Frozen Civilization (Chozo)

“I’m not exactly keen on recuse missions. Don’t have personal to do that?” Flux questioned. He looked intently at the communication screen before him. Or, actually, at the person displayed on the screen. His bland gray uniform immediately recognized him as military leader in the Republic.

“Of course we do,” the man replied, “However, these scientists were only performing an experiment of mild importance. Not to mention that our resources are spread thinly.” The Coleric crossed his arms, unimpressed. “Besides, the fact that we lost communication with them could mean another race landed on the planet and ambushed them.”

“Hmph, so you aren’t interested in losing any of your precious soldiers,” the alien replied, reaching for the button that would end this conversation.

“Wait! Wait. It is true we don’t want to lose any soldiers. But if a hostile force has invaded Glaciterra XII, they’ll immediately know that Republic is involved if we send our own. If you go, however, we might be able to have the advantage of surprise.”

Flux waited a second before responding, mulling things over in his head. “...I want eight thousand credits for this job,” he finally replied.

“Eight thousand?” now it was the human’s turn to think things over. “If you can either insure the scientists’ safety or report back on what happened to them, eight thousand it is.”

“Good,” the alien made a little bow, “Nice doing business with you.” With that, he switched off the screen and let out a little sigh. Humans... I can never figure them out. They’re worried about their own and yet they won’t risk others of their species to see if they’re okay. But it’s just fine to send someone who doesn’t even care to check on them, Flux shook his head and looked down at his ship’s control panel. Glaciterra XII wasn’t too far from his current location, which is probably one of the reasons he was contracted for this job, and would take around nine hours to get there. Shaking his head once more, the mercenary enter the planet’s coordinates and let the auto-pilot do the rest of the work.

~~~^*^~~~

Compared to some of the other planets he had been to, Glaciterra was relatively small in size, a class E planet. The whole orb was a uniformed white-blue color due its constant wintery weather. If it wasn’t completely frozen over, Flux thought, this planet probably wouldn’t be too bad of a place to live. His ships sensors swept the planet for traces of the scientists’ laboratories or whatever they had managed to set up. Finally, the scanners found a ship nestled in the snow. Locking in those coordinates, the Coleric’s ship smoothly entered the planet’s atmosphere, as smooth as that can go anyway, and touched down near the human ship. Making sure his armorsuit was completely sealed, he stepped out into the snowy landscape. The scientists’ ship was deserted, he hadn’t expected otherwise, but luckily contained a clue. One of the instruments aboard was set on an area that was completely black on thermal imaging. If anything, that was where the lost humans had last gone. If they’ve simply found something interesting and forgot to report back, I’m going to be... he shrugged, remembering that his main mission was to find out if the scientists were alright.

Noting where exactly the black spot was, Flux left the ship and started trudging through the snow. Thankfully, due to the small size of the planet, it didn’t take him too long to reach it. I would’ve been a waste of fuel to take my ship here, he decided as he spotted a cave almost invisible in the vast whiteness. Switching on his sonar, the mercenary slowly proceeded into the cavern. Nothing moved, not even some cave-dwelling creature. It unsettled the alien. What’s that old saying, "The calm before the storm"? he thought as he proceeded deeper down the tunnel. The pathway was too round to be natural made. Which probably meant that something lived in this place. Which meant, The scientists probably got themselves killed. Finally, the tunnel opened into a larger, dome-shaped room. Four pillars held up the ceiling while statues lined the perimeter of the room. However, Flux was more interested in the bodies that were lying on the ground. With the sonar, he couldn’t see the details of the bodies as well as in visible light but he had a hunch it was the missing scientists. Moving up to one, he inspected the person as well as he could. It didn’t move and, from what he could tell, the helmet looked crushed or some part was broken into. Something had killed them just like something had to have made this rounded room. "What" is the question, though, he stated as he scanned the room, prepared for anything that might decide it’s not quite satisfied with the death of the scientists.

The three-legged newcomer briefly examined the freeze-dried bodies before scanning the rest of the room. The violator, Coldeye, watched the trespasser unblinkingly as it emitted sonic waves from it’s visor, which bounced against the various faces of the room; the four ic pillars supporting the room, the walls and, most prominently, the frozen fire beast in the center of the room. But before they could detect Coldeye, it slipped behind this massive icicle, sheltering it from the trespasser’s scan. It blinked, and it’s vision turned black, save a few glimpses of dark purple and blue. But one figure stood out. A triped creature, lined with reds, oranges and yellows in Coldeye’s thermal vision. Trespasser is a triped creature, radiating much heat from several points on it’s limbs. These seem to be energy conductors for weapons located on the forelimbs, it thought mechanically. It paused, then added trespasser may be hostile. Strike at joints for optimal efficiency.

Coldeye silently slid out from behind the coagulation of fire and ice, and darted towards the pillar closest to the trespasser, twin frozen spikes at the ready.

OoC: Can’t type more due to power-play.

Flux waited calmly, knowing that becoming even slightly anxious isn’t something a professional mercenary does. So, just what kind of hostile beings live in this planet, anyway? he wondered. Even thinking back to his studies on Aquarius, the Coleric couldn’t recall learning about this planet. Not surprising, though, Glaciterra wasn’t a well known planet. In fact, the alien wasn’t sure if he had heard of Glaciterra XII before this job. Not that it matter much. There was hardly any information on this planet to begin with. Though, he had a feeling that would change once this was over.

So far, his sonar wasn’t picking up anything unusual, just the statues and corpses on the floor. Maybe whatever did this retreated deeper into the cave, he thought and took a step forward. Suddenly, something lashed out at his right arm, striking against his blade emitter and elbow joint. The Coleric turned, striking out with his attacked arm. Who or what had stuck was gone by that point, unfortunately. Well, I guess that answers the question of whether or not the hostile force is here, he thought sullenly. The preemptive attack hadn’t done any damage, his Hytlux suit could take all kinds of damage before actually being breeched, but the fact that he had been attacked without noticing anything was near him was ireful. And his sonar was still picking up nothing. Hm, I’d say it’s hiding behind something. Sound waves don’t exactly have a high amount of depth to them, he guessed. Turning off the sonar, he activated the blade on his right arm. The blue glow lit up the area about four feet around him in a soft light. Flux had a feeling that, if the being could see him in completely darkness, sticking out like a sore thumb wouldn’t change his situation much. I just came here to find out what happened to these humans and now I have a fight on my hands, the Coleric sighed and peered back intently out into the darkness. Hopefully, whatever had attacked wouldn’t be able to take him by surprise again.

A brilliant flash of white flashed up suddenly against the dark scope of the thermal vision, and Coldeye stumbled backwards, almost loosing balance. It quickly regained it’s posture and blinked back to normal vision, slipping behind a column while doing so. It’s computer-like brain examined the heat, and deadliness, of the opposition’s weapon. Heat undetermined. Estimated to instantly kill. Disable ASAP. The alien then noticed the lack of radar waves. [/I]Subject is using an alternate form of perception. Most likely to be using the normal spectrum, though no eyes can be seen. Adjusting strategy to comply. Direct attack is the best known tactic at the moment.[/I]

It leaped out from behind the column at it’s opposer, and jabbed it’s twin spikes at the foreigner’s shoulders. Flux countered the attack by grasping the Sipep by the wrists. They froze fast to the Coldeye’s terribly cold aura, and refused to release from it’s epidermis. It quickly sprung up as to crouch on the column, and pushed, throwing Flux against the opposite one, his metallic suit freezing to the almost unachievably cold structure. He was in a difficult situation, his hunter slowly gaining ground on him, and unable to move.

Flux struggled to detach himself from the column, his three feet sliding in an unfruitful effort. Meanwhile, his opponent was advancing on him quickly. The Coleric still didn’t have an idea of who or what he was fighting but as least now he had a good look at it. The being was covered in a neutral gray robe, looking somewhat like a zealot. It’s narrow head contained two eyes that started directly forward, intent on its prey. Flux wondered if it had any intelligent sentience or was just some predator that was efficient at its job. The Sipep’s body gave off a small glow making it look ethereal as well. The mercenary’s sensors picked up that it was enveloped in a blanket of super-cooled air, the reason why his hands stuck to the being’s wrists so easily. And now I’m stuck to a pillar like some human’s tongue, the Coleric grimaced.

Suddenly, the phantom-like alien shot towards Flux, its spikes aimed at his helmet. Trying to step back, a automatic reaction from his training, the bounty hunter aimed his own photon gun and fired haphazardly. The Sipep’s stopped in mid-attack and leaped behind an icy statue almost more quickly than Flux’s eyes could follow. Taking the breather, the mercenary turned his backwards and shots several times to break up the pillar. Thankfully, it didn’t take much. However, he still had a piece of the rock frozen to his back. It’s a good thing no one else is here because I’m feeling slightly humiliated, he decided. He scolded himself for lightly panicking under stress, I definitely know better than that. Checking his suit’s numerous displays, he made note that he had 24 more shots for his gun. Also, a slightly amount of damage had been sustained at his shoulders but nothing that would cause concern. Well, it seems that I’m not going to fall apart anytime soon. Now... he sweep the immediate area around him that his blade illuminated. “Hey, just who are you?” he called out after not seeing any sign of the Sipep. If this being was sentient, maybe they could avoid anymore conflict. Or at least give the Coleric a good reason for killing it.

“Hey, just who are you?” These words echoed in Coldeye’s ‘ears’, the unintelligible sounds bouncing off it’s mind’s wall, the words finding no meaning to it. It then decided to try communicating back, chilling the air around the intruder to induce fear. By the looks of it, it had no effect. Intruder’s suit is temperature resistant. Seek alternate form of communication. The phantom-like alien searched for something the Coleric might understand, and noted the pictures of it’s race on the walls. It was along an outer strip, the start signalled by a slightly glowing stone, one you couldn’t see unless you were looking for it. The alien located the stone, noticing the barely viewable stone on a section of the concave wall near Flux.

Coldeye shot a pinprick of ice at it, which chimmed slightly when it shattered before the wall. It seemed to get the intruder’s attention, and the Sipep closed in to show him. It tapped the tri-ped on the shoulder to grasp his attention further, and shoved a bony finger at the wall, pointing out the first intricately carved picture: one of a full strip circling the room. It depicted the ancient frozen city as it was when first carved from the solid, nigh-impermeable ice that once, and still does, encase this planet. It also depicted the Sipep doing their business, mostly soft manual work.

The next few ruler-length panels were almost identical to the last, but each held descriptions of new technologies. Coldeye motioned Flux along faster, to an almost out of place picture compared to the ones the Coleric had seen. It was war, with a quite unusual race of beings. Strange biped amphibians, cloaks of fire surrounding them. They bore weapons of flame as well, many of the magnificent architectural buildings melting. Coldeye continued their counter clockwise rotation, to the last image. A circle, with a great beast of fire in the center, was surrounded by sages of Coldeye’s race. It looked like the Sipeps were channelling energy at the beast, effectively freezing it.

Then Coldeye spun around and gestured at the statue in the middle of where they were standing.

OoC: Sorry for lateness. The school ninja attacked.

OoC: Yay for shortness.

BiC:

Flux followed the Sipep’s finger as the picture told the story of its race. Looking up at the statue in the center of the room, he realized that it was the same as the creature depicted in the panels. So, a nice war between fire and ice effectively wiped out civilization on this planet, he followed, Judging by the age of these carvings, that war must have happened centuries ago. That would explain why there isn’t any recorded life on this planet, as well. After all, if everything that was alive is frozen, who would know the difference? The Coleric examined the statues of the Sipeps that surrounded the fiery alien. One of the places where a Sipep should be was empty. Looks like my friend was woken up a little early, he glanced at the scientists, Probably because of them. This resident probably attacked them because of past experiences with other beings, he once more glanced at the center statue. The creature was much larger than the ones drawn on the walls but still had relatively the same amphibious shape. Things almost remind me of those damned Racs, he grimaced.

Turning to face the Sipep, he pointed to the freeze-dried scientists and made a shrug. He wasn’t sure if voice worked with the alien but he tried anyway, “What happened to them? Did you kill them?” Flux wasn’t exactly sure what he would do if the answer was yes but it would at least be nice to know.