Posted by Commander Heather Grace (Executive Officer/Chief Science Officer) in Main Sim - Wolf 359 Planet 2 - Cave Scouting

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Isaac Black (Chief Armory Officer) in Main Sim - Wolf 359 Planet 2 - Cave Scouting

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Isaac Black (Chief Armory Officer) in Main Sim - Wolf 359 Planet 2 - Cave Scouting
Posted by… suppressed (7) by the Post Ghost! 👻
[snip]

The unknown larger paw as they got more up close to it was probably still from one of the big cats they had scanned previously. This example though was probably a much larger one then so far recorded. The paw prints showed it had indeed left, perhaps a day or so at most ago. But as noted not yet returned. Given the paw depth and spacing they could tell this larger example of the big cave dwelling pack cats was easily at least 14 feet long, and probably about 5 or so feet in height. Given the impression of paw markings it probably weighed in at close to 900 some pounds! For so far comparisons on smaller scanned examples of the pack cats, those had ranged from 4-9 feet in length and stood 2-4 feet in height weighing around on average 600 pounds. These smaller examples so far scanned were probably younger members of the packs, and this mammoth beast was probably a much more mature/adult one. To put it to compare with a Terran cat, the largest average striped tigers on Earth came in at 10 feet in length and averaged 650 or so pounds, so this mature example dwarfed even those fine beasts!

El had never been to a zoo and had only a cursory education in animals of Earth, much less anywhere else. Her experience had only been with small animals - a medium sized dog maybe a little larger than Nessa was. She could tell this was big and had read, if quickly, the information on the ‘big cats’ here, but had little to compare it with. “It could be as big as a horse,” she said. El had seen one of those. Images of lions seemed small, but then she’d only seen videos. Sussing things out was not that hard to suggest these were larger. “They would be stronger too with the added gravity.” El pulled out her scanner and scanned the tunnels and the surroundings. With luck they would not know what they were if they encountered them and not think them lunch, at least not that quickly.

The cave mouth before them was about 20 or so feet wide, and about 15 feet tall in a natural shaped half moon like pattern. The outline was covered by roots and rocks which gave it a strong natural arch like setup making it a prime location no doubt for shelter by such beasts or other animals. The entrance within was a good 90 or so feet deep with a concaved like shape of a 3/4th circle from the mouth. Several cave tunnels branched off in an east, west, and southerly direction, the first two going deeper into the ground while the southern one proceeded on a mostly near surface path for a good 200 some feet before scans faded being reliable. The air was breathable and evidence present of underground water sources, as well as tiny insect life in the soil plus moss and other such things. The damp musk of cat and decay was also present.

GM CockRoach

“It goes in about 25 meters or so,” El said, “then branches. Three of them. East and West tunnels go deep. The South passage goes straight on. I can scan a ways but then lose it. Do you think that the animals would stick to the upper levels, Lt?” she asked. “I’m getting water sources. Um, trying to get a better read on the water. The animals may use that. Stinky here.” She curled her nose. She had cleaned out barn stalls in her time so ‘that’ smell wasn’t unfamiliar, but this was. It smelled unearthly, at least to her. Squinting into the tunnel she added. “Scanning for topography on the tunnels to find one that may be a best fit, but if we’re looking for ore the two going deep are our best bet.”

As she looked into the darkness, El didn’t feel fear as much as a sense of something new which meant something new to learn. They were traversing into a place which was the home of these cats. El believed that to exhibit a oneness with nature meant that nature would see her as one of their own. “We may not have much comms in there, Lt,” she said. “You may want to contact the commander to report our status.” She figured that Isaac would know this, but he seemed to have a decidedly man against nature sense and may need a nudge.

El, Eng

Isaac looked at her “if we go to far we will lose coms. How about this we enter you get your scans and we get out. I don’t know about you but I don’t wanna be here when the big cat gets back”

Lt. Isaac Black (AC)

El looked again. “The closest pack was scanned at about 4 miles off. Animals don’t run unless they have a reason to. If they start back we have a good hour, but right now I’m not seeing it. Until we lose contact because of range we are fine and can be away before they return.” That may have been more hopeful than anything. “I can set up an alarm so that it will alert us when they are moving closer at half mile intervals.” She paused. “I wonder what caused all these caves. Maybe when the others join us they will know more.”

• El, Eng

Isaac looked at her “some time cave form naturally and that’s it. We only have a problems when we start seeing straight lines in patterns. Cuz only lifeforms use straight lines.

Lt. Isaac Black (AC)

As the pair headed inside they found the details of the entrance awash in places with bits of bone likely from past prey the large cats had eaten. There was also signs of wet decaying fur, sinew of muscles and the like too. Further off to one side near a smaller entrance into the cave which flowed air in and out was a small run off stream which seemed to be used by the pack as a collective waste spot. Aged dung and the rich scent of urine were present, but the constant run off flow of water out of the cave and into the natural hill grass just outside kept it mostly clean and lessened the build up. This had the side effect of naturally giving this area of grass outside probably a better stability of fertilization over time then most. If they were to investigate any of the tunnels now was the time to decide.

GM CockRoach

El had a good nose. Some regions of Manticore had been .. pungent .. but this was quite up close and personal. Her nose wrinkled and she made a face, trying to breathe in any of the wisps of fresh air from the entrance that may have come. To her the animals were pretty organized to have and keep their own facilities so to speak.

Isaac looked at her “ Hey, does your scanner have sonar? If it dos we can map the caves faster” he said pulling his bag off he popped a few glow sticks and placed them in an arrow to the way out. “Every time we take a turn we will use the glow sticks to mark our way out”

Lt. Isaac Black (AC)

The MACO CO had been silent so far; as had his partner, a small Nepalese man, probably no taller than five and a half feet and weighing maybe a hundred and twenty pounds. With the glow sticks, however, Baumann did speak. “We might have to leave quickly, Lieutenant. We cannot leave traces of presence… correct? Perhaps marks on the wall would serve us better.” He picked up a small stone and made a small arrow on the wall. “Just a thought.” the big German said.

The arrival of the MACO’s was both partly relief and partly anxiety building; she was concerned for the big cats. Her fingers slid along the rod that was in her satchel as if for the assurance of its presence, however that was all. She flashed her light ahead of them and then about the ceiling and sides. It was a geological survey they were doing; to El the scanner was the most knowledgeable of them all - an armory officer and two MACO’s and an engineer. El did remember the few classes she had relating to geology through her schooling in Beijing and the metallurgical sessions at the military academy that pertained to engineering, the machine shop in particular relating to alloys and working with metals. That, when it came to a pertinent geological survey amounted to very little. Fortunately the scanner would handle the gathering of information in the same way that a kind of core sampling may have done so a couple of centuries past. She kept her scanner on track. The ‘tracking’ of the big cats was running in the background and would sound any alarm should they start to come nearer - provided that she retained that kind of contact. Once they moved deeper she figured that she may lose that.

“Why?” she asked the slightly accented, large man with familiar rank insignia for a soldier captain. It was in an inquiring tone rather than challenging, though in the relative semi-darkness, it was unlikely that he caught much of her features. This whole area may be part of a big mine site or even residence outside of the caves depending on what they found. Was there something that came later? While she was sure that there was a limit to the Lt’s inventory of glow sticks, she also figured that there was also a limit to the animal’s ability to see in the dark. Cats had capability of night vision but not in the absence of any light which was where they were going. Other senses could be employed. Smell. Hearing. Snakes tasted the air. More to find out about. His smaller companion was more suited to spelunking than he. The light showed faint marks on his face, possible scars - still he was easy on the eyes. Between he, the chief and Lt Green, they could be the start of quite the ship football team.

Another thing that caused her anxiety was the potential of one of these soldiers being a Warden. After the message she had received El was watchful, though, really, not sure what she was watching for. Her brief ‘introduction’ to one was hardly a standard profile from what she had heard. El didn’t want to make a mistake by profiling and totally miss clues coming from another direction.

El, Eng

She shook her head. What did she think these scanners were? All purpose? She shone her light down the passage nearest them. “No, Lt. Range is decent given that it is stone but it’s not meant for this kind of mapping. There are ground based geophysical tests that one can do utilizing sound and impact waves that would confirm and firm up what the ground layering and composition is. We’re one big core sample in what we’re doing.” What were they doing? Were they supposed to go this far in? She had a good sense of direction and right now they’d not taken any real turns to confuse anyone. “I’m going to test our comms to see if it’s working underground,” she said, replacing her scanner with her comms.

[o] Serinde to Commander Grace. Comms check. We found a large cave entrance and have entered it a little ways. Verifying communications with you. [c] And further orders if they were to come. Her voice echoed slightly; she glanced about at a sound but it was just Isaac moving and shuffling a foot against the littered floor.
- El, Eng

Captain Baumann and Staff Sergeant Tiwari kept their eyes open. As they were paused, he nodded and and Tiwari moved to the head of the party slightly.

MACO Team

OCC: ((Wait no no no it is only supposed to be me and El no one else the maco didn’t come down with them so why is there a MOCO now))

OOC: Because I asked him to, MACOs have been assigned to both teams.

~ River

OOC: But me and El is already there when i RP I have a hard time when people just appear on, they were not with us to begin with sorry. I didn’t mean any disrespect. I just like to keep abit of realistic

Isaac smiled “low tech GPS” he said “ the glow sticks can still be used as a light source and for us to know we’re each other are without using bright light that can mess with her eyesight”

Lt. Isaac Black (AC)

[O] Grace here. I can still here you back at our basecamp. Have you been able to find anything worth potentially mining yet? [C}

Cmdr. Grace (crosspost)

The sound from the comms echoed off the cave walls, making the commander’s voice a hollow ghost that faded, disappearing like a sandbag dropped to the floor. El was waiting on the scanner to bring back tangible results, whatever they might be. She was sure that there would be something found. She wasn’t sure if it was large enough to be worth digging up. Inwardly she was of mixed emotions. Part of her was pleased to see humanity expanding and setting foot on a new world that they were able to claim for their own. That appealed to an inner El, though it jostled beside another El, who was concerned for the beasts living here and if they could be relocated else they would simply be swept aside, probably by erstwhile ‘hunters’ like she was around.

With her knuckle she tapped at the scanner, seeking mineral and ore indicators. [o] We’ve moved into the cave system and are proceeding slowly [c] she began. The larger debate was on the mode of lighting about them, be it a glow stick or her lamp. [o] The scanner is tabulating results. Standby. [c] She could have likely just said ‘no’, but felt that there needed a bit more explanation. Part of her was a bit rankled inside. An armory Lt and two MACO’s .. and her. While the cats were a concern, she felt safe enough - her emotions flirted with being flattered and annoyed while trying to find a balance within of neutrality on the ‘emotional level’ that she had battled for through much of her life.
- El, Eng