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Grayback Nimblefoot sits in the command chair, with the viewscreen switched to show the outside of the ship, a forest clearing amongst a dense thicket of pine trees. His head is resting on his clasped hands, his elbows on his knees, brooding.
"Captain," Patchear purrs in greeting as she strides her way onto the bridge. Her ears droop a little. "The engines arrre ssstill not functioning," she says with an agitated flick of her tail. "We have trrried to rrrepairrr with the materrrialsss on hand but it may be beyond us."
The door to the bridge opens with a *swoosh* and behind it is the ships first officer, Blackmane. He steps onto the bridge, allowing the door to close, he walks up to the auxillary control station next to the First Fang. "I am overseeing the engineering crews, but I think we require a new plan. We can hold at current power levels, and stop the bleeding but we gain no ground."
Silvertips is stuffed under the console for engineering muttering some unflattering things about the ship builders until she hears titles, then she slides out and nods at Patchey's words, "Cerrrrtainly, this will take a while. Therrrre arrrrre just not enough materrrials to rrrrepair prroperly."
Grayback Nimblefoot looks up from his brooding, nodding to the officers present. Standing, his tail gives an agitated twitch. "Such as I fearrrred." he says, clasping his hands behind his back and looking at the viewscreen which shows the clearing beyond. "We shall have to explorrre. With luck, some of the materrrials we need may be found nearrrby in these woods. Even in rrraw forrrm, we have the ability to rrrrefine it."
Patchear's ears flick toward the viewscreen and the planet. "We arrre going to go explorrre the planet?" she asks. There's more than a little curiosity in her inflections, whiskers twitching with her interest.
The Second Fang nods to his superior. "Very well, sir. Will you be leading a team out there?" Blackmane asks, standing up and walking over to another station. "I shall prep a security team to secure a perimeter around the ship, and have several remain here for us to use if we want to explore further out."
Silvertips also perks with curiosity, "Explorrre? Hmm, that would be useful. Who will be going Firrrst Fang?"
"All who wish to come. I am surrrre that we will need all skills that anyone has, duty or otherrrwise." Grayback says. "We will leave in shorrrt orderrrr. Each memberrr will arrrm themselves for defensive use only. The primarrry goal will be to avoid contact with the natives."
Patchear nods and flicks an ear. "I would like to accompany you to the planet-ssside," she says. "I know thisss ssship asss well asss Sssilverrrtips, essspecially in rrregarrrdsss to the navigation and engine."
Silvertips flicks an ear, "I would like to go as well." she says simply.
Grayback Nimblefoot nods. "Then let us be off. Therrre is little rrrreason to waste time." he says, heading off to the prep area.
The crew makes their way outside of the ship...
Grayback Nimblefoot steps down off the ramp once it hits the soft soil of the clearing, looking at the sun filtering through the trees beyond. "I must admit, it is a beautiful planet." he says, tail twitching idly as he takes in the fresh air. "We will take scans from herrre. Let us get ourrr bearrrings."
Armed with scanners and weapons for defense, Patchear pads around the small perimeter of the clearing, beginning to take scans. "What arrre we looking for, Sssilverrrtipsss?" she asks.
"Metals, we will also want synthetics orr the native varrriety." Tipsy pulls out her PDA and begins doing her own scan, "We can smelt togetherrrr what we find if need be. Some will have to be."
Grayback Nimblefoot nods to both. "Then let us begin. The soonerrrr we locate what we need, the fasterrr we can deparrrt and rrreport." he says, then growling as he lays his ears back. "And I can have a few worrrrds with command."
Patchear continues to prowl, apparently not finding much of interest in her scans so far.
Silvertips scans as well, not finding much herself, "Perrrhaps furrrrthur afield?"
Grayback Nimblefoot nods. "Then into the forrrest we go." he says, heading into the nearby thicket, pushing aside some brush as he does.
Patchear follows along. She continues to prowl, waving a paw to shoo away buzzing insects at her ears. "Sirrr," she intones. "What happensss if we cannot find the materrrialsss we rrrequirrre?" she asks.
Silvertips twitches an ear in agreement with Patchy's question and continues scanning huffing as she doesn't find much. She turns to the steam to see if minerals might have washed down there, a long shot with no mountains in view.
"We will have to send a distrrrress signal." Grayback says. "We may be in forrrr a bit of a wait, if that is the case." he says as they make their way into the forest. After a few moments, there is the sound of a twig snapping, and he stops, ears perked, tail twitching widely. "What was that..."
Patchear twists, her ears pricked in response. "Wildlife?" she suggests in a quiet rumble, her tail moving back and forth. "Ssshould we invessstigate furrrtherrr, sirrr?" she asks.
Silvertips turns her head at the noise, her ears twitching and her tail beginning to swish in interest waiting to hear the answer to Patchy's question.
Grayback Nimblefoot nods, hand on his weapon as he starts to head in the direction of the sound. "Prrrroceed with caution." he says, as his ears lay back...
Patchear slides the scanner away and moves ahead at a silent lope, she keeps her body low and positioned to pounce on something if necessary.
Silvertips moves to back Patchy up if needed and nods at Grayback's orders.
Grayback Nimblefoot continues to creep forward, eyes looking through the darkness of the trees beyond, narrowed as he tries to spot whatever made the sound. It's at that moment that a tremendous bang is heard....
Patchear hisses at the sound of the bang, her ears flicking back toward Grayback for the briefest instant before she moves forward, ears pricked forward once again as she tries to locate the position of the shot and stalk her prey.
Silvertips growls at the shot and she too tries to locate the hunter.
Grayback Nimblefoot ducks down as he hears the shot. "Altheorrrr's teeth." he snarls, looking around for any sign of the shot's origin. "It appearrrrs we have failed our firrrrst goal..." he says. There is the sound of snapping twigs as whatever is in the woods begins to approach.
Patchear tilts her head. Nothing is appearing within her sight so she flicks her ears and tries to locate a position based on the sounds of movement within the forest. "Wherrre arrre you?" she murmurs to herself, continuing to prowl forward and stay low. The advantage of her dark coat makes it easier for her to blend in to the general dimness of the area.
Silvertips follows Patchy and listens herself, trying to locate the irritating little so and so who shot at her
"Defend yourrrrselves if necessarrrry, but avoid harrrrming the inhabitants if possible." Grayback says. "They still could be potential memberrrrrs." he says, trying to listen himself for the hunter, but coming up with nothing.
After listening for a moment, Patchear goes bounding off into the forest to catch up with the Hunter. She growls in dismay but goes skidding to a halt as she catches sight of what shot at Silvertips. "Woah..." she says, in momentary shock, eyes wide, ears flicking back and forth with her unease.
Silvertips follows Patchy and just barely avoids slamming into the back of her as she stops suddenly, peering around Patchy she offers her own expression of surprised discomfort, "Uh, hi." she gives a little wave but doesn't back up.
Standing before the three Demarians is a creature that looks like a horse crossed with a humanoid torso. It is a dark black in color, but in the middle of its forehead between its ears is a white star like patch. It's dressed in a olive drab hunting jacket and cap, a bandolier across its chest filled with several very large shotgun shells. The gun to which they go is nearly six feet long, which doesn't look like much held in the arms of the huge creature. However, despite its size, the creature looks quite confused once it sees the 'lions' it was shooting at.. and then confusion turns to absolute fear. With a whinny of shock, the creature wheels and begins to gallop off at full speed, further off into the forest.
Grayback looks utterly shocked himself at the creature, then tenses as it bounds off. "That... was... " he says, shaking his head. "I.. have no worrrds." Looking back to the others. "I'm prrresuming you all saw what I saw... at least I hope?"
Patchear's ears flick back and forth with shock and surprise. "Sirrr, may I admit myssself for psssychological evaluation when we rrreturrrn to Demarrria?" she asks a little weakly. Her tail sways back and forth. "We /did/ jussst see a horrrse crrreaturrre, rrright?"
Silvertips nods at both, "If you arrrre crrrrazy then so am I. That was definitely a horrrrse crrrreature."
"Good... then I'm not crrrazy." Grayback says, standing up and lowering his weapon. "We must be on guarrrd. No doubt it will tell otherrrrs of our prrresence. I think that is motivation enough to find what we need and make our deparrrrture as quickly as possible."
Patchear flicks her ears in affirmation and pulls her scanner out again. "Which dirrrection ssshould we go to look forrr ourrr needed materrrialsss?"
Silvertips looks around and states, "I suggest somewhere nearrrr mountains if we can find them. The metals might be found in the strrrream, though unlikely this farrr out, but the synthetics," she shakes her head, "That I do not know."
Grayback Nimblefoot looks thoughtful for a few moments. "That crrrreature, carrrried a firrrearm. That means they may have rrrrrefined metals. Metals we may be able to use." he says. "I hate the idea of thieverrry, but it would save time. Perrrrhaps, we can scout without attrrracting more attention."
"We can alwaysss rrreturrrn at a laterrr time to rrreturrrn the cossst," Patchear suggests. "But the lessss time we ssspend herrre now, the betterrr... They alrrready trrried to shoot Sssilverrrtipsss."
Silvertips nods in agreement, "We should make ourrrr stay as shorrrrt as possible. If they arrrre at all able to manufacturrre and prroduce parrrts forrrr electrrronics orrrr engine components then we can upgrrrrrade them ourrrselves."
"Then let's prrrroceed. Keep your scannerrrrrs active to watch for any other lifeforrrrrms." Grayback says, looking towards there the Calzonite ran off. "I doubt it would rrrrrun rrrandomly. Therrrre may be a settlement in that dirrrrection. We will starrrrt therrrre." Taking the lead, he begins to wade further into the forest, using the trail the creature blazed by breaking branches and saplings as a guide.
Patchear's whiskers twitch her acknowledgment and she takes position just behind Grayback, leaving him a little room to maneuver. She is silent, eyes focused on her scanner.
Silvertips moves pretty much as Patchy does, eyes on scanner and following behind, yay kitty mamba
As the forest begins to thin out, Grayback moves with a bit more caution. "Therrrre looks to be a larrrrge open space beyond. We may be able to see morrrre once we arrrre out of the trrrrees."
"And be ssseeen morrre easssily," Patchear counters. "I have to wonder how good theirrr technology isss, and how quickly they will be able to gatherrr up sssupporrrt to trrry and find usss."
Silvertips looks around the area and nods, "This is not a good situation, we need to move quickly orrr we might not make it back."
"We will prrroceed out of the forrrest enough to get a lay of the land... then we will rrreturrrn to the ship to furrrtherrr prrrrepare. With luck, they will not have discoverrrred its position, and we have time to complete our objective." Grayback says.
Patchear flicks an ear in acknowledgment. "Yesss, sirrr," she replies, keeping a close eye on her scanner.
Silvertips nods as well, "Yes sirr." she concurs doing much the same as Patch with the scanning goodness
Grayback Nimblefoot steps out into the meadow, darkness beginning to fall as the sun sinks low below the horizon, the stars beginning to shine. "It will be dangerrrrous to continue at night." he says, digging into his coat and withdrawing a pair of binoculars. Raising them to his eyes, he looks off into the distance. "Hrrrrm. I'm afrrrraid their technology may not be as advanced as one might hope. I see a farrrrmhouse, and simple cultivating equipment. The lighting seems to be... oil." he says, frowning as he lowers the binoculars. He carefully sniffs the air. "Wood smoke..."
"That would make it harrrderrr forrr them to trrrack usss, at leassst," Patchear points out quickly, following Grayback and then crouching down. "But if they have firrrearrrms, they cannot be too prrrimitive?"
"I agrrree, the firrrrrearm cerrrtainly did not seem as prrrimitive as it might have been." Tipsey's tail is twitching in what could be excitement or irritation, "Perrrhaps a closerrrr look?"
"I agrrrree. I would guess they arrrre in a sorrrrt of industrrrrial age... it would take that to achieve such things as firrrrearrrms." Grayback says. "It would also explain the rrreadings leading to the belief this worrrrld was volcanic.... pollutants from factorrrries." he says, putting a paw to his chin. "Although ourrrr firrrst encounterrr was... disturrrbing, we can look at it from anotherrrr perrrrspective. In such dim light, in the forrrrest, we may have been seen as game. Perrrrhaps our next encounterrrr, if we arrrre carrrreful, will be morrre prrrroductive. Then we perrrrhaps can offerrr a trrrade for what we need."
"What do we have that we could trrrade thessse people?" Patchear asks. "Weaponrrry would be a poorrr choice and we arrre unfamiliarrr with theirrr diets ssso food could be harrrd to choossse asss well."
Silvertips rumbles in thought, "Perrrhaps we can trrrrade inforrrrmation. Culturrrre and historrry sometimes had imporrrrtance."
Grayback Nimblefoot nods. "It is worrrrth considerrrration. For now I believe we should rrrreturrrrn to the ship. We know so little of this arrrea I believe a night excurrrrsion to be dangerrrous."
Patchear nods. "We will continue sssensssorrr ssscansss frrrom the ship to make sssurrre they arrre not converrrging on usss," she says.
Silvertips nods and finishes her scan in order to follow back, "Wise choice I think."
Grayback Nimblefoot nods. "Then we shall go back. We will rrrresume when it is light." he says, rising and heading back into the forest.