[h3]Cassandra Atkov[/h3] The Shrieks were quick machines; that, one could not refute. The one Cassandra currently flew skimmed across the ground of the alien planet at an easy several hundred miles per hour, speeds which, at such a low altitude in an area full of obstacles, would have anyone not familiar with the craft screaming until they found they couldn’t continue any longer. They were excellent scout craft; however, they were Nagasaki Conglomerate technology. The problem with Nagasaki Conglomerate devices is that they was designed to be rushed out as fast as possible; this meant, therefore, that so many corners were cut it may as well have been a sphere. This was evidenced by the communications failure the craft had suffered shortly before launch; the engineering teams were not to blame, no, simply the fact that making sure a piece of Nagasaki Conglomerate engineering worked perfectly was an impossible act. This does not mix well with the idea of aeronautics; as everything has a need to be perfect within nanometers, especially at such velocities. Flying this thing, Cassandra had only one worry; that it would hold together long enough to make it through the mission. Therefore; she was not surprised when she began to hear a ringing in her ears, and a building headache. Something she had experienced before; complications usually caused by a faulty cybernetics link. Out of instinct, Cassandra went to run a diagnostics protocol. [color=00d2ff]>Running diagnostic on Cybernetics Link[/color] [color=d6ff00]>WARNING: Buildup detected in Capacitor Bank >WARNING: Buildup detected in Capacitor Bank >WARNING: Buildup detect-[/color] As the cybernetics link blindly spat warnings at her; the ringing in her ears worsened. More. More. And more. Until Cassandra found that she was screaming without realizing; her eyes shut tight, instinctively trying to drown out the incessant noise. Then, there was a climax, and nothing. Opening her eyes, Cassandra found she was hurtling uncontrollably through the air. While she had been struggling against the problems with her own craft; she hadn’t realized that the craft had skimmed one of the not-trees. Normally, the craft would be able to recover from such a collision, however, the capacitor bank, which had already become unstable, had ruptured during the event. Thus, the craft entered a state of emergency shutdown, leaving Cassandra in a beautiful state of equilibrium. Well, as beautiful as it could be at several hundred miles per hour. The problem presented, though, was that equilibrium tends to only last a moment. With a crash, the craft found it’s way back down to the earth, sending a large amount of it flying to the sides. It continued this way for several seconds; until finally, it came to a rest several feet from one of the not-trees. The fact that Cassandra had survived the crash in the first place was an incredible act of luck; by all rights, she could be a splatter of blood and scrap metal somewhere. After regaining her bearings, and without the cybernetics link screaming at her anymore; Cassandra became aware of the acute pain where her left arm was. Looking over, she quickly realized it had been burnt when the capacitors had ruptured; the only reason nothing was on fire was thanks to the sheer speed she had been travelling at. This look also revealed that her cybernetic leg had been exposed; no longer flush with the skin, but now a matte silver metal; oozing an unknown white liquid. Dragging herself out of the confines of the hoverbike’s cockpit; Cassandra was relieved to see that the survival pack had remained firmly secured to the side of the bike. Quickly removing it from its confines, she opened it, and went about patching her wounds. Once that was done, she stepped back into the cockpit of the Shriek. She’d rather not have to use the distress beacon in the pack; as the Shriek might still be functional. Tentatively running through the startup process, Cassandra eventually found herself a damage report. [color=d6ff00]>MASTER CAUTION: CAPACITORS, REACTION CONTROL[/color] [color=ff0000]>MASTER ALARM: COMMUNICATIONS[/color] Cassandra frowned. This wasn’t good. Going on a limb, she tried her personal radio. “Whisper, Twitch. Do you copy?” She murmured, only now realizing the weakness of her voice. When the radio replied with nothing but static, Cassandra let out a shuddering sigh. Thankfully, the transponder for the SQUAWK system on the Shriek seemed to still be working, so at least she would be able to communicate to the rest of the away team that she wasn’t dead. Or at least, she hoped so, with the electromagnetic interference. Acting as quickly as she could in her injured state; Cassandra went about her work. [color=00d2ff]>SQUAWK code changed to 7600[/color] Similarly, the Shriek seemed to still be flightworthy. However, as to not risk a repeat of the incident with the ringing, she would have to do it fly-by-wire. While the survival pack did come with some essentials; it did not have the required materials, nor did she have the skill, to do much more than an impromptu bandaging of her injuries. In her wounded state, it would take far too long to walk back to the away team; and while the Beast command vehicle they had brought along was certainly quick, it couldn’t compare to the Shrieks, and who knew what could happen in that time. Fingering the controls nervously, and although Cassandra was not a religious person, she almost had the urge to let out a prayer. Filled with uncertainty, the Shriek began making it’s way in the opposite direction, now more of a pained scream. [hider=SQUAWK codes] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transponder_(aeronautics) SQUAWK codes is the name given to the transponder system installed in planes by pilots. For the most part, they’ll be set to be just about anything worldwide, typically an identifier for the plane, with some exceptions. However, there are three notable ones to keep in mind. 7500: Hijacking. 7600: Loss of Communications. 7700: General Emergency [/hider]