Test Tube Environments (Open)

[MKR]

December 24th
L1 Colony Cluster, Algebra affiliated colony
13:23 local time

The stars above had always inspired mankind, tales of their beginning, tales of how they took their place in the cosmic dance before them. Dreams to understand them, tales of wishes. Desires to reach them. Even the cold cosmic barrier between the infinite expanse was broken down to a mere statistical issue instead of a grand dream. No longer did the domain belong only to myth and dragons, the garden of Eden had its gates in sight from here and now, they had dropped concrete in front and installed a mall with souvenir shops in front.

On a highly related note, the colonies.

When it came to the notion of statistics these test tubes of humanity were king and country. Exactly regulated for human life, the numbers that could be maintained were already known and tracked, a human farm where the barn animals ran the show.

A truly amazing application of science to corral humanity per its own designated rules, one could section them off from the rest of humanity and in 200 years open them back to the rest of the world and theoretically the humans inside would be sustained until then.

If there was anything humanity was better at then peeling the layers of wonder off of the universe and everything outside it however it was preventing the continuation of humanity. The events 400 years ago showed that much as did the display on Mars.

Tragedies and statistics both.

---

A repeating signal cascading through space. One known since time immemorial, S. O. S.

A call for aid from a league colony, though what happened was not disclosed...

 

[Sev Odinson]

Curse her bleeding heart.

Sephala cursed herself softly as she went in to investigate the distress call. Why was a colony like this sending it out? And more importantly, why did it have to be the holidays? Regardless, she would land some distance away and aim the rifle out towards the colony in question.

"Huginn, Muninn, Investigate, be my eyes." She spoke to the pair of drones that had attached to the shoulders of her Tyrfing. The drones would then disconnect off the shoulders and fly out ahead, painting a video feed for Sephala on her Heads Up Display.

What happened here...?

 

[Kujo]

The Archangel sailed through space on course for the distressed colony. A unique sight, at least for L1, but given recent events the OPERAs were being sent out regularly to ensure that no more sudden attacks could be made- at least against CHORUS affiliated colonies. However, given the proximity and the general unidentified nature of the enemies' invasions and attacks, there was little good in letting something like this go uninvestigated.

"Unit identified: Panzer Soldat Tyrfing. It just launched something at the colony."

"This is OPERA Halcyon Ro Burning; In the name of Earth stand down and state your business!"

"Just shoot them if they try anything, Halcyon, no need for declarations."

In came the twin star Mobile Suits of CHORUS: The newer Destiny Gundam and the reborn flag unit, Freedom Gundam Feder. The aggressively styled Destiny hurtled forward, Wings of Light flaring but without any weapons drawn to bear. Meanwhile, some distance behind it, the Freedom soared through the void. Halcyon seemed adamant to let the individual validate their presence near the distressed colony while Puraj was more confident that a single Panzer Soldat wouldn't cause any trouble whether or not it turned its weapons to the two Coordinators.

 

[MKR]

As the drones came closer what they saw was far from expected. The colony below seemed more akin to a vision of hell than anything that could be considered real, especially if one's idea of hell was charcoal black and irradiated green. The buildings inside the colony had been rendered little more than cover clear signs of combat having torn them apart.

Arguably it was a miracle that there even remained a colony to call an S. O. S. as the degree of battle inside should have caused severe structural damage to the air pocket inside the void itself but instead it seemed perfectly contained. Like a petri dish under a microscope.

Several structures stood amidst the devastation, pulsing with green light in rhythmic repetition like breathing, though at a first glance their nature was uncertain but these believe it or not were, and definitely no longer counted as, mecha. Even if whatever they were before was unclear as currently it seemed more like a mad sculptor of abstract art had carved them out of their prior forms, limbs reaching out and twisting in unusual ways yet all aiming deeper to something yet unseen. Smaller constructs loomed everywhere around the rubble, matching the larger ones in coloration but seeming more intact.

With the newfound proximity of the Tyrfing and the Archangel both groups could pick up on a signal coming along with the cry for help. "-- can so--one h-- th-- --cer Sven L-- hey're r-- tside--" Laden with heavy static and coming from the exact same location as the other signal was a voice crying for what sounded like help.

Perhaps the crew of the CHORUS ship would blame the invaders which appeared but a scant few days ago but this seemed nothing like the peculiar machines they had fielded then.

 

[Sev Odinson]

"Gods...what did this...and why to this little colony...?" She murmured to no one in particular, her focus shifting a bit from the scene to the Archangel that had just spoken to her.

"I don't know who you are or who you think I am, but I am investigating this SoS. Huginn, Muninn, return to me." She made a command and shortly after, a pair of scouting drones would zip back and land on the Tyrfing's shoulders. "...Unless of course you have some idea as to what happened here?" She asked simply. The unit, the 'Archangel' was still a great distance away. If they proved to be a threat, she would still have enough time to fire a single, clean shot that would tear through the core and detonate the target.

Targets... She would shake her head of those thoughts. She would not always resort to hostility. Not anymore.

As a sign of good faith, she would lower her weapon, still holding it like how a soldier would with their own rifle. Prepared, but not raised.

"To reiterate, I am not your enemy. I am investigating this distress call. And from the looks of it...there's already not much left."

 

[Kujo]

The OPERAs, seemingly content with the answer, slowed their approach and stopped at a fair distance. The Gundams faced the colony and observed, meanwhile the crew of the Archangel's helm conferred together.

"The Soldat pilot is correct. Besides the distress signal I'm not getting anything."

Captain Amadeus peered at the screens in front of him. "If it's not an outright trap, anything that can disable if not clear out a colony just like that wouldn't be good to let stew," he said partially to his crew and partially to himself. "The League won't like it but we may have to destroy the colony." The flagship of CHORUS was likely more than enough to blast whatever may be ailing thr station to bits along with the colony around it, however Amadeus himself sermed to have a few qualms about doing so, and not just for the sake of CHORUS' corporate neighbors.

"All we're getting from the sensors is the energy the realm beyond the Gate uses." The Captain mused to himself, "Eorzea. Hm, we've hardly even met and we're already dealing with their messes." One of the communications officers piped up suddenly, "Sir, I couldn't make it out until now but there is a transmission behind the distress signal; it's hardly clear but someone is there."

Amadeus sighed, both in relief and in perturbation. "Puraj, Halcyon, you are cleared to approach and enter the colony to investigate the source of this transmission and secure any surviving colonists. To the Soldat: if indeed you are here to investigate then I hereby issue you a temporary conscription under OPERA Sen and Ro, otherwise you are free to vacate the area. This is going to get messy either way."

 

[MKR]

The way in was simple enough, the hangar gates hanging slightly ajar. Enough for the Gundams and Soldat to make their way in without need for violence, just as the drones had before. The place itself was eerily quiet, several of the smaller constructs lay motionless around the area as the remnants of transports of commerce and people twisted like a pretzel. The gentle sound of grating, bending, metal could be heard if one listened for it. Nothing would appear to bar their approach quite yet, the doors leading into the colony proper wide open, clearly forced that way as bent steel made way for holes the size of machines. Scorch marks around the damaged steel showing this was done by an assault.

Should any of the three potential arrivals continue onwards, deeper into the colony then there would be a reaction. The same reaction would also occur should any ammunition be it physical or energy be loosed within the confines of the hangar. All the small constructs in the hangar, a dozen or so of them would begin to immediately rush the machines. Vile green light billowing from the cracks as they seemed less intent on damaging the machines and more burrowing their way towards the cockpit with inefficient means to do so bar ripping apart the plating.

And while their strength was more than human, it was not that of a machine their size. Meaning that unless fully caught unawares the assault was unlikely to be particularly effective against any of the present forces. But it presented the start of something more, the Archangel from its vantage point would at the same moment the assault would begin notice much much more movement within the colony.

 

[Sev Odinson]

"Tch.. If you must insist. I will follow your lead but only until the task is seen through. Now...let us investigate whatever is happening here." She responded as she looked through her scope again, down at the hangar.

"Looks like we have a bit of trouble on our hands. We should take care of these before we move on." Her tone had shifted, it was more of a flat, business only kind. Like a switch was flipped from outgoing to something brutally efficient at what she does.

"Way I see it, there's a lot of them, and trying to slip by would only cause problems later should things go south. But...It's your call. I'm curious to see how you would solve this situation." As she said this, she punched in a couple commands for her drones to fly off and scout ahead so that they could get a decent idea on the number of these things within the colony, making sure the drones are floating high above, out of any line of fire.

 

[Kujo]

The Gundams carefully plodded forward, their wings held high to keep from agitating anything scurrying about their feet. "You say we should take care of them but if you take a closer look- we're in a hive," Puraj said dryly. "The Captain had the right idea. There's no clearing this colony with just some Mobile Suits and a Soldat, the only way to clean this is to blast the colony and everything in it with the Archangel." The Freedom's hand went to one of its beam sabers as a shadow darted in the periphery of its view.

Halcyon slowly brought Destiny up beside Puraj. "Let's focus on what we can do, then," Halcyon said as he navigated through a number of menus inside his cockpit. He connected to the frequency of the emergency broadcast and more closely pinpointed the origin of it. "This is OPERA Halcyon Ro Burning, your broadcast has been received and we are on site. What is your status and what is the nature of the emergency?" As he spoke onto the line, the Coordinator would attempt to continue to refine the strength of the broadcast and repeat his message as necessary.

 

[MKR]

The other side of the transmission, getting rapidly clearer as both units approached and a coordinator worked his magic on the signal shifted from the repeated S.O.S. as Halcyon responded. A young man's voice rejoiced at speaking with people, genuine people who had come to help.
"Oh thank God- Copy OPERA. I'm surrounded by... These people, things... Monsters, they've surrounded the radio facility from all sides... I think I'm the only one left sir. I've tried to reach out, see if there's anyone else but no one answered, not until now... Oh uh, Algebra radio operator Sven Lund."

Behind a humongous piece of equipment a hand went through hair, with all the modernizations one would imagine it smaller but no. To carry waves through the vastness of space a real brick was needed and an antenna to boot. One now slightly damaged by the fighting but still people had heard him. A smile came onto his face, hope he just needed to believe he'd make it out. Still it was the obvious truth he saw with his own eyes that made that hope fleeting.

"But these monsters... They are the people that lived here, were." The man cleared his throat, his cameras didn't see them yet. They were not in the line of vision granted to him by the simple security equipment that remained. Even if several of the terrible concrete squares architects had dare call buildings had moved out of the way now.

In the meanwhile, as the three machines moved forwards the drones began their investigation.

Immediately outside their entry point there were but a few of the unusual creatures, but as they moved up the vile green glowing things became more numerous, large quantities of them seemed to loiter around or coalesce in groups. The largest mass of them was far away, far too numerous to count collected around an ominous spire standing in the middle of the colony.

A large inverse triangle stood at its core, pulses of green energy like veins moving from the structure around it towards its center. Where a smaller yet similar triangle simply adorned the hollow core of the triangles. It was an unusual sight, but arguably less so then the warped structures. Still evocative of the machines they were prior. Now they dotted the landscape like memorials to a distant war, yet it would be revealed that it was in fact these spires that were the source of the creaking metal. Slowly their forms twisting as if being repurposed. Veins extended into the ground below from the spire next to their entrance, drawing an intricate circle. Its purpose yet unclear.

Halfway between them and the triangle was the source of the signal, indeed surrounded by the creatures on all sides as they lumbered around. Seemingly not interested in forcing their way in through brute force currently.

 

[Sev Odinson]

"This is bad..." Sephala would mention over the comms between the three of them, instinctively, she typed in a command to share the video she was capturing with her scouting drones. Everything about this felt incredibly alien to her.

"We must be cautious." She would continue as they approached, Sephala would keep at range, watching for anything that may grow hostile to their approach...and there is a survivor of whatever happened, or is currently happening here. That only made things more difficult, and further questions began creeping into her mind. She would push them aside for now and would focus on the task at hand, and that was making sure they didn't alert any of the hordes. Talking was not her strong suit, so she'd let the others do the talking.