The Rhodes Island, Caught in the middle of an Anomalous Catastrophe
The rumbling of the hull shook the Doctor awake. Scarlet lights filtered into the room as the alarms of the ship began to wail, reducing even the last bits of sleep that the man in charge of this operation had to zero and replacing them with an adrenaline spike worthy of the worst combat situation. He had to admit, this was one hell of a wake-up call. Quickly donning his blue, reinforced jacket over his clothing and putting on his helmet and mask, the man ran out into the hallway.
Rhodes Island, the Pharmaceutical and Private Military Company that acted as an independent variable in world politics, was currently, as per PRTS's own words, "Caught in a Catastrophe." A massive storm had rolled up onto their ingress route toward Kazdel, meaning that they were pretty much running through the gauntlet of shit alone right now. The entire landship shook and shuddered under the incredible pressure of several-hundred-miles-per-hour winds and the crushing force of fist-sized hail slamming into its hull like bullets.
The man ran up toward the bridge, past several worried operators of theirs, stumbling as shockwaves hit. He clambered up the staircase, demanding, "PRTS, status report!"
"We are passing through the Eye of the Storm as we speak, Doctor," The AI replied, its voice autonomous, female. It added, "I would brace for possible dangerous impacts. The hull is holding, but the readings indicate even more anomalous behavior than previous Catastrophes on record..." as the Doctor made it to the top. He nodded in thanks, then entered the bridge through the sliding doors.
There, he laid eyes upon the green-haired, green-eyed woman that was his co-worker and fellow leader of this cluster of weird people that was Rhodes Island Pharmaceutical. Doctor Kal'tsit barked orders left and right, making sure that the crew remained at their posts, before turning to face the Doctor and stating, "Good to see you decided to join us!" sarcastically. The man gazed out the window, to see the sight of the storm itself slamming against the hull of their craft.
"Sorry, got a bit busy..." He replied, grabbing onto the railing to their left, "Do we have a way out!?"
"All our weather drones got destroyed when this Catastrophe appeared out of nowhere! Only way out is through!" Amiya cried back, the young Cautus girl holding on for dear life as well, her ears droopy. The Doctor stared forward as their vehicle continued trudging through the muddy hell-scape that was this storm. Hail struck the glass panes, nearly cracking them as the vehicle rolled on, to which Amiya said, "This is scary..."
"It is," The Doctor said as he felt the ship shake even harder. It felt like it'd hit a bump, it rose almost two meters up and at an angle. Kal'tsit yelped, before the Doctor leaned forward and caught her, wrapping his arms around her to hold her down, before stating, "Everyone, brace!" as the worst of the storm began to strike. Lighting and thunder rumbled like the roll of drums at a military parade, the flashes of light brightening and darkening the world around them at the same time.
The lights on the bridge flickered and died as the lightning now pounded the massive metallic hull of the craft. The Doctor held onto the railing and onto Kal, keeping her close as the rumbling continued and intensified, the ship seemingly shaking at its core as the hail seemed to grow to almost boulder-size, slamming into the body of the ship. PRTS reported, "Massive energy discharge detected. BRACE."
The Doctor spoke, "Amiya, hang on tight!"
"I am!" The girl screamed as she curled herself around the railing.
"You, too, doc Kal'tsit..." He whispered, feeling her claws digging into his uniform. He closed his eyes as the sound of a thousand damned souls screaming filtered through the ship, her hull groaning as if she answered their call. He grit his own teeth, feeling the shaking intensify to the point it felt like he, himself, would split at the seams. The scream grew in pitch and volume, before...
Suddenly vanishing.
The ship bucked one last time, causing everyone to lose their balance and fall, before finally settling down on what felt like even ground. The Doctor held onto Kal, slowly opening his eyes to look around and demanding, "PRTS... Status?" As the neon lights within flickered and powered on once more. He looked down at Kal, before noting the woman's somewhat surprised gaze.
He let her go, then said, "Sorry..." before helping her and himself back onto their feet.
PRTS soon replied, "... Catastrophe has been apparently avoided. Minor damage sustained across all decks."
"Minor, huh...?" The man asked as he walked to help Amiya up as well. The young woman nodded in thanks, before watching the Doctor go up to one of the many diagnostics screens and pulling up data on their landship. The massive moving city seemed almost completely unharmed. There were minor 'dings and dents', as some of the engineering staff would put it. A broken wire here, heating there, but nothing big enough to warrant a full overhaul. He sighed, relieved, then ordered, "Get us rolling again..."
He stopped, however, when he saw what lay beyond the windows. Kal'tsit approached from behind, eyes wide, while PRTS reported, "I am afraid we are immobile, Doctor..."
"Why?" He asked as he looked at the rocks. He could hazard a guess, honestly, but it felt so physically impossible for that to be the case, he had to make sure his brain wasn't playing tricks on him at this point, what with his old age and everything. He was still a spry, young man biologically, but otherwise, he had some wisdom within him. Tapping away at the controls, he hummed, still not wanting to believe what he was seeing.
"We appear to be..." PRTS spoke. A short pause and the beeps of a processing computer later, she finished, "Underground. Partially."
"What?!" Both women beside the doctor cried out, with Kal stepping up to check the data herself. Eyes wide, Doctor Kal'tsit said, "Impossible... Did the Catastrophe just create a mountain on top of us...?"
"Making the calculations as we speak, doctor," PRTS replied as the trio loomed over the console. The rest of the staff were all getting back on their feet now, too, to which PRTS reported, "Injuries reported across all decks. I've already dispatched a call to the medical center to provide assistance. Location underground being calculated as we speak, but be advised, we do have a few openings."
"Hangars?" The Doctor asked as he pulled up security cam footage.
"Affirmative," PRTS replied, her processing powers focused on scanning the ship for any other unreported damage, as it seemed. She continued, telling the Doctor with the same, usual monotone voice, "We have one groundside exit open, plus one of the hangars. A scout team may be able to take an APV out to explore, or we could potentially deploy new scout drones on your order, sir."
"First drones. Then, if the situation proves to be normal, we'll deploy our units. Until then, I want us to find a way out of this rock face... If at all possible..."
"Afraid not..." Kal'tsit sighed as she ran her hand over the touch-screen console. She spoke, "We're deep. The mountain around us is massive. Were we to move now, we may just cause it to collapse, seeing as it's now leaning on our landship somewhat. That, or it may cause an avalanche," as PRTS made the calculations. The Doctor sighed, planting a palm on his own face, before straightening up and nodding.
"Drones and scouts it is..." He replied, "Go ahead, PRTS. Deploy our drones."
"Yes, doctor."
The first of the quadcopters flew out into the field and the feeds appeared on a screen. Doctor ordered, "Keep us updated on the situation. Doctor Kal'tsit, Amiya, with me..." as he turned around and walked off the bridge. The two women trailed behind him, then said, "Something doesn't feel right. Catastrophes don't usually drop mountains on people, do they?"
"No, they do not..." Kal replied monotonously. She hummed and said, "I am having PRTS's subroutines running an analysis on what happened to us, due to the strange nature of the event. That had to have been a very abnormal occurrence, considering there has been no report of this happening in the history of Terra. There would have been some survivors' tales of similar events."
"Maybe the people who got caught in it, or similar events to it, didn't survive..." Amiya murmured. Much as the Doctor hated that kind of grim outlook from what would be his supposedly-adopted daughter, he didn't know what to think beside her being right. It was too odd that they were caught in one of the strangest Catastrophes since time immemorial and they just happened to 'reappear' in a mountain from it.
"Possible," The man conceded, however. It was better to also be a bit more of a realist when it came to the casualties from such events. Catastrophes had permeated Terra's lands and history, scarring both with little regard for the desire of man. Mother Nature was cruel and unfeeling, careless toward those who inhabited her world. She trained them to be survivors from the youth of their various races to today.
It was why Nomadic Cities and landships like Rhodes Island existed. To ensure the furthering of their peoples' survival and the continuation of those that inhabited Terra. Similarly, it was why Rhodes Island was made into what it was today, to provide a way to fight against the disease that ravaged so much of the world through the mineral they used as a power source.
"Doctors, miss Amiya," PRTS spoke.
"Go ahead, PRTS..." The Doctor started, feeling a pit in his stomach. This couldn't be good news, especially if PRTS herself tried calling to them...
"We..." The AI's own processes seemed to hesitate for a moment as she considered how to tell them the upcoming news. Both Doctors and the Cautus girl beside them stopped, waiting to hear on PRTS's update with somewhat bated breaths. She spoke as calmly as she could, "We have no communication with any of the Nomadic Cities around us... And all links to known communication networks are offline."
The Doctor blinked behind his mask, stunned. "What?" He asked, looking up at one of the cameras the AI was using to provide security across the entire ship. The cam seemed to focus on them as Doctor Kal'tsit and Amiya both stared up at it. The Doctor lifted up his own tablet and started trying to call for any sort of support, whether it be from Laterano or Kazimierz, god forbid. And nothing, all the screens showed blanks, static even. He murmured, "What the hell happened to us...?"
"Some of the calculations are complete," The AI replied to the man's rhetorical question. She waited for all of them to pay attention to her again, watching as the Doctor lifted his head, then she explained, "I received a time-lapse of the scans we made during our initial encounter with the Anomaly. The Catastrophe contained enough raw Originium that the processing alone would've taken decades. Much more, it also contained small traces of another, unknown isotope that seemed to have catalyzed the mass of Originium... Destroying chunks of it at a time and releasing the energy. I believe we've... For lack of a better term...? Been transported to an unkown world.
"... Oh, my god..." Kal'tsit murmured, stunned, "PRTS, while I do trust your judgement, you'd best not be making an assumptio-"
"I am not, doctor. All the data, including our arrival here and the lack of communication, seem to be pointing to it... We are not home anymore."
The two women behind the Doctor paused, their jaws hanging open as the man pondered what to do. He knew they were looking to him for answers, but he, himself wasn't sure of what was going on, his mind still racing between trying to find his old memories and figuring out this situation. He sighed, then ordered, "... The moment our Drones give us feed on anything that looks like a settlement, we brief a squad of scouts and a diplomat, perhaps mister Silverash, and send them out. We'll brief the Operators about our situation afterward... Doctor Kal'tsit, Amiya, with me. We have to pick out a team."
"Yes, doctor..." All three replied, with Amiya and Kal'tsit sharing one look of concern.
Two hours later...
An "Ambush Protected Vehicle", or APV, Rhodes Island's own personal three-by-three six-wheeler armored transport rolled forward, down a road from the edge of the mountain. SilverAsh, the silver-haired Feline Kjerag noble, clad in a suit, sat calmly in the right-side seat of the vehicle, staring out of the window, seemingly bored. Pine trees rushed past the window as the vehicle veered to the left, entering a proper roadway.
The driver was a familiar, black-haired, orange-eyed Lupo female clad in a white jacket bearing the Penguin Logistics logo. Between her lips, there was a pocky stick, of the chocolate varietals. She pushed a strand of the otherwise long, straight hair off to the side as she kept up their drive, the headlights of the vehicle lighting their path. SilverAsh gazed back into the vehicle, to see the familiar members of the team he was being deployed with. Texas, the driver, kept her eyes on the road the whole time.
First in the row of seats to the left of the vehicle, a young, red-haired Sankta woman, an angel with a golden halo and shimmering wings, sat, fiddling with her Assault Rifle and the SMG secondary she had beside her. Sure, she hadn't taken either piece apart, but she had taken the ammo out of them to make sure they were clean. She slotted the magazine of ammunition into the tan-colored assault rifle and racked the bolt, before sliding the SMG aside and doing the same for it. She looked up at SilverAsh, then beamed. That would be miss Exusiai, partner to Texas.
Beside her, sat another of the team's snipers. Red antennae and armor framed a beautiful young woman's face, her short silver hair fluttering as the small window-slit above her lay open. She racked the bolt of her own assault rifle, grinning mischievously as she patted down the vest in which she carried ammo, a vest which lay over the grey shirt under her own black and red jacket. She also tugged at her skirt and the black leggings, before nodding approvingly. Her most dangerous piece of the arsenal, however, was the single-shot grenade launcher leaning against the wall beside her. This was W, former head of a mercenary corps.
Next in line, sat across from W, was a melee operator, born of Aegir. Scarlet eyes stared back at him as she held her two-handed sword close, her silver hair flowing gently in a breeze that seemed to come to her as well. She was clad in a black outfit that SilverAsh couldn't quite make out, but he knew very well how strong those of her type were, especially when born out of Aegir. She was also one of their most dangerous Hunters. Skadi.
Last in line, a grey-maned young woman with an infectious, mad smile sat, her two swords laying by her side and her arms crossed to her chest. She had her eyes closed, the young Lupo did, simply listening to the rumble of the vehicle's engine. She patted down her jet-black jacket, before her right ear twitched. She looked up, opening her eyes to reveal two amber-golden irises and the scar on the left eye as she turned her head to look at him. This was Lappland. Texas's former partner and a Siracusan, too, from what SilverAsh had read.
A Six-Op team. All-in-all, not bad for an escort/fighting group, SilverAsh thought as he looked out through the windows once more. He would've liked a stronger Operator for support, like FrostNova, or perhaps one of their strongest friends that had defected from the Reunion:Talulah. Although he knew that she and Ch'en were busy catching up. He wasn't going to ruin that.
The vehicle rolled down the main road for a couple more hours, with the Doctor and Rhodes Island checking in every so often. The base could not be seen from the height they were at, mostly due to a thick line of trees covering the outside, plus the rocky outcropping that made up the massive rock face that they had been partially embedded and immobilized within.
The Kjerag Noble then remembered why they were in the vehicle in the first place. Drones had found a village immediately below their little 'drop zone'. It had its lights on and it seemed that Civilians did walk around the place. At least, that was what the Drones saw. Exusiai poked her head forward through the door/walkway that linked the cabin of the APV to the armored rear hold. She smirked and said, "Nice place..." as she held her rifle slung over her shoulder by the strap.
"It looks deserted," Texas observed absentmindedly as she looked at the first houses to emerge.
"Drone surveillance said there were moving figures in the village," The man in the seat next to her replied as he lifted his own cane from below his chair and leaned it against the armored door of the hull, "I would expect there to at least be someone to greet us... Drones were not particularly quiet about their arrival if what PRTS tells me is true. Be ready for anything."
"Yessir," Exusiai grinned, giving the man a mock salute. She then looked forward again and paused, squinting, "Hey, is... Is that a figure on the roo-"
She yelped as the glass ahead of them shattered. A bolt of energy punched clean through the forward window and punctured the steel armor an inch from Texas's face, while raining shards of the aforementioned broken glass in the cabin. Texas growled, then veered hard right and slammed the brakes, trying to bring the armored side of the vehicle ahead of them, so their Operators had a way to get the hell out. Once the vehicle stopped, practically blocking the entire road by skidding to an almost-catastrophic halt, Texas barked back, "GET OUT AND TAKE COVER BEHIND THE TRUCK! SilverAsh, crawl over the dash and get out with me!"
"Got it!" The man growled, grabbing his cane and crawling out as Texas kicked the driver's-side door open and jumped out, grabbing her own swords out from the left side of her seat and clipping them onto her belt. Another bolt of energy punched through the window on SilverAsh's side as he crawled out, singing the tip of his tail. The man yelped, hurt, before jumping out of the vehicle and rolling into cover. He snapped, "Bastards just singed the tip of my tail!"
"One hell of a welcoming committee!" Exusiai called out from the right-most side of the truck as she opened up. The spent, marked casings of Arts-fired ammunition fell to the floor with a clink beside her as the last Operator, Lappland, jumped out, her blades drawn and a grin on her face as she took cover. Exu laughed, then spoke again, "I'll bet fifty bucks the doc wasn't expecting this kinda welcome!"
"None of us were!" SilverAsh called. His ears perked up as he heard another hiss and snap from the enemy weapon and he said, "Still on that roof!"
"Yep, I see her!" Exusiai replied, then ducked back into cover as a round passed inches short of her head. Fear and surprise mixed into an odd expression on the girl's face as she swapped out mags. She told her teammates, "But I can't get a bead on her! She's in the dark and pinning us down! Damn fine markswoman, but a pain in our collective behinds if we wanna move!"
"Heh," Lappland grinned, "I can play distraction if ya feel like scoping her in proper, Exu!"
"I'd appreciate a good target, Lapp!" She smirked, then bumped her in the shoulder gently with her fist.
SilverAsh protested, "You shouldn't be risking yourself, Lappland!"
The Wolf-girl's ears perked up and seemed to be turning on their own. She smirked, "Not much we can do, bossman! We have another group incoming on our left and I'd rather we took the Sniper out so we can reposition! Cover my tail, wouldja!?" and she turned to leave just as Texas and Skadi were about to protest. SilverAsh sighed deeply, then took cover beside Exusiai.
"Relax, boss. I can take the shot..." The girl said as she shouldered her rifle. He watched as their Oripathy-infected Lupo charged forward, dodging and weaving through plasma bolts. A short giggle escaped her lips with every miss and her evasive posture gave Exusiai enough time to scope the target in, aiming straight for the shadow of its head. The girl licked her lips, smirked and said, "Hello, baby..." before squeezing. The thing's head jolted back and it dropped, dead, then skid off the roof and drop with a muffled thump.
Lappland cried out, "Nice shot, Exusiai!"
The Laterano sniper gave a smirk and a thumbs up, before looking to SilverAsh. The man heard the advancing patrol, too, then said, "Move it. Let's get to Lappland..." as he stood to his feet and grabbed his cane. He spoke to Exusiai, "Stop encouraging her..." calmly, before the grou all rushed over to Lappland. The girl seemed almost stunned at something she was looking at. Taking cover with her behind the house, they found she was poking the enemy...
A female. Humanoid, but...
"It's a tin can..." Lappland spoke, slicing open the machine's stomach, to reveal artificially-made organs. She lifted the creature's broken mask, revealing a single, mechanical eye hidden beneath the visor. She also poked the seemingly-disabled enemy weapon. The entire group stood, stunned, at the sight, but Lappland knew better than to wait. She spun her blade around and stabbed something in the chest, the creaking of steel against metal echoing. She withdrew the blade and decapitated another of the machines, a grin on her face. She let out a short, manic laugh, then said "Another one! Least this one had two eyes!"
"Lappland!" Skadi started, "Settle down, girl!"
The Lupo looked to Skadi, then rolled her eyes and dipped back into cover as the enemy unit got there. She spoke, "Swear, you guys are no fun..." as she took a knee. What sounded like a battalion of enemy units approached, rifles at the ready. When Lapp peeked, she saw them all arrayed around the house and suddenly felt a slight pit in her own gut. That was a shitload of'em...
She slid behind cover as a single bolt of plasma came, drawing her other sword as Texas and the others readied their weapons, too...
But everyone paused when the chit-chatter of gunfire filled the air. Two grenades exploded and everyone looked to W, who was still holding her assault rifle. She shook her head quickly, stating, "That wasn't me... I didn't even get to fire my gun this time..." As her devil tail flopped behind her. Moments later, the guns fell silent and the entire place quietened down, only the sound of footsteps audible now.
Lappland poked her head out, eyes wide and ears droopy, to see four figures standing in front of them, with a bunch more units coming in, as per the rumble of the engines around them. One of the figures lowered her weapon and spoke, "Please, identify yourselves! We mean you no harm unless you are Sangvis Ferri units!" as she stepped into the light of a street lamp.
A brown-haired woman with a green strand of hair and carrying a rifle similar to W's...
Everyone looked to SilverAsh, concerned...
He was concerned, too...