Excerpt 001: Enquiring Minds
Jul. 23rd, 2015 12:44 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
TYPE: Patrol log
LOCATION: Ishtar Sink, Venus
rekindledtitan ], One [1] Unconfirmed, designate Aran, Samus [
onemorebounty ]
ASSOCIATIONS: Multiversal Nexus; Samus Aran; Chozo; Ishtar Sink; Hezen Protective; Pelsor; House of Winter; Drevis; Blaze-37; Ishtar Academy
They land in a clearing on the city outskirts with grass under their boots and a heavy overcast above. The breeze that greets them is hot and humid, a little acidic. Around them is a densely-grown treeline, with broad leaves that are near-luminescent shades of green. Their rustle is echoed by the distant wash of waves from beyond the ruins.
Blaze turns to scan the area, hopeful of opposition even though her Ghost already checked the site. The broken towers and city blocks are quiet within the overgrowth. But then it’s not the human ruins which really stand out. To the north a massive volcano takes up much of the sky, belching out a noxious plume of ash and gas. Small wonder that each shift in the breeze makes the scent of the air waver between sulfurous and salty. Over the hills to both south and east loom dark geometric structures. Look at them with anything other than the optical spectrum, and they emit some very peculiar readings.
“At last,” the Exo remarks, feeling a thrill that doesn’t break her readiness. Her head’s turned up to check the skyline as she speaks. Then she's moving for the buildings. “We’re in Guardian territory, more or less. Doesn’t stretch too far yet. Won’t take long to find some trouble.”
LOCATION: Ishtar Sink, Venus
PARTIES: Three [3]. One [1] Ghost-type, [1] Guardian-type, designate Blaze-37, Class Titan [
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ASSOCIATIONS: Multiversal Nexus; Samus Aran; Chozo; Ishtar Sink; Hezen Protective; Pelsor; House of Winter; Drevis; Blaze-37; Ishtar Academy
They land in a clearing on the city outskirts with grass under their boots and a heavy overcast above. The breeze that greets them is hot and humid, a little acidic. Around them is a densely-grown treeline, with broad leaves that are near-luminescent shades of green. Their rustle is echoed by the distant wash of waves from beyond the ruins.
Blaze turns to scan the area, hopeful of opposition even though her Ghost already checked the site. The broken towers and city blocks are quiet within the overgrowth. But then it’s not the human ruins which really stand out. To the north a massive volcano takes up much of the sky, belching out a noxious plume of ash and gas. Small wonder that each shift in the breeze makes the scent of the air waver between sulfurous and salty. Over the hills to both south and east loom dark geometric structures. Look at them with anything other than the optical spectrum, and they emit some very peculiar readings.
“At last,” the Exo remarks, feeling a thrill that doesn’t break her readiness. Her head’s turned up to check the skyline as she speaks. Then she's moving for the buildings. “We’re in Guardian territory, more or less. Doesn’t stretch too far yet. Won’t take long to find some trouble.”
no subject
Date: 2015-07-23 01:00 am (UTC)Good. Think they saw us coming?
*Those strange buildings are too far away for a proper scan, just yet, but she's certainly interested. She nods in their direction*
Those look interesting.
no subject
Date: 2015-07-23 10:26 pm (UTC)"The Fallen? Only if they've got snipers posted. Don't know what the Vex can pick up yet." She looks back to follow Samus' gaze, her own pulse rifle in hand. The helm doesn't hide how she stares for a few long seconds. "That thing has to be their Citadel. Let's head for that. See what tries to stop us."
//
We have a sensor network to track Vex signatures,
// her Ghost pipes up over the comms. It's disappeared safely into its Guardian's systems and isn't coming out until it has to. //I've established a connection. The good news is that I detect none moving to intercept us yet.
//no subject
Date: 2015-07-23 10:43 pm (UTC)So, how fast can you run in those new boots?
no subject
Date: 2015-07-24 12:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-07-24 01:34 am (UTC)*Samus, too, is ready to run; with her suit's speed-enhancing subsystems, she's ready to break the sound barrier.*
no subject
Date: 2015-07-25 01:50 am (UTC)And she charges off, crashing into the undergrowth with a will. Exo and Guardian both, she accelerates with Light and mechanical power behind her. Though fast, her charge is all force and no agility. She won't be breaking the sound barrier - anything else that gets in her way, however...
no subject
Date: 2015-07-25 02:59 am (UTC)*She does make certain her path doesn't intersect Blaze, as she has no desire to lose a friend.*
no subject
Date: 2015-07-26 04:45 pm (UTC)Something of this terrain comes back to her as Blaze runs, reminding her how to find her feet and when to tear through the tangled treefall instead of bounding onto it. Her jets are short-burst only; she fires them now and then to boost her over an obstacle. The moment her boots whumph back onto solid ground she's off again, pounding through the empty forest. She half-notices the wild patterns of the ferns, the crystalline blooms that glow and shimmer among the ruins. Right now she's just running, and enjoying every second: Light in her circuits, objective ahead and a friend at her side...
...No, very definitely pulling ahead. What's she doing? Curious and not at all cautious, Blaze angles to cross Samus' path. The trailing cloud of hot ash and dust she meets tells the tale. She laughs. All right, head down. Time to catch up.
no subject
Date: 2015-07-27 01:11 am (UTC)This place must have been beautiful, once. I'm guessing not all of the residents got out before that changed?
no subject
Date: 2015-07-27 02:37 am (UTC)Blaze is far from chipper about that. But playing in these boneyards is all she remembers, not anything of what they used to be. Besides, she's too distracted for grieving.
//What is that you're doing up there? I've never seen fire like that on anyone besides a Warlock.// And she knows how they do it. Kinda. Roughly.
Shinespark, HO!
Date: 2015-07-27 02:51 am (UTC)*Or, as the game manuals like to call it, a Shinespark. Normally, Samus would be cagey about her people's tech and her suit's abilities, but she can see what Blaze is fighting. If she inspires a weapon or two against this, she won't regret it.*
My people had some strong ideas about what a lone warrior should be capable of.
no subject
Date: 2015-07-27 03:44 pm (UTC)Not yet. It's worth some tinkering. Make a few modifications and you could get - if not the same effect - an interesting next step. It'd be very useful for a Striker-type prone to charging into enemy fire. If Blaze isn't taking notes, her Ghost is.
//My people would like yours. ...Wait, 'had'?//
no subject
Date: 2015-07-27 04:07 pm (UTC)It's complicated. The simple explanation is that they needed to do things outside conventional space, and their living corporeal forms weren't up to the job, so they had to leave those behind. I wasn't ready to go, so I stayed with the living.
no subject
Date: 2015-07-27 11:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-07-27 11:25 pm (UTC)*It is, indeed, quite a thing to hear, or to say. And that's the simple explanation.*
no subject
Date: 2015-07-28 12:06 am (UTC)//So why'd you stay behind?//
no subject
Date: 2015-07-28 01:13 am (UTC)*Occasionally, Samus comes upon an obstacle that she can't simply mow through--for those, she makes quick detours, still scorching her surroundings.*
It's a big organization. I've killed plenty, and taught them to fear me, but they're still going. So I'm not done.
no subject
Date: 2015-07-29 03:14 am (UTC)Blaze cuts a straighter path, taking advantage of those obstacles to make up ground while she can. They're running out of forest: soon they'll be into the stunted shrublands around. Meanwhile they're cutting - or burning - an unmissable trail, which might be a factor in the information the Ghost supplies.
//
I don't want to interrupt, but I'm picking up a lot of Fallen transmissions. I'm still analyzing the content.
//no subject
Date: 2015-07-29 03:36 am (UTC)*When Samus bursts from cover, she's bound to draw attention; like a low-flying shooting star, streaking through the scrubland. She tries again to scan the fortress ahead, hoping they might be close enough by now for her visor to pick up on something.*
If it's not some variation of, "what is that thing coming at us," or "the sensors must be broken," I'm going to have to revise my opinion of them downward.
no subject
Date: 2015-07-30 09:15 am (UTC)You needn't worry about that. They definitely know something's up.
// There's a chirp, and the Ghost adds, //Activity over the drop ahead - moving fast. They're going to intercept us.
//There are a few trees out here, but most are dead and stunted, or uprooted by whatever seismic activity buckled the landscape into hills and ravines. The human ruins are behind them: no colonists ever built this close to the Citadel. It blots out much of the sky now, a monumental black column sprouting from the rock. The higher reaches jut out in ways that indicate complete indifference to gravity. Much of it seems to be suspended entirely in the air.
To the eye it's silent and still, but on sensors it shimmers with the interference of cast-off emissions. Samus might be able to detect how space warps and coils about the glossy walls, dragging the clouds with it. More interesting is the fact that the Citadel seen by eye does not entirely match up to the Citadel as seen through other sensors, and different portions are missing in each. The pall that hangs over the planet builds into an oppressive air as they draw closer.
To Blaze that's anything but discouragement. On the open ground she's started lagging again, and the promise of combat draws a renewed burst of speed from her. //Hah! We're not the only ones out for trouble. They have thrust bikes?//
//
At least three.
// Which means the riders will be mere dregs, out to scout and scavenge as close to Vex ground as they dare. Just a little light fun on the way in, Blaze figures.no subject
Date: 2015-07-30 04:06 pm (UTC)*That sits just fine with Samus; she uses the drop ahead as a jumping-off point, sending herself on a high arc, twisting in midair to bring her arm cannon to bear against the targets. Beams of plasma lance down toward these first encounters, even as she sets her visor to scanning one.*
If the citadel sent these out to see what we're capable of, they're going to get a show.
no subject
Date: 2015-07-30 11:27 pm (UTC)Their opponents are hardly imposing: slightly smaller than the average human, two-armed bipeds with light armour and shock pistols at their sides. They're organic, certainly, four eyes glowing over their breathing masks and a stiff mohawk of hair poking from their heads. Depending on how thorough her scan is, Samus might pick up on the remaining skeletal joints where each has lost a second, lower pair of arms.
What they have are heavy thrust bikes, plated in solid-looking blue armor. The engines crackle with tormented electricity, but the vehicles skate over the ground with ease. They yell to one another in gravelly voices as Samus launches herself from the high ground, trying to turn and target her with the twin nose cannons.
It's immediately obvious this doesn't work with an airborne target. Samus' fire rips into a wheeling Pike, gutting the engine. The rider accelerates desperately, then throws himself off as the controls fail.
Another goes skidding sideways to evade - and no sooner does it succeed than Blaze comes skidding down the slope to crash right into it. To the Titan's surprise, this only slams it away from her instead of exploding the engine. Weird. Without thinking, she moves to close on it again. Meanwhile, the third Pike's rider is smart enough to bolt clear, planning to turn and target the 'humans' properly.
//Huh? Oh- they will. Didn't send these dregs though. Fallen aren't friends with the Vex in there.//
//
Our enemies hate one another as much as they hate us. But it's a safe assumption the Citadel is watching.
//no subject
Date: 2015-07-31 04:54 am (UTC)I'll be certain to keep a few tricks in reserve, then.
*Since they're employing vehicle-mounted weapons that don't tilt up very effectively, Samus leaps after her missile, keeping the advantage of altitude whenever possible.*
Am I seeing joints for amputated limbs on these things?
no subject
Date: 2015-07-31 05:37 pm (UTC)That leaves one survivor getting to his feet, pistol in one hand and crackling knife in the other. He might be a little cutthroat, but he'll fight to the last.
//
Correct. These are dregs, the lowest rung of their society. The docking is an initiation rite. The ones who prove themselves are allowed to regrow their arms.
//no subject
Date: 2015-08-01 01:58 am (UTC)*Samus' arm cannon changes configuration, shortening and widening, the red-glowing seams closing and the seams that open shedding a faint purple. She levels the weapon at the remaining dreg, and fires off a shot. The shot takes the form of three motes of light oscillating through a common central line, along which they are radially equidistantly spaced--the wave beam. It doesn't hit hard, but the strong electrical charge it carries tends to make its targets seize up for a moment. More to the point, the motes track on their target, following even if the creature has some bright idea of jumping aside at the last moment.*
Of course, that doesn't include these three...
(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:Cue boss fight music?
From:Of course!
From:Excellent choices, both.
From:Nice! Very fitting.
From:Thank you.
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:Okay, NOW it's boss music time (and Blaze and Samus might possibly be the bosses).
From:I wonder what's on the Vex playlist
From:Imagine if Skrillex did the soundtrack for an action movie for modems.
From:I think my imagination went deaf in self-defense
From:That's probably a good idea.
From:So peaceful now
From:Serenity now! (Okay, I just dated myself.)
From:But it makes a great battle cry!
From:The more I think about it, the more ominous it becomes. It's perfect!
From:First your enemies will feel confusion. Then a slow-building dread...
From:And then, the promised serenity, as they are shriven of their worldly cares.
From:They're in a better place now. The trophy cabinet.
From:Where it's nice and peaceful.
From:Rest in pieces, dearest foes.
From:Ashes to ashes, rust to rust.
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:Void Beam acquired! (Press A for details.)
From:Cue the triumphant music!
From:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zXXdUC4NX4
From:That is both neat and terribly cute.
From:It very much is. Like something out of "Baby Samus: the Littlest Hunter"
From:Is there somewhere I can vote for this game?
From:Sure. Write to Nintendo and demand some love for their most-abused franchise.
From:Finally a worthy use for all that speechcraft grinding!
From:It's nice to be able to use one's degree.
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:Samus asking the question so many shooter players have wondered about.
From:Enquiring minds want to know! (Title drop!)
From:Our work is done.
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:...
From:...
From:...
From:...
From:...
From:...
From:...
From:...
From:...
From:...
From:...
From:...
From:...
From:...
From:...
From:...
From:...
From:...
From:...
From:...
From:...
From:...
From:...
From:...
From:...
From:...
From:...
From:...
From:...
From:...
From:...
From:...
From:...
From:...
From:...
From:...
From:...
From:...
From:...
From:...
From:...
From:...
From:...
From:...
From:Profile
March 2025
Most Popular Tags
Page Summary
Active Entries
Style Credit
Expand Cut Tags