Grounded- Jungle

[Professor Fenway]

Ash violently flew forward and smashed through a holo-screen. Everything seemed to jump up as well. He snaked his wrist around a handle and prayed that it wouldn't go loose. Everything was breaking, falling, collapsing... Violent flashes of green blared through the view-screen, a computer was torn up and flew down the hall, the lights were torn from their sockets. The ship violently rocked again, and Ash felt something crush under his fingers. He felt his grip slipping as the ship rumbled forward, awaiting the end where it would crash, and everyone would die, and maybe then he could have some peace.

When the ship stopped instead of exploding, he sighed. Darn. He slowly stood up. Unsteady due to the crash, he fell twice as he made his way to a nearby monitor. Surprisingly, it was still functioning. They hadn't lost anything in the crash, at least he thought so. Then he spied the notification- Node Graph Failure, Rebooting and Updating. I love how everything works like that. Something always goes wrong. He lost interest and stumbled over to the navigation console.

Error 404: Edited out the bits of Glitch, as he isn't a robot. He's an A.I.

[Error]

OOC: Glitch is integrated into the ship. He hath no physical body 'cept the bird. Sorry, should've made that clearer.
BIC: Glitch, slightly dazed, began an analysis of the ship. Not surprisingly, most of it was dysfunctional.

[Chairman_Tiel]

'cept the bird..

?

[Chairman_Tiel]

Larsa awoke with a start on the cot he'd laid down on several hours earlier. He was a deep sleeper. Slightly dazed, the avian, in his dusty burgundy flight uniform, took in a quick glance of his surroundings. Everything seemed to be as he had left it, the cold, hyperdense steel of the walls were as rusty and cold to the touch as ever. However...the ship's medical officer wafted some air towards his beak. There was a strange scent in the air, like burnt ozone, if such a thing were physically possible.

Rubbing his head and the crest on it, Larsa stood up...then immediately buckled down onto the floor, his head seized by a sudden, overwhelming pain in the fore of his skull. Grinding the two portions of his beak in concentration, he stood up, one talon first, then the other, until he was standing erect again. He swept his gaze across the room rapidly, until his eyes landed on a sole piece of ironwork lying on his bedside table. Carefully, the medic made his way to it, and grasped the item in his wing and examined it. It was a melee weapon, archaic, but still useful in very specific circumstances. If he remembered right, it was crafted in the style of the ancient human Kunai knives...why was this in here?

His wing fumbled over the knife, feeling for any recesses in the shell, until he felt himself push a small tab of iron into the item. Why was that there...? Oh crap, what if it's a bomb? Larsa exclaimed inside his mind, when after a short delay something happened. The kunai's iron faded away to reveal a pure ivory exterior, the pearly white accented by thin streaks of blue luminescent plasma along the blade.

"What the ***k!?" He yelled, trying to release the weapon from his wings but only succeeding in holding it away from his body. The plasma streaks started to emit...some sort of gas, probably just the base substance from whence it came with looser molecular bonds...but in the avian's panic he failed to acknowledge that, frozen in fear as the 'gas' formed a tight aura around the blade, a tongue of it leaping from the weapon onto the dull gray feathers of his wing.

"No-" Larsa's shout was cut off as his larynx slowly closed, at least to his mind as the plasma spread throughout his body like a tidal wave, painfully cutting off all the systems from his nervous system as it passed until all that remained in his body that 'belonged' to him was his brain. With what little muscle control he had left, the medical officer widened his eyes in fear as he felt it creeping up his spine until...

A massive shock entered his brain, and suddenly there was darkness. Had Larsa still maintained control of his sensory organs, he would have seen his body crumpled on the cool metal of the floor, the kunai knife still gripped within one of his wing's 'hands'.

When Larsa regained consciousness, his vision was blurry as he hesitantly ordered his body to tilt his head at such an angle that he could look at the wallclock. To his surprise, not only did his muscles obey, but they did in such a manner that his gaze altered almost instantaneously. After examining the mounted timepiece for a time, he assessed that only two minutes had passed since he had blacked out. Wait...two minutes? He didn't even remember the time he had picked up the strange kunai, never mind the exact minute it had propelled him into a temporary coma. Temporary coma? Where did that come from? Where was all this information coming from?

Despite the rising panic the medical officer felt rising in him, an unknown force within his mind propelled it back into the depths of his consciousness. It was at that point that the blurriness at the edges of his vision cleared, the distorted gray giving way to series of blue straight, thin lines that gradually cleared up into clusters of organized data, and then into something of a GUI that Larsa could have sworn he'd seen before. Optical enhancements.. his mind said, though this time he could distinguish it from his normal thoughts. Data reservoir it said again, as if interpreting his confusion as a query.

Even after a few minutes of communicating with the 'dumb' ai, it was not until Larsa's curiosity encouraged him to look at the implement in his wing that it all came back to him. The information flowed into his mind like a tidal wave. Project S.H.I.N.O.B.I, the enhancements, his discharge from the program for reasons he wasn't privy to, the drunken fight afterwards on Malys...the avian's mind struggled to process the data, and Larsa could feel a headache coming on. But suddenly, something stood out. The knife was taken away from him, the kunai custom crafted for each SHINOBI agent, it had been confiscated. So why was it lying here in front of him...no, that was right, someone in the organization gave it back...who? And why?

The data repository that had been installed into his neural network was silent.

"So the information is missing?" he said aloud.

That is correct. Corrupted sectors detected. The message from the dumb AI flashed across the top of his vision in small, blocky text, then faded into nothingness.

Odd. Please keep your messages in that format, though. It's convenient. He thought, sending the words to the probable position of the AI implant, and then examined the kunai again. From what he remembered, the knife served as not only a lethal weapon, but a reservoir of memories and data. As long as it stayed on his person, they remained, but as soon as it was outside a certain radius of his enhancements, they would turn off, creating a very authentic case of amnesia that could be very, very handy in case of capture. Only two shinobi agents had ever been captured, and as far as Taln Naval Command was concerned, neither had divulged any useful intelligence to their captors. An agent with a weapon would easily overpower their jailors, after all.

Larsa grasped the tool and slid it in his hardened uniform, into a pocket he suspected had been designed for this express purpose. Someone had relieved him of his knife, but then had the decency to place it on the bedside table after the act. Even the basic form of the kunai would fetch a high price, particularly in the human market. He pondered this as he made up his room, constantly querying the database through the HUD ingrained into his retinas for information. Apparently the stimulant generator installed within the knife was malfunctioning, requiring the removal of the device in order to attain sleep for the user. But who? he inquired urgently. The AI conjured up a photo on the HUD of a young human woman, probably considered attractive by her species's standards. Larsa tried to remember who she was, but the information from much earlier in his career was still trickling in. The database would still be incomplete for another hour.

"I need to find her.." He muttered, opening the hatchway and stepping out...into utter hell.

OOC: Just to clarify, this is after the crash.

[Error]

Glitch set off the fire suppression systems and began making automated radio calls to the crew. He pulsed the ship's radar, and was mildly surprised to find it working. He began an analysis of their surroundings.

>Atmosphere breathable.
>Small lifeforms only.
>Geography appears to be a small island.
>Nearby ocean- No toxins or obvious dangers.
>>Standby damage assessment.

[Chairman_Tiel]

So can it be 'utter hell' inside the ship?

[Error]

Yup. We crash landed at something above 130 meters/ second. Utter mayhem and destruction.

[ACH0225]

"Cuuyth above, my head!" groaned Pyrrith as he emerged from his crash pod/bathroom. He took stock of his surroundings. Parts of the floor, walls, and ceiling had collapsed, dented, bent, or disappeared, and the door had been smashed to the point where it looked more similar to a window than a door. As it would happen, a gap in the wall large enough for Pyrrith to slip through had opened, leading to a corridor. Taking one last look between his dented and smashed guns, the crushed door, and the gap in the wall, he hopped through. The corridor led to medbay, which he figured would be a good enough place to start searching for other crew. As he rounded another corner, he noticed a humanoid shape emerging from what Pyrrith supposed was the medbay. Pyrrith increased his walking speed as he attempted to catch up to the apparently deaf life form.

[Error]

Glitch continued automated calls and began to route fuel, power, and life support through useable channels. He tested the topside mass driver, found it working, and began taking stock of the ship's armaments, supplies, and single ships.

[Prototype]

:::INITIATING REBOOT:::

Oh crap, not again.

Theta had been thrown to the other side of the assault bay, looking to the right of him so had a heavy battle mech, which appeared to have landed a few centimetres away from his head.

"Why am I the one getting crushed?"

Theta stood up, a difficult task seeing as his leg was still knackered.

"Need to fix this thing" Theta thought to himself. The leg wasn't functioning due to a loss of nerve fluid, which was smeared all over the floor, where it wasn't much use. Theta had a small reserve of nerve fluid, but it was too concentrated, if he added it to his system in this state it would cause massive over reactions, in that if he tried to lift a finger he would likely punch a hole in the ceiling. He needed something to dilute it, and last time he checked the ship didn't have any nerve fluid dilution agent.

What it did have was hydraulic oil, and lots of it, it wasn't ideal, but it would have to do. Theta cut his way into the assault mechs hydraulics, carefully slicing a groove in the top of the cylinder. Theta limped over to the workbench, grabbing a siphon pump and a fluid container. Theta put the container on the ground, and began extracting th hydraulic fluid from the mechs leg unit. After measuring exactly 1 dm[sup]3[/sup], he ejected the nerve fluid concentrate from his torso unit, carefully removing one unit of nerve concentrate, and putting it in the hydraulic fluid. The fluid turned a dark green colour, the dilution was correct.

Theta opened up the damaged fluid container in his leg, the container had not ruptured like he had previously thought, one of the artery tubes had become detached, much easier to fix. Theta carefully filled the container back up, fixed the artery tube back on and replaced the container. He sent a command to his leg

>_ open nerve fluid valve c

Theta kicked the mech, just to check it worked. His leg was operational, if a little over reactive, but not enough to be a problem, in fact it just meant he could kick things a lot further.

Theta began to head towards the damaged power system, but upon opening the bulkhead from the assault room, he found that the corridor had been replaced with thick jungle.

"That's not right"

[Professor Fenway]

Ash restarted the navigation console and decided to pull up the DRADIS Sensor map. Surprisingly, it was functional. Not surprisingly, it was very distorted. He quickly traced the problem to the backup sensor above the bridge, which had been knocked loose. He cursed and then exited the bridge. He was planning on taking the Hull Hatch up there, but stopped short when the bridge corridor was missing. Most of it. He carefully inched to the edge, and to his relief he was still connected to the ship. Only this corridor seemed to be affected. It was if it was replaced with jungle- large vines hung off of the electrical wiring, the scraps of metal. He then saw that, no, the corridor wasn't missing. It was overgrown, with jungle. What the heck? He quickly spotted a breach in the top of the corridor, leading outside. That explains how it got in. But how'd it grow so fast? He shook his head and moved to the breach. He grabbed onto the vines and climbed out.

He emerged a massive jungle. Trees towered in every direction, even from the angle the ship dropped from. Wait a minute, these plants must grow extremely fast. If we crashed at this angle, they would all be knocked down. Super-Plants or something. And where's the nourishment source? He scanned the ship for the backup sensor, which was difficult because the ship was covered in vines. He spotted it and tried to move, but his ankle was caught in a vine. Stupid plant. He cut it with his knife and went to the sensor. It looked perfect. He then spotted a few disconnected wires and reconnected them. Satisfied, he got up to leave, but his ankle was caught in a vine again. How is that possible? Are they entangling me? He cut it and then shook his head. Don't be silly. They're just plants. He quickly reached the hull breach again, and halted. A pair of large, yellow eyes was watching him from the nearest tree, maybe 15 feet away. Curious, he slowly approached it. The eyes then moved into the light, revealing what appeared to be a monkey. At least it looks like one. What is it? It was light brown, with a face tanned from the sun. It moved up on the vines it was grasping, and Ash noticed it had 6 fingers on each hand. "Hi?" Ash asked. The monkey hooted and moved a bit away. "Fine then." Ash turned back and headed toward the hull breach again.

As he was about to go down, he heard screaming from behind him. Wild hooting and screaming. He turned to see the monkey entangled in the vines. "You idiot!" Ash said, and he rushed to the monkey. He grabbed him and attempted to pull him down, but the vines wouldn't give. What's with these vines? It's almost as if they're grabbing him. He attempted to pull his hand away, but he found a vine wrapped around it. "Seriously?" He pulled out his knife with the other hand and sliced the vine apart, then cut the monkey free. It jumped away, hooted at him, then ran off. "You're welcome!" he yelled, then to himself, "Ungrateful monkey." He sighed and began to leave to find a vine around his ankle. "What is with this jungle? It's as if it wants to eat me!" He cut it free and returned to the ship, entering the bridge. From outside, a pair of large, luminous eyes peered in. And then followed.

[cats]

Gulan struggled to his feet and cleared his head. During initial impact, he had been thrown against the fore wall of the small mechanic room and rendered unconscious. He checked himself for injuries. A few more cracks in his exoskeleton, but nothing too serious. He tapped the panel in his forearm plates, then looked down at it. The screen had a large crack down its center. He prodded his throat mic and received a small shock. He flipped his right eye HUD out from the side of his head. Broken, like all of his other implants. He reached around to his back to check his cooling device. His claw returned with a mixture of coolant and orange blood. He quickly removed the apparatus and removed the tubes from his torso. He opened the half-closed shutters fully, revealing the rest of the assault room. It was in mangled disarray. Hulking metallic corpses were strewn haphazardly around the fore half of the storage room. Broken tanks, various transportation and maintenance machines were scattered around the deck. The scent of coolant, hydraulic fluid, and burnt atmosphere permeated the air. There was also something else. Plants maybe? Flowers?

Gulan calmed himself, he was getting too warm.

[Error]

Glitch monitored everyone's progress. Spotting Ash's difficulties, he decided upon a solution. Glitch routed power and sent a taser-level jolt of energy through the ship's outer hull. Not enough to even mildly injure Ash, but probably enough to zot the plants. And monkeys.

[Archduke Daynel, PhD]

Jake woke up, feeling something he thought he wouldn't feel again ever.
He felt alive. Hurt all over the body but alive.
He then checked his equipment bag. Most of his stuff were pretty much intact, although one of his smaller rocket launchers was pretty much broken.
"She was so young..." he sniffed.

Jake decided to check in what condition the ship was, and where they could have landed.
The first was pretty easy: The numerous cracks and holes, the many bulks and the walls that didn't exist on some places told that the ship was.. well, destroyed.
The second was harder. All he could see through the holes and windows was trees and vines. That only told they were in a jungle. He also remembered seeing a large ocean as they fell, so they were probably on an island. "Jungle island. One of the most common occurrences in the galaxy."
So he went outside to see if he could get a better understanding of what kind of jungle it was. And he sure hoped it was a dangerous one.

[Professor Fenway]

Ash returned to the bridge and pulled up the DRADIS Sensor Map again. After a minute of updating, it refreshed and showed an island. A massive, jungle, island. Just great. He scanned the island for habitable settlements, and then shook his head. Nothing. He decided to try and find someone else. Just as he was about to leave the bridge, the communicator piped up. He turned, and saw that the console had turned itself on. And it was saying that a message had arrived. Strange. Isn't our communicator offline? He walked up to it, and saw that it was a prerecorded message. Stranger still, it was addressed to someone he hadn't heard of. Someone named Lamyx. It was labeled, "Mission Details and Planet Information of Ralarch IV- HIGHLY CLASSIFIED. Authorized Access Only." He attempted to access it, but was blocked by an Encryption. Pass-code protected. Frowning, Ash tried every pass-code he knew, but to no avail. He then remembered the monkey, and the vines. If this planet is Ralarch IV, then I have an idea. He tried a few more codes, but no dice. He then tried 'Vinemonkeyisland'.

The screen went blank for a second, then replied, 'Access Granted. Please Insert Holo-Disk'. A small receptacle Ash had never seen before appeared. After fumbling around the room, he finally found one. He inserted it, and it said, 'Upload in progress. Please wait.' He sat down, and then felt like he was being watched. He turned around to see a pair of large, luminous yellow eyes peering at him from the corridor.