Kana Uyeda
New Member
Kyle yawned and scrubbed a hand over his face. Sitting at his desk, the chair reclined back, feet up on the desk his tablet in his lap and a cup of coffee in his hand. The screens in the HIVE command center showed all the activity. An almost typical evening.
Kana enters into the HIVE, almost seeming to float in. Seeing Kyle relaxed after everything that has happened so far was almost, normal.
He craned his neck back a bit as Kana came in. "Just the ATAR person I wanted to see."
"I had a feeling you did." she stood in just off to the side.
"You see the last report on the blood seals and all that shit?" He drops the tablet onto his desk, taking his feet down and swivels around his chair to face her.
"I did, all of that being the source in what is happening over in Romania?"
"Likely not the only thing actually. We've got some additional intel that there might be other things, but we're still sorting through it. That said, I know you're sensitive to those energies. So two questions. First, anything going off for you that might give us a clue where this bloodseal is?"
"While out there, everything felt, muddy. So much spiritual energy already just awash through the forests. The spirits are very angry in what has been done."
He clucks his tongue. "I don't doubt it. Nothing in a concentrated area?"
Rupp bursts into the room, panting. "I'm here-! I'm here." he sits down, pulling out a pencil and paper. "Whad' I miss?"
Kana looks over to Rupp, offering him a slight smile as to his current state of affairs "Actually, you're in time...?Mr?"
He glances over at Rupp. "Nothing, just talking about the situation in Romania. And you two haven't met yet?"
Rupp shakes his head
"Been spending every waking moment in Romania. Wolves, and other sort possessed creatures. Holding the line as it were against them. I'm Ranger Uyeda."
*nods his head.* Ranger. Nice. Anyhow, sorry to interrupt. *He gestures with his pencil*
She holds her hand out for him. The skin of her arm goes from the semi healthy appearance to one of drying, rotting flesh.
"All right, I'll work a few angles then see if I can't find a rumor. Second question Kana, once we find the second seal do you know how to close it up? Send all those angry spirits back home?"
*Andrew makes an "I am trying my best to maintain a neutral expression" face as he slowly shakes her hand.
She withdraws her arm quickly noticing the change "Right, I think by not killing virgins would be first." As she holds her arm, trying to make light of it "Blood sacrifice is important to the seal..."
"Think on that let me know." Kyle noticed the change as well. "What's going on with that?" He head motions at her arm.
"my connection..." she quickly turns to the monitors "they must of found it, my body." as she speaks her face becomes sunken. The skin tightening against her skull
Kyle blinks. "Who found your body?"
Rupp exchanges worried glances between the two, but remains silent.
His phone buzzes, he pulls it out, typing a quick reply trading glances between his phone and kana multi-tasking like a professional.
She tries to enter coordinates into the keypad only her fingers have become bony. The skin pulled tight as each key press is accompanied by each finger breaking off.
He cringes watching this, shoving his phone back into his pocket. "Let me do it. Where are we going? Where's your body? Give me details here."
Kana collapses to her knees. Her clothes baggy over the mummified frame
He stands up and slaps a button, paging medical staff for an emergency and tries to determine what the hell she was keying in on the keyboard. "Talk to me here Kana, c'mon."
Nessa arrives at a sprint a few moments later, hastily clutching her open medical bag against her chest as she tries to keep its contents from spilling out.
The keys on the keyboard in front of Kyle would begin to slowly type out what she was trying to enter. '20k south of Prom. tomb of lost ph..'
Kyle watches the key depress. "Got it. Get your shit together Rupp. We gotta move." He looks at Vanessa. "She's falling apart apparently and I have coordinates on her body, I believe."
Andrew has not moved, but snaps to it once he hears his name. "Yes, sir!"
"I...I do not know if...I am not a...psychopomp..." Nessa kneels next to Kana's body, expression distressed and afraid to touch her for fear of doing more damage.
Kana's jaw falls to the floor with a sickening bony thud
"You know more than I do Sinclair do what you can. And what do I need to know about getting her body? Do I bring it here? Do I need to wrap it up in something?"
"I...I think...t-this body is a...a construct. And...and what is needed is...is her spirit... I...I think I c-can...hold her here. Until we return. But I...I do not know if we can move her..."
"Her meaning the construct. So we need to go get her body and bring it to her here."
"Yes, sir. I...I...please forgive me but this is the fastest way. I will pay to replace the deck plating." Pulling a black sharpie marker from her backpack, she sets about drawing a circle around Kana's body as quickly as she can, making sure there's no breaks in the marked line.
"You're not going to pay to replace the deckplating." He just shakes his head and hops up to his feet, coordinates memorized he takes the stairwell, grabs his gear and heads into the hangar.
Working as quickly as she can, she makes a few quick arcane marks around the edge of the circle, sealing it with a complex knot, makes a few more marks on the other side of the knot, then rests her fingertips against the knot as she bows her head in prayer, speaking rapidly and fervently in Creole.
Rupp stumbles into the hangar bay, struggling to put on the last of his body armor. "I'm here! Where are we off to?"
"Not far, 20km south. And not sure what we're going to run into either. Be ready for anythin kind of day." He climbs into the back of the Sulaco, double checked his gear.
Nessa calls over the Comm to Kyle, "S-sir? I...I have put her in a binding circle. I do not know what else I can do here b-but...do...do you...need me?"
He taps his headset. "Not sure what we're running into down there we might need you. C'mon."
So you, me, the good doctor, and... Is anyone else available?
He shakes his head at Rupp. "Nope. Everybody else is out or off. We'll handle this."
"I shall be there presently." Hastily she closed up her backpack, making sure she had her disassembled blow gun tucked in its pouch, then slid it to her back and took off for the hanger at a sprint, her white labcoat flapping behind her, totally forgetting about any sort of body armor in her haste.
He nods. clicking the last of his armor into place. Circuits on the suit give off a honey-yellow glow as anima flows through them. "Yes Sir."
He see's Vanessa running towards the Sulaco and hops out quickly, moving over to his locker opens it up and grabs another flak vest. He climbs back into the bird.
Nessa slides into the Sulaco, hastily buckling her seatbelt and murmuring soft prayers under her breath in Creole.
He hands Vanessa the vest, then pounds his fist on the side of the bird. "Let's go Drizzle." Drizzle with his typical take-off "tallyho" gets them off base in record time, following the coordinates given.
The area that they land in is bleak. Desert stretches all around them. A jeep sits near a large stone structure. The vehicle seems to have been there for quite a long time. It's tracks long gone during the length of time they were made. A group of trucks are parked along the other side of the structure. Their tracks are fresh for that day and the footprints in the sand make it hard to pin down the full amount of people that are now inside.
Kyle slips on his HUDs, scanning the area as Drizzle circles around once, then sets the Sulaco down a klick from the vehicles. "Stay airborne, Drizzle just in case, but be ready to move fast." Kyle climbed out, pulling his AR over his shoulder and into his gloved grasp.
Rupp exits behind Kyle, checking his armor over one last time. "So I'm going to take a wild guess and say that the body we're looking for looks a whole lot like that woman we were talking with?"
During the trip, Nessa shrugged into the extra flack jacket, the armor large on her slender form even when she cinched it as tightly as she could. There really wasn't anything which could be done about that, so she shouldered her backpack when they landed and followed Kyle out.
"You got it," Kyle nodded, looking down at the tracks. "Move in quietly. Vanessa stay behind Ranger Rupp." Kyle crept low over to the group of trucks, putting his hand on top of the hood to see if it was still warm.
I'm a ranger now?
Obediently, Nessa slips behind Rupp, trying to hide in his shadow.
"You were one the day you passed your probbie period," quietly said.
The hood is quite warm, ahead of them and where all the tracks converge on is a small oening. Just big enough for a single person to pass through
mmmmrhh? We there yet?
"Should I take point, Sir?"
He moves behind one of the trucks, staying out of sight signaling for the rest to the same. Kyle eyeballs that single file opening into the tomb. "How stealthy are you, Rupp?"
Uh-oh... ack! >Astrid wakes up and grabs her gear, hurrying out of the Sulaco. She downs a chocolate bar for energy and hopes she didn't snore.
Rupp looks down at his glowing armor. "Well... I can be quiet."
"I don't want to bottleneck us in that opening. Move inside, quietly. Get me an visual on what's going in there."
"Sinclair, stick close to Archer."
Obediently, Nessa moves to stick close to Astrid instead of Rupp.
Astrid nods to Vanessa and quickly checks her gear and sights, the double-checks her armor.
Rupp ducks down, as if that would help as he approaches the entrance. He waits for a moment up against the wall before stepping carefully inside.
Inside you would be able to smell the scent of discharged explosives in the air. A very narrow stairway leads down into the ground for about thirty feet. The walls of the stairway have faded and chipped hieroglyphs.
Out of habit, Astrid does a quick visual check of Vanessa's armor and nods.
Through the HUDs he can see what Rupp see's a tiny video screen appearing on the top left corner of his left lense. Kyle remains crouched behind one of the trucks, form tense ready to spring if need be.
Rupp quietly descends the stairs, pressing his index and middle finger to the side of his helmet to activate his comms. "Looks like they blew the door."
"Roger," Kyle says quietly. "Seeing what you see."
At the base of the stairs, the hallway opens up slightly. Leading off in two directions. To the left more darkness. To the right is the faint sounds of chanting and various voices
Carefully, Nessa kneels to remove her backpack, removing the pieces of her blowgun and fitting it together. Then she takes out a small package of treated darts, handling them carefully as she slides the backpack back on.
"Oh man, cultists!" He says into his comms, excitedly but quietly as he moves to the right to investigate further.
Astrid waits for Vanessa to finish, or to receive orders to move.
"It would fucking figure. Stay out of sight, just try to get a visual of what's going on."
"Yes sir."
The hallway is decorated in more hieroglyphs. Scenes of hundreds of people gathering in front of a large female figure. Images of Osiris are shown behind the figure. Down the hall one could see that it turns into a gentle ramp leading another thirty feet.
Rupp eyes the hieroglyphs but presses forward toward the chanting.
At the base it opens into a large tomb. Roughly thirty by thirty feet with three large painted columns on either side framing a raised platform. Inside the room are fifteen cultists. Four of them are kneeling at the platform where on top of the tomb is Kana's body.
Rupp gets a good look before ducking back into the hall. "Target confirmed. You guys ready to do this?"
Astrid checks with Vanessa to see if she's ready to follow.
The remaining cultists standing around are heavily armed. Typical AK47's slung across their front. The four kneeling are chanting, occasionally waving their hands near Kana
"I see them. Hold position we're coming inside." Kyle motions at Astrid and Vanessa and moves over to the Tomb entrance, moving inside quietly and taking the same path Rupp took.
Nessa is ready to follow, clutching her blow gun tightly, eyes wide and visibly uneasy as she always is going into combat.
Astrid is moving, while keep an eye out behind them for late arrivals.
Rupp greets the rest of the squad with a nod. "So what's the plan, Colonel?"
When he reaches Rupp near the doorway, he pulls a smoke grenade from his vest, motioning at the team. He taps Astrid on the shoulder indicating for her to focus right. Then he taps Rupp indicating for him to focus left.
Astrid nods, focusing on the right.
Rupp silently adopts a sprinters position.
The chanting grows louder as the four have now stood up "For the spirit is in flux, we call upon Aten to harvest this energy in so that we will grow in strength"
And that's their queue, Kyle pulls the pin on the smoke grenade and rolls it into the room, dropping down to one knee.
Nessa finds a place to stand that will be out of the line of fire, preferably behind a column. Her white lab coat makes her enough of a target already -- she doesn't need to tempt them.
The smoke grenades pops loudly in the tomb. Instantly the smoke begins to quickly fill the space as the cultists are surprised and begin shouting to each other before they start opening fire towards the entrance.
Astrid moves from the entrance, using the smoke as cover. She keeps low her assault rifle aimed at the ground while she moves.
Rupp runs at the nearest cultist as fast as he can sending forth a green etherial chain to yank one of the priests off his feet and drag him towards his current position.
The priest yelps as he's suddenly yanked. His face connects with the ground, breaking his nose in the process. The other three turn towards the entrance. Their eyes glowing green.
Heart pounding, Nessa nerves herself, then slides a dart into her blow gun. She carefully peeks around the column, trying to get a good target that wasn't too near her friends...just in case she missed.
Bullets flying high, Kyle moves into the room low, advantage HUDs through the smoke he fires at kneecaps and when if they drop, puts a final bullet in their heads.
Astrid uses their glowing green eyes as a target marker to raise her rifle and fire a single, steady shot.
The cultist are firing blindly. pieces of the ancient walls are becoming shrapnel where the bullets hit. Nessa's dart connects with a nearby cultists. He mutters something before succumbing to the effects of the dart. Kyle manages to take down four cultists who were standing on the wrong side of the column. They fall to the ground and are quickly silenced. Astrid's shot takes down one of the priests. He collapses forwards with a heavy thud
Rupp closes the distance on his first target, sending a glowing green fist though the man's chest and using the corpse as an impromptu shield as he crushes the dragged priest's skull under his heel.
Astrid shifts her aim slightly to the left, and targets the next priest the ssame way.
Kyle rolls around one of the columns, a slight wince as the debris flying from the walls scratches up his exposed forearms. He peeks around, AR raised and fires at few more of the Cultists with their AK47s.
Once again, Nessa looks for a target away from the rest, continuing to hide behind her column, her lips moving in silent prayers to Ogoun, the Warrior Loa.
The priests call up a shield made of chaos magic as Astrid's bullets ricocheted off of it. They move around the platform to use Kana's body as a shield. Nessa's dart finds another home in the neck of another cultists this one is caught trying to run across the room and runs smack into the column head first. The room is filled with smoke now and bullets are flying in every direction. Kyle takes out three more cultists
"Do not fuck up Kana's body!" Shouts, his HUDs showing him the movement of the priests. Smoke clearing he knows they need to move a little faster, slides across the room, sending out his leg to sweep one of the standing cultists to the ground, his AR aimed at the legs of another.
Astrid sighs and breathes a bit of her own anima into the rifle. She then flips a switch on the rifle and fires a concentrated stream of autofire at the next priest over.
She moves closer, once again hiding behind columns until she gets in range of the priests, heart in her throat. Her weapons, at least, wouldn't harm Kana more than she already was. At least, not unless she missed several times and hit Kana. Taking a steadying breath, she tries to aim for one of the priests using Kana's body as a human shield.
Rupp bulrushes the priests behind the coffin, fists flying.
Nessa squeaks and aborts her strike. She didn't want to hit Rupp by accident.
One of the cultist turns unknowingly taking out two of his buddies next to him. The priest hiding behind Kana keeps his shield up as Rupp flies into him, knocking them both to the ground in a rolling heap. Kyle's leg sweep of the cultists results in another down and the shots to the others leg blows out the knee. causing the wounded cultists to scream and flail about in the sand.
Astrid sees the priests using Kana as a shield. She growls, sliding her rifle away and calling bringing up her claws. She launches into a series of flips, sweeps, and slashes designed to move through the middle of the cultists with maximum confusion and disabling - hopefully getting them out of Rupp and Kyle's way.
Nessa resumes her hunt for cultists that aren't near any of her friends. Pickings are getting pretty sparse.
He'll try to send the butt of rifle into the face of the cultist he sent on his ass, bringing his weapon back to him to do a slow sweep to see if there are any of the ak47 variety still standing, letting Rupp and Archer handle those Priests.
The crack of the cultists head against stone is loud to Kyle, not having to worry about the one he leg sweeped. The smoke is beginning to thin out now and one cultists as sneaking around the column, his AK47 training on the back of Nessa's head. Astrid';s work in taking out the remaining cultists is successful he falls onto the screaming cultists holding his knee
Andrew violently grabs on priest's head and suddenly twists it in a way that necks are not meant to be twisted then quickly turns to the other and chokes him. No lock or holds, just a good, ol' fashioned straight-armed throttling. "Stupid mother fucker!"
Astrid spins. 'Vanessa down!'
Obediently, Nessa instantly falls flat to the ground without pause for thought.
The HUDs go red, sending an alert screaming across his screen. But he hears Astrid shout and lets her cover Vanessa, rolling up to his knee he trains his AR on any cultsits taht are still standing, short accurate bursts and headshots as much as he can get em.
Astrid takes two long strides toward Vanessa and leaps, her claws ahead of her as she corkscrews through the air at the man behind Vanessa.
The significance of the alerts on his HUD are not immediately registered by Rupp. For the moment, they are unwanted distractions from his strangling.
The remaining priest tries to call up a chaos blade using the stolen power. He succombs to the choking and his arms go limp to his sides. The priests are dead. Kyle's shots take out the crying wounded cultist. Astrid's claws sink deep into the man's chest he looks to her in disbelief before he too falls to the ground dead. The room is deathly silent except for the groups breathing.
Kyle does a slow scan of the room, before he calls out. "Clear."
At Kyle's reassurance, Nessa stands and hurries to Kana's side to check vital signs.
Astrid growls a little as the man's bloody chest slides off her fist-blades. She's smiling a little... did she lick her lips?
Watching the man's eyes roll back, Rupp looks at the top-right left corner of his plexiglass visor, where the warning is shown. "Oh, Shit!"
Kana's skin is cold to the touch. Her vitals are nonexistent. She had sustained a few bullet wounds from the firefight but they would be non life threatening even to a normal person. Only a soft green glow is apparent coming from her tattoos is the only sign of life from Gaia within Kana.
"Well, now what?"
"We get kana back to her body, stat." Kyle swings the AR over his shoulder. "Archer, Rupp, go make sure our exit is clear." He moves over to vanessa and kana's body.
Astrid shakes her head clear and slides her claws into their sheaths. She unslings her rifle and takes point.
Rupp follows behind Astrid, searching for any unwanted surprises
Astrid finally remembers her HUD and engages it looking for electrical currents or tripwires.
Nessa helps Kyle get Kana's body, not strong enough to get it on her own.
He slings Kana's body over his shoulders in a fireman's carry and jobs out of the tomb, heading straight over to the Sulaco.
The way out is clear for the team. No resistance
Astrid makes sure the LZ is clear until everyone else in on board.
He places Kana's body into the Sulaco as gently as possible, then nods at Drizzle once everyone is aboard. "let's go."
Astrid jumps in, keeping her rifle ready until the last possible moment, then knocks twice on the wall.
Rupp gets in next to Astrid securing himself
Nessa climbs in as well, expression worried as she looks at Kana's body. "I...I hope..." She doesn't finish the thought -- just bows her head in quiet prayer.
"How do we get her back into her body, Vanessa?" Asked as Drizzle flies them back to Prometheus.
"I...I do not know, sir. I am...I am not a...a psychopomp. I hope the silver thread is...still intact. Or that...or that her spirit can...can find its way back...now that her...her body is...rescued."
"Understood." Kyle looks over at Astrid and Rupp. "Good job out there."
Drizzle lands the Sulaco back on Prometheus. Kyle climbs out, picking up Kana's body and carries her up to the HIVE.
Astrid nods. Astrid follows, but she is visibly less energetic than she was during the operation.
When they get to Kana's construct-body, Nessa hesitates, chewing on her lower lip uncertainly. Then she reaches across the circle, making a cutting gesture with an effort of Will to break it. Circles written in sharpie marker are a little harder to scuff out than a salt circle. "If...if you would...put her next to the construct. Please, sir."
Nodding, Kyle sets Kana carefully down next to her construct-body.
"I...I am not certain what to do now. It...may be that we need to destroy the construct body to free the spirit..." She shifts her weight awkwardly, chewing on her lower lip as she gazes anxiously down at Kana.
The construct looks worse than when they left. Obviously they had intervened in time
"Destroy it how? Do you know? Burn it?" He scratches a hand over his goatee.
"I am not certain starting a fire in...in here...would be a good idea."
"Well I wasn't going to do it in here, obviously."
"But it...fire is a...cleansing agent. Is there somewhere onboard where...where it will not...be a problem?"
Kyle clucks his tongue, thoughtful. "One of the labs would do."
"I will go fetch a stretcher." With that, she hurries toward the medbay, murmuring a soft 'Thank you for saving my life' to Astrid on the way by.
Astrid smiles. 'It's what we do, right?'
Kyle waits, looking between the construct and Kana's real body. "Just another day at work, getting ATAR members their real body back."
A few minutes later she returns with a stretcher, which she uses to try to pick up the construct-body.
Astrid helps as she is needed.
Poor Mackenzie, she'd been trying really hard not to throw up for the last hour. but when they pick up the piece of Kana's jaw, she whirls and loses it in a trash can.
Kyle gets Kana's real body, carrying it into one of the empty lab rooms and sets her carefully down on a table.
Nessa moves over to Mackenzie, holding the woman's hair free as she vomits, then offers her a breath mint before returning to follow the group to the lab.
Mackenzie offers Vanessa a grateful smile, taking the mint and goes back to work.
Astrid just waits to be useful.
"Do we need to burn her parts inside of a circle or something?" He helps Vanessa put the pieces of construct-kana up on an opposite table.
"I do not believe so."
"All right." Kyle calls in R2 and points at Kana's construct. "Light it up." R2 salutes, lifting his little mechanical arm and a thinly controlled stream of fire comes out, lighting it ablaze.
The fire engulfs the mummified remains. Pops and hisses as the smoke is safely drawn up through an air hood.
He watches the mummified remains burn, pulling out one of his cigars. He has R2 light that for him while he waits, looking over now at kana' real body.
Nessa murmurs soft prayers to Papa Loko to guide Kana home to her body, and also to the Baron to keep Kana's spirit safe.
The construct is quickly reduced to ash. The last bit of flame goes out in a green wisp of smoke. Seconds pass by in what seems like an eternity. Suddenly Kana takes a deep, ragged gasp.
Kyle grins around the stogie he's now puffing on. "Welcome back, Uyeda."
Nessa moves quickly over to Kana's side, supporting her and giving the woman all the help she can.
Coughing she tries to raise her arm. Managing to only just give Kyle a thumbs up "Thank you all" her voice severely hoarse and barely understandable
"You are coming back to medical. I would like you on oxygen and a saline drip for several hours."
Kana simply nods, not going to fight the doc on this one
Kyle goes to get a wheelchair for Kana, returning with it.
Fortunately, there's a convenient stretcher RIGHT there. Nessa helps Kana onto it, then begins to wheel her towards the medical bay.
Kana enters into the HIVE, almost seeming to float in. Seeing Kyle relaxed after everything that has happened so far was almost, normal.
He craned his neck back a bit as Kana came in. "Just the ATAR person I wanted to see."
"I had a feeling you did." she stood in just off to the side.
"You see the last report on the blood seals and all that shit?" He drops the tablet onto his desk, taking his feet down and swivels around his chair to face her.
"I did, all of that being the source in what is happening over in Romania?"
"Likely not the only thing actually. We've got some additional intel that there might be other things, but we're still sorting through it. That said, I know you're sensitive to those energies. So two questions. First, anything going off for you that might give us a clue where this bloodseal is?"
"While out there, everything felt, muddy. So much spiritual energy already just awash through the forests. The spirits are very angry in what has been done."
He clucks his tongue. "I don't doubt it. Nothing in a concentrated area?"
Rupp bursts into the room, panting. "I'm here-! I'm here." he sits down, pulling out a pencil and paper. "Whad' I miss?"
Kana looks over to Rupp, offering him a slight smile as to his current state of affairs "Actually, you're in time...?Mr?"
He glances over at Rupp. "Nothing, just talking about the situation in Romania. And you two haven't met yet?"
Rupp shakes his head
"Been spending every waking moment in Romania. Wolves, and other sort possessed creatures. Holding the line as it were against them. I'm Ranger Uyeda."
*nods his head.* Ranger. Nice. Anyhow, sorry to interrupt. *He gestures with his pencil*
She holds her hand out for him. The skin of her arm goes from the semi healthy appearance to one of drying, rotting flesh.
"All right, I'll work a few angles then see if I can't find a rumor. Second question Kana, once we find the second seal do you know how to close it up? Send all those angry spirits back home?"
*Andrew makes an "I am trying my best to maintain a neutral expression" face as he slowly shakes her hand.
She withdraws her arm quickly noticing the change "Right, I think by not killing virgins would be first." As she holds her arm, trying to make light of it "Blood sacrifice is important to the seal..."
"Think on that let me know." Kyle noticed the change as well. "What's going on with that?" He head motions at her arm.
"my connection..." she quickly turns to the monitors "they must of found it, my body." as she speaks her face becomes sunken. The skin tightening against her skull
Kyle blinks. "Who found your body?"
Rupp exchanges worried glances between the two, but remains silent.
His phone buzzes, he pulls it out, typing a quick reply trading glances between his phone and kana multi-tasking like a professional.
She tries to enter coordinates into the keypad only her fingers have become bony. The skin pulled tight as each key press is accompanied by each finger breaking off.
He cringes watching this, shoving his phone back into his pocket. "Let me do it. Where are we going? Where's your body? Give me details here."
Kana collapses to her knees. Her clothes baggy over the mummified frame
He stands up and slaps a button, paging medical staff for an emergency and tries to determine what the hell she was keying in on the keyboard. "Talk to me here Kana, c'mon."
Nessa arrives at a sprint a few moments later, hastily clutching her open medical bag against her chest as she tries to keep its contents from spilling out.
The keys on the keyboard in front of Kyle would begin to slowly type out what she was trying to enter. '20k south of Prom. tomb of lost ph..'
Kyle watches the key depress. "Got it. Get your shit together Rupp. We gotta move." He looks at Vanessa. "She's falling apart apparently and I have coordinates on her body, I believe."
Andrew has not moved, but snaps to it once he hears his name. "Yes, sir!"
"I...I do not know if...I am not a...psychopomp..." Nessa kneels next to Kana's body, expression distressed and afraid to touch her for fear of doing more damage.
Kana's jaw falls to the floor with a sickening bony thud
"You know more than I do Sinclair do what you can. And what do I need to know about getting her body? Do I bring it here? Do I need to wrap it up in something?"
"I...I think...t-this body is a...a construct. And...and what is needed is...is her spirit... I...I think I c-can...hold her here. Until we return. But I...I do not know if we can move her..."
"Her meaning the construct. So we need to go get her body and bring it to her here."
"Yes, sir. I...I...please forgive me but this is the fastest way. I will pay to replace the deck plating." Pulling a black sharpie marker from her backpack, she sets about drawing a circle around Kana's body as quickly as she can, making sure there's no breaks in the marked line.
"You're not going to pay to replace the deckplating." He just shakes his head and hops up to his feet, coordinates memorized he takes the stairwell, grabs his gear and heads into the hangar.
Working as quickly as she can, she makes a few quick arcane marks around the edge of the circle, sealing it with a complex knot, makes a few more marks on the other side of the knot, then rests her fingertips against the knot as she bows her head in prayer, speaking rapidly and fervently in Creole.
Rupp stumbles into the hangar bay, struggling to put on the last of his body armor. "I'm here! Where are we off to?"
"Not far, 20km south. And not sure what we're going to run into either. Be ready for anythin kind of day." He climbs into the back of the Sulaco, double checked his gear.
Nessa calls over the Comm to Kyle, "S-sir? I...I have put her in a binding circle. I do not know what else I can do here b-but...do...do you...need me?"
He taps his headset. "Not sure what we're running into down there we might need you. C'mon."
So you, me, the good doctor, and... Is anyone else available?
He shakes his head at Rupp. "Nope. Everybody else is out or off. We'll handle this."
"I shall be there presently." Hastily she closed up her backpack, making sure she had her disassembled blow gun tucked in its pouch, then slid it to her back and took off for the hanger at a sprint, her white labcoat flapping behind her, totally forgetting about any sort of body armor in her haste.
He nods. clicking the last of his armor into place. Circuits on the suit give off a honey-yellow glow as anima flows through them. "Yes Sir."
He see's Vanessa running towards the Sulaco and hops out quickly, moving over to his locker opens it up and grabs another flak vest. He climbs back into the bird.
Nessa slides into the Sulaco, hastily buckling her seatbelt and murmuring soft prayers under her breath in Creole.
He hands Vanessa the vest, then pounds his fist on the side of the bird. "Let's go Drizzle." Drizzle with his typical take-off "tallyho" gets them off base in record time, following the coordinates given.
The area that they land in is bleak. Desert stretches all around them. A jeep sits near a large stone structure. The vehicle seems to have been there for quite a long time. It's tracks long gone during the length of time they were made. A group of trucks are parked along the other side of the structure. Their tracks are fresh for that day and the footprints in the sand make it hard to pin down the full amount of people that are now inside.
Kyle slips on his HUDs, scanning the area as Drizzle circles around once, then sets the Sulaco down a klick from the vehicles. "Stay airborne, Drizzle just in case, but be ready to move fast." Kyle climbed out, pulling his AR over his shoulder and into his gloved grasp.
Rupp exits behind Kyle, checking his armor over one last time. "So I'm going to take a wild guess and say that the body we're looking for looks a whole lot like that woman we were talking with?"
During the trip, Nessa shrugged into the extra flack jacket, the armor large on her slender form even when she cinched it as tightly as she could. There really wasn't anything which could be done about that, so she shouldered her backpack when they landed and followed Kyle out.
"You got it," Kyle nodded, looking down at the tracks. "Move in quietly. Vanessa stay behind Ranger Rupp." Kyle crept low over to the group of trucks, putting his hand on top of the hood to see if it was still warm.
I'm a ranger now?
Obediently, Nessa slips behind Rupp, trying to hide in his shadow.
"You were one the day you passed your probbie period," quietly said.
The hood is quite warm, ahead of them and where all the tracks converge on is a small oening. Just big enough for a single person to pass through
mmmmrhh? We there yet?
"Should I take point, Sir?"
He moves behind one of the trucks, staying out of sight signaling for the rest to the same. Kyle eyeballs that single file opening into the tomb. "How stealthy are you, Rupp?"
Uh-oh... ack! >Astrid wakes up and grabs her gear, hurrying out of the Sulaco. She downs a chocolate bar for energy and hopes she didn't snore.
Rupp looks down at his glowing armor. "Well... I can be quiet."
"I don't want to bottleneck us in that opening. Move inside, quietly. Get me an visual on what's going in there."
"Sinclair, stick close to Archer."
Obediently, Nessa moves to stick close to Astrid instead of Rupp.
Astrid nods to Vanessa and quickly checks her gear and sights, the double-checks her armor.
Rupp ducks down, as if that would help as he approaches the entrance. He waits for a moment up against the wall before stepping carefully inside.
Inside you would be able to smell the scent of discharged explosives in the air. A very narrow stairway leads down into the ground for about thirty feet. The walls of the stairway have faded and chipped hieroglyphs.
Out of habit, Astrid does a quick visual check of Vanessa's armor and nods.
Through the HUDs he can see what Rupp see's a tiny video screen appearing on the top left corner of his left lense. Kyle remains crouched behind one of the trucks, form tense ready to spring if need be.
Rupp quietly descends the stairs, pressing his index and middle finger to the side of his helmet to activate his comms. "Looks like they blew the door."
"Roger," Kyle says quietly. "Seeing what you see."
At the base of the stairs, the hallway opens up slightly. Leading off in two directions. To the left more darkness. To the right is the faint sounds of chanting and various voices
Carefully, Nessa kneels to remove her backpack, removing the pieces of her blowgun and fitting it together. Then she takes out a small package of treated darts, handling them carefully as she slides the backpack back on.
"Oh man, cultists!" He says into his comms, excitedly but quietly as he moves to the right to investigate further.
Astrid waits for Vanessa to finish, or to receive orders to move.
"It would fucking figure. Stay out of sight, just try to get a visual of what's going on."
"Yes sir."
The hallway is decorated in more hieroglyphs. Scenes of hundreds of people gathering in front of a large female figure. Images of Osiris are shown behind the figure. Down the hall one could see that it turns into a gentle ramp leading another thirty feet.
Rupp eyes the hieroglyphs but presses forward toward the chanting.
At the base it opens into a large tomb. Roughly thirty by thirty feet with three large painted columns on either side framing a raised platform. Inside the room are fifteen cultists. Four of them are kneeling at the platform where on top of the tomb is Kana's body.
Rupp gets a good look before ducking back into the hall. "Target confirmed. You guys ready to do this?"
Astrid checks with Vanessa to see if she's ready to follow.
The remaining cultists standing around are heavily armed. Typical AK47's slung across their front. The four kneeling are chanting, occasionally waving their hands near Kana
"I see them. Hold position we're coming inside." Kyle motions at Astrid and Vanessa and moves over to the Tomb entrance, moving inside quietly and taking the same path Rupp took.
Nessa is ready to follow, clutching her blow gun tightly, eyes wide and visibly uneasy as she always is going into combat.
Astrid is moving, while keep an eye out behind them for late arrivals.
Rupp greets the rest of the squad with a nod. "So what's the plan, Colonel?"
When he reaches Rupp near the doorway, he pulls a smoke grenade from his vest, motioning at the team. He taps Astrid on the shoulder indicating for her to focus right. Then he taps Rupp indicating for him to focus left.
Astrid nods, focusing on the right.
Rupp silently adopts a sprinters position.
The chanting grows louder as the four have now stood up "For the spirit is in flux, we call upon Aten to harvest this energy in so that we will grow in strength"
And that's their queue, Kyle pulls the pin on the smoke grenade and rolls it into the room, dropping down to one knee.
Nessa finds a place to stand that will be out of the line of fire, preferably behind a column. Her white lab coat makes her enough of a target already -- she doesn't need to tempt them.
The smoke grenades pops loudly in the tomb. Instantly the smoke begins to quickly fill the space as the cultists are surprised and begin shouting to each other before they start opening fire towards the entrance.
Astrid moves from the entrance, using the smoke as cover. She keeps low her assault rifle aimed at the ground while she moves.
Rupp runs at the nearest cultist as fast as he can sending forth a green etherial chain to yank one of the priests off his feet and drag him towards his current position.
The priest yelps as he's suddenly yanked. His face connects with the ground, breaking his nose in the process. The other three turn towards the entrance. Their eyes glowing green.
Heart pounding, Nessa nerves herself, then slides a dart into her blow gun. She carefully peeks around the column, trying to get a good target that wasn't too near her friends...just in case she missed.
Bullets flying high, Kyle moves into the room low, advantage HUDs through the smoke he fires at kneecaps and when if they drop, puts a final bullet in their heads.
Astrid uses their glowing green eyes as a target marker to raise her rifle and fire a single, steady shot.
The cultist are firing blindly. pieces of the ancient walls are becoming shrapnel where the bullets hit. Nessa's dart connects with a nearby cultists. He mutters something before succumbing to the effects of the dart. Kyle manages to take down four cultists who were standing on the wrong side of the column. They fall to the ground and are quickly silenced. Astrid's shot takes down one of the priests. He collapses forwards with a heavy thud
Rupp closes the distance on his first target, sending a glowing green fist though the man's chest and using the corpse as an impromptu shield as he crushes the dragged priest's skull under his heel.
Astrid shifts her aim slightly to the left, and targets the next priest the ssame way.
Kyle rolls around one of the columns, a slight wince as the debris flying from the walls scratches up his exposed forearms. He peeks around, AR raised and fires at few more of the Cultists with their AK47s.
Once again, Nessa looks for a target away from the rest, continuing to hide behind her column, her lips moving in silent prayers to Ogoun, the Warrior Loa.
The priests call up a shield made of chaos magic as Astrid's bullets ricocheted off of it. They move around the platform to use Kana's body as a shield. Nessa's dart finds another home in the neck of another cultists this one is caught trying to run across the room and runs smack into the column head first. The room is filled with smoke now and bullets are flying in every direction. Kyle takes out three more cultists
"Do not fuck up Kana's body!" Shouts, his HUDs showing him the movement of the priests. Smoke clearing he knows they need to move a little faster, slides across the room, sending out his leg to sweep one of the standing cultists to the ground, his AR aimed at the legs of another.
Astrid sighs and breathes a bit of her own anima into the rifle. She then flips a switch on the rifle and fires a concentrated stream of autofire at the next priest over.
She moves closer, once again hiding behind columns until she gets in range of the priests, heart in her throat. Her weapons, at least, wouldn't harm Kana more than she already was. At least, not unless she missed several times and hit Kana. Taking a steadying breath, she tries to aim for one of the priests using Kana's body as a human shield.
Rupp bulrushes the priests behind the coffin, fists flying.
Nessa squeaks and aborts her strike. She didn't want to hit Rupp by accident.
One of the cultist turns unknowingly taking out two of his buddies next to him. The priest hiding behind Kana keeps his shield up as Rupp flies into him, knocking them both to the ground in a rolling heap. Kyle's leg sweep of the cultists results in another down and the shots to the others leg blows out the knee. causing the wounded cultists to scream and flail about in the sand.
Astrid sees the priests using Kana as a shield. She growls, sliding her rifle away and calling bringing up her claws. She launches into a series of flips, sweeps, and slashes designed to move through the middle of the cultists with maximum confusion and disabling - hopefully getting them out of Rupp and Kyle's way.
Nessa resumes her hunt for cultists that aren't near any of her friends. Pickings are getting pretty sparse.
He'll try to send the butt of rifle into the face of the cultist he sent on his ass, bringing his weapon back to him to do a slow sweep to see if there are any of the ak47 variety still standing, letting Rupp and Archer handle those Priests.
The crack of the cultists head against stone is loud to Kyle, not having to worry about the one he leg sweeped. The smoke is beginning to thin out now and one cultists as sneaking around the column, his AK47 training on the back of Nessa's head. Astrid';s work in taking out the remaining cultists is successful he falls onto the screaming cultists holding his knee
Andrew violently grabs on priest's head and suddenly twists it in a way that necks are not meant to be twisted then quickly turns to the other and chokes him. No lock or holds, just a good, ol' fashioned straight-armed throttling. "Stupid mother fucker!"
Astrid spins. 'Vanessa down!'
Obediently, Nessa instantly falls flat to the ground without pause for thought.
The HUDs go red, sending an alert screaming across his screen. But he hears Astrid shout and lets her cover Vanessa, rolling up to his knee he trains his AR on any cultsits taht are still standing, short accurate bursts and headshots as much as he can get em.
Astrid takes two long strides toward Vanessa and leaps, her claws ahead of her as she corkscrews through the air at the man behind Vanessa.
The significance of the alerts on his HUD are not immediately registered by Rupp. For the moment, they are unwanted distractions from his strangling.
The remaining priest tries to call up a chaos blade using the stolen power. He succombs to the choking and his arms go limp to his sides. The priests are dead. Kyle's shots take out the crying wounded cultist. Astrid's claws sink deep into the man's chest he looks to her in disbelief before he too falls to the ground dead. The room is deathly silent except for the groups breathing.
Kyle does a slow scan of the room, before he calls out. "Clear."
At Kyle's reassurance, Nessa stands and hurries to Kana's side to check vital signs.
Astrid growls a little as the man's bloody chest slides off her fist-blades. She's smiling a little... did she lick her lips?
Watching the man's eyes roll back, Rupp looks at the top-right left corner of his plexiglass visor, where the warning is shown. "Oh, Shit!"
Kana's skin is cold to the touch. Her vitals are nonexistent. She had sustained a few bullet wounds from the firefight but they would be non life threatening even to a normal person. Only a soft green glow is apparent coming from her tattoos is the only sign of life from Gaia within Kana.
"Well, now what?"
"We get kana back to her body, stat." Kyle swings the AR over his shoulder. "Archer, Rupp, go make sure our exit is clear." He moves over to vanessa and kana's body.
Astrid shakes her head clear and slides her claws into their sheaths. She unslings her rifle and takes point.
Rupp follows behind Astrid, searching for any unwanted surprises
Astrid finally remembers her HUD and engages it looking for electrical currents or tripwires.
Nessa helps Kyle get Kana's body, not strong enough to get it on her own.
He slings Kana's body over his shoulders in a fireman's carry and jobs out of the tomb, heading straight over to the Sulaco.
The way out is clear for the team. No resistance
Astrid makes sure the LZ is clear until everyone else in on board.
He places Kana's body into the Sulaco as gently as possible, then nods at Drizzle once everyone is aboard. "let's go."
Astrid jumps in, keeping her rifle ready until the last possible moment, then knocks twice on the wall.
Rupp gets in next to Astrid securing himself
Nessa climbs in as well, expression worried as she looks at Kana's body. "I...I hope..." She doesn't finish the thought -- just bows her head in quiet prayer.
"How do we get her back into her body, Vanessa?" Asked as Drizzle flies them back to Prometheus.
"I...I do not know, sir. I am...I am not a...a psychopomp. I hope the silver thread is...still intact. Or that...or that her spirit can...can find its way back...now that her...her body is...rescued."
"Understood." Kyle looks over at Astrid and Rupp. "Good job out there."
Drizzle lands the Sulaco back on Prometheus. Kyle climbs out, picking up Kana's body and carries her up to the HIVE.
Astrid nods. Astrid follows, but she is visibly less energetic than she was during the operation.
When they get to Kana's construct-body, Nessa hesitates, chewing on her lower lip uncertainly. Then she reaches across the circle, making a cutting gesture with an effort of Will to break it. Circles written in sharpie marker are a little harder to scuff out than a salt circle. "If...if you would...put her next to the construct. Please, sir."
Nodding, Kyle sets Kana carefully down next to her construct-body.
"I...I am not certain what to do now. It...may be that we need to destroy the construct body to free the spirit..." She shifts her weight awkwardly, chewing on her lower lip as she gazes anxiously down at Kana.
The construct looks worse than when they left. Obviously they had intervened in time
"Destroy it how? Do you know? Burn it?" He scratches a hand over his goatee.
"I am not certain starting a fire in...in here...would be a good idea."
"Well I wasn't going to do it in here, obviously."
"But it...fire is a...cleansing agent. Is there somewhere onboard where...where it will not...be a problem?"
Kyle clucks his tongue, thoughtful. "One of the labs would do."
"I will go fetch a stretcher." With that, she hurries toward the medbay, murmuring a soft 'Thank you for saving my life' to Astrid on the way by.
Astrid smiles. 'It's what we do, right?'
Kyle waits, looking between the construct and Kana's real body. "Just another day at work, getting ATAR members their real body back."
A few minutes later she returns with a stretcher, which she uses to try to pick up the construct-body.
Astrid helps as she is needed.
Poor Mackenzie, she'd been trying really hard not to throw up for the last hour. but when they pick up the piece of Kana's jaw, she whirls and loses it in a trash can.
Kyle gets Kana's real body, carrying it into one of the empty lab rooms and sets her carefully down on a table.
Nessa moves over to Mackenzie, holding the woman's hair free as she vomits, then offers her a breath mint before returning to follow the group to the lab.
Mackenzie offers Vanessa a grateful smile, taking the mint and goes back to work.
Astrid just waits to be useful.
"Do we need to burn her parts inside of a circle or something?" He helps Vanessa put the pieces of construct-kana up on an opposite table.
"I do not believe so."
"All right." Kyle calls in R2 and points at Kana's construct. "Light it up." R2 salutes, lifting his little mechanical arm and a thinly controlled stream of fire comes out, lighting it ablaze.
The fire engulfs the mummified remains. Pops and hisses as the smoke is safely drawn up through an air hood.
He watches the mummified remains burn, pulling out one of his cigars. He has R2 light that for him while he waits, looking over now at kana' real body.
Nessa murmurs soft prayers to Papa Loko to guide Kana home to her body, and also to the Baron to keep Kana's spirit safe.
The construct is quickly reduced to ash. The last bit of flame goes out in a green wisp of smoke. Seconds pass by in what seems like an eternity. Suddenly Kana takes a deep, ragged gasp.
Kyle grins around the stogie he's now puffing on. "Welcome back, Uyeda."
Nessa moves quickly over to Kana's side, supporting her and giving the woman all the help she can.
Coughing she tries to raise her arm. Managing to only just give Kyle a thumbs up "Thank you all" her voice severely hoarse and barely understandable
"You are coming back to medical. I would like you on oxygen and a saline drip for several hours."
Kana simply nods, not going to fight the doc on this one
Kyle goes to get a wheelchair for Kana, returning with it.
Fortunately, there's a convenient stretcher RIGHT there. Nessa helps Kana onto it, then begins to wheel her towards the medical bay.