GNP: Live with Sandra Vitosky - Freighter Recovery in Action!
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Originally Published on July 22nd, 2488
Grid News Portal/Sandra Vitosky Reporting
A young woman stood in a control room, mic in hand. Behind her, an array of monitors sat displaying footage of the inside of a dropship, a large freighter recovery vehicle, and a satellite view of a large thunderstorm over the surface. The clouds illuminate on the dark side of the planet, every time a spider-webbing bolt of lightning travels through them.
“This is Sandra Vitosky with Grid News Portal, and I am live on scene with Junkerz 'n Stuff in their control room, we're also joined by Arturos' Freighter Towing and Recovery. This is Carl Xi Ping, Recovery Agent for Arturos'. Thank you for joining us, Mister Xi Ping.”
Sandra holds the microphone out under Carl's chin, the portly man wore a set of greasy blue overhauls-his hands stained darker than the skin on his face from years of being covered in grease. The man cleared his throat, speaking in a deep southern accent.
“Glad t' be 'ere, Sandra.” The man smiled into the camera, and turned towards the monitors. “Right now mah recovery team and the security should be touchin' down on the surface there, t' get ya lost freighter back in action.” He pointed towards the monitor of the Freighter Recovery Vehicle. “We got us a class 5 recovery vehicle, got all yer bells and whistles 'nd what not. Gunna pull that freighter right on up out of that thunderstorm, lickety split.”
Sandra pulled the microphone back to her mouth, and smiled at the camera.
“Certainly spoken like a man with confidence in his team, can we tie into the cameras there and watch the team on the surface?”
“‘Ey Jim can ye get the cam'ra feed from them helmets linked t' the young lady's cameradroid there?” Carl shouted across the room.
A skinny young man lifted his arm above his head with a thumbs up. His mousy voice breaking the silence, but he could just barely be heard over the microphone.
“Okay, you guys might lose feed for a second while I link the security detail's cameras with your own. One moment.”
The picture went staticy and then completely black, with a loud beeping noise. A few moments later, and the screen was now inside of the dropship.
| “Delta-199... Do you copy? Delta-199, this Arturos Heavy Recovery, please respond.”
The camera feed moved back and forth, looking between a four man team. A man in full Hazard gear, from head to toe tilted his head down, and then looked up into the camera. “Hey boys smile, we're on TV.” He pointed a heavy glove laden finger towards the camera drone. The men in their heavy EVA suits all waved towards the security drone, and then a figure took the lead towards the dropship door. “Sometimes we run into bandits and mutants on the surface, so we run our own small security team here at Arturos' This just seems to be a weather related incident, but you never quite know what you might run into down here.” He held up a standard issue plasma blaster. “Just a little pew, not too much.” The drop ship's airlock decompressed with a loud hiss, and the door began to slowly open. Light debris began to roll inside, blown by a heavy wind. Water also would begin to seep in, from the rain. The camera drone's lens now held a few droplets, quickly cleared away by an automated lens cleaner that slipped across the screen like it blinked. The team began to move outside, the camera drone hovering after them-the picture beginning to shudder as it reached the wind. As the ship and its landing lights were cleared, the camera feed took on a bright green night vision glow. In the distance, a drone of machinery could be heard, a large lumbering silhouette on the horizon with flashing blue lights. “We got a Petra about a half-click to our East command, be advised.” – “Don't bother them, they won't bother you.” Another voice replied. The team continued on, visibility only about twenty feet. “The Freighter should be about ten meters ahead.” Team lead said, walking through the muddy terrain towards the freighter. The team would come up to a large wall of metal, their spotlight rolling along it's side. “Well, this is it-I believe. We just have to find a way insi-” A bright flash of blue light, and a deafening drone drowned out the audio on the video feed. The team began to scramble backwards, as the camera drone looked up to the lumbering Petra they had awoken. “PETRA! PETRA! GET BACK TO THE SHIP!” The camera drone turned, the team scrambling back towards the drop ship, before the camera returned back towards Petra. The lumbering beast of a machine, creaked and rattled its form massive and illuminated now by its bright blue lights which caused the thick curtains of rain to reflect white static in the video. The camera drone began to hover away from the mech, a far larger shadow approaching from behind the Petra. “WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT!?” A thunderous crash sounded from behind the camera drone, and it turned to look towards the dropship-a large mechanical leg now stood, where the ship once had been. It lifted into the air, the drop ship slowly falling from the giant mech's leg. The camera drone looked up, and the rain ceased as the Petra dwarfing machine covered the area, its large structure shrouding the rain from even over top of the Petra. “Command we have something new down here, drop ship is destroyed. Please advise.” Team lead was keeping a cool head, while the others were panicking. “GAME OVER MAN, GAME OVER!” – “Get a hold of yourself, Nosduh!” Team lead replied. The camera drone turned towards the Petra, whose old hull creaked and rattled as it tried to move. The huge mech slammed it down into the ground causing two of the security team who began to walk forward to watch stagger as the ground quaked. Two large lasers blasted from the underside of the ULTRAMECH, boring into the Petra and cutting through it like hot butter. “Holy shit will you look at that!” One of the security details pointed, laughing at the sight to behold. Then, a large metallic orb fell on top of him-crushing him with a loud slap of breaking bones and popping meatsack inside of his EVA suit. “HOLY SHIT MAN, DIVENS IS DOWN. LET'S GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!” The large metallic orbs began to fall all over, hitting the ground with splashes of mud. “What the fuck is that?” the team leader asked, as the team began to back away, their weapons shouldered and drawn. The metallic orbs began to unfold, forming scorpion-like mini mechs about fifteen feet long that began to scurry through the mus, grabbing one of the security detail with it's mechanical claws and tearing him straight in half. The splatter of vitae splattering the camera drone's lens, only to be smeared along it as the lens cleaner swiped across it. “LET'S G-GRRAAAAAAAAAGGGGRRRKKK!” were the team lead's famous last words, as the camera drone moved to look in his direction.
The screen displayed the technicolor palette, with a droning beep for a few seconds before the camera feed switched back to Sandra Vitosky in the Control Room of Junkerz 'n Stuff. Her facial expression shook at the event. |
“Uh, thi-this is Sandra Vitosky. We are.. Well, we're quite shaken by what we've just seen here at Grid Portal News...” She pressed a hand up to her ear. “I've just been informed we'll be cutting live feed. Our thoughts and prayers go out to those on that recovery mission. And to our viewers, we will be back on the air as soon as we are able."
The screen cuts to black, and your normal programming resumes.