Forgotten Plans- Desert City

[trueblaze]

Transoportaion was an unusual feeling to get used to. One moment your standing in an underground room, the next you're half a world away.

As the teleportation room dissapeared, Blaze braised himself as he and his group arrived at their destination and were quickly hit by the intense....cold?

Blaze glanced around curiously. Aren't desert's supposed to be hot? Then it dawned on him, it was still night.

"Wait, it was morning when we left....Oh ya that's right, we're in a different time zone now aren't we," Blaze mumbled to himself as he quickly updated his visor's clock. "Looks like sun rise will be in about two hours, about the time we're reaching the city unless we get lost or something."

[Mordred]

Alter resisted the urge to roll his eyes as his system clock adjusted itself. Seven hours, give or take... Once, a long time ago, Alter had been posted in the time zone next door, in Syria, working at a Neo Arcadian fuel synthesis plant. Did this desert base have anything to do with energy production? The more he thought about it, the more he realized that he didn't really have any idea why anyone would bother building such a place, let alone hole up in it as a hideout.

The floating shield unit drifted around Alter in a lazy semicircle, keeping close to its remote and doing its best not to bump into any of the jumbled resistance soldiers. Alter, noticing the thermal signature of his dull brown creation in the predawn gloom, whispered to Blaze conspiratorially. "I don't think we need to worry about optical stealth yet; we'd do best to minimize energy outputs of any kind. Anyone with satellite linkups should shut them down; radio silence would also probably be a good idea." Alter shivered, and resettled his lab coat on his shoulders. "If I recall correctly, Neo Arcadia worries more about insurgencies in populated areas than saboteurs in deserts, but they're too paranoid not to sweep for transmissions every now and again."

[rumor]

A time zone difference always felt odd, wether you were a human or a reploid. Tempest was no different, taking a moment to get used to the light difference.

"Mm....Agreed, we don't need undue attention just yet. Now shall I begin scoping the area sir?"

Down to business. As always.

"I'd generally perfer going solo on a mission like this but what will be will be. In any event I want to get things done. Quickly and right."

[kehaul]

Akiko gave an acknowledging glance towards Blaze as she carried out her earlier orders. Slowly rising from the ensemble; the devil's ear still attuned to the conversation below. Wings, butterfly no longer, were nothing more than a pale flickered haze of motion and purpose. Devoid of the familiar, iridescent hue of technological flame, they were so clearly different. So empty, and so wanting...

A plainly melancholic look went lost on the others as full stealth systems kicked in. The hummingbird rose; a patented style of flight; unique, distinct of its own accord and remarkably effective. Rather lethargic for the maelstrom of motion, her vision slowly panned the far reaching skies. Focused towards the horizon of the rising sun for an errant nanosecond, her gaze moved plaintively onwards.

[rumor]

Seeing Akiko going to work, Tempest merely nodded and backed away from the group, his cloak activating in seconds. Turning around he began jogging outward towards a rising dune.

"Akiko can scan the sky and horizon, I on the other hand can observe the ground and see if any traps or detection devices have been planted...hmm. Fifty meters is a lot of ground to cover...."

With a grin under his mask the ninja'loid spoke softly and only to himself.

"Guess I should hurry then."

[Idei]

". . . "

Ied looked at the vast desert that was very...sandy. He hefted his sack of toys onto his shoulder, and looked over to Blaze.

"It being night here might help not getting caught, and we could make good distance before it starts to get warm. How long until the B team gets here?"

(blah post)

[rumor]

Nothing. That's what most see when they look at the desert. Just sand as far as the eye can see. Of course there's ALWAYS something to find if you take the time to look. However luckily the statement held true and so far Tempest had found nothing.

"Good, good, we may be able to make it to the city quicker than expected."

The ninja had walked in a square around Blaze, Alter and Ied, checking with his eyes but also scanning for any audio signals or interference. Placing a hand to his helemet he relayed this information to Blaze.

"Sir I haven't found anything yet. While i'm not entirely done, it looks clear. Has Akiko found anything?"

[grandmasterdewei]

A unfamilar place comes into view, sands are blowing by very quickly. Seems like the sands will never stop moving, almost as if they had somewhere to be. The sun sets into view as well, but it could be much more humid. The sands seem to be around so much, that they are blocking the light from the sun.

A figure stands out near group A, part of group B, Zackary stands well prepared, and he waits for further orders. But he is mostly waiting for his friends to show up. He kept thinking to himself

'I wonder if we are alone out here, maybe there's going to be an oncoming assault. Maybe we will be fine, and this whole mission will end up being a fluke. Yeah we should be fine, but what about..........'

As the picture zooms out, the entire group is covered by the sands of the Sahara. But out hundreds of miles away from the entire group, something was even harder to see. It appeared just as a regular sandstorm going by, but it almost seemed as if this paticular sandstorm was alive.

[Mordred]

Alter turned, surprised to hear the telltale sounds of a concluded transfer just behind him. The other half arriving... So soon? He became even more surprised when he turned to see Zackary standing alone, the rest of Team B nowhere to be found. Two transfers would have been bad enough - why would they send the rest of the team one by one?

The worried doctor stepped towards Zackary and questioned the apprentice, hands in his lab coat pockets as he fished for his trusty datapad. "Why isn't the rest of the team with you? Has something happened back at base?"

[grandmasterdewei]

"Why isn't the rest of the team with you? Has something happened back at base?"

Zackary looked at the doctor, he was apparently worried. So he prepared to offer an explanation.

"Honestly, maybe I was the first one here. Prehaps they are getting ready now. I mean it takes time to transport a great distance, but now that you mention it, maybe I just heard that team b was ready to move in."

Zackary thought for a second, and then he looked around the desert. Sands moving, just constantly going, he couldn't see the rest of team a, that much sand.

"Maybe it was just a stupid mistake on my part, but I could care less now. Im here aren't I? I guess I was just too eager."

[Raeone]

"Perhaps. Let's stick together... wouldn't want to get ourselves picked off, would we?"

Friendly words chimed as Rain finally arrives, walking over, hands holding her daggers, unignited. The brunette cyborg glances around at the night landscape... no targets in sight. "...odd. Where is everyone...?"

[rumor]

Twin flashes of light, and then both Rain and Zackary were in the group. HIGHLY odd seeing as Blaze hasn't given an all clear yet.

"Hmph. Zero had a sentence for missions that start out like this..."

"Damnit to hell." "I believe."

Finishing up his survey of the ground and feeling satisfied that nothing dangerous was there Tempest quietly treked back over to the group and de-cloaked.

"Did I miss something? And where's....tch Alter can you track the teleportation signal?"

"I don't envy Blaze right now. If it were me, i'd be highly pissed myself."

Turning to Blaze Temp shrugged.

"Sir I found nothing that would pose a threat to us. If Akiko can say the same, we should be good to go."

[Mordred]

Alter, observing the arrival of two more team members, suddenly experienced a sinking feeling. Even before he looked at the datapad display, he knew something more than a malfunction had to have been responsible for the bizarre staggered arrivals. The words splashed across the tiny plasma display did nothing to allay his suspicions: "Wireless connection unavailable." The doctor sighed and pocketed the device, turning away from the group to gaze out over the dark, windswept vista. There was a city out there somewhere, but there was also something that didn't want them getting there.

Speaking quietly, still facing away from the rest of Team A and the present random fragments of Team B, Alter assessed the situation gloomily. "It seems someone has forged an order from Blaze to bring in the rest of the team. If all of Team B left at the same time, as seems most likely, these staggered arrivals mean that this same someone has also tweaked the trans server's destination coordinates. There's no way of knowing when or if the rest of the team will arrive here, there's no terrestrial wireless, and I can't establish a satellite link with the base computers without giving ourselves away to the entire Neo Arcadian intelligence corps."

He sighed, and turned back to the assembled team. "In short: someone knows we're here, and we might be swimming in Pantheons five minutes from now. The desert is still dark, but I'm sure there are a few Neo Arcadian thermal sensors planted in the dunes... We have basically three options. First, we could wait here until day, when the ambient heat will mask our thermals and the stealth drone will keep us out of sight. Second, we could head for the city immediately, since the drop zone is no longer secure. Third, we could wait here and send out a radio call to the rest of the team or to Yoron. I can't recommend that course of action. Ultimately, this is Blaze's decision." He turned to face Blaze, who had been standing around slackly this whole time.

[trueblaze]

Once receiving the all clear from his scouts, Blaze prepared to send the signal for Team B to come in, and received static as a response.

"Da hell," Blaze mumbled to himself. "Great, hay guys it looks like a sand storm is about to come in. We'd better get going before...." It was then he noticed Zach and Rain. "Ah, good the signal did get through...um...where's everyone else?"

Pausing, he listened to Alter as he spoke something about forged orders and different plans.

Blaze rubbed the back of his helmet as his head swam a mile a minute, "Alright alright alright. As of right now I don't have any intention of turning back. We'll send a signal to the rest of Team B to either make their way to the city and regroup with us just outside the gates or to return back to base if they don't think they can make it. Either way we need to get moving. Their seems to be a sand storm building and I want to get to the city before it hits. Unless there's any other questions lets move out."

Not waiting for a response Blaze turned and began heading in the direction of their destination. If there were any questions or comments they'd be given on the move.

Meanwhile, Fallout stood quietly as he listened to all the ruckus going on around him. Forgoing the usual snort, one of his eyes merely twitched as he too turned and headed for the city.

[Mordred]

Alter sighed, flipped up the collar of his lab coat to protect his face from the expected flying granules of sand, and fell into step behind Blaze. Good thing I sealed the stealth unit so thoroughly.