Chronicles of The Omniverse Archived Westeria City: Rheinsdale

as written by barney_fife

Haruko at this point had completely lost control of her vessel, and the ground was coming up really quickly. The impact on a nearby building took off the left wing, leaving the sharp piece of starship embedded in the concrete as the cruiser spun on it's axis, Haruko clenched her eyes tightly and braced for impact as the ship made a hard touchdown on a row of bombed out houses one street over from where the Scatterran team was setting up camp.

The skies above were filled with smoke from re-entry, and a plume of smoke and debris mushroomed up a couple streets over where the alien vessel had made touchdown. Though it's main body was intact; much of the ship had disintegrated, and it's white hull was charred black from uncontrolled re-entry. The insignia on the hull was also partially obscured, and likely unrecognizable to the locals. Though the design of the vessel itself was unmistakably Taiyou. It did not appear to fit existing known Taiyou ship designs.

Haruko's world however had gone black the moment impact occured, and as the sole occupant of the vessel, she was the only survivor.
 
as written by Krysis

Lalita looked from one soldier to the next, waiting for an answer. When no one bothered to even acknowledge her presence, even after she fed them, she just gave a thoughtful nod and left the room again. The stiffness in her shoulders and the somehow offended look to the angle of her little wings might have given them a clue to her next course of action.

The sound of the old truck starting up outside probably confirmed it. At least she left them the sacks of beans. And it wasn't like they actually needed her help. Not when they had an actual Terran soldier. Who was probably crazy and going to shoot them all in their sleep. Because they didn't seem to want to even discuss setting watches or however the military folk would put it.

The strange girl had just had enough with the insane soldiers. She gave an annoyed huff at herself for letting herself be pulled into helping them at all... As she was backing out of the driveway and berating herself for being an idiot, (letting herself be fooled, because she had No proof at all that they even were aliens), there was a horrible sound and a streak of fiery light overhead.

Wilting a bit, she muttered, "Not again." just as the ground shuddered and bucked with the impact. Of course, there was nothing for it but to put the truck in gear and go find out what had caused the ruckus.
 
as written by Ottoman

Having eaten his fill, or what amounted to his fill, in short order, Marcus remained at the table for some time, staring into his beans for some time as his mind returned to the matters previously at hand. The presence of his sidearm nearby was something he did his best to ignore, though the overwhelming crash that shook the house - indeed the whole neighborhood - gave the trained man little choice but reach for it, the weapon ready as he sought cover as quickly as he might. Crouched around a corner from the front door, inside the kitchen as he was, Sheffield remained there, having moved more out of training and reflex than actual will. The event had possessed a distinctive sound, the sort that an explosive didn't have, nevermind that it lacked the tactile pressure - the pop, if one would - that came with an explosive detonation.

Soon enough the weapon was lowered, the man rising to his feet, moving back into the dining room and looking to the front of the house. Lowered as it was the pistol was still in-hand as Marcus soon stood in the front door, pulling it open and glancing across the street, looking over the scene that drew only quiet grief from the man. Perhaps it was for the best that this place was wiped from the map, erased from the world that he was left behind in.

If only he could manage to do the same for his memories.

"Commander Stright. There's... a situation."
 
as written by glmstr

"Get down!"
Erika grabbed the bottle of kladivo and threw herself to the floor. The sudden impact was most likely either a drop pod or a bomb, and neither was good news. The Hykan booze was gingerly placed in the corner where it wouldn't fall over, and its owner scrambled to her belongings and fished out the AR-98 and stuffed a clip into it.

After a few seconds, as there didn't seem to be any subsequent impacts or sounds of soldiers storming out of a drop pod, the 1st Sergeant poked her head up to look through one of the front windows, leveling her rifle to fire at nearly anything that moves outside.
 
as written by Azrican

Riley was shook from his calm ritual of eating and drinking by the unmistakable pop and slam of something plowing into the earth at several hundred miles per hour. He shot up as Sheffield appeared in the doorway then made a quick pace down the hall, and as he gripped his AR-93 to carry it by the handguard, meeting Marcus at the door. "Yeah sounds like it. Looks like this planet is full of surprises." Riley said, folding the assault rifle over in his hands and chambering a 10.6mm projectile. He looked over Marcus, seeing the pistol in his hand. "You're with us, don't need you running around getting yourself capped if we throw up a crossfire; Charles, you manage to get a read on that thing or?" He reported to Sheffield matter-of-factly, tapping the magazine well to ensure the rounds were slotted as Hawke and Charles joined them at the door.

"No, not definitively. It was a small craft however, likely damaged in an FTL-spiral." Charles said, hefting the LAR-90 into his shoulder as Riley broke out into a quick run down the steps and across the lawn. He made a quick signal to Marcus and Hawke, pointing them over at the pal of smoke rising and motioning for them to get a move on. As Riley took off a few meters behind them, Charles was at a simple pace.

"Whatever was probably in that ship is either jello or will be eating through a straw the res -- Hold up a sec." Riley said, stopping mid-tracks with a fist in the air. His ears seemed to be ringing, until the indistinguishable cry of airjet engines could be heard reaching overhead. "Charles, is that an airjet?" He inquired, and the ABE turned his attention away from the rising veil of smoke to the calm, yet piercing sound that was beginning to grow in the air.

"Sounds like an AV-82, Vulture."

Riley's eyes were finally able to spot a sleek, narrow aircraft about seven or eight hundred meters up, aiming for what appeared to be straight at the crash site on a slow descent. "Well, anybody who said they want to help the people of this planet ... looks like the marines are here."
 
as written by barney_fife

There was silence in the Bridge of the GP-005 'Eremia' The name of the Galaxy Police cruiser that met it's unfortunate end on the planet Valore.

The popping of sparks from a nearby console, and the sound of overhead airjet engines quickly shook Haruko awake. An impact like this would have at the very least severely injured a normal human, at the most killed them. But Haruko Haruhara was not entirely human, she was a Cyborg, like many within the Taiyou Empire's various public safety agencies.

She tried to move, she did move. Her arms responded to her brain and she turned to unbuckle her safety harness, which retracted into the chair. She pulled herself to her feet and looked around. The bridge was filled with smoke, but the light from outside ominously poured in.

Closing her eyes tightly for a moment, she grabbed her Galaxy police officer hat, and smoothed down her uniform, which had seen better days.

Moving over to the emergency console, she pulled a lever and the console opened up, revealing an emergency five-day pack inside. Taking the pack and throwing it over her shoulder, she then moved to grab her sidearm. Holstering it, she stumbled towards the bridge viewport. Six large windows, each large enough for her to climb through in an emergency. She reached for the rescue lever, and she pulled it.

To those outside who happened upon the ship, they would hear an audible pop, as the bridge window was forced from it's resting point, and shot out. It flew several feet before landing on the ground with a clunk.

Haruko climbed through the window, throwing the pack out onto the nose of the ship, and then climbing out herself.

Picking up the pack, she surveyed her surroundings, and made a face. The city before her was largely in ruins, not withstanding her own unceremonious landing.

Jumping from the nose and landing on the ground besides the pane of reinforced Diamondite glass. She determined she needed to put as much distance between the ship and herself as possible.

"This is not Shintenchi.." She said to herself, before she turned towards a bombed out ruin, a place she could take cover and survey the situation.
 
as written by Krysis

Driving towards the crash, Lalita gave a brief but heartfelt string of curses when she saw another ship descending towards it. Of course, it made sense that the law enforcement nearer the city would actually be on the ball and-- Well, that didn't really look like a native ship though.

Whatever. The young woman had enough with aliens and people that seemed like aliens but might be con-artists, and crazy shit like that.

So, despite seeing the window pop out and something climb out of the crash, the old farm truck just kept trundling along.

Heading for the more major roads that lead away from the city, even though it was one she had just used yesterday, proved to be a mistake. The impact of the crash had collapsed a culvert and left a two-foot, jagged gap that the truck just couldn't get over. So the tiefling had to backtrack, and find another route. One that eventually would take her to the city proper, though that was the last place she wanted to go.
 
as written by glmstr

Erika keyed into her earpiece, "Riley, I hear activity. Please advise, I will shoot on sight unless told otherwise," Erika stood up from the window and carefully opened the door, pointing the state-of-the-art rifle ahead of her as she did so. She took a few careful steps, eventually breaking out into a silent barefoot jog across the street to begin investigating the crash site. She didn't see anyone yet, but she was approaching the source of the secondary noise: the ejected hatch. Her finger was wrapped around the trigger, ready to fire on sight if anything snuck up on her.
 
as written by Ottoman

Sheffield moved in leapfrog with Riley, though he took up the rearward position more often than not. Simply being armed with a handgun - his rifle still in the trunk of the car he soon passed - meant that he wasn't good for engaging anything beyond twenty yards reliably. Soon enough he found himself crouched behind cover, the weapon clutched close to his breast as something new crept into his ears, the sound of an airjet engine making itself known to those in the street and yards. Marcus didn't recognize the noise or the silhouette, naturally, and looked up to the AV-82 with a look that lay somewhere between dread and cautious curiosity, uncertain what to make of this new addition despite overhearing "Commander Stright" musing on it not but five feet away.

"... looks like the marines are here."

The Marines? The word didn't really register in Sheffield's mind at first, shaking the thought away as he remained in cover, waiting until the all-clear was given before he moved to retrieve his primary from where it rested. A spare hand slid to his vest's flank, checking that he still held the two spare magazines for the weapon he now wielded, eyes watching for further signal from his de facto commander on how to proceed with the situation at hand.
 
as written by Azrican

"Standby, FSG." Riley said, watching the Vulture in the sky as it slowly lofted and hovered a few hundred meters in a radius around the crash site. While a physical cone of light from the single searchlight mounted on the bow was visible, Riley also knew the Vulture could likely see anything within a one kilometer radius with the powerful A/NV-8/37KS Groundhog sensor suite. Equipped with RAILS (for Radar, Atometric Identification, Light and Spectral) as well as powerful digital sensors (colloquially known as nano-radar), the Vulture could be seen passing over the site once, twice, three times sweeping the ground with her intelligent sensors. Riley knew getting to the crash site without being spotted would be nigh impossible, but that didn't outlaw investigation entirely. "That AV-82 looks like it's here for the crash." Riley said, coming down the road with Sheffield on overwatch after the Corporal had retrieved his weapon.

"That thing can likely see for the next five blocks or so around but it's looking at the crash right now. Keep in cover and keep your guns close, the Groundhog on that thing can see a rifle from almost a click away." Riley said, indicating to the sprouting antennae mast from the center of the Vulture's fuselage. As he waited for the Vulture to pulse over the site for a moment until her tail was facing the fireteam, Riley motioned for bounding overwatch to the crash site: instead of ordering them around the mass of broken cars and rubble however he directed the squad straight into them. "Eyes open as well, we already got one possible combatant out of the ship." The agent said, laying eyes on the ship through the holographic scope of his AR-93.
 
as written by barney_fife

The searchlight poured through a small pile of rubble, while Haruko remained tightly crouched behind a foot slab of concrete leaned against a brick wall, forming a small A-frame for her to hide within. The Galaxy Police officer was lightly armed, with a Seburo MN23 in the emergency pack, 300 rounds of 5.56 ammunition, and her hip holstered Seburo M-5, and fifty rounds of 5.45×18mm HP ammunition.

The smoke and flame from the crash continued to plume upwards, before a stern female voice range loud and clear on Haruko's Cybercomm.

"You've got unknowns moving in on your location, clear out southbound, I'll rendezvous shortly." The voice warned sternly.

The Galaxy Police officer's eyes went wide briefly, a guardian angel was watching her, and communicating on a highly encrypted frequency.

"Who is this? This is a secure frequency." She replied. However there was silence on the other end.

--

That guardian angel was sitting atop a building three blocks from the crash sight, thermal scope honed in on the approaching COLSOG team, with another thermal signature showing Haruko's location. The strange figure was sitting silently under a blanket of active thermoptical camouflage, which obscured her from the Vulture's sensor suite up ahead.

"Aeka, stay here." The woman said calmly, as she threw the thermoptical camouflage blanket aside, and dove down the building, landing on top of a destroyed car with an audible crunch, she crouched to break the fall, and then, she hopped onto a bright red sleek looking motorcycle.

Starting the engine, she let her cyberbrain pull up navigational data, as well as an intercept point for the Galaxy Police officer, on top of extrapolated movement data for the COLSOG team, The Major planned a careful route around them, amid alleyways and bombed out streets.

---

Haruko peered out from her small spider hole for a moment, and then she made a face, before she started out at a full run, bobbing and weaving through cars until she came towards a clearing, the middle of the road just adjacent to the approaching COLSOG Team.

She made a face, and slowly glanced back to the vulture behind her. She then pulled out a flare from the pack, she then ignited it and tossed it to the ground, a bright red light and radar-reflective smoke plumed up from her position. Everyone would know her position now.
 
as written by glmstr

"If you insist," Erika dove into some rubble and laid on top of her gun to keep the sensors from picking it up too distinctly. She watched the Vulture hover overhead, with its "eye" scanning the ground beneath it. The Hykan heard a sudden flurry of footsteps as the subject of their search began to run. She crawled from her current cover to one where she was nearly standing, then keyed into her earpiece again.

"Sounds like our friend is fleeing, do we pursue?" The rifleman was used to missions in the brutal cold of Hykan winters, so the warmer climate (so far) on this planet was even less strain on her body. She was ready to run far if she needed to, and she was feeling ready for a real encounter after being on a ship in space for so long.
 
as written by Ottoman

"If you insist," Erika dove into some rubble and laid on top of her gun to keep the sensors from picking it up too distinctly. She watched the Vulture hover overhead, with its "eye" scanning the ground beneath it. The Hykan heard a sudden flurry of footsteps as the subject of their search began to run. She crawled from her current cover to one where she was nearly standing, then keyed into her earpiece again.

"Sounds like our friend is fleeing, do we pursue?" The rifleman was used to missions in the brutal cold of Hykan winters, so the warmer climate (so far) on this planet was even less strain on her body. She was ready to run far if she needed to, and she was feeling ready for a real encounter after being on a ship in space for so long.
 
as written by Azrican

The Vulture's engines hissed as they sucked in more and more air, the massive pulse engines driving the airjet as it came into a low hover about 20 meters above the wreckage. As a flare began to bleed into the sky, the airjet spun a bit on it's axis, like a cat settling it's bed as the two doors along the Vulture's fuselage were pried open to reveal the open troop compartment. Six lightly armed, olive-drab clad figures were seen checking a fast-rope to the ground, before hopping out to slip to the ground in a few seconds. The first marine clutched at what could only be a fast-firing, but small caliber, light machinegun. The man scanned the wreckage and then the surrounding area, eye peering through a holographic scope. The second marine down had two flat medical packs strapped to his back and chest, spinning along the rope until he touched down and took a position five meters on the side of the gunner.

As the six marines filtered down, pursuing the woman would be difficult for the COLSOG team if they preferred to keep out of sight of the Vulture, and especially out of the crosshairs of the marines. Convinced they had not dropped into an ambush, a Specialist and Private clambered their way up the ship, inspecting the open cockpit as a marine began to slowly pace his way towards the flare. "Whoever crashed looks like they managed to get out, probably by the flare!" A woman, the Specialist, called out.

Meanwhile from his cover, Riley watched intently though kept his rifle skewed to the side. "No, those marines are here on S&R -- they'll pop anyone with a piece they see getting near that crash site." Riley said, studying the marines closely before he shouldered the AR-93 and trained the scope on the marine as he came approaching the flare. Riley stood ready to fire, if his suspicions were confirmed, until the marine came close enough and promptly turned back to signal the rest of the squad.

"They're not rogues, agent." Charles replied inaudibly, slowly closing the mud-cover on the LAR-90 while resting it in his shoulder. Laying with his back against the shattered bloc of a porcelain bathtub, contents from a second story house just meters away laying by the street with them, the ABE made a few brief hand signals to the agent and rest of the team. He drew one cold metallic finger upwards, through the rubble and onto the next street: the two standing walls of the rugged building like brick mountains reaching above a pass.

"We don't need a bunch of marines knowing there's an ESOG team planetside, Charles' is right. FSG, regroup when disengaged. We're getting the fuck out of here, I think I need to have a word with one of our Invictus guys."
 
as written by barney_fife

Haruko remained standing besides the flare, the spotlight illuminating her bright and clear. The blue Galaxy police uniform distinguishing her from the common bandit. She kept her hands clear of any weapons, to not appear a threat to the approaching marines. While the major stood by, now half a block from their location and observing the exchange through an enhanced thermal scope, she waited a moment before she fired off another flare. The brilliant red flare shot up into the sky, and hovered there for a few moments. To the marines it would appear there were perhaps two survivors, within a block of each other.

Haruko surmised it was the TNG, and figured they could assist in getting her to shintenchi.
 
as written by glmstr

"Understood, getting out," Erika keyed into her earpiece and kept her voice low, and began to slowly crawl towards the street. Then, when she reached the asphalt, she just stood up and ran back to their driveway, thankful she was wearing her civillian clothes and socks which were more or less silent as she scrambled back into the house.

She resumed to her first post: at the front window, crouched down with her rifle pointing out. She spoke into the wrist-mount with her PDA on it this time, "Alright, I'm inside. By get out of here, are we going to be moving shop or just waiting it out?"
 
as written by Azrican

"Regroup at the house, but keep low and fast. The quicker we get out of the streets the less likely that Vulture is to ping us." Riley said, motioning for the three other soldiers to follow, doubling back on Erika's path which was determined to keep them out of the detection envelope of the Vulture's Groundhog array. Turning back only once as the rest of the six-man team rope to the ground, Riley studied the ship in the few brief moments he allowed before disappearing into the rubble and slowly making his way back to the house.

____

Specialist Saito Satomi left the barrel of his SAW-649 dip just slightly, the confusion on his Tokaigan features apparent as he offered up one hand to show he had no foul intentions. While, as the marines could see from their first days on the planet, the world of Valore was similar and yet alien all the same. "Can you speak Common? I'm a specialist in the Apparatus Marine Infantry and I'm here to help you, are you wounded?" He said, pointing to the globe-and-shield insignia on his left shoulder before waving off two marines as they approached. "She doesn't look too roughed up by there could be internal damage, we need to hoist her up to the Vulture now incase shock sets in." He said, looking back at Haruko and then pantomiming to his ballistic vest, holding the carabiner that allowed him to hook to the rope and fast-rappel down.

“My name is Specialist Satomi, you can come with me and we’ll take you to the medical facilities aboard the escort carrier.” He said, calmly and quietly, as three more marines began to rush down the street towards the other flare.

“Looks like we’ve got another flare, must’ve been someone that left looking for help!”
 
as written by barney_fife

Haruko looked the Togaiken over for a few moments, before she shook her head. "I need to get to Shintenchi." She protested, obviously denoting that she spoke and understood common.

"I'm a Galaxy Police officer, from Andromeda." She said, looking up to the vulture overhead, before she extended her arm to show Saitomi the faint scars denoting that it was prosthetic.

"I'm fine, the G-diffuser in my ship probably saved me, but I need to get to Shintenchi with all urgency." She said, perhaps she was delirious, but the evidence was there. Hardly a scratch on her save for her tattered uniform, and any deep scans would reveal that she wasn't entirely human, a great portion of her body being replaced with advanced prosthetics. A Similar reading coming from near the flare.
 
as written by Azrican

"Galaxy Police? The -- I don't know where the hell you're from, but you're in the middle of fuckin' nowhere ma'am." The Specialist replied, shouldering the SAW to hang across his back before he motioned for the woman to follow him. "Whatever you've got in that rust bucket sure can make an impact though, we caught your zippy-ass on RAILS all the way to the damn ground." He said, making a short wave to a Staff Sergeant as he approached the two. The marine held his AC-9m strapped against his chest, obscuring the nameplate and insignia on his chestplate. "You're never gonna' believe this Durant but, she ain't got a broken bone on 'er." He replied.

Staff Sergeant Durant looked up from a ruggedize tablet, filing a request for a Condor recovery flight from the Globewalker II about a two hundred and thirty kilometers off the coast of the continent. "You either lucky or you're in for a baaaad check-up when the Corpsman takes a look at you." He replied without any sort of phase or confusion, looking up at Saito and Haruko: his eyes widened a bit as he noticed a rather odd similarity. "Just, get her on the fuckin' Vulture, I have Godefroy and fireteam-2 on their way to the other flare." Durant replied, indicating with his chin down the road where four marines had embarked towards the other (supposed) survivor. Then he hitched a thumb back at the Vulture as it seemed to pulse low towards the ground, the rope spooling out onto the ground below it. "Now load the fuck up and let's get out of here, this city is a fucking shit-hole."


Meanwhile a few dozen meters down the road, Lance Corporal Martinique Mateo-Deiudonne, known by his fellow marines Dooey, crawled atop a pile of rubble as he saw the flare billowing out ahead of him. Slinging his M-18 over his shoulder so he could utilize both hands to climb, he neared the crest of the pile and promptly cupped a hand to his mouth to shout. "This is the marines, we saw a flare pop up from over here, we're S&R for the downed ship!"
 
as written by barney_fife

Haruko shrugged. "Middle of nowhere three million light years from home." She said, shaking her head.

Haruko listened to the conversation of the other marines as they surrounded her, studying their words carefully.

"Zippy rust bucket; it may not look like much, but the Eremia is state of the art." Haruko protested. "I'll make formal introductions though, I'm Detective third class Haruko Haruhara, special investigations of the Galaxy Police. I'm assigned to make contact with the governments of Shintenchi and arrest a fugitive from justice." She said, producing a small identification card, and a warrant printed in Common from the Taiyou Empire of Greater Niihama demanding the arrest of a 'Yosho Takayama' The warrant had official Galaxy Police letterhead, and signatures from the International Court Magistrate.

"You're never gonna' believe this Durant but, she ain't got a broken bone on 'er."

"It's because I'm not entirely human." Haruko admitted, before she rolled up her sleeves to reveal the faint lines of a prosthetic arm. "I'm almost entirely prosthetic." She said, pulling aside her hair to reveal six circular data ports on the back of her neck. A human brain in a machine body.


"I'll need to get looked over by a competent cyber mechanic, if you have one." She said, heading to the rope.

----

Major kusanagi kept crouched low, obscured by some cover as the Marines approached and identified themselves. Slowly she stood up, dark blue hair whipping in the wind as she slung her Seburo MN-23 across her chest. Like Haruko, she was unscathed, but unlike Haruko's Galaxy Police uniform, the Major was decked out in full combat gear.

"We have one more guest." She said, gesturing towards the roof of an adjacent building.

"I'll brief you on the way!"
 
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