Post by LCDR Kimono on Apr 26, 2023 12:51:44 GMT -5
Power Level: 22,000
Word Count: 1,046
Text Hex: d40000, b600de
Word Count: 1,046
Text Hex: d40000, b600de
To call camping in the wilderness of a completely alien planet uncomfortable would be an understatement of the century. The rocks here felt sharper, the sand courser, and the mossy grass even rougher than on Earth. Each time she tossed and turned in her sleep, it felt like she was attempting to rest on dull razor blades. The gruffs and huffs from the woman rose from her slumber, sitting upright in her tunnel tent. Her mind is constantly juggling her regret as to not bringing or purchasing a cot to sleep on. At least she knew how a cot felt to sleep on.
She had no intention of trying to sleep again, climbing up from her sleeping bag and walking through her verdant colored covering to see the night sky outside. Her eyes adjusted to the dark quickly as she scanned the horizon for threats, before sitting alone in her long shirt covering her as she prepared herself some coffee. The entire time her back felt like she slept on the rubble of a destroyed building. Just as the water began to boil in the pot above the fire, Kim couldn’t help but hear a familiar ringing sound coming from inside the tent.
Heading back inside and looking through her property to find the ringing object, she quickly identified the sound as her earpiece she used to keep in contact with her Handler. Placing it on the ground beside her camping chair, she would tap the speaker button with her toe as she continued to stir the boiling water waiting for the perfect moment to add her coffee pouch. Her contentment and desire to enjoy the beautiful sky above Planet Plant was ruined with the voice of her oh-so-hated friend on the other end of their nonconsensual agreement. Her Handler, the one forcing her to act as a hitman for the government. Even with the whole program under wraps, being associated with any government body sickened Kim to the core. She had developed one hell of a distaste for authority over the years in prison, and this guy wasn't making things even a smidgen better with each call.
“Lieutenant Commander?” The familiar voice would ask cautiously with a small bit of silence before her response, light annoyance in Kim’s speech.
“Well you certainly didn’t call your mother” Kim couldn't help but sass out of vexation at the man's seemingly inability to do something as simple as get ahold of her as she attempted to survive the bizarre alternative to her home world that this hellish landscape was. Each night she slept, she risked being attacked by any number of animals or wild creatures that wanted to do anything for a quick meal. "If you had, maybe you'd actually get some much needed attention huh?"
“Funny, are you safe on the planet? I haven’t been able to maintain contact much with all of this static on the surface. Had to relocate to a closer belt to even have a stable enough connection to talk” The Handler would state just as frustrated at the concept. “I am not sure what’s going on down there, but something is blocking incoming transmissions on this wavelength. I thought using more retro waves would prevent this issue but something is jamming me.”
Surprised at the thought that something or someone was actively working against their contact, Kim leaned forward interested as she continued to brew her morning drink.
“That so?” She’d address a slight plop sound echoing through the transmission as she added her coffee pouch. “Then we need to make this quick. What’s going to be happening from here? You said you had intel on possible contacts?”
“Yeah, but I can only provide one over the radio. The rest will have to be given in person.” The man would state calmly as Kim took a sip from her fresh brew, a thin smile crawling across her face as she enjoyed the warm caffeine.
“Wait, you’re actually showing up here? Like, in person?” Kim would spit out her sip of coffee out of confusion, her quick and stressed words showing concern. “Isn’t that a bit of a risk? What happened to anonymity? I highly doubt you'd be able to make it down here, otherwise you wouldn't have sprung me from the slammer in the first place.”
“It went out the window when Tuffle signatures started blocking our messages. I can’t risk a rogue factor getting any of this intel. Your first target to find is a woman. Earthling I think, blonde like you. She should be wearing some medieval-style armor. Purple I think? Either way, she goes by Mephistopheles.” He would state firmly as she heard beeps and sounds of movement from his end. Kim was about to respond before being cut off by the zipping of static filling the call, disrupting the two. “Lame… You need… Contact… Sadala City… Honeydew.” With that, the call would force close and her beeper would start to smoke from the electrical overcharge from whatever interrupted their call, destroying her device. She’d stomp out the fire as she tried to see what was recoverable, sighing deeply at the sight of a total lack of any repairability.
"Hey, wait, wait! Who is this Mephistopheles person to the assignment? I need for details!" Kim would struggle out trying to speak through the machine as if it may be able to transmit something back despite it's charred, destroyed state. “Ah dammit… Now I have to just go off of that. How am I supposed to find another Earthling alone on an entire planet…” She’d say to herself out of frustration, placing her face in her hands at the shear stress of the entire situation she had got herself into. “I guess it’s time to get up and actually start looking. The sooner I find this Mephistopheles, the sooner I can meet up with whoever this Honeydew is in Sadala.”
With that, Kim started to load her tent and sleeping material into her backpack, getting dressed in her every-day clothes, and setting off to finally continue her journey and hopefully avoid any issues along the way.