The team huddles up for a meeting with the twin suns auras blurring together into one great fireball in the sky over them. They have some options to consider. Continue on and try their luck in Runenberg? The best bet would to cross the front and hitch a ride over instead of trying to hike all the way there. Same went if they wanted to try Zawacka or Pulaski back up north where Pedro has a few old contacts and his father at the latter. Both were hunches and Pedro might not even be at them. Eddie was skeptical that Pedro returned to civilization. "I'm with Konrad on this. If in these 3 years Pedro somehow avoided detection I'd love to talk to him and get some advice on how he did it. I'm sure somewhere in the SDA's initial research into this job they would of spotted something like that. Why send us here in the brush behind enemy lines if they got a whiff one of the research team members was still alive? We'd be cruising PanO streets and not..." he takes off his stetson to wipe sweat from his forehead "Out here with the bugs, Morats, and trees." If he wasn't back in a city or town then where would he have went? That was the big question. [Anyone can try a fun Survival D5 to try and pick up Pedro's old trail.]
Kenn Ta'al: "Oh yes, funny Human humor. It slaps..slaps?" Turning his attention towards the holofeed to the side of his face where mini-Igor was silently looking up the phrase he had on his mind. "slaps me on the knee?...Human humor is weird." Well that was bad or good if you looked at it in a certain dark light. No need to worry over keeping the female alien alive. Still there was the fact of Pedro alive somewhere out there. A danger to his saf...the team's safety. If Pedro was willing to off the whole team one by one then what would stop him from attacking if pushed into a corner? Perhaps it was best to kill the Human before he got the chance to try something of that scale... "Kenn, get your ass back here. We need to gather our thoughts before we move ahead. And we don't need a member of our party getting lost." The Tohaa didn't know which Human had summoned him, he wasn't very familiar with any of them yet, still the quip of getting lost encouraged him to make his way back to the group and see what the consensus was going to be. Well that was border line impossible for both himself & Igor. Even if a future situation forced him to try the odds were slim. Anyone high in Survival want to try their hand at rolling? I could help with some momentum.
"Unless we decide to leg it through the jungle, I can call up some MO to get us out of this hell hole." Saito makes to call. "Unless you really think the man survived out here all along. Cause at this point even the paranoid arsehat that I am, knows he'd be skeleton in the undergrowth by now...... But maybe....?" Saito's mind begins to race with all the possible ways Pedro might have survived.
While the team was busy going over options Ric's eyes couldn't be torn away from something on the ground. Crimson red mushrooms of some sort that formed in large groups. Something trivial really but his eyes continue to trace their way across the ground to amuse himself to find more of them. He found more and they kept going to the north. Gabo saw he was interested in them and brought their information up. They were called Blood Hounds and their spores would lie dormant until coming into contact with blood. Ric quickly saw the Blood Hounds were spaced out along a humans normal gait. He just found a trail. He breaks off from the group and follows it north. The trail continues further into the tree line before stopping. What was north? Friendly territory of course and no civilization for kilometers as the area was pretty much just jungle between Runenberg and Zawacka. A few roads but easy enough to avoid. If someone wanted to hide away on Paradiso it wasn't a bad option. With Pedro's knowledge of the jungle he could of carved out somewhere to live out there. It would of been a much easier trip than going to Runenberg or risking being spotted back in Zawacka. It was perfect. A little too perfect.
"Ah, hombres... I think I know where Pedro went." Ric then explains about the Blood Hounds, and the fact Pedro seemed to have holed up in the Jungle between Zawacka and Runenburg in the immediate aftermath of the murders. "My thoughts, head back to Zawacka and see if Pedro bases out of there for supplies or if yes gone full native in the jungle."
"I think that sounds like a plan." Konrad taking Rics side, who seems to know somethning more about this green hell.
@inane.imp Saito Pauses and directs the question at Ric. "You want me to call the cavalry to drop us at Zawacka?"
Nodding quickly, Saito goes back to spooling a beacon for the military orders to pick them up. "Well this was something else, now wasn't it?" He mused to himself thinking back on the last few days.
Kenn Ta'al: "Whatever we need to do to take out Pedro I agree with. If he is most likely in Za-wac-ka then lets get him shot. I mean give it a shot. The searching of Z-land...Human idioms are weird."
Saito activates the locational beacon and a small holographic message emerges from it telling him to stay right at his current position and help is on the way. The wait was 30 minutes before the scream of engines from two UV-11 Drakes was clear for everyone to hear. However, a third pair of engines raced out in front of them and the team was greeted by a low passing RA-48 Mud Toad. The remote close air support fighter circled around getting its robotic eyes on them before turning its attention outward as one of the VTOLs bearing the markings of the Order of Mercy came swooping in to their clearing. The other circled around providing support alongside the Mud Toad. The tall grass rippled outward away from the descending aircraft before being pressed flat as it landed. Four heavily armed and armored knights disembarked and hustled their way to the team. A few quick words were exchanged and some more between Kenn and the knights doctor. Then everyone loaded up and they were flying their way out of the conflict zone. The wheels of the Drake touched down at the Zawacka aerodrome 45 minutes later and the team was back in civilization. They already got a hint of that after passing back over the front line and Maya came roaring back to life. Lots of mail and updates they missed in the past few days came flooding in. The Mercedarians weren't done with the team just yet though. They'd have to stay the night as they looked them over and cleared them from their care. For now though everyone got to take a hot shower and eat something better than field rations at the Order of Saint Lazarus' field hospital. It was also a good time to discuss their next moves. [Everyone recovers all their resolve, vigor, and firewall. All wounds, metanoia, and breaches are also cleared.]
On landing at Zawacka Ric pings the rescue team "Gracias Amigos!" and a fist-bump emoji well known from Corregidorian worker propaganda. Getting out of the jungle felt like a weight had lifted from his shoulders. He's notably less twitchy: his head less constantly swivelling to check out his surroundings. A large part of that was simply being inside with bulkheads and deckheads - well... walls and ceilings, but close enough to make a difference to his mental state.
As Maya roared backed into life, Saito's giest immediately begins combing Maya for the information about the swords. A little flutter of shadow in his AR told him as much. After landing, Saito scanned the area, looking like he's taking it all in. But in reality, he was taking measure of the area. Escape routes, camera locations, anything really that the trained operative could use in an incident. Making sure his helmet is still attached firmly and one of his cover halos is on display, Saito thanks the knights for their assistance and resumes the mannerisms of his cover ID. "Give my regards to Commander Ortega." Bowing in the manner of someone offering both thanks and respect. "We are thankful to all of you for getting us out of there." With that, Saito began following the knights for their debrief and medical. While perusing the news through his comlog.
Before being debriefed, Saito was shown to a group lodge room. His guess was that it acted like a quarantine room incase the team brought back any nasties from out in the green. Turning around and locking eyes with Ric.... Well, metaphorically at least. Saito says over the tacnet. We better double-check our quantronic security and make sure we have no listening devices eavesdropping. With that Saito turns around and begins to scanning the room for any possible cameras or microphones. While he's at it. His giest begins checking the comlog firewall strength for any covert intrusions.
On it. Ric tosses his gear on one of the beds, strips off his helmet and gloves and then searches the area for anything out of the norm quantronically. [Ric + Gabo do an analysis test to see if there's any Quantronic Threats.] Xo scuttles into a corner, finds a HS standard charging pad and powers down.
"Nothing going on, we're clean. I'm going to have a shower, we can talk after." Ric proceeds to strip out of his armour, neatly placing each of the parts aside so he can get to them quickly. As he breaks the seal of his suit there's a notable stench of confined bodily functions from the last few days of action. He peels off the vacuum suit, inverts it inside out and hangs if up to wear. Pulling off his undershirt and pants, he scrunches them up and puts them into a wash bag, instinctively hooking the bag onto a fixture so that it won't float away. He puts, on a pair of slip ons included next to his bed and grabs a towel. He throws it over his shoulder and, oblivious to his own nakedness, heads to the showers.
Certain that the team wasn't being looked at too closely, Saito begins to get out of his spektr armour. The suit folding in on itself to begin it's self cleaning cycle. Looking at some of the other patients briefly, he then turned and placed a bath towel over his hips and headed off to the showers. Discarding his underwear just before turning on the shower. Soaking under the water for minute, letting himself have this one moment of relaxation before he started scrubbing. Relieved that he somehow came out of the jungle relatively unscathed.
In his new quarters Kenn plopped onto the bed face first. Kenn Ta'al: "This is so much better than the one I have back at the apartment complex." Then he lifted up his head as he realized something. "Is the couch Igor has been sleeping on been better than the bed? I'll have to test that out if we come back." Noticing that the Humans were heading towards the baths the Tohaa suddenly remembers both his & Igor's need for a cleansing. This and his geist, mini Igor, producing a digital version of "How to Make Friends for Dummies" to remind him to step out of his comfort zone and interact with the aliens. Build a circle of...friends? Acquaintances? Some form of bond with a living thing so a repeat of his first psychological burn-out from separation wouldn't come to pass. Maybe it wasn't that important. So what if he had problems with his memory or seemed a bit off. He still manages to live and get by. But the constant silent nagging from mini Igor, who was much more lively than his similarly named counterpart, caused him to relent. At least he would give it a try. Kenn Ta'al: "Besides this would be an optimal situation to experience the Human in various bathing techniques. I've seen plenty of Tohaa so therefore it would be easier to compare the two species." Yep he was going into the situation for an express intent that was different that what was being planned. If one could see Mini Igor a dissatisfied air would be noticeable. Equal to that of a facepalm or "here we go again". Watching Ric's actions Kenn Ta'al mimicked them. Removing his clothes, placing them in a washbag, hooking said washbag & mirroring the Human. Kenn Ta'al: "Igor. Come. We must remove the micro-creatures that have covered us over the course of days time." And with that the Tohaa entered the room. Keeping an eye out for how Ric & Satio cleaned themselves. For the purpose of replicating the bathing rituals they would perform with the goal of appearing more like the mercenaries he was with. Hoping that presenting himself in a similar light would greaten his chances of creating familiar bonds with the group.
As most of the team made it's way for a communal bathing session Eddie opted to strip clean of his moderator armor and just laid down with the stetson pulled down over his eyes. "Keep your hands to yourself gentlemen!" Eddie quipped from his bed. After cleaning off the last remnants of the Paradiso jungle off their bodies everyone was greeted by food delivered to their room. Nothing fancy but better then field rations of what qualified for food on the troop ship they rode in on. "So I took the pleasure of phoning home," Eddie grabbed a tray and some utensils. "Sunz still want us to recover the cubes. Pedro on the other hand they were rather indifferent about. Said that was something for us to figure out." The Uberfallkommando took a seat on the edge of his bed. "I'm sure we'll get to Pedro when we get to him but how do we want to get to him? I'm sure no one here wants to go combing through more Paradiso jungle. I sure don't."
"No one can live entirely off the land, particularly not in Paradiso. He has to contact civilisation occasionally." There's a tone of derision in what Ric says - the idea of trying to live alone in the Green is completely insane to him. "Do we know if his father is still alive in Zawacka?"