... not the best.


"What were they mining down here anyway, Old Man?" RT had - ah… - questionable taste in nicknames.

OOC: What would the squad know about Havelburg, and The Disaster in particular, if anything?
This message was last edited by the player at 16:10, Tue 19 Mar.

Havelburg is a planet far from Union's core space, a mining world owned and operated by IPS-N. While some may call it a backwater, it nevertheless supports a rare combination of deep-core and orbital mining operations. More related to the Rio Grande's arrival here, the planet also houses a spaceport at its capital, Port Conroy, where ships (including the Grande) can stop to repair and resupply.

Before the Disaster, Havelburg was a tumultuous world with vast jungles and several active volcanoes protruding from great ashen deserts. All of this was spread across a single continent. While the world’s ecosystem never evolved past semi-aware plant life, it had a very diverse range of flora. Now, Havelburg’s jungles are ruined – its plants dying, suffocating, and decaying, turning the jungles into festering swamps of decaying matter. Where Havelburg was once a warm and humid world, temperatures have dropped considerably over much of the surface as its poles have expanded. Life further away from the equator has become all but impossible. While Havelburg is inhabited – mostly by workers, miners, and other IPS-N company representatives – settlements are sparse and few and far between, doubling as mining camps and smelting factories. The few cities sprinkled across the planet are comparatively small and lack the amenities one might expect on the Core worlds. This is especially true since the Ganymede Incident – more commonly known as “the Disaster.”

To talk about Havelburg is to talk about the Disaster – a cataclysm that wracked the planet 10 years ago, changing the lives of the inhabitants in ways that will resonate for many decades to come. It all started when mining station Ganymede 362-5, located in close orbit, suffered a sudden, inexplicable reactor core malfunction. The resulting explosion, coupled with the massive amounts of debris it generated, culminated in a dramatic fallout across the world’s surface. While the initial impacts were the most devastating, minor orbital debris regularly showers the world to this day. For a time, these impacts – coupled with the vast plains of volcanic ash covering Havelburg – enveloped the world in massive dust storms. “Dustfall” has since become a regular occurrence, leading to significant environmental and societal changes over the past years. Eye protection and breathing apparatuses are now as commonplace for Havelburgians as umbrellas might be on worlds where rain regularly falls . While the Disaster itself spared the major population centers, some still had to be abandoned as a consequence of localized heavy dustfall. These abandoned, ruined places – called “dustgraves” – give off an eerie atmosphere to any who venture into them. Seemingly frozen in time; their buildings and spires still stand, slowly drowning in ever-increasing layers of sediment. While IPS-N subsequently launched a thorough investigation into the Ganymede Incident, the fact that most debris from the station itself burned up in the atmosphere made it night impossible to pinpoint the cause of the malfunction. Regardless, the corpro was heavily fined and has since vastly improved maintenance and safety protocols for all orbital ring mining platforms orbiting Havelburg.