Difference between revisions of "1942/Into The Lair"

Revision as of 04:49, 3 April 2015

Gaius Van Baelsar (522) has posed:
Like many worlds, Hydaelyn has many different sights to behind from rocky mountain country, to lush forests, to vast deserts, yet one land was once a jewel to the eyes of sum with her tall pine trees, rocky white mountains, deep green grass, and cool weather. Coerthas was once a country side with a great deal of life, but after the Calamity, after Dalamud came crushing down and Bahamut freed, Coerthas has become anything but.

Many streams frozen to a stand still, river frigged and slowly icing over. Plant life slowly dyeing to the constant barrage of cold and the people suffering to stay warm as their own livestock out here is either threatened by the cold or threatened by the ever growing hostile wildlife and then the paranoia. The Paranoia within the very small towns to even the mighty fortified city of Ishgard which looms in the far northern distance... for if the cold does not kill the people, it will probably be themselves that would.

As the Rogue Shadow starts to make her approach to the given location, the winds do howl, the speeds nothing that the sleek aerodynamic spaceship can not handle though, but it is blowing up a great deal of snow through the area making anything below hard to see. Yet as they would approach closer to the ground the area was pretty clear of any form of vegetation, beyond a few shriveled up bushes.

There was a cave here slightly raised out of the ground, but heading into the dark abyss. A few ice sickles have formed at the roof of the cave, but its entrance thankfully away from the wind as the snow blows over it.

If there was any concern that the location was off, it would be seen be made clear it was not as a figure stood under the cave's entrance wearing white armor with gray cloth-like material, along with some designs imprinted into his armor. The helm of Garlemald design with a Ram-like look. On his backside was a double sided war hammer on each end of the shaft, he remains there until Juno makes her approach in and until everyone is off.

Doesn't mean there are not others watching, far from it, this Legatus has men at some key locations, but they are not visible to see with the naked eye.

Juno Eclipse (428) has posed:
The perpetual winter of this place looks as though it wouldn't be out of place on the surface of a world like Hoth, albeit a few degrees removed from Hoth's severity. It's a bleak place without much hope of the spring that should be touching so many other worlds. Spring is an unknown notion here; a foreign concept. In some ways, it makes the job to come easier. Most things stand out against snow easily enough to be immediately spotted.

Snow swirls in an unseen wind. The Rogue Shadow descends smoothly towards the surface of the region, but the cloaking device is engaged – there's no ship to see; just the backwash of its engine exhausts, masked by the technology that hides the hull from view.

At the controls, Juno flicks switches, keys in commands, and keeps a weather eye on the heat signature of the ship; as she works, the others will hear her voice over the loudspeaker.

[It looks like this is about as far as I can take you. You're going to have to make your way towards the target objective on your own.]

The ship descends to a relatively flat area, and the hatch slides open to admit a gust of frigid air, breathtaking in its sudden cold. Smoothly, the ramp descends, to admit the Confederate allies. They can either walk down the ramp, or they can simply jump out the hatch; it's low enough that there's no real risk of damage, especially accounting for the resilience of Elites.

[I won't be accompanying you today, since I need to keep an eye on the coolant system so long as the cloaking device is active. I can provide sensor support from above, however, and the ship will remain here if you should require swift extraction.]

Once the last of them is off the ship, the ramp retracts and the hatch slides closed; the maddened swirl of snow easing off as the ship rises up again, engines no longer close enough to fling snow about.

[Good luck. Eclipse out.]

Garen (530) has posed:
Garen had taken a small tour of the Rogue Shadow, and had to admit he was impressed. It seemed Imperial ship design had improved, but the ship lacked the space and personal quarters his Phantom had. Still, after noting the scouting data he was able to garner, he modified his gear to work in the inclimate weather. His outfit changed as well. He wore goggles and a scarf over his face, and his clothing was now a coat lined with fur and even a pair of gloves. "Understood. Thanks for the lift, Captain Eclipse." He said. He hopped out of the back and landed as best he could, rifle quickly coming up to scan the area.

Yari Takane (691) has posed:
Coerthas is a frozen hellhole, and Yari Takane has come prepared. She's near the ramp as she pours over her armlet's interface. Digesting all the reports, plans, and other pre-operation necessities for a Centurion, she's dressed fully in her armor alongside a warm cloak for added camoflage. Behind her are a few hand-picked amongst her best Troopers, including a medicus as well as the ever-present knife-wielding Miqo'te woman. Even she is dour and serious, on her best behaviour, the group of Troopers at their best.

The door of the Rogue Shadow drops open, and out Yari and the rest of her scouts go. Even here, they're on full alert, checking around them with all of the paranoia of such troops. A few have silenced rifles at the ready, while Yari slinks along as she always does with her blade close by.

When they reach the man? Yari and her troopers salute as one.

"Centurion Yari Takane, XIV Legion, and Troopers reporting Lord van Polus! We're at your service, Sir!" Comes the woman sharply, but quiet given the nature of the operation. The rest stay silent, deferring to Yari as the highest rank amongst the troops just let off.

"Glory and Honor, Rogue Shadow. Be safe, let no savage find you." She does manage to burst towards the Rogue over the radio. The rest of her attention is on Lord van Polus.

Gaius Van Baelsar (522) has posed:
Those disembarking were already spotted by the eyes of the Third Legion, though the ship was impressive– being all they saw was them stepping out and then something leaving. Such technology was not something the Garlean Empire had just yet. It may make some tech-heads back home a bit jealous really or licking their chops to figure out its secrets.

Yet they do not move, beyond tapping their comms to let their command know they have arrived. When that notification comes in, the man who has been using the cave as shelter and probably done a little searching below before they arrived steps out slightly. Those voidful eye lens slots looking at each and all who make their way over. "Centurion Takane, I presume?" He asks Yari. His voice a bit gruff from his age, but still a great deal of life in it. His gaze then moves over to Garen, "Also a pleasure to have you as well sir. Van Baelsar said it be a small party, which it is good to see that remains true."

The Legatus of the III Legion then moves covering over his gauntlet as he shifts something around, it has a gentle glow to it as he does, then opens comms to the Rogue Shadow, or so he hopes. ["This is Aries Van Polus of the Third Legion. Gaius Van Baelsar spoke good things about you, pilot. He also said your ship may come in useful beyond just dropping off and picking up. Care to give me some run downs?"]

Aries Van Polus then motions for the group to follow him, as he looks over to Yari. "Also to inform you lass, Your Legatus will be joining us perhaps later, but for now your in my jurisdiction. So stay sharp, hm?" There was a bit of a good humor in his voice, perhaps knowing that she would already be doing so.

He then easy steps around, that armor much like Gaius' ignoring its own weight ratio and Aries himself ignoring his own age perhaps because of the armor. He extends out a hand to Garen, "Also you lad, must be Garen also known as Cipher Nine, aye? 'Tis a pleasure to have fine strapping man such as yourself here." After hands are probably shaken, he steps right back around and then moves to the mouth of the cave. "We have some lights down there, but watch your steps. They kept it pretty natural and I have not found a trace one of an entrance."

Garen (530) has posed:
Garen nods and shakes the hand of Aries. "Aries Van Polus. I'm looking forward to working with you. But.....keep my real name on a need-to-know basis, please. I can't afford to have my enemies learn who I really am." He says, hoping Gaius briefed Aries on what he did on a daily basis. He walked over and began investigating the cave, looking for any sign or trace of a switch or even if there was an optical illusion in place.

Juno Eclipse (428) has posed:
Fortunately, the Rogue Shadow's pilot is an extremely competent woman, and also a possessive one, even if it isn't technically her ship. None of those engineers would be let anywhere near the ship. Aside from the sentimental value, or the pride in her work as its pilot and maintainer, Juno Eclipse has absolutely zero desire to have to explain to Darth Vader if something bad happens to the ship.

[Captain Eclipse to Aries van Polus. I read you. The Rogue Shadow has an advanced long-range sensor array equipped.]

In the cockpit, Juno leans forward, tapping in commands to the pilot's console, eyes flicking to regard the co-pilot's console every so often. She has displays and data readouts called up on both of them, one of them readings on the immediate area; the other a diagnostic of the ship's systems while she waits above the range with the sensors engaged.

[If you have anything odd that needs examining, I can provide some insight through the Rogue Shadow's sensors. I can make no promises, though; magic is not something the ship was ever designed to account for. Although I do have forward armaments installed, they're strictly defensive and not designed for ground operations. You'll have better luck relying on the skills of your men.]

It's a strictly technological vessel, in other words. Magic is a bizarre anomaly that doesn't really happen in her world, unless you count the Force, and that's not something she knows enough about to pass judgement on.

Gaius Van Baelsar (522) has posed:
There seem to be no switches on the surface level, but the cave does go deeper down. The rocks were staggered about and some with rather sharp edges to where at maybe one time water use to run down into the cave. While none of them seemed loose, Aries was right about watching your step, because the wrong foot placement meant you could easily trip up...

Aries listens to what Juno has to say about 'magic' and almost chuckles to himself. ["Eclipse, ma'am, the only thing magical about our Magitek is the fact it uses technology to generate a likeness to magic."] Though he does leave out some of the details like a few things use a type of rune circuits, which may as well be aether infused wires and aetheric spheres or whatever name the kids use today. ["That is why we Garleans use Magitek in the first place. The rest of Hydaelyn, her people, they are gifted with the ability to use this world's energy. Us, we natural born Garleans? We may as well be a dried up old well."]

["While we and the others start to make our way down, why don't you give those scanners a test run and see what you can find down on the bottom floor of this cave. I found nothing, but Nael is a smart lad, so are his men. Probably something down there we can't see easy with the naked eye."]

Garen (530) has posed:
Garen narrows his eyes as he looks down. "I think that would be best, Captain Eclipse." He then looks over towards Aries and thinks out loud. "Do you have any kind of light source that can take a drop? I'd like to see how far down this goes. Plus it will give me a small advantage, as I can see in low-light conditions perfectly."

Juno Eclipse (428) has posed:
There's not a whiff of movement from up above, where the ship ought to be stationed. In fact, there's nothing to see at all except for a slight shimmer of the air. The most keen-eyed of the Legions might spot it, but normal folk with no expectations will be none the wiser that a starship is in their midst. Sometimes it's nice to have a really cheaty starship!

[Oh, you're using some kind of field generator? That makes sense, then.]

Still, the tone of her voice suggests she's probably aware that's not the whole story, just like they're not getting the whole story on the Rogue Shadow.

[I can try. I can't make any guarantees that the sensors will penetrate that deeply into the crust. They're optimised to work in orbit or beyond planetary gravity wells; they were never designed for subterranean readings.]

In the cockpit, Juno reaches forward to flick a series of switches, hands settling over the sensor controls to see what she might find.

[I'm reading no life signs as of yet. The bottom levels off into flat terrain, but there's something funny about the east wall. I'm seeing something that almost looks like tracks. Is there a false wall down there? I'm afraid I can't get a clearer picture from here. The false opening seems to be large enough to admit an ordinary humanoid. I'm not sure what's governing the door's controls, so you might have to search around to find out what's keeping it closed.]

She frowns, keying in a few commands and leaning forward to study the console before her.

[Temperature readings are abnormal; I'm reading a slight spike in ambient temperature behind the door. And the deeper you go, the more likely it is that my sensors will be unreliable. You'll have to see for yourself what's down there past that second chamber, I think.]

Gaius Van Baelsar (522) has posed:
Aries looks over to Garen, "As I said earlier, lad, I set up some lights, but may as well keep things dark. They don't have an everlasting charge." He lifts back the cloth and taps something on his gauntlet. That is when several discs along the wall light up with a very, very soft blue light. It isn't bright as daylight, but it does give some illumination to below. "Also don't worry, Gaius has explained to me in some part as to what it is you do."

The Legatus hears what Juno has to say, as he expects the others do as well. The warming of temperature though, that causes a gently 'hm' out of him, though whatever thoughts he may be having, he is keeping to himself.

He'll let Garen and the others move ahead. ["Thank you, Eclipse. Any information, even a fraction, is more useful than none."]

Garen (530) has posed:
Garen nods towards Juno and Aries. "Looks like there's one way to go..." He says. He puts his rifle to his back and swaps over to his pistol and checks his gear again. Most noticibly, he makes sure his vibro-knife was secured and hidden, along with that sword he was given.

Yari Takane (691) has posed:
Legatus van Polus is not what she expected. Too used to the manner of her Mother and Gaius, she actually misses a beat in responding. There's a slight hint of awe in her voice when she finally speaks, though it's gagged under stoic professionalism just as quickly.

Yari Takane may be slowly forming a hero-crush on Aries van Polus.

"Correct, my Lord! Honored, Sir!" She says, all stiff once more.

"I see. I won't dissappoint, nor my men." Then she turns, eyes on her Troopers. They all salute at once, and fan out. Already, they're either watching the innards of the cave, while Yari and a few others start taking aetheric and other readings to get any idea that they can of what might lay ahead.

But Juno beats her to that much. She frowns.

Luckily Yari and most of her men are nimble sorts, and rocky ground doesn't phase her too much. She moves silently, hardly kicking up a pebble. Her tail wobbles every now and then, balancing her with well-trained and honed dexterity.

Then she joins Garen with peering into the darkness, eyes still occasionally glancing at her own armlet.

Gaius Van Baelsar (522) has posed:
As they all move down, their steps could almost be heard echoing at times against the cave walls and the bottom floor is far colder then it was outside, frozen water can be seen pooled around the edges to the left and what looked like at one time water flowed over the rock's natural face.

Aries gazed around the area and then stepped over to where Juno hunted he door should be and placed his hands around the whole face of the wall, which was at least tend feet wide and twelve feet up. His metal finger tips moving across the surface looking for any crevice or crack. "She said there was a door here... and possible something controlling it."

"Bloody hell if I can figure out how they are hiding it." Aries says with a tsk as he even scuffs his boot across the ground to see if anything can be kicked up that may be lose.

Yari also has the right to perhaps have a hero crush on him, many of the Garleans have come too respect the old man, being he is in his seventies and still doing this very thing.

The Legatus then steps back and looks over to Garen, then to Yari, "Takane, over here." He motions with his index finger. "Help me locate something on this wall." He then turns to Garen, "Lad, see about searching that wall near the ice."

Garen (530) has posed:
Garen nods and heads over to the wall. He scans over it, and tries to determine any clues. He even goes as far as to press suspiscious parts, and keeps ready to dodge any traps.

Yari Takane (691) has posed:
As soon as Aries mentions 'door', Yari is pointing her armlet at the wall. Her tail flicks in that mildly breezy way that denotes concentration, only broken by her superior.

There's a silent salute to the man, and she's off hunting the rock.

It might be a little odd, as she closes her eyes, takes a deep breath, and then simply moves. Her fingertips trail the rock, her face a few millimeters away from it and her tail gently dragging along. She'll dip, twist, and turn acrobatically as she hunts along, the entire world blocked out and ignored as she searches. Only when she's half-bowing and just completed a roll to check the lower end of the wall, does she finally stop. Pausing, her eyes open, and then she looks back to the Legatus.

Her hands frame the man's height with her index fingers, then she steps back from the wall and turns to it. Walking forward, she reaches out, and then presses into the rock. Hisssss.

The rock bit pops up with a pneumatic hiss, and there's a keypad.

She calls over the radio.

Yari Takane (691) has posed:
Yari motions to one of the engineers of her Troopers she's brought along, clearly ordering the man to see if they can puzzle out the code.

Juno Eclipse (428) has posed:
[I'm just doing my job, Legatus.]

The response is riddled with static, but that seems to be somewhat normal for the Rogue Shadow's communication systems. They're probably lucky that's all they're getting, through layers of solid stone.

[I don't know what kind of level of technology we're expecting in this facility, so I'm not certain what sort of control mechanism I should be telling you to look for. Keep an eye out, though. There's got to be something.]

She leans back in her chair, although half her attention stays on the ship readouts. So far, the stygium array seems to be performing well enough despite its continuous use. Fingers tapping absently on the arm of her chair, she reaches up to rub at her jaw, considering. A little while left, maybe, before she can consider those readings to be in the red.

[A keypad? That's unexpected. It must be dormant. I have no readings for a power source, at least not that I can find on the Rogue Shadow's sensors. You may have to force it.]

Gaius Van Baelsar (522) has posed:
Garen would find no traps where he searched, but his keen Chiss eyes may locate what seems like flecks of blue and blue lines in the ice. Something other then water that has been frozen over and yet seems to have something like in composition to water.

'Found something Lord van Polus! Keypad hidden in the rock. Not bad.' Yari's voice snaps Aries out of his own focus and the Ram-horned Legatus looks over. He observes as Yari quickly gets one of her engineers over to decode it. Aries can only simply move his hand a way from the wall and step back.

"Nicely done, Takane... your mother would be proud."

The Legatus takes a few more steps back and motions to Garen, "Be ready, lad. If there is heat behind this door, then we may not be so alone after all." There was a 'whirl' of a sound from the Legatus left hand gauntlet as he points it in direct and two barrel could be seen activating. Seems Aries had no plans to take chances that there could be no one home.

Or maybe that is just old experience showing up.

When Juno expresses there is no power, the engineer would find the same. This in turn causes Aries to reach in a pouch on his side with his right hand, before making a soft whistle to the engineer, "Catch!" What Aries tosses is some type of Ceruleum power cell, a small photon-cell really. "Maybe that will give her some juice."

Sure enough it will power up the keypad, but they will need to solve the code. Meanwhile Aries contacts Juno back, ["Good call. They probably pulled the Ceruleum charge when they left or someone carries it around with them like a keycard. All of our Magitek operates on refined Ceruleum. Its very volatile stuff, but very potentate at generating power. Guess you can say its like this world natural byproduct off its own magical energy."] At least he thinks its something like that. He may as well just called it Blue Nuclear Gasoline, only with no radiation.

Garen (530) has posed:
Garen spots the blue and notify's Aries. At his assurances, the chiss turns his attention to the door. Once more the rifle is drawn and levelled. "If it moves, it's getting a third eye socket."

Gaius Van Baelsar (522) has posed:
Aries chuckles to what Garen has to say and one can't help but hear the grin in his voice. "That is what I like to hear."

Yari Takane (691) has posed:
Yari stiffens minutely at the praise, that mask hiding the smile she quickly crushes under a mountain of discipline.

"I was trained well, my Lord!" She responds, before she's quickly obsorbed in the work of her engineer.
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The keypad proves a bit too tough at first for the pureblood Garlean engineer's tools, and so Yari briefly takes over. Pulling out a thin needle, she takes about five minutes to very slowly and carefully undo the housing as though she were carefully carving a turkey. Who said culinarian levels don't have field applications?

Pop! Off it comes, wires intact. The Engineer sets to work, scowling and cursing like a proper technician as they're forced to rewire the entire bloody thing.

Then, using a square-shaped device looking not too dissimilar to a volt-meter, he gives it a renewed charge with that tossed ceruleum cell. Ker-click! In it goes. He even puts the cover back on with a bit of help from Yari.

Good as new, only now lacking a password. Yari does the inaugural push to the device before Centurion and engineer salute each other.

Gaius Van Baelsar (522) has posed:
With the device override and popped back into the place there is a flicker from the red light to then green. With a low rumble, as Juno may see on her senors, the door starts to move and the heat from inside escapes past into the cold frigged air of the cave causing a bit of a wind. It doesn't take long for the door to move and it does look like no one is home.

It also looks pretty empty from where they are standing, which has a ramp going down, but one can already see where it levels out to much larger room with ease. However Aries hold up his hand with his fist closed as if to say 'hold it', before he steps toward the door, that left arm of his sweeping, though as he gets closer he suddenly stops.

He looks down slowly, then back up, before taking one of those discs he used for lighting and flickering it inside. As soon has he does, it pops with blue sparks. "Figures." Aries notes with some disgust in his voice.

The Legatus then looks to Garen, "This is your real moment to shine, lad. I need you to listen to my instructions carefully, alright?"

Aries steps back and motions to Garen. "We cannot go in there because they have a field up that will disable any and all of our Magitek... this may be the other reason no power was going to the panel. I need you to go in there, quiet as a mouse and look for a floating hexagonal object."

"That object will have several photon cells, they are kinda spherical. You need to remove these from each face of its panel counter clock-wise to its rotation. Start from the side top, then do the side bottom. Leave the very top and very bottom for last. That should deactivate it."

Aries then taps his comm to Juno, ["Is there any way to strengthen your sensors without hurting your bird, las or is that a no can do? Hate to send Cipher down there with no extra set of eyes if I can help it."]

Juno Eclipse (428) has posed:
[Whatever you did, it's working. I'm reading power on the Rogue Shadow's sensors. Looks like no one's home. There aren't any readings for life signs past that door, although I'm beginning to lose fidelity.]

She keys in a few commands, eyeing the readouts.

[There's really nothing I can do. They were never designed to penetrate that much rock.]

A brief tangle of static obscures her words.

[–hink your power source is causing some interfer–

Up in the cockpit, Juno sighs, thinning her lips in evident displeasure. "Oh, not now," she mutters, keying in a series of <span style="color:ommands.

[cxterm81">Give me a few minutes. I'm going–ee if I can clear–ignal up–</span>]

The line goes dead. Looks like she's doing something to clear up that errant interference, for the moment; the sensors may not have been made to cut through that much rock, but maybe she can exercise some sort of wizardry over the ship's systems.

Garen (530) has posed:
Garen nods and carefully makes his way into the room, of course waiting for juno's scan...or at least he would have until the coms died. "Right......doing this the hard way..." He says. He moves in carefully, and as he approaches the devices follows Aries' words to the exact letter, as well as looked for pressure plates and traps again. Ever the watchful agent.

Gaius Van Baelsar (522) has posed:
Garen walks down into the room, he can see the device floating there pulsating out a field with every slow rotation. There doesn't seem to be anything down here, but beyond what is in the center being the device itself, its keeping everything in the dark.

Though his Chiss eyes may notice what looks like power conduits and large pipes. When he deactivates the device though, it powers off and slowly falls to the floor on top of a small holster device that places claws around it.

Then there is only darkness...

Garen (530) has posed:
Garen curses softly and rummages into his pack. He sighed softly as he attached a small glowstick into a loop on his belt. Thankfully, even that little light allowed him sight, thanks to the chiss heritage and their low-light vision.

Yari Takane (691) has posed:
Yari and her Troopers are stock still at that fist rising, obedience drilled into their very bones.

That disgust and words from Aries has Yari's hand very slowly inching towards the hilt of her sword. Her soldiers in general look like cats ready for the pounce.

It only gets worse when the man mentions 'anti-magitek field'. The cat-soldier mutters something unkind about the traitor legion's mothers in general.

Yari offers GAren a silent salute as he gets to work.

Gaius Van Baelsar (522) has posed:
The glow stick would provide a bit of light, but the room was massive and the cieling goes up to at least twenty maybe twenty five feet high. It has been carved out and black metal can be seen high up reinforcing the ceiling. The ground, while mostly natural stone also has black metal plates here and there. There was some tracks as well, all human. Armored boots like much like what Gaius or Aries would leave behind in their own steps.

There was also marks of things being dragged, but they didn't get dragged around far from their point of origin. Garen would have to walk the whole stretch of the place before he find everything and who knows how long that would take.

Yet as Aries was starting to step forward, that is suddenly when lights flared to life near ground level of the lower part of the ramp. Then one by one the large room started to be lit up as power started to flow back into the area.

While the room was massive, it was pretty empty. Power conduits went to empty places with only their imprints left in the rock where the dirt was not as thick. Yet something was left behind, a massive machine which several pipes were connected too and had several valves on it, a conveyor belt and several mechanic arms that may have been used for minting or compressing.

Its when the power comes back, Aries looks to Yari, "Takane, move. Make sure Garen is alright and I'll remain here until Eclipse can get her comms back up."

Yari Takane (691) has posed:
This time, there's a simple nod, and Yari's off like a flash. Down into the ramp she goes, zooming from what few shadows she can find to the other, occasionally leaping off and up into the ceiling by kicking off the very walls to do so. She stops as she hangs off one of those pipes, looking down towards the groud to try to find Garen!

Juno Eclipse (428) has posed:
Juno's signal returns, a bit choppy, but much clearer than it had been before. Whatever she did must have worked.

[Eclipse here. I seem to have cleared up some of the inherent noise, and my sensor readings are a bit clearer, too.]

Glancing over both her displays, the pilot leans forward to key in a few commands, checking various readouts for the area the Legionnaires are in, although she doesn't neglect to keep an eye on the ship's cloaking systems, either.

[Wherever you are, it's absolutely massive. I'm not seeing any signs of life, but be careful. I doubt something that regular is natural. Those walls were carved, not formed, and I doubt anybody would put in so much work to create something only to leave it.]

She thins her lips, considering the data reflecting from one of the screens; casting bright blue light over her fa<span style="color:e.

[cxterm81">I'm not reading any power signatures from here, either. If there are any systems in place in there, they've been inactive for quite some time. I'm reading enough refined alloy to suggest some kind of construct, but I just haven't got a clearer picture than that. I'm beginning to think that this 'Ceruleum' of yours is interfering with the Rogue Shadow's systems.</span>]

It's quite annoying, really. She's not accustomed to flying blind.

Gaius Van Baelsar (522) has posed:
While Yari goes down below, Aries stays up top until he can hear from Juno give he doesn't want to move down where her comms can no longer get a signal. He is almost tempted to head back up topside to make sure he can reach her.

Then Juno's voice comes through, not only what her scans pick up but also the fact that the Ceruleum could be causing havoc. If there is a source of raw Ceruleum here, that also means aetheric crystals are near by. That could be– a problem. ["Understood, las. We should be about done here."]

Aries then taps his com to get to Garen and Yari. "You two, take what pictures you can, however you can and let us get topside. My gut is starting to tell me we may have started to out warm our welcome, because if it wont be these bastards showing up, it will be the Ishgardians own patrols."

Garen (530) has posed:
Garen nods and sets out a small recon droid that takes picutes of everything. He looks up and offers a nod to Yari as well, a slight grin on his face.

Yari Takane (691) has posed:
Yari is good to her word, and starts taking scans and pictures with her armlet. Then she'll help Garen if he requires it, fleeing back up towards the ramp and out.

Her troopers are similarly getting ready to pull out, all eyes and ears and preparedness as they start to make their way towards the last known location of the Rogue Shadow, only halting as they wait on the local Legatus.

Juno Eclipse (428) has posed:
Half a glance is spared to the temperature readings. Although none of the systems are screaming at her for attention just yet, they're getting a bit uncomfortably high for her liking. Just as well that Aries announces they're almost finished.

[Good. I'd prefer not to chance keeping the cloaking system engaged for much longer. If the key component overheats, I won't be able to use the system until I've requisitioned a replacement. That could be a lengthy, and costly, process.]

Stygium crystals are a pain to find, as they only come from two places, one of which available to Imperial resources; and they're an even bigger pain to physically install in the Rogue Shadow's system. It's not just costly but it's difficult, and something she'd prefer to avoid if she can help it.

When the others have finished, they'll find the snow whipping around outside in telltale pattern that suggests there's an Invisible Awesome Starship hovering nearby. The hatch opens and the ramp extends, providing them with a much-needed exit strategy.

[Once you're all aboard, I'll return you wherever you need to go. My last stop will be the Citadel, so just stay on the ship if that's where you're headed.]

Gaius Van Baelsar (522) has posed:
Aries makes sure the two and the crew are out before he follows, though he does tsk softly as he looks back, "...whelp. They are going to know someone came by snooping around..." Its hard to say if he is upset by this fact or mildly amused. Perhaps both.

Once the Rogue Shadow comes down, he motions for everyone to get onboard, giving any final hand shakes and salutes. Though when he comes to Yari, he takes a firm hold of her arm; Her real arm; before his other hand comes around to clasp on her shoulder. "Keep up the good work, lass. You are making your mother proud and your former Legion. It was an honor to at last meet you and maybe one day, we'll have a chance to fight side by side, hm? Haha. This old dog can show you some new tricks even!"

Aries then lets go, before handing her a pouch, "And given that to the young lady on board, will ya and you all be safe!"

Once he sees that they are on board he steps back a bit and snaps a salute in Garlean fashion, before he then comms up Juno, ["They are all yours and Yari Takane should have a present for you. Go get yourself a few drinks when you get some off time, just make sure to drink one for me, hmm?"] There was a smile in his voice, before he started to walk away from the area.

Yari Takane (691) has posed:
Yari goes ramrod straight as she's caught by the arm by a /Legatus/, clapped on the shoulder, and given a pouch.

The poor lizard-woman lets out a squeak of a hiss in complete and utter confusion. She, for a moment, has no idea how to respond as she makes her way back up and her troopers board the Rogue Shadow.

The Au Ra smiles, wide and bright, her hero-crush solidifying horribly.

"L...Lord van Polus! I'll endeavor to hone my skills that I'd be worthy of such a thing! AT ONCE SIR!" Yari deals badly with being very, very nervous.

Then she's up and into the Rogue Shadow, her contrails of ninja-speed still flashing around. Ignore the little hearts floating off them.

Her presentation of the pouch to Juno is like a schoolgirl absent mindedly dropping off homework to a professor. It might be a little embarrassing to see in a soldier.