[ti]Ep 3[/ti]A Game of Clue - Location [Closed for now]
Mar 23, 2021 18:31:51 GMT -5
Post by Petrichor on Mar 23, 2021 18:31:51 GMT -5
Week 3 | Day 7 | Early Evening
Location: North America - Just outside Muddy Mountains Wilderness Area, Nevada
It had been hot the last few days. Granted, it was nothing a cybertronian like Petra couldn’t handle, but by human standards, the Muddy Mountains Wilderness Area had been roasting in the 110 degrees Fahrenheit range. But that was during the middle of the day. In the evenings the desert cooled very quickly and could actually become quite cold.
Petrichor had been covertly scouring the region for energon veins while simultaneously thoroughly enjoying the unique geological landscape around her. The whole area used to be the bottom of a vast ocean, but shifting tectonic plates had elevated the landscape and it was now about as dry as an Earth ecosystem could get. Striations of red sandstone and wind-carved gypsum made for some very dramatic cliffs and canyons.
Honestly, Earth’s crust was just crammed full of all kinds of interesting minerals, fossils, and - as Petra had recently come to see for herself - even remnants of ancient human civilizations in the form of rock art. Or maybe that was just graffiti? She had taken a couple of pictures so she could ask Nathan, or maybe even Raph when she got back to base, but that wouldn’t be for a few hours yet. She was only just leaving the protected wilderness and returning to the outer-lying rural areas of Las Vegas. It wasn’t far enough to require the use of the ground bridge and the vital power resources it ate up; not when she could just drive.
The sun was sinking lower on the western horizon and already Petrichor could feel a difference in the temperature around her, when her scanner picked up a faint trace of energon. Her speed slowed as she tried to determine where exactly it was coming from. Turning off of the empty, two-lane highway and onto a dirt farm road, Petra kept her optics open for anything. She was hopeful for an untapped source, but the signature could just as easily be from another cybertronian. MECH was known to lay traps as well. They could have managed to get a hold of some energon with everything that had already happened. She was still too far for her scanner to be able to differentiate between a refined or unrefined source. In her line of work, it was always better to be safe than sorry. She opened what she hoped was still a secure comm with base.
“Petrichor to Omega One; I’m picking something up on scanner and am going to investigate. Sending you my coordinates now. I’ll keep you posted. Out.”
She closed the channel and kept her sensors on their highest settings, flicking her headlights off so she wasn’t quite so obvious in the continually lessening light. The dirt road wound around between some bluffs until it passed through a wire fence with a cattle grate and ended on an old property in a small, flat valley. There was a rundown residence overgrown with weeds and junk left to rust and rot out front, and a rickety looking barn a ways past it. Beyond that and few copses of cottonwood trees, the area consisted of a large open field full of dry grass and scrub brush with not a soul in sight. Not an ideal place for an ambush. Her energon scanner was showing a spike towards the barn though. Now that was suspicious.
Slowly, she pulled over behind the larger of the cottonwoods and transformed into her root mode, drawing the rifle from her back and checking the clip before sliding the first energy round into the chamber with the bolt and quietly creeping forward. She reached the side of the barn in moments, being careful not to lean against any of the old wood lest it make any sounds and give her away. A quick peek around the corner showed nothing but a bit more farm junk and a startlingly white jet.
Scrap!
She ducked her helm back behind the cover of the barn, thinking through her options. That had to be a cybertronian. There was just no way a jet like that would be sitting abandoned all the way out here. She was positive no one else was around and she would certainly have the drop on whoever it was sitting there.
Okay. First things first: get your rifle on them, get a designation if you can, then call in to base. And don’t let them get too close.
Counting down from three in her processor, Petrichor whirled around the corner with her rifle up, the jet immediately in her sights, and commanded,
“Don’t move!”
Location: North America - Just outside Muddy Mountains Wilderness Area, Nevada
It had been hot the last few days. Granted, it was nothing a cybertronian like Petra couldn’t handle, but by human standards, the Muddy Mountains Wilderness Area had been roasting in the 110 degrees Fahrenheit range. But that was during the middle of the day. In the evenings the desert cooled very quickly and could actually become quite cold.
Petrichor had been covertly scouring the region for energon veins while simultaneously thoroughly enjoying the unique geological landscape around her. The whole area used to be the bottom of a vast ocean, but shifting tectonic plates had elevated the landscape and it was now about as dry as an Earth ecosystem could get. Striations of red sandstone and wind-carved gypsum made for some very dramatic cliffs and canyons.
Honestly, Earth’s crust was just crammed full of all kinds of interesting minerals, fossils, and - as Petra had recently come to see for herself - even remnants of ancient human civilizations in the form of rock art. Or maybe that was just graffiti? She had taken a couple of pictures so she could ask Nathan, or maybe even Raph when she got back to base, but that wouldn’t be for a few hours yet. She was only just leaving the protected wilderness and returning to the outer-lying rural areas of Las Vegas. It wasn’t far enough to require the use of the ground bridge and the vital power resources it ate up; not when she could just drive.
The sun was sinking lower on the western horizon and already Petrichor could feel a difference in the temperature around her, when her scanner picked up a faint trace of energon. Her speed slowed as she tried to determine where exactly it was coming from. Turning off of the empty, two-lane highway and onto a dirt farm road, Petra kept her optics open for anything. She was hopeful for an untapped source, but the signature could just as easily be from another cybertronian. MECH was known to lay traps as well. They could have managed to get a hold of some energon with everything that had already happened. She was still too far for her scanner to be able to differentiate between a refined or unrefined source. In her line of work, it was always better to be safe than sorry. She opened what she hoped was still a secure comm with base.
“Petrichor to Omega One; I’m picking something up on scanner and am going to investigate. Sending you my coordinates now. I’ll keep you posted. Out.”
She closed the channel and kept her sensors on their highest settings, flicking her headlights off so she wasn’t quite so obvious in the continually lessening light. The dirt road wound around between some bluffs until it passed through a wire fence with a cattle grate and ended on an old property in a small, flat valley. There was a rundown residence overgrown with weeds and junk left to rust and rot out front, and a rickety looking barn a ways past it. Beyond that and few copses of cottonwood trees, the area consisted of a large open field full of dry grass and scrub brush with not a soul in sight. Not an ideal place for an ambush. Her energon scanner was showing a spike towards the barn though. Now that was suspicious.
Slowly, she pulled over behind the larger of the cottonwoods and transformed into her root mode, drawing the rifle from her back and checking the clip before sliding the first energy round into the chamber with the bolt and quietly creeping forward. She reached the side of the barn in moments, being careful not to lean against any of the old wood lest it make any sounds and give her away. A quick peek around the corner showed nothing but a bit more farm junk and a startlingly white jet.
Scrap!
She ducked her helm back behind the cover of the barn, thinking through her options. That had to be a cybertronian. There was just no way a jet like that would be sitting abandoned all the way out here. She was positive no one else was around and she would certainly have the drop on whoever it was sitting there.
Okay. First things first: get your rifle on them, get a designation if you can, then call in to base. And don’t let them get too close.
Counting down from three in her processor, Petrichor whirled around the corner with her rifle up, the jet immediately in her sights, and commanded,
“Don’t move!”