Bubblebursters! [Lucas/Chester/Samson, etc.]

Lucas's body rattled with the ship as it entered Gertragian atmosphere. He had little faith in a ship that had only been tested once, and had never actually seen true flight until now. Even more so, he doubted the stability of Lenina's mind. A pledge to make things better did not entail entering a war that they had no business in. Lucas could not believe his luck. First, he survives a major assault by the Evoknights that could have and most likely would have obliterated him, with only a few scrapes, bruises and a broken arm. Not even three months later, he was being commanded to engage in another. But this time, he would have to be an active participant in the battles. Lenina had been very clear in spelling this out. There was no way to avoid this. He was at the most, angry at this happening to him of all people. He wasn't one of those people in Black Zone that could disintegrate you with a glance. In fact his power was useless.

He guessed that his 'hypokinesis' as it was labeled wasn't the reason he was being ordered to help these alien freaks in a war he knew nothing about. He would say it was unfair, but life was unfair in general. He had learned before that the only way to deal with things was to do your best at it and pray to every god you know that you will survive for just a little longer. Lucas forced himself to look on the bright side of his predicament. He liked guns! And guns were what God seemed to have given him plenty of. Even if he didn't know a single thing about alien weaponry, he knew that they worked when they needed to. The positive cloak he was knitting together was poked all around with negativity. Guns were nice and all to fire off once and awhile, he had done it often he still lived on Earth, but now... They were deadly tools that didn't look even the least bit appealing.

At best, Lucas was conflicted, but the stoic soldier didn't show it. His face was a blank stare that burned holes into the wall across from him, as he sat on the comfy bench, two pistol sized weapons laying at his side. He still felt uncomfortable with this whole thing, and it wasn't just because of the clunky military clothes he had wear, courtesy of the ONA. The incredibly visible carbon nano-fiber polymer vest choked him. His camouflage pants were itchy as hell, and he felt like an alien had bled out in his boots. He drummed his fingers along the barrel of his Scarab assault rifle, his anxiousness increasing.

OOC: Horrible way to end a post...

Samson spun around in his chair, something little kids often do, but he didn't really care. He spun around at least six time before he stopped, and that was only because he was nearly vibrated completely out of the chair. To be honest, he could hardly handle his excitement. He was sick and tired of walking along the lifeless metal spacestation. It was making him feel ill. Now, he was going to be on a planet teeming with nature's life!

He ran his hand along the extended barrel of his AR-94 machine gun. The thing was huge, but the manual that came with it courtesy of CROW ha- no, RAVEN, had said it was "one of the greatest weapons in existence." He balanced the gun's stock on the ground, barrel in the air, and stared out the window. He loved Lenina for sending him to Gertragia, but this kind of seemed like an invasion. Samson reached over to a drawer, pulled it open, grabbed a cylindrical container full of high-explosive bullets, and jammed it into his machine gun. Digital numbers glowing red flashed up on a tiny display, showing the number of bullets in the magazine. He had never fired something of this caliber, he didn't even know if aliens used 'calibers', and he didn't even know who the enemy was, but he was determined to see this to the end. He had hardly done anything with the Evoknights, so he was overdue when it came to helping his race's survival.

Chester stared down at the space between his feet, doing his best to ignore the plasma rifle that was propped against his fingertips and the floor. He was sitting with his back hunched and his elbows on his black-clad knees. His posture looked almost like one of resign. It was. Chester had no choice but to accept his fate.

No matter what he'd have to be a soldier. The click that Samson's gun made as it was loaded was completely right to Chester. Everything about this scene was perfectly and wholly correct. The whir of the engine, the nano-fiber vest on his shoulders and the camouflage on his legs. And soon, the bloodshed the rifle in his hands would cause would be right too. But just because it was correct didn't mean that Chester was any happier about it. Negativity surrounded him, but it was all his own fault. Samson seemed perfectly happy with this, and Lucas was neither here nor there.

ooc: Omgosh. No muse. x.x

The Heavy Interdicter Cruiser lived up to its name, as it broke through the cloud layer, with a crisp and pearly moon glistening behind it. It would be a midnight descent into the warzone. The craft was hardly more than an elongated tube but still managed to look blocky with all of the extra machinery packed into it. It was practically about to explode with all of the machine parts shoveled into it. The UWUC wrecking ball would be the last defense for the three humans. Lucas remembered Lenina's instructions well. 'Removal of this craft from the surface will be a last resort.' The rest of the mission she had outlined kind of detailed why. They were to establish a colony of sorts. Lucas's eyes drifted towards the crate of octagonal machines that were palm sized. They had more than just a crate full, they had an armory full of the things.

Second priority was to meet up with Princess Jinx, and keep her castle safe as much as possible. And if the castle should fall, make sure she remained safe until further assistance from the humans would arrive. He had to force himself to trust Lenina enough to believe her. His gaze swept over the other two humans. He had to force himself to trust that they wouldn't desert the first chance they got, too. "Entering into landing zone." reported the intercom. Their landing zone was a hilltop. Lenina had said it was easily defendable, had a good line of sight in all directions, and was the only clear airspace for miles. The only fault was how far it was from Princess Jinx's home. They'd have to trek for days to reach that place and then even longer to get back. Now, that he could be negative about. Lucas was a big guy, but he had never been one for anything that had to deal with endurance. Running the mile had been a grueling task for him.

The cruiser hammered into the surface with no warning, Lucas jerked around in his seat. This 'soft' landing must have destroyed that hill. Lucas's pistols skated off of the edge of his bench and hit the floor. The earth shattering impact ebbed slightly, but a wave of sickness was just coming to Lucas. Planes sucked. Spaceships sucked. And landings sucked too. He could almost feel his cloud falling out from under him. "That was fun..." his voice was a rumbling groan, as he plucked his pistols off the floor. Steam fired into the cabin, as the ten foot doors slid apart, letting in even more darkness if that was possible. He holstered his weapons, and strapped his gun across his back. "To hell." he grumbled as he marched into the night.

Samson scrambled out of his chair, sending it spinning once again, and slipped out of the lifeless metal spaceship. He was met with a tsunami of brilliant life energy, or something along those lines. It was incredible to finally be back in the wilderness again. He felt the dense trees below the hill swaying back and forth, the alien grasses screeching in pain as they were eaten by small rodents. He took a gargantuan breath, filling himself with this wonderful life. Now he knew what all those hippies meant when they said life makes you high.

He started down the dark hill, and almost immediately stumbled as his machinegun bumped the ground. Samson grunted in annoyance, and strapped the thing awkwardly onto his back. Now he regretted bringing such a giant weapon. But he had picked his gun last, and the only other gun left was one that didn't even have a trigger. Instead, it fired when you applied pressure to a handgrip. Weirdo aliens...

Samson took one more step, and nearly fell over again as a distant explosion scared the crap out of him. It didn't sound too different from a firework. The rapid sound of automatic gunfire promptly ensued, and from the top of the hill, he could easily see flashes of distant flaming light. "Jesus Christ..." He murmured, then quickly jogged down the hill.

As soon the whiplash was out of his system, Chester thrust his arms through the straps of his backpack and placed his rifle over his shoulder. He made one last run through of all the equipment he was supposed to carry, then joined Samson and Lucas on the Gertragian surface. Steam rose into the night sky. Animals cooed and keened against the sound of gunshots in the background. Even with his heightened senses, Chester was feeling nervous. But he was always anxious about something. He looked around at the landscape, noting the ugly ruts that the HIC had made on landing. Mud was churned up in a thick blob around the hull of the ship.

Chester was silent as he pulled a thin, rectangular device from his breast pocket and began poking buttons on it. Instantly, a green hologram flitted to life. Chester flicked a gloved finger across the device and the hologram rotated. He was looking for something. Anything that might be a sign of sentient life directly near them. He saw nothing but himself, Samson, Lucas, and the topography of the area. This particular place in Gertragia used to be a small pond, but it had silted in long ago. The hologram revealed this to him, along with their current elevation and proximity to any major landmarks, the nearest being Jinx's palace.

He continued looking over the hologram, switching it between different views every couple of seconds. After that, he put the device back in his pocket and joined Samson at the bottom of the hill.

A static sizzled through the air, and a blue headlight flashed a beam through the darkness. A scarab craft scuttled feverishly out of the cargo bay, behind it levitated four packed crates of signal markers. The battle tank that led the caravan moved gracefully down the hill. The unmanned ship, with the single big gun pointing the way motored past Chester and Samson, its determined bow pressing bravely on into the night. With guns holstered and a painfully bored expression, Lucas sat below the main gun of the tank. The rusted machine he was riding was like an ancient UWUC relic. It was the color of stained coffee, and most of the markings that someone had painstakingly burned into its sides had been scratched away. Now the robust tank was reduced to being an engine to carry more important devices.

The machines destination had been locked on Jinx's palace and didn't seem to take any detours as it rammed through trees with its battering ram. If Lucas had been hoping for a stealthy entrance he would be disappointed. The war song in the distance didn't seem to be giving up, and he hoped that their path wouldn't intervene with the battle. Lucas and the others wouldn't have any support from the disheveled machine. Any battle that they would meet on their way would be up to them to defeat.

OOC: hover car!

Samson's eye twitched as the decrepit steel beast crashed through his nature paradise, and couldn't bare to watch as tall trees toppled under its might. Every one of those trees was far older than he was, but their proud weathered lives were ruined in an instant. He could almost feel their pain, being torn out of the ground they had known so long... He could ignore the hard landing that pretty much obliterated the hilltop, but this was ridiculous.

"What the hell are you doing!?" He yelled over the sound of the hovering machine. "You can't just steamroll the whole forest!" God, Lucas was the most ignorant moron ever, killing nature like that... He watched as the tank continued forward, 'cause some other moron hadn't built it with ears. He muttered things under his breath, then concentrated on pushing the trees back into upright positions by manipulating the ground, looping the roots back into the new soil and fixing damages cause by the ram, and finally lowering the ground back into it's regular position. But the tank reaped a path of freakish destruction much faster than he could fix.

"Stop that metal piece of shit before I make it stop!" Samson shouted. Surely that scumbag knew how to do something right.

Chester furrowed his brows as the decrepit monster ripped through the forest, squashing the bough of a once proud tree flat. Animals fled with startled keening, and the machine belched black smoke into the night sky. Scratching his head, Chester looked on, trying to shut his ears against the ruckus. This destruction was unnecessary! Surely Lenina had stealthier machines at her disposal?! It wasn't that Chester cared anything about the forest, he just didn't think destroying an entire city's block worth of forest was the best way to start a military operation. Especially one that wasn't outright offensive.

Suddenly another noise assaulted his ears; Samson screeching about the destruction of his forest friends. Chester gritted his teeth and stared at the boy, the stare turning into more of a glare. "Shut up," he muttered under his breath before following the machine.

ooc: e.e

Lucas could feel the aggression oozing out of his cohorts eyes onto the back of his neck. His head stooped lower and eyes narrowed at nothing. He didn't even have to say anything and people disliked him. This was not going to be a fun war, not like those ones on TV that are all about the main heroes doing the craziest things in a two hour time limit. And then came the yelling. The brutish screeches from what could be the newest batch of thorns in his side. Lucas didn't make a move to stop the tank from ravaging the swampland, but he did turn his head so that he could see the boy known as Samson yelling at him. "We're on a planet that might as well be made of trees, in a galaxy of over a dozen planets, in a universe that is teeming with life. A couple trees getting taken out won't make a difference. Put more energy into hauling your ass to the palace, and less screaming your head off."

He didn't say that most of the destruction he was causing was so that he could easily find a way back to the enormous docked ship, and neither did he say that it would be a route that anyone, friend or foe, could take. It was a risk that impatience and poor planning had created, and nothing could change it now.

"You shut up, asshole!" Samson shouted back at Chester, returning the glare. "And YOU!" He pointed at Lucas. "Stop that damn tank thing or I'll make it stop!" Yeah, he'll show him to mess with mother nature! Cause he was like... Captain Planet. Without the blue skin. And green hair. And the tights. And the niceness.

He thought about creating a wall of earth to block the killing machine, but there was too much forest and that would just wreck more trees. God, this whole mission was already going to hell.