revivalproject | Scout's Honor

"I wouldn't say unauthorized..." Omega tempered, even if her smile was ticking towards sheepish as she walked after the ARC Trooper. She had taken to carrying her energy bow in similar fashion as Echo was, at the ready but not extended. She wanted to be prepared for anything, taking a page from the other clone.

"We went down to try figuring out what the machines did. And everyone with me was an engineer, so I went down to um...supervise."

The helmet tilted a few degrees -- mostly to see if she was keeping close, but it also made the visor shift, translating its neutral facade into a Look.

"Supervise, huh?" Echo echoed (unintentionally). "Who was with you?"

Omega glanced away, keeping her expression light. "Oh, um. Alberto, and Simba. And the little green one- Grogu?" Yes, excellent engineering company. "Alberto said we were doing it for science. But all we were doing was inserting power rods into the slots. Then that doctor showed up and started yelling at us," she scowled. "He didn't have to overreact the way he did."

She took care to make her way over some overgrown roots that snaked along the path, trying not to get distracted by the foliage that had recently started to shift in colors.

All three names registered. And for science? Really??

"Alberto...why am I not surprised?" A mild groan slipped its way in, but he maintained an even tone after she said as much. "From what I've seen, Dr. Riley tends to do that. While he could have handled it better, it's still dangerous to go into unmarked territory without telling anyone."

But he thought about their findings, however, freeing up a hand to rest it against the trunk of a tree to find his footing among clusters of broken rock and debris. "Those power rods did the same with the machines we found at the security station in the other city," he said. "Except they played back some kind of footage."

Well that wasn't a good sign. Omega hunched up her shoulders as she let her steps fall back just a touch, but she didn't drift too far as she continued to follow. She took in a breath, preparing a retort and realizing she didn't have any valid ones. Her shoulders drooped with her sigh. "Sorry," she said. There really was no excuse.

She looked up at Echo again as he began to talk about the things found in the other city. "Played back... You mean some previous recording? I guess it makes more sense for that sort of thing to be at a security station. But in an underground, hidden room in the mines? That's...weird, right?"

The ARC Trooper shook his head, finding a trail of firmer ground before glancing to see where Omega was. There was a big difference in having her almost next to him and his helmeted peripheral vision wasn't the best, but he saw the droop and felt a little bad for chiding her.

"As long as no one was injured," he added softly, pausing for a moment. "We'll just need to be careful next time." Giving her a chance -- giving them all a chance -- seemed like the appropriate response for this.

They were coming up on the the last place he patrolled some time ago, his pace slowing now that he took where he was into consideration. "That was the speculation," he replied. "And an underground room that was hidden away is weird. There had to be a reason for it."

Just be careful. It should have gone without saying, but Omega's grateful for the gentler admonishment, nevertheless. She came up beside Echo, noting his own change of pace with an inquisitive look.

"Could it have been for anything good?" She didn't sound like she believed that. "Tony explained a little about what's been going on here, aside from what we're expected to do for the Agrii." It didn't explain much of why there would be a monitoring room in Temba for another city, though. "Did someone else use to live here? Maybe after all the Agrii left..?"

"I don't know. The Agrii left because of the storms," Echo said. "I wouldn't rule it out, though. We were able to weather them." Not that it was an easy thing to do, but they somehow pulled through. "If we were on a planet in our galaxy, the chances would've been split. A shelter would make sense if it was meant to hide inhabitants and keep them out of harm's way. Otherwise it would've been part of an enemy base, or a trap left behind if they decided to abandon the territory."

A little further and he stopped, holding up an arm to signal a halt out of habit. "Stay close, and watch your footing. A sinkhole opened up past that treeline the last time I came through here." He pointed it out, sweeping the same arm across to trace where it began and where it ended.

"But the other city wasn't inhabited by Agrii," Omega pointed out, unsure if this was something that Echo had known. "So who was watching the other city and for what reason?" She wasn't expecting answers so much as musing aloud, her bow lowered slightly as she tried to think of reasons, but nothing made much sense.

She stopped short once Echo brought his arm up in a familiar signal. "A sinkhole?" Blinking, she looked out past the trees towards the area that the ARC Trooper pointed out. "It...doesn't look like much of a hole..."

Echo nodded at Omega's observation. "The other city was also built differently from Temba. Everything's normal-sized, to say the least. And the only other aliens I've heard about were the Atroma and the Graq." Which meant there could have been another species other than the Agrii living on the same planet, even if Jon was adamant about it not being the case.

Answering Omega's question was harder to do since everything seemed to stop short after the clues had been laid out. "Maybe another party is involved," he murmured, scanning the perimeter before looking at the ground for a good-sized rock. Once he finds one, he tested its weight in the palm of his left hand, his blaster-bearing arm lowering.

"...It's pretty deceptive." The calm reply was then followed up by a windup, pitching the rock out into the silt and sand. It landed, bouncing once, twice as it rolled across the smooth surface.

Silence. Behind the visor, he squinted.

"Very deceptive."

Edited 2021-09-28 23:03 (UTC)

"When I was with Jon and Tony, they said they found signs that the Graq may have been the ones living there," Omega offered, looking proud to be able to share some information that Echo might not have known. "They found some signs of writing, and we went to investigate the museum and found more samples." And temporarily glowed in the dark, but that didn't seem like an important detail to mention.

"The Atroma, do you think..?" she asked. Based on what she'd heard from Tony, watching people seemed to be right up their alley.

Omega watched as Echo threw the rock out towards the clearing. She tilted her head at the resulting before turning a look at the ARC Trooper.

"...was it supposed to do that?"

The new bit of information was given a nod, his brow lifting at the mention of writing. "With the way the city was built, Jon was coming to those conclusions." The same Jon who wandered far from the city and deeper into the forested parts of it, but his observations shouldn't be dismissed. "As for watching, I feel like the Atroma would have more of a reason..."

But back to the rock that didn't sink.

After staring at the rock, Echo's head swiveled in Omega's direction, a beat passing before he spoke up. "No, it's supposed to sink." He then looked for another rock, quickly going through the steps and seeing it yield a similar result.

"...Don't tell me everything's back to normal," he muttered as the filtered overlay amplified his chagrin.

The girl squatted down at the edge of the treeline, reaching out to touch the dirt like she'd watched Hunter do numerous times, though she had no idea what she was looking for exactly. She looked up again as Echo lobbed another rock out.

"How long has it been since it happened?" she asked, getting to her feet again. She looked around, backtracking a bit before she returned with a broken off branch, which she held out to poke at the ground beyond them.

"I'd say a few days, but it's been a little longer." Echo rested a hand on his hip, stepping closer to keep an eye on Omega. A boot scuffed the dirt at the treeline, sending pebbles and debris scattering down the slope. "I should have surveyed the area sooner."

He watched as she retrieved a branch, falling silent, tensing slightly as she tested the small portion of former sinkhole again. Ready to bring her back if things decided to soften and engulf on whim. When that didn't happen, he exhaled under a breath, his eyes then slowly lifting toward the trees that were still standing upright.

"At least no one else seems to have gotten caught up in it," Omega offered as she continued to prod at the dirt, without differing results. She pulled back the stick, letting its end rest on the ground in front of her as she looked to Echo.

"So now what?"

The thoughtful frown that crossed his features now ran crooked under his helmet. "And we're keeping it that way," he added. Because they really didn't need anyone else getting caught in the drag of liquefied ground.

So now what?

"Now we try to find out if anything else was damaged or out of place." Which is hard since this is outside and outside is always changing by some degree. Setting down his blaster, he walks up to the nearest tree, planting a hand on it as if to make sure its sturdiness won't suddenly uproot on them. "The last time I was here, everything was practically the same. If it wasn't for the noise, I wouldn't have come down here in the first place."

He then looks back up. "We might have to try looking at it from a different perspective."

That sounded reasonable enough. Omega tossed the stick off to the side behind the treeline, looking over at Echo again as he started to test another tree's sturdiness.

"What sort of different perspective?" she asked, a brow lifting as she followed his glance up. Did he mean..? She glanced back towards the ground just past the trees, wondering if it would show them anything more than what they were seeing from where they currently stood.

To answer her question, Echo pointed up. Oh yeah, that was what he meant.

"Can you climb?" If it were any other clone trooper, he would've asked a little more sarcastically, but he genuinely needed to know if Omega was up for the task.

That he wasn't telling her to stay put while he did it himself was a definite plus. Omega smiled, nodding as she stepped closer to the tree, studying it for the best handholds.

"Should I go first, or after you?" she asked.

She was a child, yes, but she was technically a cadet. It was kind of the same. "You first. I'll spot you," he replied, nodding as she got into position.

"Okay," the girl said with another nod. She adjusted the strap of her bow to make sure it was nice and snug, then grabbed onto the tree trunk, looking for a place to plant her feet as she pulled herself up.

She may not have had the same training as them, but she still appeared to know what she was doing as she carefully made her way up, checking her position and the next available places to grab and step.

Echo watched, silently approving of her first few choices before finding his own handholds and footholds along the trunk to climb up after her. Encouragement was given where it was needed, offering tips like they were training on a practice course.

The higher they went, the wider their observational range grew. At a certain point, the whole of what was once a sinkhole now looked like a patch of dirt and grass undisturbed -- not so much different than the rest of the area, really.

Except for the trees. Not every tree grew straight, but there were many that were noticeably bent and leaning further than they normally would through the forest.

He held onto a branch overhead, planting his feet onto two other branches for stability as he stared down at the scene. "...I think this will do."

Obviously she'd climbed before, but she still took the offered advice with nods or verbal confirmation. The tree was a lot higher up than it had appeared to be, but not nearly as tall as the ones in the other city.

Omega edged out along a thicker branch on hands and knees, peering down once Echo deemed thing high enough. Her eyes widened as she looked down below. "Whoa..." That didn't look normal at all.

The longer he looked at it, the more questions came up. It was the same when he lowered the rangefinder on his helmet over his right eye, enhancing what was already present.

There was nothing new about bent trees. The thing that was worrying was the direction they were bending in. The manner in which they appeared to give way to an invisible force before stopping short of another direction.

"Do you see that?" Echo asked, pushing the rangefinder back into its upright position. He gestured to one side, two fingers drawing a circle in the air where he was looking. "Treeline's mainly undisturbed right until this point."

"I see it," Omega confirmed, nodding as she frowned thoughtfully at the subtle division of where things started to go strange. "But what does it mean?"

Clearly the earth had decided to give way for whatever reason, but it was only for a particular area. Whatever phenomenon had occurred lasted only for a certain amount of time, leaving only lurching trees as the sole testament that anything had been amiss to begin with.

"Trees that lean aren't unheard of, but this doesn't look natural."

He reached for one of the pouches on his belt, slipping out the communication device and tapping the screen a few times with his thumb. All of his balance then went to his legs as his other hand let go of the branch, holding up the device to capture several images.

"It's almost like an assault tank tried pushing through," Echo added after a time, looking toward Omega. "Except there's no tank. And we haven't had any other visitors drop in without warning."

"There'd be some kind of prints too, if it were a tank...or even an animal, right?"

Omega looked down at the ground again, trying to see if she could make out anything unusual but telling, but already having a feeling that she wouldn't be able to find any signs of what she'd suggested. She pursed her lips thoughtfully, starting to pick her way back down.

She was right, and there were no visible tracks from either source to be found. "Yeah, there should have been something left behind," Echo confirmed, the frown evident in his words. "And the only obvious change stabilized and returned to some state of normal."

With no other findings, he decided to climb down as well. Boots scuffed the trunk until they found the next faint bump or crevice to stop against, hands continuously moving, eventually reaching the base with a weighted touchdown.

Omega had stepped up towards the edge of the area again by then, toeing at the earth. She glanced back at Echo.

"So now what?" she asked. There didn't seem like a whole lot they could do, much less find out.

"Looks like we're calling it in for the day," Echo sighed as he walked over to fetch his blaster. "We'll report our observations. If we need to come back later to see if anything else happened while we were away, we'll do so."

Without really having any idea what it was they were expecting to find, Omega couldn't be disappointed that they were just going to head back. It was an unusual occurrence, but with no real trace of what had happened, there really was little they could do.

She fixed the strap of her bow carrier, nodding at Echo.

He saw she was ready, tipping his head as he turned. "Alright. Let's go."

Things would be explained on the way -- a means of filling in the gaps while saving time, a method that would be useful if they had more to go off of. For the time being, he would review what he and Omega knew, what they didn't, and hope that things managed to stay relatively normal without being horribly thrown off-guard.

Scout's Honor

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